Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Almost Home │ Msg 1116 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Almost Home │ Msg 1116 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: In your worship folder, you will find a place that
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Speaker 1: is marked for scripture reading called the word of God
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Speaker 1: and our response. Would you turn there, please? When you
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Speaker 1: find that section, would you please stand as we read
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Speaker 1: God's word together? Your part are those lines that are
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Speaker 1: marked with italics. This is from Deuteronomy 6. Now this
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Speaker 1: is the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which the
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Speaker 1: Lord your God has commanded me to teach you, that
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Speaker 1: you might do them in the land where you are
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Speaker 1: going over to possess it, so that you and your
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Speaker 1: son and your grandson might fear the Lord your God
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Speaker 1: to keep all his statutes and his commandments which I
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Speaker 1: command you all the days of your life, and that
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Speaker 1: your days may be prolonged. O Israel, you should listen
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Speaker 1: to And be careful to do it, that it may
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Speaker 1: be well with you and that you may multiply greatly,
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Speaker 1: just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has
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Speaker 1: promised you in a land flowing with milk and honey. Hear,
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Speaker 1: O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.
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Speaker 1: And you shall love the Lord your God with all
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Speaker 1: your heart and with all your soul and with all
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Speaker 1: your might. And these words which I am commanding you
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Speaker 1: today shall be on your heart and you shall teach
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Speaker 1: them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them
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Speaker 1: when you sit in your house and when you walk
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Speaker 1: by the way and when you lie down and when
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Speaker 1: you rise up. And you shall bind them as a
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Speaker 1: sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals.
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Speaker 1: And you shall write them on the doorposts of your
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Speaker 1: house and on your gates. Then it shall come about
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Speaker 1: when the Lord your God brings you into the land
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Speaker 1: which he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
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Speaker 1: to give you great and splendid cities which you did
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Speaker 1: not build, and houses full of all good things which
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Speaker 1: you did not fill. and hewn cisterns which you did
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Speaker 1: not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant,
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Speaker 1: and you shall eat and be satisfied. Then watch yourself,
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Speaker 1: lest you forget the Lord who brought you from the
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Speaker 1: land of Egypt out of the house of slavery. You
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Speaker 1: shall fear only the Lord your God, and you shall
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Speaker 1: worship him and swear by his name. Our Father, you
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Speaker 1: have heard our statements of response and they represent the
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Speaker 1: truth of our hearts. We sometimes struggle with ways to
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Speaker 1: express the depth of our commitment. Perhaps this page does
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Speaker 1: it best for us today. There was a day in
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Speaker 1: centuries past when your man Moses stood before your people Israel,
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Speaker 1: and they together agreed that they would walk with you
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Speaker 1: as Moses bade them farewell and died on Mount Nebo.
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Speaker 1: And they entered the land, but they quickly forgot their covenant.
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Speaker 1: May that never be at Stonebriar Community Church. Remind us
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Speaker 1: that words come easy, But the living of the truth
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Speaker 1: is another matter entirely. We have learned to depend upon
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Speaker 1: you during the temporary times and the preliminary days. And
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Speaker 1: then as we got underway, as we have grown together,
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Speaker 1: but now the real test comes. Go before us, work
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Speaker 1: among us, blend our hearts in harmony together. and protect
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Speaker 1: us from schism and conflict that could steal the joy
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Speaker 1: and rob the pleasures that have been ours thus far.
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Speaker 1: We stand as a statement of our commitment and allegiance
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Speaker 1: to you, our God, and we do so without reservation
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Speaker 1: and with hearts full of praise. And now, our Father,
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Speaker 1: we give from the abundance of your love provisions as
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Speaker 1: you give to us and give to us and give
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Speaker 1: and give and give from that our father from those
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Speaker 1: resources we give you our gifts gratefully in the name
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Speaker 1: of jesus christ our lord we pray and everyone said
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Speaker 1: amen please be seated There's something refreshing about returning to
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Speaker 1: the basics. Have you found that true? Coming back to
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Speaker 1: that which is absolutely foundational. It's not only refreshing, it's reassuring.
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Speaker 1: Couples that have been working through struggles in their marriage
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Speaker 1: sometimes go back to their original vows. And they look
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Speaker 1: at what they promised. Perhaps the first thought is, I
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Speaker 1: promised that to you. But we did. We did. It's
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Speaker 1: good for us. It's reassuring. Great coaches are great because
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Speaker 1: they are good students of the fundamentals. I watched an
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Speaker 1: insightful interview that Roy Firestone conducted with the basketball great
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Speaker 1: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar a number of years ago. And it was
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Speaker 1: one of those unusual moments because Jabbar is not the
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Speaker 1: type that would be that vulnerable. And he was in
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Speaker 1: this interview. And Firestone says to him, any coach in
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Speaker 1: your background that stands out? And he says, oh, sure.
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Speaker 1: John Wooden, UCLA years. He said, I have never played
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Speaker 1: for a coach better than he. Well, he said, what
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Speaker 1: was it about him? He said, oh, just a student
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Speaker 1: of the basics. I mean, we worked on the, you
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Speaker 1: can't believe how elementary he could get. In fact, he said,
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Speaker 1: when I first showed up at the gym yesterday, There
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Speaker 1: I was with 12, 15 other all-American high schoolers who
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Speaker 1: were around the gymnasium there practicing and whatever. And he
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Speaker 1: called us together and told us to sit down in
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Speaker 1: a circle. And he said, my first thought is I'm
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Speaker 1: not going to sit down in a circle like a
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Speaker 1: bunch of kindergarten kids. He said, Wooden had a way
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Speaker 1: of encouraging us to do that. He said, if you
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Speaker 1: don't sit down, you leave the team. So he said,
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Speaker 1: I sat down in the circle. He said, I never
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Speaker 1: once heard John Wooden curse. I never once saw John
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Speaker 1: Wooden lose his temper. In all of the years I
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Speaker 1: played for him, never saw a coach like that. But
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Speaker 1: he said, what was interesting, he said, now let's start
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Speaker 1: with our socks. Here's how you put your socks on.
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Speaker 1: He said, here I am, an 18, 19 year old
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Speaker 1: freshman at UCLA, learning how to put my socks. He says,
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Speaker 1: if you do it like I tell you, you will
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Speaker 1: never have a blister. Now he said, slip your sneakers. No,
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Speaker 1: right foot first. And so we slipped the sneakers on.
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Speaker 1: He said, here's the way you tie them. Unlace them.
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Speaker 1: And this is the way you tie your shoes. If
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Speaker 1: you do that, they will never come untied and you
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Speaker 1: will never have a blister. He said, you know what, Roy?
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Speaker 1: Every time I put my shoes on, I remember John Wooden.
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Speaker 1: So Roy asked the question, you ever get a blister? Never.
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Speaker 1: Shoes ever come untied? He said, never. UCLA Bruins shoes
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Speaker 1: never come untied. You can't get more basic than how
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Speaker 1: to put on your socks and how to tie your shoes.
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Speaker 1: And Vince Lombardi, a name now familiar to all football
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Speaker 1: sports fans. And that great speech he gave when his
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Speaker 1: beloved Packers had lost to the hated Chicago Bears. He
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Speaker 1: brought them back to Lambeau Field, turned the lights on
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Speaker 1: at 2, 3 o'clock in the morning when their plane
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Speaker 1: had landed. He got them back in their old sweaty
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Speaker 1: jerseys and outfits and took them out on the field.
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Speaker 1: And he says, all right, sit down. Got a football
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Speaker 1: and he tossed it up in the air. He said,
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Speaker 1: this morning we go back to the basics. Gentlemen, this
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Speaker 1: is a football. He's talking to men who had been
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Speaker 1: playing football 20 or more years of their life. And
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Speaker 1: he's going back to something as basic as this is
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Speaker 1: a football. This is how you tackle. This is how
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Speaker 1: you pass the ball. This is how you catch it.
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Speaker 1: This is how you block. And those who played on
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Speaker 1: that team still talk about their winning seasons year after year.
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Speaker 1: There's something reassuring about coming back to basics. Every once
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Speaker 1: in a while, we need to do it as Christians.
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Speaker 1: And when we do that, we return to a passage
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Speaker 1: like Deuteronomy 6, where the Hebrews went back to basics.
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Speaker 1: You understand they were almost home. Understand where they were.
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Speaker 1: They were at the cusp of Canaan. Just the Jordan
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Speaker 1: was between them and the new land. They had wandered
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Speaker 1: for 40 years and they had heard the promise that
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Speaker 1: they would someday arrive and it would be a land
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Speaker 1: that flows with milk and honey. And they And they
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Speaker 1: would live in homes that they didn't build, full of
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Speaker 1: beautiful things that they did not fill. And they would
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Speaker 1: drink from wells they hadn't dug and they would eat
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Speaker 1: from vineyards and orchards that they hadn't planted. And Moses
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Speaker 1: was concerned because it's the land of the Canaanites. The
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Speaker 1: Canaanites were a polytheistic people. They had many gods, none
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Speaker 1: of them Yahweh or Adonai, none of them Jehovah. It
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Speaker 1: is believed that pornography finds its roots in ancient Canaan.
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Speaker 1: Some of the worship of the foreign gods would be
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Speaker 1: in the realm of what we would call obscene acts.
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Speaker 1: They are about to invade a land that has that
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Speaker 1: as a culture. They've never been around that. As hard
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Speaker 1: as it was to live in Egypt, they lived unto
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Speaker 1: themselves in the land of Goshen, and they were able
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Speaker 1: to sustain a bit of their distinctives. But they are
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Speaker 1: about to take on the Canaanites and be exposed to
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Speaker 1: a whole new world of multiple gods. The same thing
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Speaker 1: would happen to your son or daughter who leaves your
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Speaker 1: home after you have with a rather... Careful hand guided
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Speaker 1: them and their education very carefully. And they are about
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Speaker 1: to take off for a university hundreds, maybe thousands of
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Speaker 1: miles away, and you won't be there. And they will
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Speaker 1: be exposed to a whole new culture they've never known
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Speaker 1: before without your presence, warnings, reminders, and directives. They are
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Speaker 1: just on the edge of leaving to take on a
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Speaker 1: whole new lifestyle. And so Moses is here, oh Israel,
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Speaker 1: listen up, pay attention. Remember the distinctives. The Lord is
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Speaker 1: our God, singular. And the Lord is one. And here
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Speaker 1: these Israelites were leaving the protected culture of a cloud
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Speaker 1: by day and a fire by night. And the leader
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Speaker 1: who spoke for God and the tablets that represented God's
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Speaker 1: standard and the simple life of living in the wilderness
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Speaker 1: and they were going to move into the complicated world
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Speaker 1: of battle and driving out the Canaanites and the Jebusites
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Speaker 1: and the Amorites and the Perizzites and all the other idolaters.
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Speaker 1: And they would see the graffiti and they would witness
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Speaker 1: the idols and and their eyes would see what they
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Speaker 1: had never seen before, as would their children. And Moses
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Speaker 1: stops before he dies, and he delivers a series of sermons.
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Speaker 1: Deutero namas. Deutero means second, or a repeating of. Namas
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Speaker 1: is from the word that means law. A repeating of
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Speaker 1: the laws. A reiterating of the basics, if you will.
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Speaker 1: And in this great book of Deuteronomy, from start to the, well,
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Speaker 1: very near the end, the last part is Moses' death.
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Speaker 1: But all the way through, you were taken back to
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Speaker 1: the things that God considered absolutely essential. And he's saying
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Speaker 1: to the Hebrews, pay attention. Pay attention. This is how
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Speaker 1: you put on your socks and tie your shoes, spiritually speaking.
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Speaker 1: This is what the game, what the life is all about.
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Speaker 1: We're almost home. It's a good time to back off
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Speaker 1: and take another look at some of the foundational things
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Speaker 1: that make our relationship with God so valuable. Look at
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Speaker 1: verse 4. Deuteronomy 6. Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad.
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Speaker 1: It's exactly what Moses delivered to them. Look at it.
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Speaker 1: In fact, the Hebrew people would say to us today,
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Speaker 1: even today, that Deuteronomy 6 is their most basic confession
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Speaker 1: of faith. There is no covenant more familiar to them.
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Speaker 1: And to this day in the land of Israel you
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Speaker 1: will see the Shema taken from the first word of
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Speaker 1: verse 4 translated here. Shema Yisrael Adonai. Here, O Israel,
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Speaker 1: the Lord is our God. Elohimu, our God. Adonai. The
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Speaker 1: Lord is one. The Jews to this day see this
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Speaker 1: as the most foundational of all of their relationships and covenants.
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Speaker 1: It finds its way, this word Shema, into their statues
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Speaker 1: and into their memorials and into their sacred literature. It
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Speaker 1: is saying, look, stop, listen. In fact, it's translated here, Here.
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Speaker 1: Pay attention. It's like a massive exclamation point. You're moving
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Speaker 1: into a land where the gods are many and they
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Speaker 1: don't know anything about this one God that you believe
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Speaker 1: and serve. And so now that we're preparing for that,
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Speaker 1: be sure that you remember it and be sure your
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Speaker 1: children understand it. All great sermons have been great outlines
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Speaker 1: people who study this whole subject of of homiletics will
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Speaker 1: tell you the importance of of having the skeleton around
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Speaker 1: the thought or beneath the thoughts of your message and
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Speaker 1: moses has a great skeleton in his thoughts of verses
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Speaker 1: 1 to 13 let me give them to you they're
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Speaker 1: right here in the passage verse 4 hear the truth
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Speaker 1: continually you shall hear O Israel. Verse 5. Love the
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Speaker 1: Lord fervently. You shall love the Lord with all your heart,
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Speaker 1: your soul, and with all your might. Verse 7. Teach
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Speaker 1: the young diligently. You shall teach them diligently to your sons.
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Speaker 1: And finally, fear the Lord greatly. Verse 13. You shall
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Speaker 1: Fear only the Lord your God. What a splendid outline. Hear, love, teach, fear.
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Speaker 1: He starts very personally within as you hear and as
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Speaker 1: you love. And he turns to the expression of it
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Speaker 1: as you teach and as you fear. Let's look at
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Speaker 1: the first one of the four. Hear the Lord... or
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Speaker 1: hear the truth continually. And I would say to all
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Speaker 1: of us who are almost home, let's make that a priority,
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Speaker 1: that we hear the truth continually. Remember Jesus' words, you
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Speaker 1: shall know the truth, and the truth shall what? You
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Speaker 1: got it, make you free. Ignorance enslaves, truth frees. Not
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Speaker 1: knowing holds us in bondage. Becoming informed liberates. Hear the
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Speaker 1: truth continually. Knowing they were about to march into a
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Speaker 1: land that had no history of the faith, knowing that
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Speaker 1: the true God of heaven was an unknown God to
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Speaker 1: these idolatrous Canaanites, it is here that he begins. Hear,
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Speaker 1: O Israel, Hear all of you who have followed the
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Speaker 1: cloud and the fire. Hear this well. Yahweh is our God.
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Speaker 1: Yahweh is the one and only God. Don't ever forget that.
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Speaker 1: Don't ever compromise that. That is foundational to our faith.
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Speaker 1: The Elohim of the Genesis 1-1 who created heaven and earth.
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Speaker 1: He is our God. He is first. He is top priority.
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Speaker 1: He is the focus of our worship. He is, in fact,
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Speaker 1: the foundation of our life. But I would broaden my
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Speaker 1: application and say, here, oh America, the Lord is God. Here,
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Speaker 1: oh Canada, the Lord is God. Here, oh India, Asia,
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Speaker 1: the islands of the sea, the southern hemisphere. Here, oh world,
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Speaker 1: the Lord is our God. He is first. He is preeminent.
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Speaker 1: He is in charge. He is sovereign, holy, just, and good.
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Speaker 1: He is all-important. Let this truth continually stay in your minds.
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Speaker 1: Verse 5. He makes it even more personal. Hearing is
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Speaker 1: a rather passive act. You can sit and listen and leave.
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Speaker 1: You can hear someone pour out truth, and it won't
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Speaker 1: necessarily impact you. They will come to see it, though.
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Speaker 1: Someone asked Spurgeon the secret of his passion. He said, oh,
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Speaker 1: it's very simple. Just pour kerosene all over yourself and
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Speaker 1: light a fire, and people will come and watch you burn.
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Speaker 1: Of course. One of the followers of an agnostic was
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Speaker 1: found walking toward the chapel at 6.30 in the morning
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Speaker 1: to hear George Whitefield preach. And a disciple of his
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Speaker 1: said to him, what are you doing going to hear
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Speaker 1: George Whitefield preach? I didn't know you believed that. He said,
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Speaker 1: I don't. He does. And I can't stay away. When
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Speaker 1: you hear truth, there's something compelling about it. hear it continually,
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Speaker 1: may it forever be heard at Stoneborough Community Church, regardless
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Speaker 1: of the spokesperson. May it always be known as the truth,
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Speaker 1: because that's what sets us free. That's what gives us
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Speaker 1: the direction we need in a world that's lost its way.
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Speaker 1: He drills this home in such a way that they
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Speaker 1: understand Jehovah is unique, unlike any and all the other gods,
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Speaker 1: and he is unity. Unity. Co-equal, co-eternal, co-existent. The word
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Speaker 1: used here for one at the end of verse 4
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Speaker 1: is echad, E-C-H-A-D. It's the idea of one as in
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Speaker 1: a cluster or plurality in one. We would say the Father, Son,
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Speaker 1: and Holy Spirit in one. Now that you are almost home, remember,
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Speaker 1: you take this Lord your God with you into the
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Speaker 1: new land. And all the other gods go, all the
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Speaker 1: multiple gods of the land that you will conquer, as
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Speaker 1: you set up home and establish your faith right off
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Speaker 1: the bat. Remember, the Lord is your God. It's time
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Speaker 1: to get back to the basics. There will be an invasion.
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Speaker 1: There will be a series of battles. There will be
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Speaker 1: a conquering of the territory. There will be a settling
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Speaker 1: in in the new land. And Moses takes advantage of
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Speaker 1: this teachable moment to say, drive those roots down. And
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Speaker 1: start here. It is as basic as how to put
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Speaker 1: on your shoes and socks. It is as foundational as
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Speaker 1: the ball is to the game. The Lord is our God.
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Speaker 1: Some of you are tempted, I would imagine, to think, well,
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Speaker 1: of course, Chuck. I mean, how elementary can you get? Well,
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Speaker 1: more than this. How important is this? It is absolutely first.
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Speaker 1: You say, well, it's everywhere. We've got this all over America. No,
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Speaker 1: you know better. You know there is an erosion these
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Speaker 1: days in the worship of the living God. There is
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Speaker 1: a dumbing down of truth. There is in some places
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Speaker 1: an absence of Of the basic message of theology. Whereas
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Speaker 1: it was the only reason. There would be a pastor.
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Speaker 1: Who would serve a church. I just finished reading an article.
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Speaker 1: Entitled the question. Whatever happened to God. I didn't think
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Speaker 1: in my years of ministry. I'd ever see an article
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Speaker 1: written about that. In evangelical Christianity. But it's a timely article.
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Speaker 1: Where did God. As the writer describes the me-ism of
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Speaker 1: our current form of worship, the emphasis on entertainment, the
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Speaker 1: turning of the events to the self rather than to
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Speaker 1: the God of heaven. When we leave a time of worship,
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Speaker 1: the most significant one in our minds is to be
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Speaker 1: the Lord our God. I came across David Wells' 1993 book,
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Speaker 1: that grabbed my attention once again. It's called No Place
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Speaker 1: for Truth, or whatever happened to evangelical theology. It just
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Speaker 1: slices us up. Among other things, Dr. Wells writes, the
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Speaker 1: disappearance of theology from the life of the church and
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Speaker 1: the orchestration of that disappearance by some of its leaders
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Speaker 1: is hard to miss today, but oddly enough, not easy
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Speaker 1: to prove. It is hard to miss in the evangelical
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Speaker 1: world in the vacuous worship that is so prevalent, for example.
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Speaker 1: In the shift from God to the self as the
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Speaker 1: central focus of faith. In the psychologized preaching that follows
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Speaker 1: this shift. In the erosion of its conviction. In its
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Speaker 1: strident pragmatism. In its inability to think incisively about the culture.
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Speaker 1: In its reveling in the irrational. It is not hard
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Speaker 1: to see these things. Avoiding them is what is difficult.
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Speaker 1: And I found right in the middle of the book
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Speaker 1: a terrific expression to describe the work of preachers. He
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Speaker 1: calls us brokers of truth. Isn't that good? A broker
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Speaker 1: of truth. Because truth sets you free. Nothing puts you
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Speaker 1: in bondage like ignorance. Not knowing. You're a sitting duck
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Speaker 1: for the cults if you don't know your God. You
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Speaker 1: will play right into their hands as they come with
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Speaker 1: their appealing message offering you an opportunity to really study
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Speaker 1: in depth the Bible. And you will be sucked into
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Speaker 1: that in a matter of weeks if you do not
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Speaker 1: understand God. That you're to hear the truth continually and
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Speaker 1: it's to take its root deep within you and so
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Speaker 1: with your children. Look at the next. Love the Lord fervently.
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Speaker 1: That's verses 5 and 6. You shall love the Lord
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Speaker 1: your God with all your heart and with all your
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Speaker 1: soul and with all your might. These words which I
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Speaker 1: am commanding you today shall be on your heart. How
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Speaker 1: deep does he go? To the heart. Not the muscle
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Speaker 1: that pumps blood. Not the anatomical organ. But the inner
26:38
Speaker 1: being of our person, that area where we make decisions
26:41
Speaker 1: and come to terms with life. It's there where life
26:45
Speaker 1: makes up its mind. May the truth that you have
26:49
Speaker 1: heard seep deep within your being so that as decisions
26:53
Speaker 1: are made, the decisions square with the truth. The triangles
26:56
Speaker 1: are congruent. And you can defend the decision based on truth.
27:04
Speaker 1: And if you can't, you don't go there. By the way,
27:07
Speaker 1: if repetition is the emphasis of the scriptures, look at
27:11
Speaker 1: the word all in verse 5. With all your heart,
27:15
Speaker 1: with all your soul, with all your might. To whom
27:22
Speaker 1: is Moses speaking? Well, we don't have their names, that
27:25
Speaker 1: is most of their names, but we do know something
27:27
Speaker 1: about them. Look at verse 2. Chapter 6, verse 2.
27:32
Speaker 1: He's talking to people who have sons and grandsons. So
27:37
Speaker 1: he's really writing to adults and more specifically to parents.
27:42
Speaker 1: Do you have a son, a daughter, or grandchildren? He's
27:45
Speaker 1: writing to you. He's writing to us. And writing to
27:52
Speaker 1: us about something as basic as hearing the truth continually
27:57
Speaker 1: and then loving the Lord in return fervently. All our heart,
28:02
Speaker 1: all our soul, all our might. There's intensity in that word.
28:06
Speaker 2: All.
28:08
Speaker 1: I found that it's virtually impossible for parents to convince
28:11
Speaker 1: children that truth is truly truth if they live a lie.
28:19
Speaker 1: You cannot deceive your child and convince your child at
28:22
Speaker 1: the same time that truth works. You cannot come off
28:26
Speaker 1: one way, false and phony and hypocritical, at the same
28:30
Speaker 1: time expect your child to come out believing that truth works.
28:35
Speaker 1: I've found that those who wish to reach the Gen
28:38
Speaker 1: Xers of the 21st century must be people who are
28:42
Speaker 1: authentic believers. Gen Xers can pretty well tolerate anything, but
28:48
Speaker 1: they cannot tolerate hypocrisy. Love the Lord with all your heart.
28:55
Speaker 1: One man writes, the exhortation to love with all your heart,
28:58
Speaker 1: with all your soul and all your might is not
29:00
Speaker 1: a study in psychology. It is rather a gathering of
29:04
Speaker 1: terms to indicate the totality of a person's commitment of
29:08
Speaker 1: self to the purest and noblest intentions of trust and
29:11
Speaker 1: obedience toward God. Children, you need to understand it's a
29:16
Speaker 1: hard time for us as a family right now, but
29:19
Speaker 1: God provides and your mom and daddy are going to
29:22
Speaker 1: trust him right now. It's a difficult time and we
29:26
Speaker 1: don't know exactly how he's going to lead us, but
29:28
Speaker 1: we're going to trust him. We're going to wait for
29:30
Speaker 1: him to move in the hearts of so-and-so or to
29:32
Speaker 1: solve this situation. There's something wonderful about this loving with
29:38
Speaker 1: all the heart and soul. It's it's it's uh it
29:41
Speaker 1: unmasks you a number of years ago when our little
29:46
Speaker 1: parker one of our grandsons was uh was near me
29:49
Speaker 1: we went out to get some firewood we were going
29:51
Speaker 1: to have a little fire that cold evening and he
29:55
Speaker 1: wanted to go with me he wanted to help me
29:56
Speaker 1: carry the firewood well firewood's pretty heavy And Parker's trucking
30:00
Speaker 1: along with me, about four years old. And we get
30:03
Speaker 1: to the firewood, and I pick up a log. And
30:04
Speaker 1: I said, here, you carry this one. He says, oh,
30:07
Speaker 1: you carry that one, Bubba. I said, okay, I'll carry it.
30:10
Speaker 1: Why don't you carry that one? Oh, you carry this one, too.
30:13
Speaker 1: And he says, I'll hold your hand, and we'll carry
30:15
Speaker 1: the firewood inside. So I'm walking along, trying to juggle
30:18
Speaker 1: this firewood. And I've got Parker's hand, and he stops me.
30:22
Speaker 1: And he reaches around. I'll never forget this. And he
30:25
Speaker 1: wraps both arms around the upper part of my leg.
30:27
Speaker 1: And he leans against me, and he said, I love
30:29
Speaker 1: you with all my heart and might, Bubba. I said,
30:33
Speaker 1: would you like a new Porsche? Just anything, anything, whatever.
30:37
Speaker 1: I just picked him up. I dropped the firewood. I
30:42
Speaker 1: picked him up and I held him close to me.
30:44
Speaker 1: And we connected. You shall love the Lord your God
30:54
Speaker 1: with all your heart, with all your might. When I
31:01
Speaker 1: write my wife a love note and I say, sweetheart,
31:05
Speaker 1: I love you with all my heart and all my
31:08
Speaker 1: soul and all my might, somehow that note doesn't wind
31:13
Speaker 1: up in the trash. It goes to the mirror in
31:16
Speaker 1: the bathroom and then into a treasured box where there
31:22
Speaker 1: aren't enough of those kind of notes. We have friends
31:26
Speaker 1: in South Carolina who have just begun to go through
31:29
Speaker 1: what We have gone through as a family. It's their first.
31:33
Speaker 1: Their daughter just recently got married. She met this young
31:38
Speaker 1: man who is an airman. He's an officer in the
31:41
Speaker 1: Air Force and he flies one of the newer fighter planes.
31:44
Speaker 1: And he fell in love with their daughter while he
31:48
Speaker 1: was training and he earned his wings. And now he's
31:51
Speaker 1: at a base and he's getting ready to go overseas.
31:54
Speaker 1: But he doesn't want to go alone. So he called
31:57
Speaker 1: our friend Floyd. He said, Mr. So-and-so. Yes. Yes. first off,
32:01
Speaker 1: I want you to know that I love your daughter
32:03
Speaker 1: with all my heart and with all my soul. And
32:07
Speaker 1: I'll watch out for her the rest of our days,
32:10
Speaker 1: but I'd love to marry her. And Floyd says, I
32:14
Speaker 1: became a little blubbering idiot as he's talking to me
32:16
Speaker 1: on the phone. I said, what did you say? What
32:19
Speaker 1: did I say? I said, yes, of course. I mean,
32:21
Speaker 1: anybody will say it like that. Why was it so convincing?
32:25
Speaker 1: Because it was with all the heart and all the
32:27
Speaker 1: soul and all the might. Oh God we love you
32:36
Speaker 1: like that. Oh God you are our God. No one
32:45
Speaker 1: is like you. We're almost home and when you get
32:52
Speaker 1: into the land of Canaan and you enjoy a home
32:55
Speaker 1: you didn't build full of treasures that you didn't put
33:00
Speaker 1: there And you come across a literature that you didn't write.
33:06
Speaker 1: And you're exposed to things you've never seen before. Remember.
33:14
Speaker 1: He alone is God. It's not more foundational than that.
33:23
Speaker 1: Go there. Hear the truth continually. Love the Lord. Fervently,
33:32
Speaker 1: that's the next point. Now the third, teach the young diligently.
33:40
Speaker 1: Pay attention, parents, grandparents. Pay close attention now. This is
33:46
Speaker 1: the handing off of the torch. Remember, God has no grandchildren.
33:53
Speaker 1: Only children. Don't think for a moment that your faith
33:58
Speaker 1: will automatically transfer because you've lived so faithfully. And you
34:02
Speaker 1: may have lived faithfully, but there is no such thing
34:04
Speaker 1: as an automatic transfer of the truth. They must grip
34:09
Speaker 1: it and grasp it and embrace it as you have.
34:16
Speaker 1: Because second-hand faith won't stand the test. So, Moses, looking
34:23
Speaker 1: into the faces of these people about to go into Canaan,
34:27
Speaker 1: It says, you shall teach them diligently. See the word diligently?
34:30
Speaker 1: In the Hebrew, it means to sharpen, to whet a
34:35
Speaker 1: knife on a stone. In fact, the Amplified Bible handles
34:39
Speaker 1: it that way. I quote, you shall whet and sharpen
34:43
Speaker 1: them so as to make them penetrate and teach and
34:47
Speaker 1: impress them diligently upon the minds and hearts of your children.
34:55
Speaker 1: Teach them diligently to your sons. You say, well, that's
34:59
Speaker 1: what I do. I have a sermon every Saturday morning.
35:05
Speaker 1: That's not what this is about. Look at the way
35:09
Speaker 1: it works its way out. You shall talk of them
35:11
Speaker 1: when you sit in your house. You should talk of
35:14
Speaker 1: them when you walk by the way. You should talk
35:18
Speaker 1: of them when you lie down. And you should talk
35:21
Speaker 1: of them when you rise up. God has no grandchildren.
35:29
Speaker 1: His only children. There is no automatic transfer of truth
35:34
Speaker 1: from dad and mom to child. It's a journey they
35:37
Speaker 1: must take. And in the taking of the journey, there
35:43
Speaker 1: is a deliberate sharing of the truth, a teaching of
35:47
Speaker 1: the truth, not done by Sunday school teachers, as valuable
35:51
Speaker 1: as they are. But you, you who have sons and
35:55
Speaker 1: daughters and grandchildren, you shall teach them diligently to your children.
36:01
Speaker 1: And look at how natural it is. I love this.
36:05
Speaker 1: You shall talk of them. There's no sermon here. There's
36:12
Speaker 1: no lecture. Now we'll have the lesson of the scriptures.
36:19
Speaker 1: Kids go, oh brother, when is this? I remember being
36:22
Speaker 1: in a home where The father was like that and
36:25
Speaker 1: we just happened to be there that evening. He was
36:27
Speaker 1: going to finish reading Chronicles. But he began with prayer
36:34
Speaker 1: and before the meal he prayed. He went from Alaska
36:36
Speaker 1: to Zurich as he prayed. There was a film that
36:39
Speaker 1: formed over the gravy. It was unbelievable. And those kids
36:45
Speaker 1: hated it. He wasn't talking about it. He was delivering
36:49
Speaker 1: a message. Let's make a deal. Leave the sermons to
36:53
Speaker 1: me Okay, let's make a deal. Let me be the
36:58
Speaker 1: one that bores them. You be the one that transfers
37:02
Speaker 1: the truth. And look at how you do it. How
37:05
Speaker 1: do you talk to them? How does it happen? Well,
37:08
Speaker 1: look at verse 7. When you sit in your house.
37:11
Speaker 1: You done that lately? Sure, every day. How about when
37:16
Speaker 1: you walk by the way? When you take a walk.
37:22
Speaker 1: And I hope you're still doing that with your children.
37:25
Speaker 1: Just take a walk. Or maybe take a drive. That
37:30
Speaker 1: would be today's term. When you lie down, when you
37:34
Speaker 1: get up. Isn't that great? I mean, that's just life.
37:39
Speaker 1: There's nothing forced. There's nothing homiletical about that. There's no
37:45
Speaker 1: three points in a poem that you're unloading on them.
37:50
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, look, look at it. Verse 8,
37:54
Speaker 1: you shall bind them as a sign on your hand,
37:56
Speaker 1: and they'll be like frontals on your forehead. You'll write
37:59
Speaker 1: them on the doorposts of your house and on your gate.
38:03
Speaker 1: It'll be in the warp and woof. It'll be in
38:09
Speaker 1: the very cells of your home. It's not because you
38:13
Speaker 1: have pictures that have verses on them. Please, nothing wrong
38:19
Speaker 1: with a... frame like that every once in a while
38:22
Speaker 1: but that never changed a kid's life it's the verses
38:27
Speaker 1: written on the heart that result in a compassionate daddy
38:31
Speaker 1: and an understanding mom and holding the line when they
38:35
Speaker 1: know you should and they're begging you not to and
38:39
Speaker 1: underneath they hope you'll stay right where you are because
38:44
Speaker 1: they don't get that anywhere else You shall talk of them.
38:49
Speaker 1: You shall bind them. You shall write them. We found
38:54
Speaker 1: that one of the best times to implant truth was
38:57
Speaker 1: at night. One of my favorite times with the kids
39:00
Speaker 1: would be at night. They don't want to go to
39:02
Speaker 1: bed anyway and so you crawl in with them and
39:05
Speaker 1: you lay there and you look at the ceiling and
39:07
Speaker 1: you talk about the day and life gets really simple
39:10
Speaker 1: and you have a little fun tickling them and giggling
39:14
Speaker 1: with them and laughing about some things and then you
39:16
Speaker 1: You just drop a little truth right there. Most natural
39:22
Speaker 1: thing in the world. You don't preach. You don't go
39:25
Speaker 1: dearly beloved. We are gathered here on this bed. It's,
39:34
Speaker 1: you know, honey, today was a tough day for you, daddy.
39:38
Speaker 1: I kind of lost it. I just, I realized I
39:42
Speaker 1: don't have much patience. I'd say that to one of
39:45
Speaker 1: our kids. I'd say, that's right, daddy. That's right. I've
39:48
Speaker 1: noticed that. Before you know it, they're just like putty
39:53
Speaker 1: in your hands. In fact, we used to do that,
39:55
Speaker 1: and one of the other children would say, Daddy, I'm waiting.
39:58
Speaker 1: You know, get through in there. So you crawl over
40:03
Speaker 1: in there. And when you lie down, there's just something
40:07
Speaker 1: wonderful about talking and helping it piece together, and you'll
40:12
Speaker 1: be amazed what they'll just come tumbling out. There's no
40:16
Speaker 1: force here. You're blending... truth with time and you're doing
40:22
Speaker 1: it in the most natural or you get up in
40:24
Speaker 1: the morning you have a bowl of cereal like the
40:26
Speaker 1: father that got up in the morning and was going
40:28
Speaker 1: to eat a bowl of cereal with his son the
40:29
Speaker 1: son was sitting across the table from him he said
40:31
Speaker 1: son do you realize god is just the woman for
40:38
Speaker 1: you when you grow up little boy just keeps eating
40:42
Speaker 1: his grape nuts he's just eating his grape hardly looks
40:45
Speaker 1: up you know son one woman just for you pass
40:51
Speaker 1: a toast, eat jelly. Kid says to his daddy, wonder
40:56
Speaker 1: what my wife's doing right now. He got it. He'll
41:02
Speaker 1: never forget that. But it's taught best by the parents
41:06
Speaker 1: who sharpen by penetrating the truth in the most natural ways.
41:14
Speaker 1: You see, men and women, what we're doing is we're
41:17
Speaker 1: leaving the religion behind us And we're taking on authentic
41:21
Speaker 1: faith that becomes contagious. And they realize, if you will,
41:28
Speaker 1: God is easy to live with. We're harder to live
41:32
Speaker 1: with than God. We're much more judgmental and harsh, demanding.
41:43
Speaker 1: Charlie Shedd, writing a little book to his tiny son Peter,
41:51
Speaker 1: I hope that I will be able to make this
41:53
Speaker 1: natural to you, son. It is natural. In fact, I
41:56
Speaker 1: think this relationship with God is the only thing that
41:59
Speaker 1: is 100% natural. We will pray together until it's easy
42:03
Speaker 1: for you to put your arms on the windowsill of
42:06
Speaker 1: heaven and look into the face of God. Before I
42:10
Speaker 1: put you back in your crib, I want to tell
42:12
Speaker 1: you something Philip said. We had been out in the
42:16
Speaker 1: country for a ride. It was evening and we ran
42:18
Speaker 1: out of gas. We were walking along after we had
42:22
Speaker 1: been to the farmhouse and I was carrying a can
42:24
Speaker 1: of gas. Philip was only four. He was playing along,
42:29
Speaker 1: throwing rocks at the telephone poles, picking flowers, and then
42:32
Speaker 1: all of a sudden it got dark. Sometimes night comes
42:36
Speaker 1: all at once in the country. Philip came over, put
42:40
Speaker 1: his little hand up in mine and said, take my hand, Daddy.
42:46
Speaker 1: I might get lost. Peter There's a hand reaching out
42:51
Speaker 1: to you from the heart of the universe. If you
42:55
Speaker 1: will lay your hand in the hand of God and
42:56
Speaker 1: walk with him, you'll never get lost. When you walk
43:01
Speaker 1: by the way, it's a great time to teach. There
43:06
Speaker 1: are teachable moments that are like little windows that open
43:10
Speaker 1: and then they close. Sensitive are the parents that know
43:13
Speaker 1: when the window has opened. Sometime it's after a tough day.
43:20
Speaker 1: Sometime when they're getting beat up on. Sometime when they
43:24
Speaker 1: lost the ball game. It's that sort of thing. You see,
43:38
Speaker 1: we are almost home. And if we're not careful, life
43:46
Speaker 1: will get busy and complicated and See how he puts it?
43:51
Speaker 1: Verse 10. These great and splendid cities which you didn't build. Wow.
43:59
Speaker 1: He hadn't seen cities like that since they left Egypt.
44:06
Speaker 1: Look at that sculpture. Look at this painting. Look at that.
44:12
Speaker 1: Look at that. Look at those houses. We're going to
44:15
Speaker 1: live in them. And you go into them and they
44:21
Speaker 1: have these belongings that you have never seen before. Not
44:25
Speaker 1: even in Egypt. And there will be plenty of everything.
44:33
Speaker 1: Water and vineyards and trees. And you will eat and
44:37
Speaker 1: be satisfied. Verse 12. Watch yourself. You know what it
44:43
Speaker 1: reminds me of? You've got this wonderful son and daughter.
44:49
Speaker 1: And you've nurtured them up to where they are today.
44:51
Speaker 1: And they reach 17, 18, and they graduate. And they're
44:55
Speaker 1: looking into schools. And one of them says, man, I
44:59
Speaker 1: got to tell you, if I can qualify, I'd love
45:01
Speaker 1: to go to Berkeley. Berkeley. What's wrong with Berkeley? What
45:13
Speaker 1: a fabulous place to get an education. You got nothing
45:17
Speaker 1: to be afraid of. But they're going to cities they
45:20
Speaker 1: haven't seen and they're going to hear things they've never
45:23
Speaker 1: heard and they're going to be exposed to peers they've
45:26
Speaker 1: never been around in your little environment. And so between
45:33
Speaker 1: here and there, you pray like mad and you invest
45:38
Speaker 1: time and love and information and availability. And you know what?
45:49
Speaker 1: It could absolutely transform their life. Or it could ruin them.
45:57
Speaker 1: It's not Berkeley's fault. It isn't Canaan's fault if the
46:05
Speaker 1: Hebrews fall. And you know what? They did. They got
46:12
Speaker 1: into the land and they failed. They didn't watch themselves.
46:21
Speaker 1: They forgot the Lord their God who brought them from
46:23
Speaker 1: the land of Egypt. So it's natural that he would
46:26
Speaker 1: say in verse 13, fear the Lord greatly. It's not like, oh,
46:31
Speaker 1: I'm scared to be around him. It's not a frightful fear.
46:34
Speaker 1: It's an awesome respect. It's a reverencing of him as
46:48
Speaker 1: our grand good Faithful, holy God. Shema Israel. Adonai. The
47:06
Speaker 1: Lord is one. Learn it. Believe it. And then as
47:18
Speaker 1: you fear him and respect him and look how it reads,
47:21
Speaker 1: you shall worship him and swear by his name. You
47:29
Speaker 1: shall not follow other gods. Don't you love verse 20?
47:38
Speaker 1: When your son asks you in time to come saying,
47:41
Speaker 1: what are these testimonies and the statutes and the judgments
47:44
Speaker 1: mean which the Lord our God commanded you? then you
47:47
Speaker 1: shall say to your son, we were slaves in Egypt.
47:53
Speaker 1: Isn't that great? You know what? He doesn't know slavery.
47:58
Speaker 1: He's been born since slavery. And so you tell him
48:04
Speaker 1: about the mighty hand of your God that brought you
48:07
Speaker 1: out of Egypt and how he showed great and distressing
48:10
Speaker 1: signs and wonders before our eyes against Pharaoh and all
48:14
Speaker 1: of his household. Look at verse 23. He brought us
48:17
Speaker 1: out in order to bring us in. I got those
48:20
Speaker 1: verses marked, or those words marked. He brought us out
48:23
Speaker 1: in order to bring us in. He brought you out
48:27
Speaker 1: of where you were in order to bring you in
48:29
Speaker 1: to where you are. Stand in awe of Him. Why
48:39
Speaker 1: would He command such things? It seems a little strict,
48:42
Speaker 1: doesn't it? Seems a little narrow, a little rigid. One
48:44
Speaker 1: God in the midst of a plurality of gods. And
48:48
Speaker 1: to walk like this in a world that walks like this?
48:55
Speaker 1: Why would he tell us this? Verse 24. The Lord
48:59
Speaker 1: commanded us to observe these statutes to fear the Lord
49:01
Speaker 1: our God for our good always and for our survival.
49:05
Speaker 1: There's the reason. It's for our good and it's for
49:09
Speaker 1: our survival. The next time someone tries to convince you
49:12
Speaker 1: that the Lord's trying to take your fun away, just
49:14
Speaker 1: show them that verse. It's for our good. And it's
49:17
Speaker 1: for our survival. It will be righteousness for us if
49:24
Speaker 1: we are careful to observe what he has written. A
49:37
Speaker 1: broker of truth. I hope I have been that for
49:44
Speaker 1: you today. Because I think if you hear these things
49:51
Speaker 1: and you've sat through them all this time, you want that?
49:55
Speaker 1: You want that for your sons and your daughters? The
49:59
Speaker 1: exciting thing is that that will happen. Not like you
50:03
Speaker 1: planned it, but as the Lord will direct it. And
50:07
Speaker 1: he's taken us out that he might bring us in.
50:12
Speaker 1: Praise his name. Will you bow with me, please? Some
50:28
Speaker 1: of us have stories to tell that would keep us
50:32
Speaker 1: here another hour. Lessons we've learned, mistakes we've made, journeys
50:38
Speaker 1: we've taken. failures we've endured and the Lord delivered us
50:44
Speaker 1: from them all. The story I would love for you
50:53
Speaker 1: to be able to tell is the story of how
50:55
Speaker 1: you were brought from death to life. How you were
50:59
Speaker 1: delivered from a bondage to yourself and to a life
51:03
Speaker 1: of distance from God and sinfulness and transgression to a
51:10
Speaker 1: life of Renewed obedience and hope and joy. And you know,
51:22
Speaker 1: I'd love not only to hear it, I'd love for
51:24
Speaker 1: your children to hear it. I wonder if you've ever
51:26
Speaker 1: told them how the Lord saved you, if he has
51:34
Speaker 1: done that for you. What a great email to send
51:40
Speaker 1: to your adult son or daughter. Let me tell you, sweetheart,
51:46
Speaker 1: how the Lord delivered me. Let me tell you my
51:51
Speaker 1: story of his grace. Or the next time you have
52:00
Speaker 1: a chance on some evening, rather than an evening full
52:03
Speaker 1: of television, wouldn't it be great to just take a walk?
52:10
Speaker 1: Stand beside a stream or perhaps out in the little
52:13
Speaker 1: woods and just sit and talk. And listen. And learn.
52:26
Speaker 1: If you've never met the Lord Jesus Christ, this is
52:30
Speaker 1: your moment. That's why you've come. You didn't know it,
52:35
Speaker 1: but that's why the Lord brought you. We who love
52:39
Speaker 1: this ministry remain down here at the front of the
52:42
Speaker 1: building and happy to talk with you about your decision
52:46
Speaker 1: for Christ. We'd love to do that. No big deal
52:53
Speaker 1: if you choose not to do that, but it's really
52:56
Speaker 1: your move and I'll never force you. That's the Spirit's job.
53:07
Speaker 1: And finally, it just may be that you've become hypocritical
53:11
Speaker 1: in your faith. Faithful looking, but underneath, you lack the
53:18
Speaker 1: qualities that would attract someone to the Lord our God.
53:25
Speaker 1: Great day to make that right. Now's the time. Our Father,
53:33
Speaker 1: in the nostalgia of the moment, knowing this is our
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Speaker 1: last meeting in this place as a gathering of worshipers,
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Speaker 1: and realizing that we have been, like the Israelites, a
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Speaker 1: bit of a wanderer from place to place and temporarily
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Speaker 1: housed here and there, we come today, this historic occasion,
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Speaker 1: to thank you for walking alongside and living in us.
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Speaker 1: Thank you for truth that has become for us a
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Speaker 1: lifeline like an air hose so that we might go
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Speaker 1: into the depths of the real world and not lose
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Speaker 1: our way. Watch over us, our Father, at our work
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Speaker 1: and in our play when we are home and when
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Speaker 1: we are alone, when we are with friends and in
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Speaker 1: the busy world about us. We pray that you will
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Speaker 1: find us authentic representatives of the faith. Better in living
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Speaker 1: than preaching. Better listeners than people who talk about it.
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Speaker 1: Diligent about the work of ministry. Now that we're almost home, Lord,
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Speaker 1: we do pause to thank you for seeing us through.
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Speaker 1: richly encourage and reward those who have paid major price
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Speaker 1: in the process of getting us from here to there.
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Speaker 1: You brought us out that you might take us in.
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Speaker 1: And we accept it from your hand gratefully in the
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Speaker 1: name of Christ and for his sake alone. Amen. We're dismissed.
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Speaker 2: The preceding message, Almost Home, was copyrighted in 2001, 2002,
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Speaker 2: And the sound recording was copyrighted in 2019 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.
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Speaker 1: All rights are reserved worldwide.
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Speaker 2: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.