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REMEMBERING GOD’S MERCY · THIS IS THE LIFE PODCAST

• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Over the past few days we've talked a lot about
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  Speaker 1: mercy we've talked about receiving mercy recognizing mercy and yesterday
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: we talked about how to show mercy to other people
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: today we want to wrap that up uh We're talking
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: about remembering God's mercy. I want to ask you a
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  Speaker 1: question this morning. What do we do when we remember
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: God's mercy? What happens in our lives when we take
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  Speaker 1: a little time to just stop and just enjoy the
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  Speaker 1: memory of what God has done in our lives? How
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  Speaker 1: far He's brought us? What He gave us and showed
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  Speaker 1: us and delivered us from that we had... Every reason
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: in the world to remain there, but God's mercy and
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  Speaker 1: His grace and His great love for us has brought
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  Speaker 1: us to where we are now. In Psalm 77 and
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  Speaker 1: verse number 11, the Word of God says, I will
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  Speaker 1: remember the works of the Lord. Surely I will remember
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  Speaker 1: thy wonders of old. It is possible for us because
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  Speaker 1: we are human nature. It is possible to be grateful
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  Speaker 1: for what God has done and still forget when life
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  Speaker 1: becomes difficult again. You ever been caught up in that?
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  Speaker 1: Ever had that happen to you? I'm sure we all have.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe a new concern fills our thoughts and old fears
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  Speaker 1: try to return. We begin wondering whether the Lord will
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  Speaker 1: help us through this specific trouble, even though he has
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  Speaker 1: just carried us through the thing we just came out
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  Speaker 1: of and we We need to remember that. We need
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  Speaker 1: to remember that the Lord is faithful in all the
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: seasons of our lives. The writer here in Psalm 77,
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  Speaker 1: he knew what it was to wrestle with troubling thoughts
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  Speaker 1: in his life. It's evident here when his words, I
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  Speaker 1: will remember, it sounds like a choice he made in
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  Speaker 1: the middle of his circumstances and in the middle of
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  Speaker 1: his struggle. I want you to notice what he did
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  Speaker 1: not say. He did not say, I will complain. Or
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  Speaker 1: I will quit on God. Or I will blame someone
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  Speaker 1: else for this. Or I will blame God for this. No,
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  Speaker 1: he turned his attention towards the work the Lord had
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  Speaker 1: already done. Because he needed to recall who God had
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  Speaker 1: been to him in the past. So he could bring
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  Speaker 1: great comfort to where God was with him in the present.
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  Speaker 1: And after the Israelites crossed the Jordan River, if you remember.
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  Speaker 1: God told them to take twelve stones. From the riverbed
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  Speaker 1: and set them up as a memorial. Now those stones
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  Speaker 1: would help them tell their children what the Lord had
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  Speaker 1: done and remind them exactly where they were when the
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  Speaker 1: Lord delivered them. And one day someone would ask them,
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  Speaker 1: what do these stones mean? And there would be a
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  Speaker 1: story to tell. A story that may be forgotten or misplaced.
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  Speaker 1: had it not been for some tangible evidence that God
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  Speaker 1: wanted them to remember, to recall, and then to recite
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  Speaker 1: to the next generation. I believe we need reminders like
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  Speaker 1: that as well. We need to spend more time telling
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  Speaker 1: our story. Maybe yours is a date written beside a
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  Speaker 1: verse in your Bible and it brings to mind a story.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe it's a journal entry that You're placed in a
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  Speaker 1: season when you thought you'd never make it through that season.
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  Speaker 1: But yet somehow God brought you through. That's a story.
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  Speaker 1: And it's a story worth telling. It could be the
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  Speaker 1: name of a person that God sent to help you
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  Speaker 1: just in time. In a conversation that you still remember.
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  Speaker 1: Because God brings it to your mind if he does.
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  Speaker 1: And if it's relevant. Share that story. Because it helps
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  Speaker 1: you remember God's mercy. But it also shows you. Shows others.
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  Speaker 1: How God has been so merciful in your life. See,
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  Speaker 1: these reminders, now they do not erase the trouble that
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  Speaker 1: we face right at the moment. No, and remembering God's
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  Speaker 1: mercy does not mean that we pretend that every season
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  Speaker 1: is easy because we all bear witness that it's not.
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  Speaker 1: But it gives us something true to hold on to
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  Speaker 1: alongside what is difficult at the moment. See, God's mercy
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  Speaker 1: is the unchanging standard that we must always keep returning to.
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  Speaker 1: I want you to think back this morning over your
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  Speaker 1: life for just a moment. Just kind of take a
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  Speaker 1: cliff note glimpse of your life. Where did God meet
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  Speaker 1: you with compassion when you didn't even deserve compassion? When
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  Speaker 1: did He forgive you, provide for you, give you strength
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  Speaker 1: you didn't even know you had? That's God's mercy. Remember that.
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  Speaker 1: Some answers may be clear this morning. Others you may
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  Speaker 1: have to sit and think about for a few moments.
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  Speaker 1: But allow the Holy Spirit to recall them to your
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  Speaker 1: mind because they're worth remembering and they're worth sharing. Maybe
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  Speaker 1: write one of them down today. Tell somebody about it.
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  Speaker 1: Let it become part of the story you pass along
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  Speaker 1: to other people, especially to your family. Because years from now,
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  Speaker 1: that memory may help you face another difficult day, but
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  Speaker 1: it may also help someone else Believe that God can
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  Speaker 1: meet their need as well. I hope this helped you
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  Speaker 1: this week. To take a word. That sometimes we use.
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  Speaker 1: So frequently. That we fail to stop and realize the
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  Speaker 1: true meaning. Of God's mercy. We may not know what
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  Speaker 1: tomorrow will bring. But today we can remember this. The
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  Speaker 1: mercy that has brought us this far. Is not about
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  Speaker 1: to leave us now. So today you be safe, you
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  Speaker 1: be strong, and you be blessed. Lord's will, we'll meet
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  Speaker 1: back here again tomorrow for our Front Porch Friday edition.
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  Speaker 1: Until then, you have a great day.