Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / Crisis , Confusion , Conquest - Powerful Sermon- Minister Max Lucado

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Crisis , Confusion , Conquest - Powerful Sermon- Minister Max Lucado · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Well, the flight to nowhere sold out in 10 minutes.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Qantas Airlines called it their fastest selling ticket in the
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: airline's history.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: Cheap seats went for 575 bucks. First class went for 2,675.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: And what does a passenger get for the money?
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Seven hours of circling Australia, landing in the same place
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: you left. Chalk it up to COVID-19. People are weary
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: of being stuck at home. In response to months of
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: going nowhere, they paid good money to, well, go nowhere.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Forgive me for being blunt, but I'm going to keep
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: my money in my pockets. And keep my feet on
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: the ground. Flying in circles.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: No, thank you. Flying toward a destination. That's better. And
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: that's biblical.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Embedded and inherent in the biblical teaching and the pages
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: of scripture. Is this promise that we are headed to
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: a better place. That we're not going to circle around
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: and come back to where we've always been. And we
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: can survive winter times like the one in which we
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: find ourselves now because we know that a glorious springtime
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: of glory awaits us. The book we're studying, the book
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: of Esther, invites this hope. It may surprise you to
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: hear the book of Esther described as a book that
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: gives hope about the end of history. When we think
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: of end times, we often think of prophetic books like
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: the book of Daniel, the book of Revelation, the teachings
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: of Jesus in Matthew chapter 24. So does the story
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: of the queen of Persia, the book of Esther, does
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: it contribute to this what's next conversation?
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: I would say yes.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: Esther is a foreshadowing of final events. It does relate
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: the history of exiled Jews in 5th century BC Persia.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: But it also reminds us of the timeline of humanity
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: in human history. If you need to widen the aperture
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: of your lens of scripture, back away for a bit
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: and look at the big picture of the book of Esther.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: And you will see how the three acts of Esther
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: mirror the three acts of human history. Here's a review
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: of the three acts of Esther.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: Act number one is crisis. Crisis.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: The early chapters introduce us to the crisis in the
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: nation of Persia, in the city of Susa.
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: The curtain of our drama.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: Opens onto this flamboyant display of wealth.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: King Xerxes had everything.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: He had power. He had money. He had wine. He
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: had women. Well, all but the one woman that mattered.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: Queen Vashti refused to come into his man cave and
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: dance around in front of a bunch of bibulous males.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: For that reason, she got the boot.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: The exit of Vashti triggered the entrance of Esther And
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: she had enough woo, she had enough wow, that she
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: won the heart of the king and inherited the throne
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: of the queen.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: But there was a secret. She was a Jew.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: And her cousin, Mordecai, the other main character in the story,
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: who worked in the palace, was also a Jew.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: And no one knew.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: King Xerxes did not know that he slept with a
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: Jew and employed a Jew. And they probably never would
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: have known except for the villain of the story, Haman.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: Who happened to be a Jew hater.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: And when Mordecai refused to bow before Haman, Haman convinced
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: the king, King Xerxes, to exterminate every Jew in the
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Persian empire.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: It was a crisis.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: And the crisis of Act 1 led to the confusion
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: of Act 2. Having decreed certain deaths for the Jews,
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  Speaker 1: the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: city of Zususa was bewildered. The king and his right-hand
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: man were so insensitive and so unaware of the value
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: of people that they could declare a bloodbath and then
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: have a cocktail. The entire city of Susa was bewildered,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: not just the Jewish nation, but the entire city. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: if Haman can turn his ire on an ethnic group,
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: a minority group, well, who's next? He may have it
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: in for people who are left-handed, for farmers. So the
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: entire nation was on edge. When the king is a
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  Speaker 1: wimp and his chief of staff is a despot, anything
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  Speaker 1: can happen. Of course, you and I know something that
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: the people of Persia did not. We've read the story.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: We know the story. We know that God was busy
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: at work. He was working behind the scenes. And out
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  Speaker 1: of this confusion came act three, and that is conquest.
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  Speaker 1: That's what we looked at last week. The tables were turned.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: Haman's plot crashed into the head first into God's providence.
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  Speaker 1: No one, not even the king of Persia, can stand
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  Speaker 1: against our king, the king of kings. Mordecai got this.
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  Speaker 1: Somewhere he got this. He came to understand. Remember his
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: wake-up call to Queen Esther? He said, now, if you
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the.
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  Speaker 2: Jews will arise.
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  Speaker 1: It will arise from another place.
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  Speaker 2: That's what he told her.
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  Speaker 1: He was absolutely certain of the ultimate victory of God's plan.
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  Speaker 1: There was no question to Mordecai as to the outcome
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  Speaker 1: of the story. Yes, there was a crisis. Yes, there
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: is confusion. But overall, Mordecai could see the conquest. He
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  Speaker 1: knew his God was a covenant-keeping God. I don't know
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  Speaker 1: where he got this. Maybe he returned to the teachings
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: of the youth of his youth and he was reminded
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  Speaker 1: he knew God would be their God and they would
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  Speaker 1: be his people he knew God would gather them from
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  Speaker 1: all the countries he knew God would send a king
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  Speaker 1: through them and to them from the tribe of Judah
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  Speaker 1: to rescue his people and establish his eternal kingdom these
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: were the covenants that God had made and Mordecai came
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: to believe that somehow God will keep this covenant And
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: maybe he'll use Esther. But if Esther refuses, he'll find
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  Speaker 1: another way. The role of Esther was.
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  Speaker 2: Questionable.
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  Speaker 1: But the promise of God was not. The perseverance of
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  Speaker 1: God's children was never in question. Consequently, the victory was theirs.
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  Speaker 1: And we know the story. We know that Esther did
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  Speaker 1: get on board. We know that that day that was
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  Speaker 1: certain to be a day of death in which all
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  Speaker 1: the people died. All the Jewish people would be destroyed,
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  Speaker 1: turned into a day of victory in which all their
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  Speaker 1: enemies were destroyed. And the Jews who had lived in
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: fear all of a sudden stood in strength. They who
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  Speaker 1: were in a minority, a relegated minority to the margins
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: of society, all of a sudden were center stage. And
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: all the other nationalities were looking up to them. And
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: two Jews, Mordecai and Esther, were right in the heartbeat
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: of the palace. It's no wonder that Jews to this
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  Speaker 1: day celebrate this triumph with the Feast of Purim, which
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: we'll examine in detail next week. But there's more to
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  Speaker 1: this story than Hebrew victory. Don't let this account, the
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: book of Esther, be simply a history book of what
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  Speaker 1: God did. It is actually a playbook of what God
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  Speaker 1: is doing. And the three acts of Esther mirror the
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  Speaker 1: three acts of Let me show you what I mean.
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: There was act one, a crisis. A crisis.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: Haman entered the world of Persia. Not, I'm sorry, he
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  Speaker 1: entered the world of Persia as an advisor to the king.
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  Speaker 1: Our Haman, Satan, entered the garden of Eden. as a
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: tempter to Adam and Eve. Now the Garden of Eden
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: was perfect. God found it so delightful that he would
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: walk with his children in the cool of the evening.
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  Speaker 1: Can you believe that? Adam and Eve found it so
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: safe they wore no clothing. Well, would they? What did
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  Speaker 1: they have to hide and from whom did they need
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  Speaker 1: to hide? They were one with creation. They were one
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  Speaker 1: with God. They were one with each other. It was
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  Speaker 1: a wonderful world. But then came the crisis. Adam and
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  Speaker 1: Eve broke rank. The wooing serpent whispered a better deal.
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  Speaker 2: I can get you more. more power, more clout.
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  Speaker 1: Why, in my plan, you'll occupy the corner office of
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  Speaker 1: the universe. Here's what he said to them. You'll be
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: like God. And that's all it took. Eve took the bait,
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  Speaker 1: Adam followed. Now, Eve was perfect. Eve got, I'm sorry,
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  Speaker 1: Eden was perfect. Eden offered everything that they would ever
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  Speaker 1: need to know. Everything that they would ever need to have.
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  Speaker 1: Ecological harmony, relational purity, spiritual peace. Eden offered everything. But
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  Speaker 1: there could be more, whispered the Satan. And he whispers
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  Speaker 1: it still. And so, crisis. Crisis came into the garden.
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  Speaker 1: And that crisis of Act 1 led to the confusion
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  Speaker 1: of Act 2. That's where we are right now, ladies
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  Speaker 1: and gentlemen. We are in Act 2. The world is
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  Speaker 1: a confused mess. Adam and Eve, as a response to
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  Speaker 1: the crisis, hid themselves. They sewed fig leaves together and
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  Speaker 1: made themselves coverings. Adam and his wife hid themselves from
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  Speaker 1: the presence of the Lord God among the trees of
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  Speaker 1: the garden. They went into hiding. They hid first. We've
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  Speaker 1: all been hiding since. They hid behind fig leaves and
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  Speaker 1: in the forest. We hide behind bottles of liquor or
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  Speaker 1: desks of work. We distance ourselves from our only hope,
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  Speaker 1: and that is our good and our faithful God. Even
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  Speaker 1: creation is cranky. Thorns and thistles, which were unknown in
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  Speaker 1: the Garden of Eden, they wormed their way into the creation.
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  Speaker 1: And nature gives food, but only in exchange for the
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  Speaker 1: sweat and toil of Adam and Eve.
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  Speaker 2: And their children. It's a mess. It's a mess.
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  Speaker 1: Adam and Eve had two sons. Both brought offerings to God.
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  Speaker 1: God accepted the offering of the younger, Abel, but he
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  Speaker 1: rejected the gift of Cain, the elder, and Cain was upset.
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  Speaker 1: So Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.
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  Speaker 1: And for the first time, the blood of a person
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  Speaker 1: was spilled onto the soiled How many drops.
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  Speaker 2: Of blood have been spilled since?
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  Speaker 1: All the wars, all the murders, all the fights, all
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  Speaker 1: the conflicts, all the bitterness, all the hostilities, all the rivalries,
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  Speaker 1: squabbles and scourges. At one point, the Lord heaves this
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  Speaker 1: heavy sigh of, And he was sorry that he had
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  Speaker 1: made man on the earth, the saddest sentence in scripture.
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  Speaker 1: He started over with a flood, hoping the flood would
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  Speaker 1: clean everything up. But the descendants of Noah went to
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  Speaker 1: Babel and they built a tower, still heeding the serpent's
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  Speaker 1: temptation that they could be like God. And the result
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  Speaker 1: was and the result is babbling. Corruption runs riot. Sometimes
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  Speaker 1: it seems that Haman and Xerxes are still in charge.
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  Speaker 2: But they're not. They're not. How do we know? Because
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  Speaker 2: we've read the book.
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  Speaker 1: We know the difference. We know that our covenant keeping
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: God is at work. And just as Mordecai heard promises
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: and they gave him faith, today we hear promises and
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  Speaker 1: they convince us that we're not on a flight to nowhere,
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  Speaker 1: but we're on a flight to somewhere that is unlike
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  Speaker 1: anything we have ever seen. And soon to come is
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  Speaker 1: Acts chapter three, Acts chapter three, Act three. And that
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  Speaker 1: is the conquest, the conquest. It's right to see God
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  Speaker 1: as a loving father. It is right to see him
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  Speaker 1: as a caring shepherd. It is right to see him
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  Speaker 1: as a friend of sinners, but it is equally right
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  Speaker 1: to see him as the conquering king in the end
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  Speaker 1: of history, who will once and for all do away
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  Speaker 1: with Satan and everybody who has saluted him. He was
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  Speaker 1: decisive and dramatic in the days of Esther. He'll be
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  Speaker 1: even more so In these, the last days, let me
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  Speaker 1: tell you what history's next big event is. Best I
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: can determine. The next big event in history is a
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: moment in which God will rapture. He will rescue his
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  Speaker 1: children from off the face of this planet.
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  Speaker 2: Here's the description. First Thessalonians.
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  Speaker 1: For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with
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  Speaker 1: a loud command, with the voice of the archangel, with
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  Speaker 1: the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ.
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  Speaker 2: Will rise first.
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  Speaker 1: After that, we who are still alive and are left
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  Speaker 1: will be caught up together with them in the clouds
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  Speaker 1: to meet the Lord in the air. And so we
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  Speaker 1: will be with the Lord forever. A day is coming
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: in which Christians, upon the signal of Christ, will be
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  Speaker 1: transported into the presence of Christ, never to depart. This
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  Speaker 1: rapture includes the resurrection of dead believers and the transformation
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  Speaker 1: of living believers. And it will occur in a moment,
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  Speaker 1: in the twinkling of an eye. This word, moment, In
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: Greek is A-T-O-M-O-S. Sounds like atom.
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: Minuscule.
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  Speaker 1: To the degree that an atom is small, that moment
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  Speaker 1: will be quick, friends. That's how long Jesus needs to
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: resurrect and transform his church. It will happen so quickly
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. How
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: long is the twinkle of an eye? Somebody tell me. Well,
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  Speaker 1: that's how long Jesus needs to inaugurate the final era,
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  Speaker 1: the era of conquest. Now think for a moment about
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: the implications of this sudden rapture. Think for a moment
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: what this planet is going to be like with all
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: of a sudden every God-fearing, Bible-believing, Christ-following, son or daughter
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  Speaker 1: of God, mysteriously gone. Can you imagine the chaos? Can
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: you imagine the questions? Every NGO will close. Christian schools
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: will be empty. Christian lawyers, doctors, researchers, professors, all gone.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: The salt and light of society will be withdrawn. And
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: the stage will be set for the master of deception
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  Speaker 1: Scripture calls him the Antichrist.
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  Speaker 2: The Antichrist.
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  Speaker 1: The stage will be set for him to step into
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  Speaker 1: the void and offer answers and solutions, just like Adolf
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: Hitler emerged on the scene of such political and economic
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: chaos that entire nations of people bought his lies. So
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: the Antichrist will step forward with pragmatic answers and promises
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: to unite the world. He will use oratory. He will
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: use satanic power. He will offer easy solutions and make
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: exorbitant pledges. He will inaugurate his era with diplomacy. The
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: Old Testament prophet Daniel says that leader will make a
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  Speaker 1: firm agreement with many people, for seven years. He will
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: extend an olive branch to the nations. Most specifically, he
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: will make an agreement with the nation of Israel and
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: Israel will agree they will sign the treaty yet midway
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  Speaker 1: through the treaty he will break it and guess what
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  Speaker 1: will break loose.
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  Speaker 2: All hell and he.
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  Speaker 1: Will cause astounding devastation and succeed in whatever he does.
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  Speaker 1: He will destroy those who are mighty, the holy people.
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  Speaker 1: He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider
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  Speaker 1: himself superior. In the book of Revelation, chapters 4 through 19,
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  Speaker 1: we have a description of everything that's going to happen
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  Speaker 1: in the second half of this tribulation. It will be
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  Speaker 1: unlike anything that the world has ever seen. Famine, death,
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: cosmic disturbances. J. Dwight Pentecost was right when he wrote,
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: no passage can be found to alleviate to any degree
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: whatsoever the severity of this time that shall come upon
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  Speaker 1: the earth. The tribulation shall be the darkest hour in
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  Speaker 1: human history. In your heart, you should thank the Lord
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  Speaker 1: Jesus right now that you will not.
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  Speaker 2: Be here to be a part of it.
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  Speaker 1: Such a depressing chapter of human history unlike anything that
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: the world has ever seen.
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  Speaker 2: But i'm not finished there is more.
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  Speaker 1: News good news good news to share because at the
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  Speaker 1: end of this time of terrible tribulation there will be
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  Speaker 1: a battle a final battle in the valley of armageddon
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  Speaker 1: and in that battle the antichrist will rally his troops
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  Speaker 1: to fight against the lord jesus and his army Revelation
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  Speaker 1: 19 and verse 19. The Antichrist and his armies will
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  Speaker 1: suffer total and cataclysmic defeat at the hand of our King,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 2: And Jesus won't even lift a finger. He won't even
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: lift a finger.
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  Speaker 1: Revelation 19, 15 says the sword of his word will.
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  Speaker 2: Smite the nations.
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  Speaker 1: As was prophesied in the book of Daniel, the Antichrist
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: will be destroyed, but not by human power. The expression
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: of Haman alive in the tribulation will be defeated just
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: as Haman was defeated in the days of Esther. Satan
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: will be chained and Jesus will return to the earth
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  Speaker 1: as the king of kings and the Lord of lords
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  Speaker 1: to judge, to judge once and for all his enemies,
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  Speaker 1: Satan's deception. And he will set up a kingdom on
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: this earth. just as he has promised he will.
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  Speaker 2: Hear me, church. Our God will have his garden of Eden.
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  Speaker 1: And he will set up a thousand-year reign in which
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: he will keep every covenant, in which he will display
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: what he can do, in which his people will reign
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: with him, in which there will be peace, in which
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: there will be no racism, No pandemics in which there
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: will be no more murders, no more evil. There will
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: be peace on this earth. Every covenant made by God
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: will be kept. And at the end of those thousand years,
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: Satan will be released and he will attempt one final coup.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: But once again, he will be defeated and he will
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  Speaker 1: be cast into an eternal fire that was created for
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: the devil and his angels. and the world will be judged,
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  Speaker 1: and the eternal kingdom of heaven will begin. So what's next?
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  Speaker 1: I'll tell you what's next. Victory is what's next. The
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: conquest of Almighty God is what's next.
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  Speaker 2: Peace and harmony.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: For the child of God, there is no reason to fear.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: There is no reason to fear. You can have security
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: about the victory. Yes, there was a crisis. Absolutely, we're
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: in the midst of confusion. But you can set your
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: heart on the coming conquest. And what happened, as described
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: in the book of Esther, is being played out right
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: now in the history of mankind. We are in the
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: era of confusion. Would anyone doubt that? We are so confused.
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  Speaker 1: People all around us have no clue why they are
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: on this earth or.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: Where they are headed.
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  Speaker 1: Ask most people and they will tell you we're on
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: a flight to nowhere. We're on a flight to nowhere.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: So you might as well have a lot of drinks
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: before the plane lands because we're.
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: Not destined anywhere.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: The invisible enemy of sin and secularism has left us
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: dazed and bewildered. Even the brightest and best thinkers on
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: our planet are absolutely clueless as to what comes next.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: We have much no how, hardly any no why. That's
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: why we're so confused. That's why we take it out
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: on each other. That's why there's such bitterness and rancor.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: That's why there's such territorialism and politicizing over everything. We're
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: down deep scared.
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: We're just scared.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: But in the midst of all the chaos and in
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: the midst of all the fear, there is a group
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: of people who has read the book. Who has acknowledged, yes,
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: there was a crisis. who is acknowledging, yes, this is
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: a time of confusion, but who is standing on the
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: firm hope that a conquest is coming because our covenant-keeping
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: God has never broken a promise. Hence the church. Hence
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: the church.
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: That's why we're here.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: To be the salt and the light. To be that
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: quorum of people who don't cave in, who don't drink
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: the Kool-Aid of fear To be that group of people
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: who behaved like that church behaved on that Sunday morning
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: in London. No one would have blamed that church had
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: they not gathered. The night before Hitler's bombing raid had
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: roared through the city all night long. That morning, that
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: Sunday morning, London was a circle of fire. Walls were shattered.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: Buildings were destroyed. Even the walls of this particular congregation
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: in downtown London were reduced to rubble. There was no roof.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: But still they came. Members arrived to find their pews
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: covered with rocks and dust. But rather than despair, you
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: know what they did?
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: They chose to worship God.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: They stood in the center of what had been their
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: building and they began to sing standing on.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: Stones.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: They sang the church's one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: She is his new creation by spirit and the word.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: From heaven he came and sought her to be his
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: holy bride. With his own blood he bought her and
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: for her life he died. Can you envision this circle
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: of brave souls? They set their faith on our unfailing God,
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: even smack dab in the center of global chaos they worshiped.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: Their song was an admonition of sorts, a declaration of
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: truth in the midst of a failing society. And that
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: song may very well have saved the life of a
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: young American reporter by the name of Ben Patterson. He
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: had arrived in London the day before. Of all days,
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: he spent the night in a hotel with a pillow
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: over his head, hearing the sirens, hearing the air raids,
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: hearing the collapsing buildings, hearing the screams of the wounded.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: He said at one point, he prayed, if this is
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: what modern civilization has brought us, then God, let me die.
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: At some point, he dozed off.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: And he awoke to the unexpected sound of a singing church.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: And he climbed out of the bed and he opened
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: his window and he looked out and he saw that
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: congregation gathered in the midst of the rubble. He later
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: wrote these words. Suddenly, I saw something in the world
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: that was untouchable. something that had endured through the millennia,
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: something that was indestructible, the spirit and life and power
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: of Jesus within his church. friends bombs are still dropped
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: walls still collapse worlds still are on edge pandemics still
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: rage but in the midst of it all guess what
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: god has his people god has his people God has
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: his people who show up, who stand up and who
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: look up. Sometimes they gather in rooms and wear masks.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: Sometimes they stay home, though they would much rather gather
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: in rooms.
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: But they come.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: They stand in the presence of God in the midst
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: of a society that's gone crazy.
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: They keep looking forward. Why?
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: Why?
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: Because they've read the end of the story.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: They know it's confusion. They're not surprised at the chaos.
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: Troubled, yes. Discouraged. Fatigued, no doubt. But they don't give up.
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: Many years ago, I attended a San Antonio Spurs basketball game.
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: It was the final game of the regular season.
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: And it was unique.
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: It was unique because the outcome of the game did
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: not matter. The Spurs had had a terrific season and
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: they had already secured their spot at the top of
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: the playoffs. They had such a lead over the second
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: place team that nobody could catch them, but they had
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: to play the game because it was on the schedule.
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: Whether they won or lost didn't matter. They couldn't lose
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: even if they lost. The game had little or no
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: interest to the sports world, but The preacher in me
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: saw a sermon illustration about to happen. Christians occupy the
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: same spot as the Spurs did.
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: You see, folks, we've already won.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: We've already won because of the death of Christ on
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: the cross and the resurrection of Christ from the tomb
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: and the guarantee of Christ to be at the throne,
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: in the throne room of God and the presence of
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit around us. We cannot lose. We are
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: guaranteed victory. No one can snatch us from our Father's hand. Yet,
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: we still have a few contests. We still have a
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: few events. The season's not quite over. So how do
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: we behave in the meantime? Well, I watched the Spurs
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: to see if they could say anything, teach me anything.
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: Here's what they did. They showed up. They played hard.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: They had a great time. And they killed the opposition.
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: Even in the post-game interview, Popovich said, I've never seen
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: them so relaxed.
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: You know, something happens when you know you're going to win.
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: You play harder. You show up. You stay strong. Friend,
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: I encourage you to do the same. In these last
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: days just show up. Play hard. Have some fun. Stay happy.
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: And be assured that the king of kings will keep
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: his covenant. And will have his conquest.
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: Amen.
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: We bless you Lord for the picture of the end
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: of times as you describe it.
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: We thank you Lord. It excites our heart.
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: We bless you, Father, that you have not trapped us
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: on an airline, on a flight that has no landing
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: or that lands in the same place it begins because, Lord,
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: we're ready to go not to nowhere but to somewhere
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: beyond anything that we could ever imagine.
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: To that day we set our hearts. Through Jesus we pray.
• 33:58
  Speaker 3: Amen.
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: Amen. You don't have to be known.
• 34:29
  Speaker 4: You don't have to stay close. As long as you're
• 34:36
  Speaker 4: somewhere out there, that's enough for me.
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: I don't need to hold you near me.
• 34:48
  Speaker 4: Don't need promises to keep.
• 34:52
  Speaker 5: Just the thought that you are breathing Somewhere in this
• 34:56
  Speaker 5: world I see Even if I'm not beside you Even
• 35:02
  Speaker 5: if you never know There's a quiet kind of comfort
• 35:08
  Speaker 5: Just in knowing you still glow.
• 35:13
  Speaker 4: I don't need forever I just need you to exist.
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: You don't have to.
• 35:24
  Speaker 3: Stay with me.
• 35:27
  Speaker 5: You don't have.
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: To feel the same.
• 35:30
  Speaker 3: Just as long as you're still out there.
• 35:34
  Speaker 5: Calling softly through my days.
• 35:37
  Speaker 4: You don't have to look my way.
• 35:40
  Speaker 5: You don't have to be my home. It's enough to
• 35:45
  Speaker 5: know you're living in a world I'm not alone.
• 35:54
  Speaker 4: I won't chase you through the distance.
• 35:57
  Speaker 5: Won't disturb your chosen life. I'll just keep you in
• 36:02
  Speaker 5: my silence like a star that shines at night.
• 36:08
  Speaker 4: Through the dark and through the blue.
• 36:15
  Speaker 5: I still think of you.
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: You don't have to be my home. It's enough to.
• 36:26
  Speaker 3: Know you're living in a world. I'm not alone.
• 37:01
  Speaker 4: I don't need to be your light.
• 37:05
  Speaker 5: I don't need to cross your mind All I need
• 37:08
  Speaker 5: is just the truth That you're somewhere.
• 37:13
  Speaker 4: Still alive.
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: You don't have to.
• 37:18
  Speaker 3: Stay with me You don't have to feel the same
• 37:23
  Speaker 3: Just as long as you're still out there Calling softly
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: through my days You don't have to look my way
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: You don't have to be my home It's enough to
• 37:38
  Speaker 3: know you're living here
• 37:43
  Speaker 5: In a world I'm not alone.