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[ Silence ] ♪ Um-ba-yah, the Lord, um-bah-yah ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, um-bah-yah ♪ ♪ Some must cry, Lord, um-bah-yah ♪

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♪ Someone's crying, Lord, whom I love ♪ ♪ Someone's crying, Lord, whom I love ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, whom I love ♪ ♪ Someone's really loved, whom I love ♪

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♪ Someone's really loved, whom I love ♪ ♪ Someone's praying, Lord, whom I love ♪ ♪ Oh, Lord, whom I love ♪ ♪ Someone's praying, Lord, whom I love ♪

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♪ Someone's praying on ♪ ♪ Kumbaya ♪ ♪ Someone's praying on ♪ ♪ Kumbaya ♪

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♪ Oh Lord ♪ ♪ Kumbaya ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, to my life ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, to my life ♪

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(upbeat music) [ Music ] I am on the battlefield for my Lord. I am on the battlefield for my Lord.

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And I promise him that I will serve him till I die. I am on the battlefield for my Lord. I am on the battlefield for my Lord. I am on the battlefield for my Lord.

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And I promise to Him that I will serve Him till I die. I am born of that appeal, O my Lord. I was a longing idol, I was a sinner too. I heard a voice from heaven saying there is work to do. And I took my pastor's hand, and I joined the Christian band.

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I am on the battlefield for my Lord. I am on the battlefield for my Lord. I am on the battlefield for my Lord. And I promised Him that I would serve Him till I died

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I am on the battlefield for my Lord I left my prison in Christ, I'm on the promised land The great, the God of armies, the rival in my hand In distant lands I've trod, I've stilled arms and a guard

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I am on the battlefield for my Lord Now when I met my Savior, I met Him with a smile ♪ Be near my wounded spirit ♪ ♪ And hold me as a child ♪

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♪ Around the throne of grace ♪ ♪ Give voice, my soul, and praise ♪ ♪ I am on the battlefield for my Lord ♪ ♪ I am on the battlefield for my Lord ♪

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I am on the battlefield for my Lord And I promise him that I, I will serve him till I die I am on the battlefield for my Lord I am on the battlefield for my Lord

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I am on the battlefield for my Lord And I promise Him that I Will serve Him till I die I am on the battlefield for my Lord.

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Amen. Amen. [inaudible] [inaudible]

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[inaudible] that he was asleep. Are you ready now? [Audience responds]

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All right. Now the eldest son was in the field, and he came and drew nigh to the house. He heard music and dancing, and he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.

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Then he said unto him, "Thy brother is come, and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound." And he was angry and would not go in. Therefore came his father out and entreated him.

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And he answering said to his father, "Lo, these many years I served thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment, and yet thou never gavest me a kid

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that I might make Mary with my friends. But as soon as this, thy son, was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, and thou hast killed the fetid calf, and he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry and be glad, for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again,

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was lost and is found. In the letter to the Corinthians, the first letter to the Corinthians, the third chapter, beginning with the 21st verse, "Let no man glory in men, for all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the Word, or life or death, or things present, or things to come, All are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's.

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Everything is yours. Would you repeat after me, "And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. Let no man glory in men, for all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come.

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All are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's. All are nothing at all, is the subject. All are nothing at all. The story of the prodigal son is called the most beautiful story Jesus ever told. The focus in the story is usually on the younger son, who rebels against his father,

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leaves home and later repents and returns home. In the message today, I'd like to focus on the latter part of that story, which deals with the elder brother. All the time the younger son is wasting his substance in a far country,

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cavorting with prostitutes. The older brother has stayed in home with his father and worked in the field. The younger brother returns and when he comes home the father is waiting for him. And his return is an occasion for a spectacular celebration.

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There is music, dancing, and rejoicing. And while they are celebrating, the oldest son is out in the field. and he hears all the noise. He comes closer to the house,

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and he discovers that there is music and dancing inside. So he summons one of the servants and asks him, "What's happening?" The servant replies, "Your brother has returned home, and your father has killed a fatted calf, And the older son is angry and refuses to go in to the feast.

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And the father comes out into the field and begs his younger son to join them in the celebration. Now the conversation in the field involving the father and the oldest son reflects the way the oldest son feels and what has happened in the interim when the father and the younger son have been separated when he's been away from home. He said, "Look, look daddy, I've been here all the time. I've been at your beck and call. Whatever you want, I've been there to do it.

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I've stayed at home. It often happens when you have several children in the family and others have gone away, engaged in different tasks, and then there's been that one that has stayed at home, always there, whatever is wanted, ready to provide it, stayed at home. And he said, "Now I've been here all these years when he's been out there wasting your money,

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cavorting around with prostitutes. I've stayed home. And as soon as he comes, you have killed a fattened calf. You never gave me even a goat where I could make merry with my friends. But as soon as he comes, and look at that language again.

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They are brothers, they're brothers. But when the older brother's talking about it, he said, "This is your son." He's no brother of mine. He may be your son, but he's not my brother. But as soon as he comes, you prepare for him the fetid calf, and you give a great celebration.

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I've been here all the time, I've never had a party. But you provided this for your son. And the father, I suspect he has tears in his eyes as he places his hand upon the shoulder of his oldest son, and he says to him, "Son, everything I have is yours."

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Isn't that wonderful? Yes, Lord. Suppose, suppose this morning that those who are here with husbands and wives could say to each other, everything I have is yours. Wouldn't that be wonderful? But so many of

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us want to have certain relationships, but we don't want that statement, we want to strike that out. Everything I have is yours. So, since all I have is yours, embrace the family, and let's go in and let us celebrate, let us rejoice and be exceedingly glad because everything I have is yours.

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But the older son would not go in. There's no indication that he ever went in. He refused to join in the festivities. Some people who claim to be committed to Christian discipleship are afraid they're going to miss

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the banquet, but there is a blessed assurance that the faithful servant is not going to miss anything that the father wants his child to have. The Heavenly Father has two sons, one younger, another older. One while it needs to be tamed by the circumstances of his existence.

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The other faithful to the legalistic system in which he has been brought up, one that has shaped his life, he follows the letter of the law, but he does not exemplify the spirit of the law. But the Creator says to the creature, "All things are yours.

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Everything belongs to you. Everything on planet Earth, all we know about and all the worlds we may discover." He said, "It seems that the scientists have discovered another planet, but all here and all in the world is yet to be discovered.

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Everything is yours." That's a wonderful feeling. If we really grasp what God is saying to us through this story Jesus tells and through the words that Paul utters, "Everything is yours." Many times we don't get that. I have

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a friend who tells me he was operating a store, he was a merchant, and he had a son. And he caught his son stealing money from the cash register. And when he did so, he came and he took his hand and he put it in the cash register, took the son's hand, put it in the cash register, said, "Get it, hold it."

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He said, "Son, everything in there is yours. You don't have to steal it. It's yours!" I have, is yours.

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And from that day on, his son never did that again. Many times we feel we're going to lose out on something. So we steal from God. We steal from Him the time we ought to allow ourselves to worship Him this day.

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We feed, we steal. because we feel that if we give him what we should, we're going to miss out on something. But the word is everything, everything I have is yours. So when the father gives a banquet for his younger son

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and invites all of his friends and kills the fatted calf, he still has some more calves. He hasn't exhausted his supply because he provided a party for one of his children. We don't have to worry about what somebody else is going to get out of God, because God's got it all. And the God, we say, speaks to each one of his children, says, "Everything I have is yours."

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Everything. So, we miss the joy. Think of it. The joy he missed out on. Parties going on, music playing, wonderful menu arranged, and a great celebration of a family reunion,

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and hear this boy out there in the field pouting, missing out on it. Everything is yours. It belongs to you. And we can so easily miss that. That's another story in the Old Testament. It has to do with the sin of Achan. A-C-H-A-N.

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Achan. God, after they had crossed the Red Sea and gotten into the Promised Land, And God told him, "You go forth to fight the battle of AI, don't leave anything. Don't leave anything. Destroy everything." Everything is to be presented as a sacrificial offering, so to speak, to me.

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It's dedicated to me, the dedication of all things, not some of it. Some of us get all caught up about the tithe and the scriptures say it's the Lord's,

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but the rest of it is his too. - Yes, Lord. - And if we use the tithe and give it to God and then take the other 80 or 90% it is, the case is,

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and wasted out there wasting the Lord's substance that right is living, we still fall short of the glory of God. All things are yours, and we're responsible. But Aiken was in this battle.

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The law was clear. They were dedicated to God. All the spoil, all the people, everything, they were to take it.

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and when the victory was won and dedicated to God. But Achan was there in this battle and he said, the Lord doesn't need this. He doesn't need this.

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He saw a fine looking Babylonian garment. You know, wonderful garment. He said, I can use this. The Lord doesn't wear any garments.

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And so he took it and he hid it. There was a golden wage. He hid these precious things. I raised the question, how much are we trying to hide

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from God? I remember a couple earlier in my ministry, They ruined their marriage because the husband was trying to hide some funds over here that the wife didn't know about. And the wife was trying to hide some funds over there that the husband didn't know about.

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And finally all of this caught up with each other and the marriage fell apart. He was trying to hide from God. And so, when they went forth to fight again, they lost the battle. And when they inquired of God as to why they lost the battle, and they began to investigate, they found it was because of the sin of Achan.

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They lost the battle because the word that God had commanded was that everything, not 99%, but everything, everything is to be dedicated to God. So remember, everything, your mind, everything. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy mind

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with all of your body, with all of your soul, with all not some, but all all of me There's a song popular in the days of my youth, "All of Me."

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Why not take all of me? All. The story is told of a man who was going into-- the wife was going into her husband's pocket.

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And he said, "Don't! Don't!" She said, "Don't what?" "Don't leave a cent." All! Everything! Everything! All! All! So, our Lord does not want just a part of us. He wants all of us.

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And so Jesus is talking about all. When he calls his disciples one by one, Peter, Andrew, James, and John, and all the rest, he calls them to give all. And Peter says, "Master, we have left all to follow you."

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All, yes all, all have sinned. All, not some of us, not the preacher and the deacons in the choir and a few others, but all, all have sinned and do what they come short of the glory of God. So the same God who is over all and rich in all is no respecter of persons; we are all

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his children. So the Corinthian church had a problem. They had a problem, and the churches have today. They wanted to have certain classes, certain cliques in the church.

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This little group and that little group, this little group saying, "I'm a Paul." He's a mighty theologian. Another said, "I'm of a policy." See, he's a persuasive orator.

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Another said, "I'm for Peter." He's a great evangelistic style. I like the way he emphasizes the points. Peter, Cephas, Paul, Apollos,

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then that group called themselves the Christ party. "Well, I don't have anything to do with it, I'm just for Christ." And so Paul addresses the matter. He says,

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don't glory in men. That's right. All of these are servants of God. They are all His children.

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All things are yours. That's wonderful. That's wonderful. All things.

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Even as a lad, I felt that that God makes available to us. In school I felt, I said, "If the Lord gave me a good mind, I can pass just like the rest of them pass." Use it.

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All. It's all available to us. All things are yours. So the church is the church when all God's people are together. That's what makes the church.

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When the church is the church when His people have all things in common, when they are all in one accord and in one place. That's where the church started. That's what makes the church, the church.

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So God has so arranged it that the best things are free. Wouldn't it be terrible if people could take all the air they breathe and then sell it to us according to what they want us to, when they want us to breathe? But it's all free.

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The breath we breathe is made available to all, and the rain, the sunshine and the rain, sun shines on the just and the unjust. The rain falls on the just as well as the unjust. All, all things are yours.

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And so this is Paul's message to the Corinthians, "All things are yours." So don't create a narrow compartment and try to put certain people in pigeonholes and think that... And the others don't.

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All things are yours. And so what God has for all his people is available without any distinctions as such, because of many distinction of race or color. Whosoever, God gave his son to die on Calvary's tree, that whosoever, that means all, all things, are available to all people.

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So God has a blessing. He has a blessing for all his children. But we must be able to claim it. He has a blessing for those who exercise that humility that makes one a true disciple of the kingdom.

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Oh, I think Kipling puts it this way in his poem, "If." If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, if you can walk with kings, not lose the common touch, if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

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If all men count with you, but none too much, if you can feel the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds of distance run, yours is the earth. Listen to that. Yours is the earth and everything in it.

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And what's more? You'll be a man, my son. Yes, yes. So hear me well when I say,

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Give God all. With Him it's all, or nothing at all. Therefore do not glory in wisdom. That church in Corinth was glorying in wisdom.

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Some had degrees, some didn't. So they gloryed. They put themselves over the others. [BLANK_AUDIO]