Latest / Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self / Psalm 140 - Violence and Judgment and Poverty

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Psalm 140 - Violence and Judgment and Poverty · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Welcome back to the Tabernacle Talk.
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  Today we are in Psalm 140. Psalm 140 and the inscription
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  for this Psalm says for the choir director a Psalm of David.
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  And this Psalm is another one of the ones where David is asking
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  for the Lord's help and deliverance and sustaining as he
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  has people that want to attack him and that want to kill him.
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  And though hopefully you today are not under physical attack
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  and you won't have to pray the exact prayer that David prayed.
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  All of us have our spiritual enemy, Satan, who is wandering
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  about like a roaring lion seeking who he can devour.
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  And so into our spiritual battle we can pray this same prayer of
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  deliverance that David prayed. He says, rescue me, Yahweh, from
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  evil men. Keep me safe from violent men
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  who plan evil in their hearts. They stir up wars all day long.
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  They make their tongues as sharp as a snake's bite.
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  Viper's venom is under their lips.
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  Sailor, that means pause. Think about it.
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  Protect me Yahweh, from the power of the wicked.
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  Keep me safe from violent men who plan to make me stumble.
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  The proud hide A trap with ropes for me.
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  They spread a net along the path and set snares for me.
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  I say to Yahweh, you are my God. Listen Yahweh, to my cry for
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  help. Yahweh, my Lord, my strong
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  Savior, you shield my head on the day of battle.
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  Yahweh, do not grant the desires of the wicked.
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  Do not let them achieve their goals, otherwise they will
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  become proud. Sailor, when those who surround
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  me rise up, may the trouble their lips cause overwhelm them.
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  Let hot coals fall on them. Let them be thrown into the
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  fire, into the abyss, never again to rise.
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  Do not let a slanderer stay in the land.
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  Let evil relentlessly hunt down a violent man.
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  I know that Yahweh upholds the just cause of the poor.
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  Justice for the needy. Surely the righteous will praise
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  your name. The upright will live in your
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  presence. Man, this is an interesting
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  Psalm. Frankly, as I think about our
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  world, as I think about world leaders and the various
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  geopolitical concerns and things that happened, this is a very
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  applicable Psalm even to today, that we can ask for the Lord to
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  intervene on the behalf of our nation.
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  We can ask for him to intervene even in our own lives.
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  I I think of friends that I have that have served even within the
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  armed forces people even that I know of in our church that have
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  family members right now in the armed forces and my heart goes
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  out with an echo of this cry to go all right Lord, you know all
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  of the evil in the world. You see every single sin act of
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  injustice and wickedness. God, would you act in accordance
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  with what your word has here, because I know that you are
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  good. Let's look first at verses one
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  through three. He says, rescue me Yahweh from
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  evil men, keep me safe from violent men who plan evil in
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  their hearts. Unfortunately, violence and evil
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  oppression is regular within our world.
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  And you can think of most people are very scared today to even be
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  out in public, out walking, even in streets.
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  You know, we're very close to Baltimore here.
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  And I know many people that would be fearful as a result of
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  violent people who might oppress them on the way that they might
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  get robbed just from walking down the street.
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  And here this is David's prayer is God.
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  Would you help to rescue me from those that want to do physical
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  harm? Can I encourage maybe the
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  parents that are listening or watching have a care that yes,
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  self-defense is a good and a wonderful thing?
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  The man writing this Psalm is David, who is not in any sense a
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  pacifist. But make sure that as you
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  instill desires for, you know, self-defense and protection of
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  of the innocent or the weak into your kids, that you also make it
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  abundantly clear that it is horribly wrong to use violence,
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  to use coercive means in order to get anyone to do anything.
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  It's a horrible thing to rob someone.
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  It's a horrible thing to beat up someone.
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  It's a horrible thing, of course, to commit assault in any
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  way, especially through physically coercive means.
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  And so may we as the people of God say we are not going to be
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  violent people. There should never be a
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  Christian husband or a Christian wife that is physically abusive
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  to their spouse. That would be reprehensible to
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  the name and character and reputation of Jesus Christ.
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  If we purport ourselves to be Christians, then may we be
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  gentle, peaceable. May we not be known as a violent
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  person. Now flip side of that is we do
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  need strong individuals and we need strong men that will be
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  willing to step up when the time is right to care for their
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  family, to care for their kids, to care for someone that they
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  see being abused or mistreated. Because if the only people that
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  have any strength or any capability to do harm are those
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  that are evil, well, you're in a really, really bad position and
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  there is no one to rescue. And so that is a really hard
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  thing to hold in tandem. But what it is, is self-control.
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  To say I could react in strength and oppression, but I choose to
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  be gentle. I choose the older English word
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  for it would be meekness, which isn't weakness.
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  Meekness is strength under control.
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  I have the capability to do something, but I'm not going to
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  do it because I am in control of my emotions and my words and my
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  actions. So that that's from that section
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  on violence and violence should always be an absolute last
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  resort when every other venue has has been attempted that we
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  don't rush into violent interaction with someone at any
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  point. But there will be times.
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  And I'm really thankful for even stories that I'm able to read of
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  guys that step in when a woman is being mugged or robbed.
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  And that strong man intervening used his strength in a good way
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  for a good purpose in the way that God would intend to happen.
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  And you can even think about Jesus as the the story is given
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  of the woman caught in adultery is thrown before him.
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  And the Pharisees trying to entrap Jesus, they're like,
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  listen, Moses said that if a woman is caught in adultery, she
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  should be stoned. But what do you say?
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  They want to make him look either really harsh because he
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  agrees with what Moses says, or if he goes against what Moses
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  says, then they can, you know, say, oh, he's a, he's a law
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  breaker. He denies, you know, he denies
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  the Torah. And Jesus steps in and with his
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  words, you know, there's an angry mob wanting to stone her.
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  And yet he goes, all right, the one that is without sin among
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  you needs to throw the first stone.
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  And they go, oh, Jesus, they're not denying the Torah.
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  We because of our sin deserve death, but all of us deserve
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  death and that's the point Jesus is making is going listen, God's
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  been gracious to you. God hasn't aired out your sins
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  in front of the entire world yet.
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  And so you need to have grace for others that you want for
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  yourself and that you are currently experiencing for
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  yourself. And so Jesus there uses words
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  and and questions and, and things to be able to defuse a
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  really violent scary time. And so there are times when you
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  need to step in physically, times when you don't need to.
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  I got to be honest with you guys.
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  I don't know why the Lord kind of had me take a little bit of
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  that detour route, but maybe someone needs to hear that
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  today. And I hope that that would be
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  something that you follow the end of verse 2 says they stir up
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  wars all day long. A war monger, someone who is
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  eagerly searching for armed conflict with another group,
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  another nation, is not a good person.
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  That is a bad person. If you are seeking out war, not
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  are you defending yourself. If you are seeking out war and
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  armed conflict with others, you are in the wrong.
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  Let the readers understand. Verse #3 They make their tongues
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  as sharp as a snake's bite. Viper's venom is under their
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  lips. They say the words that they are
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  using. It's snake like, if you will.
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  They have poisonous words. That the words that evil people
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  speak are intended to do harm, to deride, to stir up strife.
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  Let's not be those kinds of people.
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  Let let's have our words be words like the words of Jesus.
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  The wonderful words of life is what Peter calls them in John 6.
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  Then in verses four and five. Protect me Yahweh, from the
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  power of the wicked. Keep me safe from violent men
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  who plan to make me stumble. The proud hide A trap with ropes
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  for me. They spread a net along the path
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  and set snares for me. God, would you deliver me from
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  the evil conniving of wicked people.
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  Man, I, I hope, I dearly hope that all of those that are
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  listening to or watching this, I hope that you don't have people
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  in your life that are actually like this, that are setting
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  traps for you. But goodness if I don't know
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  that our souls enemy, Satan is the one that is constantly
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  setting traps for our souls. He is the one that lays
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  temptations in front of us. Either that we would defy God
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  and embrace sin, or that we would be so broken down with the
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  trials of life that we would give up on God and we would
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  reject worshipping him or loving Him.
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  And I think that we need to pray this as well.
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  God, even as Jesus says in the Lord's Prayer, don't lead us
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  into temptation, but deliver us from the evil. 1 And may we pray
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  that along here with David, both of human enemies, if you happen
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  to have some of those. I don't know if I'm doing
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  something right or doing something wrong, but I do not
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  have many. I don't have many human enemies.
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  I don't believe. If you're a human enemy, drop it
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  in the chat. That's a bit of Gen.
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  Z humor for some of my older listeners versus 6 through 8 or
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  the next section. I say to Yahweh, You are my God.
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  Like you're the one I'm worshipping.
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  You're the one I'm following. Yes, I have enemies, Yes I have
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  people trying to harm me, but that's not distracting me from
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  what is most true and wonderful in my life, which is the person
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  and work of God. So he says, I say to Yahweh, you
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  are my God. Listen Yahweh, to my cry for
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  help. And when we cry to the Lord for
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  help, He does hear us. Now He might deliver us from the
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  situation, He might deliver us through the situation.
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  And in either case, God is good and He hears us and He cares
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  about us. Just know if God doesn't remove
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  the situation from you, that he will deliver you through the
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  situation and He will empower you.
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  He will give you just enough grace and peace to be able to
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  make it through. And so at that point, like, just
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  rely on Him to go, all right, I got no idea how you're going to
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  do this, but I will trust you and I will believe in your good
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  plans for me. Verse #7 Yahweh, my Lord, my
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  strong Savior, you shield my head on the day of battle.
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  He says, God, you're my helmet. You're the thing keeping me from
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  getting whacked in the head, from getting shot in the head.
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  Lord, you protect me. And I think of what Paul tells
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  us in Ephesians 6 about the armor of God.
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  And you have the helmet of salvation, that God, my Savior,
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  is the shield on my head in the day of battle.
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  And when we go to war against Satan, we can trust that God has
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  us safe and secure. That we are safe, not because
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  we're so great, not because we put together a wonderful helmet
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  or defense, but because because the Lord is our shield on our
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  head on the day of battle. He is the helmet of our
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  salvation through what Jesus accomplished.
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  Verse #8 Yahweh. Do not grant the desires of the
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  wicked. Do not let them achieve their
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  goals, otherwise they will become proud.
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  Man, I think about this. Certainly we can pray it for
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  wicked people, you know, in our lives, in our, you know, area,
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  in our nation, in our world, we can say God don't grant the
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  desires of the wicked. But I think about my life that
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  sometimes I want things that maybe aren't good for me and
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  maybe I don't know that they're not good for me because I just
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  selfishly go, man, I really want this.
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  Like right now. I'll just level with you guys.
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  It's just us friends on the podcast right now.
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  My wife has been able to be a blessing to some people in our
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  church and been able to give some rides to kids and it's been
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  a wonderful joy for her. She's been able to be a blessing
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  to people that need it. But because I am not like within
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  walking distance of the church sometimes like the pickup and
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  drop offs and schedules and things gets a little nutso.
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  Like it gets a little crazy trying to do that with with me
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  coming to work. And so we've been praying like,
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  Hey, God, if it's your will, would you guide us to a vehicle,
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  like a second vehicle? And I don't need, you know, a
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  BMWI don't need a Ducati. Like I just need something to be
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  able to make, you know, this 5 minute drive over here to the
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  church. And so we've been praying like,
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  hey, Lord, if it's your will, like would you, would you make
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  this happen? Would you open some doors?
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  Would you guide? And it's not something that
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  we're like, oh man, we need this immediately.
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  But even as I read this verse, I want to be careful to go, OK,
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  God, am I asking for something that is not within your will?
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  Because God, if it's not in your will, if it's something that's
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  like selfish on my part, then God, I don't want what you don't
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  want for me. Don't give me wicked if you
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  will. Don't give me my desires if my
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  desires or if my heart is wicked and asking for it because I
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  don't want to be proud. I want to be humble.
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  I want to with an open hand, say God, I think this is what I need
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  right now, but you know better than me, and so would you give
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  me what I actually need. Keep me humble as I pray to you.
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  Don't grant me the desires of my heart if those desires are
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  wicked, or if my heart is wicked, or if it would make me
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  proud as a result of me getting whatever I'm wanting instead.
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  God give me what is good versus 9 through 11 when those who
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  surround me rise up. May the trouble their lips cause
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  overwhelm them. It's that kind of boomerang
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  effect that I've talked about 1000 times here in the Psalms.
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  May what they have done come back on them.
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  Verse #10 let hot coals fall on them.
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  This is kind of a battle imagery.
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  You would throw some hot coals from off of like the wall
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  surrounding a city and you know, you have troops that are trying
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  to get to the wall, trying to breakthrough it, trying to climb
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  it. And so you throw hot coals onto
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  this enemy. Verse 10, he says let them be
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  thrown into the fire, into the abyss, never again to rise.
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  So they're kind of two pictures of judgment that Scripture uses
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  over and over again. It's water and it's fire.
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  So you can think even in the Garden of Eden and in the
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  creation accounts starts off with there is darkness over the
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  face of the deep. It's the abyss, the the pit,
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  vast water and there's just nothing living on planet Earth.
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  And then in the Garden of Eden, after Adam and Eve are kicked
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  out, you have a cherubim that's placed there with a flaming like
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  twirling sword. And I'm sure if I remembered
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  correctly all the stuff I've read and learned, I'd be able to
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  tell you more information about that.
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  But there's a fiery sword in Genesis 3, and there's the deep
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  abyss when there is no life in Genesis 1.
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  Then you have the flood that occurs in Genesis 6 through 8,
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  which is, you know, the the water comes and all of mankind
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  has been so wicked before God, and both the spiritual beings
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  and the physical beings have rebelled against God.
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  And so God brings a flood and wipes out everything except for
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  Noah and his family and all of the animals that they have on
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  the ark. And then you Fast forward to
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  Sodom and Gomorrah and you have the fire and brimstone that
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  falls from the heaven there as you have a wicked cities that
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  are abusive and assaulting, you know, violent men like we would
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  read here. And they experience the judgment
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  of fire. And so fire and water is always
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  there. They are the two big pictures of
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  judgment within Scripture. And so here David says, let them
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  be thrown into the fire. OK, that's judgment into the
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  abyss. Never again to rise into this
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  deep watery grave. May they be totally judged.
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  I tremble to think about praying this prayer other than with
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  Satan, because I can rejoice that he's going to be thrown
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  into the pit. He's going to be tossed into the
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  lake of fire and be tortured forever and ever because of his
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  wickedness and the evil that he put forth into the world on to
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  so many people. And Satan will get his.
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  And I rejoice to be able to see that day.
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  And certainly as we think about human history, there might be
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  people that come up into our mind that we go, yeah, they
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  definitely kind of, you know, earn that place of judgment that
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  they will get what is coming to them.
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  But I also think we need to have a heart for those that are still
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  living that we would want them to experience forgiveness and
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  transformation through Jesus Christ.
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  That we know God is just. And so if people reject the the
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  goodness of God in a relationship with Christ, then
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  certainly the only thing that is left is the choice is between
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  heaven and hell. It's between life and death.
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  And if you reject life, all that's left for you is death.
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  But may we pray that people would turn to Christ.
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  We should never rejoice that anyone would go into eternity
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  without having a relationship with Jesus.
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  Verse #11 He says do not let a slanderer stay in the land.
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  Let evil relentlessly hunt down a violent man.
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  May those that are wicked, may those that spread gossip and
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  slander and talk I'll of others. May they have no place in a
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  godly location in the godly nation, or even as we think
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  today in a godly church. May no wicked people, may no
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  gossips, may no slanderers have any place within our churches.
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  Verses 12 and 13 as we end, I know that Yahweh upholds the
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  just cause of the poor, justice for the needy.
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  Surely the righteous will praise your name, the upright will live
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  in your presence. David here says God cares about
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  those that do not have financial means.
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  God cares about those that are being harmed by others because
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  they are rich and powerful enough to do it.
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  And man, I have friends even here at my church that have gone
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  through crazy stuff that I can certainly echo this prayer of
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  God. You know them, you know their
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  hearts, you know how hard they've worked.
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  You know the love that they have for you and for your people.
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  And God, you see how they're being mistreated by people just
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  because those people have drastically more financial
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  means. And so God, would you bring
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  those rich, wicked people down? And Lord, would you continue to
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  care for and exalt and provide for the needs of your people?
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  And that's something that we can echo here from the language of
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  Scripture. God, uphold the just cause of
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  the poor, give justice for the needy.
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  Well, honestly, this episode was all over the place.
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  I hope some of it was an encouragement to you.
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  But always, always love getting to think through what does it
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  mean for us as Christians to interact with the Old Testament?
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  What do we think about it in light of Jesus?
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  What do we think about it in light of eternity and what Jesus
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  has told us the end of days will be like and what judgment day
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  will be like. And so I hope that even thinking
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  through some of that was a blessing to you.
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  Have a wonderful day. See you next episode.