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Max Lucado – Deliverance: Finding Freedom Through Faith · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Wondering if you're acquainted with the story of Hank and
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: the Mop Bucket.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Maybe you are and just don't know it. Hank is
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: a 80-year-old retired professional who supplements his fixed income with
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: night shift custodial work. His health isn't what it used
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: to be. Gout keeps him awake at night. Arthritis makes
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: him limp. His glasses are so thick that his eyeballs
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: look twice their size. His shoulders stoop, but still he
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: does his work. slopping soapy waters on linoleum, scrubbing the
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: heel marks left by the well-heeled lawyers. He'll be finished
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: an hour before quitting time. He always is, has been
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: for years, always finishes early, but he never leaves early.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: He'll put away his bucket and take a seat outside
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  Speaker 2: the office of the senior partner and he'll wait. He
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: could leave early. No one would know, but he doesn't.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: He broke the rules once. Never again. Sometimes if the
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: door is open, he'll wander into the office of the
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  Speaker 2: senior partner and just take a look. The office is
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: twice the size of his apartment. Run his finger over
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: the desk and he'll stroke the leather couch. He'll stand
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  Speaker 2: at the window and watch the gray sky turn gold
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: and he'll remember. He once had such an office back
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  Speaker 2: when he was Henry. Back when the custodian was an
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  Speaker 2: executive long ago. Before the night shift. Before the mop bucket.
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  Speaker 2: Before the maintenance uniform. Before the scandal. Before the scandal.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: Hank made a mistake he could never forget. It was
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: a grave mistake. Hank killed someone. Came upon the thug
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: beating up an innocent man and he lost control. And
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: when word got out, Hank got out. He'd rather hide
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: than go to jail. So he ran and the executive
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: became a fugitive. That was years ago. It's a true story.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: True story made even more dramatic by the incident with
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: the mop bucket. At first he thought it was just
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: a joke. Some of the fellows on the third floor
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: played these kind of tricks. He heard a voice coming
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: out of the mop bucket. Henry? Henry? Hank turned. No
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  Speaker 2: one called him Henry anymore. Henry, Henry. And he stepped
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: toward the pail. It was glowing, bright red, hot red.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: He could feel the heat 10 feet away. He stepped
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: forward and looked in. The water wasn't boiling, but the
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  Speaker 2: pot was hot. How could it be? This is strange.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: He mumbled to himself as he took another step closer
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: to get a closer look. This time The voice stopped him.
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  Speaker 2: Don't come any closer. Take off your shoes. Where you
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: stand is holy ground. And suddenly Hank knew who was speaking.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: You think I'm making this up, don't you? Sounds crazy,
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: almost irreverent. God speaking from a mop bucket to a
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  Speaker 2: janitor named Hank? Well, would it be more believable if
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: I told you it was God speaking through a burning
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: bush to a shepherd named Moses? Just because we're familiar
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  Speaker 2: with the story doesn't make it any less spectacular than
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: it was the day it first happened in the wilderness
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: with the 80-year-old shepherd. By now, however, we're starting to
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: grow accustomed to spectacular stories, aren't we? As a congregation,
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: all of our campuses are working through the story. It's
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: a chronological Bible in which each week we read another
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: major section as God leads us down his divine timeline.
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  Speaker 2: We began just a few weeks ago looking at the
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  Speaker 2: creation and then the ensuing fall of Adam and Eve
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  Speaker 2: and then the flood of Noah. and the creation of
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  Speaker 2: the Tower of Babel. The next chapter introduced us to
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  Speaker 2: Abram and Sarai, or as they came to be known
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  Speaker 2: as Abraham and Sarah. Who would have thought that they
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  Speaker 2: would receive a baby about the same time they were
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  Speaker 2: receiving Social Security, but they did. And consequently, the nation
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  Speaker 2: of Israel was born when Isaac was born. And then
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  Speaker 2: came last week's chapter, the story of Joseph. Joseph, the
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  Speaker 2: great grandson of Abraham, sold down the river by his brothers,
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  Speaker 2: sent into Egyptian slavery himself. But then God turned that
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  Speaker 2: prisoner into a prince. And in doing so, actually saved
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  Speaker 2: not just the Jewish people, but the lineage of Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 2: And we're beginning to catch a hint of how what
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  Speaker 2: God is doing up there and what we're seeing down
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  Speaker 2: here don't seem like they match up, but God is
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  Speaker 2: always up to something good, even if it might be
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  Speaker 2: difficult for us. Well, 400 years pass, and the children
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  Speaker 2: of Israel, the Hebrew nation, is still in Egypt. But
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  Speaker 2: the favor, the favor of Pharaoh that was upon Joseph
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  Speaker 2: has long since passed, and there is no favor upon
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  Speaker 2: the Hebrew people. Just the opposite, the Egyptians resent the
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  Speaker 2: presence of the Hebrews and are concerned because the nation
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  Speaker 2: just continues to grow. So they inaugurate the first genocide.
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  Speaker 2: And the firstborn of every Hebrew family is to be killed.
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  Speaker 2: It was this world that welcomed the baby Moses. It
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  Speaker 2: was into this world that Moses was born. And it
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  Speaker 2: was in the chaos of this world that Moses received...
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  Speaker 2: the call. You might remember his story. He was adopted nobility.
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  Speaker 2: He was an Israelite reared in an Egyptian palace. His
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  Speaker 2: countrymen were slaves, but Moses was privileged. He ate at
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  Speaker 2: the royal table. He was educated in the finest schools,
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  Speaker 2: but his most influential teacher had no degree. It was
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  Speaker 2: his mother. Remember how when he was plucked out of
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  Speaker 2: the Nile River there appeared a young lady and the
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  Speaker 2: Egyptians asked her to be the nanny for the baby
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  Speaker 2: not knowing that she was the biological mother and so
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  Speaker 2: she raised Moses and don't you know she prayed for
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  Speaker 2: Moses and don't you know there were times in which
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  Speaker 2: she looked into the face of her young son and
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  Speaker 2: said now don't forget who you are God is going
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  Speaker 2: to use you for something special Don't forget who you are.
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  Speaker 2: And he didn't forget. The flame of justice grew within
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  Speaker 2: his heart brighter and brighter until that one day when
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  Speaker 2: he was 40 years old, he saw an Egyptian beating
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  Speaker 2: a Hebrew slave and Moses intervened and killed the Egyptian.
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  Speaker 2: Knowing that spelled the end for him, Moses fled and
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  Speaker 2: ended up in the wilderness. And that's where he spent
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  Speaker 2: his the next 40 years. He assumed, I would imagine,
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  Speaker 2: that he would never come back to Egypt. We can
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  Speaker 2: call that a serious career shift. He went from sitting
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  Speaker 2: with heads of state to counting the heads of sheep.
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  Speaker 2: And by the time he was 80 years old, he
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  Speaker 2: had spent four decades in the wilderness, never thinking he
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  Speaker 2: would ever go back to Egypt. And we knew that,
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  Speaker 2: we know that because when God came to him, not
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  Speaker 2: through a mop bucket, but through a burning bush and
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  Speaker 2: spoke to him, Moses was resistant. Moses said to him,
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  Speaker 2: who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and
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  Speaker 2: bring the Israelites out of Egypt? Now, I know how
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  Speaker 2: I would answer that question. Who are you? Well, you're
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  Speaker 2: the You're the young man who grew up the Hebrew
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  Speaker 2: who was trained by the Egyptians. You're the one who
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  Speaker 2: speaks perfect Egyptian. You're the one who understands the science
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  Speaker 2: and the language. You're the one who has set in
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  Speaker 2: on the cabinet decisions. You're the one who has instant
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  Speaker 2: access to Pharaoh. You are the perfect one to go back.
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  Speaker 2: And then I would have said, and you're the one
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  Speaker 2: that has been trained for the last 40 years in
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  Speaker 2: the very wilderness through which you are going to lead
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  Speaker 2: the Hebrew people. You know every cave and every lizard
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  Speaker 2: and every snake. You've had 40 years of training in Egypt.
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  Speaker 2: You've had 40 years of training in the wilderness. You're
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  Speaker 2: the perfect one for this job. I would have made
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  Speaker 2: a big deal out of Moses. But God doesn't mention Moses.
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  Speaker 2: All he does is tell Moses his name. You want
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  Speaker 2: to know how you're going to get through this, Moses?
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  Speaker 2: Here's the way God answers that question. God said to Moses,
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  Speaker 2: I am who I am. This is what you are
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  Speaker 2: to say to the Israelites. Just I am has sent
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  Speaker 2: me to you. We know many titles of God, but
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  Speaker 2: this is the name of God. The self-assigned name of God. Yahweh. Yahweh.
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  Speaker 2: It comes from a confluence of two Hebrew verbs. I
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  Speaker 2: am and I cause to be. Yahweh. Just tell them
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  Speaker 2: I am sent you. If you come up to me
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  Speaker 2: today and say, Max, how are you doing? And I say,
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  Speaker 2: I am. You're going to say, finish the sentence. Because
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  Speaker 2: we don't get by with saying I am. Because we change.
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  Speaker 2: We change from year to year, from month to month,
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  Speaker 2: from day to day, even from minute to minute. How
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  Speaker 2: are you? I'm hungry. I'm sleepy. I'm cranky. I'm fine.
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  Speaker 2: We have to finish the sentence because we're always changing
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  Speaker 2: the point. God never changes. He's the only one who
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  Speaker 2: ever said, I am who I am and got by
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  Speaker 2: with it. The reason you're going to do this, Moses,
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  Speaker 2: the reason you're going to succeed in this, Moses, is
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  Speaker 2: because I am. I am strong. I am faithful. I
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  Speaker 2: am good. Everything God has ever been is everything he
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  Speaker 2: will ever be. And the power, Moses, does not rely
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  Speaker 2: upon you, Moses. But the power relies upon me. What matters, Moses,
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  Speaker 2: is not your ability, but your availability. Some of you
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  Speaker 2: need to hear that. You're saying, I'm not up to
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  Speaker 2: being a parent. I don't think I can save my marriage.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not sure I can hang it in, hang in
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  Speaker 2: it with these employees or employers, right? I'm not sure
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  Speaker 2: I have the patience. I'm not sure I have the wisdom.
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  Speaker 2: I'm afraid I'm too old. I'm afraid I'm too young.
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  Speaker 2: I'm afraid. And then we begin to fill in the blanks.
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  Speaker 2: And God's response to us is the same response he
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  Speaker 2: gave to Moses. It really doesn't matter about you. What
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  Speaker 2: matters is that you lean into me. And I am.
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  Speaker 2: Lloyd Douglas was the author of the novel The Robe
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  Speaker 2: and several other classics. He relates how when he was
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  Speaker 2: in college he stayed in a boarding house of sorts
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  Speaker 2: and was on the second floor and the first floor
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  Speaker 2: there was a retired music professor who was wheelchair bound
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  Speaker 2: and the two struck up a friendship and every day
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  Speaker 2: Lloyd Douglas would stop and poke his head in the
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  Speaker 2: doorway of the apartment of the retired music professor and
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  Speaker 2: he would say what's the good word prof and every
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  Speaker 2: day the professor would pull from his shirt pocket a
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  Speaker 2: tuning fork now you got to be pretty old to
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  Speaker 2: know what a tuning fork is so a tuning fork
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  Speaker 2: predates the pitch pipe and he would take that tuning
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  Speaker 2: fork and he would hit it against the metal part
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  Speaker 2: of his wheelchair and he would put it up to
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  Speaker 2: his ear and let it vibrate And he would say
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  Speaker 2: to young Lloyd, that, my friend, is a middle C.
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  Speaker 2: The tenor upstairs sings flat. The piano across the hallway
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  Speaker 2: is out of tune. But that's still a middle C.
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  Speaker 2: That's the good news. What's the point? It's good that
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  Speaker 2: there's a middle C in the world. It's good that
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  Speaker 2: there's something that doesn't change. Listen, you and I live
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  Speaker 2: in a changing world. It's changing so fast we can
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  Speaker 2: scarcely keep up with it. I'm still trying to figure
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  Speaker 2: out how to operate a fax machine and it's already
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  Speaker 2: out of date. It's moving. The economy's changing. The political
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  Speaker 2: landscape is changing. The geopolitical world is changing. Even churches change.
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  Speaker 2: Add to that, you're changing. Here's growing where it didn't
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  Speaker 2: used to. Things are getting bigger. Things are getting smaller.
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  Speaker 2: You're forgetting and remembering that you're changing. And you're married
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  Speaker 2: to someone who's changing. You're raising kids that are changing.
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  Speaker 2: You have parents who are changing. It's a changing world. Listen,
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  Speaker 2: change will freak us out unless we lock into the
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  Speaker 2: unchanging hand of the mighty I am. Yahweh. It seems
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  Speaker 2: to me, God was saying to Moses, you're about to
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  Speaker 2: lead a nation through change. And what you need to
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  Speaker 2: know is that I don't. I don't. And the same
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  Speaker 2: God who was yesterday is a God who is tomorrow
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  Speaker 2: is a God who is always. You need an unchanging
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  Speaker 2: God in a changing world. Well, after some more talk,
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  Speaker 2: Moses said, yes, we got to move quickly through this
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  Speaker 2: dramatic back and forth between Moses and Pharaoh. Moses would say,
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  Speaker 2: let my people go. Pharaoh would say no, but then
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  Speaker 2: would come a plague and And then Moses and then
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  Speaker 2: Pharaoh would weaken and he would say yes. And then
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  Speaker 2: Moses would begin to say, I'm going to get the
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  Speaker 2: people and Pharaoh would resist. And it was just back
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  Speaker 2: and forth and back and forth. There were one plague
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  Speaker 2: after the other. I listed them here. Maybe you've read
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  Speaker 2: about them. The river became blood, then frogs, gnats, flies,
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  Speaker 2: disease in the livestock, boils, storms, locusts, darkness. Every time
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  Speaker 2: there was a display of God's power. the people began
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  Speaker 2: to understand the mighty power of God. But Pharaoh would
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  Speaker 2: resist until finally the sign, the moment that changed everything.
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  Speaker 2: And it was through this final plague, through this final sign,
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  Speaker 2: that God revealed his plan of redemption. Redemption. Redemption. God
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  Speaker 2: told Moses to instruct every family to take an unblemished lamb,
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  Speaker 2: to kill it and apply some of the blood to
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  Speaker 2: the doorpost of the home. Let me just read it
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  Speaker 2: to you in Exodus chapter 12. On that same night,
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  Speaker 2: I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn
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  Speaker 2: of both people and animals. I will bring judgment on
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  Speaker 2: all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. The
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  Speaker 2: blood will be a sign for you on the houses
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  Speaker 2: where you are, And when I see the blood, I
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  Speaker 2: will pass over you. And no destructive plague will touch
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  Speaker 2: you when I strike Egypt. What a strange command. What
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  Speaker 2: an eerie night. Hebrews, who indwelt that part of the
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  Speaker 2: city where the road was muddy and the huts were small.
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  Speaker 2: The Hebrews... slaughtered the lambs and the leader of each
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  Speaker 2: house with a bowl full of blood and a brush
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  Speaker 2: took that blood and took that brush and dipped the
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  Speaker 2: second into the first and he streaked across his doorway
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  Speaker 2: across the entry way to his house a slash of
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  Speaker 2: crimson and then at midnight at midnight Firstborns, where there
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  Speaker 2: was no slash of blood. In the homes where there
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  Speaker 2: had been no mark over the doorway. That's when the
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  Speaker 2: firstborns took their final breath. Fathers heard their sons gasp.
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  Speaker 2: Wives heard their husbands gasp. What an eerie, bone-chilling night
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  Speaker 2: of ebb and sorrow. Only the blood-covered homes were spared. Now,
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  Speaker 2: why were the Hebrew people spared?
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  Speaker 1: Why?
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  Speaker 2: Those over whom the angel of death passed. Why were
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  Speaker 2: they spared? Was it because they were Hebrews? Was it
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  Speaker 2: because they knew Moses?
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  Speaker 3: No.
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  Speaker 2: It had nothing to do with who they were. It
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  Speaker 2: had nothing to know with who they knew. It had
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  Speaker 2: everything to do with where they were. They were beneath God.
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  Speaker 2: the blood of the lamb. They had positioned themselves in
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  Speaker 2: a place where they were beneath the blood of the lamb. Question,
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  Speaker 2: had you been there? Had you been one of those
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  Speaker 2: Hebrew families? Would you have obeyed that command? Would you?
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  Speaker 2: Had you been told to take a spotless lamb and
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  Speaker 2: sacrifice the lamb and then take the blood and put
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  Speaker 2: it over the entryway, would you have done it? Or
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: would you have said, that's the craziest thing I think
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  Speaker 2: I've ever heard? You see, no one had ever done
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: anything like that before. As far as I can tell,
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  Speaker 2: that was the first and final time that command was
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  Speaker 2: ever given in Scripture. Would you have done it? It's
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  Speaker 2: more than a rhetorical question. Because you see, you and
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: I have the same problem that the Hebrews had in Egypt.
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  Speaker 2: And that is we are enslaved. We are enslaved. Not
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  Speaker 2: to Pharaoh, but to sin. We do the very thing
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  Speaker 2: we say we'll never do. We try to run the
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: world ourselves. We keep climbing up in the throne telling
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: God to get lost. Maybe not with our words, but
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: certainly with our actions and our thoughts. We're enslaved to sin.
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  Speaker 2: And we don't need somebody just to help us. We
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  Speaker 2: need someone to deliver us. We need someone to walk
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  Speaker 2: us out. We need somebody to redeem us. And so
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  Speaker 2: as far back as even in the story of Moses,
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: we begin to see God's plan of redemption. It involves
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: the shedding of blood and the arrival of a lamb.
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  Speaker 2: You remember what John the Baptist said when he saw
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  Speaker 2: Jesus Christ? He said, look, the lamb of God who
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  Speaker 2: takes away the sin of the world. Do you remember
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: how the Apostle Paul described the role of Jesus Christ?
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  Speaker 2: He called Jesus Christ our Passover lamb who has been sacrificed.
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  Speaker 2: You see, you and I need exactly what the Hebrew
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: people needed. We need somebody to rescue us. And so
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  Speaker 2: God gives us a perfect lamb Jesus Christ. And we
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  Speaker 2: position ourselves not beneath the blood stained doorway of a
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  Speaker 2: house in Egypt, but we position ourselves beneath the blood
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  Speaker 2: covered cross of Jerusalem. And we stand there. And we
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  Speaker 2: trust in the ability of God to save us, to
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  Speaker 2: lead us out. Isn't it amazing how the story of
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: the gospel is appearing all the way back in the
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: days of Abraham and and Joseph, and Moses, and that
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: crimson thread which begins in the Garden of Eden is
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: running all the way through the story of the Bible
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: into the book of Revelation. Every story works together to
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  Speaker 2: tell us that we need somebody to deliver us. We
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: don't need a Moses, but we need a Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 2: So the question is more than rhetorical, and I'll ask
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  Speaker 2: you again. If invited to position yourself beneath the covering
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  Speaker 2: of the lamb designated by God, would you do so?
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  Speaker 2: Have you done so? The vast majority of the people
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: in the world right now say that's the most foolish
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: thing I've ever heard of. The vast majority of the
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: people in the world say, I don't even need someone
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: to die for my sin because I ain't half bad
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: I'm a pretty good person. But when Jesus Christ came
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: onto the planet as the only perfect person who has
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: ever lived, we realized that compared to him, we all
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: fall short. Have I told you about how my mother
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: used to tell me to clean up my room? And
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: I would always point to my brother's bedroom that was
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: messier than mine. Because it was. I'm a recovering slob.
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: He's a slob addict. And I'd say, mom, look at
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: my brother's room. And she'd say, it's not his room.
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: You come and look at my room. Boy, she put
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: neat on neat. She would lead me into her room
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: where every wrinkle was removed from every part of the
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: bed no shoe was out of place and every piece
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: of clothing was hung up she said this is what
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: I call neat when the king of kings sent his
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: son to live the perfect life on this earth gone
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: forever was the excuse that says well compared to him
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: or compared to them I'm pretty decent and God points
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: at Jesus Christ the perfect lamb And says, now that's
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: what I call perfection. And wise is the person who says,
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: then I need help. I need deliverance. You know, as
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: far as we know, every Hebrew family accepted God on
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: his offer. As far as we know. And they allowed
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: God to lead them out, lead them through the Red Sea.
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: out of Egypt. But somewhere between the Red Sea and
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: the Jordan River, they got cold feet. You see, it
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: was God's plan to lead them straight out of Egypt
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: into the promised land. But somewhere between the Red Sea
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: and the Jordan River, they forgot. That's a story for
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: next week. We can't go that far today. But we
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: can walk away with a couple of takeaway messages from
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: Moses' story thus far. First of all, would you receive
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: again the call of God? Would you? Would you? Maybe
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: you are where Moses was. Maybe you feel like you're
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: too old or maybe you feel like you did the
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: wrong thing. Maybe you've been off the grid. Maybe you've
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: been out of the loop. Maybe you've been out in
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: the sticks. Maybe you feel like you're too weak or
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: too sinful or whatever. To you, God says what God
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: said to Moses. What matters not is who you are
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: What matters is who I am. What matters is not
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: your ability, but your availability. Never has the old saying
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: been more true than it is with Moses. God doesn't
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: call the qualified. He qualifies the called. He qualifies us.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: Now we know this is true for you because of
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: promises that we have like this one in the book
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: of Philippians. God began doing a good work in you
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: and I am sure he will continue it until it
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: is finished when Jesus Christ comes again. I ask you,
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: has Jesus Christ come again? Has he? You can say
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: no if you want. At least we hope he hasn't, right?
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: We're left behind. He has not come back. So, Jesus
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: Christ has begun a work in you and he will
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: continue it until Christ comes back. So the fact that
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: he has yet to come back means that he is
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: or is not still working in you. Is he? He is.
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: Behold the work of God. He is at work in
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: you right now. In other words, he ain't finished with
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: you yet. That's not good English, but that's good news.
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: He ain't. Finished with you yet. So you stand strong
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: against the devil when he tries to tell you that
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: you're too old or you're from the wrong side of
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: the tracks. You're the wrong gender, the wrong color, the
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: wrong economic level. Whatever it is, you stand strong against him.
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: And you remind him of the story of that 80-year-old
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: shepherd in the wilderness who was 40 years removed, he thought,
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: from his prime only to hear God say, no, no.
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: The best is yet to be. Receive again the call
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: of God on your heart. He ain't finished with you yet.
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: And receive anew the redemption of God. Receive the redemption
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: of God. Let him redeem you. Let him forgive you.
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: Stand beneath the blood-stained cross of Christ. Some time ago,
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: my wife, Dean Lynn, and I went out to dinner
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: and had a delightful time. And at the end of
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: the dinner, here comes the attendant. She was supposed to
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: with the check. And she put the check and said,
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: you know, I'll come back in just a minute and
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: get your credit card. And we were talking and right
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: behind her comes an Oak Hills member. Somebody who had
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: been across seating across the restaurant who saw me and
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: came over to say hello. And we had a nice visit.
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: And after we visited for a while, this person said, well,
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: enjoy your dinner. And then he reached down and you
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: know what he did? You want to guess? He grabbed
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: the check and he stuck it. In his pocket. And
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: he said. I'll take that. Oh he's such a godly man.
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: Wonderful man of God. An inspiration to all of us.
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: So you know what I did. When he took my check.
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: And said I'll take that. You know what I did.
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: I ordered more dessert. I let him. I let him
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: take it. He wanted to. Who was I to argue?
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: I let him take it. And so when the attendant
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: came by a few minutes later to pick up the
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: check with the credit card, do you know what I said?
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: I pointed at him and I said, he took it.
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: He took it. And she looked over at him and
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: the guy kind of waved. Do you know the Bible
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: says that someday we're going to all stand before the
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: judgment seat of Christ. And we're going to give an
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: account to the way we used our lives. Every thought,
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: every deed, every word, we're going to give an account
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: for it. Now were it not for Jesus Christ, That
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: thought would terrify me. If you knew my thoughts, my deeds,
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: and every word I've spoken, you'd never let me preach.
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: You wouldn't. And I wouldn't blame you. I'm crooked from
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: head to toe. But because of Jesus Christ, I have absolutely,
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: absolutely no fear of that moment. In fact, I cannot
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: wait for that moment. Because whenever they produce a list
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: of all my sins, you know what I'm going to do?
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: I'm going to point at Jesus. And you know what
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: I'm going to say? He took it. Because he is
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: the Lamb of God who takes away, who takes away
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: the sin of the world. Have you let him take yours?
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: Here's the thing about the gospel. While the gospel is free,
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: it's never forced. While it's free, it's never forced. And
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: what the gospel requires from you is the same thing
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: that really the invitation required from the Hebrew people. They
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: could have said no. They could have said, I'm not.
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: Not positioning myself beneath the blood of the Lamb. They
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: could have. They could have. But they didn't. And consequently,
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: they were delivered. May you make the same decision they did.
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: For while it's free, it's never forced. Receive anew the
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: redemption of God. So Lord, this is our prayer that
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: even now with these words are still in our ears.
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: that we could be thankful for the redemption we've received,
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: or we could be quick to receive the redemption we
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: did not. Help us, Father, to receive the message of
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: the gospel today. Through Christ we pray. And all the
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: church said. Amen. so so Thank you.
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you. Everything I used to live for
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: Faded slowly out of sight Now my days just circle
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: around you Like I'm lost without a light All.
• 37:33
  Speaker 3: The noise just turns to silence when your memory comes through.
• 37:39
  Speaker 3: And the world I once was chasing now feels small.
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: And shaped like you.
• 37:48
  Speaker 4: My whole world is only you Every thought keeps breaking
• 37:54
  Speaker 4: through You're so close inside my mind But so far
• 38:00
  Speaker 4: in real.
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: Life I can feel you everywhere In the things we
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: never shared All this love I'm.
• 38:11
  Speaker 4: Going through Never reaches you.
• 38:19
  Speaker 3: Every image feels so real now Like you're standing next
• 38:24
  Speaker 3: to me But the truth is in the silence You
• 38:29
  Speaker 3: were never.
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: Meant to see My whole.
• 38:35
  Speaker 4: World is only you Every thought keeps breaking through You're
• 38:42
  Speaker 4: so close inside my mind But so far in real
• 38:48
  Speaker 4: life I can feel you everywhere In the things we
• 38:53
  Speaker 4: never shared All this love I'm going through Never reaches
• 39:00
  Speaker 4: you If you felt it for a moment Would it
• 39:06
  Speaker 4: change the way you stay Or would I still be
• 39:11
  Speaker 4: the shadow that just fades away?
• 39:28
  Speaker 3: My whole world is only you.
• 39:31
  Speaker 4: But your world's a different view. I'm just someone passing
• 39:38
  Speaker 4: by in your open sky. Still I hold on to
• 39:43
  Speaker 4: what's true. Every heartbeat calls for you. All this love
• 39:50
  Speaker 4: I always knew will never reach you.
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.