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Family Service · Stornoway Free Church of Scotland - Sermons

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Well, good morning and a very warm welcome to you all to our service today.
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! Welcome if you're visiting with us, you may be wondering what on earth is going on
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! With everybody coming in wearing superhero capes. But it is today a family service following our
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! Holiday club that we've had running during this week. So it's great to see
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so many of those who are at the holiday club here with us today. So it is a slightly different format
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to our regular service today. We'll be breaking it up into different parts relating to the holiday
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club. So the first part will be like our normal children's address. We're going to have a singing
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and then what we would normally have is a children's address. And then at that point,
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any of the younger children who would normally go to the holiday twinnies can go out if they wish
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at that point just to go through to the hall. The holiday twinnies is still going on. So if you're in
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the congregation, if you're just visiting and you have young ones, that holiday twinnies is for up
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to primary three and they can go through to the hall next door. And then we'll be looking at different
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aspects of the holiday club this week and we're going into that in a bit more detail as we go on.
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And then afterwards, everybody's very welcome to come through to the hall next door. The hall is still
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set up as it was for the week of the holiday club, so it's worth your while going through to see it.
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And we'll also have tea and coffee and snacks through there and we'll also hear the children
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singing a couple of the songs that they were learning during the holiday club week. And there'll
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be a slideshow playing as well, just showing some pictures of all the different activities during
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the week. So please do come through to the hall next door if you're able. And just want to say a
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huge thanks to everybody who helped out this week, not just those who are present in the hall,
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helping, but there was so much work done beforehand and during in the background as well, providing
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in so many different ways. We thank God for a great week together. Thank God for answered prayers in so
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many ways. We thank God for his peace over us and his blessing with us. It was a great week. And so
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thank you to all who were involved in so many different ways, whether it was to the front in the club or
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in the background. So many people brought in baking, helped with all the crafts, prayed for it. So we're
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very thankful to everybody for all their help. The bulletin sheet you'll have picked up when you
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come in, just do read through that in your own time. There's a number of different things on there for
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you, different information. So do read through that in your own time. But we're going to begin just now.
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Now the children, they'll have these little service books. So all the details of the service, the singings
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we have, the readings we have, and some questions for the service that are in here. So you can work
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your way through that. And also you'll have the psalm books. So we're going to sing in Psalm 91,
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the first four verses. If you're using the psalm book, it's on page 351. And it's the first psalm on the
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booklet. Psalm 91, verse 1 to 4. He that doth in the secret place of the Most High reside,
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under the shade of him that is the Almighty, shall abide. So we stand to sing these four verses to God's
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praise.
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Psalm 91, verse 1 to 5. He that doth in the secret place of the Most High reside, under the shade of him that is the
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Almighty shall abide.
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I, O the Lord, my God will say, He is my refuge still. He is my fortress and my
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God, and in the cross, I will.
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Assuredly, he shall be saved, and give deliverance. From subtle flowers, near and from the noise of
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pestilence.
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He is my fortress.
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His feathers, his feathers, his feathers, his feathers, his feathers, his feathers,
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and the noise of pestilence. He is my fortress, and the cross, I will.
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His feathers, his feathers, his feathers, his feathers, his feathers, his feathers, and the
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sea.
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He is my fortress, and the cross, I will.
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From subtle flowers, near and from the noise of pestilence.
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His feathers, near and from the noise of pestilence.
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His feathers, his feathers, his feathers, his feathers, shall be high.
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His feathers, shall be high.
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Thy trust, under his wings shall be.
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His faithfulness, shall be a shield, and above unto thee.
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I will join together in a word of prayer. Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer.
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Our Father in heaven, we thank you for this, your day, a day that is so special for us,
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for it is a day that you have given for us to come and worship you in this way, to come
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and sing to you. Sing these words of praise that remind us of who you are, that we can find that
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shelter, that refuge in the shadow of your wings. Just as we have been thinking about these capes
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that we have been making in this week that protect us, we thank you that it reminds us too of the way
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that your wings protect us, that we find that shelter in the shadow of your wings. And we pray
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for your protection and your peace over us at this time, that as we come in to hear, to hear about you,
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to worship you, to sing praise to you, that you would give us your peace. And we thank you for the
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peace that you have given us in this past week, that we have enjoyed these days of holiday club,
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that we have enjoyed learning so much about you, hearing about all the ways that you protect us,
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that you keep us, that you help us. And we thank you for all the ways that we have enjoyed learning
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in crafts, in drama, in the talks, in games, and all that we've been doing. We thank you, Lord, that you
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have truly been with us in it. And we do thank you for everyone's help in it as well. We thank you for
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everyone who was involved. And we just pray that it would all be to your glory, that you would be with
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us not just today, but that as we go from here today, that all the Bible verses we've learned,
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all the activities we've been involved in, that they would all remind us of how good a God you are,
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and how precious a saviour you have given to us in your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
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And so we thank you, Lord, that together we come to praise your name. We thank you that we are part of
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your people far and wide, that today, as we are gathered here, there are many like us,
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throughout our islands, throughout the nation, and throughout the nations of the world, that we see
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and hear of your name being praised. And we thank you, Lord, for all that you are doing for us,
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that you are a God who is faithful, a God who is good, a God that helps in our every need.
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And we know these needs are many, Lord. We know them in our own midst, whether it's giving thanks
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for good things, or seeking your help and your comfort in the difficult things. We know that
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there are many going through times of sorrow, times of ill health. And in all these different things,
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we thank you that we can look to you, and there find a new one who is near to help. So we ask your
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blessing over us now, Lord, as we continue in this time. May you bless your word to us. May you bless
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the young ones as they go out to the tweenies. Bless them there, and bless us afterwards in the hall
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as well. May your grace and your peace be upon us, as we ask all with the forgiveness of our sins. In
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Jesus' name. Amen. Well, we've had a great week in the holiday club. It's been a busy week,
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learning so many different things from the Bible, hearing about so many young people in the Bible,
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young heroes, as we were thinking about them, and seeing so many young people here today. It's great.
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And I've been hearing reports of superheroes being spotted around town all week, different people
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running around, dashing around. But we've been learning a lot from the Bible this week. And one
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thing in particular we learned was our memory verse. Each day we were hunting for the words of the memory
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verse, and then we were lining up in order of the memory verse. And now I want to ask the young people
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here, do you think you could remember it for me? Yeah? Do you think you could say it? Yeah? You're feeling
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ready to say it? Yeah? So if I say the first word, will you then carry on for me? So I'll say the first
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word, and then you carry on and tell everybody else in here today, tell them what the memory verse was.
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Speak it out. So the first word is trust.
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Excellent. Well done. It's a long verse, and you would think they have it in front of them, but trust me, they don't.
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They just learned that by Wednesday, they had it off by heart. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
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In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3, 5 and 6. And that was our memory verse.
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And from there we were thinking then of different ways that verse works out in our lives. So we're thinking of different ways that we trust God.
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And then we're thinking of the armor of God as we see it in Ephesians chapter 6. We're looking at all the, well, some of the different parts of the armor.
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What do we need armor for? Why does anybody wear armor? Why do you think? To protect, isn't it? The armor is there to protect a person.
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So very often you see a soldier wears armor. And when we're thinking of the armor in the Bible, we're thinking of soldiers in the days of the Bible who would wear lots of different parts of armor to protect themselves.
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We maybe don't wear armor every day, but there's certain things we might do when we need to wear things to protect ourselves.
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So say for example, you're playing football, or maybe you're playing shinty, or maybe you're playing rugby.
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You need to wear things that will keep you safe. Things like maybe this.
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So you want a pair of boots on your feet? Because you're not going to play football in your slippers or flip-flops, are you?
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You're not going to run around on a rugby pitch wearing slippers. If someone stands on your toes, it's going to be sore.
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But you also, you might need these shin guards. So they protect you when people are trying to kick you.
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So they're there to stop you getting a sore leg.
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If you watch shinty players, they very often now wear helmets on their heads, don't they?
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To protect them. Imagine they're swinging that camera around. You don't want to get hit in the head by that, do you?
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It's very dangerous. So wear a good strong helmet.
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Or if you're playing lochs at football, you might need one of these just to protect yourself.
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Because they're dangerous people over in lochs.
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So there's all kinds of things that we wear to protect ourselves, to keep us safe.
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And that's what the Bible is telling us.
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Just like that, we need to wear things to protect us in life.
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For God to help us.
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So what are we thinking about?
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We made one of these.
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Well, like this.
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It's that. A belt.
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And what is a belt? The belt of?
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Truth, wasn't it?
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So we had the belt of truth.
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We also had these.
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Lots of people running around wearing these.
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And wearing these.
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So this is like what the soldier would wrap around himself.
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It's called the breastplate in the Bible.
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But this is the armor.
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What do we call the armor of?
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Remember?
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Justice.
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The armor of justice.
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And we're going to be thinking about that.
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We also had this.
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Didn't we?
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Soldier needs this.
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What is it?
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The shield of?
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Faith.
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Isn't it?
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The shield of faith.
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There's lots of different parts.
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And then there was this one.
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This I think was just my favorite.
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You see that?
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That's the helmet of salvation.
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It's a cracker, this one, isn't it?
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It's got the big mane on the top as well.
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So we need a good helmet to protect our heads.
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So we had all these different things.
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And they were reminding us of just, not just to wear armor in that sense, but the different ways in which God protects us.
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Through his truth.
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Through salvation.
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Through faith.
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Through all of these things.
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He protects us.
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And so this morning we're going to think about three young heroes in the Bible.
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And link it in with the armor that we were looking at there.
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So we're going to look at the cape, the armor that we wear.
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We're going to think of the shield.
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And we're going to think of the helmet.
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So we're going to look at three young heroes in the Bible.
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And how these things were worn by them.
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How they lived out their lives in these ways.
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But before we do that, we're going to sing.
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Again, we're going to sing in Psalm 28.
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It's the Sing Psalms version.
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If you're using the Psalm books, it's on page 33.
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Psalm 28.
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We're going to sing verse 5 to verse 9.
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And the tune is Old 100th.
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And during this singing, the young ones can then make their way out to the holiday tweenies if they're going out.
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We're going to sing Psalm 28, verse 5 to 9.
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Because the Lord's works they despise and treat his actions with disdain and justice, he will tear them down and never build them up again.
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But we're reminded then that the Lord saves in verse 9.
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Lord, save your people, your own flock.
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Be pleased, your heritage to bless.
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Be their good shepherd.
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Carry them forever in your faithfulness.
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So we'll stand to sing these four verses to God's praise.
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Because the Lord's works they despise and treat his actions with disdain.
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In justice he will tear them down and never build them up again.
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Praise to the Lord for he has heard.
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The plea for mercy which I made.
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He is my strength, he is my shield.
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I trust in him who sends me aid.
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My heart uplifted, he's for joy.
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My thanks to him, my gladly say.
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The Lord's work is his people's strength.
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A saving fortress for his King.
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Lord, save your people, your own flock.
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Be pleased, your heritage to bless.
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Be their good shepherd.
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Carry them forever in your faithfulness.
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Amen.
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Amen.
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Amen.
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Amen.
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Amen.
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So we're going to read in the Bible together now.
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We're going to have three different readings.
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Our first is in the New Testament of the children.
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You have it in the middle pages of the booklet.
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The adults, you'll have to look it up in the Bible.
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Our first reading is in John chapter 6.
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And we're going to read from verse 5 to verse 12.
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John 6 verse 5 to verse 12.
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And here we're reading the account of when Jesus fed the 5,000.
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But our focus is on the little boy really who was in the midst of this,
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the one who brought the loaves and the fishes to Jesus.
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Lifting up his eyes then and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him,
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Jesus said to Philip,
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Philip, where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat?
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He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.
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Philip answered him,
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Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.
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One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him,
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There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish,
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but what are they for so many?
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Jesus said,
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Have the people sit down.
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Now there was much grass in the place,
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so the men sat down, about 5,000 in number.
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Jesus then took the loaves,
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and when he had given thanks,
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he distributed them to those who were seated.
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So also the fish,
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as much as they wanted.
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And when they had eaten their fill,
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he told his disciples,
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gather up the leftover fragments,
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that nothing may be lost,
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and so on.
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Every day we have choices to make.
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Think of the past week.
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How many choices have you made?
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You know, those who were coming to the holiday club.
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Maybe as the days were going on,
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you were feeling more and more tired in the morning,
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and you were asking yourself,
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Will I go today, or won't I?
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And of course you did,
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because everybody wanted to come back.
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Or maybe you were thinking,
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What will I wear?
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And we saw so many different outfits.
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There was Spider-Man,
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there was Batman,
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and I think my favourite was the Hulk girl on Friday.
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It was something to see.
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There were so many different choices that we had to make,
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just like we all have to make choices every day of life.
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And these are just maybe simpler choices to make.
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They're not, there's not a right answer,
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there's not a wrong answer in a lot of the choices we make.
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They're just choices that we make,
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but sometimes we do have to make choices.
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And we know that it is right to do one thing,
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and maybe it's wrong to do another.
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So there are maybe harder choices that we have to make.
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Imagine you're walking along Cromwell Street in the town one day,
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and someone's walking ahead of you,
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and they dropped their wallet,
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and they didn't notice that they dropped it,
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and you're just coming after them,
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and you pick it up,
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and you realise there's loads of money in here.
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There must be at least 500 pounds.
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It can only be Kenny Eyes, that much money.
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You have a choice to make.
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Do you keep it?
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It's a lot of money.
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You could do so much with it.
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Or do you run after him and say,
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you dropped this?
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Surely it's an easy choice to make.
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The right thing to do.
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What is it?
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Well, it's to run after whoever's dropped the wallet
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and give it back to them.
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But sometimes it's hard,
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because you would love to keep that money,
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but it's hard,
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but we have to do what is right.
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And when we think of the armour of God,
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when we think especially of,
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we were looking at,
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too many props today.
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We were thinking of the cape.
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We're thinking of the armour of justice.
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This is what God tells us about in the Bible
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to help us to do what is right.
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Justice means doing what is right.
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And the first young hero we were looking at
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in the Bible stories today
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is this young boy
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who was in the midst of a big crowd.
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Jesus was here.
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He was out with the disciples
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and a large crowd came along.
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And Jesus was always teaching
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to large crowds of people.
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And it was coming to the end of the day.
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They were tired and they were hungry.
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And Jesus asks his disciples,
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you go and feed them.
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You give them food.
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You give them bread.
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But Philip says,
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we've only got a small amount of money.
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We don't have enough money to buy bread
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for all of these people.
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How is it possibly going to happen?
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Do they have faith?
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Do they trust Jesus?
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That's a question for them.
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And it's always a question for us as well.
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Do you trust Jesus?
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Do you have faith?
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We know that there was 5,000 men,
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it tells us,
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but there was also women and children there.
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So we're talking about a large crowd,
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at least probably 10,000.
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And how are they going to feed
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all of these people?
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Well, there's a little boy in the crowd.
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We don't know his name,
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but he had five loaves and he had two fish.
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And he spoke to one of the disciples
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and told them that he had this.
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Can you imagine being in such a big crowd?
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You had a tour of the church here on Friday.
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Martin took all the young ones around the church
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to show you around and you came up here, didn't you?
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Were you all up here?
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Hands up if you were here.
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Yeah?
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Did you all come up here?
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Yeah?
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And did you all come and speak into the microphone?
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I heard a lot of people shouting different things
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and speaking about different things
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through the microphone.
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Everybody was having a go.
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Well, do you think you would do it today?
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Yes?
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Oh.
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It's easy.
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It is, really.
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But there's probably,
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I don't know how many people in here,
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but I know this building will hold over 1,000 people
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and you would think,
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would you still do it when it's full up?
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Probably.
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Wouldn't you?
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Yeah.
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You're not like me.
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You don't get nervous when you come up here
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to speak in front of everybody.
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But then here's a crowd of 10,000 people
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and they're wondering where they're going to get food from.
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It would be scary to be a young boy
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sitting in a crowd of adults and thinking,
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well, I know I've got food.
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And he'd be thinking,
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do I just keep this to myself?
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Will I have it with my family later
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so we can enjoy a meal?
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Because there's no way that this is going to feed everybody.
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Or do I say,
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well, I've got something I can share.
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What was the right choice?
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Hands up, you think it was to keep the food to themselves.
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Nobody?
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Good.
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Because that was not the right thing to do.
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The right thing was to share,
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to bring that food to Jesus.
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And we see that Jesus was able to do amazing things with that.
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He was able to feed this whole crowd
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so much so there was a lot of food even left over.
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The right thing to do.
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If Kenny I drops his wallet,
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the right thing to do is to give it back to him.
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And I'm sure he'll give you a good tip.
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The right thing.
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We always have choices to make.
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The right thing for the boy here was to share and to trust Jesus
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and see what Jesus could do with it.
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And the right thing for us to do is to trust Jesus.
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Trust in the Lord with all your hearts.
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That's what we are called to do.
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And so that is what the first bit of armor does for us.
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It reminds us the justice of God,
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that we are to do what is right and not what is wrong.
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So this little boy was a hero we saw in the Bible.
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He knew what was right to do and he did it.
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We're going to read for our second young hero in the Bible.
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We're going to read in 1 Samuel 17 and verse 37 to verse 40.
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1 Samuel 17 and verse 37 to 40.
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Here we read the story of, it's a long story in the Bible.
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It's much longer than the verses that we're reading in 1 Samuel 17.
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You can maybe read the rest of the story when you go home.
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But we're going to just read some verses.
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And it's this account where David comes up against Goliath.
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And David said,
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The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear
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will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.
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And Saul said to David,
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Go, and the Lord be with you.
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Then Saul clothed David with his armor.
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He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail.
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And David strapped his sword over his armor.
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And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them.
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Then David said to Saul,
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I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.
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So David put them off.
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Then he took a staff in his hand and he chose five smooth stone from the brook
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and put them in the shepherd's pouch.
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His sling was in his hand and he approached Philistine.
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It's an amazing story here of David.
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I'm sure maybe many of you have heard of David.
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A lot of the heroes, young heroes in the Bible,
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a lot of people in the Bible, we don't know their names.
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But we know that they did amazing things.
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But David is given, we know his name.
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And we know that he wrote many of the Psalms that we sing.
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And that he was used by God in amazing ways.
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And it all began as a young shepherd boy.
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He wasn't a soldier.
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He was a shepherd and he used to look after the sheep.
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But when it speaks there about him being delivered from the paw of the lion
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and from the paw of the bear,
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that's because looking after sheep, it was dangerous.
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And many of you go down the croft and see a bear chasing after you.
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It doesn't happen.
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Or a lion.
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It doesn't happen.
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But David looking after the sheep,
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he was used to these wild animals coming.
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And he had a way of scaring them away.
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He used to fling stones at them with a sling.
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And that's how he kept safe.
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So he was used to dangerous situations.
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But this time, when the Israelite army are going up against the Philistines,
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the Philistines have this giant.
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No one could beat Goliath.
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He was huge.
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They reckon he was at least over nine feet tall.
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He had huge arms, massive legs.
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And he carried a spear that most people couldn't even lift.
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He was huge.
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Just a little bit taller than me.
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So he was a big guy.
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And the Israelite army were terrified of him.
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And they didn't know how to beat him.
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And they were led by a man called Saul.
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And time and time again, they thought,
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well, how are we going to beat this?
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This giant nothing worked.
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They couldn't do it.
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They'd met.
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They tried to plan.
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And it hadn't worked.
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What was missing?
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What was missing?
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Faith.
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They didn't trust God.
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They only looked at what was impossible.
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They didn't look to God.
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And that reminds me of a man who was in charge of a car company.
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It's called General Motors.
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If you have a Vauxhall car, that's part of General Motors.
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And he was involved in researching different kinds of cars.
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How to make cars better.
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And all of these things.
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And he was used to solving problems.
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But every day when he was going to meet with a team to look at a certain problem,
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they would meet in a room.
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And outside the room, he said he would put a table.
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Because the engineers who worked with him,
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they would always carry what they called slide rules.
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A bit like a measuring tape.
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And he put up this sign,
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leave your measuring tape on the table before you come into the room.
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And then they would go into the room,
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and he would start telling them about this problem.
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And he said, the reason I've told them to leave their measuring tape outside the room
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is because if they had it with them,
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and if I told them what the problem was,
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they would start getting the measuring tape out,
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and they would turn around and say,
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Boss, you can't do it.
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It's impossible.
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They would think just by looking at the details that they have in front of them
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and measuring it and thinking,
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No, it's impossible.
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It cannot be done.
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Well, that's the kind of meeting Saul would have had with this army.
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They're just measuring up Goliath.
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He's huge.
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He's massive.
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He's strong.
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There's no way that we can beat him.
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You can't do it.
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But David saw a way.
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David came.
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He actually just came to give food to his brothers who were part of the army.
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And he started asking questions.
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He started saying, What's going on here?
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Why haven't you beaten him?
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Surely somebody's able to go out against him.
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Surely somebody's able to go out and beat him.
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And eventually he said, I'll go.
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Can you imagine going up against a giant?
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Can you imagine being a wee boy or a wee girl and thinking,
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There's a giant over there.
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Nine foot tall.
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We've got to go and fight him.
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We've got to go and beat him.
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You think, No way.
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It's impossible.
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It can't be done.
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But not David.
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David was probably a teenager at this point.
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Maybe about 15 to 17 years old.
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So he wasn't old.
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He wasn't trained as a soldier.
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But when it came to even trying the armor on,
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They put on the armor of the soldier.
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He just said, It's too heavy.
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It's too clumsy.
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I don't know how to use this.
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And said he took that off.
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And he went.
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And he got five stones.
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And he took a sling.
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But he went with more than that.
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He went trusting in God.
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He didn't have a shield like this.
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We call this a shield.
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But we call it what?
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The shield of faith.
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Isn't it?
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The shield of faith.
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And this was David not taking up a shield that he would hold.
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But taking up the shield of faith.
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He had faith in God.
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He knew that God could defeat this giant.
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God could help him defeat this giant.
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So that is what David did.
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And it's a reminder to us that whether we're young or whether we're old,
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that we too will face giants as well.
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We too will face problems.
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And when we look at life, when we look at everything that's going on all around us,
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when we look to God, when we hear his word, when we hear about Jesus,
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we're like those men who would go into the meeting room with the man in charge at General Motors and say,
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it can't be done.
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I'm too young to believe.
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I'm too young to have faith.
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Or maybe even if you're older here today, you're saying the same.
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I'm too old to believe.
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I'm too bad to be saved.
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We can have this long list of doubts and fears and worries that come in and say all of these things.
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It can't be done.
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David could easily have looked at the giant and said, it's impossible.
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But he didn't.
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He had a shield of faith.
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He had faith.
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And he went in the strength of God.
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And that shield of faith, when we believe, when we put our trust in the Lord Jesus,
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all these doubts, all these fears that come our way,
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faith is what shields us from them and helps us to realize we can go on
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in the strength of the Lord.
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One of my favorite verses in the Bible is from Philippians chapter 4.
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It used to hang on our wall at home when I was young.
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I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
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As a great reminder to us, it's not just that we can do anything,
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but that whether we are going through difficult times or good times,
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Paul is saying, God is able to help me through it.
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I can do all of these things through him who strengthens me.
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That's the way David went out to fight this giant Goliath.
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And who won?
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Hands up if you thought Goliath won.
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I mean, he was nine foot tall.
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He must have won.
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Surely.
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David was just a young boy.
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So hands up if you think Goliath won.
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There's one or two maybe thinking about it.
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What about who thinks David won?
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Oh, there you go.
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David won because he had faith in God
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and God helped him to overcome that giant.
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So David was another hero in the Bible that we looked at,
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one who trusted in the Lord with all his heart.
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So our last hero that we're going to think about,
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we're going to read again in the Bible in God's Word.
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2 Kings chapter 5.
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2 Kings chapter 5.
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We're going to read two parts of this,
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verse 1 to 4 and then verse 13 to verse 15.
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So 2 Kings chapter 5, verse 1 to 4 is on the first page of the little booklet
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and then you go over the page for verse 13 to 15.
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Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria,
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was a great man with his master in high favor
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because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria.
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He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.
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Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel
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and she worked in the service of Naaman's wife.
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She said to her mistress,
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Would that my Lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria,
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he would cure him of his leprosy.
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So Naaman went in and told his Lord,
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Thus and so spoke the girl from the land of Israel.
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Then we take up our reading in verse 13.
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But his servants came near and said to him,
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My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you.
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Will you not do it?
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Has he actually said to you, Wash and be clean?
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So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan.
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According to the word of the man of God.
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And his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child.
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And he was clean.
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Then he returned to the man of God.
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He and all his company.
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And he came and stood before him and he said,
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Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel.
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So I accept now a present from your Savior.
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Well again, it's a long story in the Bible.
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This one when Naaman, who was a man who had leprosy,
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and this little girl who is the hero that we see here.
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Again, we don't know her name.
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But what we see is that she was brave.
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She was bold.
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She was courageous.
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She stood up and she spoke.
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So Naaman, as we read here, is a commander of armies.
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He was in charge of a lot, a lot of soldiers.
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He was a very powerful man.
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He had won many battles.
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He had done a lot for the one who was king at that time.
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But he had a problem.
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He had something wrong with him.
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It was called leprosy.
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And this is a disease when your skin is all weird and funny and very dangerous.
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And it spreads very easily to others.
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And so, although he was a powerful man, he had this weakness.
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But the servant girl, she knew that God could heal him, that he could make him better.
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If only he would listen to this man of God, as he's called here, who was called Elisha.
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Elisha was a good man.
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He used to tell people about the word of God.
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And he used to tell people, if you follow, if you trust God, then things will go better for you.
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But Naaman didn't like to be told what to do.
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Who likes to be told what to do?
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Do you like being told to sit down and to be quiet and to do this?
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It's not very nice sometimes, but sometimes it's better for us to do as we're told.
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But Naaman didn't like to be told.
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And he sort of had all this power and he thought he could manage everything by himself.
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But eventually he came to realize that he couldn't.
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And why was that?
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Well, it's because this little girl, this little servant girl, was bold enough to speak.
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She was brave enough to speak.
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Have you ever heard of a man called Donald Trump?
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He's sometimes in the news.
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He has a lot of power.
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But can you imagine telling him what to do?
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He doesn't like to be told what to do.
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And so imagine that you are the little servant girl to the first lady of America, his wife.
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And you're seeing Donald doing lots of silly things.
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And you're thinking, he really needs to come and put his whole trust in God.
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Would you be brave enough to go and say to his wife,
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can we tell him to trust God and not to trust himself?
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What do you think Donald Trump's response would be
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to a little boy or a little girl coming to tell him what to do?
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I don't know if it would be very good.
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He likes to have his power.
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So nobody really likes to do what they're told.
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And this is like Naaman.
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Naaman in his day was powerful in this way.
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He had armies who listened to every word that he said.
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They did as they were told.
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Why would he listen to this little girl?
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Well, because it was so important.
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His salvation depended on it.
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And that's why we're thinking
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of the helmet of salvation.
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This is a good, strong helmet.
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This is what soldiers would wear to protect themselves going into battle.
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It could save their lives.
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I mean, you could get banged on the head with a stick with that,
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and you'd be fine.
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I mean, if you're wearing something like this,
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your head might hurt for a few days afterwards, wouldn't it?
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Because that's not going to keep you safe.
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It's no use.
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So we need that helmet to keep us safe.
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And that's what the Bible is talking about
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when it speaks about the helmet of salvation.
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Salvation is such a precious thing.
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And this little girl knew that if Naaman would just listen to the man of God,
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that he could be saved,
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not just from his leprosy,
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but that he could be saved with God.
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Because that's what we see when Naaman's stories goes on here.
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When he eventually did as he was told,
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he went into the River Jordan and he was cleansed.
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That was just being obedient to God.
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We realize then what he says in verse 15.
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He returned to the man of God, to Elisha,
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and said, and he and all his company.
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And he came and stood before him,
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and he said,
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And that's the amazing thing that we have in the Bible.
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Little boys, little girls, men and women,
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everybody just telling others about a Savior
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who is able to save us from our sin.
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We are being pointed all the time towards Jesus.
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Imagine being out in a little boat.
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Who likes going out in a boat fishing?
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Yeah, some people like going out in a boat fishing.
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Imagine being out in the sea in a little boat,
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and the weather gets all stormy and wild,
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and the boat is in danger of sinking.
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Would you be scared?
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Yeah, it would probably be scary, wouldn't it?
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But what if a lifeboat comes along to save you?
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Would you say,
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No thanks, I'm fine.
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Sure, this boat isn't going to sink.
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And your boat doesn't look safe anyway.
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That would be stupid.
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Wouldn't that be crazy?
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A lifeboat's come to save you.
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Why wouldn't you go on board that?
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Surely you would be glad.
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Well, the Bible is telling us that Jesus has come to save.
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And we should be glad that he has come to save.
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And that's what the helmet of salvation reminds us of,
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that we have salvation in Jesus.
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Naaman was saved by putting his trust in the Lord.
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And we can be saved by putting our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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If we trust him, we can be saved.
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So we have the armor of God to remind us that he is there to help us every day.
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It says to us in Ephesians,
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Put on the whole armor of God.
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It's something we are to do regularly.
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We put on the armor of justice,
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that cloak that we put around ourselves.
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We take up the shield of faith.
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We put on the helmet of salvation.
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We have the belt of truth that holds everything together.
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And the sword of the Spirit, as we were looking at as well,
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that reminds us that God's word is powerful,
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that we are to listen to him.
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We are to trust in him.
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We are being pointed towards Jesus and trusting in him.
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So one more time.
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Will we say the memory verse together?
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Are you ready to say it?
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If we begin it, I'll say the first word,
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and then you carry on.
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So, trust.
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In the Lord with all your heart,
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and you love him on your own understanding,
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in all your ways,
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acknowledge him,
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and he will make straight your hands,
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for it is free,
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rise and rise.
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Excellent.
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Well, don't just remember it for today.
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Tell others about it,
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and remember it yourselves every day.
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Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
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Well, let's just close with a word of prayer today.
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Father, we thank you for everything that you give to us.
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We thank you for your word,
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and how it reminds us of who we are to trust in.
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There are so many things that take away our attention in this world from you.
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And we just pray that we would have that focus,
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that remembrance of you,
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to trust in the Lord with all our hearts.
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So hear us and bless us,
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as we ask all in Jesus' name.
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Amen.
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We're going to conclude by singing to God's praise
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in Psalm 27,
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the Scottish Psalter version,
48:45
page 236 of the psalm books,
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and if you're using that,
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Psalm 27,
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we'll sing these three stanzas.
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The tune is Argyle.
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One thing I of the Lord desired
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and will seek to obtain,
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that all days of my life
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I may within God's house remain,
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that I, the beauty of the Lord,
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behold me and admire,
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and that I in his holy place
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may reverently inquire.
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We stand to sing,
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and then we close with a benediction.
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Amen.
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One thing I of the Lord desired
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and will seek to obtain,
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that all days of my life I may
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within God's house remain,
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that I, the beauty of the Lord,
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behold me and admire,
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and that I in his holy place
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may reverently inquire.
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For he in his pavilion shall
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be high in evil days,
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and on the door of me raise.
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So do come through next door if you're able.
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of the benediction I'll go to the door
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to my left here.
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Now may grace, mercy, and peace
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from God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
51:24
rest upon and abide with you all,
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now and forevermore.
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Amen.
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Thank you.
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Thank you.