Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / The Way, the Truth, the Life Msg 1012 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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The Way, the Truth, the Life Msg 1012 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: We're spending these days thinking about various names of Christ,
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Speaker 1: our Lord. The one we were landing on this time
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Speaker 1: is the familiar expression of him found in the Gospel
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Speaker 1: of John chapter fourteen, where I'd like to have you
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Speaker 1: turn for just a little bit of time. It is
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Speaker 1: the title I Am, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
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Speaker 1: John fourteen is a chapter for everyone who has heart trouble.
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Speaker 1: And don't misunderstand. I don't mean the kind of heart
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Speaker 1: trouble that can be helped by a little glycerin pill
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Speaker 1: or ultimately dealt with by cardiovascin of surgery. I'm not
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Speaker 1: talking about that organ in our chest that pumps blood.
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Speaker 1: I'm talking about the inner being when it is full
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Speaker 1: of turmoil, uneasiness, uncertainty. Twice in John four Jesus says
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Speaker 1: the same thing. It is found in verse one and
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Speaker 1: also in verse twenty seven. If you have a New Testament,
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Speaker 1: look at those two verses. Let not your heart be troubled.
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Speaker 1: In verse twenty seven, peace I leave with you my peace.
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Speaker 1: I give to you, not as the world gives, do
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Speaker 1: I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled.
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Speaker 1: Trouble is from a Greek term that means to be disturbed, stirred, up, perplexed,
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Speaker 1: or the archaic word disquieted. It is used by the
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Speaker 1: Psalmist in that way, disquieted. Jesus is telling us twice
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Speaker 1: in this chapter not to let that happen, to stop it,
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Speaker 1: to keep it from going on. Now, is it a
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Speaker 1: sin to have a troubled heart? Apparently not? And I
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Speaker 1: say that because Jesus himself had a troubled heart, And
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Speaker 1: we find that in the Gospel of John chapter eleven,
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Speaker 1: verse thirty three, where he admits to such. John eleven
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Speaker 1: thirty three. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping and the
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Speaker 1: Jews who came with her also weeping, he was deeply
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Speaker 1: moved in his spirit and was troubled, same word as
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Speaker 1: in John fourteen. Jesus was troubled. Chapter twelve, verse twenty seven,
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Speaker 1: another verse that refers to the same My soul says,
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Speaker 1: Jesus has become troubled. And what shall I say? Father
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Speaker 1: saved me from this hour, but for this purpose I
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Speaker 1: came to this hour. And again Chapter thirteen, verse twenty one,
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Speaker 1: same word used with reference to our Lord. When Jesus
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Speaker 1: had said this, he became troubled in his spirit, and
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Speaker 1: testified and said, truly, truly, I say to you that
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Speaker 1: one of you will betray me. Now, if the trouble
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Speaker 1: in our heart tends to make us worried, then the
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Speaker 1: worry can become a sin. But it is not a
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Speaker 1: sign of sin to churn inside. Jesus himself churned. He
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Speaker 1: himself had feelings of uneasiness and unrest and disquiet. Not
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Speaker 1: every moment of his life was spent in inner tranquility.
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Speaker 1: There were times he was uneasy. It's a very common experience,
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Speaker 1: this troubled heart condition. Now, Jesus, in chapter fourteen of
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Speaker 1: the Gospel of John, talks to some people about that
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Speaker 1: not happening in their lives. When was this spoken? When
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Speaker 1: did he say these things? Well, you're in chapter thirteen,
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Speaker 1: verse thirty three, he tells these men who are sitting
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Speaker 1: with him at that last meal they were to have together.
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Speaker 1: I am with you a little while longer you shall
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Speaker 1: seek me. And as I said to the Jews where
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Speaker 1: I am going, you cannot come. Now, I say to
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Speaker 1: you also. So he said these words that appear in
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Speaker 1: chapter fourteen to the men he had just told he
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Speaker 1: was going to be leaving, He's going to die. They
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Speaker 1: will not be able to go with him where he
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Speaker 1: is going. Verse thirty eight. He even says, will you
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Speaker 1: lay down your life for me? Truly? I say to you,
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Speaker 1: a cock shall not crow until you deny me. Three
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Speaker 1: times he has just said to the same group of men,
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Speaker 1: one of you is going to deny me. In fact,
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Speaker 1: it will happen soon than you realize. So they're troubled.
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Speaker 1: He has been with them all along throughout his ministry,
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Speaker 1: and now he suddenly drops on them the fact that
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Speaker 1: he won't be with them forever. He's going to leave
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Speaker 1: them to make matters worse, they won't be able to
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Speaker 1: go with him, and adding insult to injury, one of them,
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Speaker 1: in fact, is going to deny him. That's enough to
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Speaker 1: make anybody trouble. So Jesus says to them in verse one,
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Speaker 1: chapter fourteen, unfortunate chapter break. It ought to flow right
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Speaker 1: together with verse chapter thirteen. Let not your heart be troubled.
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Speaker 1: Now the you're you can't see it in English, but
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Speaker 1: it's in it's plural. Let not y'all's heart be troubled.
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Speaker 1: That's what he's saying. I don't want y'all's hearts to
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Speaker 1: be troubled. I mean all of you, not just one
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Speaker 1: of you. Don't look around and find the one that's
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Speaker 1: going to deny me and then make his heart troubled.
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Speaker 1: It's not a single thing. I don't want any of
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Speaker 1: you to have a troubled heart over this. To whom
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Speaker 1: was it spoken? Well? These are the eleven disciples who
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Speaker 1: were still at the Lord's table with him after Judas
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Speaker 1: has left. These are the final faithful eleven, the man
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Speaker 1: who said they'd be with him to the end. He
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Speaker 1: encouraged them to keep on believing in him. He said,
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Speaker 1: you believe in God, keep on believing in me present tense,
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Speaker 1: keep on doing this. You believed in me before I
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Speaker 1: told you I was leaving. Keep on believing me now
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Speaker 1: that I tell you I'm going, keep on believing in me.
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Speaker 1: And then, without a break in his thought, he describes
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Speaker 1: to them some wonderful events that are yet future. Many
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Speaker 1: of us know these verses by heart, but we didn't
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Speaker 1: know quite where they were found, or we remember the
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Speaker 1: thought of them, the idea of them. In my father's
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Speaker 1: house are many dwelling places. If it were not so,
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Speaker 1: I would have told you, for I go to prepare
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Speaker 1: a place for you. I may die but I am
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Speaker 1: going to live on, So don't let your heart be troubled.
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Speaker 1: You may be left, but I'm preparing a place for you,
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Speaker 1: So don't let your heart be troubled. One of you
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Speaker 1: may deny me, but not one of you will miss
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Speaker 1: my return. I'm going to leave, and I'm going to
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Speaker 1: prepare a place for you. And if I go and
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Speaker 1: prepare a place for you, I will come again and
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Speaker 1: receive you to myself. That where I am there you
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Speaker 1: may be also. I got a great thought as I
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Speaker 1: was reading that this past week, during the interval of
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Speaker 1: time between our Lord's departure and our Lord's return, he
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Speaker 1: is involved in two projects. Two projects, one to prepare
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Speaker 1: a place for his children, and two to prepare his
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Speaker 1: children for a place, two projects. He is engaged right
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Speaker 1: now in preparing heaven for his own. That's what's happening
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Speaker 1: in heaven away from our sight. But on this earth
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Speaker 1: he is also engaged in preparing us for that place.
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Speaker 1: In other parts of the New Testament, we read that
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Speaker 1: he will present us faultless before the presence of his glory,
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Speaker 1: with exceeding joy. It won't be the kind of thing
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Speaker 1: where when we get to the portal of heaven. He
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Speaker 1: will look at us and wonder if we were sincere,
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Speaker 1: or if we were good enough, or if somehow we
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Speaker 1: measure up to spending eternity with him. Now not at
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Speaker 1: that time. All of those things are dealt with while
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Speaker 1: we're on this earth, while preparing for us a place
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Speaker 1: in heaven. He is working on us on this earth
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Speaker 1: to prepare us for that spot. I would love to
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Speaker 1: tell you that it's a mansion, but it isn't. One
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Speaker 1: person renders it an apartment, and I know that takes
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Speaker 1: a lot of the joy out of the thought of heaven.
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Speaker 1: Having spent a few days or years, as all of
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Speaker 1: us have, in apartments, and maybe some of you to
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Speaker 1: this day still there, you can't imagine having to spend
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Speaker 1: eternity simply. It means a place of dwelling, a residence.
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Speaker 1: In ancient Eastern lands and still to this day in
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Speaker 1: the Orient, families that grew and even married still lived
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Speaker 1: under the roof of the father. The roof was just
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Speaker 1: extended and rooms were added on, so that you lived
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Speaker 1: with the father and the mother and the family. That's
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Speaker 1: the same thought here. I'm going to expand for the
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Speaker 1: father's house. I'm going to enlarge the roof. I'm going
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Speaker 1: to add the rooms, and while we are there in
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Speaker 1: the building project, we will have you in mine. You
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Speaker 1: have nothing to be worried about, nothing to be troubled over.
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Speaker 1: I shall take you along with me to my home
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Speaker 1: verse four. You know the way, and you know where
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Speaker 1: I am going. And that was about as long as
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Speaker 1: Thomas could sit on his hands, and he stopped him
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Speaker 1: and said to him at that point, Lord, we do
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Speaker 1: not know where you are going, and how do we
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Speaker 1: know the way? You know? This tells me a whole
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Speaker 1: lot about the relationship Jesus head with his men. It
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Speaker 1: wasn't an intimidate inaccessible relationship. It was a very close
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Speaker 1: personal one. They were able to stop him in mid sentence.
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Speaker 1: They were able even to challenge what he said. It
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Speaker 1: is an honest statement. Lord. You may think we know
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Speaker 1: where you're going, and you may think we know the way.
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Speaker 1: Neither is true. Now just a minute, can you remember
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Speaker 1: a time when you had a troubled heart and you
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Speaker 1: couldn't remember even the basic facts about life. I have
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Speaker 1: been on accident scenes as many of you have, and
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Speaker 1: I have in the panic or in the shock of
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Speaker 1: the accident kind of lost my senses and not really
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Speaker 1: thought logically and clearly about what I knew would be
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Speaker 1: the right things to do. In another moment of time,
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Speaker 1: I might have been clear headed and been able to
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Speaker 1: go through it very logically. But because of the panic
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Speaker 1: of the hour, I kind of got miswired, and I
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Speaker 1: forgot a lot of basic things that seems to have
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Speaker 1: happened to Thomas. I say that not in defense of him,
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Speaker 1: but because it's true of human nature. And Jesus knows that.
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Speaker 1: That's why Jesus never rebukes Thomas here or elsewhere. He
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Speaker 1: realizes that Thomas, in the panic of thought, that my
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Speaker 1: Lord is going to leave, He's going to die, and
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Speaker 1: we're not going to see him again. In the swirl
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Speaker 1: of all that, Thomas lost for a moment his logic.
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Speaker 1: We don't know where you're going, How can you expect
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Speaker 1: us to know the way? And very graciously Jesus gives
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Speaker 1: him the statement that becomes one of his great titles,
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Speaker 1: perhaps the most comprehensive of all. As he looks at
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Speaker 1: Thomas and he says to him, I am the Way
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Speaker 1: and the truth and the life. No one comes to
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Speaker 1: the Father but through me. Let's spend a few moments
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Speaker 1: sort of analyzing that name. Okay, I am the way.
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Speaker 1: The original term means a road or a path. Hidden
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Speaker 1: within it is the idea of a journey going from
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Speaker 1: one point to another in one's travel. I don't know
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Speaker 1: if you have read John Bunyan's Immortal Pilgrim's Progress, but
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Speaker 1: you really should not only read it, but you should
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Speaker 1: reread it. I suggest that you read it about once
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Speaker 1: every three, four or five years. Pilgrim's Progress. Though it
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Speaker 1: is an old, old work, it stands among the top
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Speaker 1: ten books I've ever read. This is my third copy.
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Speaker 1: I read it rather regularly. This one is a very
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Speaker 1: treasured one. It has some wonderful illustrations and its beautiful artwork,
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Speaker 1: but that's not important. What is important is the message.
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Speaker 1: Allow me, for a few moments to describe, in the
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Speaker 1: words of Bunyan, the thought of the way. Just listen.
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Speaker 1: As I walked through the wilderness of the world, I
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Speaker 1: lighted on a certain place where was a den, and
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Speaker 1: I laid me down in that place to sleep. And
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Speaker 1: as I slept, I dreamed a dream. I dreamed, and behold,
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Speaker 1: I saw a man clothed with rags, standing in a
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Speaker 1: certain place, with his face from his own house, a
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Speaker 1: book in his hand, and a great burden upon his back.
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Speaker 1: I looked, and I saw him open the book and
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Speaker 1: read therein, And as he read he wept and trembled, and,
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Speaker 1: not being able longer to contain, he'd break out with
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Speaker 1: a lamentable cry, saying what shall I do? In his flight?
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Speaker 1: Therefore he went home and refrained himself as long as
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Speaker 1: he could, that his wife and children should not perceive
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Speaker 1: his distress. But he could not be silent long because
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Speaker 1: that his trouble increased. Wherefore, at length he brake his
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Speaker 1: mind to his wife and children, and thus he began
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Speaker 1: to talk to them. Oh, my dear wife, said he,
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Speaker 1: and you the children of my bowels, I, your dear friend,
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Speaker 1: am in myself undone by reason of a burden that
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Speaker 1: lieth upon me. I am. I am for certain informed
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Speaker 1: that our city will be burned with fire from heaven,
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Speaker 1: and which fearful overthrow both myself with thee my wife,
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Speaker 1: and my sweet babes shall miserably come to ruin. At
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Speaker 1: this his relations were sore amazed, and he describes their reaction. Now,
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Speaker 1: I saw upon a time, when he was walking in
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Speaker 1: the fields, that he was as he was wont reading
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Speaker 1: in his book and greatly distressed in his mind, And
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Speaker 1: as he read, he burst out, as he had done before, crying,
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Speaker 1: what shall I do to be saved? I saw also
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Speaker 1: that he looked this way and that way, as if
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Speaker 1: he would run. Yet he stood still, because, as I perceived,
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Speaker 1: he could not tell which way to go. I looked then,
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Speaker 1: and I saw a man named Evangelist coming to him,
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Speaker 1: who asked, wherefore dost thou cry? He answered, Sir, I
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Speaker 1: perceive by the book in my hand, that I am
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Speaker 1: condemned to die, and after that to come to judgment.
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Speaker 1: And I find that I am not willing to do
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Speaker 1: the first, nor able to do the second. Then said evangelist.
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Speaker 1: Why not willing to die, since this life is attended
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Speaker 1: with so many evils? The man answered, because I fear
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Speaker 1: that this burden that is upon my back will sink
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Speaker 1: me lower than the grave, and I shall fall. And Sir,
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Speaker 1: if I be not fit to go to prison, I
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Speaker 1: am not fit. I am sure to go to judgment.
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Speaker 1: Then the evangelist then said evangelist, if this be thy condition,
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Speaker 1: why standest thou still? He answered, because I know not
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Speaker 1: whither to go. Then he gave me a that he
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Speaker 1: gave him a parchment roll, and there was written within
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Speaker 1: flee from the wrath to come. And then he begins
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Speaker 1: his journey. He begins his trip, his attempt to find
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Speaker 1: the living God, the way to God, the wonderful, wonderful allegory,
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Speaker 1: And maybe my reading a few lines of it will
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Speaker 1: encourage you to read it yourself. Jesus is saying, I
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Speaker 1: am the Way. I am the Road. I am the
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Speaker 1: path from earth and all your sinfulness to the Father
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Speaker 1: and the glories of Heaven. Have you been haunted as
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Speaker 1: I have been? By a proverb Proverbs fourteen twelve. There
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Speaker 1: is a way that seems right to a man, but
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Speaker 1: the end thereof are the ways of death. Philo called
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Speaker 1: philosophy the Royal way. Confucius called his teaching Tao the Way.
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Speaker 1: Jesus said, I am the Way. And did you know something?
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Speaker 1: His followers came to be known as people of the Way.
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Speaker 1: Did you know that? I find that over in the
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Speaker 1: Book of Acts. If you'll turn from John to the
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Speaker 1: next book, Acts chapter nine, and also Acts nineteen, you'll
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Speaker 1: see two references to the to the title that the
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Speaker 1: people picked up from Jesus' own words Acts nine, Verses
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Speaker 1: one and two, Saul, still breathing threats and murder against
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Speaker 1: the disciples of the Lord, went to the high Priest
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Speaker 1: and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus,
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Speaker 1: so that if he found any belonging to the Way,
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Speaker 1: look at that, both men and women, he might bring
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Speaker 1: them bound to Jerusalem. Here is a man on his
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Speaker 1: way to persecute Christians, and he asks for endorsements from authorities,
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Speaker 1: so that if he finds anyone who is a follower
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Speaker 1: of the Way, he could take him to prison. Over
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Speaker 1: In chapter nineteen of the same book, verses eight and nine,
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Speaker 1: referring again to Paul, he entered the synagogue and continued
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Speaker 1: speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them
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Speaker 1: about the King of God. And when some were becoming
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Speaker 1: hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way, there it
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Speaker 1: is again before the multitude, he withdrew from them and
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Speaker 1: took away the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.
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Speaker 1: And he moves away from that group that was resisting
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Speaker 1: his teaching one more time Verse twenty one, same chapter. Now,
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Speaker 1: after these things were finished, Paul purposed in the spirit
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Speaker 1: to go to Jerusalem after he had passed through Macedonia
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Speaker 1: and Akeaia, saying, after I had been there, I also
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Speaker 1: must see Rome. And having sent into Macedonia two of
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Speaker 1: those who ministered to him, Timothy and Erastus, he himself
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Speaker 1: stayed in Asia for a while. Well, those are great verses,
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Speaker 1: but they're not the ones I needed, are they? Twenty
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Speaker 1: one to twenty three? There twenty three, that's the one
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Speaker 1: I want. And about that time there arose no small
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Speaker 1: disturbance concerning the way that was there. Nothing's worse than
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Speaker 1: reading along knowing you're not finding what you're looking for.
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Speaker 1: Acts nineteen twenty three. People who were people of the way.
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Speaker 1: There was no small disturbance concerning the way. Jesus said,
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Speaker 1: I am the way the way. Let's imagine you and
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Speaker 1: I have a friend who doesn't know the city of
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Speaker 1: Los Angeles, and let's say our friend contacts us by
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Speaker 1: telephone and says, I'm coming. What I really want to
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Speaker 1: see in the evening around sundown is a concert at
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Speaker 1: the Hollywood Bowl. But since I'm getting there early in
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Speaker 1: the morning, I'd like to be able to see some
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Speaker 1: of the sites and to go to some of the
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Speaker 1: familiar haunts of your famous city. And we have three
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Speaker 1: options in helping our friend. We can over the phone
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Speaker 1: tell them tell him how to find his way around
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Speaker 1: the city and on to the Hollywood Bowl. By that evening,
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Speaker 1: we can tell them where did it go and how
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Speaker 1: to find their way from here to there. Or the
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Speaker 1: second thing we can do is send them a map
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Speaker 1: and we can circle in yellow and a little pathway
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Speaker 1: how to get from here to there, and what freeway
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Speaker 1: to take, and how long this will occur, this will
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Speaker 1: take you, et cetera, et cetera. Or we can say
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Speaker 1: you anticipate, tell you what. I'll meet you at the
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Speaker 1: plane and I'll spend the day with you, and you
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Speaker 1: stay with me. As long as you're with me, you
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Speaker 1: won't get lost. I'll take you through the city, and
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Speaker 1: as much time as we have, i'll show you as
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Speaker 1: much as I can show you. But by sundown, I
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Speaker 1: promise you we'll be at the Hollywood Bow. At that
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Speaker 1: moment you become the way. You don't tell them how
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Speaker 1: to do it. You don't send him a map that
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Speaker 1: shows them a path to follow. You say, stick with me,
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Speaker 1: and as long as you're with me, you'll be in
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Speaker 1: touch with the way. That's what Jesus is saying. Jesus
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Speaker 1: didn't hand out maps. Jesus didn't simply talk about the journey.
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Speaker 1: He said to those men, don't let your heart be troubled.
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Speaker 1: I represent the way to God. And what Jesus promised
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Speaker 1: in the first century is still true today. Don't miss
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Speaker 1: the definite article the way. Proverbs fourteen twelve Sarah says,
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Speaker 1: there is a way that seems right, but the end
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Speaker 1: thereof are the ways of death. Jesus doesn't say I
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Speaker 1: am away among many. He says, I am definite article
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Speaker 1: the way. You want to know how to get there,
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Speaker 1: you have to know me. Second, I am the truth.
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Speaker 1: Merrill Tinney has called truth the scarcest commodity in the
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Speaker 1: whole world. I agree. I think it is more scarce
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Speaker 1: than peace. I know it's more scarce than hope. It
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Speaker 1: is the scarcest commodity in the whole world. He continues.
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Speaker 1: Truth is neither an abstract system of integrated propositions, nor
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Speaker 1: is it an impersonal ethic contained in many rules. It
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Speaker 1: is both the reality and the ethic expressed in a person.
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Speaker 1: Truth is a person. Another man says, it means that
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Speaker 1: Jesus is fidelity incarnate that we can completely and unhesitatingly
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Speaker 1: and without reservation rely on him. I don't know of
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Speaker 1: a search that has lasted longer through time. I am
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Speaker 1: and produce more incorrect answers than the search for truth.
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Speaker 1: I don't know of one. Books across the country and
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Speaker 1: around the world, books of philosophy that search search search
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Speaker 1: for truth often end in questions or more books and
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Speaker 1: more suggested routes to find the answer. Jesus says, just
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Speaker 1: as I am the path are the road to God,
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Speaker 1: I am also the truth fidelity incarnate. I am the
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Speaker 1: end of the search. You know, you can be so
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Speaker 1: close to it and not know you have it in
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Speaker 1: your grasp. You want to know the classic example of that,
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Speaker 1: John nineteen. I thought of it when one of the
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Speaker 1: fellows talked about playing the part of ponscious Pilot. I thought,
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Speaker 1: perfect illustration of what I'm getting at John nineteen thirty
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Speaker 1: seven and thirty eight. What's the matter with me tonight?
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Speaker 1: I've got all these wrong verses? Where is this thing?
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Speaker 1: This is a wonderful moment, isn't it. Anyway? There was
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Speaker 1: that moment when Pilot was standing in front of the
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Speaker 1: Lord Jesus, and he has put him on trial, and
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Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus has presented himself to Pilot. Thank you.
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Speaker 1: I knew if I talked long enough, you would bail
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Speaker 1: me out, John John eighteen Is it thirty seven and
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Speaker 1: thirty eight? Why don't you come finish the talk that
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Speaker 1: would be agreed John eighteen thirty seven? Thank you, Pilot
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Speaker 1: said to him, So you are a king, Jesus answered,
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Speaker 1: you say correctly that I am a king. For this
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Speaker 1: I have been born, and for this I have come
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Speaker 1: into the world to bear witness to the truth. Look
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Speaker 1: at that. He drops that bait. He was a master
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Speaker 1: at that, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who
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Speaker 1: is of the truth hears my voice, Pilot gasps, what
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Speaker 1: is truth? Here is an educated Roman, antisemitic to the core,
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Speaker 1: who throws his hands up in the middle of the
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Speaker 1: trial and walks across the court room and says, what
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Speaker 1: is truth? I've heard that all my life. I mean,
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Speaker 1: he was invisible touch with the truth. And he asks,
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Speaker 1: what's that all about? Education? Isn't the secret of finding
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Speaker 1: the truth? As good as education may be, and as
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Speaker 1: necessary as it may be to find fulfillment in your life?
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Speaker 1: And in mind. But it is faith in the Lord
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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth, the truth. The search
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Speaker 1: ends pilot with me. Jesus is at one and the
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Speaker 1: same time, the incarnation of fidelity, the revelation of reality.
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Speaker 1: He is the pattern of goodness and perfection stops searching.
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Speaker 1: When you come to him, you found the truth. Back
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Speaker 1: to John fourteen, I am the life. Life is the
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Speaker 1: dynamic that makes attainment possible. Life is the principle of
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Speaker 1: spiritual vitality. It originates with God, It flows through Christ,
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Speaker 1: and it lifts us out of our sin and places
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Speaker 1: us on a plane of relationship. It is divine vitality.
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Speaker 1: Christianity is not a system of philosophy. Christianity is not
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Speaker 1: a ritual of rules and regulations. It is not a
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Speaker 1: code of laws and ethics and demands. It is the
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Speaker 1: impartation of life. It is one who originates life, giving
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Speaker 1: it to one who has no life in himself, so
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Speaker 1: that new life is begun and it never dies. Jesus says,
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Speaker 1: I am the source of that dynamic. You want to
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Speaker 1: have life, You want to have dynamic, you want to
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Speaker 1: have reason to go on. I am able to impart that.
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Speaker 1: See how he concludes the statement, I am the Way,
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Speaker 1: the Truth, the Life. No one, not even you put
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Speaker 1: your name there, comes to the Father, but through me.
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Speaker 1: We Christians who believe that Christ is the only way
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Speaker 1: to God are often criticized, and I think at times
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Speaker 1: misunderstood by those who reject the Savior, because we are
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Speaker 1: told that's arrogance to make a statement like that. I mean,
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Speaker 1: how arrogant can you be to look the world in
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Speaker 1: the eye and say, to cultures and languages and peoples
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Speaker 1: all around this globe, in order to have eternal life
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Speaker 1: with God, you must know Jesus Christ. And I shrug
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Speaker 1: and say, then, what else does John fourteen six mean?
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Speaker 1: If it doesn't mean that, what else gives me the
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Speaker 1: mandate to take the message of the Savior to the world.
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Speaker 1: If that message isn't true, I have no other. I
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Speaker 1: do not care how morally good, or how upright, or
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Speaker 1: how pure of motive one may be. Without the knowledge
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Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ in the life, that person will not
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Speaker 1: go to heaven. Jesus said, no one comes to the Father,
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Speaker 1: but through me. He said it, he is the Way,
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Speaker 1: the Truth, the Life. I see three things that this
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Speaker 1: does for me with my troubled heart. When I read
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Speaker 1: in the context of where the name appears, I see,
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Speaker 1: first of all, this name relieves my fear, my fear
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Speaker 1: of getting lost, because he is the way I remember
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Speaker 1: as a little boy, And I think most of us
32:48
Speaker 1: have stories like this. In fact, I was reminded of it.
32:52
Speaker 1: Last evening. Cynthia and I were out at South Coast Plaza,
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Speaker 1: enjoying a rare date together, just relaxed time of of
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Speaker 1: roaming through the mall and enjoying a meal together. And
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Speaker 1: then a little later in the evening, driving home, slowly
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Speaker 1: talking about our lives and our future. And while we
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Speaker 1: were at the mall, we saw a little girl, it
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Speaker 1: must not have been more than three or four years old,
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Speaker 1: and she was walking toward the six or eight doors
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Speaker 1: that open to the outside, and there was no adult around.
33:26
Speaker 1: She wandered in a little flower shop, and no one
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Speaker 1: was there to hold her hand, and we became troubled
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Speaker 1: for her. And then she left there and went into
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Speaker 1: the little restaurant and walked among the tables, and I
33:38
Speaker 1: got real antsy, especially in a day when kidnapping occurs
33:42
Speaker 1: so readily and quickly, And so we stood near and
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Speaker 1: by and bye the little child realized she was lost,
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Speaker 1: and I did an instant replay in my mind to
33:59
Speaker 1: when I was a little boy and my mother had
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Speaker 1: told me, stay here, don't leave the toy counter. I'm
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Speaker 1: gonna make a little quick trip. So and so stay here,
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Speaker 1: stay here, don't leave. Being a slow learner, she had
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Speaker 1: to say that over and over and over again. So
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Speaker 1: I decided I was saying. But I got bored in
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Speaker 1: about eight or ten minutes and she didn't come back.
34:23
Speaker 1: So I remember taking the escalator down and walking outside
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Speaker 1: and the street was busy. It was downtown Houston, and
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Speaker 1: the honking of cars and the movement of people, and
34:35
Speaker 1: before long I was a block or two away and
34:38
Speaker 1: lights looked strangely confusing in a blur of people, and
34:42
Speaker 1: I burst into tears. I was lost. It's a terrible feeling.
34:50
Speaker 1: And unlike that little child whose mother did find her
34:53
Speaker 1: in about three or four minutes, I didn't connect for
34:55
Speaker 1: about an hour. That's a long time. There is nothing
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Speaker 1: like the fear of being lost. But I'm going to
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Speaker 1: tell you something worse than a child being lost, and
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Speaker 1: that's realizing as an adult you're lost and you don't
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Speaker 1: know the way home home, to heaven and death comes
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Speaker 1: dangerously near, and you can't get away from the fact.
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Speaker 1: You need something to relieve that fear. You need Jesus Christ.
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Speaker 1: He is the way. If you have him, you never lost,
35:32
Speaker 1: not a wonderful thought. Never you die at age twenty five.
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Speaker 1: You don't die lost. You live to one hundred. You
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Speaker 1: don't die lost. You have direction, you have purpose, and
35:44
Speaker 1: it relieves the fear of being or getting lost. It's
35:49
Speaker 1: a wonderful relief to troubled hearts. The second, this name
35:55
Speaker 1: removes my need to continue the search. I don't have
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Speaker 1: to keep looking for the answer, or trying to find
36:05
Speaker 1: the solution, or coming to the place where it ends
36:09
Speaker 1: with an exclamation point rather than a question mark. I've
36:14
Speaker 1: been trained by some awfully fine men and women, and
36:17
Speaker 1: you have two, and I have sat at their feet
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Speaker 1: and learned from them. Many of them, however, did not
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Speaker 1: know the end of the journey, and only taught me
36:27
Speaker 1: to think or to ask more questions. How seldom those
36:33
Speaker 1: in academia bring you to the truth. The truth. Jesus
36:40
Speaker 1: does that. He removes our need for further search of
36:46
Speaker 1: the truth. He is that. Third, his name reinforces my
36:52
Speaker 1: hope for a home in heaven. He reinforces my hope
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Speaker 1: for a home in heaven. He is the life. Do
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Speaker 1: you know him? Do you really know this person, Jesus Christ,
37:18
Speaker 1: Can you honestly say when you walk out into the
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Speaker 1: dark night that you know the way, that you have
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Speaker 1: the truth and you're in the light, You're in the life.
37:30
Speaker 1: You've got that set and sure, let's take care of that.
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Speaker 1: Let's bow for just a few moments. I want you
37:50
Speaker 1: to do a little reflecting on the road you're taking.
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Speaker 1: Is it one of many roads or is it the road?
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Speaker 1: Is it a road that you hope will lead to
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Speaker 1: the right destination? Or is it the path of eternal life,
38:08
Speaker 1: the one that leads, in the words of Bunyan, to
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Speaker 1: the wicked gate, to that narrow way that leads to
38:17
Speaker 1: the celestial city. Have you found the truth? Have you
38:25
Speaker 1: embraced the truth, really put your heart into it, your
38:32
Speaker 1: trust upon it. Do you have the life? I know
38:40
Speaker 1: you have earthly life, But do you have the dynamic
38:44
Speaker 1: that will that will transfer you from time to eternity,
38:48
Speaker 1: that part that never dies? All three are answered in
38:54
Speaker 1: the same person, Jesus Christ, who's his death was a
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Speaker 1: sufficient payment for sin, whose offer is everlasting. Our Father,
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Speaker 1: we this moment acknowledge that your son is our Lord
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Speaker 1: and Savior. We thank you for his wonderful, eternal presence.
39:26
Speaker 1: We thank you for the hope that he brings in
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Speaker 1: a troubled and disturbing era into a life that could
39:36
Speaker 1: be insecure, uncertain, though educated, he can bring that kind
39:46
Speaker 1: of truth. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
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Speaker 1: We together acknowledge him as Lord and Savior, not one
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Speaker 1: among many, but the Lord and the Savior. Thank you
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Speaker 1: for finding us in our lost estate, for bringing us
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Speaker 1: to faith, and for giving us this hope. Give us
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Speaker 1: a refreshing reassurance as a result of our time together
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Speaker 1: that our life spent in light of the Way, the
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Speaker 1: Truth and the Life is not futile, but has purpose
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Speaker 1: and meaning. In the glorious name of Jesus Christ, we
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Speaker 1: pray amen.
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Speaker 2: The preceding message, The Way, the Truth, the Life was
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Speaker 2: copyrighted in nineteen eighty eight, nineteen ninety two, and nineteen
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Speaker 2: ninety eight, and the sound recording was copyrighted in nineteen
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Speaker 2: ninety eight by Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All rights are
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Speaker 2: reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is
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Speaker 2: strictly prohibited