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Surprised by God │ Msg 911 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: There's a couple of passages I want to read for
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Speaker 1: us as we prepare for today's message on Surprised by God.
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Speaker 1: We're calling it Genesis twenty two, and then one verse
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Speaker 1: out of Romans, chapter eleven. And at the end of
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Speaker 1: the song sheet when you came to that last grand
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Speaker 1: hymn by Walter Chalmer Smith, one of my favorite hymns
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Speaker 1: on Earth. There's a section there of notes you can take,
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Speaker 1: and you may want to put that in your Bible.
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Speaker 1: And the Romans reading, because we will begin there as
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Speaker 1: we get started a few minutes Genesis twenty two, beginning
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Speaker 1: at verse one. Now, it came about after these things
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Speaker 1: that God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and
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Speaker 1: he said, here I am. And he said, take now
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Speaker 1: your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and
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Speaker 1: go to the land of Mariah and offer him there
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Speaker 1: as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of
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Speaker 1: which I will tell you. So Abraham rose early in
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Speaker 1: the morning and saddled his donkey and took two of
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Speaker 1: his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and
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Speaker 1: he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and
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Speaker 1: went to the place of which God had told him,
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Speaker 1: and I try to imagine the scene. On the third day,
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Speaker 1: Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance.
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Speaker 1: And Abraham said to his young men, stay here with
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Speaker 1: a donkey. I and the lad will go yonder, and
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Speaker 1: we will worship and return to you. And Abraham took
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Speaker 1: the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac,
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Speaker 1: his son, and he took in his hand the fire
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Speaker 1: and the knife. So the two of them walked on together,
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Speaker 1: and Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and said, my father.
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Speaker 1: He said, here I am my son. And he said,
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Speaker 1: behold the fire and the wood. But where's the lamb
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Speaker 1: for the burnt offering? And Abraham said, God will provide
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Speaker 1: for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.
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Speaker 1: So the two of them walked on together. Then they
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Speaker 1: came to the place of which God had told him.
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Speaker 1: And Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood
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Speaker 1: and bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar.
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Speaker 1: On top of the wood. Abraham stretched out his hand
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Speaker 1: and took the knife to slay his son. And the
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Speaker 1: Angel the Lord called to him from heaven and said Abraham, Abraham,
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Speaker 1: and he said here I am, And he said, do
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Speaker 1: not stretch out your hand against the lad and do
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Speaker 1: nothing to him. For now I know that you fear God,
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Speaker 1: since you have not withheld your son, your only son,
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Speaker 1: from me. You know, if I live to be one
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Speaker 1: hundred and fifty, I will I will never be able
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Speaker 1: to take in the emotion of that setting. As I
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Speaker 1: live that out in my life. I know you feel
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Speaker 1: the same way. Romans eleven, verse thirty three. Oh the
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Speaker 1: depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge
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Speaker 1: of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable his
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Speaker 1: ways Romans eleven thirty three. Notice the words and unfathomable. Lord.
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Speaker 1: It is one thing to sit in a comfortable place,
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Speaker 1: air conditioned and protected from the elements, and to read
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Speaker 1: about being surprised in an area that touches us deeply.
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Speaker 1: I can't imagine what must have gone through Abraham's mind
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Speaker 1: as he bound his son and placed him on an
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Speaker 1: altar and lifted the knife to kill him in obedience
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Speaker 1: to you. We realize, our Father, that everything we have
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Speaker 1: is given to us so that we might learn how
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Speaker 1: to release it. And it's hard for us, since we
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Speaker 1: are so rounded by such greed and selfishness and instant gratification,
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Speaker 1: impatience and conceit. It's easy for that to become our
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Speaker 1: way of life. It's hard, Lord to obey, It's hard
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Speaker 1: to obey at all costs. But that that is what
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Speaker 1: you require of us. Help us today, our Father, never
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Speaker 1: again in our lives to play church, just to sing
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Speaker 1: religious words and dance through a morning of meeting people
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Speaker 1: all dressed up, and then go home to live the
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Speaker 1: same way. Get hold of our wills today, Be pleased
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Speaker 1: with motive behind these gifts as you're people, support your work,
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Speaker 1: and remind us as we release from our treasure, that
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Speaker 1: you really own it all anyway, it's all yours. And
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Speaker 1: maybe be impressed again the importance of walking by faith
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Speaker 1: not by sight. For Jesus sake, Amen, have you ever
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Speaker 1: been surprised by God? Years ago? C. S. Lewis wrote
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Speaker 1: his testimony in a book called Surprised by Joy, where
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Speaker 1: he told of his conversion to Christ. But I'm not
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Speaker 1: talking about a surprise of joy when we come to Christ.
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Speaker 1: I'm talking about being surprised, really surprised with the will
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Speaker 1: of God for your life. I think if you realize
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Speaker 1: and are honest with the past that you have lived.
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Speaker 1: You would have to say, who hasn't been? Who hasn't been?
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Speaker 1: I mean, you lay yourself before him, You pray, you
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Speaker 1: ask for counsel, you seek his word, You go after
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Speaker 1: it only for his glory, willing to give up whatever
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Speaker 1: you need to give up. And you move through the door.
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Speaker 1: The door closes behind you. It is locked, and you
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Speaker 1: know that God led you there, and boom, it's a
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Speaker 1: total surprise. You thought one way and it turned out
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Speaker 1: to be another. Talk about unfathomable, talk about unsearchable, infinite surprising.
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Speaker 1: Now some examples come to mind. You have a loved
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Speaker 1: one who is very sick. This person has been healthy
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Speaker 1: most of her life or most of his life, and
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Speaker 1: word that they're now in the hospital. You go by
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Speaker 1: to see them. The illness is not the kind that
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Speaker 1: is an illness unto death. It's not terminal, but the
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Speaker 1: fever is high and the doctor can't quite find out
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Speaker 1: what it is. And your friend is under intense kind
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Speaker 1: of care to discover the problem. And so you, having
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Speaker 1: met with him or her at the hospital, you go
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Speaker 1: home and you say, Lord, I love this person, and
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Speaker 1: the life they've lived has been a remarkable life of faith.
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Speaker 1: In fact, have been a model to me, and I
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Speaker 1: pray that you would give recovery and relief and release
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Speaker 1: them from the fever and the disease. The morning comes
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Speaker 1: early as your phone rings with a shrill ring, and
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Speaker 1: your friend, who has been at the hospital with the
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Speaker 1: sick one through the night, tells you that he died.
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Speaker 1: He died. You prayed. You know it's not the consequence
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Speaker 1: of disobedience, because your friend has walked with the Lord.
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Speaker 1: But there wasn't healing, and there was no way to
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Speaker 1: explain why death happened to this middle aged friend who
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Speaker 1: had most of his life ahead of him. Here's another.
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Speaker 1: You're involved in a job you just love. Promotions have
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Speaker 1: come and you find yourself incredibly increasingly more skilled. You're
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Speaker 1: at peace, your family is enjoying the benefits of this work,
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Speaker 1: and you have moved a couple of times, and so
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Speaker 1: promotions have come and you're now making a rather good living.
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Speaker 1: It's kind of a tailor made job. And then, out
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Speaker 1: of the blue, without any expect on your part, you
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Speaker 1: begin to have a I would call them little squiggly
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Speaker 1: feelings inside and you're uneasy and restless. Maybe it's a
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Speaker 1: good way to put it, and you think, this couldn't
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Speaker 1: be about my job. I'm so happy in my work.
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Speaker 1: And an offer comes from out of the blue. You
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Speaker 1: didn't expect it, you didn't seek it, and you you
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Speaker 1: find that it seems to sort of fit your fancy.
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Speaker 1: If you will. There are new dimensions to it. There's
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Speaker 1: a sizeable promotion involved in more money, and you could
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Speaker 1: live in a better climate, and you've got friends, in
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Speaker 1: fact who live there. And you begin to seek the
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Speaker 1: word of God. You talk to people you admire whose
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Speaker 1: walk with the Lord is deeper or maybe more mature
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Speaker 1: than yours. You pray peace comes and you think, why
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Speaker 1: sure this is this is? This is the way God
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Speaker 1: does it? Uh closed door here, open door there. So
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Speaker 1: you resign and you move into this whole new realm
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Speaker 1: and it isn't two three months before you realize I
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Speaker 1: don't fit. This isn't what I expected. So you don't
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Speaker 1: do real well. You try to make it work. You think,
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Speaker 1: if I just work harder and longer, and if I
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Speaker 1: just give it more effort, then it'll turn around. And
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Speaker 1: it doesn't, and in another month or two you've lost
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Speaker 1: that job. You've been surprised by God, unsearchable, unfathomable, infinite
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Speaker 1: plan that you can't explain. As if that isn't enough,
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Speaker 1: here's one more. You and your wife have five children,
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Speaker 1: and everything's great, well as much as it can be
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Speaker 1: great with five kids. You know, you're doing okay. You've
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Speaker 1: got a happy family, You're enjoying your relationship together, you
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Speaker 1: are living around friends and things are great. And your
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Speaker 1: youngest is now just about to get out of high school,
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Speaker 1: and it's terrific. You turn up pregnant and all of
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Speaker 1: a sudden, you're going to have a sixth and you're
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Speaker 1: going to be a one child family because all the
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Speaker 1: others are going to be going off to school or
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Speaker 1: married or whatever, and they're gonna look at you and say,
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Speaker 1: what in the world are you two up to? And
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Speaker 1: you've got a brand new baby to raise. You've been
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Speaker 1: surprised by God. Not all the surprises are bad. This
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Speaker 1: one happens to be a delight. But you would have
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Speaker 1: never ever expected it. Do you know what? In all
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Speaker 1: of my years of preaching, and all of my years
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Speaker 1: of listening to preachers, all of my years in church,
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Speaker 1: and I've been in church so long, I was born
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Speaker 1: in the choir Loft. It seems like all of my life,
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Speaker 1: I have never once heard anybody talk on this subject
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Speaker 1: surprised by God. Never It's almost as if it's untouchable, unthinkable.
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Speaker 1: My point today is to say that in the mystery
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Speaker 1: of God's will, you will come to a place where
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Speaker 1: you cannot explain why things turned out like they did,
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Speaker 1: and you are right in the middle of His will.
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Speaker 1: It's not that you created a problem. It's that God
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Speaker 1: is in the process of surprising his people on a
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Speaker 1: regular basis. And I'm finding the Old Testament full of
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Speaker 1: stories like this. Genesis twenty two is a case in point.
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Speaker 1: And every time I read this story to tell you
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Speaker 1: the truth, have to sort of choke back the tears
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Speaker 1: when I try to imagine what it must be like
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Speaker 1: now when you're finding your way to Genesis twenty two.
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Speaker 1: Let me answer the skeptic who is thinking, well, maybe
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Speaker 1: God just operates from a distance. He's a big picture God.
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Speaker 1: He's sort of involved in the big nations and the
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Speaker 1: international scene and wars and those kind of things, but
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Speaker 1: when it comes to daily living, he's not really that connected.
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Speaker 1: Listen to Job thirty one to four. Does he not
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Speaker 1: see my ways, and number all my steps. Here's job
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Speaker 1: Job twenty eight twenty four. He sees everything under the heavens.
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Speaker 1: Proverbs five twenty one. The ways of a man are
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Speaker 1: before the Lord. He watches all his paths Palm one
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Speaker 1: thirty nine, Verse three, Thou dost scrutinize my path and
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Speaker 1: my lying down and art intimately acquainted with all my ways.
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Speaker 1: Doesn't sound to me like a distant deity. He is
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Speaker 1: exacting in his knowledge. There is no detail that misses
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Speaker 1: his attention. The very hairs of our head are numbered,
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Speaker 1: which is a bigger challenge for some than for others. Admittedly,
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Speaker 1: he knows everything about us. We are an open book
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Speaker 1: before him, and he deliberately in his plan, surprises us
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Speaker 1: with lost jobs, experiences with children, difficulties along the journey
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Speaker 1: as we walk by faith. Exact illustration of that is
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Speaker 1: Abraham in Genesis twenty two. God spoke clearly and forthrightly.
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Speaker 1: He did not stutter, nor did he hesitate in his command.
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Speaker 1: He said, verse two, take your son, your only son, Isaac,
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Speaker 1: whom you love. Lest Abraham would have been tempted to
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Speaker 1: offer up Ishmael, he said, I want Isaac on an
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Speaker 1: altar offer him up as a burnt offering. The Hebrew
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Speaker 1: word is allah lah we would spell it. It means
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Speaker 1: a whole burnt offering. If it were used of an animal,
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Speaker 1: it would be from hoof to head, all of it.
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Speaker 1: I want Isaac on an altar, consumed in fire, and
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Speaker 1: the aroma coming up to me as an act of
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Speaker 1: worship on your part. Abraham, you know what's remarkable to
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Speaker 1: me Verse three. You don't read of an argument or
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Speaker 1: any hesitation. He rose early in the morning, saddled the donkey,
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Speaker 1: took two of the young men with him, Isaac his son.
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Speaker 1: And in case you think Isaac is just a little boy,
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Speaker 1: a toddler, please observe he carries the wood. A little
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Speaker 1: later on, he split the wood for the burnt offering,
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Speaker 1: arose and went to the place of which God had
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Speaker 1: told him. On the third day, he raised his eyes
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Speaker 1: and he saw the place. He told the men to
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Speaker 1: stay with the donkey. He said, I and the lad
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Speaker 1: will go yonder and worship and return. He took the wood,
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Speaker 1: put it on Isaac Isaac, and he walked up the mountain.
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Speaker 1: That's a pretty good sized fella that can carry firewood
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Speaker 1: up a mountain. So Isaac is probably in his mid
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Speaker 1: to lighteen years at least. And on the way. There
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Speaker 1: is this dialogue that touches me every time I read it.
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Speaker 1: The boy says to his father, my father, and Dad answers,
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Speaker 1: here I am my son. And Isaac says, behold the
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Speaker 1: fire and the wood. Where's the lamb? Where's the sacrifice?
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Speaker 1: Isaac has offered sacrifices before, he's seen his father do this.
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Speaker 1: And I think Abraham's answer is magnificent. God will provide
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Speaker 1: for himself. God will provide for himself the lamb verse eight,
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Speaker 1: and they walk together. Don't you wonder what they talked about?
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Speaker 1: Don't you wonder how Abraham could think about anything but
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Speaker 1: the immediate future. What would be involved in the process
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Speaker 1: of binding his son and slitting his throat and setting
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Speaker 1: him on fire. What a strange command, strange in our eyes.
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Speaker 1: Remember last time we studied. God is not like us.
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Speaker 1: His ways are higher than our ways, and his will
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Speaker 1: is different than our will. God has a plan that's
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Speaker 1: deeper than you and I can figure out. This is
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Speaker 1: a checkpoint of Abraham's faith. Is your fear of me
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Speaker 1: greater than your love for your boy? Is your confidence
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Speaker 1: in me stronger than your affection for your own child.
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Speaker 1: I read in verse nine an incredible scene. He built
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Speaker 1: the altar, he arranged the wood, he bound his son.
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Speaker 1: There's no wrestling. Isaac now gets the picture. He places
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Speaker 1: him on the wood, and he lays him on the altar,
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Speaker 1: on top of the wood. And Abraham stretched out his
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Speaker 1: hand and took the knife to slay his son. And
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Speaker 1: I'm convinced he would have brought the knife right down
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Speaker 1: into his chest. But the Angel of the Lord called
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Speaker 1: and said Abraham, Abraham, and he said, here, I am
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Speaker 1: no sound that was ever greater in the years of
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Speaker 1: that father than that moment when that angel interrupted and
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Speaker 1: the Lord said, don't stretch your hand again. Wait a minute,
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Speaker 1: what a surprise Have you ever thought about the surprise
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Speaker 1: element in that? A few days before he said to Abraham,
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Speaker 1: take now your son, your only son, and sacrifice him
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Speaker 1: on the altar verse two, it's right there in the text.
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Speaker 1: Offer him as a burnt offering verse twelve. Don't offer him.
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Speaker 1: Don't do that. You talk about being surprised. Now here
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Speaker 1: is a case of a wonderful surprise where Abraham puts
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Speaker 1: the knife away, and as you know, they find this
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Speaker 1: animal in the thicket, and they offer up the animal,
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Speaker 1: and they walk back down together. This is what I
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Speaker 1: call a domestic crisis surprise. In the plan of God,
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Speaker 1: he touches mother's and father's hearts deeply in the realm
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Speaker 1: of their children, as in one way or another, he
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Speaker 1: has us released them to him. Someone said to me
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Speaker 1: following last week's message, that God gives us things, it
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Speaker 1: seems to him only for the purpose that we might
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Speaker 1: learn to release them back to him. We hold all
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Speaker 1: things loosely, we release all things to him. It's a
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Speaker 1: great moment for me to ask you about you and
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Speaker 1: your children. It is one thing to love them and
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Speaker 1: care for them, watch over and provide for them. It's
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Speaker 1: another thing to adore them and place them on a
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Speaker 1: level above that of God. It is one thing to
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Speaker 1: be grateful for them, to nurture them, and to train them.
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Speaker 1: It is another thing to make idols out of them.
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Speaker 1: Men and women. Take it from this, Father, learn to
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Speaker 1: release your children. Let it be, Let it be. The
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Speaker 1: wonderful answer that God gave is now I know that
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Speaker 1: you fear me. Abram, don't take his life. Look at
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Speaker 1: Genesis thirty seven, talk about another exam of a surprise.
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Speaker 1: This is what I call a lifestyle crisis. Surprise Joseph.
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Speaker 1: If you have never studied the life of Joseph, I
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Speaker 1: want to urge you to do that in the next month.
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Speaker 1: In the next month Genesis thirty seven to fifty, just
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Speaker 1: make a mental note of it. Read on your own,
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Speaker 1: and study in your own private devotions. The life of Joseph.
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Speaker 1: One of the most remarkable individuals I've ever studied. And
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Speaker 1: you talk about a man whose entire life was surprising.
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Speaker 1: He's one of several boys born into the family of Jacob.
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Speaker 1: I said thirty seven. I'm sorry. I meant, well, no wonder,
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Speaker 1: I'm in Exodus thirty seven. Genesis thirty seven. You're where
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Speaker 1: you're supposed to be. I'm not. Let me get over there.
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Speaker 1: Genesis thirty seven. There it is Jacob, as all of
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Speaker 1: these boys, and Joseph is given a dream by God.
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Speaker 1: And in the dream, God says to Joseph, you are
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Speaker 1: to lead, you are to rule over your brothers. In fact,
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Speaker 1: verse six, he says, please listen to this dream which
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Speaker 1: I've had. Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field,
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Speaker 1: and lo, my sheaf rose up and stood erect, and
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Speaker 1: your sheaves gathered and bowed down to my sheep. Now,
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Speaker 1: if you were the older brothers and you had a
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Speaker 1: younger brother saying I have a dream from God and
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Speaker 1: I'm going to rule over you, I'm sure you'd be
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Speaker 1: thrilled with that, wouldn't you? You would probably say, who
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Speaker 1: do you think you are? They already don't like him
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Speaker 1: because he's the father's favorite. But Joseph just sort of
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Speaker 1: blurts this out. I've had this dream and I'm on
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Speaker 1: my way to a role of leadership. I'll even be
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Speaker 1: over all of you someday. They didn't like that. He
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Speaker 1: says in verse nine, I've had another dream, and behold
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Speaker 1: the sun and the moon. Even the stars were bowing
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Speaker 1: down to me. That did it. And when they had
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Speaker 1: a chance, not wait a minute, wait a minute. God
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Speaker 1: was preparing Joseph in his mind for being in a
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Speaker 1: role of leadership someday. And you and I know we've
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Speaker 1: studied the story. Joseph became an Egyptian prime minister. He
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Speaker 1: was going to be ultimately second in command over all
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Speaker 1: of Egypt. But what a journey in getting there. If
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Speaker 1: you and I were going to train a prime minister,
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Speaker 1: we would protect him, We would preserve him from danger.
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Speaker 1: We would make sure that he was trained and mentored
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Speaker 1: and then finally promoted to that role, and he knows
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Speaker 1: the protocol and the responsibilities, and he carries himself in
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Speaker 1: the dignity of the office. That's not God's surprising plan.
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Speaker 1: You know what happened to Joseph. It's one tragedy after another.
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Speaker 1: His brothers sell him into slavery after dropping him in
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Speaker 1: a pit. He's carried off by a caravan to Egypt,
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Speaker 1: even though he's lived in Canaan, doesn't know the culture
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Speaker 1: or the language. He's forced to learn both. He becomes
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Speaker 1: a slave. He's bought by Potiphar, and he's a houseboy,
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Speaker 1: if you will, in the home of Potiphar, where he
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Speaker 1: serves faithfully. Potiphar's wife falls for him and makes sexual
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Speaker 1: advances toward him, and Joseph, totally innocent, says, I want
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Speaker 1: nothing to do with you. She is angered over his refusal.
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Speaker 1: She grabs him, he runs, She tears part of his
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Speaker 1: garment and later says, he tried to rape me, this jew.
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Speaker 1: There's a lot of antisemitism, by the way in her accusation.
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Speaker 1: Falsely accused. Joseph winds up in an Egyptian dungeon. This
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Speaker 1: is a man who is going to be the prime minister.
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Speaker 1: Wouldn't you if you had been Joseph wondered about that dream.
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Speaker 1: When you're sitting down in that prison and you're forgotten
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Speaker 1: for over two years, you have wondered what is God
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Speaker 1: up to? If you think theologically, you wouldn't have doubted.
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Speaker 1: But most of us don't think theologically. We take it personally.
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Speaker 1: We have a pity party and we start feeling sorry
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Speaker 1: for ourselves that we wonder if God really keeps his word.
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Speaker 1: You never read of Joseph's doubting. In fact, all the
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Speaker 1: way through you read the Lord was with him, The
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Speaker 1: Lord was with him, The Lord was with him. Finally,
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Speaker 1: the tables turn and in a surprising set of events
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Speaker 1: that some of you are aware of, and you're smiling
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Speaker 1: as you think about him, Joseph has brought before Pharaoh.
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Speaker 1: He reveals a dream. Pharaoh says, my this is my man,
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Speaker 1: and he promotes him to prime minister. I mean, this
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Speaker 1: is amazing. Joseph winds up prime minister, and a famine
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Speaker 1: comes over the land, and the famine sweeps all the
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Speaker 1: way to the land of Canaan and guess who's starving
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Speaker 1: his brothers? Ah, this is my moment, many would think,
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Speaker 1: not Joseph. Joseph winds up with his brother standing in
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Speaker 1: front of him. They don't know who he is. He
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Speaker 1: knows who they are. I love stories like this when
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Speaker 1: we know something somebody in the Bible doesn't know. And
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Speaker 1: they're standing there with their hat in their hands, saying,
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Speaker 1: could you give us a little bread, little grain please?
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Speaker 1: And they have no idea who he is, and he
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Speaker 1: knows who they are. He's standing there in all the
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Speaker 1: Egyptian garb as the Prime Minister and he's got it.
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Speaker 1: It's his moment. If he doesn't get back, he can
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Speaker 1: at least get even. But he doesn't, and in a
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Speaker 1: very touching, touching scene, he says to his brothers, come
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Speaker 1: up here close. I'm Joseph. Great, I'm Joseph. They don't
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Speaker 1: know whether he spit or wine. They're watched you are who?
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Speaker 1: And now guess what when they heard that, did they
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Speaker 1: get scared or what? The Prime minister and they now
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Speaker 1: know that he has the goods on them. And this
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Speaker 1: great scene emerges in Genesis fifty where he says, you
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Speaker 1: meant it unto me for evil but God meant it
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Speaker 1: unto me for good. What a surprising plan. If you
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Speaker 1: and I had written the story, it had been dull
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Speaker 1: and boring and predictable, and would have had a prime
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Speaker 1: minister like all the prime ministers you know of those days,
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Speaker 1: they go, that's just the way it is. But not God.
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Speaker 1: Is the Lord going to use you in a great way?
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Speaker 1: Quite probable, quite probably. Is he going to prepare you
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Speaker 1: as you expect? Not at all? And if you're not careful,
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Speaker 1: you will take personally the trials, the tests, the sudden interruptions,
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Speaker 1: the disappointments, the dungeon like sadness that accompanies life, the
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Speaker 1: lost jobs, the lost opportunities, the broken moments, and you
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Speaker 1: will think he's true with me, he's finished with me,
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Speaker 1: when in fact he is equipping you. It's doubtful God
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Speaker 1: can use anyone greatly till he's hurt him deeply, said
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Speaker 1: aw Tozer. And while we're on the subject of hurts,
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Speaker 1: I look at first Samuel chapter sixteen. Let's go there more,
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Speaker 1: just one more setting. I really have it first Samuel sixteen,
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Speaker 1: One more little surprise, And you know where I've gone.
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Speaker 1: I've gone to David. He represents a career crisis. Surprise.
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Speaker 1: Abraham was a domestic crisis. Surprise, Joseph was a lifestyle crisis. Surprise.
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Speaker 1: David is a career crisis. Remember the story, Saul has
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Speaker 1: disqualified himself. He is in appearance a good looking king,
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Speaker 1: but he's within and through a series of very stupid
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Speaker 1: mistakes and sins, Saul is disqualified. So Samuel is sent
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Speaker 1: to find the next king. I love this scene. He
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Speaker 1: comes to Jesse's home and Jesse brings his seven sons
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Speaker 1: in front of Samuel, and Samuel looks at the oldest
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Speaker 1: and he says, surely the Lord's anointed is before us,
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Speaker 1: and he's not the one. The Lord says, don't look
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Speaker 1: at the height of his countenance or at his stature,
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Speaker 1: for I've refused him. Man looks at the outward appearance.
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Speaker 1: The Lord looks at the heart verse six or verse seven.
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Speaker 1: And so he calls the others of Benadab and he's
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Speaker 1: not the one, and Shama and he's not the one.
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Speaker 1: And he brings all of his other sons, and the
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Speaker 1: Lord has not chosen these, and he says to Jesse
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Speaker 1: that it is that all you boys. Yep, by God,
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Speaker 1: I got one more And that you ever had so
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Speaker 1: many kids you forget one of them. And Jesse has
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Speaker 1: got one boy out in the field, and David is
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Speaker 1: there keeping the sheep. He doesn't know what's going on
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Speaker 1: at the house and he walks up and next thing
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Speaker 1: you know, he's got oil running down his head and
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Speaker 1: neck and words about being the king, and David is
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Speaker 1: you know, we have David fixed in our minds. As
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Speaker 1: though he's read for Samuel sixteen. He doesn't know what's happening.
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Speaker 1: It's like, I mean, he still smells like a sheep.
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Speaker 1: It's been out there so long and he didn't get
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Speaker 1: cleaned up. He's alorad of standing there and the words
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Speaker 1: are spoken, and there's this prayer over him and you're
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Speaker 1: the king. And you know what David does. He doesn't
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Speaker 1: go down to sears and try on crowns. He doesn't
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Speaker 1: change his business card to read King elect. He goes
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Speaker 1: right back with the sheep. You know why, because that's
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Speaker 1: the kind of guy he was. And that's a surprising
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Speaker 1: way God trains his men. He needs to prove himself
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Speaker 1: as a leader. So Goliath comes in the land, and
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Speaker 1: Saul won't fight Goliath, and the Israelites are afraid, and
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Speaker 1: David takes him on and he drops him, and the
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Speaker 1: people saying Saul has slain his thousand, David is ten thousand,
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Speaker 1: and boy, they're all excited, everybody except Saul. Saul hates it.
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Speaker 1: He's so insecure he can't share the thought of anybody
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Speaker 1: being a threat. And for the next twelve to fourteen years,
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Speaker 1: David lives in the Judean wilderness running from Saul. Would
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Speaker 1: you have trained a king like that? Never? Never, you
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Speaker 1: would have mentored him, and you would have protected and
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Speaker 1: fed him and taken good care of him and give
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Speaker 1: a him good health. And while the man eked out
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Speaker 1: in existence. If you've ever seen the jude And wilderness,
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Speaker 1: you know how barren it is, lived in the caves
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Speaker 1: of Ingeti and scratched for a existence. And then through
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Speaker 1: a series of quick events, boom boom boom, Saul's killed,
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Speaker 1: Jonathan is killed, the battle is over, and David emerges
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Speaker 1: at Hebron, And then finally Jerusalem is the king. Who
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Speaker 1: would have ever guessed? Surprised by God? I couldn't mention Job,
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Speaker 1: I could mention Jonah is another surprise, and a half
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Speaker 1: dozen others come to mind, and the Lord prepares him
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Speaker 1: for being a king. Surprise, Surprise, Surprise. Why do i
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Speaker 1: camp on this so deliberately because I'm convinced that this
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Speaker 1: is not the exception, this is the rule. It throws
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Speaker 1: us a curve because our idea of God is that
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Speaker 1: he is one who leads like we do, in plans
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Speaker 1: like we do. But it's not true. It's not like that.
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Speaker 1: In fact, I've taken the time to write down four
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Speaker 1: simple principles that I think all fit together in these
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Speaker 1: scenes that I've portrayed for you from the scriptures, and
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Speaker 1: I want you to I want you to notice them.
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Speaker 1: First of all, God's preferred method is surprise. His preferred
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Speaker 1: method is surprised. Expect them, expect them. They are the rule,
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Speaker 1: not the exception. Second, his surprises require flexibility and adaptability.
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Speaker 1: Employ them. When you get in a situation, luation that
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Speaker 1: you didn't expect, you're going to have to adapt. You're
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Speaker 1: going to have to adjust. God hasn't made a mistake,
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Speaker 1: you haven't made a mistake. You're just going through the
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Speaker 1: process of internal development that was all part of God's
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Speaker 1: arrangement of events. Painful though they may be, Cynthia calls
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Speaker 1: these changes in our home are Plan B arrangements. She said, Well,
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Speaker 1: we go to Plan B today. We expected Plan A
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Speaker 1: and it seems so clear, and boom, out of the
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Speaker 1: blue comes a surprise and we're left with another whole
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Speaker 1: series of plans. Plan B gets underway. Here's a third
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Speaker 1: Behind God's surprises our purposes we are not aware of.
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Speaker 1: Behind God's surprises, our purposes we are not aware of.
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Speaker 1: Evaluate them. Let's say you're in the category of the
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Speaker 1: latter illustration I used as I got started. You're the
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Speaker 1: one with the grown family, and out of the blue,
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Speaker 1: you wind up with a brand new baby, and you're
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Speaker 1: in your forties. This is a great time to realize,
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Speaker 1: that's a very special child, that's a very special moment.
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Speaker 1: That's a very special, unusual arrangement planned by God. This
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Speaker 1: is no mistake, This is no accident of Think them through.
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Speaker 1: Think of them through from God's perspective, rather than feeling
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Speaker 1: sorry for yourself. Pray Lord, get me some insight here.
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Speaker 1: Help me to understand why my job isn't what I
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Speaker 1: thought it would be. Help me to learn what I
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Speaker 1: can learn through this whole rearrangement of events. Why did
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Speaker 1: you disrupt my nest and move me so obviously from
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Speaker 1: A to B and then here and B. I am
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Speaker 1: so it seems ill fitted for these things. What is
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Speaker 1: it you want me to learn in the process? Lord?
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Speaker 1: Why is it that after praying the answer was no?
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Speaker 1: What is it that you want me to learn from
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Speaker 1: the no answer? Rather than becoming embittered, angered and disillusioned,
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Speaker 1: ask why what can I learn from this? Here's a fourth.
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Speaker 1: When God surprises us, he supplies sufficient grace to handle
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Speaker 1: the unexpected endure them. When God surprises us, he supplies
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Speaker 1: sufficient grace to endure them, He supplies sufficient grace to
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Speaker 1: handle them. I gave this message earlier today and I
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Speaker 1: had one of our congregational members drop me a note.
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Speaker 1: I don't even know who it was. I was talking
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Speaker 1: to some friends in this note was put between my
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Speaker 1: fingers and I look up and here it is and
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Speaker 1: I saw from I know that's handwriting. It says thanks Chuck.
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Speaker 1: Grace is sufficient, but sometimes the process is scary, and
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Speaker 1: it is. Remember all through this message, I haven't once
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Speaker 1: used the word easy. It is sometimes scary. It does
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Speaker 1: sometime push you to the limit, but you know what
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Speaker 1: you're learning how to do in this process of dealing
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Speaker 1: with God's surprises, you're learning to think theologically. Like Abraham,
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Speaker 1: you can release your child. Like Joseph, you could accept
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Speaker 1: mistreatment without becoming bitter. Like David, you could handle delayed
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Speaker 1: gratifications and learn patience. The list goes on and on.
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Speaker 1: The God of surprise is still reign Supreme. How grateful
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Speaker 1: I am for that, especially when I thought he was
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Speaker 1: all through doing that, and he turns around and does
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Speaker 1: it again and again and again as a somewhat daily
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Speaker 1: habit of his. You know what's an exciting thought, Perhaps
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Speaker 1: the biggest surprise of your life is just ahead of you.
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Speaker 1: Isn't that fun to think about that? You say, well,
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Speaker 1: I'd like to know what it is. Well, if you
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Speaker 1: knew it wouldn't be a surprise, you'd be all ready
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Speaker 1: for it. Because it's a surprise, it forces you to
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Speaker 1: suddenly think, Lord, what is this about? Rather than looking
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Speaker 1: for someone to blame because they cause something, look up
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Speaker 1: and say, Lord, you have something bigger than I would
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Speaker 1: have ever imagined in mind. And I trust you, and
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Speaker 1: I wait upon you, and I want to learn from you.
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Speaker 1: Like Abraham, like Joseph, David, what's about together? It's just
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Speaker 1: very possible that God has brought you through all of
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Speaker 1: these things for you to see for the first time
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Speaker 1: in your whole life your great need for Him. Maybe
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Speaker 1: you have gone your own way all these years, and
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Speaker 1: through a chain of events too complicated to describe to somebody,
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Speaker 1: you find yourself sitting listening to this talk, and you say,
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Speaker 1: this has got my name written all over it. There's
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Speaker 1: never been a time in my life when I've really
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Speaker 1: surrendered anything to this invisible God you're talking about. Well,
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Speaker 1: let me help you understand that coming to know Him
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Speaker 1: means you first come to know his son, Jesus, the
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Speaker 1: Messiah Christ, believe it or not. When he died on
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Speaker 1: that cross, he paid a penalty that you deserved and
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Speaker 1: I as well. And because the Father is satisfied with
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Speaker 1: the death of his son, when you come to Christ
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Speaker 1: by faith, he's satisfied with you. The surprises aren't over,
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Speaker 1: but a purpose in the surprise is now added. There's
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Speaker 1: a reason for them. It's all designed to make you
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Speaker 1: like Christ, God's obedience Son. Come today to Him Lord.
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Speaker 1: Wherever you may find us in this journey called life,
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Speaker 1: wherever we may be employed, wherever we may be in
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Speaker 1: our domestic scene, wherever we may be in our lifestyle.
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Speaker 1: However it is, you may be preparing us for whatever
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Speaker 1: you have in mind. Find us faithful. Rather than running
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Speaker 1: from you, may we run toward you. And rather than
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Speaker 1: looking for someone to blame for the pain that we're
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Speaker 1: now enduring or the change that's coming, may we look
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Speaker 1: heavenward and realize that your arrangement is sovereignly put together
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Speaker 1: for our good and for your glory. I pray, especially
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Speaker 1: for those who have never come to faith, you will
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Speaker 1: turn their hearts around and bring them directly to the
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Speaker 1: cross and show them hope and direction and purpose. Father,
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Speaker 1: and I trust you to do that in the dear
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Speaker 1: name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Everybody said Amen.
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Speaker 2: The preceding message, Surprised by God was copyrighted in nineteen
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Speaker 2: ninety nine, two thousand and twenty twenty four, and the
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Speaker 2: sound recording was copyrighted in twenty twenty four by Charles R. Swindahl, Incorporated.
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Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
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Speaker 2: commercial use is strictly prohibited.