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The Cross We Proclaim │ Msg 812 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: During these weeks we are focusing on the greatness of
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  Speaker 1: our God. Four messages were delivered on the character of
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  Speaker 1: the Father, which took place in Sunday's past, and then
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  Speaker 1: for the next four messages we've been focusing on the
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  Speaker 1: Cross of Christ, today being the fourth in that series
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  Speaker 1: of four, then beginning next Sunday, and for the balance
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  Speaker 1: of this month, the power of the Holy Spirit, the Father,
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  Speaker 1: the Son, the Holy Spirit. When we think of our Father,
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  Speaker 1: it is his character that draws us to him and
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  Speaker 1: near him. When we focus on the Sun, it is
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  Speaker 1: the cross, always, the Cross. Always have a colleague in
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  Speaker 1: ministry who before I would get up to preach for
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  Speaker 1: almost twenty years, would lean over and say to me,
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  Speaker 1: preach grace, Preach the Cross. So it rings in my
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  Speaker 1: ear to this day. Preach the Cross. And then when
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  Speaker 1: we think of the Spirit of God, we think of
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  Speaker 1: the empowerment he provides. How we thank our God for
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  Speaker 1: the cross, Thank you for the Cross. Say that with me,
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  Speaker 1: thank you for the Cross. Again, thank you for the Cross.
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  Speaker 1: We will see that theme woven in to the reading
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  Speaker 1: of the scriptures. Out of First Corinthians, chapters one and two.
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  Speaker 1: If you have a Bible, turn if you will to
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  Speaker 1: the eighteenth verse of the first chapter of the first
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  Speaker 1: Letter written to corinth First Corinthians one eighteen. We'll read
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  Speaker 1: randomly through chapter two. Verse five. May we stand out
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  Speaker 1: of respect for the Word of God and the God
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  Speaker 1: of the Word. First Corinthians one eighteen. For the word
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  Speaker 1: of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,
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  Speaker 1: but to us, who are being saved, it is the
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  Speaker 1: power of God. Verse twenty two. For indeed, Jews ask
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  Speaker 1: for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom. But we preach
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  Speaker 1: Christ crucified to the Jews stumbling block, and to gentiles foolishness.
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  Speaker 1: Verse twenty six. For consider your calling, brethren, that there
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  Speaker 1: were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty,
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  Speaker 1: not many noble. But God has chosen the foolish things
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  Speaker 1: of the world to shame the wise. And God has
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  Speaker 1: chosen the weak things of the world to shame the
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  Speaker 1: things which are strong, and the base things of the
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  Speaker 1: world and the despised. God has chosen the things that
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  Speaker 1: are not, so that He may nullify the things that are,
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  Speaker 1: so that no man may boast before God. Verse one,
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  Speaker 1: chapter two. And when I came to you Brether. And
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  Speaker 1: I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom,
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  Speaker 1: proclaiming to you the testimony of God, for I determined
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  Speaker 1: to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
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  Speaker 1: I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and
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  Speaker 1: in much trembling. And my message and my preaching were
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  Speaker 1: not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of
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  Speaker 1: the spirit and of power, so that your faith would
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  Speaker 1: not rest on the wisdom of man, but on the
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  Speaker 1: power of God. Me, our heavenly Father, bring to our
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  Speaker 1: minds the truths and cause them to live out in
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  Speaker 1: our minds and then in our lives. This week you
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  Speaker 1: may be seated before this wonderful privilege of giving to
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  Speaker 1: our God from all that he has provided. Join me
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  Speaker 1: in prayer. Please, thank you for the Cross, our God.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for the way it redirects our steps and
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  Speaker 1: refocuses our mind and reshapes our attitudes, renews our perspective,
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  Speaker 1: so that as life unfolds, we fall back on it
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  Speaker 1: and we think of it, and we realize at the
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  Speaker 1: foot of that cross, all things are level, and we
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  Speaker 1: can but look up and give you our praise, as
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  Speaker 1: we have done all hail the power of the name
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  Speaker 1: of the one who hung on the cross. We magnify
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  Speaker 1: your name, we exalt your name. Together, from a busy
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  Speaker 1: and active week, we pause for this time of worship,
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  Speaker 1: deliberately setting aside the things that would otherwise bring us anxiety,
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  Speaker 1: and we focus on the cross. Together. We pray Our
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  Speaker 1: Father that as we do that it will rejuvenate an
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  Speaker 1: awareness within us that life is meant to be lived out,
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  Speaker 1: just lived in. Remind us of the value of serving you,
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  Speaker 1: being among your hands and feet, your voice, your presence.
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  Speaker 1: As we give our gifts, remind us today that it
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  Speaker 1: is for the purpose of magnifying the cross of our Savior.
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  Speaker 1: These are treacherous times, even dangerous decisions will be made
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  Speaker 1: that will shape years to come. Oh, our Father, we
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  Speaker 1: place before you decisions choices. We pray that you will
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  Speaker 1: raise up your people, that we may be led of
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  Speaker 1: you in a unique significant way. Now, our Father, as
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  Speaker 1: we in this moment turn our thoughts to your son,
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  Speaker 1: may his cross become for us pre eminent. We thank
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  Speaker 1: you for the cross, and because of that we give
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  Speaker 1: you our gifts in our Savior's name, the name of
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  Speaker 1: the one who hung on that cross. We pray, and give.
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  Speaker 1: Everyone said a few things are more demoralizing than realizing
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  Speaker 1: you've been helping the wrong side, and that demoralization is
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  Speaker 1: intensified when you who didn't even know it. Sports fans
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  Speaker 1: the world over will remember the name Roy Regals, especially
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  Speaker 1: football fans. Way back when the Rose Bowl was being played.
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  Speaker 1: Roy Regals was a ballplayer for the California Golden Bears.
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  Speaker 1: They were playing the Georgia Tech and right in the
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  Speaker 1: middle of the game, at a crucial point, there was
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  Speaker 1: a fumble and Roy Regals, the player for the Bears,
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  Speaker 1: picked up the ball and he only had thirty yards
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  Speaker 1: to run for the touchdown. Seemed simple enough. However, Roy
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  Speaker 1: ran almost seventy yards in the wrong direction. Now, what
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  Speaker 1: you may not remember is that one of his teammates,
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  Speaker 1: Benny Lamb, realized it even though four other players were
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  Speaker 1: blocking for him. So confused and Benny is running along
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  Speaker 1: hoping to tackle him before he goes across the wrong
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  Speaker 1: goal line, at which time Roy yells out, get away
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  Speaker 1: from me, this is my touchdown, thinking that long wanted
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  Speaker 1: to get the glory for the touchdown, and six inches
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  Speaker 1: before the goal line down went rigs and well, actually
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  Speaker 1: Georgia Tech won the game, but nobody remembers the score,
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  Speaker 1: nobody remembers the date. But sports fans all over remember
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  Speaker 1: wrong Way Regals, the nickname given this poor chap who
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  Speaker 1: ran the wrong direction. Every time the story is told,
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  Speaker 1: sports fans chuckle, it's it's laughable, but one man feels
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  Speaker 1: the sting. That's Regels. It's the Christian life to help
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  Speaker 1: the wrong side and not know it. We could call
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  Speaker 1: individuals like that wrong Way Christians, or if you want
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  Speaker 1: to go back to that group that seemed to sort
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  Speaker 1: of set the pace for it to start with Wrong
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  Speaker 1: Way Corinthians. My Bible is open to First Corinthians, chapter one,
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  Speaker 1: and there we read a rather sad account of a
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  Speaker 1: church that was squabbling with one another. Think of that.
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  Speaker 1: It goes all the way back into the first century.
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  Speaker 1: Church is not able to get along. Calls it like
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  Speaker 1: it is. Verse eleven, Verse eleven, Chapter one. I have
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  Speaker 1: been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe's people, that
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  Speaker 1: there are quarrels among you. The Greek word is the
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  Speaker 1: actual term from which we get our words sism, sism
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  Speaker 1: the making of a split. There are quarrels among you. Now,
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  Speaker 1: what are the quarrels about well. I mean this that
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  Speaker 1: each one of you is saying, I am a Paul,
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  Speaker 1: I am of Apolus, I am of Sephus, I am
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  Speaker 1: of Christ. You see, there were splinter groups in the church.
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  Speaker 1: One group said, we follow only Paul, the apostle, the
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  Speaker 1: one on the road to Damascus, who was wonderfully transformed,
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  Speaker 1: and he's the founder of our church, and we listen
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  Speaker 1: only to Paul. Others would say, but have you heard
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  Speaker 1: of Polus? I mean compared to Apollus. Paul's tongue tied.
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  Speaker 1: Apollus wonderful rhetoric, wonderful ability, wonderful eloquence, wonderful mind, trained
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  Speaker 1: in Alexandria, mentored by a quilled Priscilla. And Paul himself, Oh,
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  Speaker 1: there's no one like a Paulus. And the third group said,
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  Speaker 1: but Peter, Peter was walking with a savior before either
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  Speaker 1: Paul or Apollus named his name as Lord Peter. We follow.
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  Speaker 1: Then there was this ultra pious group, we follow only Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: We only listen to him. They're the ones, by the way,
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  Speaker 1: who write you letters of hate, saying in the love
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus, and they sign their name or usually they
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  Speaker 1: don't sign their name. They're the ones who say, Jesus
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  Speaker 1: told me to do this. I always want to know
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  Speaker 1: is he baritone or is he base? Tell me what
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  Speaker 1: his voice is like. And they don't like that question
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  Speaker 1: because you're taking them literally. But of course these people
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  Speaker 1: believed it literally. We follow only. We need no earthly leader,
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  Speaker 1: only Jesus. And from that group, by the way, the
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  Speaker 1: Jesus only cult began, which may be of interest to
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  Speaker 1: some of you. They're all wrong way Corinthians. So Paul
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  Speaker 1: desires decides to set them straight, and he does it
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  Speaker 1: without mincing words. Chapter three, verse one. I love this
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  Speaker 1: about the apostle. He slings political correctness to the winds.
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  Speaker 1: He doesn't worry about what they say or think about him.
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  Speaker 1: He tells them the truth, which is the only way
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  Speaker 1: to operate as a spokesman for God. Brethren. I could
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  Speaker 1: not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as
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  Speaker 1: to men of flesh. The Greek term is sar q
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  Speaker 1: nas saar ki ns, from which the word flesh is translated.
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  Speaker 1: I could speak to you only as carnal wrong way, Corinthians,
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  Speaker 1: wrong way, even as to infants in Christ, I gave
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  Speaker 1: you milk to drink, not solid food. But you were
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  Speaker 1: not able to receive it. Indeed, even now you're not able.
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  Speaker 1: Why not verse because you're still sarkinos, You're still flesh
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  Speaker 1: You're still driven by the things that characterize lost humanity.
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  Speaker 1: You're still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife
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  Speaker 1: among you, are you're not sarkinos or you're not fleshly?
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  Speaker 1: Or you're not walking like mere men? Meaning like the
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  Speaker 1: lost person? Is surprise you to hear this some of you,
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  Speaker 1: But you cannot tell the difference between a cardinal Christian
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  Speaker 1: and an unbeliever. Sometimes the cardinal Christian can be even
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  Speaker 1: more snotty, more difficult, more demanding, more self willed. The
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  Speaker 1: enemy loves it when we operate in the flesh. Now
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  Speaker 1: you're talking, people know you're a Christian. Listen to me.
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  Speaker 1: I'll tell you how to walk, I'll tell you how
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  Speaker 1: to run. Problem is, it's in the wrong direction, and
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  Speaker 1: how many folks disc cover it late in life? For
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  Speaker 1: he says, when one says I am a Paul and
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  Speaker 1: another I am of Apoulus, don't you sound like you're
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  Speaker 1: just a bunch of lost people following the popular one?
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  Speaker 1: What then is Apollos, and who's Paul. They are servants
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  Speaker 1: through whom you believed. Even as the Lord gave opportunity
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  Speaker 1: to each one by planted. After planting, Apolus watered after watering,
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  Speaker 1: God was causing the growth. So then neither the one
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  Speaker 1: who plants nor the one who waters is anything the
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  Speaker 1: God who causes the growth. Back to chapter one, verse eighteen.
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  Speaker 1: What the Apostle decides to do when he exposes these
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  Speaker 1: people in all their carnality, is to point them to
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  Speaker 1: the Cross. Let me tell you something, folks, When you
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  Speaker 1: get the Cross in the right perspective, everything comes together.
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  Speaker 1: Everything comes together when you get Christ in the clear focus.
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  Speaker 1: It is amazing how you know which one is the
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  Speaker 1: right goal line. It's amazing how you know how to
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  Speaker 1: walk and how to run the race set me for us.
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  Speaker 1: David Jackman, a British expositor, writes this, in the spiritual context,
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  Speaker 1: we must never remain content with childishness. To be so
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  Speaker 1: is for Paul synonymous with worldliness, that is the flesh.
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  Speaker 1: It is to drift back to the old way of living,
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  Speaker 1: to the world's outlook and value systems, behaving only in
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  Speaker 1: a human way. In other words, like a natural man,
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  Speaker 1: and he adds Paul's point is that this worldliness, this fleshiness,
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  Speaker 1: illustrates they have not yet come to grips with the
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  Speaker 1: message of the Cross. You will not drift from the
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  Speaker 1: truth if the Cross remains your focus. By that, I
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  Speaker 1: mean all that the Cross represents, all that it symbolizes.
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  Speaker 1: It will reduce your pride to zilch, to nothing, and
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  Speaker 1: it will lift up the person of the Savior, and
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  Speaker 1: your whole way of life will be transformed, and you
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  Speaker 1: will again run in the right direction. Truth be to
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  Speaker 1: some of you are just now discovering the right way
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  Speaker 1: to run. You've never been taught it before, because religion
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  Speaker 1: will send you to the wrong goal line every time.
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  Speaker 1: Now look. Verse eighteen begins a series of statements this
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  Speaker 1: apostle makes regarding the message of the Cross, which we proclaim,
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  Speaker 1: which he proclaimed. The word of the Cross is foolishness.
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  Speaker 1: To those who are perishing, stop right there. See the
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  Speaker 1: word foolishness. The Greek term is moria. Guess what word
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  Speaker 1: we get from it in English to the people who
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  Speaker 1: are perishing, the cross is moronic. I mean, how stupid
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  Speaker 1: can you get? You cut off your head when you
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  Speaker 1: come to know this, Jesus. When you start believing some
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  Speaker 1: cross message, how moronic. That's the word of the lost person.
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  Speaker 1: That's the person running in the wrong direction. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: Paul describes this conflicting opinion as those who see the
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  Speaker 1: cross as foolishness. And then he says, but to us
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  Speaker 1: who are being saved, why it is the very power
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  Speaker 1: of God. Then he quotes from Isaiah twenty nine in
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  Speaker 1: the verse that follows, I will destroy the wisdom of
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  Speaker 1: the wise, the cleverness of the clever, I will set aside.
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  Speaker 1: Look at the different desires that emerge verse twenty. Where
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  Speaker 1: is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is
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  Speaker 1: the debater of this age? Pinpoint each of the three subjects.
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  Speaker 1: Let's let the wise represent the unsaved, gentile intellectual. Where
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  Speaker 1: is that individual? What does he believe? Where is the scribe?
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  Speaker 1: That would be the learned Jewish scholar who is lost.
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  Speaker 1: Where is the debater of this age? That would be
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  Speaker 1: the Greek philosopher, who is an expert in debates and
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  Speaker 1: disputes and dialectical arguments and skills and discussions. They love philosophy.
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  Speaker 1: You've heard my definition of a philosopher. Perhaps he's a
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  Speaker 1: person who talks about things he doesn't understand. Makes it
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  Speaker 1: sound like it's your fault. I mean, it's full of conundrums.
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  Speaker 1: Questions are answered by questions, and another question leads to
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  Speaker 1: another question, and you never come to a period. You
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  Speaker 1: only come to question marks. They love debate, They love
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  Speaker 1: this whole thing about disputes and arguments. All three represent
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  Speaker 1: the same kind of thinking. Their desire is to appear brilliant,
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  Speaker 1: to impress you who listen to that vocabulary. Wow, wonder
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  Speaker 1: where he studied. Look at those letters after his name. Wow,
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  Speaker 1: that guy is unreal. Look at that, but read further.
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  Speaker 1: Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world,
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  Speaker 1: God's desires to use the declaration of truth to save
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  Speaker 1: those who believe? One man writes, it is impossible to
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  Speaker 1: exaggerate the almost fantastic mastery that the silver tongued rhetorician held.
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  Speaker 1: In Greece, Plutarch says, they made their voices sweet with
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  Speaker 1: musical cadences and modulations of tones and echoed resonances. They
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  Speaker 1: thought not of what they were saying, but how they
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  Speaker 1: were saying. So impressed with their own stuff, so proud.
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  Speaker 1: Why God looks on that and brings them back to reality.
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  Speaker 1: Look here, since the wisdom of God, in the wisdom
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  Speaker 1: of God, the world through which wisdom did not come
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  Speaker 1: to know God, God was well pleased through the foolishness
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  Speaker 1: of the message preached to save those who believe. Don't
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  Speaker 1: think preaching is foolishness. It's just a method that seems
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  Speaker 1: foolish to the world's system. Why on earth would intelligent
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  Speaker 1: people come and sit and listen to somebody preaching? I mean,
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  Speaker 1: how moronic can you get? I like the way Eugene
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  Speaker 1: Peterson renders this section. Listen, since the world, in all
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  Speaker 1: its fancy wisdom, never had a clue when it came
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  Speaker 1: to knowing God, God, in his wisdom, took delight in
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  Speaker 1: using what the world considered dumb preaching of all things
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  Speaker 1: to bring those who trust Him into the way of salvation. Well,
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  Speaker 1: then what does the lost person want? Well read on
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  Speaker 1: verse twenty two. The Jews ask for miracles. The word
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  Speaker 1: signs is the idea of miracles. Show us the miracle,
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  Speaker 1: prove it with a miracle, and will believe it. Do
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  Speaker 1: what you cannot do in natural ways, and who will
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  Speaker 1: be impressed? We're looking for signs, and the Greek search
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  Speaker 1: for wisdom. We're looking for those rhetorical comments, those eloquent words,
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  Speaker 1: the things that impress this verse twenty three, Paul says,
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  Speaker 1: but we who, by the way, was an incredible intellectual,
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  Speaker 1: studied under Gomeleiel Pharisee of the Pharisees. He was the
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  Speaker 1: up and coming chief Pharisee, brilliant Jewish mind, and then
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  Speaker 1: came the road to Damascus, where he was converted, and
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  Speaker 1: as a result he started running in the right direction.
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  Speaker 1: And as a result verse twenty three he preaches, Christ crucified,
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  Speaker 1: were back to the cross to the Jews. Why it's
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  Speaker 1: a stumbling block to the Gentiles. Here's our word again, moronic. Now,
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  Speaker 1: if you question that, next time you find yourself in
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  Speaker 1: a sophisticated group, bring up the cross. Just just bring
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  Speaker 1: it up as a topic of conversation. Hey, by the way, folks,
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  Speaker 1: I've noticed lately a great deal been starting, the great
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  Speaker 1: deal about Jesus and his death on the cross. Boom,
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  Speaker 1: hang on. Not a soul in the group will go,
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  Speaker 1: good for you, what a great study? They'll go, What
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  Speaker 1: what you believe? What? That's the whole point of this
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  Speaker 1: section of scripture. But God honors the proclamation of the
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  Speaker 1: Cross to change lives. Roy Riegels was absolutely positive. He
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  Speaker 1: was running in the right direction, and along came his
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  Speaker 1: buddy saying, the way I'm going to tackle you. He said,
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  Speaker 1: what don't you thinking? Get out of this is my touchdown?
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  Speaker 1: You look back, you go, oh, Roy, please please please?
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  Speaker 1: Wrong direction. But to him it was the right way
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  Speaker 1: to run until he was tackled and somebody said, hey, man,
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  Speaker 1: that's their goal. Lie. We preach Christ crucified to the
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  Speaker 1: Jews of stumbling block, to the Gentiles foolishness, But to
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  Speaker 1: those who are the called Jews and Greeks, Christ the
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  Speaker 1: power of God, Christ, the wisdom of God. Why because
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  Speaker 1: twenty five says the foolishness of God is wiser than men,
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  Speaker 1: the weakness of God stronger than men. Now I love
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  Speaker 1: it when we get the verse twenty six. I have
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  Speaker 1: to believe that Paul had tongue in cheek for just
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  Speaker 1: a moment, just a little touch of apostolic humor. Here
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  Speaker 1: we're talking about sophisticates, those who are noble, blue bloods,
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  Speaker 1: those who are really slick. He says, consider you're calling brethren,
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: we want to look at an opposite group. Look around.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: There were not many wise, according to the flesh, not many, mighty,
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: not many nobles didn't say any said not many, meaning what, Well,
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: let's put it this way. This congregation is not made
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: up of the brightest and the best in the world's eyes.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: I got the idea that it would be helpful for
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: us to realize that we represent in the world's eyes
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: that which is foolish, that which is weak, that which
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: is base, and that which is despised. Those aren't my words,
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: They're all found in twenty seven and twenty eight. And
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: I thought, well, let's look around. So once you do that,
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: look around, just take a look. You haven't noticed yet.
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: You shook their hands, but maybe haven't taken a real
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: good look. Look around. Just whisper, are you blue blood?
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: Just go ahead, you got really, really great roots. I
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: also took note of some places people could come from,
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: just pulled down an atlas and started looking. Booger Holler,
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: Arkansas is one of those. Booger Holler, not bogie booger holler.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: Lizard Lick. My son in law told me about Lizard Lick,
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: North Carolina and Spivey's Corner. Now maybe you heard of
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: Spivey's Corner. They have the hollering contest, there hollering contest,
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: and Spivey's If you're from Spivey's corner, don't tell anybody,
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: just leave it. How about Prattsville, Arkansas? How about Pee Wee,
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: West Virginia? Diame Box, Texas? And I tell you my
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: favorite one for creativity, Nameless Tennessee. What shall we name
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: our town? I don't know. Let's go with good idea.
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: Let's call it namely folks. In case you've been sitting
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: around a room full of mirrors. In case you, like Narcissus,
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: have been stirring in the pool a little too long,
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: focused on your image, look a little deeper and you
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: will not see a lacey, slick, little rainbow trout. What
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: you will see is a wide mouthed, bottom feeding catfish.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: If you don't like that, that's part of your problem,
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: because you've forgotten your pit, You've forgotten your depravity. You see,
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: all ground is level at the foot of the cross.
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: There is no captain or colonel or general. There is
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: no sergeant or corporal. There is no ceo. Remember that
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: the next time you're in a church where the top
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: guys called CEO. Off base. There is no president. There
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: is no cabinet, not in the family of God. All
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: the ground at the foot of the cross level level.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: I love the way. Jim Elliott wrote it in his
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: journal shortly before being martyred. We're all a bunch of
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: nobody's trying to exalt the somebody praise God. You start there,
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: you'll run the right direction. Look at it twenty seven.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: God has chosen the foolish things of the world to
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: shame the wise who would have ever thunk it, And
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: the weak things of the world to shame the things
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: that are strong, the base things of the world that despised,
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: things that are not, to nullify things that are. You know,
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: there's a lady in our congregation from a town that
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: no longer exists, no longer exists. Picture Oklahoma, Picture where
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: you're from. Zero ain't even there anymore. Me. I'm from
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: the great metropolis Hill Campo. Whoa great white wave right
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: down the road from Rosenberg, Bay City, Wharton. You go
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: further south, plashes Placius. You can smell before you get there, Shrimp,
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: great spot, Port Lovaca. It's b boy is crazy. You
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: know why I'll get there that cross, That's how come
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna get there. I got nothing else to give.
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: I just got the cross. I just have a savior.
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: He does all these things Verse twenty nine, so that
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: no one may boast before God. You run in a
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: wrong direction when you boast. If you want to toot
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: your own horn, blow a trumpet for God, nobody else cares.
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: Get off your high horse. You're just folks. You just
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: wrapped up in the cross. And when you focus on that,
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: it is remarkable what a filter system it will give you,
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: and how to read current events, how to see life
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: as it really is. You'll be so unimpressed because you
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: don't hang around people to be impressed. You hang around
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: folks with the hope of communicating and living out the truth.
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: And the truth is free from all that other pizazz.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: How about Paul. Since we've been going on and on
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: about how important this is, how about Paul, Let's ask him?
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: Give us your testimony, all right, Verse one, chapter two.
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: Here's my testimony. Here's the honest truth, coming from the
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: man who was running in the right direction. When I
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: with superiority of speech or of the or of wisdom,
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: proclaiming to you the testimony of God. I determined to
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: my time here because I wanted to really sink in
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: nothing except Jesus Christ. I wasn't interested in your salary.
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: I wasn't interested in your pettigree. I wasn't impressed by
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: your prestigious background, or even for a few of you
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: your impressive roots. Didn't care, don't care, never will care.
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: I wanted to know, however, how you were doing with
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: the Cross. Do you really know Jesus? Is he really
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: your savior? I determined to know nothing but that Robertson
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: and Plumber right. I not only eschewed all affection of
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: cleverness or eloquence, but I went to the opposite of
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: stream of nervous self effacement. You see, Corinth put a
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: premium on the veneer of false rhetoric and thin thinking.
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: Gullible people are easy marks for pulpiteers. You didn't whip
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: up a crowd anywhere if you didn't handle it on
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: your feet. Whoa have you heard so and so? But
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: what is he saying? Who is he exalting? I determined
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: to know nothing except Christ and Christ crucified. Well, what
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: was Paul like when he was there, He tells us
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: in the next two verses, I was with you in weakness,
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: in fear, and much trembling. I was with you in
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: weakness and fear and much trembling. You maybe didn't know
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: that about Paul. You know, the Corinthians later wrote him
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: and said, you know, his letters are very weighty and impressive,
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: but in his presence he's weak. He says, I was
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: not all that impressive. My preaching and my message were
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in the demonstration
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: of the spirit and of power. Oh yeah. You see,
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: when you are around individuals like this, you know they
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: have a lot more behind the counter than they ever
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: put on display. You know, there is depth as well
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: as breadth. You know that there is a humble sense
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: of security and confidence, whereas there is restraint in manipulating people.
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: Gullible people love to be manipulated. Karnth was full of them.
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: I mean they just moved from the theater back to
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: the place of ministry and thought, do it like that?
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: I mean, look at the crowds they get. Paul says,
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: I didn't come to grow up a crowd. I came
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: to deliver the truth, and my words were not that persuasive.
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: I love the words of G. Campbell Morgan in his
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: work on Corinthians. Listen to this very brief statement. Years ago,
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: A great man, a good man, a saint, scholarly devoted,
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: said to me, speaking of another preacher. Yes he's a
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: wonderful preacher, but you know he has sacrificed the prophet
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: to the artist. Preachers should think of that, rites Morgan.
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: It is possible to sacrifice the prophet to the artist,
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: to be so concerned with eloquence and language and phrasing
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: and beauty of style that the impact of truth is lost.
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: That is what Paul meant. JB. Lightfoot writes he spoke
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: in a plain, simple language, as became a witness his
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: reason verse five, so that your faith would not rest
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: He never forgot the truth of God's grace in his life.
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: For much of my life, I have loved the statement
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: made by John Allen, one of the saints of the
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: Salvation Army Ministry, who at the time of death, made
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: this simple statement, I deserve to be damned, I deserve
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: to be in hell, but God in interfered. God interfered
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: that man ran in the right direction. Right way, John Allen,
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: Right way, Paul. Now, then I have three things I
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: close with that i'd like you to write down somewhere.
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: If you have the outline, you could use that, maybe
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: an open page in your Bible. These are three statements
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: i'd like you to take to your grave. I'd like
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: you to repeat them. I'd like you to teach them
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: to your kids. I'd like you to remind your grandkids
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: of them. I'd like you to model them. More important
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: than what I would like, I would encourage you to
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: realize what God wants if you want to keep running
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: in the right direction. These three simple things we should
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: never forget will help. Number one, Remember the pit. Remember
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: the pit. The prophet puts it this way. Remember the
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: pit from which you were dug. Remember. Oh, it may
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: have been a big city. It may have been a
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: slick city. It may have been Las Vegas or Los Angeles.
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: May have been in Chicago or Boston, or Dallas or
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: Oklahoma City or Miami or Atlanta. May have been a
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: big city. But you're You're from a pit. Your nature,
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: your drive, your old self. It's it's a pit. Remember
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: the pit. We are not influential or famous. We have
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: not set a lot of records. We have not found
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: some miracle cure. Nobody in this church has. We have
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: certainly not come from power house backgrounds. Are you kidding?
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: We're all amazed that anybody listens when we talk. I'm
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: surprised that anybody reads anything I write. I'm amazed folks
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: stay through a whole sermon. I'm not saying they stay awake,
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: but they stay through the whole sermon. You know why,
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: because I never forget the pit. When you fail to
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: remember the pit, you'll run in the wrong direction. You
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: can put her down because you'll start thinking you're something
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: on to stick. You forget your catfish, and you'll forget that.
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: If the enemy had his way, he'd drag you down
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: just to where he's going. But that the grace of
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: God and the Cross, you're rescued. Remember the pit. Second,
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: refuse the praise. Refuse the praise. A few things are
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: a greater turn off in life than conceit. An arrogant
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: Christian is bad news for the body of Christ and
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: the world at large. There's no place for that. I
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: don't care how popular you've gotten years ago. I was
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: asked to be a part of a television program that
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: was done in a panel, and they invited several of us.
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: One of us a pastor, that's me, another came as
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: a teacher, and another came who was an administrator at
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: a school happened to be a president of a little school,
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: and the other one was in the media, Christian in
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: the media. We were all a part of the panel
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: of this program. And the man who was putting it
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: all together said to two of us, by the way,
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: would you mind going to the airport and picking up
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: a man who's going to join our panel. He is
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: a doctor so and so. And I said, okay, good.
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: I don't know him, but I'll be glad to go.
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: And I said, you can't tell me what he looks like.
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: He said, oh, you'll know him. So we knew him.
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: He got off, had a head on it, tight tied
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: start shirt, real stern face, like where's the car. And
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: I walked up. I said, you happen to be so
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: and so and so doctor so and so. Uh yes,
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: doctor so and so. I said, I thought maybe you were.
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: You kind of looked like the president of the school.
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: And he said, here are my bags? Oh okay, So
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: Frank picked up that bag and I picked up this bag,
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: and we're walking along with doctor so and so and
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: so and so. He said, tell me what was your name?
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: And I told him, I said, He said, tell me,
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: what does the president look like? I wanted to say,
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: A jerk. You look like a jerk. You sound like
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: a jerk. He was a jerk. What on earth happened
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: to that man? He forgot the pit, spend too much
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: time in front of a mirror? Can you believe it?
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: In the middle of the night, somebody from our group
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: ordered beer and pretzels and had them sent to his room.
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: Who would do something like that? Who would ever do
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: something like that to doctor, doctor whatever? When you failed
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: to refuse the praise. You're running in the wrong direction.
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: Wrong way Christian, wrong way Christian. You look like a jerk.
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: You have bad advertisement for Christ. Nobody's impressed. You're a
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: turn off. I tell the guys at the seminary, keep
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: television cameras out of your church. You're not there for
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: the world. Minister to your flock. Cameras are getting your way. Furthermore,
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: you're not that good people in front of cameras are
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: good in front of cameras, and those of us who
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: are hiding behind the cross look dumb in the eyes
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: of the camera. We're here to deliver the goods and
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: didn't get out of the way, get hurt a pin drop,
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: and I said that it was like, you know what,
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: because we're so enamored of the entertainment world that preaching
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: has become entertaining. And I'm feeding you from the scriptures
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: is a that's what dinosaurs do. Please remember the pit,
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: refuse the praise, Rely on the power, Rely on the power.
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: Oh God, without you, John fifteen to five. I am zilch.
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: I am nothing. I got up this morning with a
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: splitting headache. Last place I wanted to be was here.
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: I got to thinking, oh man, somebody's got to show up.
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: I didn't feel like being here. I was discouraged. Something
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: had happened that just cut the slats out from under me,
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: and I thought, good night, of all days, why couldn't
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: this be Tuesday or Saturday, but Sunday. And between the
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: splitting headache and the first morning service, I decided to
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: rely on the power. I'll tell you. I just said, God,
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: I got to have you. You just have to say
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: it for me, through me, change me, God, change me,
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: use me, and give enough people patience to listen. Because
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: this is such good truth. Remember the pit, refuse the praise,
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: rely on the power. When you fail to rely on
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: the power, you're run in the wrong direction. Please, I
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: don't care how gifted you are, boy, the changes he
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: can bring. I love this little story. John Hutton used
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: to tell a his story with Gusto. John Hutton, a
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: man who had been a reprobate and an alcoholic, was
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: captured for Christ. Captured by Christ, his workmates used to
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: try to shake him and say, surely a sensible man
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: like you cannot believe in all those miracles of Bible
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: talks about. You cannot, for instance, believe that this Jesus
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: of yours turned water into wine. Come on, whether he
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: turned water into wine or not, said the man. I
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: don't know, but I know in my own house, I
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: saw him turn liquor into furniture. In my house, I
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: saw a man that almost ruined his marriage get his
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: life turned around, and for ten years he had every
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: reason in the world to walk out on me, and
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: she didn't. I saw a father who could have ruined
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: the lives of his children. I saw a preoccupied dad
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: who traveled too much. He's too busy, and it dawned
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: on me one day. If I don't get a hold
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: of this, I'm gonna be another statistic. Oh God, I'm yours.
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: You got all the power. I have none of it.
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: Tackle me. I want you to bow your heads, and
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: I want you to close your eyes. I know what
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: time it is, so things are under control. I want
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: you to sit there. The only reason you're running in
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: a wrong direction is either you don't know Jesus, and
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: that's a very real probability for you running in the
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: wrong direction. Don't think that's a message given to somebody else.
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: It's you I'm talking to. Either you don't know Jesus
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: or you don't care that you're operating in the flesh.
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: You're a Christian and you're a jerk, and you're making
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: a mess of the message in the minds of people
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: who've been watching, wondering how on earth you could call
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: yourself a Christian. Some of them live in your own home. Well,
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: I suggest you get with it. Trust in the Savior
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: right now, turn your life over to him. Get to
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: the foot of the cross as fast as your little
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: feet will carry you and say, Lord Jesus Christ, I
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: am coming to you from the pit. If you don't
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: rescue me, I'm sunk, I'm hell bound, I'm lost. Take me,
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: I'm yours. Take me, I take your son. Please give
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: me your righteousness. I take it now. Or if your
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: cardinal Christian, it's a great time for you this afternoon
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: to look through the journal of your life and find
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: the spot when you miss the mark and starting going
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: in a wrong direction and turn around. Otherwise there will
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: be an incident along the way that's going to tackle you,
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: and you'll realize what a mess you've made, not only
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: of your life, but of others. If we confess our sins, believers,
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: if we confess our sins, that is, agree with God
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: about them. He is righteous and just to forgive us
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: you need help, and I imagine most of you would,
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: to turn the journey around, there are people with soul
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: care who are so carefully trained, have such compassion, such wisdom,
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: better counselors than I ever will be, who are available
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: following every one of our worship services at the prayer rooms,
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: at the doorway or you may simply say I'm going
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: to take care of this myself. Then you need to
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: write us and say, let me tell you the decision
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: I've made. Sign your name, give us a number. We'll
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: contact you. Will help you. We will never shame you.
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: We will help you. We'll be grateful for you. Father.
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the cross.
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: Help us to remember the pit from which we've been dug,
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: Enable us to refuse the praise. Just deliberately and consistently
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: restore us Lord, as we rely on your power in
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: Jesus dear name. I pray everybody said Amen. The preceding message,
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: The Cross We Proclaim, was copyrighted in two thousand and eight,
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: and the sound recording was copyrighted in two thousand and
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: nine by Charles R. Swindall. In all rights are reserved worldwide.