Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Strong Talk on the Cosmos Msg 616 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Strong Talk on the Cosmos Msg 616 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: In preparation for the teaching of God's Word, will you turn, please,
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Speaker 1: to the letter of 1 John. Not to be mistaken
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Speaker 1: with the Gospel by John. John wrote three letters, as
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Speaker 1: well as the Revelation, along with the Gospel. And this
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Speaker 1: first letter is the longest of the three letters. We're
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Speaker 1: in chapter 2, and I will read for you verses
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Speaker 1: 12 to 17. We love to express our respect for
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Speaker 1: our God by standing for the reading of the scriptures.
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Speaker 1: Would you please join me as we give attention to
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Speaker 1: God's word? 1 John 2, beginning at verse 12. I
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Speaker 1: am writing to you, little children, because your sins have
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Speaker 1: been forgiven you for his name's sake. I am writing
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Speaker 1: to you, fathers, because you know him who has been
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Speaker 1: from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men,
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Speaker 1: because you have overcome the evil one. I have written
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Speaker 1: to you, children, because you know the Father. I have
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Speaker 1: written to you, fathers, because you know him who has
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Speaker 1: been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men,
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Speaker 1: because you are strong and the word of God abides
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Speaker 1: in you and you have overcome the evil one. Do
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Speaker 1: not love the world nor the things in the world.
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Speaker 1: If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father
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Speaker 1: is not in him. For all that is in the world,
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Speaker 1: the lust of the flesh and the lust of the
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Speaker 1: eyes and the boastful pride of life is not from
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Speaker 1: the Father, but it's from the world. The world is
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Speaker 1: passing away and also its lusts. But the one who
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Speaker 1: does the will of God lives forever. Our desire is
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Speaker 1: that God be honored even in the reading of his
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Speaker 1: word and certainly in its declaration and the living out
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Speaker 1: of its truths. Please be seated. If there's any part
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Speaker 1: of a worship service that can be confusing, it is
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Speaker 1: the time to which we've now come. And that's called
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Speaker 1: the offering. And because so many of us have had
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Speaker 1: strange experiences in churches, it's at times helpful to explain
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Speaker 1: that this is an act of worship for God's people.
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Speaker 1: You may have never met the Lord Christ as Savior.
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Speaker 1: So this offering really isn't of any concern to you, whatever.
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Speaker 1: We don't want your money. Of great concern to all
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Speaker 1: of us is your soul. If it isn't right with
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Speaker 1: God or if there's distance or quite likely you've never
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Speaker 1: come to Christ, then today is a day for you
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Speaker 1: to pause and reflect on that. And remember, God has
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Speaker 1: given you a gift. And that's his son. who came
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Speaker 1: from heaven, lived on this earth, died on the cross,
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Speaker 1: raised from the dead, has ascended and now lives, lives
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Speaker 1: in heaven awaiting his imminent return. During this time of
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Speaker 1: waiting is our opportunity to trust in him with our hearts.
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Speaker 1: So this offering time would be an occasion for you
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Speaker 1: who don't know Christ to offer yourself to him. as
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Speaker 1: God's people give their offerings for the Lord's work. Join
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Speaker 1: me in prayer, please. We do laud and honor your name,
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Speaker 1: our Father, and often search for ways to do it.
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Speaker 1: Often music does it best for us. Prayer also enables
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Speaker 1: us to pause and give our complete intense concentration Upon you,
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Speaker 1: our Father, and your Son, Christ. We love you, Lord.
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Speaker 1: We love your Son, Jesus. Now, we don't always live
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Speaker 1: like it, but we do love you. And when we
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Speaker 1: come together like this, we realize it's time to keep
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Speaker 1: short accounts with you. And we lay before you the
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Speaker 1: things that have interrupted our relationship with you. They have
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Speaker 1: disturbed and made us uneasy and they've grieved you. And
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Speaker 1: we would never take lightly those things that do that.
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Speaker 1: Thank you for forgiving us as your children. I pray
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Speaker 1: for those who find themselves today in a strange place.
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Speaker 1: A place of worship. I pray for those whose hearts
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Speaker 1: are broken and heavy, twisted and turned and fractured. Some
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Speaker 1: are trying to pick up the pieces and don't know
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Speaker 1: where to start. Others are in the middle of it
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Speaker 1: and have become exhausted, perhaps even confused. Some grieve the
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Speaker 1: loss of those that they've said goodbye to on this
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Speaker 1: earth and And others live in the fear of their
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Speaker 1: loved one passing soon. So they're not even here. They're there.
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Speaker 1: In some remarkable way, I pray that you would bring
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Speaker 1: them encouragement and inner peace, knowing that your plan is unfolding,
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Speaker 1: though it is mysterious to us. I would also ask, Lord,
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Speaker 1: that you would... Help us understand these few verses tucked
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Speaker 1: away in the middle of an ancient letter written on
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Speaker 1: an isolated island in the Aegean Sea. May we realize
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Speaker 1: that those words, though written centuries ago, are ever relevant.
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Speaker 1: And they speak to 21st century people as if written yesterday.
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Speaker 1: And so we take them to heart. May we remember
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Speaker 1: these are warnings to be taken seriously. Help those, Lord,
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Speaker 1: in distant places, serving our country in towns and villages
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Speaker 1: and regions we find it hard even to pronounce. Protect them.
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Speaker 1: We love them. Give them the reassurance of our pleasure.
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Speaker 1: In their faithful loyalty. To their country. Bring them home safely.
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Speaker 1: We ask. Now Lord as those who've never met you.
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Speaker 1: Offer themselves to you today. We who know you. Have
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Speaker 1: the joy of giving our gifts. And we do so gratefully. Generously. Joyfully.
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Speaker 1: In the name of our Savior Jesus. And everyone said.
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Speaker 1: When danger is near, a warning is in order. And
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Speaker 1: the greater the danger, the more important the warning. My
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Speaker 1: mind goes back a little over 50 years ago when
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Speaker 1: I found myself standing on the deck of an enormous
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Speaker 1: troop ship seeing Yokohama in the distant area before us.
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Speaker 1: We were by then in the Tokyo Bay, and we
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Speaker 1: were worming our way through this body of water because
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Speaker 1: of still some land mines that were, or I should
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Speaker 1: say mines under the sea that were there that had
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Speaker 1: not yet been diffused. The pilot was guiding us carefully.
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Speaker 1: And all of us who were on that ship, some 3,500 Marines,
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Speaker 1: were called down to a large bay area in the
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Speaker 1: base of that ship and standing before us was a
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Speaker 1: full bird colonel and he began by saying to us
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Speaker 1: all of you listen up for the first time in
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Speaker 1: your lives you will be the foreigner you are going
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Speaker 1: to be walking in an area you've never walked in
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Speaker 1: before You will be among people who speak a language
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Speaker 1: you have never spoken before. You'll be in the midst
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Speaker 1: of a culture you do not understand. So I have
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Speaker 1: a few words of warning for all of you. First off,
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Speaker 1: to every one of you, you'll be wearing your uniform.
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Speaker 1: It's the uniform of the United States Marine Corps. You
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Speaker 1: are representing your country while you are on this land.
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Speaker 1: Do not bring reproach to our land and our country.
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Speaker 1: Behave yourselves. And then he went into some specifics as
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Speaker 1: he addressed not just all of us together, but to
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Speaker 1: various categories. He said, some of you are older men
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Speaker 1: and you have traveled abroad before. You know better what
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Speaker 1: to expect. However, you're not safe anymore than the younger
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Speaker 1: men among us. And then he said to us who
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Speaker 1: were younger, you have never been out of your own country.
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Speaker 1: So you hardly know where the danger lies. So let
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Speaker 1: me say to all of you, remember these things today.
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Speaker 1: Because 48 hours from now at 1100 hours in the morning,
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Speaker 1: we will be leaving this dock. And I want all
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Speaker 1: of you back on this ship. In the meantime, when
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Speaker 1: you go on liberty, you're going to find yourself occasionally
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Speaker 1: in great crowds. Watch out for pickpockets. They know you
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Speaker 1: have money. So be careful with your money. Be careful
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Speaker 1: what you eat. You're going to be in places where
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Speaker 1: they will serve foods you're not familiar with And it
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Speaker 1: may not be the kind of food that your body
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Speaker 1: will tolerate, so don't buy any food off the street. Furthermore,
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Speaker 1: when you are at a restaurant, before you even go in,
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Speaker 1: make sure there is that sign on the window that
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Speaker 1: says to you in the military, this is safe for you.
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Speaker 1: In some areas of the city, there is open prostitution.
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Speaker 1: Don't be stupid. Then he said other things that wouldn't
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Speaker 1: be appropriate for me to mention on this place today.
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Speaker 1: He says, the bars will love to see you come in.
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Speaker 1: They have plenty of sake. And they'll serve you all
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Speaker 1: you'll drink. And they'll love to see you finally on
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Speaker 1: your face on the floor. When you wake up, you'll
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Speaker 1: have nothing that belonged to you before. So restrain yourself. Finally,
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Speaker 1: he said, we're leaving this dock. And he repeated the
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Speaker 1: time and the day. He said, I want all of
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Speaker 1: you back on the ship in uniforms. on your feet,
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Speaker 1: ready to make our way down to Okinawa. Well, I
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Speaker 1: hardly need to tell you that there were some who
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Speaker 1: promptly forgot the warnings. And it wasn't long before some
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Speaker 1: had their pockets picked. Some got back on the ship
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Speaker 1: with diseases they picked up from one of the prostitutes.
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Speaker 1: A number of them got on and ebriated, or they
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Speaker 1: had been, and some of them even missed the ship.
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Speaker 1: I'll never forget when we were leaving the dock at
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Speaker 1: 1100 hours on the money. A few guys were running
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Speaker 1: toward the ship, waving their ties and yelling, wait, wait, wait.
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Speaker 1: Do you think that colonel moved that ship right on out?
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Speaker 1: What happened to them? I don't know. But the colonel
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Speaker 1: had a few words for them that will stay on
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Speaker 1: the ship. I will not repeat those either. They even
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Speaker 1: missed the ship time. Why? Because they didn't take the
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Speaker 1: warning seriously. And because they had been the victims of
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Speaker 1: the danger that had been lurking and had forgotten the warnings,
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Speaker 1: they were then paying the consequences. Five decades of time
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Speaker 1: cannot erase the memory of that, and I immediately thought
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Speaker 1: of that scene when I turned to these verses tucked
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Speaker 1: away in the middle of the second chapter of John's
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Speaker 1: first letter. If you will think of John as the
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Speaker 1: battle-hardened colonel who understands what it is to be in
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Speaker 1: danger because his age has taken him through things that
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Speaker 1: the younger have never experienced, it will help you. He's
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Speaker 1: doing a quick review as he begins, much like our
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Speaker 1: colonel did as he got us all together in the
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Speaker 1: hold of the ship. He speaks to all of the
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Speaker 1: little children. When you're almost 100 years old, everybody is
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Speaker 1: little children. Believe me. John is about that age, and
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Speaker 1: he likes that title. In fact, he uses it frequently.
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Speaker 1: Look at 2-1 of this letter. My little children. He
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Speaker 1: uses it again in verse 12, as we saw, and
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Speaker 1: now verse 18. I'm sorry, 28 of this second chapter.
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Speaker 1: Verse 28, now little children abide in him. Look at
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Speaker 1: 3 in verse 7. Little children, make sure no one
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Speaker 1: deceives you. 318, little children, let us not love with
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Speaker 1: word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. Chapter 4,
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Speaker 1: verse 4. Again, you are from God, little children, and
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Speaker 1: have overcome them. And finally, the last verse in the letter,
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Speaker 1: chapter 5, verse 21, little children. So it's one of
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Speaker 1: John's favorite titles. So it's like our colonel who spoke
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Speaker 1: to all of us in uniform. And John is saying
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Speaker 1: to all of us in the family of God, you
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Speaker 1: wear the uniform of God. You are clothed in the
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Speaker 1: righteousness of Christ. The garments of purity and righteousness are
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Speaker 1: upon you. Now behave yourself. Would be a general way
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Speaker 1: of saying what he has to say. In fact, all
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Speaker 1: of the little children, he says in verse 12, have
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Speaker 1: had their sins forgiven for the namesake of our Savior.
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Speaker 1: So if you're a believer in Christ, you're found in
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Speaker 1: verse 12. Then he writes to the older, just as
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Speaker 1: our colonel spoke to those who were seasoned veterans. He
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Speaker 1: says to fathers in both verses 13 and 14, because
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Speaker 1: you know him who has been from the beginning, I'm
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Speaker 1: writing to you. And look at 14. Fathers, because you
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Speaker 1: know him who has been from the beginning, I have
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Speaker 1: written to you. So he's referring to their maturity. But
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Speaker 1: never think that because you have grown older in Christ,
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Speaker 1: you have grown up in him. The older people like
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Speaker 1: us need the warnings just as much as the younger
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Speaker 1: men and women around us. We'll say more about that
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Speaker 1: in a moment. But now verse 13 includes young men.
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Speaker 1: These would be those who are younger in age and
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Speaker 1: obviously with less maturity in their lives. But they are
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Speaker 1: walking strong, verse 14 tells us. They're living victoriously. They
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Speaker 1: have rejected false teaching. They're remaining faithful to their Lord
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Speaker 1: and Savior. So there's nothing wrong with youth. In fact,
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Speaker 1: you have strength that the older do not have. And
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Speaker 1: you have before you a whole world of life to live.
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Speaker 1: And so this applies to you as well as the older.
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Speaker 1: Let me add a word to the older, if I
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Speaker 1: may here. It is easy for us to think, we
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Speaker 1: who have been in the church for years, to think
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Speaker 1: that we have some kind of corner on victory. I mean,
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Speaker 1: we've been there. We've got the scars to prove it.
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Speaker 1: We've had hard knocks. We've lived some of our years
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Speaker 1: in a crucible. We've known heartache, heartbreak, betrayal, disloyalty. We
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Speaker 1: have fallen. We have failed. I mean, we are veterans.
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Speaker 1: It's easy to think we're now bulletproof. Not so. If
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Speaker 1: you are tending toward that, remember Job 32, 9. Great
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Speaker 1: men are not always wise. neither do the older understand justice.
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Speaker 1: Eugene Peterson in The Message renders it, getting old doesn't
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Speaker 1: guarantee good sense. Pause and remember, Abraham made some foolish
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Speaker 1: mistakes when he was getting up in years. Moses, well
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Speaker 1: over 80 when he struck the rock in anger. He
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Speaker 1: knew better. But his anger got the best of him.
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Speaker 1: David took that evening walk on the roof of the
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Speaker 1: palace and looked out across the backyard and lusted after Bathsheba. David,
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Speaker 1: check it out, is a father many times over and
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Speaker 1: in fact multiple wives and already past 50 made a
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Speaker 1: stupid decision And his transgression took the life of her husband.
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Speaker 1: And he married Bathsheba and she bore his child. David
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Speaker 1: wasn't a young man. He was older. And Uzziah, the king,
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Speaker 1: 2 Chronicles includes the account of this king who had
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Speaker 1: set all kinds of records as a young monarch. And
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Speaker 1: then he reaches an age where the whole country is
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Speaker 1: standing in awe of him. And he now believes his
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Speaker 1: own press clippings. Before you know it, he walks smartly
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Speaker 1: into the temple and offers up an offering, a place
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Speaker 1: that only a priest belonged. And when confronted with that
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Speaker 1: by the priest and numerous other priests standing near the
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Speaker 1: high priest, he resisted them and tried to strike them
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Speaker 1: with a censer from the fire. At that moment, the
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Speaker 1: Lord struck him with leprosy. Uzziah is not a young man. Remember,
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Speaker 1: if you're older, you're still susceptible. I remember attending the
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Speaker 1: Navigator Conference where there were a number of senior adults,
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Speaker 1: and Lorne Sanny, then the president of the Navigators, was
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Speaker 1: interviewing an 83-year-old veteran missionary. He put his arm around him,
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Speaker 1: he knew him well, and Mr. Sanny said to this missionary,
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Speaker 1: tell me, when did you finally gain victory over lust?
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Speaker 1: The old missionary said, well, Lorne, it hasn't happened yet.
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Speaker 1: You'll fight lust till the last day of your life.
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Speaker 1: You'll fight materialism as long as you draw breath on
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Speaker 1: this earth. You're not immune. We are not, let me
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Speaker 1: use the right pronoun. We can fall on any given day.
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Speaker 1: Listen up, fellow soldiers of the cross, young and old,
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Speaker 1: men and women, boys and girls, listen up. Take heed
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Speaker 1: to this. There is no place, even though you have
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Speaker 1: overcome the evil one many times, there's no place for
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Speaker 1: arrogance or presumption. Now the warning to all who of
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Speaker 1: us who are living in the cosmos. I think verses
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Speaker 1: 15 and 16 will take on new meaning if I
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Speaker 1: could read a paraphrase that I'd like you simply to
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Speaker 1: sit and listen to. Don't try to follow it in
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Speaker 1: your Bible. Just listen to the words. Don't love the
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Speaker 1: world's ways. Don't love the world's goods. Love of the
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Speaker 1: world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that
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Speaker 1: goes on in the world, wanting your own way, wanting
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Speaker 1: everything for yourself, wanting to appear important, has nothing to
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Speaker 1: do with the Father. It just isolates you from him.
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Speaker 1: The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on
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Speaker 1: the way out. But whoever does what God wants is
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Speaker 1: set for eternity. That's probably plain enough for everybody to
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Speaker 1: get it. But there are some specifics it would help
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Speaker 1: us to know about. So allow me, this is applied
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Speaker 1: to believers. If you will, we are foreigners in a
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Speaker 1: culture that is not our own. Our citizenship is in heaven.
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Speaker 1: And for a reason we're left on earth. God didn't
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Speaker 1: make a mistake in making certain that our feet continued
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Speaker 1: to walk on this planet and to live in this era.
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Speaker 1: God is not surprised in heaven over our problems. And
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Speaker 1: our ills and struggles and our sinfulness. It's the way
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Speaker 1: of the cosmos. And here we are among it. On purpose.
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Speaker 1: For a reason. So we need to understand that we
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Speaker 1: represent a different culture. Though we live among a foreign culture.
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Speaker 1: We have truths that we meditate on and fill our
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Speaker 1: minds with. that the cosmos people do not fill their
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Speaker 1: minds with. They march to that drumbeat. We march to
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Speaker 1: this one, but we live among them. That must be
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Speaker 1: handled wisely, just as we in the Marines needed to
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Speaker 1: handle ourselves wisely in the midst of a culture that
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Speaker 1: we weren't familiar with, with dangers we didn't even know
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Speaker 1: were lurking. So understand, first of all, lest we miss
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Speaker 1: the ship, that we're dealing with loving the world, not
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Speaker 1: living in it. There's a difference. His exhortation is don't
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Speaker 1: love the world. Meaning what? Well, it's a different love
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Speaker 1: than in verse 10, where he tells us to love
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Speaker 1: our brothers and sisters equally. And because of that, we're
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Speaker 1: known as those who abide in the light. But this
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Speaker 1: is a love that we get caught up into and
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Speaker 1: become addicted to. And the consequences are dreadful and very unhealthy. Spiritually, emotionally,
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Speaker 1: as well as physically. And let's identify the world here.
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Speaker 1: Let's understand what He means by the world. It's the
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Speaker 1: Greek term K-O-S-M-O-S. We get our word cosmopolitan from it, cosmetics.
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Speaker 1: The cosmonauts are the astronauts of Russia. We are living
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Speaker 1: among the cosmos. The cosmos. In brief, it has reference
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Speaker 1: to the attitudes and values that characterize our world, all
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Speaker 1: of which are in opposition to God. Charles Ryrie gives
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Speaker 1: this definition. It is that organized system headed by Satan
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Speaker 1: that leaves God out and is a rival to him.
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Speaker 1: That's our world. That's where you work. That's where you
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Speaker 1: find entertainment. That's where you live in the neighborhood. People
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Speaker 1: don't have a big S on their forehead. It's not
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Speaker 1: like that. It's all an atmosphere. An atmosphere. where there
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Speaker 1: are values embraced that are not our values. It's a
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Speaker 1: world of humanity that exists in rebellion against the living God,
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Speaker 1: characterized by all that is in opposition to him. The values,
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Speaker 1: listen to the list, the values, the pleasures, the pastimes,
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Speaker 1: the aspirations, even the attitudes comprise the lives of those
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Speaker 1: who have no place for God and no patience with
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Speaker 1: those who follow God. That's our world. You say it's
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Speaker 1: sounding more dangerous the longer you spend on it. It's
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Speaker 1: good that you know that. It isn't that there aren't
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Speaker 1: times of great delight and pleasure and enjoyment in this world.
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Speaker 1: It's just that it's got to be handled right. A
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Speaker 1: man named Trench, one of the older writers of truth
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Speaker 1: regarding the New Testament, gives it this definition. It's the
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Speaker 1: best I've ever heard of the cosmos. all that floating
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Speaker 1: mass of thoughts, opinions, maxims, speculations, hopes, impulses, aims, aspirations
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Speaker 1: at any time current in the world, which it may
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Speaker 1: be impossible to seize and accurately define, but which constitutes
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Speaker 1: a most real and effective power, being the moral or
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Speaker 1: immoral atmosphere which at every moment of our lives we
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Speaker 1: inhale Again, inevitably to exhale, this is the world system
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Speaker 1: to which John refers. It's just life on planet Earth.
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Speaker 1: And so John is saying to us, don't fall in
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Speaker 1: love with the stuff of this age. Be discerning. But
28:25
Speaker 1: be aware, just as we were to be aware before
28:27
Speaker 1: we touched the food, or before any of the guys
28:31
Speaker 1: drank too much, or before we went into a district
28:36
Speaker 1: that would have been harmful to us physically. Be aware,
28:39
Speaker 1: be aware. You're not going to clean up the district,
28:45
Speaker 1: just be aware. Behave yourself in it. By the way,
28:53
Speaker 1: in case you wonder if he's serious about the cosmos,
28:58
Speaker 1: six times in three verses the word is used. The world,
29:03
Speaker 1: the world, the world, the world, the world. We often
29:07
Speaker 1: blame the devil for everything that occurs. Why? It could
29:10
Speaker 1: be the flesh within us as we're going to read.
29:13
Speaker 1: It could be just simply the allurement of the world.
29:16
Speaker 1: That's why Demas forsook Paul. He loved the things of
29:20
Speaker 1: the world rather than The things that Paul was involved in.
29:24
Speaker 1: He forsook me and he's now gone, writes Paul in
29:28
Speaker 1: his letter to Timothy. So let's go further and look
29:34
Speaker 1: at the things in the cosmos. Verse 16. See 15,
29:41
Speaker 1: do not love the world and if anyone loves the world,
29:45
Speaker 1: the love of the Father is not in him. So
29:48
Speaker 1: note that when you fall in love with the world,
29:51
Speaker 1: you fall out of love with the Father. What does
29:56
Speaker 1: he mean by The things of the world. Look at
29:59
Speaker 1: verse 16. First, he names the lust of the flesh.
30:08
Speaker 1: Interesting word, lust. It's obsolete in our day. You rarely
30:12
Speaker 1: read of it. It's the Greek epithumia. It means a
30:16
Speaker 1: craving for. A passionate desire. It appears 38 times in
30:26
Speaker 1: the New Testament, and only three of those times is
30:29
Speaker 1: it positive. So these are normally 35 out of 38
30:33
Speaker 1: times evil cravings, base cravings, unchristian desires. That's lust. So
30:47
Speaker 1: now we have first the cravings of the flesh. Let's
30:50
Speaker 1: use the word cravings. rather than lust. The cravings of
30:56
Speaker 1: the flesh. Flesh is a broad term that means more
31:03
Speaker 1: than illicit sexual involvement, activity, and thoughts. This would include
31:09
Speaker 1: selfish ambitions and self-serving objectives. This era in which we
31:16
Speaker 1: live is all about ourselves. Me, myself, and I. Us
31:23
Speaker 1: four and no more, and I'm not sure about you three.
31:27
Speaker 1: It's all about me. My comfort. My possessions. My money.
31:34
Speaker 1: My future. My career. My hopes, and on and on
31:42
Speaker 1: the list goes. The flesh craves that. William Barclay delineates it,
31:51
Speaker 1: it is to be gluttonous in food, effeminate in luxury,
31:56
Speaker 1: slavish in pleasure, lustful and lax in morals, selfish in
32:02
Speaker 1: the use of possessions, extravagant in the gratification of material desires.
32:09
Speaker 1: The flesh's desire is regardless of the commandments of God,
32:14
Speaker 1: the judgment of God, and the standards of God. That's
32:19
Speaker 1: the flesh. And men and women who belong to Christ,
32:23
Speaker 1: listen to me, the flesh will never change. Just as
32:29
Speaker 1: you were in your lost estate, you are still there.
32:36
Speaker 1: We never will have that changed until we are taken
32:40
Speaker 1: to be with our Lord and made like Him. So
32:43
Speaker 1: the goal, of course, is for the Spirit of God
32:45
Speaker 1: to restrain this Inner craving for selfish gratification. Well, that's
32:54
Speaker 1: the cravings of the flesh. Look at the next one.
32:58
Speaker 1: By the way, don't fall in love with those things.
33:01
Speaker 1: That's his point. Don't love the things the flesh craves.
33:05
Speaker 1: Don't go there. Now the cravings of the eyes. This
33:10
Speaker 1: would include sinful cravings activated by what people see. that
33:18
Speaker 1: lead to covetousness and envy. We have an old saying
33:24
Speaker 1: in our family, keeping up with the Joneses. Maybe you've
33:27
Speaker 1: heard that as you were growing up. My mom and
33:30
Speaker 1: dad used to say, let's not worry about keeping up
33:32
Speaker 1: with the Joneses. The Joneses represented any family that had
33:37
Speaker 1: what we didn't have and couldn't afford. How easy to
33:42
Speaker 1: crave what someone else enjoys. the symbols of success, if
33:50
Speaker 1: you will. An automobile that you can't afford, but someone
33:55
Speaker 1: near you has that automobile. And the lust of the
33:59
Speaker 1: eyes long for that automobile ourselves. A lust for clothing.
34:05
Speaker 1: Someone else is able to wear an expensive suit or
34:08
Speaker 1: outfit that you can't afford. Lusting for that expensive furniture,
34:13
Speaker 1: expensive house, second home furniture, in the hill country or
34:17
Speaker 1: at the coast or maybe a boat or an RV.
34:22
Speaker 1: If you're tempted with a boat or RV, see me
34:26
Speaker 1: after the meeting because I'll help you overcome that temptation
34:31
Speaker 1: really quick. Two great days in your life, the day
34:37
Speaker 1: you buy them and the day you get rid of them. Anyway,
34:41
Speaker 1: so much for that. These so-called symbols of success could
34:46
Speaker 1: even be abilities and titles and position and education that
34:52
Speaker 1: we lust after. Someone else is the president. I want
34:55
Speaker 1: to be the president of that outfit. Someone else is
34:59
Speaker 1: the senior whatever and I want to be the senior whatever.
35:02
Speaker 1: Someone else is CEO and I deserve to be certainly
35:06
Speaker 1: more than he. That's the lust of the eyes. The
35:10
Speaker 1: physique of another one. I mean the TV is full
35:14
Speaker 1: of these hulks. You look at them. Try to imagine
35:21
Speaker 1: right now. Ripple stomach. A stomach was never meant to
35:26
Speaker 1: look like that. I'm like Irma Bombeck. I have everything
35:31
Speaker 1: I used to have, but it's four inches lower. And
35:36
Speaker 1: you can lust after. That's how they sell their product.
35:40
Speaker 1: They prey on your lust.
35:41
Speaker 2: Lust.
35:44
Speaker 1: You long for that. And there's one other, the boastful
35:48
Speaker 1: pride of life. This would refer to arrogance, just plain
35:54
Speaker 1: elevation of oneself above another. One of the world's wags
36:00
Speaker 1: called it the glorification of the worm. Not a good
36:04
Speaker 1: way to put it. Do we really need illustrations about this?
36:12
Speaker 1: Maybe so. Once a year on a Sunday night, the
36:17
Speaker 1: Academy Awards appear on television. You want to finish my sentence,
36:23
Speaker 1: or you already have? How much lust goes on, not
36:29
Speaker 1: so much at the Academy, though certainly it does, but
36:32
Speaker 1: among those watching it. The lust of the flesh, the
36:37
Speaker 1: lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of winning the Academy.
36:47
Speaker 1: And then there are big beauty contests that are around
36:51
Speaker 1: the cosmos. How about classic car auctions?
36:54
Speaker 2: Whoops.
36:57
Speaker 1: I was watching one the other night, channel surfing. Cynthia
37:00
Speaker 1: had gone to bed, so the... No, I'm not going
37:04
Speaker 1: to say that. I was all on my own and
37:06
Speaker 1: going from one channel to another and stayed at this
37:09
Speaker 1: channel and watched the classic cars roll by. An old Packard. Whoo!
37:14
Speaker 2: Ah! Ah!
37:15
Speaker 1: 1930 something. Only $ 270, 000. I mean, why not? Another one
37:26
Speaker 1: was $ 520, 000. Another was $ 106, 000. And when they were first purchased, why? Nothing.
37:36
Speaker 1: How easy to lust after that kind of thing. You
37:40
Speaker 1: see where I'm going. The fast life of high society.
37:45
Speaker 1: Wanting that clothing. Wanting that hairdo. How about the professional
37:53
Speaker 1: sports world? Paid obscene salaries for playing a little boy's game.
38:02
Speaker 1: And free agency comes. $ 100, 000. $ 100 million for alignment. Alignment.
38:15
Speaker 1: Try to interview him. Well, uh, Well, you know, I
38:25
Speaker 1: always love reading Rick Ryan. Rick Riley used to write
38:31
Speaker 1: for Sports Illustrated. He rewrote funny stuff. I always read
38:36
Speaker 1: Sports Illustrated from the back forward because he always wrote
38:39
Speaker 1: the last page called The Life of Riley. He's now
38:41
Speaker 1: with ESPN, but back then while he was with Sports Illustrated.
38:45
Speaker 1: One of my favorite that he ever wrote is called
38:47
Speaker 1: Speaking of Class. to the graduating class. And he's addressing,
38:53
Speaker 1: in his mind, as this commencement speaker, all of these
38:57
Speaker 1: athletes that are going from college into professional sports. Listen
39:01
Speaker 1: to it. Thank you, thank you, graduates. Please be seated.
39:05
Speaker 1: It's an honor to address the college athletes who are
39:07
Speaker 1: going to the pros this year. If I may, I'd
39:10
Speaker 1: like to offer just a few pieces of advice. Every
39:13
Speaker 1: now and again, turn off Nintendo. Shut off SpectreVision and
39:18
Speaker 1: open a book. We already have enough jocks who think
39:26
Speaker 1: the brothers Karamazov are the WWF tag team champions. And
39:31
Speaker 1: if you ever hear yourself saying, they offered me $ 81 million,
39:37
Speaker 1: what an insult. Find a tire iron, go into a
39:42
Speaker 1: quiet room, and hit yourself several times on the shin.
39:49
Speaker 1: Here's another. Marry someone who has never heard of you.
39:56
Speaker 1: I like this one. If you write a book, read
39:59
Speaker 1: it before it comes out. Be careful with your money.
40:10
Speaker 1: Write your own checks. None of this power of attorney crap.
40:13
Speaker 1: Get an agent and a lawyer and tell each one
40:15
Speaker 1: of them you're a crook. Shock the world. Apologize when
40:21
Speaker 1: you screw up. Okay, so you didn't grow up with
40:26
Speaker 1: a father? Then go be one. Make a difference in
40:31
Speaker 1: the life of one kid who is not your own,
40:33
Speaker 1: and it'll give you more joy than a lifetime shoe contract.
40:40
Speaker 1: See that woman up there in section 595, row WW,
40:42
Speaker 1: seat 29? She makes $ 26, 000 a year. She paid $ 22
40:51
Speaker 1: for each ticket for her family, and you just plunked
40:55
Speaker 1: down $ 17 for three Cokes and a warm beer. Treat
40:59
Speaker 1: her nice. Without her, you're a 320-pound bouncer with half
41:04
Speaker 1: a P.E. degree. And go easy on the tattoos. By
41:13
Speaker 1: the time you're 60, the hula girl on your biceps
41:15
Speaker 1: is going to look like Don Knotts. That is a
41:20
Speaker 1: good line, Riley. All right. No offense, he ends with this,
41:31
Speaker 1: no offense, but when you're setting off the airport metal
41:36
Speaker 1: detector from the back of the line, you might have
41:39
Speaker 1: on too much jewelry. You think? You think? It's the
41:46
Speaker 1: world system. You got it? Flaunt it! Hey!
41:52
Speaker 2: Hey!
41:53
Speaker 1: Who else making this kind of money? Let me tell
41:55
Speaker 1: you something, folks. He'll take none of it with him.
42:02
Speaker 1: I've buried lots of people and they all have their
42:04
Speaker 1: hands open and their hands are always empty. They're all dead.
42:17
Speaker 1: America shot through with cravings of the flesh and cravings
42:21
Speaker 1: of the eyes and just a desire to be important. Wow. Nonsense.
42:32
Speaker 1: To quote my colonel, stupid. Why not live like the
42:41
Speaker 1: world system? Why not love the world system? Because we
42:44
Speaker 1: love God. Second, because of what the world represents, which
42:49
Speaker 1: we've just gone over. And third, because every bit of
42:52
Speaker 1: it's going to be burned up. There's not going to
42:55
Speaker 1: be one 1937 Packard into eternity. There's not going to
43:02
Speaker 1: be one house in the hills getting into eternity. Not
43:09
Speaker 1: one title that somebody you envy has earned and is
43:14
Speaker 1: going to make it. past the grave, not one. This
43:20
Speaker 1: is the way to live life. In fact, he says,
43:24
Speaker 1: look at the contrast. The world is passing away in
43:28
Speaker 1: its lusts. So when you love the cosmos, you're embracing
43:32
Speaker 1: what's temporal. It's like loving a car, paying for a car,
43:39
Speaker 1: getting the car and driving it off the cliff. It's
43:43
Speaker 1: going out of style, if not out of existence. You're
43:50
Speaker 1: embracing what is temporal. And when you're doing God's will,
43:54
Speaker 1: you're living for what is eternal. Are we ever. It
43:59
Speaker 1: doesn't mean we're more important than any other individual. It
44:02
Speaker 1: just means by the grace of God, we've been caught
44:06
Speaker 1: before we did the most stupid thing in life. as
44:10
Speaker 1: to live for ourselves and spend eternity without the one
44:13
Speaker 1: who made us. Now let me say some very personal
44:18
Speaker 1: and practical things that I hope will add sensibility and practicality.
44:24
Speaker 1: Guard against extremes when you apply what you just heard.
44:28
Speaker 1: Guard against extremes. Here's one extreme. This extreme comes from
44:33
Speaker 1: those who mean well, but it's bad advice. Isolate yourself.
44:39
Speaker 1: That's the answer when you have to live in the cosmos.
44:44
Speaker 1: Isolate yourself. The old monks did it behind a wall.
44:49
Speaker 1: Problem is, the lust of the flesh, the lust of
44:51
Speaker 1: the eyes, and the boastful pride of life went with them.
44:54
Speaker 1: But they didn't mingle with the worldlings. Those who say
44:59
Speaker 1: isolate yourself would add, don't own a television. Don't ever
45:03
Speaker 1: go to a movie, ever, ever. Don't own a computer, ever.
45:09
Speaker 1: Punch up internet. Poe, stay away from all people who
45:14
Speaker 1: are worldly and driven by cravings of life. Don't watch sports.
45:20
Speaker 1: That's a show of pride. Don't own an iPhone. Don't
45:27
Speaker 1: watch sports. Don't own an iPhone. Don't pay any attention
45:30
Speaker 1: to fashion or anything that's updated fashion. Don't buy nice
45:36
Speaker 1: cars or new clothing or good furniture. Keep yourself plain
45:40
Speaker 1: and drab and colorless. Isolate. Stay gray. Stay gray. I
45:52
Speaker 1: rarely quote people like this, but the other day I
45:55
Speaker 1: heard Ted Turner refer to Christians as a bunch of
45:58
Speaker 1: bozos and idiots. And the reason he did is because
46:01
Speaker 1: it's with those kind of people he must have been around.
46:05
Speaker 1: We are neither. And John is not saying become a
46:11
Speaker 1: freak in the 21st century. That's a wrong application. I mean,
46:18
Speaker 1: think of what Jesus said. Father, I ask you not
46:20
Speaker 1: to take them out of the world, but keep them
46:23
Speaker 1: from the evil of the world. The answer is not isolation.
46:26
Speaker 1: It's insulation. When will we ever learn that? You can
46:33
Speaker 1: be the most winsome magnetic individual and never once go
46:38
Speaker 1: on drugs, never once fall into addiction to alcohol, never
46:44
Speaker 1: once run around with somebody else's mate. You can live
46:48
Speaker 1: like this and you can be happy and winsome and
46:53
Speaker 1: a delightful person to be around and the whirling will
46:56
Speaker 1: want to know how on earth do you live like
46:59
Speaker 1: this and not act like us. You can be the
47:04
Speaker 1: friendliest person in the neighborhood, not a bozo or an
47:08
Speaker 1: idiot or a freak. We're not asking to be isolated.
47:13
Speaker 1: Paul says, I wrote you in another letter not to
47:16
Speaker 1: associate with immoral people. I did not at all mean
47:19
Speaker 1: immoral people of this world, for then you'd have to
47:22
Speaker 1: go out of the world. I mean, you don't ask
47:25
Speaker 1: the person that does your dry cleaning, are you a believer?
47:28
Speaker 1: I'm not going to let you do my dry cleaning.
47:31
Speaker 1: Can a non-believer do good dry cleaning? checkout stand to
47:36
Speaker 1: ask the gal at the checkout stand, are you a Christian? No,
47:39
Speaker 1: I'm not taking my groceries here. I'm going to go
47:40
Speaker 1: to a Christian store where we buy Christian food and
47:43
Speaker 1: we drink Christian coffee and we have Christian ketchup and
47:46
Speaker 1: we enjoy Christian meat. See how stupid? Silly. The enemy
47:55
Speaker 1: will do anything to push us to extremes even if
47:58
Speaker 1: it's adjusting a window shade. Isolating is not the answer. Second,
48:03
Speaker 1: The second says, assert yourself. Now, he's even worse. Be obnoxious.
48:10
Speaker 1: Insult people who don't know Christ. Put down people that
48:14
Speaker 1: are living with somebody else's mate or not married. Be
48:19
Speaker 1: sure you insult them because you're a Christian. Yeah, you'll
48:22
Speaker 1: really win them to Christ. How did you come to Christ? Well,
48:25
Speaker 1: this friend insulted me and I just couldn't stay away
48:27
Speaker 1: from Jesus. Wonderful. Very helpful. Cynthia and I were at
48:35
Speaker 1: a banquet. They served nice things at the banquet. It
48:38
Speaker 1: happened to be at a lovely hotel and we had
48:41
Speaker 1: a great evening and we walked out and here stood
48:43
Speaker 1: four well-meaning people with big placards against the worldliness of
48:48
Speaker 1: our being at a nice banquet. And so they decided
48:51
Speaker 1: it was their calling to insult all the people that
48:54
Speaker 1: were at the banquet when they left to know they
48:57
Speaker 1: could have said that they were Christians but you came
49:00
Speaker 1: to this real nice banquet and enjoyed this nice evening. Please. Please.
49:06
Speaker 1: Verna McGee put it well. We're never told to clean
49:09
Speaker 1: up the fishbowl. We're told to fish. You can't clean
49:14
Speaker 1: up the fishbowl. Fish. I say to every congressman. I know,
49:20
Speaker 1: make a difference for Christ in the midst of a
49:24
Speaker 1: setting that's almost impossible. Count for Christ. Win them over.
49:32
Speaker 1: So what's the answer? Discipline yourself. Don't isolate yourself. Don't
49:37
Speaker 1: assert yourself. Discipline, which means restrain yourself. Control your cravings.
49:43
Speaker 1: When you're on the internet, don't go to the bad site.
49:46
Speaker 1: It's stupid when you do. You'll get into trouble. Furthermore,
49:49
Speaker 1: it's sin. And you'll get addicted. Then you'll be found
49:54
Speaker 1: out and you'll mess up your home and family and life.
49:58
Speaker 1: Don't go there. But it doesn't mean you can't have
50:00
Speaker 1: a computer. You can even have an iPhone. Just don't
50:06
Speaker 1: get addicted to it. It's the most amazing thing in
50:09
Speaker 1: the world. You walk out of places and everybody's like this. Hey,
50:13
Speaker 1: how are you doing? Wait, wait, wait. How about drivers?
50:19
Speaker 1: The other day I was at a green light that
50:21
Speaker 1: changed three times. I did very well with that. You
50:25
Speaker 1: might want to know. By the way, and I close
50:29
Speaker 1: with this true story. I said to a good friend
50:31
Speaker 1: of mine in ministry, I said, well, I'm in 1
50:33
Speaker 1: John 3. two next Sunday, 12 to 17, he said, man,
50:38
Speaker 1: I remember when I was a youth pastor, he said,
50:40
Speaker 1: I did something I had never heard anybody else had
50:42
Speaker 1: ever done. I thought it was a great idea. He said,
50:44
Speaker 1: I told all the kids, we had about 150 high schoolers.
50:47
Speaker 1: And I said, when you go home this afternoon from church,
50:50
Speaker 1: look at rummage around in your house and find a
50:53
Speaker 1: few old magazines, not the ones your mom is keeping
50:56
Speaker 1: or they're important to your dad, but old magazines, get
51:00
Speaker 1: ready to throw them away And, you know, Sports Illustrated, Glamour,
51:06
Speaker 1: one of the tabloids, or one of those. And every
51:09
Speaker 1: time you find something on the page that relates, on
51:12
Speaker 1: any page that relates to the lust of the flesh
51:14
Speaker 1: or the lust of the eyes or the pride of life,
51:16
Speaker 1: just tear out the page. And then next Sunday, bring
51:20
Speaker 1: the magazine. Bring what's left. The most any kid brought
51:25
Speaker 1: was four pages. Four pages. Several brought just the front
51:30
Speaker 1: and back, and one of them said the back is
51:32
Speaker 1: kind of raunchy, but I'd have had nothing if I'd
51:35
Speaker 1: have left that off. Most of the kids had done
51:39
Speaker 1: it and brought nothing back. Front, back, every page. Appeals
51:48
Speaker 1: to the flesh, the eyes. Let me tell you, we
51:53
Speaker 1: live in a really smart world system. They know what
51:58
Speaker 1: turns us on or what they want us to get
52:03
Speaker 1: turned on over. The only way I can see any
52:08
Speaker 1: hope for us in surviving and counting for Christ is
52:13
Speaker 1: that we know him personally. Let's bow our heads together.
52:23
Speaker 1: You've never personally taken the gift which I referred to
52:26
Speaker 1: earlier This is a great time for you to do that.
52:29
Speaker 1: God has brought you to this place in your life.
52:32
Speaker 1: He's quieted you. He's slowed you down. He's had you
52:35
Speaker 1: listen very attentively. Now he's saying in so many words,
52:40
Speaker 1: listen to that man. Those words will help you. But
52:48
Speaker 1: you are helplessly out of power to change without Christ.
52:58
Speaker 1: So right now is the moment. Right now. Join the
53:02
Speaker 1: ranks of fellow believers that stay in the world and
53:07
Speaker 1: are learning to discipline ourselves in the midst of it.
53:12
Speaker 1: Believe on the Lord Jesus. You will be delivered. Father,
53:19
Speaker 1: thank you for the way you speak to us in
53:23
Speaker 1: a world that's lost its way. Control us and restrain
53:29
Speaker 1: us and discipline our minds and give us a winsome
53:33
Speaker 1: understanding of those who are hopelessly caught and lost. Rather
53:41
Speaker 1: than mimicking their ways, may we become the exception that
53:49
Speaker 1: draws them instead of turning them off. And may they
53:52
Speaker 1: realize that there is no life like the one Christ
53:56
Speaker 1: can give. I pray in his matchless name. Everyone said, Amen.
54:06
Speaker 2: The preceding message, Strong Talk on the Cosmos, and the
54:10
Speaker 2: sound recording were copyrighted in 2009 by Charles R.
54:13
Speaker 1: Swindoll, Inc.
54:15
Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
54:19
Speaker 2: commercial use is strictly prohibited.