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When Your Plan Doesn’t Match God’s Plan with Pastor Rick Warren · Voice of Rick warren

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Hi everybody, I'm Pastor Rick and we're back out at
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  Speaker 1: our farm this week and this may be the first
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  Speaker 1: week I get rain. I've been teaching you all year
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  Speaker 1: from this farm and it's clouded up and getting a
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  Speaker 1: little windy. We may have a little rain before this
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  Speaker 1: message ends, but it won't bother me. I'm glad you've
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  Speaker 1: joined us. Before we look at God's word, I wanna
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  Speaker 1: mention that this next Wednesday is Veterans Day. And in
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  Speaker 1: our church family, we always honor our vets and those
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  Speaker 1: serving on active duty in some branch of service. I
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  Speaker 1: wish I could have you all stand right now. I
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  Speaker 1: wish we could applaud you like we normally do. We
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  Speaker 1: usually have gifts for our veterans to express our appreciation,
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  Speaker 1: but this is an unusual year. And so just let
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  Speaker 1: me say something that I like to remind everybody about
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  Speaker 1: every time we have Veterans Day. It's important for everybody
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  Speaker 1: to remember who actually has secured the freedoms you enjoy.
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  Speaker 1: It's our veterans, not reporters, who give us the freedom
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  Speaker 1: of the press. It's our veterans, not poets, who give
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  Speaker 1: us the freedom of speech. It's our veterans, not political organizers,
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  Speaker 1: who give us the freedom to assemble. And it's our veterans,
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  Speaker 1: not lawyers, who give us the freedom to have a
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  Speaker 1: fair trial. It's our veterans, not politicians, who give us
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  Speaker 1: the freedom to vote. And it's our veterans, not preachers,
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  Speaker 1: who give us the freedom to worship publicly. And so
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  Speaker 1: to all of you who've served in one of our
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  Speaker 1: services on behalf of a grateful nation, Thank you. Thank you.
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  Speaker 1: Let me pray for you. Would you bow your heads? Father,
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  Speaker 1: together we wanna give thanks for these men and women
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  Speaker 1: who have served you and have served you by serving others.
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  Speaker 1: We thank you for the freedoms that we have and
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  Speaker 1: enjoy today because they're protected by these who've served. We
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  Speaker 1: thank you for their integrity. We thank you for their
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  Speaker 1: sacrificial service, for their dependable loyalty, for their willingness to
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  Speaker 1: take risks. And we thank you for their commitment to duty.
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  Speaker 1: And we ask you to bless them in a special
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  Speaker 1: way today. And may we all be inspired by their
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  Speaker 1: unselfish service and by their examples. And I pray this
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  Speaker 1: in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Now, as many of us expected,
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  Speaker 1: the outcome of the presidential election here in America is
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  Speaker 1: headed for a court battle. So nobody really knows yet
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  Speaker 1: how it's gonna end. But what we do know is
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  Speaker 1: that just like COVID-19 pandemic and everything else this year,
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  Speaker 1: it's gonna take longer than we like. Has it ever
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  Speaker 1: occurred to you that God is using this year 2020
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  Speaker 1: as a year of testing? He's testing our character. He's
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  Speaker 1: testing our commitment and he's testing definitely our patience. Seems
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  Speaker 1: pretty obvious to me. You know, in Ezekiel 21, 13,
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  Speaker 1: it says this, I am testing my people and they
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  Speaker 1: can do nothing to stop me, says the Lord. Now
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  Speaker 1: this entire year, but especially in the past few weeks,
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  Speaker 1: have stirred up a lot of negative emotions. It's interesting
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  Speaker 1: to me, I don't know if you've ever noticed this,
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  Speaker 1: that in the English language, a lot of the negative
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  Speaker 1: emotions that we feel begin with D. Now, let me
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  Speaker 1: apologize here to all our non-English speaking Saddleback family. We
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  Speaker 1: love you so much. You know, in our Saddleback Church family,
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  Speaker 1: which is spread across four different continents, we speak 169
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  Speaker 1: different languages, including we speak Cantonese in our church in
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  Speaker 1: Hong Kong, we speak Spanish in our church in Buenos Aires,
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  Speaker 1: we speak Tagalog in our church in Santa Rosa, Philippines,
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  Speaker 1: and we speak German in our church in Berlin. But
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  Speaker 1: for those of you who speak English, I'm gonna read
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  Speaker 1: a list of negative emotions that all began with D
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  Speaker 1: in English. And as for the rest of you, just
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  Speaker 1: realize it's a long list of negative emotions. Right now,
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  Speaker 1: for many different reasons, people have told me they feel damaged, debilitated, deceived, defeated, defensive, dejected,
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  Speaker 1: they feel delayed and demeaned, demoralized, denigrated, denied, depleted, depreciated,
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  Speaker 1: They feel depressed, deserted, desperate, despondent, destroyed. They feel disgusted, disillusioned, discouraged,
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  Speaker 1: and disappointed. In most places around the world, you don't
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  Speaker 1: just vote in an election on one position or one candidate.
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  Speaker 1: You're asked to vote on a number of different things.
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  Speaker 1: For instance, this week here in America, On the ballot
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  Speaker 1: I received in California, there were maybe 50 different positions
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  Speaker 1: and laws to vote on or for or against. Now,
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  Speaker 1: since nobody can win every time, I'm sure everybody who
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  Speaker 1: voted in an election this week anywhere in the world
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  Speaker 1: experienced losses and failures because we have lots of things
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  Speaker 1: to vote on. We all have losses in life. We
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  Speaker 1: all have failures in life. We all have disappointments in life.
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  Speaker 1: How do you recover from the disappointments of life? That's
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  Speaker 1: what I want us to look at today. I want
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  Speaker 1: us to look at what do you do when your
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  Speaker 1: plan doesn't match God's plan? Have you noticed that God
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  Speaker 1: often has different ideas than you do about your life?
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  Speaker 1: Whether you're trying to recover from a disappointment of an
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  Speaker 1: election or an experience or the disappointment of employment or
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  Speaker 1: an embarrassment or the disappointment of an expectation. What do
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  Speaker 1: you do? What should you do when you're disappointed by anything? Well,
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  Speaker 1: what I wanna do this weekend is recommend eight principles
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  Speaker 1: from God's word, seven actually, that will help you through
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  Speaker 1: difficult times, including the time we're going through right now
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  Speaker 1: as we wait on who's gonna be the leader for
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  Speaker 1: the next four years in America. All right, get out
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  Speaker 1: a pencil. And if you wanna download the outline, you can.
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  Speaker 1: It's online at saddleback.com or pastorrick.com. But here's what you
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  Speaker 1: ought to do anytime you're disappointed in anything, anytime you
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  Speaker 1: have a failure, anytime you have a loss. Number one,
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  Speaker 1: always choose faith over fear. Always choose faith over fear.
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  Speaker 1: When things don't work out the way you wanted, when
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  Speaker 1: your plan is not God's plan, when you don't understand
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  Speaker 1: what's going on, always choose faith over fear. You don't panic,
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  Speaker 1: you pray. You don't worry, you worship. You turn your
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  Speaker 1: thoughts to the greatness of God. You know, fear never
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  Speaker 1: ever helps and worry has never solved any problem anytime.
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  Speaker 1: So for instance, in this election debacle right now, debacle
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  Speaker 1: right now, worry never solves anything. Now in this current
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  Speaker 1: election situation, there are two reasons you shouldn't be fearful.
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  Speaker 1: There's a biblical one and there's actually a historical one. First,
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  Speaker 1: God's commandment to not be afraid is the most repeated
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  Speaker 1: command in the Bible. Did you know that? God's command
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  Speaker 1: to not be afraid, to not be fearful, to not
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  Speaker 1: be anxious, to not worry is the most repeated command
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  Speaker 1: in the Bible. There are 365 fear nots in the Bible.
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  Speaker 1: That's one for every day of the year. God really
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  Speaker 1: doesn't want us to be anxious or fearful. 2 Timothy 1.7,
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  Speaker 1: God did not give us a spirit of fear. a
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  Speaker 1: spirit that makes us afraid, but he gave us a
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  Speaker 1: spirit of power and love and self-control. So just that
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  Speaker 1: reason enough, God says, don't panic in the days ahead
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  Speaker 1: while there's a lot of unsettled factors going on. He says,
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  Speaker 1: I have given you a spirit of power and love
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  Speaker 1: and self-control, not a spirit of fear. But you know,
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  Speaker 1: there's a second reason not to be afraid is what
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  Speaker 1: history teaches us. And if you know history, many, many
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  Speaker 1: elections in the past have taken a long time to decide.
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  Speaker 1: In 1800, the presidential contest between Aaron Burr and Thomas Jefferson,
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  Speaker 1: it took weeks for them to decide. It happened again
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  Speaker 1: in 1824 between Adams and Jackson. Now the longest time
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  Speaker 1: that it ever took to decide who was gonna be
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  Speaker 1: president was in 17, excuse me, 1876. Guy named Rutherford Hayes,
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  Speaker 1: a Republican versus Samuel Tilden, a Democrat, Hayes won by
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  Speaker 1: one electoral vote, but it took until March to decide. March.
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  Speaker 1: It took a month in 1888 between Harrison and Cleveland
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  Speaker 1: in that election. And of course, in 2000, you all
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  Speaker 1: remember the hanging chat. It was the middle of December
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  Speaker 1: in the Bush versus Gore contest. So this is not
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  Speaker 1: something uncommon. By law, states have to report their winner
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  Speaker 1: within 41 days, which this year means, I think, December 14th.
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  Speaker 1: By the way, just throw this in since I'm a
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  Speaker 1: student of history, the idea of a concession speech, it's
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  Speaker 1: a modern invention. There were no concession speeches in any
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  Speaker 1: election until 1952. The first person to give a concession
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  Speaker 1: speech was a guy named Adlai Stevenson who lost to Eisenhower.
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  Speaker 1: So in a time of limbo or a time of
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  Speaker 1: disappointment or a time of chaos, always choose faith over fear, okay?
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  Speaker 1: Number two, second thing to do when you're disappointed And
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  Speaker 1: when life seems out of control is this, always trust
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  Speaker 1: that God is in control. Always trust that God is
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  Speaker 1: in control. It may look like chaos from a human viewpoint,
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  Speaker 1: but God has a bigger perspective. History is his story.
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  Speaker 1: And instead of being afraid of what people might do
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  Speaker 1: in the days or weeks ahead, the Bible says we
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  Speaker 1: should have a holy fear of God. Now, when it
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  Speaker 1: talks about fear in the Bible, it's not talking about panic.
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  Speaker 1: It's talking about reverence. It's the old English word for fear,
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  Speaker 1: which means reverence for God. And in Job 25, verse two,
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  Speaker 1: it says this, God is the one to fear because
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  Speaker 1: God is in control and he knows. rules the heaven.
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  Speaker 1: God is in control. Now, you either believe that or
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  Speaker 1: you don't. This idea that God is in control of
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  Speaker 1: everything and you're trusting him because he's in control of everything,
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  Speaker 1: even when it looks out of control from your viewpoint,
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  Speaker 1: the sovereignty of God is meant to comfort us. It's
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  Speaker 1: not to be used as a club. You say, well,
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  Speaker 1: if God is in control, does that mean we don't
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  Speaker 1: have any choice? The answer is, of course, you have
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  Speaker 1: a choice. God lets us make choices because we're made
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  Speaker 1: in his image and he gave us the capacity to
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  Speaker 1: make moral choices, but our choices are not unlimited. You
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  Speaker 1: don't have unlimited choice. You can't say, for instance, be
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  Speaker 1: an opera singer if God didn't give you that talent.
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  Speaker 1: You can only be what God made you to be.
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  Speaker 1: We have a free will, but it's a limited will.
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  Speaker 1: And ultimately, God is in charge of history. Let me
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  Speaker 1: show you a Bible verse that may shock you coming
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  Speaker 1: out of this election. Psalm 75. Verse six and seven
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  Speaker 1: says this, regardless of who ends up being president, here's
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  Speaker 1: what the Bible says. Psalm 75, six and seven. For
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  Speaker 1: promotion and power come from nowhere on earth, but only
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  Speaker 1: come from God. He promotes one and deposes another. God says,
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  Speaker 1: I accept responsibility for this. The New Living Translation says,
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  Speaker 1: God decides who will rise and who will fall. Amplified
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  Speaker 1: translation is he puts one down and he lifts another up.
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  Speaker 1: God is saying, I'm in charge here. Trust me. I
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  Speaker 1: know what I'm doing. You don't know what I'm doing.
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  Speaker 1: You can't see what I see. You don't know what
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  Speaker 1: I know. Your values aren't my values. We looked at
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  Speaker 1: that last week in Isaiah. So when you're disappointed, you
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  Speaker 1: first always choose faith over fear. And second, you always
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  Speaker 1: trust that God is in control. Number three, the third
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  Speaker 1: thing to do when you're disappointed is be patient. It's
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  Speaker 1: not the end of the story. Be patient because it's
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  Speaker 1: not the end of the story. You know, part of
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  Speaker 1: our problem is that we look at things in a
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  Speaker 1: short-term perspective. We don't see things from an eternal perspective.
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  Speaker 1: We're so short-sighted and we're so impatient. And we think
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  Speaker 1: that the most important thing that's ever happened in the
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  Speaker 1: entire history of the world is happening right now. It's not.
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  Speaker 1: God has been directing history for thousands of years. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: thousands of years before you and I were ever even born,
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  Speaker 1: he was directing history. You know, in the book of Habakkuk,
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  Speaker 1: that's a little book by a guy who was a
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  Speaker 1: prophet in Israel near the end of the Old Testament.
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  Speaker 1: In the book of Habakkuk, that prophet was watching the
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  Speaker 1: decline and the destruction of his nation. Literally, everything was
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  Speaker 1: falling apart. And Habakkuk cries out, in a long complaint
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  Speaker 1: to God. And in Habakkuk chapter one, verse two, he
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  Speaker 1: says this, how long, Lord? It's the how long question.
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  Speaker 1: How long? How long do I have to keep begging
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  Speaker 1: you to help our nation? How long before you listen?
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  Speaker 1: Do you see what's going on out there, God? How
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  Speaker 1: long before you rescue us from all this violence? A
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  Speaker 1: lot of people have asked that question about our country
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  Speaker 1: and other countries too. Those who are refugees in places
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  Speaker 1: like the Middle East are asking, how long before you
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  Speaker 1: rescue us from all this violence? Well, God actually answers
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  Speaker 1: Habakkuk in chapter two. And he says this, Habakkuk, I
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  Speaker 1: know what I'm doing. And I know just the right
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  Speaker 1: timetable for it. And Habakkuk, you need to trust me.
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  Speaker 1: You need to be patient. This is not the end
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  Speaker 1: of the story. And here's what he said, Habakkuk 2,
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  Speaker 1: verse 3. God says, the things that I plan won't
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  Speaker 1: happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when
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  Speaker 1: the vision will be fulfilled. But he says, if it
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  Speaker 1: seems slow, do not despair, for these things will surely
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  Speaker 1: come to pass. Just be patient. They will not be
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  Speaker 1: overdue a single day. It will not be overdue. He says, Habakkuk,
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  Speaker 1: trust me, when you're saying, how long is this gonna
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  Speaker 1: go on? When are we gonna see the change? He says,
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  Speaker 1: my plan's a good plan and it'll happen, but it
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  Speaker 1: won't be overdue, but it takes some time, just be patient.
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  Speaker 1: This is not the end of the story. You know,
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  Speaker 1: if you've been faithfully attending worship online at Saddleback all
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  Speaker 1: through this year, 2020, as I've taught 30 different messages
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  Speaker 1: through the book of James, You know that James, by now,
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  Speaker 1: puts a premium on patience. James 5, verse seven, he says,
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  Speaker 1: wait patiently, my friends. You have a hard time being impatient?
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  Speaker 1: Wait patiently, my friends, till the Lord comes. And then
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  Speaker 1: he gives us a model. He says, think about farmers.
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  Speaker 1: Think of how patient farmers are as they wait for
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  Speaker 1: their land to produce. They wait patiently for different seasons
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  Speaker 1: and rain. Now, if you're taking notes, I would circle
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  Speaker 1: the phrase seasons, different seasons. You see, God says that
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  Speaker 1: there are seasons in life. And you know what? You
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  Speaker 1: know what I've learned? You can't skip seasons. You can't
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  Speaker 1: go from summer to summer to summer to summer without
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  Speaker 1: going through winter. So there are seasons in life. There
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  Speaker 1: are seasons in nations. You need to trust God's timing.
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  Speaker 1: You know, the last time I looked, The promise of
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  Speaker 1: Romans 8, 28 has never changed. It's still in force.
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  Speaker 1: No matter who gets elected, Romans 8, 28 is still
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  Speaker 1: gonna work. Romans 8, 28. And we know that in
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  Speaker 1: all things, not some, we know that in all things,
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  Speaker 1: God works for the good of those who love him,
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  Speaker 1: who've been called according to his purpose. Now, not everything
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  Speaker 1: is good in life. Rape isn't good. Racism isn't good.
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  Speaker 1: Abuse isn't good, cancer isn't good. Not everything in life
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  Speaker 1: is good, but God says, I can use it all
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  Speaker 1: for good. Even the bad, I can bring good out
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  Speaker 1: of bad. Only God can do that. Anybody can bring
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  Speaker 1: good out of good, but God can bring good out
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  Speaker 1: of the bad in my life. The problem is, friends,
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  Speaker 1: we can't see what God sees. 2 Corinthians 4, verse
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  Speaker 1: 18 says this. So we, talking to Christians, We set
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  Speaker 1: our eyes not on what we see, but on what
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  Speaker 1: we cannot see, because what we see will last only
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  Speaker 1: a short time, but what we can't see will last forever.
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  Speaker 1: And he's saying here that as followers of Jesus, as disciples,
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  Speaker 1: we're called to focus more on what's gonna last forever
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  Speaker 1: and not focus on all the short-term stuff, like the
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  Speaker 1: political chaos that's going on right now. You know, as
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  Speaker 1: your pastor, And as somebody who really loves you deeply,
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  Speaker 1: and I do, and I pray for you, I do,
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  Speaker 1: I pray for the people in our church family. And
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  Speaker 1: as somebody who loves you, can I be frank with you?
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  Speaker 1: I am sure that some of you are spending way
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  Speaker 1: too much time thinking about politics. In fact, you've been
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  Speaker 1: obsessed with it as if it's all that matters. And
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  Speaker 1: you are glued to your screens, checking everything every minute.
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  Speaker 1: And instead of getting God's vision, you're getting your vision
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  Speaker 1: from television. and from political pundits. You're not getting it
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  Speaker 1: from the word. As we talked about last week, you're
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  Speaker 1: getting it from the world. Friends, listen to me closely.
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  Speaker 1: I know this challenge and this delay in the election results,
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  Speaker 1: right now it's feeling like the most important thing in life,
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  Speaker 1: but it's not. It's just temporary. And you know what?
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  Speaker 1: In 50 years, nobody's gonna remember this delay. If you
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  Speaker 1: want me to prove it, let me ask you a question.
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  Speaker 1: Who was elected US president 1877? Because that was the
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  Speaker 1: single most hotly contested election in American history. It was
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  Speaker 1: a real nail biter. And at that time, when they
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  Speaker 1: were waiting all the way until March to find out
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  Speaker 1: who was gonna be president, it felt like the nation
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  Speaker 1: was falling apart. But you don't even know the name
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  Speaker 1: of the president, much less the guy who contested the election.
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  Speaker 1: I mentioned his name earlier, Rutherford Hayes. but almost everybody's
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  Speaker 1: forgotten him along with the other presidents like Tyler and
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  Speaker 1: Fillmore and Arthur and Van Buren and a bunch of
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  Speaker 1: other guys you wouldn't even recognize. It's all temporary. We
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  Speaker 1: look not at the things that we see, but the
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  Speaker 1: things that are unseen, because the things we see are temporary.
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  Speaker 1: The things we don't see are eternal. In this election,
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  Speaker 1: we need to put it all in perspective and be
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  Speaker 1: patient with the process, okay? Let the election system to
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  Speaker 1: finish its course. Okay, I'm gonna need to speed this up.
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  Speaker 1: So can you write faster? Here's the fourth key. Don't
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  Speaker 1: jump to conclusions. When you are going through a time
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  Speaker 1: that God's plan is not your plan and you're disappointed
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  Speaker 1: or you're discouraged or you're down in the mouth or
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: you're depressed because things aren't going the way you wanted
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  Speaker 1: them to go, when you start to feel discouraged and disappointed,
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  Speaker 1: don't jump to conclusions. Very, very important. During this crisis
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  Speaker 1: right now that's going on in the American nation, many
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  Speaker 1: accusations have been made by the candidate behind in the voting.
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  Speaker 1: And we can expect a whole lot more crossed accusations
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: back and forth. This team will say this, and this
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: team will say this, and you're being unfair. I'm being
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: cheated and on and on. Remember this, don't jump to conclusions.
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: An accusation is not a fact. Just because somebody keeps
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: repeating it over and over and over doesn't make it true.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: There must be proof. Rhetoric is not proof. It's just words.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: And to claim something over and over and over or
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: to blame something over and over is not to prove it.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: So let me give you some biblical wisdom on what
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: God says. Proverbs 25, verse eight. These are gonna surprise you.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: The Bible is so relevant to even situations like we're
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: in right now. Proverbs 25, verse eight says this, the TEV.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: Don't be too quick to go to court. Don't be
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: too quick to go to court about something you have seen,
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: because if another witness later proves you're wrong, what are
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: you gonna do then? Well, you got mud on your face,
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: big disgrace, and you know the rest of the song.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: Ecclesiastes 12, 12 says this, be warned, he's talking to
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: his son, Solomon's telling his son, be warned, my son,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: that there's no end of opinions ready to be expressed. Amen.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: Been on social media? Well, you might wanna get off
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: it for a while, okay? because it's just gonna make
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: you upset. Be warned that there's no end of opinions
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: ready to be expressed and studying them, Ecclesiastes 12, 12 says,
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: studying them can go on forever and become very exhausting.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: Don't jump to conclusions. Proverbs 14, 15 says this, only
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: fools believe everything they're told. Message says it this way,
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: the gullible will believe anything but the prudent sift and
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: weigh every word. I think the biggest thing I've been discovered,
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: I have discovered during this 2020 year is how gullible
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: some followers of Christ are. It's amazing. I was listening
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: to a guy the other day, a talk show, a
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: Christian talk show on the radio here in Southern California.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: And he was saying, I guarantee you this, that the
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: day after the election, the COVID virus will disappear because
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: it's all a political ruse. Well, say that to the
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: quarter of a million people who lost a loved one,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: a quarter of a million people who died, the loved
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: ones of those people. The Bible says in Proverbs 23, 23,
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: get the facts at any price. Proverbs 23, 23. So
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: just don't accept what you hear. Fact-checking is dead in
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: today's society. Don't just be gullible. Don't jump to conclusions.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: Get good sense, the Bible says. Hold on tightly to
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: all the good sense you can get. All right, let
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: me give you a couple more. When you're going through
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: a tough time, when you feel discouraged, when you feel disappointed,
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: things didn't go the way you wanted them to, look
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: for lessons to learn. Number five, look for lessons learned. Never,
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: never waste a disappointing situation. When your plan wasn't God's plan,
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: when things didn't go the way you want them to go,
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: learn from it. You know, God wants us to learn
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: from everything. God wants us to learn from our fears,
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: our failures, our frustrations. God even wants us to learn
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: from our sins. Stuff not to do anymore. Well, don't
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: do that anymore. Deuteronomy 11, two says, remember today what
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: you've learned about the Lord through your experiences with him.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: You're going through experiences right now. What are you learning
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: about the Lord? Let me read you a verse that
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: I think is so appropriate to what's going on in
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: America right now. Isaiah 42, verses 24 and 25. the
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: world for Isaiah at that time was falling apart. The
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: nation of Israel was, it was literally, it was being
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: looted and robbed and wars and terrorism and famine and
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: all kinds of, one an economic problem after another. And
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: in Isaiah 42, 24 and 25, Isaiah says this, who
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: gave up our nation to the looters? Good question. Who
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: gave up our... nation to the looters. Those people out
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: there in the street breaking windows. He said, it was
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: the Lord himself. Whoa, it was the Lord himself against
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: whom we sinned. We would not live as he wanted
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: us to live. And we would not obey his teachings
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: as he gave us. So he made us feel the
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: force of his anger and suffered the violence. and his
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: anger burned throughout Israel, but we never knew what was
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: happening and we learned nothing from it at all. I
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: don't want that to be true of our nation or
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: any other nation today. We learned nothing from it all.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: So try to extract the lessons of this year, the pandemic,
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: the political incivility and all the racial inequality and all
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: the other issues, economic insecurity, You know, I could make,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: I sat down and just made a list on the
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: election lessons. We learned that polls are pointless, okay? Every
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: one of them was wrong. They're all wrong. People lie
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: in polls. We learned that the nation is deeply divided,
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: that there's no mandate in this election. It doesn't matter
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: who gets elected president. Neither one of them can say,
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: I have a mandate from America. No, you have a
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: mandate from half of America. There's no mandate in this election.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: So you're gonna have to learn to compromise and how
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: to learn to negotiate. We learned the lesson that if
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: you repeat something enough, people will believe it even if
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: it's not true. We saw that all through this election.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: We learned that you still can't buy an election. I
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: read about one party of the two parties spent over
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: $ 200 million trying to defeat two candidates and they were
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: both reelected. If people don't like your dog food, they're
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: not gonna eat it, no matter how many millions of
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: dollars you spend on advertising. You know what else we
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: learned is that people like checks and balances of the
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: American system. They don't like to give all three bodies,
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: the Congress, the Senate and the White House to the
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: same party. You know what happened this year? People voted
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: for gridlock. They said, well, we might give the presidency
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: this and we might give the Congress to that and
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: might give the Senate to that. They actually like the
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: check and balance that one person, one party doesn't control
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: at all. All right, let's get practical about your life.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: Number six, when you're going through a disappointing time, And
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: when you have people going through a chaos around you,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: be empathetic with everybody. That's the sixth step. When you're
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: going through a tough time, that you're disappointed, you're discouraged,
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: you're defeated, you're depressed, be empathetic with everybody, because everybody's
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: having a tough time. You know what empathy means? Empathy
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: means you use your ears more than your mouth. You
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: just listen to people. You don't offer a defense. You
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: don't minimize their hurt. You don't say, yes, but. You
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: just listen to their pain. That's empathy. And by the way,
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: in the days after this election, don't assume you know
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: why people voted the way they did, because you don't.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: There's many reasons for voting for a candidate as there
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: are voters. One person will say, it's a matter of priorities.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: One person will say, saving lives and preventing abortions is
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: the most important issue for me. Somebody else will say, no,
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: opposing racism and promoting equality, that's the most important issue
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: for me. And somebody else will say, all I wanna
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: do is just keep more of my money, lower taxes.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: And somebody else will say, I don't care if the
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: guy's a jerk, I just need a job. Don't assume
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: you know why people vote the way they do. There's
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: as many ways as there are voters. And don't assume
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: you know anybody's motivation because you don't even know your
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: own half the time. You know, my deepest desire for you,
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: those of you who are members of Saddleback Church family,
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: my deepest desire is that in this election aftermath, when
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: half the country is gonna be depressed regardless of who wins,
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: half the country will be depressed. That you as a
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: member of Saddleback Church will be a winsome witness of
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: love to the people you disagree with. Romans 15 verse
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: two says this, we must bear the burden, listen to this,
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: we must bear the burden of being considerate of the
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: doubts and fears of others. See, we always think our
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: fears are very realistic and everybody else's irrational. We must
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: bear the burden of being considerate of the doubts and
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: fears of others, of those who feel these things are wrong.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: So God says, let us please the other fellow, not ourselves,
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: and do what's good for his good and thus build
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: him up in the Lord. Okay, so be empathetic to
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: people around you. Everybody's having a tough year, having a
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: tough time. Finally, the seventh step, and this one may
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: be the most difficult of all for some of you,
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: but it's what God tells us to do when we're
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: disappointed or discouraged or depressed. Number seven, look for things
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: to be grateful for. Look for things to be grateful for.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: What is there to be grateful for in 2020? 1
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: Thessalonians 5.18 says this. Do you wanna know God's will?
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: I wanna do God's will, okay? 1 Thessalonians 5.18 tells
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: us God's will. Give thanks in all circumstances for this
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. That's God's will.
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: You wanna know God's will for your life? Give thanks
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: in all circumstances. Now, the key to this verse is
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: understanding the word in. It doesn't say give thanks for
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: all circumstances. That would be dumb. It says give thanks
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: in all circumstances. There's a lot of things you don't
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: have to be thankful for. You don't have to be
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: thankful for COVID-19. You don't have to be thankful for chaos.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: You don't have to be thankful for bias. You don't
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: have to be thankful that maybe you were You don't
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: have to be thankful for all the bad or sin. No, no, no, no.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: It doesn't say give thanks for, it says give thanks
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: in all circumstances. For this is God's will for you
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: in Christ Jesus. You say, Rick, what in the world
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: can I be grateful for at the end of this
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: really kind of bad year? Well, let me just think.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: How about this? Be grateful the fact that you live
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: in a country that transfers power through ballots, not bullets.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: We're not worried about that. It'll be a peaceful transfer
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: of power. Be grateful that a record number of people
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: chose to vote. That's a good sign. It's a sign
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: of national health. It says people aren't apathetic. More people
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: voted this election than in the history of the United States.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: But how about personally? Be grateful for the grace of
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: God in your life. all the grace that God's shown you.
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: Be grateful for the good plan that God has for
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: your life. Be grateful for the changes God is making
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: in your life. Be grateful that Jesus Christ died for you.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: Be grateful that he is a home for you in heaven.
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: Now we've been talking about the here and now, but
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: I wanna end with this last verse, Philippians 3.20, which
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: says this. Remember, our real citizenship is in heaven. And
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: we eagerly await a savior from there. the Lord Jesus Christ,
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: our real citizenship in heaven. You know, I think every
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: Christian should carry a green card, because ultimately your primary
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: loyalty and primary citizenship is not in whatever country you
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: live or you're a citizen, it's in heaven. And he says,
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: we eagerly wait a savior. That's keeping our eyes on
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: the things that are gonna last, not the things that
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: aren't gonna last. Let me pray for you. Would you
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: bow your heads? Heavenly Father, we know we've been through
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: a tough year, a tough month, and even a very
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: tough week, and it's not even over. But you've told
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: us that you're in charge, that you're in control, and
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: we choose faith over fear. Why don't you pray with me?
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: Just say this in your heart. Say, dear God, today
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: I'm choosing faith over fear. In all the things that
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: I'm facing right now, I'm choosing faith in you over fear.
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: and say, God, I'm choosing to trust that you're in
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: control of the stuff that seems out of control in
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: my life. It looks like chaos to me, but you
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: can see the beginning from the end. Say, dear God,
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: help me to be patient realizing that this is not
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: the end of the story. It's just a chapter in
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: the book of my life. And that you have a
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: good plan for my life. Thank you for that. Help
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: me to not jump to conclusions Help me not to
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: cry out, the sky is falling like chicken little when
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: you're in control. Help me to remember that other people
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: around me are hurting. Just say that. Help me to
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: remember that other people around me are hurting. Help me
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: to be empathetic, to use my ears more than I
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: use my mouth, to use my time to be a
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: winsome witness for you. And Lord, help me to always
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: remember that my citizenship is ultimately in heaven. And that
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: can never be taken away from me. If you've never
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: opened your life to Jesus Christ, say, Jesus Christ, make
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: yourself real to me. Come into my life. I want
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: a friendship with you. I wanna know you. I wanna
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: learn to trust you. And today I'm opening myself to you,
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. And I want you to do whatever you
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: need to do in my life. I wanna follow you
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: and trust you. Please save me. In your name I pray. Amen.