record_id: 311f8b3e-f83d-8155-b829-c8a5ed55b624
created_time: 2026-02-24T14:50:00.000Z
title: 02-24 Spiritual Reflection: Magnifying Christ through Faith and Joy
source_url: /

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Speaker 1 00:00:00
He tells them that the gospel of Christ is far too great to depend on his faith for its success. Here's what he says in chapter 1 verse 12. I want you to know brothers that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. So that it has become known throughout the whole Praetorian Guard. And to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ, and most of the brothers have been made confident in the Lord because of my imprisonment and are much more bold to speak the word of God without fear. In other words, don't fret about the gospel, don't worry about me. What really matters is not whether I get out of jail or even whether I live, what matters is that Christ goes on being preached. So keep your love straight, Philippians. Not Paul, but Christ must go on being honored, and in that I rejoice. Now the text that I really wanted to focus on together is Philippians chapter one verses nineteen to twenty - six. That comes right after the section in which Paul assures them, that even though there are people out there using the gospel to rub salt into Paul's wounds, They are unwittingly making him happy because what makes Paul happy is when Christ is preached. I'm going to read the text again that Marvin read. Chapter one verse nineteen following. We're going to look at it in some detail. Yes and I shall rejoice for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance or my salvation.
Speaker 1 00:00:58
As, it is my eager expectation and hope that I shall not be at all ashamed, But that with full courage now as always, Christ might be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If it is to be life in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me; and which I shall choose I can't tell. I am hard pressed between the two :. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. So convinced of this, I know I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith. So that on account of your exultation in Christ Jesus, your exultation might abound because of my coming to you. Paul has one main passion in life, doesn't he? It seems clear from this text that in everything, absolutely everything he does, Christ might be magnified, exalted, honored, shown to be magnificent. Now his very strange way of stressing this: look at verse one. " It is my eager expectation and hope that I might not be shamed in anything." Let's just stop right there. Shame, is that horrible sense of guilt or failure when you just don't measure up in front of the people whose approval you want very much. It's, what that little kid feels in the Christmas program when he forgets his lines.
Speaker 1 00:01:56
And there's that unending time, nobody says anything. His heart is thundering so loud in his chest, he thinks it's going to explode. And the tears start to roll down his face. The little kid in the front starts to twitter ruefully. We know what shame is. Or, it's when the president of the United States has to admit that the tapes have been found and played, And all the foul language and deceit is clear for the whole nation to look at, and he stands publicly disgraced. We know what shame is. But what's the opposite of shame? What's an alternative for being put to shame? It's remembering lines, hearing applause, right? It's governing well and getting reelected. The opposite of being shamed is being honored.
Speaker 1 00:02:27
Paul was a very unusual person. Christians ought to be very unusual people. For Paul, the opposite of shame was not that I might be shamed, but that Christ might be honored. It is my eager expectation and hope that I might in nothing be put to shame, but with all boldness Christ might be magnified in my body. What you love determines what you will feel shame about. If you love for men to think highly of you, you will feel horrible shame when they don't. If you love for men to think highly of Christ, you will feel shame when they belittle him on your account. Paul loved Christ. You love Christ like very few people have ever loved Him. Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss. I count everything as loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Whenever something is of tremendous value to you, whenever you cherish something because of its uniqueness or its power or its beauty, There is an inevitable longing that you draw others' attention to it so that they can share your high regard for it. And that's why Paul's all - consuming goal in life was that people magnify Christ because Christ was of infinite value to Paul. He wanted other people very much to appreciate and magnify Christ with him. That's what it means to magnify Christ: to show the magnitude of His value.
Speaker 1 00:03:26
But now you're among the weak, the Philippian Church. Why do I say it? Because Paul writes, "Christ is of great value to you now. You enjoy very intimate fellowship with Him. He gives you a fruitful ministry. He rescues you from shipwreck with Paul." There's a sword hanging over your head. There's a death sentence awaiting you. Where's the value of Christ now? So Paul adds in verse 20, "My confidence is that Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death." Death is a threat to the degree that it frustrates our goals, our greatest goals. Death is fearful to the degree that it threatens to rob you of what you value most. But Paul valued Christ most, and he looked at death and he didn't see it as a frustration. He saw it as an occasion for the fulfillment of his highest value, that Christ might be magnified. Life and death they seem like such opposites. They seem so contradictory, they seem like enemies, But in Paul's mind somehow there's this unity so that whether by life or by death Christ would be magnified. In other words, the greatest longing he had would be fulfilled in both. And. So in a sense, it was a matter of indifference to him, which the Lord would give him. Then verse twenty one. 
Speaker 1 00:04:26
I think what Paul does is give us a very packed summary statement of how it is that he can be so confident that Christ is going to be magnified whether he lives or whether he dies. He says, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." And then in verses twenty-two to twenty-six, he unpacks this summary statement. And that's what we want to follow him and let him do. Let's take the two halves of verse twenty-one and let them be the guidelines that lead us through twenty - two to twenty - six. First, "for me to die is gain. " Have you ever wondered like I have whether Paul on that visit to Jerusalem that he tells us about in Galatians, where he had about fifteen days with Peter. Maybe the only contact he had, except perhaps at a conference later to mention in a minute. Very short contact, no doubt they talked about Jesus a lot. I wonder if Peter told Paul about that experience, he had with risen Lord recorded for us in John twenty one You remember what Jesus did there to Peter? He asked him if he loved him. Peter said, "Yes, I love him." And Jesus said, "Feed my sheep." But then near the end of that illustration, Jesus says this to P eter : " W hen, you were young, you girded yourself and walked where you would. When, you are old, you are going to stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you don't want to go." And John adds: "This He said to show by what death"
Speaker 1 00:05:29
And I don't doubt that later on, When those two men took the right hand of fellowship and went their separate ways to be apostles to the Jews and apostles to the Gentiles, that firm handshake and the meeting of those eyes communicated one thing: "Brother, we will magnify Christ in our death." I hope it's like that with you. But how? How are we going to magnify Christ in our death? Or put it another way: How can we die so that in our dying, the value, the magnitude of the value of Christ will be visible? Paul's answer is this : If you believe in your heart—if you really believe—that " to die is gain," you will magnify Christ in your dying. Says verse 23: "I am hard pressed." Between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. That's my better. Better than all those friends in high school, better than falling in love with Noelle, better than hugging to yourself three beautiful sons, better than promotion in the company, better than a well-deserved retirement and grandchildren. Yes, yes ten thousand times better as far as Paul was concerned. If I didn't believe it. How could I ever aspire to the office of pastor? Not to mention a church where one hundred and seven people are over eighty years old and another hundred. And seventy one are over the age of sixty five.
Speaker 1 00:06:27
If I didn't believe that, I could say every gray- haired believer in this church is the best you have to come. I wouldn't budge. It's true. I can believe it. That means, pay attention: not your god, not me either. I mean Christ. You will magnify Christ in our dying precisely to the degree that we believe that fellowship with Him in heaven is more to be preferred than any person or anything on earth. He who loves father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me ;, and he who loves son or daughter, more than Me, is not worthy of Me. We come to the hour when everything will be taken from us, but Christ. We will magnify Him by saying, "In Christ I have everything and more." But most of us have some years left, And even the oldest among us have to ask a question : How shall I magnify Christ in my life this afternoon, tonight at my work this week? So Paul says, "To me to live is Christ." And what does he mean by that? To live is Christ. The explanation begins in verse, twenty -, two : If. It is to be life in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me.
Speaker 1 00:07:26
To live this Christ. To me to live this Christ is substituted by, for me to live is fruitful labor. But, he goes a step farther in verses twenty four, twenty six to give us the answer on how he has that fruitful labor and living being Christ, all in this one statement. Verse twenty two, he said, if I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for you. Now in verse twenty four, to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. In other words, A fruitful labor that Paul lives for is not labor merely for his sake, but labor that is very, very needful for the church at Philippi.
Speaker 1 00:07:56
So the phrase " for me to live is C hri st. " now becomes " for me to live is very fruitful labor for your sake." And then comes verse twenty five, he defines what fruit is. I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith. Now we can see the steps in Paul's thinking. First, "for me to live is Christ," as he claimed first there by saying, " F or me to be dedicated to fruitful labor here on earth is for your sake. " And. Then finally, he defines the fruit :. What does it come about in their lives as advancement? And joy of faith? The increase of your faith and its overflows with joy. I wonder if it's clear to you. Christ is, faith was thinking to live is Christ. Is virtually the same as to live is to be devoted to your joy of faith. I think I can show you why those two statements are virtually the same. We need a definition of faith to show that. I've seen you accept this, I think it's because faith is the confidence or trust that we put in a person who has given us cause to think that he's reliable and is able and willing to help us in our needs. That's it : the confidence or trust you put in a person who has given good evidence for us to think that he is reliable. And.
Speaker 1 00:08:54
Really unable to help. Now, if that's a good definition of faith, I think we can find out why it is that the same leaders, Christ and for me to believe is for your joy of faith. But same thing. Notice what that definition implies about the person trusted. Pretend, like you are downtown Minneapolis about five o'clock in the afternoon, and you're walking to the bus stop, say, and this man runs up to you with a sack of money, Shoves it into your hand and says, would you deposit that at the bank for him? I gotta go take off. And you say wait a minute who are you? And he says don't worry about these things. And he's like what how can I trust me? You don't even know me. So oh my god care about this. I think it was quite frankly and disappear from print. And that man made your confidence. 
Speaker 1 00:09:24
I don't care. He's crazy. Foolish action never compliments anybody. But picture this, same scene, you're walking down and here comes this guy, new guy. Throws this bag of money in your hands, starts to take off and says, "You can pass it for me, I don't have time." And you say, "Wait a minute! How can you trust me with this money? You don't even know me." "I know you." "You don't know me!" "I know you. I've watched you from a distance. I've seen how you do your business. I've watched. Are you handing your family? " I asked ten people who knows who will stay thinking they're about to be one hundred percent filled with emotion You stand there so much like. such immense sense of obligation and how do you feel? How do you feel? Magnificent! Honored! Tremendously honored! Because he trusted you on good evidence. And I think that's the way it is with Jesus. Now, Philippians 1:20 goes like this: "Well, my eager expectation and hope is that my life might magnify Christ." Summary statement: "For me to live is Christ." Next explanation: "For me to live is fruitful labor." Next explanation: "My fruitful labor is the advancement and joy of your faith." And I can see the arch back to verse 21. For me to live is Christ, and for me to live is for your faith. In this, For me to live is your advancement of faith—is to kindle in you that one attitude.
Speaker 1 00:10:21
Which alone magnifies Christ most, namely trust. So to live for their faith and to live for Christ alone are the same thing. It's, the only way we can live for Christ is to live by and for faith in Christ. For me, to live is Christ magnifying faith like that. But that's not all; we left out a word: "rejoice." Verse twenty-five: "I will continue with you for your joy." Now this little phrase, which in the most translations is "joy in faith" or "from faith," literally says "joy of faith," and I think that means Paul. That when we have faith, we will have joy. They belong together. You just can't anymore conceive of faith without love than you can conceive of springtime without flowers. Says, remember in Romans fifteen thirteen he prays for the church, " Oh may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing." In other words, believing is the means to joy. Joy comes from a confident trust in Christ and His promises. He also said to the Corinthians about the same thing. He described his ministry like this in Second Corinthians one twenty four says, not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy. Just replace it one word with another. 
Speaker 1 00:11:18
Because for Paul, they are virtually interchangeable. You can't have the one without the other. Joy comes from a confident, hopeful trust in the promises of God, which are yes in Christ Jesus because of his death and resurrection. Which is why probably Paul's answer ends up this text in verse, twenty - six with a reference to glorying him or boasting him. Christ. Now let me ask finally : How he has meant for me to live as Christ and for me to live as your joy? It also should make sense that those are virtually the same thing, because Paul only has one joy in mind here, : joy in Christ, joy that comes from the bounty of Christ's provision and his promises. We delight in the Christ who is so valuable. Is not our joy a magnifying of Christ? When you're happy about something, you magnify that thing. So that not only faith, but the fruit of faith in joy magnifies Christ tremendously. Now, Let's turn in this final moment to some implications of this unit for our situation. Since I'm the one on trial here today, I'll apply it to myself and leave you to apply it to yourself. Right now in my own life, uh I stand on the brink of a professional change. I really love my job at the college ;. It's very rewarding. And um my six students up there down there, they're in my class right now at Chris Jenkins and makes me very glad.
Speaker 1 00:12:16
One of the ways God has said to me, "Move, Piper." I'm going to move with this church or another one. When I read Philippians one nineteen to twenty six, there is in me a tremendous longing. Last October, it became an irresistible longing to be an instrument in God's hands to fulfill these goals and objectives. In other words, at this point in my life, I say, and I believe that God is saying to me the potential Piper for magnifying Me is greater now in pastoring than in professorship. That's why I'm moving. When I become a pastor, I'm going to have one all-encompassing goal or simple goal that, In nothing I might be ashamed, but that in everything I might magnify Christ, whether by life or by death. And to that end, I aim at three things. First, I will aim to love Christ with all my heart and all my soul and all my strength. Because, when I die in the midst of my ministry and say, farewell to a beloved flock and a cherished family, I want to be able to believe that it is gain. And in my dying to bear witness to a church that Christ is great indeed and worthy of all our trust. Second. 
Speaker 1 00:13:16
And minister, my goal is going to be to make the people glad in God. Woe to the pastor who uses his position to hammer year after year in chiseling out a hard sour people. He's forgotten his calling. I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your advancement and joy of faith. Third, since joy comes from faith, and faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of God, it will have to be my main goal, my tremendously fulfilling and joyful goal, feed that flock the word of God every week.
Speaker 1 00:13:44
And I will pray that Jesus' words become fulfilled in my words. The banner over every sermon I preach: "My words I have spoken to you, in order that my joy might be in you, and that your joy."
Speaker 2 00:15:29
Chapter eight. The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, And go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers. And, you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which he did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone. But man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you. So, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs flowing out in the valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey.
Speaker 2 00:16:26
A land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing. A land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. And you shall eat and be full, And you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Take care, lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes which I command you today. Lest when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply, your silver and gold is multiplied, All thatyou have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted. Upandyou forget the Lordyour God. Brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water? Who brought you water out of the flinty rock? Who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. Beware lest you say in your heart, my power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth. You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, That he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers as it is this day.
Speaker 2 00:17:26
And, if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God. Psalm ninety -one : He, who dwells in the shelter of the most high will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress. My God, in whom I trust. For He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His pinions and under His wings, you will find refuge. His faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.
Speaker 2 00:18:23
You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place, the Most High, who is my refuge. No evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent. For, he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the adder ;, the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot. Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him. I will protect him because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will rescue him and honor him with long life. I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.Chapter thirty-six: In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.
Speaker 2 00:19:19
And, the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the washer's field. And there came out to him Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the recorder. And the Rabshakeh said to them: Say to Hezekiah: Thus says The Great King, The King of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust? That you have rebelled against me, behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trusted him. But if you say to me, We trust in the Lord, our God. Is it not? He whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem You shall worship before this altar Come now make a wager with my master. The king of Assyria I will give you two thousand horses if you are able on your part to set riders on them.
Speaker 2 00:20:17
How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master's servants when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? Moreover, is it without the lord that i have come up against this land to destroy it? The lord said to me, go up against this land and destroy it, then eliacim, shebna and joah said to the rabshakeh. Please speak to your servants in aramaic. For we understand it, do not speak to us in the language of judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall, but the rabshakeh said. Has, my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you and not to the men sitting on the wall who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine? Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of J, uda h : " H ear, the words of the great king, the King of Assyria. Thus says the king: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, 'The Lord will surely deliver us. ' This city will not be given into the hand of the King of Assyria. Do not listen to Hezekiah."
Speaker 2 00:21:12
For thus says the king of Assyria, Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern. Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, The Lord will deliver us. Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king Assyria? Where are the gods Hamath Arpad? Where are the gods Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand? But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king's command was, Do not answer him. Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, And Joah the son of Asaph. The recorder came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh. Chapter six. 
Speaker 2 00:22:12
Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, And I heard one of the four living creatures, say, with a voice like thunder, Come. And I looked, and behold a white horse, and its rider had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering and to conquer. When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say Come. And out came another horse, Bright red ;. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another ;, and he was given a great sword. When he opened the third seal I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" And I looked and behold, a black horse. And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius. And do not harm the oil and the wine." When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" And I looked and behold, a pale horse. And its rider's name was Death. And Hades followed him.
Speaker 2 00:23:10
And, they were given authority over a fourth of the earth to kill with sword and with famine. And with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth. When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar, the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, O sovereign Lord, holy and true, How long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? Then, they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer. Until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. When he opened the sixth seal, I looked and behold, there was a great earthquake. And the sun became black as sackcloth. The full moon became like blood. And, the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up. And every mountain and island was removed from its place.
Speaker 2 00:24:05
Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. Calling to the mountains and rocks, fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne. And from The wrath of The Lamb. For The great day of their wrath has come. And who can stand?
Speaker 2 00:24:47
Chapter Nine. Be you, O Israel, You are to cross over the Jordan today to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven. A people great and tall, The sons of the Anakim, whom you know and of whom you've heard, it said, who can stand before the sons of Anak? Know therefore, today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the Lord your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you. So, you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly as the Lord has promised to you.
Speaker 2 00:25:17
Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, " It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land, ", whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart, are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations, the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Know therefore That the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. Remember and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord. Even at Horeb, You provoked the Lord to wrath. And the Lord was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you. When I went up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord made with you, I remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
Speaker 2 00:26:13
I neither ate bread nor drank water. And the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, And on them were all the words that the Lord had spoken with you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. And at the end of forty days and forty nights, The Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, The tablets of The covenant. Then The Lord said to me, Arise, Go down quickly from here for your people, whom you have brought from Egypt have acted corruptly. They have turned aside quickly out of The way that I commanded them. They have made themselves a metal image. Furthermore, the Lord said to me, I have seen this people and behold it is a stubborn people. Let me alone that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they. So I turned and came down from the mountain. The mountain was burning with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. And I looked and behold you had sinned against the Lord your God. You had made yourselves a golden calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the Lord had commanded you. 
Speaker 2 00:27:08
So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes. Then I lay prostrate before the Lord as before, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, Because of all the sin that you had committed in doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure that the Lord bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. But the Lord listened to me that time also, And the Lord was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him, and I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. And I took the sinful thing, the calf that you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust. And I threw the dust of it into the brook that ran down from the mountain. At Taberah also, and at Massah, and at Kibroth Hattaavah you provoked the Lord to wrath. And when the Lord sent you from Kadesh Barnea saying, Go up and take possession of the land that I have given you ;, then you rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God and did not believe him or obey his voice. You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you.
Speaker 2 00:28:08
So I lay prostrate before the Lord for these forty days and forty nights, because the Lord had said he would destroy you. And I prayed to the Lord, O Lord God, Do not destroy your people and your heritage whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Do not regard the stubbornness of this people or their wickedness or their sin. Lest the land from which you brought us, say, : Because, the Lord was not able to bring them into the land that he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness. For they are your people and your heritage, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm. Psalm ninety-two: A psalm, a song for the Sabbath. It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High. To declare your steadfast love in the morning and your faithfulness by night, to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre.
Speaker 2 00:29:05
For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work. At the works of your hands I sing for joy. How great are your works, O Lord! Your thoughts are very deep. The stupid man cannot know ; the fool cannot understand this : that though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever. But you, O Lord, are on high forever. For behold your enemies, O Lord; for behold your enemies shall perish. All evildoers shall be scattered. But, you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox. ; you have poured over me fresh oil. My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies, my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants. The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the L ord ;. They flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age ;. They are ever full of sap and green to declare that the Lord is upright ;. He is my rock, and. 
Speaker 2 00:30:03
There is no unrighteousness in him. Psalm ninety three The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty. The Lord is robed, he has put on strength as his belt. Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved. Your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their roaring. Mightier than the thunders of many waters Mightier than the waves of the sea, the Lord on high is mighty. Your decrees are very trustworthy. Holiness befits your house, O Lord, forevermore. Chapter thirty seven As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, He tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord. And, he sent Eliakim, who was over the household and Shebna, the secretary and the senior priests covered with sackcloth to the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz. They said to him. 
Speaker 2 00:31:02
Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of distress, of rebuke and of disgrace. Children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left. When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, Isaiah said to them : Say to your master : Thus says The L ord : Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard. With which the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me. Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land. The Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of C ush ; he has set out to fight against you. And when he heard it, He sent messengers to Hezekiah saying, Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah, king of J uda h :.
Speaker 2 00:31:58
Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed? Gozan, Aram, Reseph and the people of Eden who were in Telassar. Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of city of Sepharvaim? The king of Hena or the king of Ivvah? Hezekiah received a letter from hand messengers and read it. And Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, O Lord and hear. Open your eyes, O Lord and see. And hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock The living God. Truly O Lord, The kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire.
Speaker 2 00:32:57
For they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore, they were destroyed. So now O Lord, our God save us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah saying, thus, says the Lord, the God of Israel, because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib, king of Assyria. This is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him. She despises you. She scorns you The Virgin Daughter of Zion. She wags her head behind you, the daughter of Jerusalem. Whom have you mocked and reviled? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes to the heights? Against the Holy One of Israel. By your servants, you have mocked the Lord, and you have said, " W ith. My many chariots I have gone up the heights of the mountains to the far recesses of Lebanon to cut down its tallest cedars, its choicest cypresses; to come to its remotest height, its most fruitful forest." I dug wells and drank waters.
Speaker 2 00:33:54
To dry up with the sole of my foot all the streams of Egypt. Have you not heard that I determined it long ago? I planned from days of old what now I bring to pass, that you should make fortified cities crash into heaps of ruins, While their inhabitants shorn of strength are dismayed and confounded and have become like plants of the field and like tender grass, like grass on the housetops blighted before it has grown. I know your sitting down and your going out and coming in, and your raging against me. Because you have raged against me and your complacency has come to my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came. And, this shall be the sign for you. : this year. You shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that. Then in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant;
Speaker 2 00:34:49
And out of Mount Zion, a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. Therefore, Thus says the Lord concerning the king of As syria, : He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same he shall return and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. For I will defend this city to save it for my own sake, and for the sake of my servant David. And the angel of the Lord went out and struck down a hundred and eighty - five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh. And as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him down with the sword. And after they escaped into the land of Ararat, Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
Speaker 2 00:35:44
Chapter seven. After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, And he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth. And sea saying, Do not harm the earth or the sea or trees until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. And I heard the number of those sealed. One hundred and forty four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel. Twelve thousand from the tribe of Judah were sealed. Twelve thousand from the tribe of Reuben. Twelve thousand from the tribe of Gad. Twelve thousand from the tribe of Asher. Twelve thousand from the tribe of Naphtali. Twelve thousand from the tribe of Manasseh. Twelve thousand from the tribe of Simeon. Twelve thousand from the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand from the tribe of Issachar, twelve thousand from the trible Zebulun. 
Speaker 2 00:36:43
Twelve thousand from the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed. After this I looked and behold a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands, And crying out with a loud voice, : Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. And they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen. Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, Who are these clothed in white robes? And from where have they come? I said to him, Sir, you know. And, he said to me, These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb.
Speaker 2 00:37:43
Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple. And he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore. The sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
Speaker 3 00:40:35
To sing Thy grace, streams of mercy never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet sung by flaming tongues. 
Speaker 3 00:41:05
The corner, name of God redeeming us. Hitherto, Thy love has blessed me. Thou hast brought me to this place, and I know Thy hand will bring save me home.
Speaker 3 00:41:38
Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God. He to. 
Speaker 3 00:42:51
Lord I feel it. Won't do leave the God I love. He is my hope. Take and seal it, seal it for Thy holy home. He is my hope. Take and seal it, seal it. 
Speaker 3 00:43:48
Life of trials, test my faith. I set my hope on Jesus. When the questions come and doubts remain, I set my hope on Jesus. For the deepest.
Speaker 3 00:44:59
I set my hope on Jesus, but I feel the fight and sin within. I set my hope on Jesus, though the shame would drown me in its sea. And I dread the wave of justice. I will cast my life on Calvary.
Speaker 3 00:45:31
Jesus.
Speaker 3 00:46:12
I set my hope on Jesus. Though it offer all its pain reward, I set my hope on Jesus. Though this heart of mine has grown to stray, give me grace enough to finish till I worship on. 
Speaker 3 00:46:53
Create scaffolding and dashboards for Gizmo.
Speaker 3 00:48:15
Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart ; naught be all else to me, save that Thou art. Thou my best thought by day or by night. Waking or sleeping, Thy presence. 
Speaker 3 00:48:56
Thou my wisdom and thou my true word. I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord. Thou my great Father and I thy true son. Thou in me dwelling and I. 
Speaker 3 00:49:36
My battle shield sword for the fight. Be thou my dignity, thou my delight. Thou my soul's shelter and thou my high tower. Raise thou me heavenward.
Speaker 3 00:50:53
Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise. Thou mine inheritance, thou and no way. Thou and thou only the first in my heart. High King of Heaven. And my treasure.
Speaker 3 00:52:05
I am not whatever be called. Still be my vision, O Lord.

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