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[ Silence ] [ Music ] ♪ Oh, what a time ♪ ♪ So warm with love ♪

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♪ Oh, what a heavenly ♪ ♪ Praise ♪ ♪ No light to shine ♪ ♪ Above the world ♪

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♪ That leads me to the land ♪ ♪ There is a blessedness I knew ♪ ♪ With words I saw the Lord ♪ ♪ Where is the soul ♪

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♪ Refreshing you ♪ ♪ Oh Jesus ♪ ♪ I'm His word ♪ ♪ What peace of mind ♪

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♪ I've been looking for ♪ ♪ How sweet ♪ ♪ That memory's still ♪ ♪ A day ♪

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♪ And left ♪ ♪ A naked boy ♪ ♪ The world ♪ ♪ Can never be ♪

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♪ Return home ♪ ♪ Be thou preserved ♪ ♪ Sweet messenger of rest ♪ ♪ I pay the sins ♪

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♪ And made me whole ♪ ♪ And found me strong ♪ ♪ I rest ♪ - Amen.

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Speak now to our hearts, oh God. In Jesus' name, amen. Colossians chapter three, verses 12 through 15. As God's chosen people, holy and loved,

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clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

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And of all these virtues, put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace and be thankful. The subject, new clothes for the new year. New clothes for a new year. Clothes make a statement about who we are. They reveal the kind of lifestyle

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in which we are engaged. There's a weekly program of a television entitled "Style" that features

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leading world designers who present clothes that are modeled for the public. and what is recommended for each season.

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Winter, spring, summer, autumn. These fashion experts tell us what to wear.

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Our attention in this message is focused on new clothes for a new year. The new year ushers in a new age requiring a new wardrobe.

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Paul appears here as a fashion designer for the people of God in Colossae. His word of advice concerning new clothes is addressed to people who reside in a popular garment manufacturing area. Colossi was famous for the production of clothes.

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It was especially noted for its skill in the dyeing trade. It became so famous in this regard that a certain dye was given the name colossi. So it was a mark of distinction to have clothes bearing the colossi label. Paul suggests that the kind of clothes that should be in the wardrobe of those who belong

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to the household of faith should, first of all, be worn by those who are chosen of God, Dedicated and beloved persons who belong to the new order wear the new clothes Now clothes are used here as a metaphor by the Apostle to demonstrate the works of the Christian Garments have to do with

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One's ethical responsibility Theology and ethics are related like faith and works, belief and action. New occasions are suitable times to change clothes.

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The new year marks a change in the calendar. It's a good time to take inventory of ourselves, how we look, what we ought to do, A person who is chosen, dedicated, and beloved of the Lord needs to change clothes.

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Old clothes that have been worn in the past will not do for the future. The clothes we wear are to reflect our lifestyle and to reveal our affections. Earthy clothes are for those whose affections are earthbound. Heavenly clothes are for those whose affections are on things

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above. First of all, the old clothes are to be put away. They are to be cast aside. Take them off.

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Discard them with the old year. The new year calls for new clothes. New occasions teach new duties. Time makes ancient good uncouth.

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They must upward still and onward who would keep abreast of truth. New clothes for a new year. So let's first of all consider the old clothes that are to be

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put off, cast away. Notice that we are to undress before we dress up. Paul, our fashion designer here, says put off sexual immorality. He is talking about Christian sexuality as being the model for

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those who belong to the new order. Put off uncleanness, impurity, lust, inordinate affection, covetousness, evil desires. Put them off. Take these old clothes off. Put them away. them in the trash for the garbage pickup. They have no place in the new order. If kept, they become idols, false images that we worship rather than the true God who

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is Lord of all." Now it's interesting that he lists, he deals with sexual, the sexuality of the persons who belong to the house of faith. This is the first in the order for first century Christians. It's the first in the order for 20th century Christians. So we live in what is called a sex crazed age and sexual

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immorality is a garment of the old order. Those who are called of God are to wear new clothes, not the old filthy rags of the past. Mind you, the new clothes are not to be put on until the old clothes are put off and discarded. Put off impurity and cleanliness, that which is dirty. The new clothes include purity of

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mind, purity of speech, purity of heart. Put off lust. Take it off. Covetousness of desiring that which we have no right to have. Evil desire. Take it off, he says. Cast it off. Put it away. These are old clothes. Then he goes on to list some other clothes to be taken off. He says put off anger, put off rage, put off

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malice. Those things that we have been holding within ourselves, smoldering so to speak within our hearts, holding against someone else. Malice, slander, filthy language. Get rid of them. They have no place in the new order. Well, America needs new clothes. We are caught in the throes of an economic recession.

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We can no longer rely on a war-driven economy. We need new clothes. Not an economy which thrives on the military, but an economy established on peace and justice. We need new clothes. The president's visit to Japan is in response to the cry of the American people for new clothes. The sad thing

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however is that not all people recognize the need for new clothes. It was reported a few days ago that David Dukes paid the $5,000 filing fee to enter the presidential election process in Texas. David Duke who carries the flag of the KKK is putting on the old dirty threadbare clothes of the past and the

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future calls for new clothes. State of Texas needs new clothes. The recent test results for pupils and public schools indicate that our educational system Austin needs new clothes. The legislature faces difficulty in drawing district election lines that within itself

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shows that we need new clothes. Austin needs some new clothes. We need more than just a new airport, and that's important. We need more than just to emphasize, you know, the endangered species in our midst.

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That's important, but we need some new clothes. We need to have new relationships to the homeless and the hungry, a new commitment to help the oppressed and the disadvantaged. Yes, we need new clothes.

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And you know, I think Ebenezer needs some new clothes. The garments of yesterday will not suffice for present day demands. Achievements of yesterday are not enough. We need new clothes, new dedication, new Christian stewardship commitments, a new commitment

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to evangelism, a new dedication to Jesus Christ. We need, as the people of God, as God's family here at Ebenezer, some new clothes for a new year. You see, the Christian life calls for new clothes.

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Not the old clothes of the past, but some new clothes. Jesus said, "You've heard it said of old times, "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. "Hate those that hate you, so to speak.

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"You kill my dog, I'll kill your cat. "That wasn't the old clothes of the past, "but I say unto you, love your enemies." New clothes be worn by his disciples.

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So put on new clothes. What are the new clothes we ought to put on? Put on compassion. Compassion.

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You know, we'd all get along a lot better if we tried to feel what other people feel. Most of the time, we get so wrapped up about what we think that we don't take time enough

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to try to put ourselves in the other person's position. Jesus looked at the multitude and he had compassion for them. So put on clothes of compassion, new clothes. That means to have a heart of pity,

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a heart of understanding, merciful action. Oh, the person may not deserve it, but you do it anyhow. You don't have to really go but one mile, What go to when you wear the new clothes?

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You go beyond what is required. New clothes, put on kindness, kindness of heart. Treat others with tender, loving care. New clothes, put on loneliness, humbleness of mind.

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Do not think more highly of yourself than you ought to think. Put on clothes of humility. Put on meekness. Gentleness really means to be willing to accept whatever life brings.

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And so often it's our haughtiness, our arrogance that makes us unwilling to accept some things. But put on new clothes, he says. Put on patience. And after you get all these new clothes on, put over all of it, put over it, cover it

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up with love. With love, bind it up together with love. For the new clothes we are to wear

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with love as a bond of perfection. For you see love is that outer garment which holds everything together like a brooch, like a clasp. Without love the other garments are distorted and unbalanced. They fall apart. New clothes for a new year. That's as it should be. New clothes call for a new person and a new person calls for a new nature. But the person who wears the new

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clothes is the new being. Paul Tillich talks about the new being, the new humanity. Really he's talking about a new you. All things are passed away if a person is in Christ, that person is a new creature. All things are passed away and all things become new. So a new nature, a new person, a new life, a new year, a new

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future. But he says at the beginning of that chapter, "If," it's a big if, he said, "If, if, if we are risen with Christ," all of that's based on being risen with Christ. All of it's based in being a new creature in Christ because the person who is in Christ has new righteousness, a new destiny. He has on a robe of royal righteousness. Put off the old, put on the

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new. Put off malice and mischief, put off anger and avarice, put off immorality and immaturity and impurity, take them off, bury them with the past, put on the new clothes. There's a story Jesus tells about a wedding feast. Everyone who was to come inside the wedding feast was given a new wedding garment. At the door before

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entering you put on a new garment and they put on that new garments and the ruler of the feast after everybody was in began to walk around and look at the guests that were at the feast. And he saw there in that company one that did not have on a wedding garland. And he touched him and he said, "Friend, how did you get him here?"

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He said to them, "Cast him out." And that parable means that if everyone who gets into the wedding feast is to have on a new robe, It's a robe of royal righteousness. It's a robe that Christ himself provides.

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He gives us the robe. I think our ancestors understood it quite well. They said, "You got a robe? I got a robe. All God's children got robes.

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When I get to heaven, I'm going to put on my robe. I'm going to shout all over God's heaven. Well, down here on earth, we ought to wear a robe of royal righteousness. It's the robe of Christ's actions, his thinking with the mind of Christ, his acting in the

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spirit of Christ. That's the new robe that we are called upon to wear and to cast aside the old clothes. Well, that's good news because when God really touches us, you see, he looks beyond outside And he touches us on the inside, and that's what our elders were talking about, saying,

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"Well, I looked at my hands, and they were new. I looked at my feet, and they were too." A new being in Christ, and dressed up with new clothes. That's good for a new year.

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Good for a new year. When I was a student at Bishop College, you came to the dining hall, they had one requirement for all the boys, you had to have on a tie. And many times when the bell rang early in the morning for breakfast, you were trying

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to get on, get there before the door closed. Door closed at a certain time. If you weren't in, the door closed, you just missed breakfast. But if you got your shirt and you were putting it on

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on the way down the stairs and you got right there at the door and you forgot to get the tie, you still couldn't get breakfast. God wants us to have on all of the right things.

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And he has given us the list. All I say, let's be sure that we have these clothes our wardrobe. It won't be good enough to say that the preacher has them in his, the deacon may have them, our sister may have them. You've got to have your own clothes in order to make

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it. So that's what's expressed, to build your life on Christ. On Christ, the solid rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand. Nothing else really matters. Christ. He said, "When he shall come with trumpet sound, oh may I then in him be found, dressed in his righteousness alone." Dressed in his righteousness. Dressed in his

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righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne. Door of the church is open for those who would be new beings in Christ who would make a new start with him, who would be a new person in a new relationship in a new year, we invite you to come as we extend now the invitation.

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[MUSIC] [MUSIC] My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame,

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but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. When darkness veils his lovely face, I rest on his unchanging grace.

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In every high and stormy gale, my anchor ♪ Under holes within the veil ♪ ♪ On Christ the solid rock I stand ♪ ♪ All other ground is sinking sand ♪

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♪ All other ground is sinking sand ♪ ♪ One he shall come with trumpet sound ♪ ♪ Oh may I then in him be found ♪ ♪ Trust in his righteousness alone ♪

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♪ Faultless to stand before the throne ♪ ♪ On Christ the solid rock I stand ♪ ♪ All other ground is sinking sand ♪ ♪ All other ground is sinking sand ♪

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♪ On Christ the solid rock I stand ♪ ♪ Solid rock I stand ♪ ♪ All other ground is sinking sand ♪ ♪ All other ground is sinking sand ♪

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Amen. (audience laughing) [BLANK_AUDIO]