Storms Creek Church 10-01-2023

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Episode Transcript

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Good morning, and welcome to StormStreet Missionary Baptist Church this Sunday morning radio
program. This morning, we'll bejoining Pastor Kenny Hurts because we once again
opened the scriptures and study God's way. Okay, this morning, where we
are going to be in the Bookof Philippians, chapter two, and I

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want to begin reading with verse fiveand read down two verse eleven. Let
this mind be in you, whichwas also in Christ. Jesus, who
being in the form of God,thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, made himself of no reputation, and took upon him form of a

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servant, and was made in thelikeness of men, and being found in
fashion as a man, he humbledhimself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. WhereforeGod also hath highly exalted him and given
him a name which is above everyname. That at the name of Jesus,

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every knee should bow of things inheaven, things in earth, and
things under the earth, and thatevery tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord to the glory of God theFather. Have titled the message for this
morning the Way Up is Always Down. There was once a king, who

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was well preparing for the day whenhe would ascend the throne and rule over
the kingdom that had been promised untohim, already had appointed certain men to
be in positions of prominence, tobe in positions of authority. In fact,
he spent three years teaching and instructingthese men on how that they were

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too well to be prepared for hiskingdom, telling them what he was going
to do when he reigned as king. Two of the men one day were
having a discussion. It was anargument over who was going to be the
greatest, who would have the greatestposition in the kingdom. The discussion became

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so intense that their mother got involved. In fact, she went to the
king and she asked on behalf ofher two sons if they would have high
positions of authority, prominent positions inhis kingdom. Well, the other men
when they heard about this, theywere upset. And so what the king
does is he calls these men togetherand he says this, whoever will be

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greatest among you shall be your servant, and who wants to be first must
be your slave. Now, anotherway that you could phrase that is simply
the way up is always down.Now, who is this king that I
am referring to. Well, ofcourse you've probably figured it out by now.

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I'm talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, and the men who are going
to have positions of prominence are hisdisciples. And so what he is doing
is he is teaching his disciples.He's teaching these men who are going to
have prominent positions in his kingdom.He's teaching them the real path, the

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greatness, and it is humility.It's serving, not being served. In
fact, Jesus in March chapter tenand verse forty five says, for even
the son of Man came not tobe ministered to, but to minister and
to give his life a ransom formany. A where administer there could also

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be translated serve. So what Jesusis saying is the son of Man came
not to be served, but hecame to serve by giving his life for
ransom for many. He didn't comethe first time, soon people would wait
on him, who would do hiseverybidding, that they would serve him,
as normally that would be the casewith the king. No, he came

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the first time to serve, andthe way he serves us most is by
offering himself as a ransom for oursin. Now, this humility that Jesus
is talking about, I believe wesee in what Paul writes here in Philippians,
in Philippians chapter two. In fact, it's found in verses five through
eight. We see his humility.And this humility is seen in well on

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what he has done in coming intothis world. They notice that verse nine
begins with the word wherefore were Therefore? This is a word that shows that
there is a connection with what Paulhas just written and what he is going
to right now, a connection betweenverses five through eight and verses nine through

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eleven. You see, because ofthe son's act of humiliation, no one
has ever humbled themselves to the extentthat Jesus Christ did. He left the
glory of heaven, he took uponhimself human flesh. He became a man.

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He was called the god Man becausehe was fully God and fully man.
And he humbled himself by going tothe cross to save his people.
But his coming into this world wasan act of humility. His living here
among us was the act of humility. The way that he lived and in
his day all showed great humiliation onhis part. So when you look at

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verses five through eight, you'll seethe focus there is on this one who
humbled himself. It's on Jesus Christ. He's the prominent figure in those verses.
He humbled himself by coming into thisworld in order to save sinners.

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But then when you get the versesnine through eleven, the focus shifts from
the son to the father. Thefather is the one who is prominent in
these verses. And what he's doingis he in response to his son's humiliation.
He is going to well, he'sgoing to exalt the son. But
it's all of what the father isgoing to do in response to his son.

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Now, you really can't separate thesetwo acts, humility and exaltation.
In order to be exalted, youhave to humble yourself. And when you
humble yourself, then you are readyto be exalted. This is according to
the Word of God. This,my friends, is what the Bible teaches.
It's always this way, and thatis the way up is always down.

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The way to true greatness is notby well, it's not by promoting
yourself. It's by humbling yourself.Now I say all this because the world,
well, the world will tell usthe complete opposite of this. If
you want fame, if you wantpower, if you want to be noticed,
if you want to be somebody,then you have to exalt yourself.

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You have to show how talented andhow gifted you are. You have to
promote yourself, put yourself out inthe front so people can see your greatness.
So what you have is then youhave two completely different world views.
One says, humble yourself in orderto be great, the other says,

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no, promote yourself order to begreat. Well, what I want to
do this morning is I want tofocus on verses nine to ten and eleven
the exaltation of Christ. Now againI'm not going to be dealing with verses
five through eight, but that allgoes into the exaltation because again there you

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see Jesus's humiliation and now the father'sready to exsult him. But we're gonna
focus on the son's exaltation. We'regoing to look at the source of his
exaltation. We're going to look atthe reward for his humiliation, and then
we're going to look at the purposefor his exaltation. So the source,

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the reward, and the purpose.So first of all, the source of
Christ exaltation. Well, it's veryclearly stated to us here in verse nine.
Wherefore notice the next word, Godalso has highly exalted him. The

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son didn't exalt himself. The sondidn't lift himself up. The son didn't
call attention to himself. The sondidn't promote himself. No, he let
the Father do that. He humbledhimself, and the Father exalted him.
When I think about humbling ourselves beforeGod, I think of the story that's

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found in Luke chapter eighteen, versesten through fourteen, the story of a
publican and a pharisee. Both goto the temple and both offer prayer.
The pharisee prays first. He's notreally a prayer as much as him just

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informing God of all the things thathe's done, and how wonderful he is,
and how God ought to be sothankful that he has such a one
who is serving him. So whenhe finishes patting himself on the back,
promoting himself, then the publican,the tax collector, steps forward. He

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doesn't say anything, well, hesays one thing, but he's not filled
with pride. He's not promoting himself, he's not congratulating himself. No,
he simply says, as he beatson his chest, God be merciful to

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me a sinner. Now which onewent home justified? It wasn't a pharisee.
It was the one who humbled himselfin the sight of God. The
Bible says much about this. Justa couple of examples James four and verse
ten, humble yourselves in the sightof God, and he speaking of God,

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will lift you up first. Peterchapter five and verse six, humble
yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due
time. I think of a coupleof examples from the Old Testament Joseph.
Joseph was betrayed by his own family. His brother sold him innute slavery.

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Joseph goes to Egypt, and whathappens. He spends thirteen years in prison.
It's almost like he's completely forgotten about. Well, after thirteen years he
was set free, and it endsup being that he is put in the
second highest position in all the landof Egypt. Only Pharaoh was greater than

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Joseph. So you can see thatJoseph went from humiliation to being exalted.
Don't think of David King David.David was anointed to be king as a
young man. But he then spentyears of hardship and fleeing for his life
as Saul tried to kill him.But then at the right time, God

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exalted him and put him on thethrone of Israel. But see, David
had to go through a time ofhumiliation before he was exalted. So the
Bible is clear. We have theseexamples that are found throughout the Bible that
well, the way up, it'salways down. You notice here in verse

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nine how it's worded. So hesays he highly exalted him, He is
super exalted. He's exalted the soninto the highest position in all the universe.
Nobody could be exalted to a higherplace than the Son of God has
been exalted. Now, how didexactly how did the Father do this?

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Well, we see first of allby raising his son from the dead.
We see this in Acts chapter twoand verses twenty three and twenty four,
him being delivered by the determinate counsel. And foreknowledge of God, you have
taken and by wicked hands you've crucifiedand slain whom don't notice these next word,

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God hath raised up, having loosedthe pains of death, because it
was not possible that he should beholding a it Verse thirty two, this
Jesus hath God raised up. Soyou see here when it comes to the
resurrection, we're told here in thesetwo passages that God, the Father raised

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his son from the dead. Ilike what Wrisby says here. He says,
when men buried the body of Jesus, this was the last thing any
human hands did to him. Fromthis point on, it was the Father
who dealt with his son. Andthat's true. After Jesus was crucified,

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after men carried him and put himin a borrowed tomb, that's the last
time human hands really dealt with him. And then on the Father did.
And the thing he begins to anddealing with his son is the way he
raises him from the dead. Yousee, when Jesus left heaven, when
he was born into this world,when he lived here as a man and

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also god, and when he wentto the cross and died there to redeem
his people from their sin. Thiscompleted his act of humiliation. This wasn't
the end. No, it's notthe end of the story. Jesus still
had much work to do, otherthings to do, but going to the
cross. He did what he wassending to this world to do for the

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salvation of his people. And soonce he was placed in the grave,
the Father then raised him three dayslater. And what does this say to
us? What is the Father raisingthe sun? What does it tell us?
What simply tells us the Father approvedof the son's sacrifice. When Jesus

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said on the cross, it isfinished, he didn't say, I am
finished. She said it is finished. What is the it atonement for sin?
Everything that was necessary for you andI to be saved was completed there
by the Lord Jesus Christ. Hehumbled himself and went to the cross.
And because of that by his father, so it's the time for us to

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celebrate each week. Also he exaltedhim by setting him at his own right
hand acts chapter two and verse thirtythree. Therefore, being by the right
hand of God exalted, and havingreceived of the Father the promise of the
Holy Ghost, he has shed forththis which you now see and hear.

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For David is not ascended into heavens, but he saith himself. The Lord
said, unto my Lord, sitthou on my right hand, till I
make thy foes thy footstool. SoJesus, well, he was elevated.
He was as he ascended, hewas put back into the place where he

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was. I think before he cameto this world, that is the right
hand of his father. See,the right hand was the side of authority
and power. So that was theshow that Jesus has all power and authority,
which he does. He says thisin Matthew chapter twenty eight and verse
eighteen. All power has been givenunto me in heaven and in earth.

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But also he's exalted by becoming ourgreat high priest Hebrews chapter two, in
verse sixteen. For verily it tooknot him the nature of angels, but
he took on him the seat ofAbraham. Wherefore, in all things it
behooved him to be likened to hisbrethren, that he might be now noticed
a merciful and faithful high priest inthanks pertaining to God, to make reconciliation

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for the sins of his people,he says in chapter four. And he
says in verse fourteen. Sin,seeing then that we have a great high
priest that has passed into the heavensJesus, the Son of God, let
us hold fast our profession for wehave not a high priest which cannot be
touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like

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we are. Yet he was withoutsin. Let Us therefore come boldly into
the throne of grace, that wemay obtain mercy and find grace to help
in time of need. So Jesushas been exalted to the Father's right hand,
the place of power, but healso is there interceding on us.
He is our great high Priest.Jesus doesn't just have all power over the

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physical creation, oh he does that, but his power is much greater than
that. So he has power overthe spiritual realm as well. That's how
he is able to forgive us ofour sins. That's how he's able to
intercede for his people, which Ibelieve he's doing right now at the present
time. Even as I am preachingthis message, I believe the Father is

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interceding, or the Son is interceding, even praying for me, as he
serves as our great high priest.So this is all part of his exaltation.
So we see that the Father isthe one who exalted this son.
So he's the source of this exaltation. Secondly, the reward for his humiliation.

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We see this again as we goon and look. In verse nine,
he says, and given him aname which is above every name,
not a name, but the name. You know the Bible, when someone
was honored a lot of times theywere honored by giving a new name.
I think of Abram, Abram thefather of many. His name was changed

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because of his faithfulness to Abraham,the father of a great multitude. Let
me ask you this question before wego any further. Did the father exalt
the son to a higher place thanhe had before his coming into this world?
Well that's not a real easy questionto answer. Let me just say
a few things about this though,And that is, first of all,

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Jesus was always fully God and alwayswill be fully God. Nothing will change
that. John chapter seventeen and versefive in his great high priestly prayer.
And now, old Father, glorifyme with your own self, with the
glory I had with you before theworld was See, after the Father glorified

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his son, After he exalted hisson for his faithfulness, for his humiliation,
Jesus didn't become more God than hewas before. We understand that he
was always full of God, frometernity past to eternity future. He could

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never be more God than he alreadywas, So he didn't become more God
because he couldn't do that anymore thanwe cannot become any more human than we
were when we were born, oreven when we're in our mother's womb.
We don't become more human. No, we are human. You can't become
more of that. So it's nota case where the Father made him more

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God, because that's not possible todo. But then we have to realize
that Jesus is unique because he wasGod and man, and I believe it's
as the God man because he humbledhimself, that the Father gave him more
rights and more privileges than he hadbefore his incarnation. A couple examples of

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that is which we've already talked about. He became our great high priest.
I don't think he functioned that waybefore. But now that he's been exalted,
now he's at the Father's right hand, now he has that position of
honor. Also, he's been givenall power, all power to judge.
So then what does what is thename that the Father has given him that's

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above all names. It was notJesus that was given to him in his
birth. That's also what is trueof him in verses five through eight.
The one who humbled himself, whodied on the cross, that was Jesus.
So what is it? Then?We'll look at verse eleven, and
that every tongue should confess that JesusChrist is. Look at that next word

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Lord, So I believe that's thename. It's the supreme name. It's
comparable to Yahweh that's used in theOld Testament to describe God means sovereign ruler.
And that's what Jesus now is.By his death on the cross.
What he was able to do isreclaim what Adam actually lost. He has

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also he has the right, asRevelation tells us, to take the title
deed to this earth and to openit and fulfill what it says. He
has the right. He is thesovereign ruler. He's defeated Satan, he
defeated the one who's the god ofthis world. Now he has the right

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then to take that title deed becauseit all belongs to him. Now he
is the Lord. In one Johnthree and verse eight says for this purpose,
the son of God was manifest thathe might destroy the works of the
devil. Jesus came into this worldto destroy the works of the devil.

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He won the victory over him byhis death, his sacrifice on the cross.
Now I know that Jesus, inone sense was already Lord. Now,
you know, we could spend alot of time debating this and trying
to figure out just exactly how tolook at all this, but we don't
really have the time to do that. But I'm just saying that Jesus was

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always Lord, because he was alwayspart of the God, had part of
the Trinity. But there is asense in which after he was crucified,
and after the Father brought him forthfrom grief, after he worked, after
he did what the Father sent himto do, there was a way that

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he is now exalted as Lord thathe wasn't before. Now, no,
that's not really easy to try totry to make sense of Acts chapter two,
in verse thirty six. Therefore,let all the House of Israel know
assuredly that God hath made this sameJesus who you have crucified. Now,

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notice both Lord and Christis says hehe has made him the one you crucified
both Lord and Christ. You know, citizens of Rome were expected to call
Caesar lord. Citizens of heaven arethose who call Jesus the Lord. So

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he says in verse ten, atthe name of Jesus, every niece should
bow. Now he doesn't say,not the name Jesus. He says,
at the name of Jesus. Nowthere is a difference people. You know,
when Jesus is here the first time, people didn't bow before the name
Jesus. No, a few peopledid, but most didn't. In fact,

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instead of bowing the need of Jesuswhen he was here the first time,
what they do They crucified him.But one day at the name of
Jesus, all people will bow downbecause he will be not just only Jesus,
he will be the Lord Jesus ChristChrist. The people today talk about

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making Jesus Lord of your life.Now I know they mean well, but
that's not really a true statement.Friends, hear me out. We do
not make Jesus Lord. No,by my the saying Jesus your lord doesn't
make him lord. He's already lord, whether you and I recognize it or

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not. All we are called todo is just to acknowledge the fact that
he is the Lord, acknowledge thefact that he is who he claims to
be. Today people talk about that, and it's just something that's silly.
You know. The Book of Actssays Jesus is savior two times, but

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it says he's Lord ninety two times. The Philippian jailor said, believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and youwill be saved. So we see that
the reward for his humiliation is nowhe is both Lord and Christ. He
is the Lord. And then realquickly the purpose of his exaltation. We

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see that in verses ten and eleven. What was the purpose of purpose is
the Father would exalt his son withthe name that's above every name, so
that those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth would all confess
and bow to him. This meansthat everyone in heaven, meaning even at

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the present time you're talking about holyangels, departed saints. Those on earth
would be those who are saved andnot saved, and those under the earth
would be fallen angels and departed unsaved. See, every creature is gonna bow
and confess Jesus as Lord. Allwho mocked him and laughed and ridiculed one
day, they're going to bow theknee and they're gonna exalt this one and

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as the true king. Friends,you must do this before you die or
before Jesus returns, if you're goingto be in heaven with him for all
eternity. Let me say it again. You are going to bow the knee
and you're going to confess Jesus's lord. You can do that before you die

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or before Jesus returns. It meansyou're safe and you're prepared for eternity with
him. If not, if youdie or Jesus returns, then you're going
to bow and confess him. Butthen, friends, it's going to be
too late. You won't bow beforethe one who's you're savior. You'll be
bound before the one who's judged.Just keep that in mind, everybody.

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Everybody listen to me today, Everybodylisten to this sermon. If you haven't
bowed the knee and you die withoutbound the knee, you're going to do
it, but then it's going tobe too late. And all this is
to the glory of God the Father. So God's purpose and all he does
is to glorify himself, and heis glorified with his son and what his

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son has done, that's why heexalted him. Remember the way up,
it's always down. That's true whenit comes to salvation, and it's also
true when it comes to our servicefor the Lord. We humble ourselves by
acknowledging that we're sinners, that wecan't save ourselves with ourselves on the mercy

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of God, and any service wedo for Him we do in his power,
work and his strength, realizing thatwe're not able to do it ourselves.
So that is the message. We'dlike to thank you for listening to
our program this morning. We prayto God that's used this message to draw

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you closer to Him. Storms Creakingmission Scary Baptist Church would like to take
this opportunity to invite you to anyof its services. We have a Sunday
School which starts at nine thirty am, Sunday Morning Worship ten fifteen, and
our Sunday Evening service starts at sixpm. We also have a Wednesday night
Bible Study which starts at seven thirtypm. Storms Creek Missionary Baptist Church is

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also on the internet under Sermonaudio dotcom. You can go to www.
Dot Sermon Audio look for storms CreekMissionary Baptist Church and listen to any of
our sermons in full link audio atthe site. Again, we'd like to
thank you for listening this morning,and may God bless you throughout the week. Se