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Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – God Humbles a Proud Hear... · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: We are completing a five part mini series which I've
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Speaker 1: titled God knows what He's about. He knows what he's
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Speaker 1: doing when he is blessing us. He also knows what
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Speaker 1: he's doing when he is crushing us. The blessing part
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Speaker 1: we love. The crushing experiences at the hand of God
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Speaker 1: are never enjoyable, though in the end there are magnificent
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Speaker 1: benefits that come only through that time of testing. The
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Speaker 1: last time, we looked at the way God reaches into
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Speaker 1: and bends a stubborn will in the life of a
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Speaker 1: man named Jonah. Today we're considering how God humbles a
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Speaker 1: proud heart, as in the case of Saul of Tarsus.
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Speaker 1: If you have brought your Bible with you, please open
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Speaker 1: to Acts chapter nine. It's an intriguing account of a
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Speaker 1: man's life as he is suddenly chrust before the Lord
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Speaker 1: on a mission of misery in hopes of bringing people
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Speaker 1: in chains back to Jerusalem to put them on trial
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Speaker 1: and hopefully to watch them die. This man's soul of
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Speaker 1: Tarsus has no idea what is before him, as we
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Speaker 1: will read here, and the Lord gets his attention in
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Speaker 1: a most unusual manner. Once you find your place to
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Speaker 1: Act nine. Please stand with others as we listen to
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Speaker 1: God's word. I'm reading from the New Living Translation. Meanwhile,
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Speaker 1: Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager
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Speaker 1: to kill the Lord's followers, so he went to the
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Speaker 1: High Priest. He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus,
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Speaker 1: asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers
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Speaker 1: of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them,
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Speaker 1: both men and women, back to Jerusalem in chains. As
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Speaker 1: he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from
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Speaker 1: heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the
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Speaker 1: ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul,
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Speaker 1: why are you persecuting me? Who are you? Lord? Saul asked,
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Speaker 1: and the voice replied, I am Jesus, the one you
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Speaker 1: were persecuting. Now get up and go into the city,
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Speaker 1: and you will be told what you must do. The
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Speaker 1: men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound
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Speaker 1: of someone's voice, but saw no one. Saul picked himself
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Speaker 1: up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes
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Speaker 1: he was blind, so his companions led him by the
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Speaker 1: hand to Damascus. He remained there blind for three days,
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Speaker 1: did not eat or drink. Now. There was a believer
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Speaker 1: in Damascus named Anonius. The Lord spoke to him in
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Speaker 1: a vision, calling Anonius. Yes, Lord, he replied. The Lord said,
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Speaker 1: get over to straight Street, to the House of Judas.
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Speaker 1: When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus
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Speaker 1: named Saul. He's praying to me right now. I've shown
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Speaker 1: him a vision of a man named Anonius coming in
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Speaker 1: and laying hands on him so he can see again.
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Speaker 1: But Lord exclaimed, Anonius, I've heard many people talk about
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Speaker 1: the terrible things this man has done to the believers
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Speaker 1: in Jerusalem, and he is authorized by the leading priests
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Speaker 1: to arrest everyone who calls upon your name. But the
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Speaker 1: Lord said, go for Saul is my chosen instrument to
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Speaker 1: take my message to the gentiles and to kings, as
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Speaker 1: well as to the people of Israel. And I will
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Speaker 1: show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake.
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Speaker 1: Ties in beautifully with our miniseries. The Lord knows what
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Speaker 1: he's about. Please be seated. I pray with me, will you.
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Speaker 1: We have the year stretching out before us, Lord, and
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Speaker 1: we all have one thing in common. As we look
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Speaker 1: into the months ahead. We do not know what one
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Speaker 1: day will bring. We do not know what the next
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Speaker 1: hour will bring. Our times are in your hand. Gratefully
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Speaker 1: you know what you're about. When we think those times
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Speaker 1: will be calming and comforting, we're sometimes surprised to realize
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Speaker 1: they are quite the opposite. But not apart from your
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Speaker 1: working and your sovereign hand on our lives. So prepare
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Speaker 1: us today for tomorrow. Equip us with what we will hear,
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Speaker 1: so that we might draw upon that out of the
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Speaker 1: reservoir of our knowledge and memory in the days ahead.
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Speaker 1: Teach us today from the life of a man who
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Speaker 1: was beyond impossible in himself. Show us how you brought
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Speaker 1: him to his knees, turned his entire life around, and
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Speaker 1: gave him purpose and meaning and direction than he never
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Speaker 1: had before. How you humbled him and hurt him, and
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Speaker 1: with mighty blows converted him into trial shapes of play
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Speaker 1: while his own heart was crying, releasing his will to yours.
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Speaker 1: Show us how to think deeply, how to think independently,
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Speaker 1: How to give more attention to what you have written
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Speaker 1: and less to what we hear on the news. Calm
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Speaker 1: us us, reassure us Lord, as we this year learn
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Speaker 1: how to wait on you and our praise, especially today
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Speaker 1: for those who have loved ones, whether relatives, their own, children,
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Speaker 1: are close friends, who are today beyond impossible. They are
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Speaker 1: individuals that only you can handle, and you have a
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Speaker 1: way of doing that like no one else. So remind us,
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Speaker 1: Lord that you are at work even when we cannot
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Speaker 1: see it. As you were with Saul on his way
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Speaker 1: to Damascus, and just as you broke him, brought him
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Speaker 1: to his knees and blinded him, So you are able
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Speaker 1: to handle any impossible individual whom we love but cannot change.
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Speaker 1: Remind us of that today, and may we not forget
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Speaker 1: that applies to us as well. May we remember through
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Speaker 1: this year the words of the prophet that we are
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Speaker 1: to do what is right, that we are to love mercy,
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Speaker 1: and we are to walk humbly with you, our God. Finally, Lord,
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Speaker 1: I pray for those who will minister to others in need,
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Speaker 1: and I pray that you will use their lips and
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Speaker 1: their lives, their compassion, their wisdom to bring hope to
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Speaker 1: those have lost hope. And a reminder that you are
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Speaker 1: at work even when we cannot hear you or see you.
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Speaker 1: Thank you for those who protect us today on the
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Speaker 1: streets of our city, as well as in distant places
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Speaker 1: where there are those enemies who would harm us if
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Speaker 1: they could get to us. Bless them, especially who wear
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Speaker 1: the uniform of our country. We pray that you will
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Speaker 1: set them apart in a very special way to carry
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Speaker 1: out their difficult mission. Now use these funds. We pray
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Speaker 1: for your greater glory, because we remember that you're the
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Speaker 1: shepherd who supplies our every need. In the name of
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Speaker 1: your son Jesus, we pray and we give everyone said Amen,
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Speaker 1: I begin today with a statement you have already heard.
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Speaker 1: Since that's true, I would like for you to make
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Speaker 1: yourself think you were hearing it for the first time.
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Speaker 1: Because of its significance and because of its seriousness, I
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Speaker 1: don't want it to sort of drift away from your mind.
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Speaker 1: When God wants to do an impossible task, he takes
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Speaker 1: an impossible person and crushes him or her. The statement
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Speaker 1: sounds a lot like what aw Towzer wrote in one
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Speaker 1: of his works, It's doubtful God can use anyone greatly
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Speaker 1: until he has hurt him deeply. Now both statements make
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Speaker 1: us uncomfortable. We want to think of our heavenly Father
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Speaker 1: as a God of compassion and understanding, and he is
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Speaker 1: never doubted. We want to think of him as goodness
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Speaker 1: and love, full of caring mercy for those in need,
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Speaker 1: and he is. But just like every good father, he
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Speaker 1: also must do what is painful, knowing it is for
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Speaker 1: our best. It is not a sign of a life
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Speaker 1: loving heavenly father to overlook wrongdoing or to ignore a
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Speaker 1: child who is out of control and fast becoming impossible
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Speaker 1: to rear. Good fathers step in and stop that kind
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Speaker 1: of action and thinking, or at least they do their
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Speaker 1: best to do so. So it is with our heavenly father,
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Speaker 1: you see, and all of us who are parents hardly
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Speaker 1: need to be told this. Children, while they are a joy,
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Speaker 1: are also a challenge, and some a greater challenge than others.
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Speaker 1: In every family there seems to be at least one,
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Speaker 1: sometimes more. Sometimes all the children are challenging, and I
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Speaker 1: would venture to add sometime some of them can be
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Speaker 1: absolutely impossible, absolutely impossible. Often the impossible ones who grow
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Speaker 1: up remaining like that are also proud and arrogant, meaning
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Speaker 1: they are going to have their way regardless of you
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Speaker 1: or anyone else. How often we will say to each
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Speaker 1: other it's time for us to be quiet. There's nothing
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Speaker 1: more we can say or do. In fact, if we
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Speaker 1: say or do more, we will make things worse, and
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Speaker 1: so we step back. Let me assure you God rarely
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Speaker 1: steps back. He steps up. And those who are beyond impossible,
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Speaker 1: God has a way of getting their attention. In fact,
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Speaker 1: you may be surprised to hear this. Some of the
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Speaker 1: harshest words in the Holy Scripture are reserved for the
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Speaker 1: proud and arrogant. For with that sense of independence and
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Speaker 1: that determination to go one's own way, there is the
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Speaker 1: accompanying pride and arrogance that add to the impossibility of
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Speaker 1: changing that person. Listen to these two verses, both from
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Speaker 1: the Old Testament Proverbs chapter sixteen, verse five. Everyone who
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Speaker 1: is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord.
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Speaker 1: Surely he will not go unpunished. And then from the
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Speaker 1: latter part of the eleventh verse in Isaiah thirteen, I
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Speaker 1: will crush the arrogance of the proud and humble, the
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Speaker 1: pride of the Mighty. The very first thing that the
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Speaker 1: Lord names among those things he hates is a proud look.
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Speaker 1: Think of that number one. God hates pride, and when
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Speaker 1: it is wrapped in a spirit of arrogance, it is unbearable.
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Speaker 1: He used the word, I'll repeat it is an abomination.
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Speaker 1: If there ever was a man whose pride needed crushing,
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Speaker 1: it was Saul of Tarsus. Now we forget that, because
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Speaker 1: he became the magnificent leader in the Church, the writer
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Speaker 1: of so much of the New Testament. Virtually every letter
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Speaker 1: we read bears his name. His counsel has driven us
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Speaker 1: deeper in our walk with Christ than most any other
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Speaker 1: individual in the Bible. Again and again he appears as
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Speaker 1: a model of this magnificent thinker, this humble servant, this
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Speaker 1: man faithful to the end, so that in the very
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Speaker 1: last letter he says to Timothy, I have fought a
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Speaker 1: good fight. I've finished the court. I've kept the faith.
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Speaker 1: Henceforth there is laid up from me a crown of righteousness,
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Speaker 1: which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, shall give to me,
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Speaker 1: and not to me only, but to do all those
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Speaker 1: who love. His appearing Saul becoming Paul the Apostle became
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Speaker 1: for us a model. But not until the soul of
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Speaker 1: Tarsus was cut down to size. In my travels, I
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Speaker 1: had been to Australia several times. One of the reasons
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Speaker 1: I love the Australians is because they don't put up
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Speaker 1: with arrogance. They don't think it's a good quality. In fact,
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Speaker 1: there's a common saying among Australians, we have a way
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Speaker 1: of cutting down the tall puppy. I like that, unless,
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Speaker 1: of course, I happen to be a tall puppy at
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Speaker 1: the moment and they're in the process of cutting down.
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Speaker 1: They are not impressed with titles, roles of authority. They're
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Speaker 1: independent thinkers. Therefore, when they come across arrogance and pride,
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Speaker 1: they look for ways to cut it down the size.
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Speaker 1: Saul of Tarsus was an individual who could not have
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Speaker 1: survived in Australia. They wouldn't have put up with it,
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Speaker 1: but more importantly, God didn't. In fact, it is not
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Speaker 1: too much to say no enemy of Christianity ever reached
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Speaker 1: such a degree of despicable notoriety than Saul of Tarsus.
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Speaker 1: That's right. He was honest when he wrote I am
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Speaker 1: the Chief of sinners. We tend to make light of that,
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Speaker 1: or to say he's just using the privilege of an
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Speaker 1: author's exaggeration. It is no exaggeration. He was the most
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Speaker 1: zealous of the zeal of the zealous. He was the
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Speaker 1: most brutal of the brutal. He was the most cruel
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Speaker 1: of the cruel, heartless to the core, he was the
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Speaker 1: worst of the worst. His great goal in life as
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Speaker 1: a pharisee in his lost estate was to make the
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Speaker 1: followers of the Way as miserable as possible. It was
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Speaker 1: his goal to shut down Christianity. Scripture revealed the truth
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Speaker 1: regarding him in his lost estate. Though he was religious,
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Speaker 1: he was lost. Listen to these words from various sections
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Speaker 1: of the New Testament, Acts twenty two four. Saul is speaking.
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Speaker 1: I persecuted this way to the death, binding and putting
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Speaker 1: both men and women into prison, Acts twenty six, nine
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Speaker 1: and ten. I thought to myself that I had to
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Speaker 1: do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
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Speaker 1: Not only did I lock up saints in prison, but
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Speaker 1: also when they were being put to death, I cast
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Speaker 1: my vote against them. You remember, he was the one
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Speaker 1: who stood there as Stephen was being stoned, the first martyr,
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Speaker 1: and Saul looked on it with pleasure. He took delight
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Speaker 1: in the death of Stephen, another Christian off the earth.
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Speaker 1: Acts eight three. Saul began ravaging the church, entering house
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Speaker 1: after house dragging off men and women, he would put
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Speaker 1: them in prison. Galatians one thirteen. You have heard of
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Speaker 1: my former manner of life in Judaism, How I used
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Speaker 1: to persecute the Church of God beyond measure and tried
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Speaker 1: to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many
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Speaker 1: of my contemporaries among my countrymen. Hear the arrogance here
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Speaker 1: the pride. He took great joy in the cruelty that
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Speaker 1: was administered by him and his body of thugs, who
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Speaker 1: went from one place to another to make life miserable
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Speaker 1: for Christians. One more, he says to Timothy, I was
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Speaker 1: formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor, and a violent aggressor.
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Speaker 1: Are you ready? Saul was a terrorist of the worst kind.
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Speaker 1: He targeted every Christian he could get near. Every door
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Speaker 1: he hammered on if they didn't open it, he broke
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Speaker 1: his way in. Every time he found someone who was
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Speaker 1: a devoted follower of the Way, he hauled him off
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Speaker 1: or her or the family Missus Saul of Tarsus. And
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Speaker 1: how proud and how arrogant he was carrying out this
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Speaker 1: mission of misery until Acts chapter nine records He's on
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Speaker 1: his way to the ancient city of Dabascus. I don't
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Speaker 1: know how to make it any clearer. He is beyond impossible,
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Speaker 1: and it's time for the Lord to step in. Indeed
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Speaker 1: he does look with me. How God humbles this aragan man.
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Speaker 1: So I went to the High Priest, requested letters to
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Speaker 1: the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the
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Speaker 1: arrest of any followers of the Way that he found there.
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Speaker 1: He wanted to bring them, men and women back to
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Speaker 1: Jerusalem in chains. As he was approaching Damascus, he has
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Speaker 1: in his hands the papers he needs, the official documents,
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Speaker 1: search warrants, if you will. That got him into wherever
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Speaker 1: he wished to go, where there were Christians, so that
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Speaker 1: he might lock them up, hopefully be there for the
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Speaker 1: trial when they were put to death. Until he was
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Speaker 1: stop in his tracks and God began to crush him.
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Speaker 1: We read in Acts chapter nine, as he was approaching
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Speaker 1: Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone
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Speaker 1: all around him, and he fell to the ground, and
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Speaker 1: he heard a voice. Let me suggest to you, for
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Speaker 1: the first time in a long time, perhaps ever in
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Speaker 1: his adult life, he is no longer in control. The
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Speaker 1: crushing has begun. The hounds of heaven have found Saul.
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Speaker 1: He stopped in his tracks, whether he's on the back
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Speaker 1: of a horse or in a cart, or on his
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Speaker 1: feet whatever, he is to the ground, and the light
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Speaker 1: is blinding, and he hears a voice calling his name.
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Speaker 1: There's no person to see, there is only a voice
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Speaker 1: to hear, and Saul, this proud, arrogant terrorist for the
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Speaker 1: cause of Judaism, is literally brought to his knees. This
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Speaker 1: is the beginning of the crushing. Up until now, Saul
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Speaker 1: has been in charge. He graduates at the top of
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Speaker 1: his class, setting under Gamaliel. He's the brightest mind of
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Speaker 1: the first century in the area of Judaistic theology. He
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Speaker 1: is a pharisee of the pharisees, and suddenly he is
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Speaker 1: knocked down. As his humiliation begins. God never runs out
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Speaker 1: of ways to knock us down, so he says, or
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Speaker 1: he hears the word Saul, Saul. So whoever this is
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Speaker 1: knows him, does he ever? And Lindy asks, why are
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Speaker 1: you persecuting me? Saul has no idea who the one
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Speaker 1: speaking is, so he says, sir, who are you? The
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Speaker 1: word Lord appears, but it's not his conversion here that
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Speaker 1: would come later here. It's like a word of respect. Sir, curios?
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Speaker 1: Who are you? Sir? Who are you? Know me? I
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Speaker 1: don't know you? Who are you? Can you imagine the
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Speaker 1: shock when he heard the words, I am Jesus whom
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Speaker 1: you are persecuting. The hounds of heaven found him, and
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Speaker 1: they now have him encircled, and the Lord is conversing
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Speaker 1: with him, clarifying that it no longer is up to
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Speaker 1: Saul what happens in his life. God is in charge.
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Speaker 1: Let me pause here and say to you, to us
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Speaker 1: who know individuals that are out of control, maybe not
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Speaker 1: as notorious as this one, but impossible. You can't get
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Speaker 1: their attention. You can't change their mind. You can't pull
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Speaker 1: them aside and straighten them out. If you will, they're
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Speaker 1: not interested. They wouldn't listen if you tried. Take heart,
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Speaker 1: God knows what he's about. You may remember from an
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Speaker 1: earlier piece I read how he ruthlessly perfects whom he
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Speaker 1: royally elects, how he hammers him and hurts him, and
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Speaker 1: with mighty blows converts him into trial shapes of clay,
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Speaker 1: which only God understands. And he lifts beseeching hands, how
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Speaker 1: he bends but never breaks when his good he undertakes.
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Speaker 1: God knows what he's about. Believe the Lord in this.
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Speaker 1: No one is out of God's reach. No one is
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Speaker 1: off the reservation, no one is out of touch with
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Speaker 1: God's GPS. If you will, He's got his eyes on him.
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Speaker 1: He knows what he's doing, and it is only a
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Speaker 1: matter of time for the things to change. I often
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Speaker 1: try to comfort parents who have children that are impossible.
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Speaker 1: I remind them this is a chapter. It isn't the book.
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Speaker 1: This is a page out of a chapter. It isn't
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Speaker 1: the whole writing. Take heart. If God could find and
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Speaker 1: break Saul, he can do the same with the one
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Speaker 1: we care about. So don't lose sleep. Don't don't lose heart.
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Speaker 1: The men around Saul here the sound of someone's voice,
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Speaker 1: but they see him on the ground, but they don't.
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Speaker 1: They don't know what this is all about. Either. He'll
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Speaker 1: never go into that city with his eyesight or in
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Speaker 1: his own strength. He's told, now, get up and go
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Speaker 1: into the city, and you will be told what you
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Speaker 1: must do. Strange words to come to the ears of Saul.
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Speaker 1: No one told him what to do until now. But
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Speaker 1: the crushing has begun. The men who stood by Saul
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Speaker 1: were speechless. They heard the sound of someone's voice, but
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Speaker 1: no one could be seen. Saul picked himself up off
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Speaker 1: the ground. When he opened his eyes, he was The
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Speaker 1: crushing is continuing. He's now not only beginning to be humiliated,
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Speaker 1: he is helpless. He's helpless, perfect condition for an arrogant man.
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Speaker 1: Soul is now being humiliated, confronted by Jesus, blinded for days,
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Speaker 1: and has to be led by the hand into Damascus.
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Speaker 1: According to the end of verse eight, look at that
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Speaker 1: it is doubtful. God can use anyone greatly until he's
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Speaker 1: hurt him deeply. That isn't cruel. That's the work of
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Speaker 1: a wise father who knows now is the time to
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Speaker 1: break the arrogance. Now is my chosen moment, and I
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Speaker 1: know what I'm going to be doing. In fact, it's interesting.
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Speaker 1: The Lord then appears to a man named Anonius. He's
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Speaker 1: a follower of Jesus. He calls his name, and Anonius
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Speaker 1: knows him. Yes, Lord, Yes, yes, he replied, And the
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Speaker 1: Lord said, go over to straight Street in the house
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Speaker 1: of Judas. When you will get there, you will ask
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Speaker 1: for a man from Tarsus named Saul. The name itself
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Speaker 1: was to put a chill up the back of Anonius.
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Speaker 1: Saul of Tarsus was a household name. His notoriety was
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Speaker 1: known all over that area. And God is telling him,
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Speaker 1: you're going to encounter this man you've heard about. But
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Speaker 1: he's praying to me right now, He says, I've shown
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Speaker 1: him a vision. I've shown him a vision of a
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Speaker 1: man named Anonius coming in and laying hands on him
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Speaker 1: so he can see again. So in a sense, he's
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Speaker 1: expecting you, and through you, Anonius, we will tell him
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Speaker 1: what I have for him. He solves all the control.
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Speaker 1: He's alone, he's blind, he's not taking nourishment. And Anonius
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Speaker 1: is not too excited about going to see a terrorist,
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Speaker 1: and nor would I, nor would you. And so Anonius
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Speaker 1: begins with our favorite word when we don't want to
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Speaker 1: do it, but but it sounds like jonah. Now imagine
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Speaker 1: yourself in anonius sandals as your knees are knocking, knowing
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Speaker 1: you're about to meet up with the most notorious terrorists
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Speaker 1: of Christians that was on the loose, And the Lord says,
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Speaker 1: go to him, And I says, by the way, you
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Speaker 1: can't hear him stuttering. I've heard many Pea people talk
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Speaker 1: about the terrible things this man has done. I'm exaggerating
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Speaker 1: because that's an analysis or reluctance. You're asking me to
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Speaker 1: go talk to Saul. You see, he didn't know Saul
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Speaker 1: was by now three days blind, humiliated, hungry, needy. But
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Speaker 1: but Lord, I've heard many people talk about the terrible
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Speaker 1: things this man has done to the believers in Jerush.
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Speaker 1: He's authorized by the leading priests to arrest everyone who
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Speaker 1: calls upon your name. I call on your name. I'm
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Speaker 1: one of them, and you're asking me to go. Now
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Speaker 1: look at the Lord's response. Love it go for Saul
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Speaker 1: is my chosen instrument, and I'll tell you that is
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Speaker 1: one of the greatest changes of identity you'll ever read.
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Speaker 1: From a judaistic terrorist to a chosen instrument of God.
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Speaker 1: How could that be because God is in the process
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Speaker 1: of cutting down a tall poppy, bringing him to his knees.
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Speaker 1: He's my chosen instrument. He will take my message to gentiles,
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Speaker 1: to kings, and even to his own people Israel. I
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Speaker 1: will show him how much notice verse sixteen, he must
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Speaker 1: suffer for my name that will become Saul's from now on.
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Speaker 1: It's in his DNA. Saul, who will become Paul will
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Speaker 1: become constant companions with pain and suffering, a man of hardship,
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Speaker 1: a man who was broken even though he saw this
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Speaker 1: great vision in heaven, given the foreign in the flesh,
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Speaker 1: which never left him and remained a part of his
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Speaker 1: life for the rest of his years. How much suffering
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Speaker 1: he must endure? Why because he is by nat You're
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Speaker 1: proud and arrogant, and the Lord has a way of
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Speaker 1: breaking down those who were like that. I say as
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Speaker 1: I close this brief message, take heart, you who have friends, children, acquaintances,
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Speaker 1: fellow workers who are proud and arrogant, and nothing seems
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Speaker 1: to bring them to an end. Remember Acts chapter nine.
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Speaker 1: God has a way of bringing us into line and
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Speaker 1: then making us never ever forget it. I could go on,
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Speaker 1: but I want to bring it now to five principles
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Speaker 1: I see in this that apply to where we live today.
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Speaker 1: Let me do that one by one, and hopefully you
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Speaker 1: will remember some of this that we draw from these
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Speaker 1: verses of Acts nine. Number one. When God steps in,
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Speaker 1: it's often unannounced, sudden and severe. Remember the words I
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Speaker 1: get that from the way He entered Saul's life. It's
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Speaker 1: often unannounced, sudden and severe. Saul had no knowledge of
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Speaker 1: this when he awoke that morning preparing for his trip
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Speaker 1: to Damascus. He had his list of names, he had
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Speaker 1: his documents that gave him the right to arrest, but
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Speaker 1: he had no idea that there would be the living
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Speaker 1: God after him to bring him down. Take heart, all
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Speaker 1: of us who have loved ones in a situation that
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Speaker 1: we cannot change God when he steps in us so unannounced, suddenly,
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Speaker 1: and sometimes he does it severely. Second, when God's crushing
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Speaker 1: blows begin, all pride is removed, all arrogance comes to
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Speaker 1: an end, and humility begins to emerge. One of the
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Speaker 1: signs of early humility is Saul giving someone else's hand,
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Speaker 1: lead me, help me. I'll never forget the meal I
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Speaker 1: had with Johnny Ericsson Tata. We were at a gathering
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Speaker 1: and her assistant was called away for a phone call,
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Speaker 1: and she left, and Johnny was left at the table,
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Speaker 1: and they served our meal. And here is Johnny, a quadriplegic,
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Speaker 1: and here I am with my wife and friends, and
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Speaker 1: Johnny looks at me without hesitation and says, Chuck, would
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Speaker 1: you feed me? I think it's one of the most
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Speaker 1: humble statements I've ever heard. Brought tears to my eyes.
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Speaker 1: My response was absolutely and I literally cut the meat
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Speaker 1: up and pulled the vegetables near and began to feed
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Speaker 1: her bite by bite. Saul gave the man his hand.
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Speaker 1: There was no fight. The fight's over. He didn't even
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Speaker 1: know where he was walking. He's blind, he didn't know
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Speaker 1: where they'd take him, and they left him for days.
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Speaker 1: Pride is removed, arrogance comes to an end, and true
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Speaker 1: humility begins to emerge. And by the way, it's a
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Speaker 1: beautiful thing to behold an individual who is beginning to
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Speaker 1: be Christ evidencing humility. Third, when God transforms, suffering plays
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Speaker 1: a major role. Paul is just beginning a life of suffering.
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Speaker 1: Suffering humbles all of us. Being in pain, breaks us down.
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Speaker 1: There aren't many arrogant people on the cancer floor of
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Speaker 1: the local hospital. It has a way of breaking you
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Speaker 1: and coming over you with a reminder that your life
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Speaker 1: is actually temporal and your future is uncertain. With Saul,
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Speaker 1: it was the blindness, and then later the foreign and
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Speaker 1: the flesh that never left. Remember when he tells us
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Speaker 1: why to humble me? God gave the foreign in the flesh.
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Speaker 1: When God transforms, suffering plays a major role. Remember, he says,
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Speaker 1: I will show him how much he must suffer. There's
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Speaker 1: a fourth. When God's plan for the future takes shape,
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Speaker 1: humility remains in place. Every mentor that has meant anything
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Speaker 1: to me has been a man of humility. Everyone, And
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Speaker 1: when I got to know them even better, I found
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Speaker 1: out why they were humbled. Every one of them would
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Speaker 1: say to me, oh, Chuck, if you only knew what
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Speaker 1: we have been through, it was the suffering they went through.
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Speaker 1: Stop and think, think of the people we could name.
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Speaker 1: Who are some of the major Christians that have helped
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Speaker 1: shape our lives. You look deep enough, you'll find brokenness, heartbreak, loss,
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Speaker 1: because they are people who understand suffering. He's my chosen instrument,
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Speaker 1: and I'm must show him how much he will suffer.
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Speaker 1: Those you've admired are admired because they are not arrogant.
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Speaker 1: They are teachable, humble servants of God. Fifth, and finally,
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Speaker 1: when God is finished with his instrument, God gets all
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Speaker 1: the glory. Isn't that great? One day Saul would pass
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Speaker 1: off the scene, and there would come a generation that
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Speaker 1: would hardly have remembered him, and then another generation who
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Speaker 1: wouldn't have even known of him. God would have done
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Speaker 1: a work, and to this day when we pick up
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Speaker 1: the letters of the New Testament, one after another after
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Speaker 1: another after another, written by this man who had been
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Speaker 1: a terrorist, but because of God's crushing his whole life
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Speaker 1: was transformed. I love the words of Augustine, who said
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Speaker 1: of Saul's conversion, it was the violent capture of a rebel.
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Speaker 1: Will I say to you, who have impossible situations that
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Speaker 1: are making you restless and uneasy. This is hard counsel,
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Speaker 1: but it's necessary. Don't jump in to bring relief. Don't
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Speaker 1: think God needs your help. When the bottom drops out
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Speaker 1: of their lives. Your son is sent to jail, don't
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Speaker 1: quickly bail him out. The tendency on the part of
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Speaker 1: loving and caring parents is to take away the pain. No, no, no,
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Speaker 1: It requires the pain to break them, to bring them
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Speaker 1: into submission. Don't be too quick to explain their actions
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Speaker 1: as if they're really not that bad. Leave it alone.
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Speaker 1: Let God be God. You're there when they call, and
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Speaker 1: you're there to love them and to care for them.
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Speaker 1: But remember, the father of the prodigal never went out
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Speaker 1: on the search for his son. D home, and he waited,
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Speaker 1: and he prayed, and he watched the horizon till one
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Speaker 1: day he saw the bent silhouette of his broken boy,
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Speaker 1: and then he ran to him and loved him and
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Speaker 1: welcomed him back. Repentance is a process that is painful,
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Speaker 1: usually lengthy. Don't interrupt it. Leave it with God, and
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Speaker 1: after a while you will see he knows what he's about.
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Speaker 1: If you need an illustration, and I think I'm free
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Speaker 1: to say it, look back on your own life. Look
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Speaker 1: at those very, very very tough moments when, as my
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Speaker 1: mother used to say, when you came to an end
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Speaker 1: of yourself. She used to say to me, everyone has
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Speaker 1: to come to an end of himself. Today, Acts nine,
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Speaker 1: the story unfolds of a man who's come to an
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Speaker 1: end of Saul and is about to become acquainted with
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Speaker 1: Paul the Apostle, and it took this to bring him
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Speaker 1: to that change. Now, will you vow with me? Please?
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Speaker 1: Some of you hearing me today would have to admit,
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Speaker 1: there's never been a time in your life when you
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Speaker 1: have bowed your knee, your heart, your life to Jesus.
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Speaker 1: You understand that he died for you, You understand what the
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Speaker 1: Cross was about as best as you can understand it.
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Speaker 1: But you've never acknowledged his role in your life, never
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Speaker 1: humbled yourself before him to say, here, I am Lord, unworthy, unjust, unqualified,
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Speaker 1: and I come before you in all of my needs.
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Speaker 1: I bring this life of sin before you. I trust
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Speaker 1: you to bring forgiveness, a ray of hope, a future
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Speaker 1: that will prove to be transforming. But I know it
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Speaker 1: starts with my coming humbly before you and trusting in
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Speaker 1: you as my savior. Come today, trust him now. Thank you,
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Speaker 1: Father for ministering to us in a way that has
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Speaker 1: been a little unusual. It's sobering to think of your
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Speaker 1: dealing with us in severe ways, but it's helpful as well.
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Speaker 1: Give us hope for those whom we've lost touch with
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Speaker 1: whom we no longer have a relationship with. May there
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Speaker 1: be a bridge that is built back to you, and
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Speaker 1: therefore back with us. We wait on you for that
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Speaker 1: we commit them to you. My prayer for all of
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Speaker 1: us is that we would do what is right this
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Speaker 1: new year, that we would love mercy, and that we
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Speaker 1: would walk humbly with our God. I pray in the
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Speaker 1: name of the Savior. Amen. The preceding message God Humbles
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Speaker 1: a proud Heart and the sound recording were copyrighted in
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Speaker 1: twenty seventeen by Charles R. Swindall INK. All rights are
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Speaker 1: reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is
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Speaker 1: strictly prohibited