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Max Lucado - Put your special trust in God · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

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Speaker 1: Hope in your Bibles. If you will to Genesis chapter
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thirty seven. Genesis thirty seven, you might pull the outlines
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out that we've included. We're using the life of Joseph
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to learn how God guides his children through difficult days.
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You might call this a survival guide for tough times.
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In fact, we've crafted a pledge of faith that helps
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us do just that. If you'd like to say it
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out loud with me, the words will appear on the screen.
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I'd invite you to fill your lungs with air and
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your hearts with hope as we make this statement together.
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By God's power, I'll get through this. It won't be painless,
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it won't be quick, but God will use this mess
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for good. I won't be foolish or naive, but nor
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will I despair. With God's help, I ain't know. I
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will get through this. Two quick reminders before we begin.
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I hope you'll go to the church website okillschurch dot com,
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and there look at the testimonies that have been posted
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about times in which God has led people through things.
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You might consider posting your own. I know you'll find
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that to be an encouragement. Visit encouraging visit. Also, if
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you're watching online Welcome, you can click on the U
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Virgin icon for outline and scriptures. Let's pray together. I
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do not take lightly this privileged dear father, that you
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would grant me moments in which to feed your flock.
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But Father, if anything good is said, it must be
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spoken by you, for I am a sinner in need
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of your grace. We pray that we could see Jesus
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through the life of Joseph, and just Jesus through Christ.
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We pray, oh, God's people, said beginning in verse six
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of Genesis chapter thirty seven. Joseph said to them, listen
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to this dream I had. We were binding sheaves of
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grain out in the field, when suddenly my sheaf rose
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and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and
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bowed down to it. His brother said to him, do
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you intend to rain over us? Will you actually rule us?
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And they hated him all the more because of the
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dream and what he had said. Then he had another dream,
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and he told it to his brothers. Listen, he said,
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I had another dream, and this time the sun and
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moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me. And
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when he told his father as well, as his brothers.
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His father rebuked him, what is this dream you had?
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Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come
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and bow down to the ground before you? And his
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brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the
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matter in mind. Joseph probably should have just kept these
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dreams to himself. Harry walks into breakfast one morning, bubbling
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and babbling about these images he had as he slept.
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First he dreamed that his brothers were bowing down to
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him and he was in charge of him. And then
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he dreamed that his mom and dad were included in
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this and they were bowing down to him. Everybody would
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bow down to him, and his dreams only seventeen years old.
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I don't know. Do you think he expected his brothers
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to get excited about this? Oh yeah, baby brother, we
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cannot wait until the day that we bow down before you.
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If so, that did not happen. In fact, just the opposite.
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One day, when the brothers were away from the family
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tending sheep, they seized the opportunity to seize their younger brother, Joseph,
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and they threw him over the edge of a pit
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into a dry cistern. They stripped him of the fancy coat,
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and they left him there. From deep in the pit,
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Joseph could hear them discussing what they would do with him.
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Come and let us sell him to the Ishmael lights,
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and let not our hand be upon him, for is
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our brother and our flesh. I think this is curious.
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Their collective consciences resisted sibling murder but permitted sibling slave trade.
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And Joseph detected the sounds of a coming wagon and
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a donkey, and then some foreign accents and some new voices,
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and he realized there was a conversation taking place between
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his brothers and a group of people. He overheard phrases like,
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we'll sell him to you a couple of camels. Perhaps
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what do we do with him? Next thing he knew,
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one of his brothers was lowered down into the pit
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on a rope, and then the brother grabbed Joseph and
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the both of them were pulled out. And these these traders,
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these Ishmael lot traders, began to poke and probe Joseph
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like he was a cow on the auction block. They
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stuck fingers in his mouth, they counted his teeth, They
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pinched his arms to see if he had any muscle,
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and Joseph realized what was happening, and he cried out,
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you cannot sell me, I'm your brother. But the brothers
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just shoved him to the side, and the negotiations began.
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And we'll give you ten shekels of silver. No, no, no,
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we won't take less than thirty. How about fifteen? Oh?
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Twenty five? All right, twenty? And finally they settled on
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a price, and Joseph was sold for the price of
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a handicapped sleeve. He must have cried out again, but
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the brothers didn't listen. They just grabbed the fancy coat
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and took the money, and they walked away. And the
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merchants tied one end of the rope around Joseph's neck
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and the other end around the wagon, and Joseph, dirty
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and tears stained, far from home, had no choice but
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to follow. He fell in behind the wagon, in between
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the camels, and he looked over his shoulder, and there
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he saw the backs of his brothers as they disappeared
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over the horizon. He didn't know if you'd ever see
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him again. The summary passage of the chapter is his
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brothers sold him for twenty pieces of silver to the
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Ishmaelites who took Joseph with them down to Egypt. What
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sadder words could have been written? In fact, you might
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want to put one on your outline. Down to Egypt.
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Down is the operative word of this first installment of
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Joseph's life, and down is the direction his life took.
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The story opens with everything looking up. Joseph has a
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positioned place, position, a place of preference in the family.
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He has the nicest wardrobe in the family. He's got
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a place of security in the family. Things are looking up,
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in fact, so much so he dreams that everybody's going
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to someday look up to him. Life is looking up.
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But what goes up must come, And it came down
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with a crash. The brothers put him down, then they
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threw him down, and then they sold him down the river.
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And now he was led down the road to Egypt.
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With the turn of the page, we'll read now Joseph
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had been taken down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer
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of Pharaoh, captain of the guard and Egyptian, brought him
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from the Ishme alliance who had taken him down there. Down, down, down,
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down to Egypt. How quick this descent stripped of his name,
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stripped of his position, everything he had, everything he thought
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he would ever have, gone proof just like that, Just
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like you, am I talking to anyone who's being taken
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down to Egypt. Life has a way of taking us down,
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down to the unemployment office, down to the divorce court,
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down to the custody hearing, down to the bottom of
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the pecking order, down to the soup line. Down on
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your luck, down in the mouth, down down down to Egypt.
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If life is taking you down, you can find the
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kindred soul and the story of Joseph. By the time
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he arrived in Egypt, he had nothing. He had not
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a penny to his name, or a name that was
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worth a penny. Not in Egypt. Didn't matter if he
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was the great grandson of Abraham. He couldn't tell people
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his name would someday be in the Bible. They didn't
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care his position, his rank, his authority. They didn't even
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like his vocation. Egyptians, those clean shaven people of the pyramid,
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didn't like these wooly bearded people of the pasture. He
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had no money, no credentials to stand on, no vocation
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to call on noo family to lean on. He lost everything,
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with one exception, Joseph still had God's dream. The story
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of Joseph begins with this dream. What a curious dream
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he has. And all we know is that this dream
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is all Joseph had when he went into Egypt. The Bible,
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did you note says nothing about Joseph's training, his education,
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his superior skills, his talents. I'm sure he had some,
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but none of these are mentioned. What is mentioned, however,
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are these dreams. The narrator the scripture wants us to
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draw a conclusion, and that is Joseph went down to
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Egypt with nothing but God's call on his heart. Heaven
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had tabbed him on the shoulder and said you will
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have a place of prominence in the plan of God.
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And by the time Joseph arrived in Egypt, that's all
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he had left, this dream, this call of God on
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his heart. And don't you know, he clutched it like
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a life jacket in a tsunami. As he was trudging
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through the desert, he was thinking, all right, it's not
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going to end this way. God told me he had
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a call for me. While wearing the change of the
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slave owners, he remembered the one in this way I've
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been called to more than this. Beneath the heat of
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the desert sun, he told himself. He had to tell himself,
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God has greater plans from me. He had lost his
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home country, he had lost his dignity, he had lost
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his family, but he never he never lost his belief
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in God's call on his life. Do you believe in
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God's call on yours? Were we somehow able to dig
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through all the clutter and busyness of life down into
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the very basement of your soul, would we find a
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deep conviction that says that God has placed a call
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on me. You see, our God comes a calling. He
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called Joseph through a dream, He called Abraham through a voice,
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He called Moses through a bush, He called Gideon through
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an angel, He called David through a prophet. He called
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Daniel through a vision. He called Joseph and Mary through
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an angel, and Paul through Damascus road experience. His memes vary,
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but his plan is consistent to every person. He issues
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this call, this dream. Maybe you've forgotten yours. The road
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down to Egypt can be tough on our calls. The
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path of the road is littered with forgotten dreams and
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abandoned hopes, or maybe you never knew you had a call.
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If so, oh, what a privilege is mine to invite
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you to believe what God believes about you? Here it
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is you are God's child. You are God's child before folks,
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before you are anything else. You are a child of
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God before you're a banker, before you're a lawyer, before
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you're a cabinet maker, before you're a nurse, before you're
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a teacher, before you're old, before you're young, before you're black,
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before you're white, before you're Hispanic, before you are anything else,
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before you are male or female, strong or weak, handsome
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or not handsome, before you are anything else. Listen, you
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are God's child. You are you are his creation, yes,
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his idea, absolutely, But even more, you're his child. Do
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you understand that he who is all invites you to
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call him father. You are his child, and he has
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declared he wants you and his family. He has declared
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your worth. He has walked onto the auction block of
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society and he has ramped his arm around you, and
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he has said, this is my child. And he has
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bought you with the precious blood of Christ, as of
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a lamb without blemish and without spot. You are His
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child and your life is more than this life. Do
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not believe the tombstone it lies to you. It says
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that every human being has a date of birth and
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a date of death, and a dash in between. You
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are more than this life. Your life did not begin
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with your birth, but you, even before you began to breathe,
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long before he laid down the earth's foundations, he had
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us in mind and had settled on us as the
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focus of his love. You are so much more than
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this speeding train of days and decades. Before you were
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born to your parents, You were born in the mind
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of God. And did you know that you're going to
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outlive your death. You're going to outlive your death. You're
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going to come out on the other side of your
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own funeral. When this tent we live in our body
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here on earth is torn down, God will have a
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house in Heaven for us to live in, a home
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he himself has made which will last how long forever.
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Every voice in our society sucks us into the short term,
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thinking you better do it all while you have a chance.
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We talk about dying, we talk about being buried. We
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have all of this language which would suggest to us
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that it's going to all come to an end, which,
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according to scripture, is an absolute lie. He says, this
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life is but a vapor, It's just a wink. It's
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just the first word of the great story that God
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is writing with your life. This is the kind of
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call that God has on you. You're going to have struggles,
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but they're not going to last. For you got a
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boss who degrades you. You got a family member who
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berades you. Listen, Just don't listen to them who died
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and made them king, who says they have a call
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on you. God owns you, and he and he alone
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declares who you are. We live for the approval of others.
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We dance for the approval of others. We bend over
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backwards just to get somebody to hear somebody say I
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like you, I approve you, I want you. We sell
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ourselves down the road to Egypt because we failed to
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realize that God's portion is enough, that his approval is
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really all we need. This is the call He has
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on you. Maybe you feel like you've missed your chance
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and missed your prime. No, God specializes in lives like
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yours and friends. Every page of scripture not just invites you,
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but dares you to believe in the God who believes
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in you. You're going to get through this won't be quick,
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won't be painless. But God can take every mess and
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use it for something good. Why because He has a
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call on you, and you are God's child and your
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life is more than this life. Now we tend to
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forget this, it gets lost on the road down to Egypt.
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Turbulent times call us to either question our destiny or
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certainly forget our identity. We redefine ourselves a core to
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our scars. I'm the cancer patient, I'm the divorce See,
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I'm the bankrupt business man. You're a child of God.
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This is the call God has on you. And when
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we forget this, folks, we begin settling for a small call.
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We try to pack that tiny dash between the dates
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with as much life as we can, because we don't
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think we're going to outlive this life, and we think
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our call is just to make money, to make friends,
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to make a name for ourselves, to make love with
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anybody who let us. We settle for a small call
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in life. When God has called you into an eternal
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existence with Him, to reign with him forever in a
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new kingdom. This is the dream He has planted in
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your heart. And that resonating voice within you right now
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is the spirit of God, witness of God's Spirit saying yes,
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you and I both know you were made for more
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than a small call. And our job when times get
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tough on the road down to Egypt, our job is
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to attune our ear to the high call of God
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and to turn a deaf ear to the small calls
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of life. Have you ever known anyone who did this?
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I have forgive me for using my father yet again
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as an illustration of faith. But the truth is I
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just have never known anybody who lived the way he lived,
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and most of all, who died the way he died.
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He was sixty nine years old when he was diagnosed
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with als or lou Garrigg's disease, crippling cruel condition, especially
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for a robust mechanic who one day realized he couldn't
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turn a screwdriver. He had just retired. He had just retired,
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and he and mom had just bought this tribal trailer,
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and they had this idea of pulling this travel trailer
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all over the country and visiting every state in the Union.
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Have you ever seen those little maps you can buy
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and put on the back of a trailer or a
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truck and then place an emblem of every state once
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you visited. His goal was to fill that thing up.
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He'd worked for three decades as a mechanic and saved
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up enough money to retire, and now they were going
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to travel the country. His road down to Egypt was
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not because his brothers betrayed him, but really because his
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body betrayed him. His health betrayed him, and just like that,
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just in a matter of moments, it seemed, he went
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from healthy and robust to unable to comb his hair
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or brush his teeth. Somebody had to carry him into
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bed and bathing. He lost so much. My wife, Diana
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and I were newly weds. We were living in Florida
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at the time, and we were preparing to move to Brazil,
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where we were going to do mission work in Rio
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dejan Airo. But I wrote my dad a letter. I said, Dad,
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I can't go now, not with this. My dad never
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wrote letters. He wrote me a four page reply that
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I kept in my bible for many years until it
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got so creased and faded that I was afraid. I
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was going to tear it up, and now I keep
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it in a safe place. Just a phrase from what
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he said. He said in regards to my disease, and
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you're going to real that is really an easy answer
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for me, and that is go capital G, capital exclamation point.
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I must say that I have no fear of death
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or eternity, So don't be concerned about me. Just go
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capital G, capital O and please him. Who can write
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words like that, staring death in the face, having lost
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what you thought was going to be your golden chapter.
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Who can write words of faith and selfishness like that?
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I tell you who can? Someone who believes what God
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believes about them, Someone who believes that they are really
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God's child and that can never be taken. Someone who
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believes that they will truly outlive this life and that
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cannot be changed. Could I encourage you to believe what
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God believes about you? So you know the Bible says
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that God's gifts and God's call are under full warranty,
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never canceled, never rescinded. I'm speaking to somebody who is
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being reminded today of a time in your life that
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you accepted God's call but has gotten lost in the
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busyness of life, for the pain of life, or that
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downward descent into Egypt. Could I invite you to reach
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back toward the hand of God, and you know what,
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you will find the hand of God reaching for you
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as you take that call again. I'm speaking to someone
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who never knew this call, and this is God's hand
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reaching to you, saying, don't you listen to the television shows,
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don't listen to the magazines. Don't listen to what society says.
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You are not the sum of what you had, not
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the salm of who you are, not the sum of
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how you look. You are a child of God and
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you were made for holy purposes. And you'll get through
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this because you are his and it's His dream that
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never dies. Will you receive God's call again on your heart?
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Can we affirm it one more time? We're going to
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post that declaration of faith on the screen, and I'd
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like to invite you, now, having been reminded of the
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call God placed on Joseph's heart, to affirm the call
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that God has placed on yours. By God's power, I'll
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get through this. It won't be painless, it won't be quick,
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but God will use this mess for good. I won't
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be foolish or naive, but nor will I despair. With
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God's help, I know I will get through this. Here
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is so, Lord, as we make this declaration, it's our
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cry out to you to ask your Father to grant
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us strength. Father. For those whose lives are healthy and
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robust and happy, we give you thanks. But we know
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that even in those seasons, our life can turn down
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in a moment's notice. And for those who are today
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finding themselves on the road down to Egypt, but you
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remind them what you did for Joseph and tell them,
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Father that you can do it. Still. Thank you for
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the hope that we have in you through Christ. We pray,
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and all God's people said, stand to stand, warm up.
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Aga