Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / Christ's Love, The Tenderhearted Home - Minister Max Lucado

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Christ's Love, The Tenderhearted Home - Minister Max Lucado · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

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  Speaker 1: Buck no, no bathing and.
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  Speaker 2: Something I ad.
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  Speaker 1: A st ar bump.
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  Speaker 3: Bump, cop up cup.
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  Speaker 4: Ga second.
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  Speaker 1: And everything every set.
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  Speaker 5: Bats these seven children and onto their children's children.
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  Speaker 6: It's a beautiful story. Amen, we have the revelus here
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  Speaker 6: with us. I'd like to invite the family to stand.
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  Speaker 6: I know you'd like to express your gratitude to them
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  Speaker 6: for sharing their story, but they're going to be available
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  Speaker 6: after the service. I know many of you would like
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  Speaker 6: to shake their hand, make an acquaintance with them. We
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  Speaker 6: don't know where life is going to take us, but
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  Speaker 6: God does. And he doesn't give us the details or
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  Speaker 6: the future of our family, but he does tell us
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  Speaker 6: what to do to make a family work. And I'm
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  Speaker 6: thinking that if one verse would serve as a ribbon
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  Speaker 6: on this package, this sermons series on the fly, it
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  Speaker 6: might be this one from First Corinthians, chapter thirteen and
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  Speaker 6: verse seven. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes
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  Speaker 6: all things, and endures all things. You know, my parents
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  Speaker 6: were not too big on eating out. They were practical folk.
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  Speaker 6: Why eat out when you can eat in? It's funny
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  Speaker 6: now that I'm a growing up, I reverse that, why
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  Speaker 6: eat in when you can eat out? When we were
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  Speaker 6: raising our kids. We'd say it's time for dinner, and
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  Speaker 6: they'd go to the garage. But my parents didn't go
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  Speaker 6: for that. But eating out was a very rare privilege,
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  Speaker 6: just once every month or two. They weren't big on
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  Speaker 6: eating out. My mom was very big on cleaning your plate,
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  Speaker 6: and she was a good cook, God bless her soul,
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  Speaker 6: but she made some some vegetables that were not intended
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  Speaker 6: for human consumption. She loved to make okra, boiled okra,
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  Speaker 6: we called it crocra crocra, and asparagus. Who came up
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  Speaker 6: with asparagus we called it gasp eregus. Mom required that
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  Speaker 6: if it's on the table, you have some of it,
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  Speaker 6: and so it would end up on our plate and
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  Speaker 6: we would have to eat it. That was just kind
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  Speaker 6: of the rule of the house. But every so often
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  Speaker 6: we would get to go to a restaurant to eat,
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  Speaker 6: and on those very very special days, really unique but
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  Speaker 6: very special days, we would make the forty five minute
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  Speaker 6: drive from our little West Texas town to another town
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  Speaker 6: that had what I still consider today to be the
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  Speaker 6: greatest culinary invention since fire, and that is the cafeteria.
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  Speaker 6: Because a cafeteria you have all the choices you want.
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  Speaker 6: You stand at the end of the line with that tray,
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  Speaker 6: that empty trade that's about to be filled, and you
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  Speaker 6: just look down the line. Oh, a person can get
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  Speaker 6: inebriated by the choices, liberated by the freedom, and you
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  Speaker 6: just kind of waltz down the line. Yes to the
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  Speaker 6: fried fish, No to the crocra No to the gasparagus, Yes, yes,
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  Speaker 6: yes to the pecan pie. It's just wonderful. And I've
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  Speaker 6: often thought, wouldn't it be great if if love and
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  Speaker 6: relationships were like a cafeteria line, and you could look
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  Speaker 6: at those teenagers and say yes on the good grades,
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  Speaker 6: yes on the good looks, no on the moody teenage tantrums,
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  Speaker 6: no on the tuition. Wouldn't it be great if you
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  Speaker 6: could just pick and choose what you want in a relationship.
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  Speaker 6: You could look at your spouse and say yes on
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  Speaker 6: good health, yes on good income, no thank you on
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  Speaker 6: in laws. If you could just kind of pick and
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  Speaker 6: choose and fill your tray, life would be so much easier.
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  Speaker 6: Life would be simpler, Love would be pure. But you
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  Speaker 6: know what, that wouldn't be love because according to the Bible, love, well,
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  Speaker 6: love is more like my mom's view of the dinner table,
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  Speaker 6: and less like the cafeteria. You don't get to pick
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  Speaker 6: and choose. Love bears all things. That's the first word
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  Speaker 6: that the Apostle gives us when it comes to love.
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  Speaker 6: He says, love bears all things. This word bear does
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  Speaker 6: not mean just to put up with, or I can
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  Speaker 6: bear him for a day. Nothing more. Really, to bear
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  Speaker 6: with someone, according to this word, is to cover. Love
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  Speaker 6: covers all things it protects. I have a friend who
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  Speaker 6: told me of a trip he took recently to a
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  Speaker 6: public park for a picnic, and the picnic was interrupted
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  Speaker 6: by a sudden summer rainstorm. As he was grabbing the
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  Speaker 6: picnic basket and hurrying the kids and the family to
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  Speaker 6: the car, he noticed that out in the opening and
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  Speaker 6: the grass, there was a bird right out in the
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  Speaker 6: middle of the open area, not close to a tree
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  Speaker 6: at all. There was a bird on the ground and
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  Speaker 6: this bird was just braced against the winds and the rain.
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  Speaker 6: And he was curious as to why the bird was there,
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  Speaker 6: and he stepped closer and he saw that the bird
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  Speaker 6: had extended her wing over a baby bird. Apparently the
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  Speaker 6: baby bird had been blown out of the nest by
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  Speaker 6: the storm. The wind was so strong that the mother
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  Speaker 6: could not carry the bird back to the nest, and
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  Speaker 6: the choice was made to stay there and just protect it.
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  Speaker 6: That's what love does. Love extends a wing over the vulnerable.
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  Speaker 6: Love bears all things. In fact, the apostle Peter used
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  Speaker 6: the very same word that Paul used, and he translated
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  Speaker 6: it cover in a familiar verse, Love covers. It's the
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  Speaker 6: same word Love covers a multitude of sins. This is
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  Speaker 6: not to say that love hides the truth or wings
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  Speaker 6: at mistakes. It is simply to say, according to other translations,
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  Speaker 6: love never gives up. Love always protects. There's no limit
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  Speaker 6: to its endurance. There's nothing it cannot face. Love is
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  Speaker 6: loyal no matter what the cost. So love bears all things.
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  Speaker 6: Not only does love bear all things, love also believes
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  Speaker 6: all things. God's type of love is not cynical, not damaging,
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  Speaker 6: not critical. It's the kind of love that believes in
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  Speaker 6: the dreams of someone else, that supports them, that applauds them.
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  Speaker 6: God's kind of love wants to bring out the best
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  Speaker 6: in others. We wants others to succeed. And when love
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  Speaker 6: sees a person with a doubt or hesitation or fear,
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  Speaker 6: this kind of love believes in that person. This kind
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  Speaker 6: of love is quick to say you can do it,
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  Speaker 6: You're gonna be all right. God is with you. This
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  Speaker 6: kind of love is a source or a fount of
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  Speaker 6: encouragement instead of doubt. Again, this kind of love is
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  Speaker 6: not endorsing foolishness or irresponsible behavior, doesn't abandon common sense
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  Speaker 6: or obligations. It's simply a reminder that love believes in people,
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  Speaker 6: believes that the best is yet to come, and believes
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  Speaker 6: that the door of hope can always be left open,
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  Speaker 6: which takes us to the third element of love, and
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  Speaker 6: that is love hopes all things. John MacArthur tells the
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  Speaker 6: story of a dog that was separated from his owner,
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  Speaker 6: his master at the airport. Employers I'm sorry, employees and
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  Speaker 6: others took care of the dog, hoping to find the master.
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  Speaker 6: But when John heard the story, five years had passed
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  Speaker 6: and the master had yet to show up, and the
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  Speaker 6: dog had yet to leave the very spot where he
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  Speaker 6: last saw his master. Love always hopes. Love always hopes
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  Speaker 6: that the owner's going to come back, that something good
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  Speaker 6: is going to happen. Love always hopes that the prodigal
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  Speaker 6: will return, that the hard heart will soften, and that
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  Speaker 6: forgiveness will be issued. Love always hopes. Also love endures
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  Speaker 6: all things you know. Sometimes love comes in the form
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  Speaker 6: of romance and candlelight, passion presence. But many times love
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  Speaker 6: comes in the form of a very difficult decision to
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  Speaker 6: do what is right, even though it is a challenge.
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  Speaker 6: I had a meal some time ago with a couple
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  Speaker 6: who were demonstrating this kind of love. They wanted to
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  Speaker 6: tell me about a storm they were weathering through a
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  Speaker 6: series of events. She had learned of his infidelity, an
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  Speaker 6: act of infidelity that had occurred over a decade earlier.
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  Speaker 6: It was stupid what he did. It was even more
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  Speaker 6: foolish that he kept it a secret, and so she
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  Speaker 6: had to have deal with the heartbreak of learning that
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  Speaker 6: her husband had been unfaithful, and also that he had
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  Speaker 6: been deceitful for many, many years. They went to a counselor,
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  Speaker 6: and the counselor encouraged them to get away for a while.
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  Speaker 6: So they did. They went away, and they, according to
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  Speaker 6: their description, they walked and talked, and talked and walked.
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  Speaker 6: They prayed and talked for nine days. This went on
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  Speaker 6: as she could have left him. She was clearly in
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  Speaker 6: the right, and women have left husbands for lesser cause.
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  Speaker 6: She could have made his life miserable. Other women have
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  Speaker 6: done that, but she chose a different response. And on
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  Speaker 6: the tenth night of their trip, my friend found a
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  Speaker 6: card on his pillow. On the card was a printed
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  Speaker 6: verse that said I'd rather do nothing with you than
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  Speaker 6: something without you, And beneath the verse she had written
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  Speaker 6: the words I forgive you, I love you now let's move.
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  Speaker 6: On The card might as well have been a basin,
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  Speaker 6: and the pen might as well have been a picture
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  Speaker 6: of water, for out of it poured pure mercy, and
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  Speaker 6: with it she washed her husband's feet. Love endures, It
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  Speaker 6: hangs in there. It doesn't give up. It bunkers down.
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  Speaker 6: It hunkers down, It guards the flank. Why does a
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  Speaker 6: mother stay at the hospital night after night with their
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  Speaker 6: sick child because love endures. Why does the father keep
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  Speaker 6: the porch light on hoping that his prodigal will come
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  Speaker 6: home because love endures. Why is the wife willing to
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  Speaker 6: move six times in six years? Well because love endures.
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  Speaker 6: Why does the husband keep praying that his wife will
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  Speaker 6: come back to church? Because love endures. Love endures, It weathers,
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  Speaker 6: It hangs in there, It keeps the door open for hope.
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  Speaker 6: This is no cafeteria form of love. This is my
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  Speaker 6: mom's dinner table form of love. If you want to
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  Speaker 6: enjoy the meat loaf and the pecan, you got to
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  Speaker 6: take your share of crocra and gasparagus. I'm curious how
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  Speaker 6: these this type of lesson makes you feel. As you
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  Speaker 6: read the words of the apostle Paul, and we discussed
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  Speaker 6: him for a bit, I'd be so curious to know
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  Speaker 6: what kind of emotions they stir within you. Maybe you
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  Speaker 6: feel overwhelmed. Maybe you're thinking, there's no way I could
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  Speaker 6: love with that level of love. And my response to
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  Speaker 6: you would be, You're absolutely correct, there's no way you could.
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  Speaker 6: But God's love has been given to you. The scripture
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  Speaker 6: says God has poured out his love to fill our hearts.
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  Speaker 6: Do you understand what happened when you gave your heart
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  Speaker 6: to Christ, He placed his heart within you. Consequently, you
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  Speaker 6: can love others with a supernatural form of love. You
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  Speaker 6: can forget, give when it seems almost impossible to forgive.
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  Speaker 6: You can be patient when others would run out of patience.
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  Speaker 6: You can have the kind of love that bears, that endures,
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  Speaker 6: that hopes and believes because it's a supernatural love that
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  Speaker 6: God has deposited within you. Or maybe you're not feeling overwhelmed,
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  Speaker 6: Maybe you're feeling short changed. If somebody had loved me
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  Speaker 6: that way, you're thinking I might be a different kind
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  Speaker 6: of person. I've never had anyone love me like that?
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  Speaker 6: Are you sure you haven't? Do these four words not
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  Speaker 6: describe to you the love that God has for you.
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  Speaker 6: Love bears all things. Has God not born with you?
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  Speaker 6: Has He not extended his wing over you? Is the
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  Speaker 6: picture of that bird in the park and the little
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  Speaker 6: baby bird not a picture of God's love for you.
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  Speaker 6: The Bible says He will cover you with his feathers,
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  Speaker 6: and under his wings you can hide. Right now, right
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  Speaker 6: this instance, you are beneath the great grace of God.
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  Speaker 6: You're protected by the great providence of God. Even your
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  Speaker 6: sin and your death have been defeated because He has
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  Speaker 6: chosen to bear with you, to protect you, and He
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  Speaker 6: believes in you. He believes in you, friend, God says,
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  Speaker 6: I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you.
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  Speaker 6: I will give you a hope and a good future.
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  Speaker 6: If God was going to give up on you, don't
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  Speaker 6: you think you would have done it by now. You
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  Speaker 6: know how You know God hasn't given up on you
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  Speaker 6: because you have a pulse, because you can inhale and exhale.
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  Speaker 6: As long as you have a pulse, then God hasn't
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  Speaker 6: given up on you. He's got a great chapter of
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  Speaker 6: your life. He's always writing your story. Your best days
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  Speaker 6: are ahead of you. Stop looking back saying, oh, I
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  Speaker 6: wish the good days were here again. Right now is
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  Speaker 6: the good day. With God. Everything is new, every day
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  Speaker 6: is new. If you are in Christ, you are a
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  Speaker 6: new creation. So your best days are ahead of you.
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  Speaker 6: So God has great, great hope for you. He's never
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  Speaker 6: given up on you. Remember the story in the Bible
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  Speaker 6: of the prodigal son, how the father was looking for
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  Speaker 6: the son to come back. That's your heavenly Father always
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  Speaker 6: looking to you. Remember the story of the shepherd who
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  Speaker 6: had one hundred sheep when of them got lost, and
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  Speaker 6: so the shepherd left the ninety nine went looking for
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  Speaker 6: the other. That's Jesus Christ. You're a good shepherd looking
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  Speaker 6: for you. Remember the story about the mother or the
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  Speaker 6: woman who had ten coins and she lost one of them,
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  Speaker 6: so she put the nine down and swept the whole
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  Speaker 6: house the scripture says, until she found that one coin
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  Speaker 6: wasn't enough for her to have nine coins, she wanted
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  Speaker 6: ten coins. It's not enough for God to have most
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  Speaker 6: of his children. He wants all of his children. That's
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  Speaker 6: a picture the Holy Spirit right now, disrupting some of
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  Speaker 6: your lives, sweeping every thing up because he wants you back.
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  Speaker 6: Feel short changed? No, No, God has loved you with
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  Speaker 6: an everlasting love. Maybe the question shouldn't be why have
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  Speaker 6: I not been loved that way? Maybe the better question
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  Speaker 6: would be, Lord, would you help me love that way?
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  Speaker 6: Having received that kind of love, could I now turn
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  Speaker 6: and give that type of love to others? A love
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  Speaker 6: that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,
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  Speaker 6: and endures all things. Lord, would you? Would you give
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  Speaker 6: us the ability?
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  Speaker 7: That's all? It is endless, so wide so but somehow
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  Speaker 7: I'm still lost in you. The streets are.
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  Speaker 8: Full of moving shadows, countless Please as I could go,
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  Speaker 8: city shining people passing Your.
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  Speaker 7: Still feels so long. Every old keeps leading nowhere. Every
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  Speaker 7: sky feels cold and blue.
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  Speaker 8: In this world so fast and open, I'm still lost
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  Speaker 8: in missing you. The world is.
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  Speaker 9: Wide, so wide before me, but I keep blues in
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  Speaker 9: my way.
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  Speaker 7: Somewhere indeed.
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  Speaker 3: Less just us.
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  Speaker 7: Your memory makes mistake.
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  Speaker 3: The world moves.
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  Speaker 9: Without us, but my hot all remains unshrue.
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  Speaker 7: For no matter where these feet may wonder, I'm still
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  Speaker 7: lost in seeing you.
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  Speaker 8: I have tried to outgrown silence, try to leave your
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  Speaker 8: ghost behind, but your name still echo softly through the
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  Speaker 8: corners of my mind.
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  Speaker 10: The world is wid so lay before me, but I
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  Speaker 10: keelves in my way.
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  Speaker 7: Somewhere in lest your memory may takes me stay.
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  Speaker 3: The world loves.
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  Speaker 11: Without us, but.
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  Speaker 7: My heart remain untruth.
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  Speaker 9: From no matter where these bee may wonder, I'm still
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  Speaker 9: lost in the same. Maybe someday stop searching for your
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  Speaker 9: face in every crowd, But until that day, this broken
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  Speaker 9: heart will keep.
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  Speaker 7: Calling your name out.
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  Speaker 11: The world is why so I before me, but I
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  Speaker 11: keep losing my way.
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  Speaker 7: Somewhere in me less distance.
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  Speaker 9: Your memory, thanks may stand, the worlds without us, but
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  Speaker 9: my heart remains some true do No matter where these
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  Speaker 9: feet may you wonder, I'm still lost in meshing you.