Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Healing at a Distance Msg 9 12

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Healing at a Distance Msg 9 12 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Someone once observed, if miracles were happening every day, they
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Speaker 1: wouldn't be called miracles, that'd be called regulars. I agree,
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Speaker 1: miracles aren't regular occurrences. They happen very, very seldom in
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Speaker 1: a lifetime. For example, a parking spot at Christmas time
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Speaker 1: at Walmart is not a miracle, and that I might
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Speaker 1: feel like one. But it's not the fact that your
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Speaker 1: toothache stops is not a miracle. Nor is your appendectomy
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Speaker 1: scar that isn't noticeable. That's not a miracle. It's simply
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Speaker 1: the result of very good surgical work. Now listen carefully.
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Speaker 1: A miracle is an astonishing act that defies any natural explanation.
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Speaker 1: Please remember that a miracle is something that only God
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Speaker 1: can do, and of course God can do whatever he wills.
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Speaker 1: Billy Graham once quipped, Jonah's swallowed by a fish. I'd
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Speaker 1: believe it if scripture said Jonah swallowed the fish. It's
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Speaker 1: not difficult to believe if you believe in a God
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Speaker 1: of miracles, and Billy Graham was right. That's what John
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Speaker 1: wrote his gospel so people would believe. It's also why
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Speaker 1: he included episode after episode of Jesus, God's son performing miracles.
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Speaker 1: Each was a monumental display of his deity. The story
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Speaker 1: we will study today is no exception. In fact, everything
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Speaker 1: about this miracle that occurred fies all human understanding. It
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Speaker 1: also demonstrates to us that Jesus, the miracle performing Savior,
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Speaker 1: has the power to do whatever he wills deep within us,
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Speaker 1: including the transformation of our lives by his amazing grace.
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Speaker 1: And so, as you listen in on this story today,
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Speaker 1: I need to say this to you. Try to stay
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Speaker 1: in your seats. This is truly a miracle carried out
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Speaker 1: by the one and only Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
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Speaker 1: offering once again his limitless power to someone who believed.
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Speaker 1: I'll begin today at Chapter four, reading verses forty six
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Speaker 1: down through fifty four in the New Living Translation. So
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Speaker 1: begin with me at John four forty six. As he
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Speaker 1: traveled through Galilee, Cana where he had turned the water
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Speaker 1: into wine. There was a government official in nearby Capernaum
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Speaker 1: whose son was very sick. When he heard that Jesus
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Speaker 1: had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged
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Speaker 1: Jesus to come to Capernaum to heal his son, who
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Speaker 1: was about to die. Jesus asked, will you never believe
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Speaker 1: in me unless you see miraculous signs and wonders. The
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Speaker 1: official pleaded, Lord, please come now before my little boy dies.
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Speaker 1: Then Jesus told him go back home, your son will live,
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Speaker 1: and the man believed what Jesus said and started home.
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Speaker 1: While the man was on his way, some of his
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Speaker 1: servants met him with the news that his son was
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Speaker 1: alive and well. He asked them when the boy had
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Speaker 1: begun to get better, and they replied, yesterday afternoon at
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Speaker 1: one o'clock. His fever suddenly disappeared. Then the father realized
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Speaker 1: that that was the very time Jesus had told him,
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Speaker 1: your son will live, and he and his entire household
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Speaker 1: believed in Jesus. This was the second miraculous sign Jesus
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Speaker 1: did in Galilee after coming from Judea.
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Speaker 2: I have never in my life been to what could
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Speaker 2: be called a healing service, nor do I have the
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Speaker 2: gift of miracles nor healing. But on two distinct occasions
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Speaker 2: in my life I was involved in the experience of
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Speaker 2: a miracle of healing. God did all the healing, and
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Speaker 2: he allowed me the joyous privilege of experiencing the process.
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Speaker 2: The first occasion took place in a former church some
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Speaker 2: years ago, as I was closely associated with an officer
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Speaker 2: in that church who contracted a malignancy in the inner
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Speaker 2: ear that spread to the lymph nodes and then into
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Speaker 2: the upper torso of his body. And being a businessman
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Speaker 2: and young in life, he was faced with the painful
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Speaker 2: experience of completing his will, making his plans to turn
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Speaker 2: his business over to associates. And when some of us
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Speaker 2: got word of that illness, we were not able to
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Speaker 2: go to his side, but we agreed together that we
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Speaker 2: should meet for prayer, and we did. He was not
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Speaker 2: aware of our meeting. He was a number of miles
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Speaker 2: removed from us. But we asked God that if he
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Speaker 2: would be glorified in the life of this man more
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Speaker 2: than in the death of him, would he, by his
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Speaker 2: great power bring healing. I don't believe that I had
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Speaker 2: ever been in a prayer meeting like that, nor had
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Speaker 2: some of the men who were there. We weren't even
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Speaker 2: sure of our rights in making such a request, but
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Speaker 2: we loved that man, and we wanted, by the power
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Speaker 2: of God to snatch him from death if it would
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Speaker 2: be God's great will. And so we agreed together, and
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Speaker 2: there was a sweeping sense of faith that came over
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Speaker 2: the group. It was within a matter of days that
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Speaker 2: he stepped off the plane in Rochester, Minnesota to undergo
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Speaker 2: extensive X rays and further examination and diagnosis at Mayo's clinic,
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Speaker 2: and to the stunning amazement of the physicians, and there
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Speaker 2: were about four experts that worked on his body. They
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Speaker 2: found none of that disease. He's had a physical checkup,
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Speaker 2: I understand, every year from that time until now, and
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Speaker 2: the physicians in the city where he lives are still
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Speaker 2: scratching their heads. How do you explain it? Well, God
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Speaker 2: did a miracle. The other experience was much like that one,
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Speaker 2: though I was many more miles removed from this friend
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Speaker 2: named Billy, who gave me a call one cold winter
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Speaker 2: afternoon as we were ministering in New England, and told
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Speaker 2: me that he had been diagnosed as having a malignancy
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Speaker 2: in his tongue and if this growth continued to grow,
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Speaker 2: he would be reduced by radical surgery to a mute
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Speaker 2: for the rest of his life. His four young girl
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Speaker 2: he did at that time, and a growing business. And
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Speaker 2: I was convinced in my soul that if ever there
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Speaker 2: were a time for prayer, this was it, and I
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Speaker 2: didn't contact anyone. In fact, I had not been there
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Speaker 2: that long to know anyone that close. So I just
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Speaker 2: went down to my basement and I don't know how
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Speaker 2: long I was there in prayer, but I remember that
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Speaker 2: furnace going on and off and on and off for
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Speaker 2: several times in the cycle until I was convinced that
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Speaker 2: I had done all I could do. And it was
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Speaker 2: less than a month before I heard from my friend
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Speaker 2: who announced that there was not a trace of that
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Speaker 2: cancer on his talk. I would like to be able
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Speaker 2: to say that every time I have prayed in that way,
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Speaker 2: that has happened, but it is not true. More often
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Speaker 2: than not, when I have prayed and even had that
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Speaker 2: sense of faith, I buried the same person only a
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Speaker 2: few days or months later. I wish it would work
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Speaker 2: out like a fairy tale, and I could stand in
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Speaker 2: front of you and declare that that is God's sovereign
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Speaker 2: plan for every sick person to be healed. But it
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Speaker 2: is not his plan. However, I did learn a timeless
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Speaker 2: lesson that has followed me and I think will follow
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Speaker 2: me the rest of.
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Speaker 3: My days, and it is this.
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Speaker 2: Distance is no problem to God when it comes to
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Speaker 2: doing a miracle. Now, let me tell you what that implies.
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Speaker 2: That implies that God is as able to bring healing
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Speaker 2: to a body that's broken and diseased in its own
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Speaker 2: living room or bedroom or garage for that matter, as
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Speaker 2: he would in a church. In other words, it is
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Speaker 2: not necessary that a person be brought to one who
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Speaker 2: claims to have a so called healing gift for God
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Speaker 2: to administer healing to that body. God is not limited
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Speaker 2: to the human frame, nor to any set plan and purpose.
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Speaker 2: He will bless the prayer and the faithful prayer of
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Speaker 2: the saints as effectually as he blessed the efforts of
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Speaker 2: the apostle Paul, who had that magnificent gift and was
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Speaker 2: able at will to work those miracles. My heart breaks
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Speaker 2: at times when I know of the many that are
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Speaker 2: caught in the vortex of hauling their friends to miracle workers,
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Speaker 2: so called so that by being there close to one
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Speaker 2: who has that alleged gift, that great healing can occur.
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Speaker 2: I'll tell you no man ever healed. God heals and
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Speaker 2: heals often in spite of those of us who are
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Speaker 2: supporting them in prayer. Now, with that as a background,
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Speaker 2: I want to go right into John chapter four, because
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Speaker 2: it is a perfect entree into this passage of scripture,
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Speaker 2: because we find a father who was terribly concerned about
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Speaker 2: the condition of his son, and he believed, like many
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Speaker 2: could we say today, But in order for there to
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Speaker 2: be healing, Jesus literally had to come and touch that boy.
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Speaker 2: That's not true. Distance space provided God with no barrier
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Speaker 2: at all. Now, when you look with me at chapter
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Speaker 2: four of John's Gospel, verse forty six, let's establish the
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Speaker 2: occasion for this event, which is not only emotional, it
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Speaker 2: is a true event. First, notice the location, and I've
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Speaker 2: given you in your bulletin insert a map and you
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Speaker 2: might notice and keep on hand at least at the
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Speaker 2: beginning of the message to observe where we are geographically.
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Speaker 2: It has great bearing on an insight in this passage
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Speaker 2: that I think the average reader misses. So we begin
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Speaker 2: with the location. He came therefore again to Cana of Galilee.
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Speaker 2: The again tells us he's been there before. This is
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Speaker 2: his second visit in his earthly ministry. As Jesus was
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Speaker 2: making his way up and down that finger of land
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Speaker 2: we know today is Palestine, he was in Cana where
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Speaker 2: he had originally done his first miracle in turning water
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Speaker 2: into wine. But we find the need was represented in Capernaium.
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Speaker 2: Verse forty six concludes the boy was sick at Capernaum.
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Speaker 2: Now look at your math up near the Sea of Galilee,
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Speaker 2: where the Jordan pours into the sea and then breaks
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Speaker 2: out again and makes its way down to the Dead Sea.
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Speaker 2: You'll notice that the northern section of the Sea of
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Speaker 2: Galilee a town by the name of Capernium. That's where
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Speaker 2: the boy was. You notice to the west the town
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Speaker 2: of Cana, some eighteen miles away from there, no more
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Speaker 2: than a five hour walk or a two hour chariot
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Speaker 2: ride at the most. It was within close proximity, but
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Speaker 2: there were several miles between the two towns. Jesus was
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Speaker 2: at Cana, the sick boy was at Capernaum. It was
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Speaker 2: the desire of the Father, as we shall see, for
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Speaker 2: Jesus to leave Cana and to go to Capernaium, to
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Speaker 2: span the distance, and by his presence to pronounce healing
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Speaker 2: on the boy in Capernaum. Now with the location in mind,
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Speaker 2: let's consider the major characters of the story. First and foremost,
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Speaker 2: there was Jesus. He was the first and the most
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Speaker 2: significant person in this event. He was the one who
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Speaker 2: had come to Cana for a ministry. Second in importance
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Speaker 2: is a man brother who is called a certain royal
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Speaker 2: official not named in John four. The word is the
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Speaker 2: Greek term that could be rendered a king's man. So
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Speaker 2: it's hard to know exactly what that means. To be sure,
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Speaker 2: a prestigious person with a great income, a tremendous amount
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Speaker 2: of influence, because he worked as a representative of the king.
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Speaker 2: Now not the emperor. This was Herod's official, who represented
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Speaker 2: Herod's kingdom. Now you can be sure that when he
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Speaker 2: came to seek out Jesus, it would surely raise a
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Speaker 2: stir in the minds of his peers. It's like the
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Speaker 2: governor making a move that is unorthodox. It invariably makes
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Speaker 2: the news. That's the way it was in those days
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Speaker 2: when an official did something out of the ordinary, especially
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Speaker 2: plugged into one who claimed to be the Messiah. But
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Speaker 2: he didn't care. You see. The third major person in
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Speaker 2: the story is his sixth son, who is in Capernaium
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Speaker 2: too ill to bring to Kena. Now, Fathers, it is
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Speaker 2: of God that this passage is upon us on Father's Day.
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Speaker 2: I'm going to have a lot to say to the fathers,
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Speaker 2: as we wrap up the message and make it practical.
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Speaker 2: But I don't want any man here today to miss
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Speaker 2: the emotion of this story. He may have been an official,
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Speaker 2: he could have been herod himself. But when your son
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Speaker 2: gets sick, that touch you as deeply as you can
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Speaker 2: be touched. When you have a sick daughter and you
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Speaker 2: find yourself helpless, unable to bring about a change, then
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Speaker 2: you're at your lowest dead. That is, if you're anything
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Speaker 2: like me. You are that's what fractures me the most
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Speaker 2: when one of my children become sick and to the
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Speaker 2: point of death. Verse forty seven concludes the boy was
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Speaker 2: at the point of death. The father had seen this
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Speaker 2: active youngster become listless. He saw his color leave his face.
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Speaker 2: He saw him become bedridden. Over a period of time,
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Speaker 2: and by and bye, he saw the boy slip in
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Speaker 2: and out of a coma, until maybe at the very
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Speaker 2: time he took the trip from Capernaum to Cana, the
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Speaker 2: boy was in a deep coma. The life was gone
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Speaker 2: from his eyes, the energy from his body. The fun
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Speaker 2: things they had done together were no longer being done
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Speaker 2: because this boy was near death. And this man had money.
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Speaker 2: But he couldn't buy healing. You know, there are many
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Speaker 2: things money cannot buy. Money can buy a lovely kingsized bid,
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Speaker 2: but it cannot buy sleep. Money can buy a beautiful
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Speaker 2: three four story mansion on four acres of land, a
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Speaker 2: great house, but it cannot buy a home. Money can
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Speaker 2: buy you companionship all around the world, but it cannot
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Speaker 2: buy you one close friend. Money can buy books, but
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Speaker 2: not brains. You can buy all the books in the
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Speaker 2: school's library, but you cannot buy through your money, grades
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Speaker 2: brains to carry on in life. Money can buy you crucifix,
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Speaker 2: but not a savior. Money can buy you a church building,
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Speaker 2: but it can never purchase even the down payment on heaven.
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Speaker 2: It can buy medicine, but it fails to buy health.
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Speaker 2: That's where this rich father had come all the money
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Speaker 2: in the world to give Jesus if he would just
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Speaker 2: come and bring healing. But he couldn't do it himself,
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Speaker 2: And so he came with that sense of urgency. The need, obviously,
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Speaker 2: is the healing of his boy. Oh, that this miracle
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Speaker 2: worker could come and bring healing to his son. That's
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Speaker 2: the need. Now from the occasion, let's turn to the
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Speaker 2: conversation verse forty seven says he was requesting him to
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Speaker 2: come down and heal his son. You notice the father's
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Speaker 2: concept of healing. It was like most people, in order
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Speaker 2: for there to be healing, you must have contact. He
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Speaker 2: didn't need contact. All he needed was the pleasurable will
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Speaker 2: of God. That's all it took. But he was locked
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Speaker 2: into the common physical, thinking, I've got to bring Jesus
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Speaker 2: to my son so that my son can receive his
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Speaker 2: life back, or at least the energy that's now God.
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Speaker 2: And he said to the Lord Jesus, he requested him
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Speaker 2: to come down. The particular tense of this verb means
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Speaker 2: he asked him over and over and over again. I
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Speaker 2: suppose he followed him from his meal to the time
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Speaker 2: he spent with the disciples, to a public meeting he
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Speaker 2: had in Cana back to a place of rest. I
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Speaker 2: think this father went from place to place, urging him
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Speaker 2: to come down to Capernaum to heal his boy. You
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Speaker 2: will notice Jesus' reply almost sounds like a rebuke verse
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Speaker 2: forty eight. Unless you people see signs and wonders, you
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Speaker 2: simply will not believe. But you miss it if you
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Speaker 2: think he was simply harsh. You see Jesus was living
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Speaker 2: with a phony image in the minds of the people.
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Speaker 2: They looked upon him as the Galilean miracle worker. Hurry, hurry, hurry,
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Speaker 2: the miracle workers come. You have somebody that needs healing,
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Speaker 2: That's the one that can do it. You need food,
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Speaker 2: He can fill your stomach. That was not his mission.
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Speaker 2: He was tired of being known as the side show
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Speaker 2: on the midway.
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Speaker 3: If you please, he was.
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Speaker 2: The Messiah, the son of God, God in the flesh.
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Speaker 2: He wasn't simply a miracle worker. He wasn't just a healer.
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Speaker 2: He was God offering eternal life to man. And here
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Speaker 2: came another one's twenty miles away, heal my son. Jesus said, oh,
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Speaker 2: you want his signs and wonders. Furthermore, in the back
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Speaker 2: of Jesus' mind, the healing of his son represented no
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Speaker 2: big problem. You know, I find the longer I live
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Speaker 2: the things that are big to me or little to God.
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Speaker 2: Do you discover that that when God finally works out
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Speaker 2: the knot that I've tied four or five different grannies,
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Speaker 2: you know, the terrible notch you can tie your life into,
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Speaker 2: and when the Lord comes along. That's about how long
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Speaker 2: it takes. Just changes it almost overnight, and you've labored
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Speaker 2: and worried and perspired and done everything but pray, and
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Speaker 2: finally God comes to your rescue and its all die.
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Speaker 2: In Jesus' mind the problem was solved. But in the
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Speaker 2: mind of a father there was nothing but a dying son,
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Speaker 2: and that was an herclean problem. And the man responded, sir,
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Speaker 2: verse forty nine, come down before my child dies. It's
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Speaker 2: as if he's saying, Look, I don't have time to
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Speaker 2: squabble over the way people have been treating you. I
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Speaker 2: can't explain the misrepresentation, the misunderstanding, the inappropriate response of
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Speaker 2: the public. All I can tell you is I've got
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Speaker 2: a dying boy. Come down there. That seems to be
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Speaker 2: the tone of sir, come down in that forty ninth verse.
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Speaker 2: By the way, there's a glimpse of reality tucked away
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Speaker 2: in verse forty nine. Most of us have in mind
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Speaker 2: a full life for our children, don't we. Most of
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Speaker 2: us never plan or ever think of the loss.
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Speaker 3: Of our children.
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Speaker 2: It's a grim thought. But the next time you are
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Speaker 2: out at a cemetery and you have the time to
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Speaker 2: look over some of those gray, silent centuries that guard
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Speaker 2: the tombs, take a look at the dates of birth.
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Speaker 3: And death.
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Speaker 2: You will be amazed how many died before they ever
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Speaker 2: reached adulthood.
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Speaker 3: Amazed.
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Speaker 2: There is a grim fact that comes over me when
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Speaker 2: I see in verse forty nine the feeling of this
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Speaker 2: father scared to.
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Speaker 3: Death that he might lose his son.
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Speaker 2: You know, the first grave that was ever dug on
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Speaker 2: earth was not dug.
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Speaker 3: For a father was dug for his son.
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Speaker 2: The young died, and they die often. There is no guarantee.
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Speaker 2: What is your life, says James. It's a puff of
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Speaker 2: smoke that appears and then vanishes away. This boy was
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Speaker 2: just about to become a puff of smoke, and the
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Speaker 2: father was pleading for his life. And Jesus' response is
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Speaker 2: just beautiful. The man had said, sir, come down. Jesus
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Speaker 2: said to him, go your way. The man had said,
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Speaker 2: come down before my child dies. Jesus said, your son lives.
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Speaker 2: Isn't that magnificent. All the father could think of was dead,
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Speaker 2: And Jesus just in a moment, said, oh, your son's
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Speaker 2: five and your son lives. Oh, that must have been
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Speaker 2: a magnificent experience.
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Speaker 3: He was faced with a decision. Jesus gave him a.
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Speaker 2: Promise and he was faced with whether or not he
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Speaker 2: would believe it wasn't he. I'm pleased to say that
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Speaker 2: he chose to believe the word. Verse fifty, the man
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Speaker 2: believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he
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Speaker 2: started off. Now, I want you to look at that
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Speaker 2: verse that we just read. The man believed the word
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Speaker 2: that Jesus spoke to him, and he started off. If
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Speaker 2: you were reading that all alone and you came to
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Speaker 2: the end of that verse, wouldn't you have the feeling
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Speaker 2: that he started off back to caprinium. Wouldn't that be
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Speaker 2: a normal interpretation of started off? But sure, if you
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Speaker 2: had a sick child who was living in San Francisco,
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Speaker 2: and it was late at night and the Lord Jesus
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Speaker 2: was in Los Angeles, and you came down to Los
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Speaker 2: Angeles to talk to him about your sick child, some
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Speaker 2: four hundred miles away, and he said, don't worry. Your
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Speaker 2: child lives. And it says and you believe the Lord Jesus,
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Speaker 2: and you started off, What does it mean? It means
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Speaker 2: you took the Red Eye Special right back to San Francisco.
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Speaker 3: That's what it means.
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Speaker 2: It means you would do the very thing I would
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Speaker 2: do immediately, you would check up on the healing of
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Speaker 2: your child. But that's not what this man did. That's
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Speaker 2: the great part about this passage, and it's missed by
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Speaker 2: the average reader. The Greek word actually means he went
27:49
Speaker 2: his way. The editors had in mind the idea he
27:54
Speaker 2: started back, but the word literally means.
27:59
Speaker 3: He went his way.
28:00
Speaker 2: Jesus said, go your way, and so he went his way.
28:06
Speaker 2: What did you do? Well, let's read on. It gets
28:10
Speaker 2: even more exciting. Go your way, Your son lives. The
28:15
Speaker 2: man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and
28:17
Speaker 2: he went his way. Look at the next verse, and
28:22
Speaker 2: as he was now going down. Now that implies there's
28:26
Speaker 2: been a period of time. As he was now going down,
28:31
Speaker 2: his slaves met him, saying that his son was living.
28:36
Speaker 2: By the way, that's in the same tense as he
28:38
Speaker 2: made the request. Your son is living. Your son is living.
28:41
Speaker 2: He's alive, he's great, he's doing fine. The fever's gone.
28:45
Speaker 2: That's the feeling of the verse. So he inquired of
28:48
Speaker 2: them the hour when he began to get better. They said,
28:51
Speaker 2: therefore to him, yesterday, at the seventh hour, the fever
28:54
Speaker 2: left him. Wait a minute, yesterday have you ever seen
29:06
Speaker 2: that before. Now, if the seventh hour was one o'clock,
29:11
Speaker 2: and it certainly was, that's the rendering of time. Time
29:15
Speaker 2: began at six in the morning, seventh hour would be
29:17
Speaker 2: one in the afternoon. At one o'clock in the afternoon,
29:23
Speaker 2: he could have made it back to Capernium by one
29:26
Speaker 2: point twenty, you know, it had taken the spatial back.
29:30
Speaker 2: Or if he would have run, you know, if he
29:32
Speaker 2: would have hurried back, he would have been there in
29:34
Speaker 2: a couple of hours. But he didn't go back the
29:38
Speaker 2: same day. He waited till the next day. You look
29:47
Speaker 2: at me like you don't believe that. Look at that
29:50
Speaker 2: verse yesterday at the seventh hour, if it was the
29:54
Speaker 2: seventh hour and it was one o'clock in the afternoon,
29:56
Speaker 2: he would have certainly gone right back. No, he didn't.
30:00
Speaker 2: Why didn't he? He believed the word. He had some
30:04
Speaker 2: things that to take care of. Eat a good meal,
30:08
Speaker 2: see a show, take it easy, find a good place
30:14
Speaker 2: to rest. Had been a worried man for a while,
30:16
Speaker 2: and he just laid back and he just recounted the
30:21
Speaker 2: greatness of God resting in the promises. Isn't that magnificent? Yesterday?
30:33
Speaker 2: Oh not you and me. Man, let me say, Lord,
30:38
Speaker 2: provide this need, do it through the mail now, and
30:47
Speaker 2: you go to the mailbox eighteen times a day, checking it.
30:51
Speaker 2: Where is it? Where is it? God says, don't worry,
30:56
Speaker 2: I'll take care of your child. You write nineteen letters
30:58
Speaker 2: a week, you know, staying in touch, making sure God's
31:02
Speaker 2: his relax. Yesterday and the father believed the word. I'm
31:12
Speaker 2: impressed with that father.
31:15
Speaker 3: All they needed was the word from Jesus. So he
31:17
Speaker 3: met the slaves.
31:18
Speaker 2: Ah, they're so happy they see him coming. Oh, your
31:23
Speaker 2: son's alive. He's alive. And the father never says he's surprised.
31:28
Speaker 2: With a calculating mind, he says, say, fellows, exactly what
31:32
Speaker 2: time was it when he got better? They said at
31:35
Speaker 2: the seventh hour the fever left it. So the next
31:39
Speaker 2: verse begins, the father knew it was at that hour
31:45
Speaker 2: in which Jesus said to him, your son lives. And
31:49
Speaker 2: he himself believed. I thought he had already believed. No earlier,
31:55
Speaker 2: he believed the word see the verse verse fifty. He
32:00
Speaker 2: believed the word Jesus spoke. He believed the promise. But
32:05
Speaker 2: now he believes in the Savior along with his whole house.
32:12
Speaker 2: There was a revival in Capernium as he with his
32:18
Speaker 2: household rejoice over the marvelous miracle God did.
32:27
Speaker 3: At a distance, you say.
32:29
Speaker 2: Well, is that all? No, there's more. As a matter
32:34
Speaker 2: of fact, you can't find it in John, but you
32:36
Speaker 2: can find it in Luke. I'm gonna show you something
32:40
Speaker 2: Luke chapter eight. Now, if you haven't been looking in
32:43
Speaker 2: your Bible so far, grab it. Luke eight Verses one, two,
32:48
Speaker 2: and three sort of fill out the picture for us.
32:53
Speaker 2: We're at the same juncture that we were in in
32:56
Speaker 2: chapter four of John, the second Journey to Galilee, same
33:01
Speaker 2: basic time segment. But Luke, the historian, the physician, the
33:07
Speaker 2: analytical Greek mind. With that mind of his, he records
33:12
Speaker 2: something that John doesn't take the time to mention. Luke
33:15
Speaker 2: eight one. It came about soon afterwards that he began
33:20
Speaker 2: going about from one city and village to another, proclaiming
33:23
Speaker 2: and preaching the Kingdom of God. And the twelve were
33:27
Speaker 2: with him, and also some women who had been healed
33:32
Speaker 2: of evil spirits and sicknesses. Mary who was called Magdalene,
33:38
Speaker 2: from whom seven demons had gone out now the verse,
33:44
Speaker 2: and Joanna, the wife of Cuza. Two people you've never
33:49
Speaker 2: heard of in your life. Look at him, Herod's steward,
33:58
Speaker 2: and Susannah and many others who were contributing to their
34:02
Speaker 2: support out of their private means. I look at the verse,
34:09
Speaker 2: see the words Herod's steward. Barkley tells us that the
34:15
Speaker 2: steward kept the books for Herod. He was the accountant,
34:21
Speaker 2: He was the technical advisor for Herod. I want to
34:27
Speaker 2: suggest that Kuza is the name of the ruler or
34:32
Speaker 2: the official mentioned in John chapter four, and his wife's
34:35
Speaker 2: name is Joanna. Why did they give money to Jesus
34:40
Speaker 2: and is twelve? Why did they, out of their private
34:45
Speaker 2: means give him money? It was a token of appreciation.
34:52
Speaker 2: It was a way for Cusa and Joanna to say
34:56
Speaker 2: thank you, Jesus for what you have done in our
34:59
Speaker 2: li home. Now let's go back to John and let's
35:04
Speaker 2: wrap it up. See verse fifty three. He believed and
35:10
Speaker 2: his whole household, and Luke tells us they together as
35:15
Speaker 2: a couple, were involved in the supporting of Jesus and
35:19
Speaker 2: his disciples. And John concludes this is again a second sign.
35:27
Speaker 2: The word means miracle that Jesus performed when he had
35:31
Speaker 2: come out of Judea into Galilee. It is a direct
35:37
Speaker 2: statement in verse fifty four that you ought to put
35:40
Speaker 2: in the margin beside it twenty thirty one. Through these signs,
35:47
Speaker 2: many would believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son
35:50
Speaker 2: of God. John twenty thirty one is directly related to
35:54
Speaker 2: verse fifty four. It was one of the signs John
35:58
Speaker 2: included to create faith in the hearts of the listener.
36:04
Speaker 2: Now we're ready. You heard Frederick Faber's words from our
36:10
Speaker 2: choir as the father stood a little bit ago. Faith
36:17
Speaker 2: of our father's living still, in spite of dungeon, fire
36:24
Speaker 2: and sword, we will be true to thee till death.
36:31
Speaker 2: Remember the words. Let's talk about what it means to
36:36
Speaker 2: be a faithful father. Okay, Let's use as our living
36:45
Speaker 2: example from the scriptures Kuza the official from Herod's court.
36:55
Speaker 2: There are five simple characteristics I draw law from the
37:01
Speaker 2: life of Cusa for fathers today. They even apply to
37:06
Speaker 2: grandfathers and great grandfathers, some of who may be in
37:12
Speaker 2: this service. What does it mean to be a faithful father? First,
37:20
Speaker 2: it means a faithful father is not too independent to
37:26
Speaker 2: admit his own needs. The man did that. This faithful
37:38
Speaker 2: father admitted by coming to Jesus, I am not able
37:44
Speaker 2: to heal this boy. The longer I live around American fathers,
37:56
Speaker 2: the more impressed I am with our independence, our resistance
38:07
Speaker 2: to admit our needs. Was that true of your father?
38:16
Speaker 2: Is that true of your father? Today? Men? How long
38:23
Speaker 2: are we going to remain so stubborn and independent? How
38:32
Speaker 2: long are we going to keep our families in the
38:35
Speaker 2: guessing game? How long will it be before God will
38:42
Speaker 2: literally have to crush you to make you honest enough
38:47
Speaker 2: to admit you've got some needs? For example, what was
38:52
Speaker 2: the last time you apologized to your children?
38:56
Speaker 3: Or a stupid decision?
39:00
Speaker 2: Who oh, I would fracture the faith of my children
39:04
Speaker 2: and me. Don't kid yourself. That would well. Then, to you,
39:13
Speaker 2: it's the father who never admits his cracks and needs
39:20
Speaker 2: that's still trying to bridge a relationship with his children.
39:27
Speaker 2: You say, well, I'm of the old school. Well the
39:29
Speaker 2: old school was the wrong school. Friends. If the old
39:35
Speaker 2: school makes you rigid, stubborn, and independent, that will never
39:42
Speaker 2: build a relationship with a wife and a family. Many
39:48
Speaker 2: a godly wife longingly waits upon God to break the
39:54
Speaker 2: will of her husband so that that man becomes tender
39:59
Speaker 2: and gentle and human enough and honest enough to say, Honey,
40:04
Speaker 2: I've reached the end of my room. You are the
40:07
Speaker 2: help I need. Wow. Do I remember the day that
40:11
Speaker 2: happened in my life living with the very one that
40:18
Speaker 2: had so much of the wisdom I needed that I
40:21
Speaker 2: was too stubborn, too much of the swindle in me
40:25
Speaker 2: to admit it.
40:26
Speaker 3: You know, men, you know what I'm saying.
40:30
Speaker 2: You know you don't let it down, you don't unmask. Wow.
40:37
Speaker 2: How great it is to know that I have a
40:40
Speaker 2: family that won't boot me out when I say to
40:43
Speaker 2: them around the table somenight say oh dad's really hurting tonight.
40:50
Speaker 2: Oh wow, let me tell you about it. And you
40:55
Speaker 2: know what, the most understanding people in.
40:58
Speaker 3: The world are my children. It's remarkable.
41:05
Speaker 2: I've never had one of my children say, oh, I
41:12
Speaker 2: can't believe that you suffer from that problem. I can't
41:18
Speaker 2: picture Jack ever saying that anyway. You know, boy, our
41:24
Speaker 2: kids are so much like this. One of the Sunday
41:26
Speaker 2: school teachers just told me that my little boy this
41:28
Speaker 2: morning picked up another boy and put him on the
41:30
Speaker 2: oven and turned on all four burners. Honey, I want
41:36
Speaker 2: to talk to you about that after the service is over.
41:41
Speaker 2: When you are honest and open up, you don't have
41:43
Speaker 2: any image to keep up. You don't have any big
41:46
Speaker 2: thing to promote, you know, Man, I just realized I
41:53
Speaker 2: forgot to ask if you turned the fire on or
41:55
Speaker 2: out of or it was just a gas man. I
41:57
Speaker 2: hope he's okay. What will it take to make us
42:04
Speaker 2: human enough to admit our weaknesses? What will it? What
42:07
Speaker 2: will it take? He said? Oh, well, my wife needs
42:13
Speaker 2: to really come around. She needs to snap too. Oh really,
42:18
Speaker 2: she's waiting for you. She was looking to you as
42:23
Speaker 2: an example. She wants to learn submission from you. As
42:29
Speaker 2: you submit to Christ, it's the best example she has
42:33
Speaker 2: to follow. What are you going to do that? Man?
42:37
Speaker 2: What will it take? I was moved to tears, literally
42:43
Speaker 2: to tears this past week as I was in my
42:47
Speaker 2: file looking through the section on f and I came
42:51
Speaker 2: across funerals, and I just for some reason was prompted
42:57
Speaker 2: to pull out the file folder on funerals and I
43:02
Speaker 2: thumbed through, and I noticed names in my past of
43:13
Speaker 2: people I've ministered to who were chosen by God to
43:20
Speaker 2: lose their children. And I couldn't think of a stubborn
43:26
Speaker 2: one in the whole group. I saw Henry and Barbara Buchanan,
43:35
Speaker 2: I buried Dana Lynne eighteen months old. I saw Walt Hendrickson,
43:41
Speaker 2: who lost his dear son by leukemia. I saw Dan
43:47
Speaker 2: and Sue Cabush, who lost little Jimmy in Wisconsin in
43:51
Speaker 2: an auto crash. I saw Dan and Rosie Doyle, who
43:56
Speaker 2: lost Pat before he ever finished his first year of marriage.
44:02
Speaker 2: I saw John and Gale Sheldon, God bless them.
44:08
Speaker 3: Who lost Bob.
44:10
Speaker 2: I saw Budden Mary Loo Pawley, who lost Leslie in
44:16
Speaker 2: her early teen years. I saw the moon Jene parents,
44:23
Speaker 2: Gary and Linda, parents who stand tall in my mind.
44:31
Speaker 3: Who lost their children while they were on their honeymoon Hawaii.
44:37
Speaker 2: I saw a half dozen others, and I said, to God,
44:47
Speaker 2: those kids are yours, those four that you've given me,
44:53
Speaker 2: And just keep me flexible so I can take that
44:59
Speaker 2: if that's your plan, and Fathers, I don't want God
45:04
Speaker 2: to have to use something like that to crush your spirit,
45:09
Speaker 2: to crush your will. What will it take to soften
45:14
Speaker 2: some of you men so that you're genuinely in love
45:20
Speaker 2: with your children and they know it.
45:26
Speaker 3: They know it.
45:32
Speaker 2: A father of faith is not too busy to know
45:36
Speaker 2: his children. That second, he's not too busy to know
45:42
Speaker 2: his children. He takes it as a personal project in
45:47
Speaker 2: his life to set aside sufficient priorities. And you're looking
45:52
Speaker 2: at one that has the greatest battle with priorities, especially
45:56
Speaker 2: the last two months of my life, of anybody in
45:59
Speaker 2: this entire place. So I'm not speaking from theory. I'm
46:03
Speaker 2: speaking from experience, deeply convicted. When I mentioned priorities, I say,
46:11
Speaker 2: my family is first, but there is something about my
46:14
Speaker 2: work that is consuming. It's day and night, as it
46:19
Speaker 2: were during these days, and I want so much men, fathers,
46:25
Speaker 2: I want us to be examples to our families that
46:29
Speaker 2: they matter, that each one, each little olive plant that's
46:36
Speaker 2: around our table, is worth some time, not fifteen minutes
46:42
Speaker 2: a month, but some time. Realistically, you can't give them hours,
46:47
Speaker 2: but some time. I sat down purposely to pick the
46:52
Speaker 2: brain of my oldest and I discovered things that were
46:55
Speaker 2: there in the fields of his thinking I never knew
46:58
Speaker 2: were there, and it took time to uncover them. We're
47:05
Speaker 2: closer because I took that time to get to know him.
47:11
Speaker 2: I noticed that this father did not send his wife
47:14
Speaker 2: to handle the healing need. I'm impressed with that. How
47:20
Speaker 2: many of you dad's oh one of the kids taking
47:22
Speaker 2: the doctor? Honey, Oh you got a problem? Handle it.
47:26
Speaker 2: Home is your business, the work is mine. I have
47:29
Speaker 2: enough headaches down at the office. Your wife looks to
47:35
Speaker 2: you for those helpful, supportive.
47:41
Speaker 3: Roles that you must play.
47:44
Speaker 2: Don't abandon her when she needs you the most. Third,
47:51
Speaker 2: he isn't too proud to believe God's word. It says
47:56
Speaker 2: when Jesus told him your son lives, he believed the word. Fathers.
48:05
Speaker 2: To believe it means you've got to spend a little
48:08
Speaker 2: time in it. You spend time on your own in
48:13
Speaker 2: the scriptures. Men, you can't spend hours. How about thirty
48:19
Speaker 2: minutes a day? How about twenty? Would you believe even
48:24
Speaker 2: ten little time in the word so that you can
48:29
Speaker 2: set the pace for your family. This man believed what
48:34
Speaker 2: Jesus said. Fourth, he isn't too logical to walk by faith.
48:42
Speaker 2: He said, Oh, I'm a very logical person. I just
48:44
Speaker 2: have to believe what I see. Well, that's a shame,
48:46
Speaker 2: because it's sinful. You cannot live by what you see.
48:52
Speaker 2: If you're going to walk with God, you have to
48:56
Speaker 2: be on the cutting edge of expectancy, pushing that knife
49:01
Speaker 2: as far as it can go for your family to
49:04
Speaker 2: follow in faith, faith of our father's what faith says
49:10
Speaker 2: some here today, I've loaned to see my dad act
49:15
Speaker 2: in faith and set the pace rather than it always
49:19
Speaker 2: happen to be my mother. What areas of expectancy are
49:24
Speaker 2: you on in those cutting edges of your family? Had
49:28
Speaker 2: just challenged the life out of them, the whole matter
49:35
Speaker 2: of giving, the whole matter of sharing, the whole matter
49:39
Speaker 2: of releasing. You're teaching your family how to do it. Men,
49:48
Speaker 2: And I've got to end on a pleasant note. He
49:52
Speaker 2: isn't too serious to enjoy his family, now I know
50:00
Speaker 2: is serious. Believe me, nobody's got a more serious job
50:04
Speaker 2: than I do. I'll tell you there's enough in this
50:08
Speaker 2: work to crack up any three men, or whoever they
50:13
Speaker 2: may be. But I'm not gonna let it conquer me.
50:18
Speaker 2: I'm gonna have fine a lot of my life got
50:28
Speaker 2: that straight. I am gonna enjoy living. The most frequent
50:35
Speaker 2: sound my people are gonna remember in my home is
50:39
Speaker 2: their father's laughter. That would be a strange sound from
50:46
Speaker 2: some of your throats.
50:48
Speaker 3: Men, And that's a shame.
50:52
Speaker 2: You can't tell me when that father got home that
50:55
Speaker 2: they had a morbid, serious service. I'll bet you they
51:02
Speaker 2: had a blast. I'll bet you they had a well.
51:07
Speaker 2: I bet you I would say they had a great
51:10
Speaker 2: time rejoicing. Why why not? When I brought a series
51:20
Speaker 2: on the family some time ago, an anonymous writer, I
51:25
Speaker 2: suppose a woman from our congregation slipped a note to
51:30
Speaker 2: me in the mail and was unsigned. It said, can
51:38
Speaker 2: you conclude in your series some of the following hints
51:41
Speaker 2: to Christian fathers, who, in my long years of observation,
51:47
Speaker 2: seemed to be great stumbling blocks to young people? Would
51:54
Speaker 2: you tell them that a Christian father can be happy,
51:59
Speaker 2: he can laugh nothing, he can smile frequently and not
52:04
Speaker 2: be continually grim and sober. Could you tell them that
52:09
Speaker 2: a Christian father may have to sacrifice a little to
52:11
Speaker 2: spend time with each child, not just watching TV with them.
52:18
Speaker 2: And could you tell them that a Christian father will
52:21
Speaker 2: obviously spend as much time with God and his family
52:25
Speaker 2: as he does with the news.
52:27
Speaker 3: Could you tell him that, and that.
52:32
Speaker 2: A Christian father will not depend on his wife to
52:34
Speaker 2: make the children love him and respect him, That he
52:41
Speaker 2: will try to find out why his family is happier
52:45
Speaker 2: when he has to work late Will you explain that
52:57
Speaker 2: a Christian father will from the krib on make an
53:01
Speaker 2: adult and conscious effort to know each child and his wife.
53:07
Speaker 2: Will you tell him that that a Christian father will
53:12
Speaker 2: make an effort to listen when a remark is addressed
53:15
Speaker 2: to him, that he will, once in a while admit
53:21
Speaker 2: he's not quite perfect, That he will love Jesus enough
53:27
Speaker 2: that the family knows him, and that he won't judge
53:34
Speaker 2: everything by its monetary value, leaving his wife and children feeling.
53:39
Speaker 3: Guilty because they are so expensive.
53:44
Speaker 2: Will you tell him, I'm told him.
53:52
Speaker 3: Maybe about to get it.
53:57
Speaker 2: Oh, it is so important, very important.
54:03
Speaker 4: That the scriptures remain practical in life. I couldn't care
54:08
Speaker 4: less if you could outline John four forty six to
54:11
Speaker 4: fifty four seven different ways that you can't apply it
54:15
Speaker 4: one way. This book was not written to satisfy academic curiosity.
54:21
Speaker 2: Men. It was written to change our lives. And that's
54:27
Speaker 2: the trouble some of you have stopped changing. It's about time, men,
54:37
Speaker 2: that we wear the spiritual shoes of a home. It's
54:42
Speaker 2: about time that we give them gentle, guiding, loving, gracious,
54:47
Speaker 2: pace setting leadership that creates a starving hunger for spiritual things.
55:01
Speaker 2: I wonder if this day wouldn't be the perfect day
55:03
Speaker 2: for you to sit down and have an honest heart
55:06
Speaker 2: to heart talk with the wife and the children. It's
55:12
Speaker 2: the first day of the rest of your life. God's
55:16
Speaker 2: great forgiveness includes to day.
55:19
Speaker 3: Thank God.
55:22
Speaker 2: Maybe these things are just saying to you.
55:24
Speaker 3: You know, I've never received Jesus Christ. I've never found.
55:28
Speaker 2: The power to change, while my friend, today's the day
55:33
Speaker 2: you found it. I'll I longingly plead with you. Don't
55:39
Speaker 2: reject it another day. Please ask him into.
55:44
Speaker 5: Your life, telling you accept him and you love him.
55:49
Speaker 5: Right now, Fathers, don't let this Father's Day leave without
55:55
Speaker 5: your driving a stake into this message as.
56:00
Speaker 2: A turning point, a pivot point in your life. Don't
56:08
Speaker 2: let that happen, Our father, we close this service and
56:17
Speaker 2: a very serious note. But how wrong it would be
56:21
Speaker 2: if we simply leave wrapped in guilt. Ah, there is
56:27
Speaker 2: so much more.
56:30
Speaker 3: So much more that you have for us.
56:36
Speaker 2: The enemy would ruin us with guilt, would submerge us,
56:41
Speaker 2: make us an effective.
56:43
Speaker 3: Dear Father, Please.
56:47
Speaker 2: Remind us of your forgiveness that comes instantaneously.
56:52
Speaker 3: And your full acceptance. The moment we confess.
57:00
Speaker 2: Be glorified our Father today as we exalt your name.
57:06
Speaker 3: Together through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
57:14
Speaker 6: The preceding message, Healing at a Distance, was copyrighted in
57:18
Speaker 6: nineteen seventy five, nineteen eighty seven, two thousand and twenty eighteen,
57:24
Speaker 6: and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty eighteen by
57:28
Speaker 6: Charles R. Swindall Ink. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication
57:33
Speaker 6: of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited