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The Key that Christ Has · Stornoway Free Church of Scotland - Sermons

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I want to extend a very warm welcome to everybody this morning and particularly any who may
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be visiting with us.
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It's nice to have you here and trust that we'll all know God's blessing and also a welcome
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to those who are joining us online.
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Just a small intimation sheet because of the holidays, so just take your time reading through
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it.
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The one thing to Mr McKeever, the minister, developed a very sore throat and has lost
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his voice, so he'll be unable to take the service this evening, so I'm going to take
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that service.
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So that's the only change that's there.
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We're going to begin singing in Psalm 146, Psalm 146, and we're going to sing, and this
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is from the Scottish Psalter, which is on page 445 and verses 1 to 7, the tune of St. Stephen.
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Praise God.
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The Lord praise, O my soul.
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I'll praise God while I live, while I have being to my God.
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In songs I'll praises give.
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Trust not in princes nor man's son, in whom there is no stay.
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His breath departs, to his earth he turns.
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That day his thoughts decay.
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O happy is that man and blessed, whom Jacob's God doth aid, whose hope upon the Lord doth
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rest, and on his God is stayed, who made the earth and heavens high, who made the swelling
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deep, and all that is within the same, who truth doth ever keep, who righteous judgment
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executes.
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For those oppressed that be, who to the hungry giveth food, God sets the prisoners free.
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Psalm 146, verses 1 to 7.
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The tune is St. Stephen.
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St. Stephen.
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Praise God.
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Praise God the Lord.
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Praise God the Lord.
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Praise O my soul.
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And praise God the Father.
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Why I have thee, into my God, in songs and praises dear.
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Trust not in Prince's Norman Son, in whom there is no fear.
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His bloody heart, whose earth he turns, the King's thoughts he came.
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O happy is that man unplest, whom Jacob's God can be.
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Whose hope upon the Lord the rest, and on his God is safe.
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Who made the earth of heaven's high, who made the swelling deep.
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And all of us within the city, who truth doth ever be.
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Her righteous judgment executes, for those so present like me.
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Where to the hungry give a good God sets the blissful tree.
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Let us pray.
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O Lord our God, as we bow in your presence today,
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we pray that we might be able to praise you with all our being, as long as we live.
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Your word tells us that the grave doesn't praise you, but in life we do.
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And so we pray that while we have the opportunity,
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that we might give you the praise and honour that is due to your name,
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for you are worthy of all praise and honour.
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Throughout an endless eternity, that's what the saints in glory do.
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And so we pray that as we live out our days here in this world,
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that we might be found as people of praise.
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And that we may be engaged in recognising your wonderful works in everything.
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We have to confess, Lord, that we do not understand you,
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or able to grasp the immensity of who you are.
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Because your ways are not our ways.
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The things that sometimes appear logical and right to us
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are not the way that you think at all.
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But you have revealed to us many of the things,
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although there are hidden things that have not been revealed to us about yourself.
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You have chosen to reveal a lot.
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And we give thanks for your word,
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which opens up to us, to our understanding,
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and through your spirit is able to teach us great things,
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so that we're able to lay hold upon more and more of just who you are,
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of the nature, the character of God.
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And so we pray that as we gather before you,
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we may seek to give you everything that we have,
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that we may lay ourselves before you.
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And we come so often, when we come under your word,
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we are reminded of what we are.
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And we look at our own lives,
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and we see so much of the failure and the sin
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that is such a blot upon who we are.
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And often when we come under your word,
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we begin to have new intentions of seeking to obey you better.
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But Lord, we know that we are so bound by sin,
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and it causes us to walk with a spiritual limp in our lives.
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But we give thanks for the forgiveness that your word promises
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when we come to you confessing your sin.
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And we pray that right now we may be able to do that,
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all of us, from the oldest to the youngest,
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that we will confess our sin within our own heart,
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knowing that you are faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
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and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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We pray, Lord, that you will open your word to us today,
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that we will hear what God the Lord will speak,
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knowing that to his folk he speaks peace.
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We pray, Lord, that you will bless us as a congregation.
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We give thanks, Lord, for the new settlement
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as Callum Murdo and Joanne have come with us and their family.
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And we give thanks, Lord, for the gifts that you have equipped them with.
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And we pray, Lord, that they will be a great blessing to us
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and we to them.
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We pray for Mr. McKeever just now,
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that you will restore him to full health and strength again soon.
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And we thank you for his ministry here
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and pray that you will uphold him and Donna and the family.
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Lord, our God, we give thanks for all your servants,
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for all who proclaim your word,
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for all who are working for you day and night.
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We remember Muriel in Cambodia.
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We commit her to you and ask that you will be with her
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and that you will help her in all the challenges that she faces day by day.
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We remember all the missionaries throughout this world.
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Some we know.
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Probably most we don't.
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But we give thanks for all the missionary agencies
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that are involved in bringing the gospel
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into all the areas of this world.
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And we give thanks for the wonderful way
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that the gospel touches hearts.
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And right throughout this world,
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there is a massive global spread of the gospel
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that the media doesn't report on.
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But we give thanks, Lord, that you know everyone
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that is calling upon your name.
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We pray to bless us here.
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We pray for the tweenies who are in with us just now
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and be with them as they make their way back to the hall.
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We give thanks, Lord,
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for all who give of their time and talent and energy
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at all the different levels.
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Although the Sunday school is on holiday just now,
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we pray for all the Sunday school teachers
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and for all who help in the creche and in the tweenies.
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And we pray for all the work that's done,
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all the youth work and all who are involved in that.
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We commit them to your care and keeping.
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Pray for our school teachers.
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And we ask, Lord, that you'll be with them at this time,
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at holiday time.
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And remember all the children.
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Watch over them.
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And we remember the work of the camps.
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And we give thanks, Lord,
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for the great work that goes on throughout the holidays.
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And pray that your protection will be known
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and that there will be a great work taking place,
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that seed will be sown and many people come to faith.
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Lord, bless us as a nation.
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We need you.
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Lord, we seem to be reeling like,
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as it says in the psalm,
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they reel and stagger like one drunk.
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But we haven't sometimes realized
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that we're at our woods end.
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O Lord, may we nationally begin to cry to you.
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That almost seems impossible.
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But we know that nothing is impossible with you.
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Have mercy upon us.
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Deliver us from ourselves,
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from our own stupidity.
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And help us, Lord, to have a focus upon yourself.
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Lord, we pray then for our leadership.
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We ask, Lord, in this time of great instability
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throughout this world,
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that a greater stability will be brought in.
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And we know that as long as people walk away from the gospel,
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and the more that they push you away,
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the more you give us up to ourselves,
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the worse things will be.
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Lord, be gracious to us, we pray.
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Bless those who are ill.
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We ask your healing hand to be upon them.
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We pray for those who mourn,
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and we remember the McLeod family in Plasterfield.
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Lord, we commit them to your care and keeping.
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And we ask for all whose hearts are sore and heavy
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because of bereavement.
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Bring in the oil of healing
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that you alone can bring into broken hearts.
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We ask, Lord, for our elderly
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and those who are coming to the end of their days.
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We pray for any who still don't know you.
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Oh, that you would turn them to yourself.
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Watch over us then, we pray,
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and grant us your grace as we wait upon you.
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And cleanse us from our every sin.
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In Jesus' name we ask it.
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Amen.
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Just a wee word to the young folk.
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And there are a few around,
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and of course we've got the tweenies here.
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We know that young people are always asking questions.
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And that's good.
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Of course, it's not just young people that ask questions.
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We all ask questions.
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It doesn't matter how old we are.
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We're always asking questions.
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But it's good to ask questions
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because it's one of the ways that we learn.
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And you know,
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God has given us many great things,
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but two of the greatest things
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that he has ever given to us.
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One is the Bible.
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And when you're in tweenies and in Sunday school,
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you learn about the Bible.
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The other great thing God has given us
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is prayer,
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where we speak to him.
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The Bible is God speaking to us.
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We speak to God in prayer.
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So taking the questions that young people,
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and I'm sure you all ask,
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with regard to life,
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but I'm going to turn these questions
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of the who and the what
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and the when and the where
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and all these things that young people always ask.
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You're always asking,
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what,
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when,
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where,
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why,
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all these things.
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So the first thing we'll say is,
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who should pray?
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Who's able to pray?
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Maybe you say to yourself,
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I'm too wee to pray.
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Oh no, you're not.
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All of you here today,
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you can all pray.
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From the youngest person
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to the oldest person,
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you're all able to pray.
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God doesn't say to anybody,
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you're too young
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or you're too old to pray.
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Isn't that wonderful?
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As soon as you're able to talk,
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you're able to pray.
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And then you say,
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what do we pray about?
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What do you pray about?
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Well, do you know what the Bible tells us?
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Everything.
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Isn't that amazing?
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Everything.
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Everything.
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Imagine if God said,
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well, you can,
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there's only a few things
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you can pray about.
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But he doesn't.
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He says,
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in everything,
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pray.
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So it doesn't matter
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how big the thing is,
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it doesn't matter
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how little the thing is,
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you can bring it to God
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and pray about it.
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And again,
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we have to ask,
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when can we pray?
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Do you know the great thing?
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Anytime.
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You can be in your bed
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and you can pray.
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You can be in here
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and you can pray.
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You can,
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during the day,
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during the night,
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anywhere,
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at any time,
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you can pray.
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That's the wonderful thing about it.
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And again,
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we ask,
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where do we pray?
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Well,
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obviously,
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we've just prayed here.
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But again,
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you can pray,
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not just at any time,
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but anywhere.
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Where?
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You can pray in tweenies,
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you can pray at home,
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you can pray in the playground,
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at nursery,
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at school,
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you can pray with your friends,
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you can pray with your family,
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you can pray in bed,
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you can pray at breakfast,
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you can pray anytime.
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And then we ask,
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why should we pray?
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Well,
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above all,
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we pray
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so that we get to know God better.
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And there's nobody better
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in the whole wide world
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that we could know
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than God.
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You ask God,
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help me,
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Lord,
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to know you better.
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And do you know something?
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The more time you spend
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with someone,
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the more you get to know
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that person.
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And the more time you spend
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speaking to God,
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the more you'll get to know.
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So remember that.
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Remember,
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as we said there,
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the who,
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the what,
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the when,
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the where,
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the why,
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about prayer.
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Because God has given us this
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anytime,
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anywhere,
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day or night,
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and we can pray about anything.
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Remember that.
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So we're now going to pray.
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We're going to pray
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the Lord's Prayer.
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Our Father,
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who art in heaven,
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hallowed be thy name.
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Thy kingdom come,
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thy will be done on earth,
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as it is in heaven.
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Give us this day
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our daily bread,
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and forgive us our debts,
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as we forgive our debtors.
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And lead us not into temptation,
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but deliver us from evil.
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For thine is the kingdom,
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power and the glory,
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forever.
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Amen.
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We're going to sing again
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in Psalm 73,
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again from the Scottish Psalter.
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Psalm 73,
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from the Scottish Psalter.
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And we're going to sing
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from verse 23,
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which we find on page 316.
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Psalm 73,
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verse 23.
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Nevertheless,
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nevertheless,
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continually,
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O Lord,
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I am with thee.
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Thou dost me hold
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by my right hand,
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and still upholdest me.
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Thou with thy counsel
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while I live,
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wilt me conduct and guide,
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and to thy glory afterward
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receive me to abide.
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Whom have I in the heavens high,
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but thee, O Lord,
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alone?
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And in the earth
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whom I desire,
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besides thee there is none.
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My flesh and heart
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doth faint and fail,
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but God doth fail me never.
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For of my heart
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God is a strength
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and portion forever.
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We're going to sing
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from verse 23
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to the end of the Psalm
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on page 316,
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Psalm 73,
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and the tune is Tiverton,
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Nevertheless,
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Continually.
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Nevertheless,
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continually,
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O Lord,
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O Lord,
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I am with thee.
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Thou dost me hold
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by my right hand,
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and still upholdest me.
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Thou with thy counsel
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while I live,
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will be called
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the God of the night,
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and to thy glory afterward
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receive me to abide.
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Whom have I in the heavens high,
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but thee, O Lord,
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O Lord,
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alone?
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And in the earth
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whom I desire,
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besides thee there is none.
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My flesh and heart
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doth faint and fail,
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but God doth fail me never.
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For of my heart
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God is the strength
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and portion forever.
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For Lord,
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For Lord,
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Lord,
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Lord,
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may thou
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that are far from thee
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forever perish,
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shall.
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Then that a-boring from thee go,
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thou hast destroyed all.
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But surely it is good for me,
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thou hast destroyed all.
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But surely it is good for me,
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that I draw near to God.
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But surely it is good for me,
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that I draw near to God.
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In God I trust that all thy words I may declare upon.
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For Lord,
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I am going to read God's word now in the book of the Revelation.
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Revelation chapter 3.
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Revelation chapter 3.
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Revelation chapter 3.
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Revelation 3.
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Revelation 3.
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From the beginning,
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And to the angel of the church in Sardis write,
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The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.
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I know your works.
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You have the reputation of being alive, but you're dead.
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Wake up and strengthen what remains and is about to die,
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for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.
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Remember then what you received and heard, keep it and repent.
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If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief,
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and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.
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Yet you have still a few names in Sardis,
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people who have not soiled their garments,
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and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.
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The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments,
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and I will never blot his name out of the book of life.
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I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.
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He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
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And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write,
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The words of the Holy One, the true one,
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who has the key of David,
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who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.
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I know your works.
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Behold, I have set before you an open door,
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which no one is able to shut.
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I know that you have but little power,
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and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
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Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan,
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who say they are Jews and are not, but lie.
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Behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet,
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and they will learn that I have loved you.
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Because you have kept my word about patient endurance,
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I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world
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to try those who dwell on the earth.
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I am coming soon.
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Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.
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The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God.
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Never shall he go out of it.
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And I will write on him the name of my God,
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and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem,
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which comes down from my God out of heaven,
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and my own new name.
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He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
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And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write,
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The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness,
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the beginning of God's creation.
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I know your works.
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You are neither cold nor hot.
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Would that you were either cold or hot.
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So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold,
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I will spit you out of my mouth.
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For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing,
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not realizing that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.
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I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire,
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so that you may be rich in white garments,
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so that you may clothe yourself,
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and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen,
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and solved to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.
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Those whom I love I reprove and discipline,
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so be zealous and repent.
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Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
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If anyone hears my voice and opens the door,
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I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
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The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne,
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as I also conquered, and sat down with my father on his throne.
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He who was an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
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Amen. And may God bless to us this reading of his own holy word.
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We're going to sing again and sing psalms this time in Psalm 118.
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Psalm 118, we sing from verses 15 to verse 24.
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And the tune is,
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Psalm 118, that's on page 156.
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Verse 15 of Psalm 118.
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Triumphant shouts of joy resound in places where the righteous dwell.
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The Lord's right hand is lifted high,
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His mighty hand does all things well.
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I shall not die, but I shall live.
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The Lord's great works I will proclaim.
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The Lord severely chastened me and rescued me from death's domain.
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Throw wide the gates of righteousness.
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I'll enter and give thanks to God.
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This is the gate of God through which the righteous come before the Lord.
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From verse 15 through to verse 24 of Psalm 118.
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Tune as we are in.
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Triumphant shouts of joy resound.
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Triumphant shouts of joy resound.
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I have found shouts of joy resound.
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In places with the righteous dwell.
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Triumphant shouts of joy resound.
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Triumphant shouts of joy resound.
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This mighty hand that's all things well.
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I shall not die, but I shall live.
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The Lord's big words I will proclaim.
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The Lord's severe, rechasing me,
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But rescued me from death's domain.
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Though wide the gates of righteousness
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I'll enter and give thanks to God.
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This is the King of God
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Through which the righteous come
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Before the Lord.
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You answered me, I will advance
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Salvation comes from you alone.
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The stone the builders had refused
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That's now beyond the cornerstone
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The true one.
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The true one.
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Who has the key of David.
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Who opens and no one will shut.
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Who shuts and no one opens.
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I suppose in the main letter writing today is largely gone.
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Letter writing used to be very much the way
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The way that we communicated with one another.
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We either phoned people or else we wrote people.
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Of course today there's so many different ways
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Of texting and messaging and getting in touch with people.
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But, and it's a shame that letter writing
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Because it was almost an art.
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And it's still nice when somebody writes a letter.
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And I'm sure we all when we get a letter we enjoy, enjoy reading it.
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Well, here we have probably the greatest letters ever written
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Because these are letters that have come from the Lord Jesus Christ.
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And they came to what is known as the letters to the seven churches in Asia.
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And the thing is that in these letters Jesus reveals to each church exactly how things are.
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Because we're always going to remember that the Lord sees completely differently
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To the way that you and I see.
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We see in the surface.
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We see what's obvious to us.
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We make assessments about how things are.
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But sometimes our assessments can be way off the mark.
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We think we know.
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But often we don't.
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And I think there's a classic example of this here.
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When we read there that the church for instance in Sardis,
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The previous church we read about at the beginning of this chapter,
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They were a church that there was no doubt that they were a church that people talked about.
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Because we see what it says.
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I know your works.
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You have a reputation of being alive.
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If people said, you know, people would be saying in that day,
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Do you know where you want to go?
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If you want to go to a vibrant church.
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If you want to go to a church where things are really happening,
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Go to Sardis.
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That was the talk.
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That's how people thought.
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That's what they thought.
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We're really alive.
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What does God say?
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No, you're not.
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You're dead.
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Isn't that quite a frightening thought?
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That a church that thought they were vibrant and alive,
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That God said, actually, you're not.
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You're dead.
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You see, God sees how it really is.
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He sees right into the heart of each one of us.
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He knows who we are, what we are.
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He knows how we interact with one another.
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He knows our motives.
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He knows what we do and why we do.
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He knows our thoughts.
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He knows everything about us.
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And so that's actually, it's a very, very solemn thing.
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So that's what God is saying of that church in Sardis,
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That they are dead.
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Just like the church in Laodicea,
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The last church in this chapter,
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Excuse me, that's spoken of.
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Again, they thought they were doing really well.
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In fact, they thought that they were doing so well
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That they didn't need anything.
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They said, you know, we're really getting on.
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We're really prospering.
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They actually say, we have need of nothing.
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God's assessment of them was the very opposite.
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He said, you know what I'd like to do?
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I'd like to spit you out of my mouth.
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That's how bad he found that church.
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And so, these things, I suppose, challenge us.
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Within a congregation or within the church calendar,
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We have what are known as quenal visitations.
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Every five years, the Presbyty will visit a congregation.
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And they will be able to kind of assess how things are going.
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And while these can be quite robust examinations,
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And they can get a fair assessment of how things are going.
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It's not a real accurate assessment like the Lord would give.
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Because the Lord is visiting us all the time.
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And he's seeing how things really are.
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He knows how we came to church today.
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He knows the attitude of heart we have.
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He knows what we think of one another.
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Do we come with things in our heart against others?
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If so, that's going to militate in our worship.
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If we come with things against someone,
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It's going to militate against us in our prayers.
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Remember what the Lord says,
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If you've got anything against someone,
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You've got to deal with that first before you pray.
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All these things are obstacles to our spiritual life.
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All these things grieve God's spirit.
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And so, it's very important that we're always examining ourselves.
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Of course, Mr. McKeever just now is doing a study on the church.
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A very in-depth, a good study.
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And one of the things we're realizing is that the church in the New Testament age,
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Of course, is the people of God.
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And so, we've got to take all these things to heart as we look at this.
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Now, Jesus, the Lord here is giving this.
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He gives a self-declaration to each church.
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And he says, excuse me, that he is the holy one and the true one.
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That means that there is no sin or deception.
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There is no hint of injustice in the Lord.
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He is altogether true.
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Everything that he is, everything that he does is perfect.
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It is true.
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It is righteous.
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It is holy.
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It is altogether right.
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Remember how Abraham said, shall not the judge of all the earth do right.
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And that's exactly what the Lord does.
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And then, he goes on to say, who has the keys of David?
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Who opens and no one will shut?
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Who shuts and no one opens?
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Now, of course, we know that keys are absolutely essential in life.
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That a key opens and a key closes.
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And that's exactly how it is.
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We're dependent upon keys.
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If, for instance, Roddy was to have lost the keys of the church this morning, which obviously he wouldn't, we wouldn't be in here today.
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It's the keys that are as important as that.
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So keys open and keys lock.
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And so we find here that, saying here, Jesus says that he has the keys of David.
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So we've got to ask ourselves, what do we understand by this?
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Well, if we go back to the Old Testament, we remember how the nation of Israel, they came to a point where they wanted to have a king.
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Just like all the other nations round about.
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And so the Lord said, okay, a king will be given.
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And, of course, you remember that the first king that was chosen was Saul.
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And although Saul had a very good beginning, he very quickly, he fell away.
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And Saul was replaced by David.
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And God said, I will give you a man after my own heart.
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My choice.
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And, of course, he gave them David, King David.
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And David and his kingdom was a kind of a symbol, a type of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Now, we read about the key of David in Isaiah chapter 22.
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Because there was a man of God there who took over from a very worldly man called Shebna.
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And it says here, and I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David.
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He shall open and none shall shut.
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And he shall shut and none shall open.
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And this key actually opened, this key opened the door to all the wealth and all the power and all the influence of the king.
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It was a very, very important key.
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It was a key that opened to all these things.
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And that's what Jesus is saying.
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He said, that's the key I have.
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I have the key to everything.
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I have the key that opens.
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In fact, Jesus, as he talks about, he's not just a key, he's a door.
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He says, I am the door.
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And so here we find that Jesus is saying, he is the key to life.
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Now, you and I know that many, many people today, in fact, we would say that everybody in life,
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is kind of looking for the meaning of life.
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What's it about?
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Where am I going?
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What's it all about?
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And so many people are striving for certain things.
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Some people say, well, you know, if I get wealth, if I get influence, if I get power,
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so many people want a wee bit of power, a wee bit of influence, a wee bit of wealth, a wee bit of popularity,
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a wee bit of, if I get this, if I get that.
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People strive for this in life.
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And, you know, these things, they cannot ultimately satisfy.
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Guaranteed, if you get wealth, you want more.
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If you get power, you want more.
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If you get influence, you want more.
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Nobody who has wealth or influence or power is ever satisfied with what they have.
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They always want more of it.
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And it's one of the hardest things where they have to give up.
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And so these things are, they're fleeting things and they're never satisfying things in and of themselves.
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Because ultimately it's not things that satisfy, but a passion.
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That's Jesus.
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And he is the key.
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He's the key to life.
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And may I say to anybody in here today who has not found that Jesus is the key to life,
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you don't know what you're missing.
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Because life, when you take Jesus, it's like turning a key and opening a door.
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All of you who are Christians, do you remember what happened when you came to faith?
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It was like, just like that.
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It was like getting a key to opening a door that ushered you into a new world.
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Where you saw things differently.
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Where you looked at things in a different way.
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There was a new perspective on life.
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Your movement came from yourself to the Lord.
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You began to see God.
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You began to see God's hand in everything.
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You began to think about yourself in relation to God.
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What can I do for God?
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How can I serve God?
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Before you became a Christian, serving God was never on your agenda.
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You never really thought about, you know, I really need to serve God.
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What can I do?
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You do.
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But when you become a Christian, you thought about it.
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And the Lord gives us a sphere of service, wherever we are, wherever we live, whatever we're doing.
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It isn't simply like, say, you say to yourself, well, I can only be a servant, give service to the Lord if I'm a minister or an office payer.
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No.
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Every Christian is giving service to the Lord wherever you are.
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In the home, at work.
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Your place is your ministry.
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It's your field of service.
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And so when you become a Christian, that's what happens.
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One of the things that happens.
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The Lord takes you into this new place where life changes in so many different ways for you.
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And so the Lord says, I've got this key, this key that opens up.
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And he opens up treasures for us that the world can never give.
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He gives us his peace.
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He gives hope.
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You know, you look out in the world today.
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There are so many people.
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And they are feeling utterly hopeless.
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There is so much despair in their heart.
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There's so much despair around.
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When we look at the uncertainty of this world.
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And with the whole war in Ukraine and climate change and the whole financial restraints that are placed upon us.
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And food is going up and energy bills and everything is going up.
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And people saying we're living in a hopeless world.
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And there's not a truth in that.
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But there's one place of hope.
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And that is in Jesus Christ.
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He gives hope.
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Because when he gives himself, he gives hope.
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That's one of the things we sang about that in Psalm 146.
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And money can't buy.
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Influence can't get you hope.
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Power can't get you hope.
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Can't get you peace.
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Can't get you the joy of the Lord.
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These things are things money can't buy.
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Influence can't get you.
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Power can't get you.
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But Jesus gives them to you free.
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Because he is the key.
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He is the key to this wealth of his own spiritual blessings and resources.
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And all of us understand that when we come to faith in Christ.
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Doesn't mean that every day we're filled with his peace and filled with his joy.
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Maybe some of you today aren't.
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But it's still there.
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And it will rise back up again.
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Maybe today you're feeling a bit down.
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Maybe today you say, I've lost the joy of the Lord.
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I don't know the peace I once had.
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These things happen sometimes.
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But they haven't been removed.
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And you'll again experience them in their fullness.
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But a key, as we know, doesn't just open.
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A key also locks.
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It closes.
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It closes.
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If you've got valuables, we often use the expression, we put them under lock and key.
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Under somewhere safe.
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So that they'll be secure.
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And when you go to bed at night, unless sometimes, what often happens, we forget to lock our doors.
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But normally, we lock our doors when we go to bed at night.
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Because we want to keep ourselves, our family, everybody safe and secure.
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And you know, that's what the Lord does as well with that key.
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When we come to him, he says, you know what?
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I'm going to lock you into myself.
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From this day on, you are the safest, most secure person in this whole wide world.
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Your world might tumble around you.
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Everybody might leave you.
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But I'm still watching you.
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Not just watching you.
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I've got you safe.
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You are as secure today as ever you will be.
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And that's one of the wonderful things.
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Not just for our days in this world and for time, but right throughout eternity.
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The Lord has you.
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As he says in John's Gospel, that he has his sheep in his hand.
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And then it mentions in the Father's hand.
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And there is no force or no grip in this world.
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There's no force in this world.
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And even supposing all the forces and powers of hell gather together.
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To try to prise open the hand of the Lord to get you out.
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It cannot happen.
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You cannot be safer.
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You cannot be more secure than in the hand of the Lord.
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Because he has locked you with that key into himself forever.
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In fact, in Revelation chapter 1, it tells us, speaks to us about the keys.
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And tells us here in verse 18 or verse 17, fear not, I am the first and the last.
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This is what Jesus says.
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And the living one, I died and behold, I am alive forevermore.
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And I have the keys of death and of hate.
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Use this awful enemy, death.
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We know what death does.
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It invades.
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It takes away those whom we love.
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It takes away family.
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It takes away friends.
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Cold hand.
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We use the expression cold hand of death.
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And there's nothing colder in all this world than death.
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It's that enemy.
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That last enemy.
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And it's something that we recoil from.
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But you know the wonderful thing is, we don't even need to be afraid of death.
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That hope that Jesus gives us is a hope that's there for death.
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Because the wonderful thing is, Jesus says, you know, see death.
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I've actually gone beforehand for you.
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I died for you.
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I went to the cross for you.
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I went and I bore your sins upon myself.
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I did all that.
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But I went under the power of death.
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I went under the power of the grave.
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I was laid into the grave.
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But you know what?
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I rose up.
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I'm the living one.
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That's what he says.
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I'm alive forever more.
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And I have conquered.
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I have the key of death.
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I've conquered it.
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I have the key of the grave.
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I have conquered it.
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Isn't that wonderful?
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Jesus is saying, I am the personal guarantee that what happened to me on that Easter morning will happen to you as well.
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And when it says that I have the keys of death and of Hades, Hades is really, sometimes it's translated as hell, but it is actually the unseen world that is beyond death.
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And that involves the grave.
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It does involve hell and it involves heaven.
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It involves, Hades is really the unseen world that takes place after and which does also involve the grave.
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And so, this is the amazing thing that we said that although Satan will do his worst and Satan will try and derail you as a Christian.
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You know, Satan, the day you become a Christian, you're a marked man in hell.
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And Satan will follow you everywhere.
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And he will try and derail you.
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He will try and spoil your enjoyment of Christianity.
47:52
He will sow seeds of doubt in your mind regarding other Christians and regarding God's promises to you.
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He will do anything and everything to keep the joy of the Lord away from you.
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He will tempt you and try you constantly.
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And he will want to ruin your witness.
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And that's why we need to pray for one another.
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Because there are forces far greater than ourselves out to destroy us every single day.
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You've got to remember that.
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So pray for yourself and pray for one another.
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And he wants to take your soul to hell.
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But you know what?
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He can't.
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He cannot.
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He cannot.
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No matter how much he tries, he cannot.
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The Lord will never, ever, ever lose one that he has saved.
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And that's a great and a wonderful thing.
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And so Jesus, who has the keys, and remember these are the keys that when he locks, nobody can open.
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And when he opens, nobody can shut.
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And that's a wonderful thing here.
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That in the whole domain of death, Jesus is Lord.
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He's in control.
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He alone knows the destiny of each soul.
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You know, people come forward.
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People come to profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, which is a wonderful thing.
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And they come before the Kirk session.
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And the Kirk session, they hear the person will say about, they'll be able to say that they love the Lord Jesus Christ.
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We want to hear that confession.
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Because it's biblical.
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We're told, confess Christ.
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Believe in the heart and confess with the mouth.
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But you know, at the end of the day, a Kirk session has no power over the destiny of any soul.
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Kirk session can only deal with what is seen outwardly.
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The Lord alone knows.
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And you know, we've always got to remember the Lord our God is merciful.
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And he is gracious.
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And he's long suffering.
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And he's slow to wrath.
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And he's not willing that any should perish.
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That's what the word says.
50:03
And what does that not give us hope?
50:05
Does that not give you hope?
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If today you are outside Christ.
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That he's not willing that any should perish.
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And today the invitation is there to you to come to him.
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He's got outstretched arms.
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He's inviting you today if you haven't got right with God.
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And he will give you this hope.
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Not only for time, but also for eternity.
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That's the wonderful thing.
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So he is Lord.
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He is Lord over death as well.
50:31
He is Lord over the destiny of the soul.
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And we've got to remember that we all one day will appear before the judgment seat of Christ.
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On that day he will be displayed in all his royal glory and grandeur.
50:47
Not as a babe of Bethlehem.
50:50
But the king immortal and all powerful.
50:54
And for those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ.
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We've said this often enough before.
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He will give them exactly what they wanted.
51:04
But it's only then that they will discover what rejection actually means.
51:10
You see rejection in this world is different to rejection forever.
51:15
Because rejection in this world the Lord is still present.
51:19
In this world his common grace is extended.
51:22
His mercy is, remember what it says,
51:25
Good unto all men is the Lord.
51:28
To everybody God is good.
51:31
But that changes at death.
51:34
That changes in hell.
51:37
And that's the solemnity of it.
51:40
When people say, surely the Lord cannot at the end of the day reject people.
51:44
Well at the end of the day the Lord only gives to people what they've chosen.
51:49
What they wanted in life.
51:51
If people say, I don't want Jesus.
51:54
Jesus at the end will say, alright, I'm going to give you what you wanted in life.
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You didn't want me.
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Here you are forever.
52:04
It's a solemn thought.
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So that's why it is so important that here in life and time that we get right with God.
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And that's what Jesus is.
52:14
I want you today, if you're still outside, to get right with me.
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And so we find that here Jesus has the keys.
52:25
And so we have the keys of death.
52:28
And keys of the grave.
52:30
And keys of heaven.
52:32
And keys of hell.
52:33
But you know for the Christian, as we think of death, which is inevitably coming.
52:39
Do you know something?
52:40
Death actually is your servant.
52:43
Death is for you.
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And you may say that's strange.
52:48
It is, in a sense.
52:51
But in 1 Corinthians, the apostle gives a list of all the things that are for the Christian.
52:58
And included in that list is death.
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That death is for you.
53:05
Death is a chariot that takes you from this world into the presence of the Lord.
53:11
So, although we know that death and the grave and these things are, we talk of the finality, and we've said it so often, the finality of the grave.
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But we've got to remember that the grave is temporary.
53:24
It's a temporary resting place for the body.
53:27
The soul has gone to glory.
53:29
The body is resting in the grave till the resurrection.
53:32
And just when the earth is filled in and the turf rolled over, it's just like going to bed at night for the body.
53:41
Because that's just like there's the blanket, there's the duvet.
53:45
Resurrection morning, it's all opened.
53:47
The body rises to be reunited with the soul.
53:51
That's hope.
53:53
There's nothing else in this world.
53:56
Does anybody else have a message other than the Lord?
54:00
So much hope as that.
54:02
No.
54:03
So today, let us hear the voice of the one who says, I've got the keys.
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I've got the keys of life.
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I've got the keys of death.
54:12
I've got the keys of the afterlife.
54:14
Come to me and put your hand in my hand.
54:18
Let's pray.
54:19
Lord our God, we pray to bless us.
54:21
And we give thanks for tying together and being able to reflect on your word.
54:25
Oh Lord, help us to hear what you say to us.
54:29
Time is short.
54:30
May we indeed put our hand in your hand.
54:33
That hand that's outstretched to us.
54:35
Take away from us our every sin we pray.
54:38
In Jesus name.
54:39
Amen.
54:40
We're going to conclude singing in Psalm 16.
54:44
And sing Psalms.
54:45
Psalm number 16.
54:47
And we're going to sing from verse 8 to the end.
54:50
The tune is Golden Hill.
54:52
Psalm 16.
54:55
Sing Psalms.
54:57
And you'll find that on page 17.
54:59
Psalm 16.
55:00
Before me constantly I set the Lord alone.
55:03
Because he is at my right hand, I'll not be overthrown.
55:07
Therefore my heart is glad.
55:09
My tongue with joy will sing.
55:11
My body too will rest secure in hope unwavering.
55:16
For you will not allow my soul in death to stay.
55:19
Nor will you leave your Holy One to see the tombs decay.
55:23
You have made known to me the path of life divine.
55:27
Bliss shall I know at your right hand.
55:29
Joy from your face will shine.
55:31
8 to the end.
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Psalm 16.
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Before me constantly.
55:40
Before me constantly I set the Lord alone.
55:52
Because he is at my right hand, I'll not be overthrown.
56:09
Therefore my heart is glad.
56:16
My tongue with joy will sing.
56:23
My body too will rest secure in hope unwavering.
56:41
For you will not allow my soul in death to stay.
56:54
Not will you leave your Holy One to see the tombs decay.
56:55
You have made known to me the path of life divine.
56:56
You have made known to me the path of life divine.
56:57
You have made known to me the path of life divine.
56:58
You have made known to me the path of life divine.
56:59
You have made known to me the path of life divine.
57:00
You have made known to me the path of life divine.
57:05
To see the tombs decay.
57:13
You have made known to me.
57:20
The path of life divine.
57:27
Blessed shall I know.
57:33
At your right hand.
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Joy from your face will shine.
57:46
Now may the grace, mercy and peace of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
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Rest and abide upon each one of you now and forevermore. Amen.
57:56
I will go to the.
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Thank you.
58:28
Thank you.
58:29
Thank you.
58:31
Thank you.
58:34
Thank you.
58:38
Thank you.
58:40
Thank you.
58:41
Thank you.