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PAID IN FULL

RESSURECTION WEEKEND

Message Date – April 7- 8, 2012

Screens> Colossians 2:14 NLT 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us

and took it away by nailing it to the cross.

Screens> PAID IN FULL

As a first generation Hip Hop fan, I consider the juxtaposition of old school rap to

whatever this so called rap is today; an utter insult to the entire genre. Today, I’ll

take EPMD, Doug E. Fresh, Public Enemy and Run DMC in their prime, and of

course POC, and Biggie over pretty much any rapper of the Modern era, with the

possible exceptions of Jay Z and Nas, who in a sense became bridges between old

and new school rap!

That said, I think one of the most overlooked hip hop groups of all times would be

Eric B. and Rakim. In my opinion, they were ahead of their time in terms of lyrical

ability. One of their most memorable undertakings was their first album entitled

Paid in Full. Paid in Full was their debut album, released July 7, 1987, on the

Island-subsidiary label 4th & B'way Records. The album peaked at number fifty-

eight on the Billboard 200 chart and produced five singles, "Eric B. Is President",

"I Ain't No Joke", "I Know You Got Soul", "Move the Crowd", and "Paid in Full".

Paid in Full is credited as a benchmark album of the golden age hip hop. Rakim's

rapping, which pioneered the use of internal rhymes in hip hop, set a higher

standard of lyricism in the genre and served as a template for future rappers.

Those of you around my age might remember at least the first verse:

Paid in Full

Thinkin of a master plan-Cuz ain’t nuthin but sweat inside my hand

So I dig into my pocket, all my money is spent, So I dig deeper but still comin up

with lint

So I start my mission- leave my residence

Thinkin how could I get some dead presidents

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I need money, I used to be a stick-up kid

So I think of all the devious things I did

I used to roll up, this is a hold up, ain’t nuthin funny

Stop smiling, be still, don’t nuthin move but the money

But now I learned to earn cos I’m righteous

I feel great! so maybe I might just

Search for a 9 to 5, if I strive

Then maybe I’ll stay alive

So I walk up the street whistlin this

Feelin out of place cos, man, do I miss

A pen and a paper, a stereo, a tape of

Me and eric b, and a nice big plate of

Fish, which is my favorite dish

But without no money it’s still a wish

Cos I don’t like to dream about gettin paid

So I dig into the books of the rhymes that I made

To now test to see if I got pull

Hit the studio, cos I’m paid in full.

Like most young hip hop artists, Eric B. and Rakim felt that having all the money

they needed meant they were PAID IN FULL. What they did not consider was that

there is one thing that costs more than money can pay; AND IT‘S CALLED SIN!!!

To every rapper, athlete, actor, dope man, entrepreneur, and anybody listening to

me that has not had the chance to read Romans 6:23; let me read it to you!!

Screens> Romans 6:23 (NASB) 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of

God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In Colossians 2; Paul with surgeon like precision, carves out for us the details of

what Christ’s resurrection means to the believer; he unpacks in detail where we

presently stand in Christ and leaves no room for ambiguity.

Let’s investigate it

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In Colossians verses 1-2 we see a…

Screens> Separated Salutation

Screens> Colossians 2:1-2 NASB 1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I

have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have

not personally seen my face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and

attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding,

resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ Himself,

(Really work how I struggle with not seeing everybody each week, but how

God’s purpose is bigger than our seeing each other every week)

In Colossians verses 2-4 we see a warning to avoid…

Screens> FALSE INFORMATION

Screens> Colossians 2:3-4 NASB 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of

wisdom and knowledge. 4 I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument.

And then in verse 5 we see a…

Screens> POSITIVE EVALUATION

Screens> Colossians 2:5 NASB 5For even though I am absent in body,

nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the

stability of your faith in Christ.

(Really deal with how even though I can’t be at every location; I can sense it -

work how lives are being changed in “The WORD” Church - How people are

being educated, staying celibate, experiencing better marriages and other

discipline.)

Paul’s stated purpose was that they might be encouraged in heart and united in

love. Confidence and strength of conviction as well as cohesive unity yield a full

understanding of the truth. There is no full knowledge apart from moral

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commitment. Complete understanding (syneseōs, “insight”) results from

complete yielding.

And this understanding is Christocentric. This insight into God’s ways enables

believers to know (epignōsin) Christ fully. Christ, as the true mystery of God,

reveals God to man. For in Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom (Sophia)

and knowledge. Knowledge is the apprehension of truth; wisdom is its application

to life. Knowledge is prudent judgment and wisdom is prudent action. Both are

found in Christ, whose wisdom is foolishness to the world, but who is the power

of God by which a believer receives “righteousness, holiness, and redemption”.

Only this full knowledge and wisdom of Christ can keep a believer from being

deceived by fine-sounding arguments (pithanologia, occurring only here in the

NT, is lit., “persuasive speech” that uses plausible but false arguments). Truth and

persuasion do not always correlate. Error can persuade, and truth can be

compelling at times. It all depends on whether one has the full truth and a

complete commitment to it.

Screens> Colossians 2:6-7 NASB 6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the

Lord, so walk in Him, 7 having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him

and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with

gratitude.

In versus 6 and 7 we see…

Screens> APPRECIATION

(Run for a minute on “overflowing with gratitude”; tell somebody, “Please forgive

me when I worship but when something is full it tends to run over; he keeps on

blessing me and I don’t have any more room on the inside and now it’s RUNNING

OVER!!! I KNOW I’M OUT OF LINE FOR BUMPING YOU AND LEANING ON YOU,

BUT WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO WITH ALL THIS JOY INSIDE OF ME- I DON’T

HAVE ANYWHERE ELSE TO PUT IT!!!” (WORK)

In verses 8-11 Paul gives them…

Screens> SPIRTUAL AFFIRMATION

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Screens> Colossians 2:8-11 NASB 8 See to it that no one takes you captive

through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men,

according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to

Christ. 9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and

authority; 11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands,

in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ;

Paul makes it clear that we are ‘complete’ in Jesus. (Work- singles and everybody

who’s waiting for someone or something to complete them!! Really deal with

the new circumcision, which in my opinion is an ongoing surgery!!! (Work how

God is constantly cutting stuff off us!!)

Alright, God bless you but verses 12-14 are what I came to preach-

Screens> Colossians 2:12-13 NASB 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in

which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who

raised Him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your

flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our

transgressions,

(Work how forgiven we are!!!!)

Screens> Colossians 2:14 NASB 14having canceled out the certificate of debt

consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out

of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

Screens> Romans 3:19 MSG 19 This makes it clear, doesn't it, that whatever is

written in these Scriptures is not what God says about others but to us to whom

these Scriptures were addressed in the first place! And it's clear enough, isn't it,

that we're sinners, every one of us, in the same sinking boat with everybody else?

OMG! There are too many verses to read but they are all so good I have to!!!!!!!

God I love this Message version of the Bible -

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Screens> Romans 8:2-14 MSG 2 A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has

magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at

the hands of sin and death. 3 God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn't deal with the

problem as something remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally

took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling

humanity in order to set it right once and for all. The law code, weakened as it

always was by fractured human nature, could never have done that. 4 And now what the law code asked for but we couldn't deliver is accomplished as

we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing

in us. 5 Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring

their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those

who trust God's action in them find that God's Spirit is in them - living and

breathing God! 6 Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out

into the open, into a spacious, free life. 7 Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely

absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That

person ignores who God is and what he is doing. 8 And God isn't pleased at being ignored. 9 But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking

more of yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this

invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won't know what we're

talking about.

10 But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells - even though you still

experience all the limitations of sin - you yourself experience life on God's terms. 11 It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised

Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he

did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you

(and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life.

With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's! 12 So don't you see that we don't owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent.

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13 There's nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent

burial and get on with your new life. 14 God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!

The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin instead of a deep

healing of it. Now what the law code asked for but we couldn't deliver, is

accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what

the Spirit is doing in us.

Verses 5-8 Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with

measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real

life. Those who trust God's action in them find that God's Spirit is in them—living

and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention

to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is

the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God,

ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and

what he is doing. And God isn't pleased at being ignored.

Verses 9-11 But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly

be thinking more of yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has not

welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won't know

what we're talking about. But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells—

even though you still experience all the limitations of sin—you yourself

experience life on God's terms. It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive-and-

present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the

same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God

lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are

delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as

alive as Christ's!

Verses 12-14 So don't you see that we don't owe this old do-it-yourself life one

red cent. There's nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a

decent burial and get on with your new life. God's Spirit beckons. There are things

to do and places to go!

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I feeeeeel like preachin here! Tell your neighbor “I HAD A DEBT I COULD NOT PAY,

BUT JESUS PAID IT ALL!!! I’M GLAD TOO”

Goodbye y’all and Happy Resurrection to you! Have you ever gone to the movies

and got up to walk out because the credits start rolling but then the movie came

back on? Tell somebody don’t leave because there is one more part you gotta

see!!

Screens> Colossians 2:15 NLT 15 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and

authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

The devil is a disarmed devil!!! Have you ever gone to a place that had a guard

with no gun???? (Work this to death and how the devil can threaten but he has

no gun!!!)

There is “no way” God did all that for you so you could go back into bondage.

(Do your thing from here.)

Today we announce that Jesus is out of the grave and our debts including

financial ones are going in!!! PAID IN FULL!!!!

FROM HERE GET THE SOULS FIRST AND THEN THE DEBT FREE SEED!!