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The Two Ultimate Questions Msg 621 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: It was the Apostle Paul who wrote to the Colossians
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Speaker 1: to let the word of Christ dwell in you richly
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Speaker 1: with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms
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Speaker 1: and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your
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Speaker 1: hearts to the Lord. We have witnessed, we've experienced today
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Speaker 1: how the words of song can teach and admonish and
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Speaker 1: encourage us as we hear God's word in melodic, harmonious
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Speaker 1: fashion sung for us. As I sat and listened to
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Speaker 1: the lyrics, I thought, they are truly inspired, and it
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Speaker 1: speaks to all of us. Speaking of inspired, when we
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Speaker 1: open God's Word at any place, we have come to
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Speaker 1: writings that are inspired like no other writings. The word
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Speaker 1: that Paul uses in his letter to Timothy is God-breathed.
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Speaker 1: All Scripture is God-breathed. Theopneustos, breathed out by God. So
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Speaker 1: the writers of Holy Scriptures received, that's revelation, received the
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Speaker 1: truth from God, and then they recorded it. That's inspiration,
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Speaker 1: the truth of God without error, and then we learn
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Speaker 1: from it and that's called illumination. Revelation, inspiration, and then
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Speaker 1: we live it out having been illumined by it. So
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Speaker 1: we turn to God's inspired word in Matthew chapter 22,
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Speaker 1: which is a record of Matthew's account of the life
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Speaker 1: of Jesus. As all of you know, there were four
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Speaker 1: who wrote of Jesus' life, commonly referred to in theological
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Speaker 1: works as the evangelists. Mark was the first to write,
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Speaker 1: and he writes of Jesus as a servant. And then
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Speaker 1: Luke or Matthew, it's debatable who wrote next. Luke writes
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Speaker 1: of Jesus as man, Matthew as the king, and John
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Speaker 1: writes of him as God, as deity. So we look
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Speaker 1: into the kingly gospel when we look at Matthew, and
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Speaker 1: we're finishing this 22, 22nd chapter, beginning at verse 33
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Speaker 1: in the reading. Once you find that, please stand for
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Speaker 1: the reading of God's inspired word. Matthew 22, verse 33,
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Speaker 1: I'll be reading from the New Testament. living translation. When
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Speaker 1: the crowds heard him, they were astounded at his teaching.
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Speaker 1: But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the
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Speaker 1: Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again.
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Speaker 1: One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to
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Speaker 1: trap him with this question. Teacher, Which is the most
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Speaker 1: important commandment in the law of Moses? Jesus replied, You
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Speaker 1: must know the Lord your God with all your heart.
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Speaker 1: You must love the Lord your God with all your heart,
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Speaker 1: all your soul, and all your mind. This is the
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Speaker 1: first and greatest commandment. The second is equally important. Love
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Speaker 1: your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all the
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Speaker 1: demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments. Then,
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Speaker 1: surrounded by the Pharisees, Jesus asked them a question. What
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Speaker 1: do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?
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Speaker 1: They replied, he's the son of David. Jesus responded, Then
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Speaker 1: why does David, speaking under the inspiration of the Spirit,
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Speaker 1: call the Messiah my Lord? For David said, The Lord
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Speaker 1: said to my Lord, Sit in the place of honor
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Speaker 1: at my right hand until I humble your enemies beneath
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Speaker 1: your feet. Since David called the Messiah my Lord, How
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Speaker 1: can the Messiah be his son? No one could answer him.
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Speaker 1: And after that, no one dared to ask him any
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Speaker 1: more questions. Isn't that great? I want to go, yes!
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Speaker 1: I want to get to the end of that, yes!
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Speaker 1: A great moment, but Jesus doesn't. He lets it land
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Speaker 1: hard on their hearts. You may be seated. Bow with
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Speaker 1: me as we pray, please. We give today, our Father,
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Speaker 1: because we love you and we're learning to love you
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Speaker 1: more as we grow deeper in our understanding of who
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Speaker 1: you are and how you work in our lives. Watch
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Speaker 1: over the many who travel through this summer and protect them.
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Speaker 1: Give guidance, we pray, as we continue to walk with
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Speaker 1: you as we take your word seriously, and as we
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Speaker 1: give ourselves to you afresh and anew each morning, remembering
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Speaker 1: that your mercies are new every dawn. These are your gifts,
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Speaker 1: and we give them with gratitude. In the name of Christ,
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Speaker 1: our Savior, everyone said, Amen. The best questions in life
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Speaker 1: are not asked to be answered. They're asked to make
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Speaker 1: us think. To make us think deeply. Great questions force
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Speaker 1: us to probe deep within our own soul. And rather
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Speaker 1: than rushing around for an answer, we search the meaning
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Speaker 1: of the questions. and realize that it is examining us,
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Speaker 1: which is the best part about a great question. Socrates
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Speaker 1: was said to have been wise, not because he had
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Speaker 1: all the right answers, but because he knew how to
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Speaker 1: ask the right questions. I think back over my years
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Speaker 1: when I was privileged to have mentors that I've now
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Speaker 1: pretty much outlived and except for one who recently celebrated
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Speaker 1: his 90th birthday. And as I think back over the
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Speaker 1: best teachers in my life, most of whom have gone on,
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Speaker 1: I realized they were great mentors and great teachers, never
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Speaker 1: because they gave me the list on how they've lived
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Speaker 1: their lives and therefore I should live like they lived,
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Speaker 1: but they knew how to ask me the probing questions.
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Speaker 1: Those questions that forced me to think, to wonder, to confess,
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Speaker 1: to acknowledge. I remember sitting in the registrar's office at
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Speaker 1: Dallas Seminary on a hot summer day in 1959, it was,
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Speaker 1: I had gotten out of the Marine Corps in April,
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Speaker 1: and so I was just months out. Still had a
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Speaker 1: flat top. Didn't everybody back in 59? And I, well,
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Speaker 1: men had the flat top. And Cynthia was sitting beside
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Speaker 1: me in a beautiful white suit, and I was facing
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Speaker 1: a man who had the authority as to whether I
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Speaker 1: would be admitted or not as a student. And I
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Speaker 1: came to that meeting having completed the written exams that
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Speaker 1: were a part of that process, but I had not
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Speaker 1: had this, I would call it more of an oral
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Speaker 1: exam where we probed some things in my life and Dr.
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Speaker 1: Don Campbell was the registrar at the time. I remember
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Speaker 1: looking at me over the top of his glasses and saying,
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Speaker 1: to me making a question out of the statement Chuck
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Speaker 1: would you be happy and fulfilled doing anything other than
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Speaker 1: ministry for the rest of your life now that is
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Speaker 1: a question 1959, I was 25. Years of my life
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Speaker 1: in front of me. I had a good job in Houston,
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Speaker 1: could return to it, would experience promotions and go on
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Speaker 1: living a rather simple and secure life, fairly predictable. Or
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Speaker 1: I could enter a whole new realm, what we call
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Speaker 1: now another career, and in a world of of information
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Speaker 1: that I was not that familiar with, that I must
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Speaker 1: work hard to learn and give myself to, well, anyway,
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Speaker 1: my answer after thinking on it, I must have stared
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Speaker 1: at him blinking 15 to 20 seconds, and I said
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Speaker 1: to him, no, I wouldn't be fulfilled or happy doing
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Speaker 1: anything else. He frowned. and said, we will be in
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Speaker 1: touch with you. Okay, I thought, that's it. Really, I
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Speaker 1: had no way of knowing what the decision was. And
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Speaker 1: they accepted me on probation, praise God. I was accepted.
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Speaker 1: And I quickly became the lawn man, and that's how
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Speaker 1: I made a little money while I was a student.
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Speaker 1: And I poured myself into the studies of theology and
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Speaker 1: Greek and church history and Bible exposition and on and
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Speaker 1: on until finally by the end of that first year,
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Speaker 1: he called me back into his office and said, we're
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Speaker 1: going to keep you as a student. And I believe
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Speaker 1: I walked out with tears, grateful. He said, by the way,
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Speaker 1: if you had answered any other way back when I
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Speaker 1: asked you that question, we would never have accepted you.
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Speaker 1: I was really glad that I answered, no, I wouldn't
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Speaker 1: be happy and fulfilled. What a question. Asking a 25-year-old
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Speaker 1: young man, sitting beside his wife, no children, the whole
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Speaker 1: future stretched out in front of him, would you be
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Speaker 1: happy the rest of your life doing this? I've thought
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Speaker 1: of that question many, many times. The answer is still
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Speaker 1: the same. I'm reading right now, three days in January,
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Speaker 1: Dwight Eisenhower's final mission. In it, I found these words.
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Speaker 1: Every president is peppered with questions, problems, and decisions to
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Speaker 1: be made, but the one question Ike always asked was,
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Speaker 1: is it good for America? That's a president's question. Is
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Speaker 1: this plan I have for immigration good for America? Is
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Speaker 1: my plan for defense good for America? Is the economy
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Speaker 1: that we have underway and the arrangement of things good
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Speaker 1: for America? Is the substructure we are going to rebuild
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Speaker 1: good for America? Is the way we're going to deal
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Speaker 1: with debt good for America? On and on and on,
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Speaker 1: asking the question that must be answered. I've always loved
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Speaker 1: the title of the book. It's an old book now,
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Speaker 1: but it's a great title. If Jesus is the answer,
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Speaker 1: what are the questions? The title is designed to make
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Speaker 1: you think, not to come up with quick answers. What
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Speaker 1: are the questions? Why, if you had asked the Sadducees
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Speaker 1: in the days of Jesus, they would have had one set,
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Speaker 1: one set of questions. And they certainly asked them, and
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Speaker 1: he put them in their place. Interestingly, in the section
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Speaker 1: we're in today, I find it, that it really begins
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Speaker 1: with answers that they could not question and ends with
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Speaker 1: questions he asked that they could not answer. In both places,
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Speaker 1: they are silenced, which is the best kind of ultimate dialogue.
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Speaker 1: Because now everyone is thinking. We read in verse 33,
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Speaker 1: when the crowds heard him, they were astounded at his teaching.
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Speaker 1: Matthew 22, 33. They were astounded. But look at what
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Speaker 1: it says about the Sadducees. When the Pharisees heard that
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Speaker 1: he had silenced the Sadducees, silenced, key word, Phimoo, P-H-I-M-O-O,
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Speaker 1: the word means to muzzle, to muzzle. It literally has
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Speaker 1: in mind the idea of forcefully restricting the opening of
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Speaker 1: the mouth. It's used in 1 Corinthians 9, 9 for
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Speaker 1: muzzling the mouth of an ox. And in Mark 1, 25,
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Speaker 1: it is used by Jesus when he says to the demon,
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Speaker 1: Be quiet and come out of him. Muzzled the demon.
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Speaker 1: Muzzled the ox. In this case, Jesus' words muzzled the Sadducees.
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Speaker 1: That was a rather amazing thing. That's like muzzling a
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Speaker 1: group of politicians. I mean, they have nothing more to say.
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Speaker 1: They were the ones, you remember, who came up with
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Speaker 1: this ludicrous series or question that had a series of
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Speaker 1: what-ifs in it. This woman marries this man, he dies,
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Speaker 1: she marries his brother, and then he dies, and she
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Speaker 1: marries the next brother, and then he dies, and he
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Speaker 1: marries the next brother. Well, whose wife is she going
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Speaker 1: to be in heaven, even though they didn't believe in heaven?
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Speaker 1: It wasn't a question they wanted answered. It was a
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Speaker 1: question they wanted to stump him with, which they couldn't do.
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Speaker 1: Now that they're silent, now that they're muzzled, The Pharisees
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Speaker 1: move in with great delight. They never enjoyed the Sadducees
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Speaker 1: that much. As a matter of fact, they only had
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Speaker 1: one thing in common. Both of them despised Jesus. So
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Speaker 1: now that the Sadducees are out of the picture, the
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Speaker 1: Pharisees move in with another question. And they bring their
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Speaker 1: leading lawyer up to the front. We read of him saying,
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Speaker 1: as the expert in religious law, verse 35. And they
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Speaker 1: tried to trap him. You see the reading in verse 35?
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Speaker 1: It was purposely designed to trip him up. And they're
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Speaker 1: going to ask him, what's the greatest commandment? Thinking and
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Speaker 1: hoping that he will name one of his commands from
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Speaker 1: his own system of teaching. Knowing that there is no
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Speaker 1: greater command than the one Moses left, they're in for
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Speaker 1: a real surprise. They say to him, what is the
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Speaker 1: most important commandment in the law of Moses? Without hesitation
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Speaker 1: and with no copy of the scripture in hand, Jesus
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Speaker 1: responds from memory with the words found in Deuteronomy 6,
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Speaker 1: 4 through 9. I want you to hold your place
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Speaker 1: here and go back to Deuteronomy. Turn back to that
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Speaker 1: book of the Old Testament, and let's read what Jesus quoted.
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Speaker 1: Chapter 6, verses 4 through 9.' Hear, O Israel, the
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Speaker 1: Lord is our God, the Lord alone.' Let me interrupt
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Speaker 1: here for just a moment and say this is known
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Speaker 1: as the Shema, S-H-E-M-A. It's the verb translated hear or listen.
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Speaker 1: Hear this, Shema is the word. And when the Jews
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Speaker 1: refer to it, and by the way, every pious Jew
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Speaker 1: could quote this and would quote it twice a day.
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Speaker 1: This would be like the essential creed of Judaism. Look
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Speaker 1: at what Moses left. Listen, O Israel, the Lord is
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Speaker 1: our God, the Lord alone. By the way, I hate
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Speaker 1: to keep interrupting, but I see things that are helpful.
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Speaker 1: The Lord is one, your Bible probably reads. It's the
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Speaker 1: Hebrew word echad. Echad. You know you've said it right
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Speaker 1: when something lands on the neck of the person in
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Speaker 1: front of you. Echad. It's called a guttural. Echad. And
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Speaker 1: it means one as in a cluster. It's used for
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Speaker 1: a cluster of grapes. But in this case, it's one
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Speaker 1: as in a trinity. Father, Son, and Spirit. But you
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Speaker 1: don't see that. All you see is alone or one
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Speaker 1: when you read it in the English. Hear, O Israel,
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Speaker 1: the Lord our God is Echad. And you must love
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Speaker 1: the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul,
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Speaker 1: all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to
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Speaker 1: to these commandments that I'm giving you today. Repeat them
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Speaker 1: again and again to your children. I love this part.
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Speaker 1: Talk about them when you're at home, when you're on
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Speaker 1: the road, when you're going to bed, and when you
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Speaker 1: are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear
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Speaker 1: them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the
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Speaker 1: doorposts of your house and on your gates. And by
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Speaker 1: the way, in the homes of pious Jews to this day,
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Speaker 1: you will see those words that have been rolled up
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Speaker 1: in a handwritten scroll and placed in the little piece
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Speaker 1: at the doorway, these words from this essential creed of Judaism.
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Speaker 1: It is the most familiar and the most quoted of
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Speaker 1: all the commands, and Jesus answers it immediately off the
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Speaker 1: top of his head. No doubt he quoted it twice
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Speaker 1: a day. And I love the fact that he had
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Speaker 1: it memorized. This is the first and greatest commandment. But
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Speaker 1: it doesn't stop there. He doesn't stop there. He then
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Speaker 1: quotes Leviticus 19, 18. So go from Deuteronomy back to
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Speaker 1: Leviticus chapter 19. Some of you are staring at me.
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Speaker 1: Go back to Leviticus chapter 19 and locate verse 18.
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Speaker 1: Love your neighbor as yourself, I am the Lord. The
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Speaker 1: end of the verse reads, love your neighbor as yourself.
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Speaker 1: Out of the blue, ask the question, Jesus answers, love
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Speaker 1: God with all of your heart, all of your soul,
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Speaker 1: all of your mind. This is the first and great commandment,
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Speaker 1: and the second is equally important. Love your neighbor as yourself.
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Speaker 1: The entire law and all of the demands of the
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Speaker 1: prophets are based on these two commandments. Wow. How's that
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Speaker 1: for an answer? And it's asked spontaneously. You know, when
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Speaker 1: I study the Bible, I often put myself in the
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Speaker 1: sandals of people who lived in that ancient day, and
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Speaker 1: I ask myself, would I have been able to think
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Speaker 1: of that quickly or that incisively? Probably would not have
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Speaker 1: been able to do that. Often when you're in front
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Speaker 1: of opponents, you don't think clearly. and your head gets
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Speaker 1: a little mushy, but Jesus is not at all intimidated
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Speaker 1: by the critics. He answers immediately, you're to love the
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Speaker 1: Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind,
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Speaker 1: and love your neighbor as yourself. Perfect. Brilliant. Now, we
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Speaker 1: don't read in Matthew's gospel what the lawyer says in return.
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Speaker 1: But in Mark's gospel, we do. I won't take time
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Speaker 1: to have you look. But he tells us in Mark 12,
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Speaker 1: in verse 12, Kalos didaskale. Kalos, good didaskale, teacher. Good teacher. Now,
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Speaker 1: I'm telling you, that's amazing. Here is the critic, who
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Speaker 1: is the sharpest among their group, probing Jesus for a question,
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Speaker 1: thinking they're going to trip him. And when Jesus answers
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Speaker 1: the question, the man has to say, that's outstanding. We
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Speaker 1: would say today, right on. Superb answer, teacher. Exactly right.
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Speaker 1: You've accomplished something when you've not only given an answer
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Speaker 1: to a critic, but you've so impressed the critic with
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Speaker 1: the answer that he says to you, What a great answer. Perfect.
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Speaker 1: By the way, before you get lost in the loving
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Speaker 1: others as you love yourself, because today is a day
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Speaker 1: of all about loving self, let me warn you against that.
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Speaker 1: The whole idea is we take care of ourselves. We
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Speaker 1: certainly care about our well-being. That's a sign of a
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Speaker 1: wholesome and healthy life. But this is not about loving self.
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Speaker 1: This is about loving the Lord and loving others. Great
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Speaker 1: time for me to pause and probe you with a question.
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Speaker 1: You love God like this? Does your life reveal that
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Speaker 1: kind of God love? How about others? Others. Others. Or
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Speaker 1: if the truth were known, back here, is there a blacklist?
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Speaker 1: A group of folks that you just really wouldn't mind
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Speaker 1: if you never saw them again? Jesus says, loving God
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Speaker 1: and loving others. I think of the cross. The vertical,
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Speaker 1: loving God, and the horizontal, loving God. Loving others. We
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Speaker 1: pause in moments like this, having read what Jesus' answer is,
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Speaker 1: and we do a little soul search. It's good for us.
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Speaker 1: My question is a rhetorical question, meaning don't answer out loud.
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Speaker 1: Search your heart for the true answer. It's a good
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Speaker 1: time for me to warn you about our culture. It's disintegrating,
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Speaker 1: you notice. Now your children don't know that, so they'll
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Speaker 1: get caught up in it unless you as an adult
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Speaker 1: help them know that it's veering in the wrong direction.
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Speaker 1: Just as a garden will on its own move toward weeds,
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Speaker 1: so a culture will move away from truth. and move
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Speaker 1: into error. And before long, you'll hear it coming from
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Speaker 1: those who lead a state or lead a country. That's
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Speaker 1: why I would urge you to read, and I mentioned
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Speaker 1: it earlier, but I want to say it again, especially
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Speaker 1: to you who are parents, when you write it down
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Speaker 1: this time, The Vanishing American Adult, you need to read
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Speaker 1: that book. Ben Sasse, S-A-S-S-E, has written it. It'll really
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Speaker 1: make you think. It'll help you understand why adolescence is
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Speaker 1: prolonged into the 30s and 40s. It'll explain why we
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Speaker 1: who are adults are often shocked that those who are
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Speaker 1: younger coming along don't feel the need to be responsible
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Speaker 1: as we did when we were younger. There's a reason.
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Speaker 1: It's all part of the culture that is on a
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Speaker 1: long drift. The Bible's message is to lift you out
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Speaker 1: of us and to turn your attention toward the only
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Speaker 1: one who is worthy of ultimate love and adoration and worship.
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Speaker 1: And once that gets in place and begins to take shape,
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Speaker 1: it's amazing what it does to our relationship with others.
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Speaker 1: And we find it is easier to love others when
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Speaker 1: we love God, as is described here. What a great answer.
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Speaker 1: Love the Lord, love others. Now, Jesus has their attention.
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Speaker 1: Every once in a while I like it that little
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Speaker 1: blank spaces appear in my Bible. I like to think
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Speaker 1: that that's a pause where everybody is sitting and staring
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Speaker 1: or standing and listening. And that's such a case. So Jesus,
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Speaker 1: we read in verse 41, surrounded by the Pharisees, who
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Speaker 1: for an unusual moment are quiet, and he asked them
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Speaker 1: a question. What do you think about the Messiah? Whose
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Speaker 1: son is he? What do you think of Jesus Christ?
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Speaker 1: Or as he puts it here, he doesn't identify himself.
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Speaker 1: What do you think about Jesus or Messiah? John Chrysostom,
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Speaker 1: commenting on this question, wrote that Jesus is now quietly
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Speaker 1: leading them to the point of confessing that he is God,
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Speaker 1: but he leads them ever so carefully, watch how he
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Speaker 1: does it, with questions. What do you think of a Messiah?
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Speaker 1: Whose son is he? Look at the quick reply. He's
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Speaker 1: the son of David. They knew the genealogy. Jesus falls
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Speaker 1: in the lineage of David. So that's true. But is
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Speaker 1: that a complete answer? Is that all that should be said?
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Speaker 1: So he probes further. They say he is the son
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Speaker 1: of David. So Jesus responded with a question they wouldn't answer.
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Speaker 1: So he says, then, if he's the son of David,
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Speaker 1: now put your thinking cap on, why does David, speaking
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Speaker 1: under the inspiration of the Spirit, call the Messiah my Lord?
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Speaker 1: For David said, and he quotes from Psalm 110, verse 1,
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Speaker 1: The Lord said to my Lord, sit in the place
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Speaker 1: of honor at my right hand until I humble your
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Speaker 1: enemies beneath your feet. Please observe how he does this.
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Speaker 1: He sets them up by saying, let's go to David's words.
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Speaker 1: So we're going to quote David who wrote that psalm.
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Speaker 1: And he's speaking under the inspiration of the Spirit. So
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Speaker 1: this is God's word spoken through David or written by David.
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Speaker 1: And he calls Messiah my Lord, not my son. So
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Speaker 1: the Lord said to my Lord, sit in the place
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Speaker 1: of honor at my right hand. May I paraphrase that
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Speaker 1: so you get it a little quicker? God the Father
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Speaker 1: said to God the Son, Sit in the place of
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Speaker 1: honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies
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Speaker 1: beneath your feet. Now the clincher. Listen to Jesus' words.
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Speaker 1: Since David called the Messiah my Lord, how can the
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Speaker 1: Messiah be his son? I love moments like this. I
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Speaker 1: just watch mouths drop open. Good question, Jesus. You know
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Speaker 1: who he's really referring to? Himself, of course. And the
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Speaker 1: Pharisees are the ones who are out to prove that
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Speaker 1: he's not Messiah. And Jesus says, look at this. If
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Speaker 1: the works that I do are the works of Messiah,
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Speaker 1: if the words that I say are the words of Messiah,
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Speaker 1: if my origin is the origin of Messiah, Obviously, I
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Speaker 1: am Messiah. And remember the Psalm 110 verse 1, the
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Speaker 1: Father said to the Son, sit at my honor, the
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Speaker 1: place of honor at my right hand, till I humble
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Speaker 1: your enemies beneath your feet. By the way, do you
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Speaker 1: know when that occurred? Get this, Jesus on earth is arrested,
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Speaker 1: placed on trial. They're all illegal. He's declared guilty, not
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Speaker 1: proven guilty. He's nailed to a cross and he dies
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Speaker 1: for the sins of the world. He's taken down from
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Speaker 1: the cross and he's buried. He is resurrected from the
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Speaker 1: dead and is on earth for a brief period of
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Speaker 1: time and then he ascends and takes his place at
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Speaker 1: the right hand of God the Father. It's called the
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Speaker 1: doctrine of satiation. The doctrine of ascension is followed by
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Speaker 1: the doctrine of session. He is seated at the Father's
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Speaker 1: right hand. That's where he is right now. In visible form.
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Speaker 1: The only member of the Trinity who is visible. Learn
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Speaker 1: a little theology. It'll help straighten all of this out
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Speaker 1: in your mind. But this has not yet happened. Jesus
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Speaker 1: is quoting from a psalm that is prophetic and messianic.
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Speaker 1: but he's referring to himself and he's saying in effect,
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Speaker 1: the son of God, the son of David, yes, but
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Speaker 1: more than that, he is the son of God. That's
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Speaker 1: the answer that will do. I love the words of
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Speaker 1: one man. Here then, Jesus makes his great claim. There
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Speaker 1: would be few that day who caught anything like all
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Speaker 1: that Jesus meant. But when Jesus spoke these words, even
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Speaker 1: the densest of them felt a shiver in the presence
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Speaker 1: of the eternal mystery. Don't you love those words? They
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Speaker 1: felt a shiver in the presence of eternal mystery. They
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Speaker 1: had the odd and the uncomfortable feeling that they had
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Speaker 1: heard the voice of God. For a moment in this man, Jesus,
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Speaker 1: they glimpsed God's very face. Every Christmas, I look forward
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Speaker 1: to a particular song, not one of the familiar carols
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Speaker 1: that we've sung through the centuries, but the song, Mary,
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Speaker 1: Did You Know? Many of us would say it's probably
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Speaker 1: among our favorite of the Christmas songs. And it's an
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Speaker 1: imaginary account Of Mary with her son. And she's being
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Speaker 1: asked the great questions. Mary, did you know that the
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Speaker 1: one who redeems all of us will one day redeem you? Mary,
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Speaker 1: did you know that when you touch the face of
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Speaker 1: your baby, you touch the face of God? And it
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Speaker 1: ends with a great crescendo that he is the great
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Speaker 1: I am. And we all want to come out of
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Speaker 1: our seats at that point when that song ends. Now
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Speaker 1: I've saved all of this for this moment to tell
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Speaker 1: you that this is the place where no other word
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Speaker 1: fits but awesome. I said it. I know, I've warned
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Speaker 1: you about overusing that word. Everything is awesome. I heard
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Speaker 1: it 15 times this week from all car salesmen. You know,
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Speaker 1: people are doing insurance. People are saying the roof is awesome. Oh, brother.
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Speaker 1: And all of this is awesome. Only God is awesome.
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Speaker 1: And in this moment, Jesus is awesome, awesome. But you
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Speaker 1: know what it says? No one could answer him And
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Speaker 1: after that, no one dared ask him any more questions.
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Speaker 2: Why?
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Speaker 1: Because they wouldn't allow the truth to sink in. They
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Speaker 1: would rather follow the dictates of their carnal lives than
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Speaker 1: to surrender their souls to the only one who could
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Speaker 1: transform them from darkness to light. So they kept their
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Speaker 1: mouths shut. They let it hang. I'm not through until
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Speaker 1: I ask, what are your questions? What are yours? How
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Speaker 1: about this question? How could I have lived all this
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Speaker 1: time and never realized the importance of Jesus Christ? Sunday
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Speaker 1: morning happens, I get up, shower, dress, eat a quick breakfast, come,
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Speaker 1: see friends, take a seat, sing songs that are familiar.
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Speaker 1: But I don't know Jesus. I participate in religious activities,
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Speaker 1: but I don't know Jesus. I don't love God with
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Speaker 1: my whole heart, my whole soul.
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Speaker 2: Why?
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Speaker 1: Why? Why don't you? What is it going to take
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Speaker 1: for you to realize the importance of Jesus? Now that
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Speaker 1: this has begun to make sense to you, what's keeping
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Speaker 1: you from giving him your life? And a man in
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Speaker 1: our that I'd not met before from another city say
38:45
Speaker 1: to me, it was back in the early 80s, you
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Speaker 1: were on the radio and I listened and I heard
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Speaker 1: enough to know that I don't know Jesus and I
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Speaker 1: gave my life to Christ. Nothing thrills me like a
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Speaker 1: story that ends like that or really begins like that.
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Speaker 1: Following my telling that in our first morning service, I
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Speaker 1: had three different people tell me something similar. Their story
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Speaker 1: is different. But when they heard of what Jesus can mean,
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Speaker 1: they realized... the question is, why don't I trust him now?
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Speaker 1: Why don't you? What is it going to take? May
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Speaker 1: I rush to a place that you'd like me not
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Speaker 1: to go? Is it going to take a stroke? Is
39:51
Speaker 1: it going to take some dread disease? Some sudden loss
39:57
Speaker 1: that pushes you to the wall and you realize, I
40:00
Speaker 1: can't handle this. Why not now? Why wait till then?
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Speaker 1: One of Jesus' closest followers is named John. John was
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Speaker 1: among the disciples one of the faithful 11. And he
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Speaker 1: was on earth when Jesus died. He was standing by
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Speaker 1: Jesus' mother as they witnessed the crucifixion. Can't imagine that
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Speaker 1: awful moment. John had a place in his heart and
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Speaker 1: home for Jesus' mother. After Jesus died and later was
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Speaker 1: ascended and seated and was gone from the earth, John
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Speaker 1: went on with his life of faith. He changed from
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Speaker 1: a life of sight, walking with Christ, to a life
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Speaker 1: of faith. And he, like I, when I was set
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Speaker 1: in that room in 1959, he didn't know what the
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Speaker 1: future held. All he knew was he loved Jesus with
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Speaker 1: his whole heart. And so... He began to serve Jesus
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Speaker 1: by faith, remembering how much he had meant to him.
41:26
Speaker 1: And get this, he didn't know he was going to
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Speaker 1: be a writer, but God used him to write a
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Speaker 1: story of Jesus called the Gospel of John. That's that man.
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Speaker 1: And before John died, he wrote three small letters, first, second,
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Speaker 1: and third letters of John. And while he is exiled
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Speaker 1: on the island of Patmos, he writes the revelation of
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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. This profound book of prophecy that opens the
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Speaker 1: veil of eternity future. This is John. This simple man
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Speaker 1: who writes simple Greek, but with a heart of love
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Speaker 1: for Jesus. All of that became a part of the
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Speaker 1: New Testament. Think of that. I want to close my
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Speaker 1: message today by quoting for you a couple of lines
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Speaker 1: from John's first letter. And this is what God has testified.
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Speaker 1: He has given us eternal life. And this life, get this,
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Speaker 1: is in his son. He who has the Son has
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Speaker 1: the life. He who does not have the Son of
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Speaker 1: God does not have the life. That's as clear a
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Speaker 1: presentation of the truth as you can find in all
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Speaker 1: the Bible. You have the Son, you have the life.
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Speaker 1: You don't have the Son of God in your life,
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Speaker 1: you don't have eternal life, The life of God in
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Speaker 1: your life. Why would you want to leave in that condition?
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Speaker 1: Why would you want to live with that risk? Possibility
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Speaker 1: of dying without Jesus. If you're not absolutely certain that
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Speaker 1: you have the life, make certain now. Let's bow our heads.
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Speaker 1: Just sit right there He who has the Son has
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Speaker 1: the life. Whoever does not have the Son of God
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Speaker 1: does not have the life. Crucial question. What is it
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Speaker 1: going to take for you to have the Son of
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Speaker 1: God in your life? This is your moment. Trust in
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Speaker 1: Jesus now. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll
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Speaker 1: be rescued. You'll be secure and safe throughout life and
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Speaker 1: beyond death. You can't beat that. We can help you
44:45
Speaker 1: in this decision. We want to do that. That is
44:49
Speaker 1: why we exist. Simple prayer. Lord, I'm just lost. I'm religious,
45:00
Speaker 1: but I'm lost. I go through the motions of religion,
45:04
Speaker 1: but I don't know Jesus right now. I acknowledge I'm
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Speaker 1: a sinner, and we're distant from each other, but I
45:14
Speaker 1: thank you for the cross. And as I come to
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Speaker 1: you across the cross, I come by faith and I
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Speaker 1: trust in your son, Jesus. Thank you for coming into
45:29
Speaker 1: my life. That's it. He who has the son has
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Speaker 1: the life. We have our wonderful friends who work with
45:45
Speaker 1: those who are seeking salvation. this decision and how to
45:50
Speaker 1: do it and they just need help. They're there for
45:55
Speaker 1: you today. Come today. Thank you, Father, for giving us,
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Speaker 1: giving us your life. And thank you for providing us
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Speaker 1: with a model like Jesus to follow. Thank you for
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Speaker 1: your patience over these years. And I pray on behalf
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Speaker 1: of my friends who hear these words, who've never trusted
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Speaker 1: in Christ, that they may trust him now, today, right now,
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Speaker 1: that they might know eternal life for the rest of
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Speaker 1: their days and throughout eternity. This I pray through Jesus Christ.
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Speaker 1: Everyone said amen. Amen. Amen.
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Speaker 2: The preceding message, The Two Ultimate Questions, was copyrighted in
46:53
Speaker 2: 2017 and 2021, and the sound recording was copyrighted in
46:59
Speaker 2: 2021 by Charles R.
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Speaker 1: Swindoll, Inc.
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Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
47:06
Speaker 2: commercial use is strictly prohibited.