Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Moses’ Faith, Moses’ Choices . . . and Me Msg 2020 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

Transcript

Moses’ Faith, Moses’ Choices . . . and Me Msg 2020 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

0:01
Speaker 1: John Bunyan and his immortal work The Pilgrim's Progress brings
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Speaker 1: us in the story to that epical moment where Christian
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Speaker 1: comes to the Precipice, having passed through the wicked gate
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Speaker 1: and the narrow road that leads to that place where
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Speaker 1: he would see the chasm, and across the chasm.
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Speaker 2: The cross.
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Speaker 1: And the open tomb, and he feels the burden of
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Speaker 1: sin break free from his back, and Bunyan writes, thus
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Speaker 1: far did I.
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Speaker 3: Come burdened with my sin?
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Speaker 1: Really, he wrote, leyden with my sin?
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Speaker 3: Nor could aught.
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Speaker 1: Ease the grief that I was in till I came hither?
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Speaker 1: Must here be the beginning of my bliss? Must hear
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Speaker 1: the burden fall from off my back? Must hear the
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Speaker 1: strings that bound it to me?
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Speaker 2: Crack, blessed, Cross, blessed, sepulcher, blessed.
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Speaker 1: Rather be the man put to shame for me. When
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Speaker 1: our attention is focused on the cross, it really falls
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Speaker 1: on the one who died for us. He came that
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Speaker 1: we might live, that we might know eternal kind of life,
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Speaker 1: just altogether different from this temporal existence on the planet Earth.
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Speaker 1: If you never trusted in the Savior, this is your
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Speaker 1: moment for the burden to fall off your back, and
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Speaker 1: the strings that have bounded to you long enough crack
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Speaker 1: as you turn your life over to the Savior. How
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Speaker 1: grateful we are for the cross, and I'm thankful for
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Speaker 1: this theme as we have thought about it from different angles.
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Speaker 1: We're looking at the life of Moses in Hebrews eleven,
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Speaker 1: whose parents walked by faith, and not surprisingly he did
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Speaker 1: as well, at least for part of his life, and
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Speaker 1: we read of that in Hebrews eleven twenty three down
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Speaker 1: through twenty seven. I'm reading from the New Living Translation.
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Speaker 1: You have brought your Bible with you, and if so,
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Speaker 1: please open it to Hebrews eleven twenty three. Stand with
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Speaker 1: me as we open the scriptures together.
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Speaker 3: And I will read it for you.
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Speaker 1: It was by faith that moses parents hid him for
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Speaker 1: three months when he was born. They saw that God
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Speaker 1: had given them an unusual child, and they were not
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Speaker 1: afraid to disobey.
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Speaker 3: The king's command.
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Speaker 1: It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up,
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Speaker 1: refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He
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Speaker 1: chose to share the oppression of God's people instead of
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Speaker 1: enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. He thought it was
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Speaker 1: better to so for the sake of Christ than to
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Speaker 1: own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead.
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Speaker 2: To his great reward.
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Speaker 3: It was by faith.
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Speaker 1: That Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the
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Speaker 1: king's anger. He kept right on going because he kept
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Speaker 1: his eye on the one who is invisible. We're grateful
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Speaker 1: for this passage, and we anticipate the Spirit of God
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Speaker 1: opening our eyes to a greater understanding of it than
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Speaker 1: we have right now.
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Speaker 3: Please be seated.
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Speaker 1: Now, may we pause for prayer together. We're the whole
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Speaker 1: realm of nature. Mind that we're present, far too small. Love,
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Speaker 1: so amazing, so divine, deserves my all. We lay our
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Speaker 1: lives before you today, our father. We've been preoccupied with
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Speaker 1: so many things this week. Now we concentrate on you
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Speaker 1: and your son, on his marvelous.
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Speaker 2: Life that he lived for us.
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Speaker 3: And his death on our behalf.
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Speaker 1: Thank you, Father for seeing us through this week, a
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Speaker 1: week where so much of the world has known only turmoil, heartbreak, disappointment, danger,
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Speaker 1: and even death.
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Speaker 3: There's so much sickness and.
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Speaker 1: Sorrow, so easy for us to be caught up in
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Speaker 1: the backwash of life's contingencies. Help us this day to
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Speaker 1: be lost in wonder, love and praise. To think your
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Speaker 1: thoughts after you, to track a life who lived long
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Speaker 1: before us, who went through similar things as we go through,
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Speaker 1: and as we see ourselves in his life, may be
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Speaker 1: willing to lay ourselves before you, holding nothing back. Thank
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Speaker 1: you in advance for the things we will learn, for
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Speaker 1: how they will benefit us. As this week unfolds. We
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Speaker 1: don't know what a day will bring forth. We don't
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Speaker 1: know what this evening will include. But you are our God,
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Speaker 1: You are in control of our lives. You have written
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Speaker 1: all the inhabitants of the earth or as nothing. You
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Speaker 1: do according to your will in the army of heaven
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Speaker 1: and among the inhabitants of the earth, And no one
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Speaker 1: can restrain your hand or say to you.
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Speaker 3: What are you doing today?
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Speaker 1: In the mystery of your will, we find comfort, hope, reassurance,
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Speaker 1: and a reason to go on. Help those who recover
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Speaker 1: to day from illness and surgery. Give strength to those
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Speaker 1: who adjust to a whole new way of life because
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Speaker 1: of such. Give strength to those who minister to them,
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Speaker 1: who stand alongside and.
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Speaker 2: Pour out their love and affection.
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Speaker 1: Bring encouragement to the discouraged, Hope for the disillusioned, direction
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Speaker 1: for the confused, relief for the burdened. Your Father, We
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Speaker 1: lay ourselves before you now to hear words in our
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Speaker 1: hearts and music in our ears of that sacred head
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Speaker 1: now wounded with grief and shame. Weighed down, Minister deeply,
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Speaker 1: as we sit in quietness and ponder that death of
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Speaker 1: the Savior on the cross. In his name, we pray.
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Speaker 1: Everyone said amen, a little Lesson.
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Speaker 3: Two weeks ago I was ministering at a seminary, and
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Speaker 3: following the third lecture, I was taken to lunch by
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Speaker 3: a couple of the young men who were from the school.
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Speaker 3: As we were on our way back to the school,
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Speaker 3: one of the men asked a question I had never
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Speaker 3: been asked before. He said, with which Bible character do
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Speaker 3: you most easily identify? It's a good question. It's a
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Speaker 3: tough question. Not which one is your favorite, or which
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Speaker 3: do you prefer to preach on who would be called
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Speaker 3: your hero? But which one, if you could get inside
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Speaker 3: his skin, would you most identify with? You ought to
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Speaker 3: ask yourself that question. Sometimes I still haven't given him
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Speaker 3: an answer. In a light of this past week, I
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Speaker 3: would say either Peter or Jonah. But I don't think
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Speaker 3: that's the average kind of week for me. I really
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Speaker 3: don't know who the person would be, and I'm still
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Speaker 3: thinking about that. But if I were to answer the
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Speaker 3: question who do I most admire in the top five,
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Speaker 3: one one would be Moses without a doubt. He's a
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Speaker 3: tremendous man, a giant in every way. Here's a man
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Speaker 3: who led the Exodus. He watched the parting of the sea,
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Speaker 3: congregation of two million people. He ate manna for years,
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Speaker 3: He saw the cloud by day, in the fire by night.
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Speaker 3: He was mighty in word. Indeed, says Stephen, raised by
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Speaker 3: parents who so inculcated godliness in him that even in
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Speaker 3: the height of his political stature, he did not depart
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Speaker 3: from that training. So we had great roots. And as
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Speaker 3: a friend of mine said, when he grew up, he
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Speaker 3: looked like Charlton Heston. So that's another benefit. You got
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Speaker 3: to remember everything going for him. Oh, I know he
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Speaker 3: had weaknesses, and I I realized that if you nitpick
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Speaker 3: with him long enough, you'll find reason to say he's
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Speaker 3: a failure, as you would with any of God's spokesman.
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Speaker 3: But I don't think it's right just to plunge into
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Speaker 3: Hebrews eleven and sort of ooh and ah for a
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Speaker 3: few minutes and then walk away and say, yeah, he
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Speaker 3: was a great man. I think you've got to see
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Speaker 3: just what he gave up to appreciate what it meant
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Speaker 3: when he walked by faith. So bear with me for
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Speaker 3: a few moments and listen to this. What a magnificent
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Speaker 3: land must Egypt have been in those days of which
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Speaker 3: Herodotus and the hieroglyphic records speak. The atmosphere was rainless,
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Speaker 3: the Nile brought from Afar the rich alluvial soil that
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Speaker 3: bore corn enough to feed the world. The banks of
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Speaker 3: that river were covered with cities and villages, stately temples,
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Speaker 3: and all the evidences of an advanced civilization. While mighty
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Speaker 3: pyramids and colossal figures towered to one hundred feet in height.
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Speaker 3: Seven million people throve on this ribbon of land, poor
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Speaker 3: and ignorant, and the upper class were remarkable for their
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Speaker 3: familiarity with much of which we boast ourselves today. The
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Speaker 3: cream of all this poured into the cup of Moses.
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Speaker 3: He was brought up in the palace and treated as
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Speaker 3: the grandson of Pharaoh. If he rode forth into the streets,
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Speaker 3: it would be in a princely equippage amid the cries
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Speaker 3: a bow the knee voted on the nile, it would
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Speaker 3: have been in a golden barge amid the strains of
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Speaker 3: voluptuous music. If he wished for aught, the almost illimitable
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Speaker 3: wealth of the treasures of Egypt was within his reach.
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Speaker 3: When he was old enough, he was probably sent to
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Speaker 3: be educated at the college which had grown up around
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Speaker 3: the Temple of the Sun and has been called the
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Speaker 3: Oxford of the ancient Egypt. There he would learn to
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Speaker 3: read and write the mysterious hieroglyph There too, he would
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Speaker 3: be instructed in mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, medicine, philosophy, and law,
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Speaker 3: in all of which the Egyptians, the educated Egyptians, were adept.
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Speaker 3: But Moses was more than a royal student, spending his
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Speaker 3: time in cultured refinement and letter at ease. He was
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Speaker 3: a statesman and a soldier. Josepha says that while he
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Speaker 3: was still in his early manhood, the Ethiopians invaded Egypt,
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Speaker 3: routed the armies sent against them, and threatened Memphis, the capitol.
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Speaker 3: In the panic, the oracles were consulted, and on their recommendation,
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Speaker 3: Moses was entrusted with the command of the royal troops.
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Speaker 3: He took the field, surprised and defeated the enemy, captured
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Speaker 3: their principal city, the swamp engirdled city of Meyroe, and
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Speaker 3: returned to Egypt laden with the spoils of victory. That's Moses,
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Speaker 3: But there is no sphin. There's no sphinx in Egypt
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Speaker 3: to his honor. There's no pyramid, there's no mortuary temple
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Speaker 3: that bears his name. I mean, these were people who
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Speaker 3: honored their dead. The Egyptians had a saying, to speak
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Speaker 3: the name of the dead is to make him live again.
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Speaker 3: Where is moses sphinx? Why didn't they build in his
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Speaker 3: honor an enormous body of a lion two hundred and
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Speaker 3: forty feet long and sixty plus feet high, and a
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Speaker 3: face of a man fifteen feet wide with his image?
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Speaker 3: Why just to thut Most and Ramses and Tuta Kamen
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Speaker 3: and Queen had schepsit. Why not Moses? I mean, he's
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Speaker 3: the Pharaoh elect. You can walk from the easternmost section
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Speaker 3: of Sinai up and down to the westernmost region of
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Speaker 3: the of the Libyan Plateau, and you will find no
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Speaker 3: standing statue in honor of Moses. Why because of what
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Speaker 3: we find written in Hebrews eleven Hebrews eleven twenty four
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Speaker 3: to twenty eight. What the hot arid sands of Egypt
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Speaker 3: miss the scripture contains. This need not take a long time,
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Speaker 3: but it certainly takes our undivided attention to appreciate it.
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Speaker 3: Here is a man who had everything going for him,
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Speaker 3: and businessmen, there's not a one of you that will
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Speaker 3: ever imagine, imagine handling enough money to compare with what
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Speaker 3: went into his cover in one year. We cannot imagine
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Speaker 3: the treasury. We cannot imagine the pomp that went before
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Speaker 3: the adopted grandson of the Pharaoh. There aren't worse to
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Speaker 3: describe it, or the palace where he resided, or the
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Speaker 3: power in his grip. Simply to say let them die
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Speaker 3: or let them live, and there wouldn't be a question asked.
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Speaker 3: This man has it all in our words. He has
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Speaker 3: it made now because of three decisions this man made.
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Speaker 3: There is no sphinx in Egypt that bears his name.
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Speaker 3: The first decision, Verses twenty four through twenty six. I
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Speaker 3: have circled the word refused. I'd like you to do
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Speaker 3: the same thing by faith. When he was grown up refused.
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Speaker 3: The first decision he made was a refusal to sustain
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Speaker 3: the sinful. Let's take a moment and study this picture.
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Speaker 3: The young man Hebrew within, but fully Egyptian without. He
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Speaker 3: bore no marks of a Hebrew on the outside. He
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Speaker 3: simply would pass for an up and coming Egyptian pharaoh.
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Speaker 3: But when he reached adulthood see the words when he
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Speaker 3: had grown up. It's in the Greek having become great. Ah,
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Speaker 3: that's even more vivid. Moses, having become great, made a decision. Now,
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Speaker 3: if you will allow me to picture it this way,
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Speaker 3: I think you'll get the idea. Every person, every individual,
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Speaker 3: not once, but many times in our lives, comes to
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Speaker 3: a why in the road, a fork. We come to
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Speaker 3: that fork when we're in school many times, and there
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Speaker 3: are great banners waving us to follow the route. One
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Speaker 3: route as opposed to another route. One is broad, one
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Speaker 3: is wide, one is one is is well trafficked, one
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Speaker 3: is narrow, one is rugged. It's it is not popular,
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Speaker 3: And you come to the why, and you make a decision.
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Speaker 3: It leads to yet other whys or forks in the road.
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Speaker 3: And yet others came to that when he had become
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Speaker 3: great he came to the fork in the road when
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Speaker 3: he had to make a choice. Observe in verse twenty four,
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Speaker 3: he had to decide whether he would allow them to
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Speaker 3: continue to call him the pharaoh elect or not. The
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Speaker 3: scripture says he quote denied it to be said the
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Speaker 3: son of Pharaoh's daughter. That's literally what it reads. There
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Speaker 3: was a time, maybe he stood up in a court.
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Speaker 3: Maybe he said it to the soft footage servants who
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Speaker 3: waited on his every whim. Maybe he announced it to
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Speaker 3: his grandfather who was Pharaoh. Maybe he told his adoptive mother,
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Speaker 3: the daughter of Pharaoh. But one day he said, no
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Speaker 3: longer call me your son. I'm not available for the throne.
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Speaker 3: I don't want that. I refuse to be called that
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Speaker 3: any longer. Reminds me of Daniel, who stood alone in
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Speaker 3: the Babylonian court Hebrew through and through, surrounded by Babylonian lifestyle, saying,
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Speaker 3: I will not eat the king's food, I will not
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Speaker 3: adopt the king's lifestyle. I will not go the king's route.
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Speaker 3: I am first and foremost a believer in Jehovah. He
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Speaker 3: has my allegiance, he has my loyalty. I will live necessary,
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Speaker 3: I will die for his honor. This man has integrity.
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Speaker 3: He comes to the why, and he makes a decision,
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Speaker 3: refusing to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. How
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Speaker 3: could he do that? Ter all, he's a red blooded
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Speaker 3: hebrew Man. He is the catch in the kingdom. He
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Speaker 3: has got whatever he wants the world of the tale.
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Speaker 3: Look at the next two verses and circle the words choosing,
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Speaker 3: considering the first words of the next two verses by faith.
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Speaker 3: When he was grown up he refused something. How could
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Speaker 3: he do that? Well? Verse twenty five says he made
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Speaker 3: a choice choosing. It comes from the Greek word that
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Speaker 3: means to take for oneself a position. I don't miss that,
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Speaker 3: to take for oneself a position. In other words, he
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Speaker 3: came to the to the why, He came to the
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Speaker 3: to the to the neck of the decision. He came
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Speaker 3: up against it, and he he had to take for
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Speaker 3: himself a position before he could go to the right
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Speaker 3: or to the left. Without the position taken, he would
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Speaker 3: have been in a continued quandary. Part of the reason
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Speaker 3: we do not make right choice is we have not
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Speaker 3: taken a position in base things of life, of character,
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Speaker 3: of morality, of godliness, of commitment to Christ, and so
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Speaker 3: we teeter, we wait constantly at the neck of the yoke,
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Speaker 3: waiting for something to break free, or we make a
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Speaker 3: wrong choice on the basis of our feelings, only to
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Speaker 3: regret it later on. Moses thought through his position, and
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Speaker 3: he came to a position, and he chose. What did
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Speaker 3: he choose? Twenty five? He chose rather to endure ill
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Speaker 3: treatment with the people of God than the passing pleasures
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Speaker 3: of sin. A couple of Sunday nights ago, many of
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Speaker 3: us here in the church sat through a dramatic musical
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Speaker 3: by one of our young men. It's a musical he's
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Speaker 3: entitled Choose. The reason we entered into it with such
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Speaker 3: vigor is that we could see many things in our
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Speaker 3: lives pass in review. Life is full of choices. It's
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Speaker 3: full of everything. Choosing a radio station, choosing a television channel,
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Speaker 3: choosing how we'll spend our afternoon, choosing a mate, if
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Speaker 3: indeed we are to be married, choosing the matter of children,
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Speaker 3: choosing work, choosing schooling, choosing how long to stay in,
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Speaker 3: choosing a degree, choosing where to live, choosing how to live. Constant, constant,
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Speaker 3: constant choices. We faced them all the time. Moses, having
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Speaker 3: taken a position concerning his walk with the Lord, made
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Speaker 3: a decision that was neither popular nor advantageous materially. He
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Speaker 3: pulled off the headgear of the Pharaoh. He pushed aside
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Speaker 3: the palace of the Queen. He set aside all of
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Speaker 3: the prerogatives that would be his to enjoy for the
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Speaker 3: rest of his life without question, and he chose to
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Speaker 3: live with the people of God. Don't think for a
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Speaker 3: moment that the Bible is simply embellishing the text by
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Speaker 3: saying enjoying the pleasures of sin. The pleasures of sin
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Speaker 3: are always initially more enjoyable than the walk of righteousness.
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Speaker 3: Always initially your heart beats faster when you're around it.
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Speaker 3: It is voluptuous, and it is seductive, and it feeds
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Speaker 3: the flesh, and it makes you feel good. And don't
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Speaker 3: let anybody ever tell you that it doesn't, and it won't,
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Speaker 3: and it will bring regular satisfaction for a period of time.
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Speaker 3: A very attractive woman stopped me following one of the
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Speaker 3: services this past month and said, I'm having real trouble.
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Speaker 3: She said, I'm visiting from out of town. I'm She
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Speaker 3: named where she was from. She said, I've just come
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Speaker 3: to know Christ and I'm having such trouble believing that
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Speaker 3: God can love me. Tears began to come to her face.
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Speaker 3: She said, I made all the wrong choices. She's a
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Speaker 3: very attractive woman, looked older, no doubt, than she was
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Speaker 3: many miles hard miles. She said, I've been involved with
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Speaker 3: several individuals and some drugs and men who had everything
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Speaker 3: but God. And she says, I'm now reaping the consequences.
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Speaker 3: And she just buried her face in her hands. She's
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Speaker 3: down the road further. And there were passing pleasures of sin,
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Speaker 3: remember passing they were passing pleasures, but oh they were pleasurable,
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Speaker 3: and just kept her going for the next day and
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Speaker 3: the next man in, the next dead drug, to the next,
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Speaker 3: to the next, Like falling over a hillside and you
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Speaker 3: hit plateaus and you it's like it's terraced and you
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Speaker 3: bump and you go further. Moses chose the path of
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Speaker 3: godliness rather than the placing the passing pleasures of sin.
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Speaker 3: How could he do that? What was it inside Moses?
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Speaker 3: It caused him to make that choice? Next verse considering
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Speaker 3: That's why I want you to circle it. Considering it
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Speaker 3: means to think beforehand, is an interesting to see ahead
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Speaker 3: to look further than the yoke in the fork, to
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Speaker 3: see beyond. Moses came to the fork in the road,
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Speaker 3: and he realized, if I continue to be called Pharaoh's daughter,
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Speaker 3: of the son of Pharaoh's daughter, if I continue to
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Speaker 3: be called the pharaoh elect, if I continue to amass
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Speaker 3: this fortune and win these awards and gain the statesmanship
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Speaker 3: of these people, I will indeed be in a place
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Speaker 3: where I cannot turn back without damage to the nation,
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Speaker 3: without damage to my soul, because with it come those perks,
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Speaker 3: those perks that say, come on, come on, everybody, doesn't
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Speaker 3: he says, no, I see far enough down the road
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Speaker 3: to know that that will not be good but bad,
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Speaker 3: considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures
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Speaker 3: of Egypt. For he was looking to the reward. It's
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Speaker 3: a great word looking away from everything else. It's a
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Speaker 3: compound verb, looking away from everything else and fixing one's
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Speaker 3: full attention on one thing. Like you did yesterday at
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Speaker 3: the sc UCLA game. The time was out, the ball
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Speaker 3: was snat, quarterback took the ball. You didn't get up
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Speaker 3: and go get a glass of milk. You looked away
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Speaker 3: from everything else and you focused in on that guy
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Speaker 3: with the ball. Are they going to score or are
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Speaker 3: you going to win it? Moses looked away from everything
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Speaker 3: else and he got a fixation on Christ, and he
30:56
Speaker 3: made that choice. You dink around with all the possibilities,
31:03
Speaker 3: you all around in the pleasures, enough you lose your
31:06
Speaker 3: focus in Christ, it'll happen. And it happens to the
31:09
Speaker 3: best of God's men and women. Don't say you're not vulnerable.
31:14
Speaker 3: Don't say you're immune. We could etch into the face
31:19
Speaker 3: of this pulpit. Twenty thirty forty names in our own
31:22
Speaker 3: generation of men and women who walk with Christ to
31:25
Speaker 3: no longer walk with Christ because they didn't see him only.
31:34
Speaker 3: I think of Jim Voss, the wire tapper back in
31:39
Speaker 3: nineteen forty nine, crazy guy. He was working for Mickey
31:45
Speaker 3: Cohen and also for the Los Angeles Police Department. He
31:49
Speaker 3: had a part time job with both the case of
31:55
Speaker 3: law and crime working together. Problem is he had to
31:58
Speaker 3: live with Jim Voss and he stumbled into a tent
32:03
Speaker 3: meeting in downtown Los Angeles and he was converted to Christ.
32:08
Speaker 3: And his conversion drove a wedge into his duplicity. He
32:14
Speaker 3: could no longer set up the crime or the government
32:21
Speaker 3: he could no longer live with both hands in different pots.
32:27
Speaker 3: Why because he came to see that Christ is to
32:35
Speaker 3: be lord of every part of my life. Have you
32:44
Speaker 3: come there yet? The reason there's no sphinx in Egypt
32:49
Speaker 3: bearing the image of Moses is that he refused to
32:52
Speaker 3: sustain the sinful. There is no earthly monument. There isn't
32:58
Speaker 3: even a handprint pushed into wet cement that bears the
33:03
Speaker 3: name Moses. He's forgotten in Egypt, but he's honored in heaven.
33:14
Speaker 3: He gave up the earthly academy for the eternal reward.
33:23
Speaker 3: There's another good, the second. By faith. He left Egypt.
33:28
Speaker 3: Now you circle the word refused. Now circle the word left.
33:33
Speaker 3: He left Egypt not fearing the wrath of the king.
33:38
Speaker 3: For he endured. And here we have him again as
33:41
Speaker 3: seeing him who is unseen. See the fixation, see the focus.
33:48
Speaker 3: This was no Sunday go to meeting kind of a guy.
33:52
Speaker 3: This was no religious hot and cold creature. This man
34:00
Speaker 3: has fixed his attention on Jehovah, and so verse twenty seven,
34:07
Speaker 3: he determines to leave the familiar. By faith, he left Egypt. Egypt.
34:16
Speaker 3: I've never been there, some of you have. I don't
34:21
Speaker 3: know much about Egypt, but I know a lot about
34:23
Speaker 3: El Campo. I've been there. Most of you don't want
34:29
Speaker 3: to make a special trip. And just in case you're
34:32
Speaker 3: planning your vacation, I was born that little town in
34:35
Speaker 3: South Texas. I know all about it. I know all
34:38
Speaker 3: the little roads, all the little trails. I know the
34:41
Speaker 3: little drug stores, and who lives where, at least where
34:45
Speaker 3: it used to be. It's imprinted in my mind because
34:49
Speaker 3: I have my roots there. But I've left there and
34:53
Speaker 3: young in life, and so I really don't know it
34:56
Speaker 3: as well as many that have lived there all their lives.
34:59
Speaker 3: There are men in our comra gation who have worked
35:01
Speaker 3: at the same company for thirty years. Would you believe
35:04
Speaker 3: forty years? I mean all they know is that company.
35:09
Speaker 3: How would it be for them to just up one
35:11
Speaker 3: day and quit and get another job? Little insecure, I
35:16
Speaker 3: say so. Some of you have lived in the same
35:20
Speaker 3: house as long as you can remember. You've raised your
35:25
Speaker 3: kids in that house, and if you have your way
35:28
Speaker 3: about it, you'll die in that place because it's your place,
35:32
Speaker 3: deep roots. I've got a pastor friend who took the
35:35
Speaker 3: pulpit from a fellow who had been in the particular pulpit.
35:38
Speaker 3: Thirty seven years, he says, chuck his voices in the woodwork,
35:43
Speaker 3: his hand prints on the pulpit, they've washed all over,
35:47
Speaker 3: thirty seven years in that place. You can be in
35:50
Speaker 3: a place so long that your thumb prints there, your
35:53
Speaker 3: head's there. That's what Egypt was to Moses. He knew
35:56
Speaker 3: nothing but Egypt. He had never been to Canaan. He
36:00
Speaker 3: knew only Egypt. But he left it. Why well, he
36:06
Speaker 3: just read because of faith. God let him out, God
36:17
Speaker 3: moved him. He determined to leave the familiar, even though
36:23
Speaker 3: Egypt was in his blood. Negatively, he didn't fear the
36:29
Speaker 3: that's always going to be there. He didn't fear what
36:32
Speaker 3: the king would do against him. Positively, he was looking ahead,
36:38
Speaker 3: seeing the one who was unseen. One of our major battles, Americans,
36:46
Speaker 3: one of our major battles, and it's one of mine,
36:50
Speaker 3: is the battle of things, places, houses, belongings, territory. Security
37:01
Speaker 3: is there. That's where we have our roots. And there's
37:04
Speaker 3: nothing wrong with roots. I love those kind of things.
37:11
Speaker 3: I may love it too much. That's why I love Thanksgiving.
37:14
Speaker 3: In my opinion, it's way ahead of Christmas, because you
37:18
Speaker 3: can't commercialize it. All they can do is feed you.
37:23
Speaker 3: You know, they just sell you food. There's no way
37:26
Speaker 3: in the world I can commercialize Thanksgiving. But give them
37:29
Speaker 3: enough time, they'll probably work out a way. But it's
37:31
Speaker 3: kind of a home and fireplace and hearth and family
37:35
Speaker 3: and no, it's cozy and you get all those great things,
37:38
Speaker 3: plus a cowboy game. It's all there. It's just great.
37:43
Speaker 3: Has all the stuff. Now, how can you explain a
37:49
Speaker 3: young couple? How can you explain a young couple. He
37:51
Speaker 3: gets a graduate degree, she gets her degree. They begin,
37:55
Speaker 3: they have a baby, then another baby, and they're just
37:58
Speaker 3: getting started fine practice or a fine profession or a
38:02
Speaker 3: fine job. And suddenly they announced to mom and dad,
38:05
Speaker 3: are gone. Where you're gonna go? Well, we're gonna go
38:08
Speaker 3: to Spain? Why are you gonna go to Spain? I'm
38:12
Speaker 3: gonna go by faith yep. But look at all you've
38:15
Speaker 3: got here. We just helped you get into your house,
38:17
Speaker 3: paid twenty five thousand dollars down payment, We got you
38:20
Speaker 3: moved in, we got you going, We got good medical
38:22
Speaker 3: help here. Why do you want to go to Spain?
38:24
Speaker 3: God's calling us to Spain? But look, they don't have
38:28
Speaker 3: any good movies in Spain. You've seen the cars they
38:32
Speaker 3: drive in Spain. Do you know what they eat in Spain?
38:35
Speaker 3: You know what they talk in Spain? Yeah, well, we
38:41
Speaker 3: got to go to language school. You're kidding, why? Because
38:49
Speaker 3: that's where God wants us.
38:51
Speaker 2: How can you.
38:52
Speaker 3: Explain a couple that'll do that, pull up roots, go
38:54
Speaker 3: over there, and it could be anywhere the bush in Ethiopia,
38:58
Speaker 3: in the middle of Europe, and the southernmost tip of
39:01
Speaker 3: South America and the heart of Canada, and the Indian
39:06
Speaker 3: plant reservation right in the heart of America. How could
39:10
Speaker 3: you explain a couple that will leave all the good
39:12
Speaker 3: stuff you ask them, they'll see because we're going to
39:17
Speaker 3: the better. Am I saying it's for everybody?
39:22
Speaker 4: No?
39:22
Speaker 3: But I'm saying it's for many. But the battle is
39:27
Speaker 3: leaving Egypt. It's a risk of faith. It's tough because
39:37
Speaker 3: it's born and bred and us to hang on to stuff.
39:43
Speaker 3: You know, if you went home today and your place
39:45
Speaker 3: had burned down to the absolute bottom, just absolute concrete
39:50
Speaker 3: slab and black rubble, you know that nothing of value
39:53
Speaker 3: would have burned up if all the lives in that
39:56
Speaker 3: home had been saved. Because you've got relationship and you
40:00
Speaker 3: got memory, and you build everything from there. He left Egypt.
40:09
Speaker 3: He burnt the bridges, he didn't fear the wrath of
40:11
Speaker 3: the king. He took off. I love the way one
40:14
Speaker 3: man put it. We live by faith or we do
40:17
Speaker 3: not live at all. Either we venture or we vegetate,
40:22
Speaker 3: We risk, or we rust. There's no Sphinx in Egypt
40:28
Speaker 3: today because Moses left Egypt. Who needs Egypt? When God
40:34
Speaker 3: says there's an exodus in my plan. If you're committed
40:42
Speaker 3: to Egypt more than an exodus, you're not committed to God.
40:49
Speaker 3: Now there's a third, and I think of the three,
40:52
Speaker 3: it's pretty close to my favorite. He was willing to
40:55
Speaker 3: do the unusual. He refused a sinful pleasures. He left
41:06
Speaker 3: the familiar. But look at verse twenty eight. Picture it
41:11
Speaker 3: act like there's never been a passover, because when he
41:14
Speaker 3: did it, there hadn't ever been. He kept the passover
41:17
Speaker 3: and the sprinkling of the blood so that he who
41:19
Speaker 3: destroyed the firstborn might not touch them. You know the story.
41:24
Speaker 3: Moses had come to Pharaoh time after time after time, saying,
41:28
Speaker 3: let my people go, Let my people go. He wouldn't
41:31
Speaker 3: do it. Finally, God said to Moses, I'm going to
41:34
Speaker 3: send a death angel. He'll let them go. I'll strike
41:38
Speaker 3: every home except one special group of homes. Now, I'm
41:43
Speaker 3: not going to tell you where I'm reading or from
41:45
Speaker 3: what version. I just want you to hear it. Listen.
41:48
Speaker 3: That's what they were supposed to do, if they were
41:50
Speaker 3: going to pre preserve from death. The animals you choose
41:55
Speaker 3: must be year old males without defect. Take care of
41:59
Speaker 3: them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all
42:01
Speaker 3: the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them
42:03
Speaker 3: at twilight. Then they are to take some of the
42:07
Speaker 3: blood and put it on the sides and the tops
42:13
Speaker 3: of the door frames of the houses where they eat
42:16
Speaker 3: the lambs the same night. There to eat the meat
42:19
Speaker 3: roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs and bread
42:22
Speaker 3: made without yeast. Do not eat the meat raw or
42:26
Speaker 3: cooked in water, but roast it over the fire, head,
42:29
Speaker 3: legs and inner parts. Still listening this brand new stuff.
42:35
Speaker 3: It had never been done before. Do not leave any
42:38
Speaker 3: of it till the morning. If some is left till morning,
42:40
Speaker 3: burn it. This is how you to eat it. With
42:43
Speaker 3: your cloak tucked under your belt, your sandals on your feet,
42:47
Speaker 3: and your staff and your hand. Eat it in haste
42:51
Speaker 3: sounds like Tommy's, you know, eat it in haste. This
42:57
Speaker 3: the Lord's passover the Tommy's by any means, on the
43:02
Speaker 3: same night, I'll pass through Egypt and I'll strike down
43:04
Speaker 3: every firstborn. But you have your staff in your hand,
43:08
Speaker 3: you have your cloak under your belt, you have your
43:10
Speaker 3: sandals on. You'd be ready to run because I'm coming
43:15
Speaker 3: and you're gonna hear him screaming. But you got blood
43:19
Speaker 3: on your door, and I'll pass over you. You gotta
43:29
Speaker 3: be kidding. Blood.
43:33
Speaker 5: Yeah, maybe my blood. No, Lamb's blood. Lamb's blood.
43:44
Speaker 3: You're telling me that I don't even have to lock
43:46
Speaker 3: my door. Don't lock your door. Now, here's a guy
43:50
Speaker 3: with an advanced degree in hieroglyphics. He graduated from the
43:53
Speaker 3: Temple of the Sun. He's got a chest full of metals,
43:56
Speaker 3: and he's out there smearing blood on the side of
43:58
Speaker 3: his door and on the top of his door. What
44:01
Speaker 3: are you doing, I'm keeping the death angel away? Oh yeah, sure.
44:10
Speaker 3: Can you imagine. I mean, we look at that like
44:13
Speaker 3: it was high and holy, and indeed it was, of
44:16
Speaker 3: course in principle it was. But imagine a mockery that
44:20
Speaker 3: these Hebrews lived with people that weren't going to do that.
44:24
Speaker 3: Death angel come in. I'm closing the windows. I'm taking
44:27
Speaker 3: a trip. We're getting together with a bunch of people
44:30
Speaker 3: down at the gym. I mean there's stone walls down there. Well,
44:36
Speaker 3: we're just putting blood on our door. Why because sounds unusual.
44:45
Speaker 3: But God says, if we sprinkle blood here, death won't
44:49
Speaker 3: come in. That night the screaming started. It came from
44:56
Speaker 3: Memphis and swept all the way up through the valley
44:58
Speaker 3: toward toward the land of Goshen. He never heard such screaming.
45:06
Speaker 3: Kids dying like flies. And here is this little Hebrew
45:10
Speaker 3: couple standing there with a staff and a cloak and
45:15
Speaker 3: sandals and roasted lamb, about to make an exodus. What
45:24
Speaker 3: an unusual thing. There's no tradition to fall back on.
45:31
Speaker 3: How could he do it? He could do it the
45:35
Speaker 3: same way Noah could nail nails into the ark and
45:38
Speaker 3: there had never been a rain. He could do it
45:41
Speaker 3: the same way Abraham and Sarah could go out to
45:43
Speaker 3: look for a city that had a foundation, whose builder
45:45
Speaker 3: and maker was God, and they had never been to
45:47
Speaker 3: the land of Canaan. He could do it because God
45:51
Speaker 3: said do it. A friend, There's no hocus pocus in
45:58
Speaker 3: this talk. This isn't a talk addressed to preachers or
46:04
Speaker 3: missionaries per se. This is to people just like us,
46:09
Speaker 3: just everyday garden variety of folks, young and old alike,
46:13
Speaker 3: single and married, retired and youthful, all cross section of America.
46:19
Speaker 3: Apply it can apply this in three areas. What about
46:26
Speaker 3: you and all of this? You know, I haven't let
46:29
Speaker 3: you stay out of the picture entirely, but let's put
46:32
Speaker 3: you right in the center of the picture. Here's the first.
46:36
Speaker 3: To have the discernment it takes to refuse the sinful,
46:41
Speaker 3: faith must overshadow my feelings. Let me say that again.
46:46
Speaker 3: To have the discernment it takes to refuse the sinful,
46:51
Speaker 3: my faith must overshadow my feelings. My feelings say run,
46:57
Speaker 3: Faith says stand still. My feelings say try it. Faith
47:02
Speaker 3: says stay away from it. My feelings say, can't you
47:06
Speaker 3: remember the Academy Award winning song. If it feels so good,
47:10
Speaker 3: how could it be wrong? Or if it feels or
47:13
Speaker 3: if it's so wrong, how can it be If it's
47:15
Speaker 3: so right, how can it be wrong? You know, I mean,
47:17
Speaker 3: it feels right, it feels right. We're in the day
47:21
Speaker 3: of feelings. Whatever you feel like, get at it. Faith says,
47:29
Speaker 3: hold it. You've come to a fork in the road.
47:33
Speaker 3: If you take that journey, you're gonna buy a lifestyle
47:40
Speaker 3: that is wrong. Back up, Look again. Some of you
47:49
Speaker 3: are right there. Some of you have made the choice.
47:56
Speaker 3: It's time to back up. Takes discernment. You can do
48:02
Speaker 3: it second. To have the determination it takes to leave
48:07
Speaker 3: the familiar, faith must be my security. To have the
48:17
Speaker 3: determination it takes to leave the familiar, faith must be
48:20
Speaker 3: my security. That's how calm. You can have a Larry
48:25
Speaker 3: and Rhondessstig and two kids over there in Spain, secure
48:30
Speaker 3: even though they had whatever you could name right here
48:33
Speaker 3: going for them, And I could name three dozen other
48:37
Speaker 3: couples and more represented by our assembly. Their faith has
48:45
Speaker 3: become their security. Their walk with God is their security,
48:50
Speaker 3: not where they live. Remember Corey ten Boo's words, I'll
48:54
Speaker 3: give you, give them to you one more time. I've
48:56
Speaker 3: learned to hold precious things loosely, because it hurts when
48:59
Speaker 3: God prize my fingers and takes them from me. You
49:05
Speaker 3: hold your children loosely. Give of thy sons to bear
49:10
Speaker 3: the message glorious. Give of thy wealth to speed them
49:12
Speaker 3: on their way. Poor art, thy soul for them in
49:14
Speaker 3: prayer victorious, and all thou spendest Jesus will repay. You're
49:20
Speaker 3: wearing your children to keep or to give. Sometime the
49:24
Speaker 3: kid's greatest battle in getting to the field his parents
49:28
Speaker 3: and won't let them go. Give them. What a tremendous investment.
49:38
Speaker 3: Determination that takes to leave the familiar means that my
49:42
Speaker 3: faith must be my security. Here's a third. To have
49:45
Speaker 3: the discipline it takes to do the unusual. Faith must
49:49
Speaker 3: silence the critics. You're gonna have critics, and you're gonna
49:55
Speaker 3: have to have discipline to take that journey and to
49:58
Speaker 3: live with the mock dockery. You're going to have to
50:03
Speaker 3: have the kind of discipline it takes that says Lord God,
50:07
Speaker 3: You've told me that's the journey to take, that's the
50:09
Speaker 3: way to walk. My critics are getting louder and more
50:12
Speaker 3: in number and closer. Silence them. Elton Trueblood said, faith
50:21
Speaker 3: is not belief without proof, but trust without reservation. He refused,
50:28
Speaker 3: He left the third word to circle. He kept, He
50:35
Speaker 3: kept the passover. What do you need to refuse? What
50:42
Speaker 3: do you need to leave? What do you need to keep?
50:48
Speaker 3: Everybody puts on these clothes in different ways, but everybody
50:52
Speaker 3: has all three to deal with. So do I the truth.
51:04
Speaker 3: I want to live my life so deep, just deep
51:08
Speaker 3: enough to say I am eternally committed to my Savior,
51:16
Speaker 3: but so available and free to him that all it
51:21
Speaker 3: takes is a whisper whisper and I'm gone. And that
51:30
Speaker 3: for my children and my wife. I want that for
51:38
Speaker 3: us as a congregation, as a people of God. I'm
51:43
Speaker 3: aware that some of you are going through tremendous tests.
51:51
Speaker 3: It's very hard to go through that kind of test.
51:57
Speaker 3: But I want to challenge you, as your pastor, in
51:59
Speaker 3: this your friend, that you remember your God in the
52:08
Speaker 3: hard times. You wouldn't have planned your life the way
52:13
Speaker 3: it's uncovered, but it's happened. What He takes or what
52:19
Speaker 3: he gives is shows the Father's love so precious. It's
52:26
Speaker 3: been a long time since there has been true thanksgiving
52:32
Speaker 3: flowing from the table or the heart of your home.
52:37
Speaker 3: Perhaps maybe it's time for that. Unusual, not as unusual
52:48
Speaker 3: as the passover, but unusual because at hard times people
52:54
Speaker 3: complain and fight. Challenge you today to make your platform
53:04
Speaker 3: a platform of praise and just open your heart to
53:12
Speaker 3: God and praise for what He's taken as well as
53:19
Speaker 3: for what he's given. For your future that seems so uncertain,
53:26
Speaker 3: as well as the security of your past. Give him
53:31
Speaker 3: praise that means you give him first place in everything.
53:44
Speaker 3: I'd like us to bow together, please. I appreciate your
53:51
Speaker 3: your listening. I know I'm hard to listen to today, and
53:54
Speaker 3: I appreciate your attention. I'd like to think you've listened
53:59
Speaker 3: to the to the truth of God's word. I really
54:06
Speaker 3: feel the need right now to ask you to do
54:11
Speaker 3: a little searching for some of you. It's long overdue.
54:19
Speaker 3: You've gone down that road, and to come back and
54:22
Speaker 3: do it all right, It's going to be hard. You're
54:27
Speaker 3: deciding now whether it's worth it. If you could put
54:34
Speaker 3: yourself in the skin of any Bible character, ME ask
54:38
Speaker 3: you to put yourself in the skin of Moses. Consider
54:43
Speaker 3: what he gave up and what he got in return,
54:48
Speaker 3: a monument in Egypt, a temporal sphinx or pyramid, a
54:57
Speaker 3: reward in heaven. Trust Christ. Trust Christ today, give him
55:09
Speaker 3: your most priceless possession first your life, than all that
55:16
Speaker 3: you are by faith.
55:25
Speaker 4: Maybe bow together this evening. I pray Lord that you
55:29
Speaker 4: would purify us as your people. You would make us
55:34
Speaker 4: jealous hot after the heart of God, make us very
55:44
Speaker 4: concerned about the details of our faith, so that we
55:48
Speaker 4: are a discerning people, not captured by the wind and
55:52
Speaker 4: the current and the flow of our times. Lord, pray
56:01
Speaker 4: that you would stir us up, give us conviction, strength
56:06
Speaker 4: of character, inward courage, first as individuals and then as
56:13
Speaker 4: corporate members of your body. I pray tonight especially for
56:17
Speaker 4: those that are lonely, those who long to find companionship,
56:23
Speaker 4: direction in life, the love of a friend or a mate.
56:29
Speaker 4: How I pray that you would give them, in the
56:31
Speaker 4: quiet times of their lives that solid consistency link directly
56:40
Speaker 4: with your word, and from that source only may they
56:43
Speaker 4: find their encouragement and peace, guide and guard. Dear Father,
56:52
Speaker 4: as we have heard this information from your word, they
56:56
Speaker 4: would be very faithful to implement what we have heard.
57:03
Speaker 4: We commit to you our week and our lives Tonight, Father,
57:09
Speaker 4: through Jesus, our Lord, we pray.
57:15
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57:20
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57:25
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57:30
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57:33
Speaker 6: Charles Arswin Dahl, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication
57:38
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