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A Time of Blessing – Acts 2:28: The Ways of Life and the Joy of His Countenance · WCHS Network Podcasts

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  Speaker 1: This time of blessing is a special encore from Revival Crusade,
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  Speaker 1: featuring the late Reverend Glenn Matthews. We air these messages
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: in his honor and to remind you that the Revival
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  Speaker 1: Crusade ministry continues to shine God's light today.
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  Speaker 2: Your dial is set for a time of blessing. Good morning.
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  Speaker 2: It's the Lord's Day, September the 24th, 2017, and this
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  Speaker 2: is broadcast number 2008. 918. My name is Glenn Matthews,
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  Speaker 2: and this program, A Time of Blessing, is a part
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  Speaker 2: of the ministry of Revival Crusade. You can visit us
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  Speaker 2: on the web, the internet, at revivalcrusade.com. Learn a lot
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  Speaker 2: about the ministry, the history of it, and be blessed
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: by my articles that my wife leader has written through
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: the years, and perhaps even some other stuff that I
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  Speaker 2: have posted on there would be a blessing to your heart.
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  Speaker 2: I hope you've had a good week. I'm going to
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: be able to go to the Lord's house today. Before
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  Speaker 2: I get too far into announcements, etc., I want to
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  Speaker 2: give you this news that The broadcast this morning is
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  Speaker 2: paid for, sponsored by Brother Darrell Campbell. He's a deacon
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  Speaker 2: at Maple Hill Baptist Church in Charleston, where I spoke
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  Speaker 2: last Sunday at their homecoming, and he has felt impressed
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  Speaker 2: to the Lord, and he's paying for the broadcast this
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  Speaker 2: Sunday and next Sunday. I can't tell you how many...
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  Speaker 2: it has been since somebody said, I want to do
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  Speaker 2: this with the exception of one family. When I began
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  Speaker 2: in 1976 on this broadcast, there were several families who
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  Speaker 2: would do that, and now only one, but this time,
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  Speaker 2: Brother Darrell Campbell comes in and says, I want to
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  Speaker 2: pay for the broadcast the 24th of September, and the
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  Speaker 2: 1st of October. So thank the Lord for this gift
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  Speaker 2: that makes it possible for us to come your way.
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  Speaker 2: The mailing address for the ministry is Revival Crusade, Post
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  Speaker 2: Office Box 145, Charleston, West Virginia, 25321. Again, P.O. Box 145, Charleston,
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  Speaker 2: WV 25321. I want to ask you to go today,
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  Speaker 2: if your circumstances allow that, go to the book of Acts,
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  Speaker 2: the Acts of the Apostles. More precisely, the Acts of
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  Speaker 2: the Holy Spirit, as the Holy Spirit inspires, leads, directs
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  Speaker 2: the Apostles. Chapter 2, Acts chapter 2. This past month,
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  Speaker 2: reading through the New Testament and coming through Acts chapter 2,
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  Speaker 2: and I've read this chapter on Peter's sermon at Pentecost,
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  Speaker 2: and I've read it many, many times, but there was
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  Speaker 2: a verse of Scripture that just sort of jumped out
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  Speaker 2: at me. And I want to talk about that verse today.
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  Speaker 2: and the verses surrounding it. Acts chapter 2, verse 28.
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  Speaker 2: And then I'll give the context after I've read the verse.
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  Speaker 2: Verse 28, Acts chapter 2, Thou hast made known to
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  Speaker 2: me the ways of life. Thou shalt make me full
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  Speaker 2: of of joy with thy countenance. Again, Acts 2, 28.
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  Speaker 2: Thou hast made known to me the ways of life.
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  Speaker 2: Thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
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  Speaker 2: And that verse just seemed to jump off of the page. Now,
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  Speaker 2: we know that Luke is the author of of the
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  Speaker 2: book of Acts, the human author. So, if you just
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  Speaker 2: read this verse without any context, without any verses surrounding it,
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  Speaker 2: you would think this is the statement of Luke. No,
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  Speaker 2: Luke is the one who's writing under the inspiration of
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  Speaker 2: the Holy Spirit. So then, you have to go back
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  Speaker 2: and read in context and This is part of the
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  Speaker 2: sermon delivered by the Apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost. And,
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  Speaker 2: for example, in verse 22, Peter is talking. Ye men
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  Speaker 2: of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man,
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  Speaker 2: approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and
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  Speaker 2: signs which God did to him in the midst of you,
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  Speaker 2: as you yourselves also know him as being delivered by
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  Speaker 2: the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God ye have taken
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  Speaker 2: and by wicked hands have crucified and slain whom God
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  Speaker 2: hath raised up having loosed the pains of death because
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  Speaker 2: it was not possible that he should be holden of
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  Speaker 2: it for David speaketh concerning him this Jesus of Nazareth,
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  Speaker 2: the Son of God, a man of God, approved, anointed,
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  Speaker 2: the Messiah, the Savior. David spoke of him. Whoa. David said,
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  Speaker 2: I foresaw the Lord always before my face. Verse 25,
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  Speaker 2: he's on my right hand. I should not be moved.
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  Speaker 2: Therefore did my heart rejoice. My tongue was glad. Moreover
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  Speaker 2: shall my flesh rejoice. Moreover also my flesh shall rest
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  Speaker 2: in hope, because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell,
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  Speaker 2: neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption.
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  Speaker 2: The word hell is Sheol, S-H-E-O-L, the grave. Thou hast
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  Speaker 2: made known to me the ways of life. Thou shalt
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  Speaker 2: make me full of joy with thy countenance. Now the
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  Speaker 2: question is, is Peter... The preacher quoting this verse, is
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  Speaker 2: he speaking of himself? And at first you might think so.
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  Speaker 2: But then when you read the verses that precede it
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  Speaker 2: and follow it, you know Peter's not speaking of himself.
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  Speaker 2: The question then, is Peter speaking of David? Yes, he is.
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  Speaker 2: Verse 25, David spaketh concerning him. So, then, question, since
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  Speaker 2: David is the one being quoted, is David speaking of himself?
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  Speaker 2: The answer is no. He is speaking, here is Peter,
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  Speaker 2: citing a passage of Scripture which David wrote in which
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  Speaker 2: David spoke of Christ. What he is doing is quoting
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  Speaker 2: things The book of Psalm chapter 16. Let me read
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  Speaker 2: it for you, the last two or three verses. Verse 8,
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  Speaker 2: Psalm 16. I've set the Lord always before me because
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  Speaker 2: he's at my right hand. I shall not be moved. Therefore,
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  Speaker 2: my heart is glad and my glory rejoiceth. My flesh
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  Speaker 2: also shall rest in hope or dwell confidently forever. For
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  Speaker 2: thou wilt not leave my soul in Sheol, hell. That's
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  Speaker 2: where he's quoting. Neither wilt I suffer thy holy one
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  Speaker 2: to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life.
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  Speaker 2: In thy presence is fullness of joy. At thy right
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  Speaker 2: hand there are pleasures forevermore. Oh, so that's the source.
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  Speaker 2: Psalm 16 is now being quoted by Luke, the author,
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  Speaker 2: who is quoting Peter, the preacher who is quoting David
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  Speaker 2: from Psalm 16, but David is not speaking of himself.
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  Speaker 2: He is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, with
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  Speaker 2: all that background, I would like to make it very personal.
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  Speaker 2: I would like to say that I want to apply
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  Speaker 2: this to my life, to your life. Let's make it
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  Speaker 2: very personal and see what we can learn from Acts 2, 28.
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  Speaker 2: What we have in this one verse is the past
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  Speaker 2: and the future. I want to make it personal. My past,
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  Speaker 2: my experiences, my future, my expectations. This is an amazing
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  Speaker 2: statement that You have made known to me the ways
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  Speaker 2: of life. Then thou shalt make me, cause me to
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  Speaker 2: be full of joy with thy countenance. Let's apply it
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  Speaker 2: to your life. Let's apply it to my life. Let's
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  Speaker 2: review my life. Your life. What we know, what you
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  Speaker 2: and I know, we know by very few channels through
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  Speaker 2: which what we know came to us. When you're born,
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  Speaker 2: you know certain things instinctively. Every newborn wants to be held.
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  Speaker 2: You have such a desire to nurse, to have human contact,
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  Speaker 2: to be felt, to be fed, and comfortable, and you
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  Speaker 2: have a fear of falling, so you want to be held. Now,
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  Speaker 2: after that, Everything else is education. Now, you learn by
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  Speaker 2: academics or by experience or by revelation. In my case,
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  Speaker 2: I was saved at age 11, started preaching right after
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  Speaker 2: my 17th birthday. That was 1953. And now for 40-plus years,
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  Speaker 2: I've been involved in evangelism and missions. have been super
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  Speaker 2: blessed with a wonderful wife, two daughters, eight grandchildren, and
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  Speaker 2: have been privileged to minister in a lot of different places.
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  Speaker 2: God has been good. Amen. And I have learned things academically.
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  Speaker 2: I went to school, A, B, C, D, E, F, G.
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  Speaker 2: I've gone through class after class after class, and I've
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  Speaker 2: learned things academically, but I've also learned things by experience.
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  Speaker 2: So have you. You didn't come into the world singing
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  Speaker 2: your A, B, C, D, E, F, G. No, you learned.
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  Speaker 2: And you just didn't learn by books. You also learned
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  Speaker 2: by experience. But you don't learn... spiritual things academically. You
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  Speaker 2: don't know spiritual things apart from revelation. You learn by
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  Speaker 2: three ways. Academics, experience, or revelation. What does our verse say?
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  Speaker 2: Acts 2.28 Thou hast made known. It's revealed. You have
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  Speaker 2: been taught by the Lord. You have known, you've made
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  Speaker 2: known to me. Wow. You know by revelation. Now, what
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  Speaker 2: is it that, Luke quoting Peter, quoting David, what is
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  Speaker 2: it that we've learned? We have learned the ways of life. Now, that's,
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  Speaker 2: you know, I could spend the whole time reviewing life,
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  Speaker 2: But you have learned, I have learned, you have learned
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  Speaker 2: the path, the ways. The word paths is, or ways,
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  Speaker 2: the word ways is road, R-O-A-D-S, roads, or paths, P-A-T-H-S.
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  Speaker 2: In fact, in Psalm 16, David's statement for which Peter
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  Speaker 2: is quoting, it is translated, you've made known to me
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  Speaker 2: the paths. of life not interstates not boulevards but paths
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  Speaker 2: you've made known you can think and I'm really trying
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  Speaker 2: to hurry you can think inwardly you can think outwardly
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  Speaker 2: you can think upwardly inwardly self outwardly social upward spiritual
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  Speaker 2: Inward self, outwards others, upward God. You can then predicate
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  Speaker 2: it upon what you think you live. You can live
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  Speaker 2: for yourself, you can live for others, or you can
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  Speaker 2: live for God. And you can live in one of
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  Speaker 2: three tenses. Past, present, future. There are three. Past, present, future. And,
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  Speaker 2: sad to say... Many believers live in the past. Oh,
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  Speaker 2: if it were now like it was then. Only if
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  Speaker 2: we could get back to this. No, we can't go back.
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  Speaker 2: Past is past. Future is not here. I read this statement.
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  Speaker 2: The only people who live in the present tense are
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  Speaker 2: babies and people in the will of God. How about that?
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  Speaker 2: But you can waste your life regretting the past. You
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  Speaker 2: can waste your life fearing the future. You have known,
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  Speaker 2: God has made known the paths, the ways of life.
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  Speaker 2: There is a way, for example, Proverbs, there is a way.
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  Speaker 2: that seemeth right unto men, but the end thereof are
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  Speaker 2: the ways of death. There are many ways, but they
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  Speaker 2: all end up with going down or up. You're either
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  Speaker 2: going up or you're going down. It's a path. It's
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  Speaker 2: a way. You can live in the present. Not for
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  Speaker 2: the present, no. You live for the future. but you
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  Speaker 2: live in the present. It's a phenomenal thing, people. One
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  Speaker 2: man said to an older man, have you lived here
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  Speaker 2: all your life? And the old man said, not yet. Well,
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  Speaker 2: he hasn't. He's still there. Makes good sense. Are you finished? No,
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  Speaker 2: I'm still living. Do I have a past? Yes. Rejoice
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  Speaker 2: in the past and some regrets in the past. Some
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  Speaker 2: people will die with more regrets than other people. But
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  Speaker 2: do I have a future? Boy, do I have a future.
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  Speaker 2: So what do you anticipate? I don't know. I don't
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  Speaker 2: know what will happen to me before I leave this world.
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  Speaker 2: Unless the Lord comes quickly, then I know what will happen.
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  Speaker 2: I'll go with him. I don't know what's going to
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  Speaker 2: happen to this world before I die, before I leave,
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  Speaker 2: but I can tell you about my future. What did
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  Speaker 2: the psalmist say? Thou hast made known to me the
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  Speaker 2: ways of life. Thou shalt make me full of joy
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  Speaker 2: with thy countenance. Again, from Psalm 16, he said, This
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  Speaker 2: is my future. You are not going to leave my
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  Speaker 2: soul in the grave. Amen. Absent from the body, present
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  Speaker 2: with the Lord. Because right now, I have set the Lord,
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  Speaker 2: past tense, I've done that past tense, I have set
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  Speaker 2: the Lord always before me. My focus is there. And
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  Speaker 2: because he is at my right hand, that's the present tense,
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  Speaker 2: then in the future I shall not be moved. Therefore...
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  Speaker 2: Right now, my heart is glad and my glory rejoices.
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  Speaker 2: And in the future, my flesh will rest in hope.
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  Speaker 2: You're not going to leave me there. You're not going
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  Speaker 2: to let us holy ones suffer corruption. You will show
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  Speaker 2: me the path of life. Here's the future. In thy
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  Speaker 2: presence is fullness. At thy right hand are pleasures forevermore. Amen.
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  Speaker 2: Praise the Lord. What's going to happen? I know what's
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  Speaker 2: going to happen, and you do too. Listen to it.
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  Speaker 2: Thou shalt make me full of joy. You know the
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  Speaker 2: word euphoric or euphoria? It's a state of exceeding gladness, happiness, joy. joy, exuberance, ecstasy, euphoria.
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  Speaker 2: Would you believe the word that thou shalt make me
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  Speaker 2: full of joy? Full is a word from which we
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  Speaker 2: get the word plethora or plethora. It means the fullness,
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  Speaker 2: the whole panel, the whole body of people. It's plethora
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  Speaker 2: it's there that's that word full in fact you could
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  Speaker 2: read that verse thou wilt make me euphoric euphoria with
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  Speaker 2: thy countenance it's hard to explain it is an over
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  Speaker 2: abundance of joy it's a Ecstasy. The psalmist is saying,
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  Speaker 2: what I anticipate is not annihilation. No. What I anticipate
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  Speaker 2: is not soul sleep. Not that I die and my
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  Speaker 2: body rots and nothing is there remembered. It's not that.
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  Speaker 2: What I anticipate, if I die, is a resurrection of
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  Speaker 2: my body. And when I die, my soul, spirit, leave
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  Speaker 2: my body, and my soul and spirit goes to be
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  Speaker 2: with the Lord, and I rejoice with rejoicing. I am
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  Speaker 2: euphoric with euphoria. I am in ecstasy. It's hard for
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  Speaker 2: us to imagine. You might as well try to explain
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  Speaker 2: first-year algebra to an earthworm. We can't grasp it. It's so...
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  Speaker 2: other dimension. It's so different than what we know, experience,
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  Speaker 2: what we have known by revelation, the ways of life.
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  Speaker 2: And the anticipation, the expectation is that in the future,
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  Speaker 2: not grave, not annihilation, not nihilism, but I will awaken
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  Speaker 2: In thy likeness. I will be satisfied. In thy likeness.
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  Speaker 2: The rejoicing. In my future. Is this. I'm going to. Behold.
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  Speaker 2: His face. Acts 2.28. Thou shalt make me. Full of joy. Euphoric.
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  Speaker 2: With euphoria. With or by thy. countenance. It literally means
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  Speaker 2: the front of the head. Now, where is your countenance?
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  Speaker 2: Your face. The front of your head. Now, I have
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  Speaker 2: seen the Lord by faith. Since April of 1947. And
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  Speaker 2: I have been privileged to go to Israel for Quite
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  Speaker 2: a few times. And I have been where he was.
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  Speaker 2: But I've never seen him, except by faith. But, blessed
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  Speaker 2: be God, one day I'm going to see him. And
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  Speaker 2: faith will replace faith. Now I see him by faith.
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  Speaker 2: We walk by that. We see through a glass darkly.
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  Speaker 2: But one day, my faith will turn to sight. It's mind-boggling.
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  Speaker 2: And I will see him. And if that's not enough,
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  Speaker 2: I will not see him from afar. I will be
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  Speaker 2: with him. And, crowning jewel, I will be like him.
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  Speaker 2: Glory to God. That's the future. So we've seen the
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  Speaker 2: review of life. We've seen the roads of life. And
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  Speaker 2: we've talked about the rejoicing in our future. Even so, come,
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  Speaker 2: Lord Jesus. Are you ready for that? Time is gone.
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  Speaker 2: You've been listening to A Time of Blessing, the radio
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  Speaker 2: ministry of Revival Crusade. Visit us on the Internet, revivalcrusade.com.
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  Speaker 2: My name is Glenn Matthews. The mailing address, P.O. Box 145, Charleston,
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  Speaker 2: West Virginia, 25321. Thanks for listening, and until the same
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  Speaker 2: time next Lord's Day, when we begin year 56 on
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  Speaker 2: this station, may this week be for you a time
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  Speaker 2: of blessing. Thank you. so so.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: Is your heart right with God? It doesn't matter who
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  Speaker 1: you are, where you're from, what you've done, or how
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  Speaker 1: many times you've done it. You come as a sinner,
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  Speaker 1: repent toward God, have faith in Jesus Christ, and you
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  Speaker 1: will be declared right, justified. Please send your comments, prayer requests,
• 27:28
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• 27:35
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• 27:41
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• 27:45
  Speaker 1: West Virginia, 25321. God help you do it. You've been
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• 28:00
  Speaker 1: West Virginia, 25321. Thanks for listening, and until same time
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: next Lord's Day... May this week be for you a
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: time of blessings.