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God's Loving Pursuit - Minister Max Lucado · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

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  Speaker 1: We never imagined we would live to see a day
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  Speaker 1: like this. We never imagined that we would endure a
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  Speaker 1: global pandemic. We never envisioned yet another downturn so severe
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  Speaker 1: in the economy that it's being compared to the nineteen thirties.
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  Speaker 1: We who had hoped that the sin of racism had
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  Speaker 1: finally been put behind us, learned that we were wrong,
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  Speaker 1: and the ugly sin of racism reared her head yet again,
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  Speaker 1: and we're dealing with it even still. Add to that
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  Speaker 1: the overcrowded conditions of hospitals, the hostility in the political system,
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  Speaker 1: the sense of isolation and helplessness that many people feel,
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  Speaker 1: the fear that comes with the possibility of either losing
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  Speaker 1: your job or having just lost your job, The concern
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  Speaker 1: about looking into a school year having absolutely no idea
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  Speaker 1: what that school year is going to look like. The
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  Speaker 1: fact that so many of the predictable routines of our
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  Speaker 1: lives have been taken away from us. The scaffolding of spring, summer, fall, winter,
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  Speaker 1: and what happens during those days completely changed. It's hard
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  Speaker 1: to imagine. It's hard to imagine that a person wouldn't
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  Speaker 1: be tested, discouraged and frustrated, and even depressed as they
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  Speaker 1: try to deal with this time. My friend, I want
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  Speaker 1: to encourage you. I want you to know that the
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  Speaker 1: Lord is with you. I want you to know that
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  Speaker 1: he knew this was coming, he knows it's happening, and
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  Speaker 1: he knows how he's going to bring it all to
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  Speaker 1: an end. He's using all of this to call people
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  Speaker 1: to himself, and he's calling you and me to a
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  Speaker 1: deeper walk with him. The scripture says that in the
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  Speaker 1: end times, the love of many will grow cold. How
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  Speaker 1: many people will be discovered to be not true passengers
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  Speaker 1: on the ship of faith, but just stowaways, short timers.
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  Speaker 2: Do not let yourself be one of those.
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  Speaker 1: Let your love go deep, Let your love go deep,
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  Speaker 1: let your faith be strong now to do that, dear friend,
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  Speaker 1: what you did last year to nourish your faith is
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  Speaker 1: not enough for this year.
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  Speaker 2: It's just not enough.
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  Speaker 1: You were accustomed, perhaps to church programs, maybe to a
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  Speaker 1: busy church sanctuary or a full church auditorium, to being
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  Speaker 1: supplemented and strengthened by hanging out with other Christians, and
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  Speaker 1: many of those sources of strength are just simply not
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  Speaker 1: there now. I would encourage you. Don't allow yourself to
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  Speaker 1: slide away and let your faith grow, let your faith
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  Speaker 1: become lukewarm. Do whatever it takes, dig deeper, keep your
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  Speaker 1: Bible open, keep your knees bent, keep your connection with
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  Speaker 1: other Christians strong, find some way of service. Don't allow
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  Speaker 1: yourself to go inward. Don't grow alone on an island,
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  Speaker 1: but stay strong in your faith. God is going to
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  Speaker 1: get you through this. He's going to get us through this,
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  Speaker 1: and he's going to get his church through this. His
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  Speaker 1: church has seen things like this since the very beginning.
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  Speaker 1: Why the very earliest challenge of the church was what
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  Speaker 1: is called the diaspora, as the church, because of persecution
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  Speaker 1: in Jerusalem and surrounding areas.
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  Speaker 2: Was pressed.
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  Speaker 1: They had to run, they had to escape, and the
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  Speaker 1: Gospel consequently was taken around the world, was taken into
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  Speaker 1: the Mediterranean, taken into what is now called Turkey, taken
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  Speaker 1: into Ethiopia, places that the Gospel needed to go win
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  Speaker 1: because of trouble, because of stress. I believe that right
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  Speaker 1: now the Gospel is going around the world in a
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  Speaker 1: way faster that any of us can imagine, because people
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  Speaker 1: realizing that they've been untethered from sources of encouragement and
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  Speaker 1: diversion and pleasure. Are finally looking to God, and they're
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  Speaker 1: looking online. They're opening their Bible, they're opening books, they're
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  Speaker 1: listening to messages. I believe we're going to see a
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  Speaker 1: great harvest come out of this. But in the meantime,
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  Speaker 1: it really falls to us to stay strong, to hang
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  Speaker 1: in there. Pray for your church, Pray for Oak Hills,
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  Speaker 1: Pray for Travis, Pray for the leaders, Pray for the elders.
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  Speaker 1: They're facing uncharted waters and they're doing so brilliantly and faithfully.
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  Speaker 1: I'm so proud of them, and I love them, and
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  Speaker 1: I stand with you for them. I stand with you
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  Speaker 1: for them. May God give them wisdom and strength. I'm
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  Speaker 1: not going to fall into that camp of Monday morning
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  Speaker 1: quarterbacks that are always questioning whatever church does. I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to trust the Lord to speak through our leaders and
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  Speaker 1: to guide us into the right path forward. And in
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  Speaker 1: the meantime, we keep our Bible open, we keep ourselves encouraged.
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  Speaker 1: And I don't know of a better place to go
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  Speaker 1: for encouragement than the most famous psalm in the Bible,
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  Speaker 1: the twenty third Psalm. As we look at it again today,
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  Speaker 1: let's read it together. The Lord is my shepherd I
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  Speaker 1: shall not want. He makes me to lie down in
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  Speaker 1: green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He
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  Speaker 1: restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness
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  Speaker 1: for his name's sake. And YEA, though I walk through
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  Speaker 1: the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
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  Speaker 1: no evil, for you are with me. God, and your
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  Speaker 1: staff they comfort me. You prepare a table before me
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  Speaker 1: in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head
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  Speaker 1: with oil, and my cup runs over. Surely, goodness and
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  Speaker 1: mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
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  Speaker 1: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever,
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  Speaker 1: Most Heavenly. Father, Please have mercy upon our speaker. His
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  Speaker 1: sins are many, and help us to see Jesus and just.
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  Speaker 2: Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: Have mercy upon all who hear this word, wherever they
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  Speaker 1: be in the world. Lift them up in the distant
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  Speaker 1: lands of Croatia, Australia, in the nearby towns of Selma
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  Speaker 1: and Bernie, wherever they are. Wherever we are, we pray Father,
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  Speaker 1: a special blessing upon all who hear the word. In
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  Speaker 1: the name of Jesus. We pray, Amen. Eric Hill had
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  Speaker 1: everything that you would need for a bright future. He
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  Speaker 1: was twenty eight years old, in a recent college grad
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  Speaker 1: with an athletic frame and a contagious smile. His family
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  Speaker 1: loved me, girls took notice of him. Companies had contacted
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  Speaker 1: him about working for them. But although Eric appeared composed without,
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  Speaker 1: he was actually tormented within, tormented by voices that he
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  Speaker 1: could not silence, bothered by images he could not avoid,
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  Speaker 1: so hoping to get away from them all, he got
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  Speaker 1: away from it all, and on a February day in
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  Speaker 1: nineteen eighty two, Eric Hill walked out the back door
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  Speaker 1: of his Florida home and he never came back. His sister, Debbie,
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  Speaker 1: remembers seeing him leave, actually seeing his tall frame amble
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  Speaker 1: down the interstate, but she assumed he would return he
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  Speaker 1: always had before, but he didn't. She had hoped he
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  Speaker 1: would call, but he didn't. She thought she could find him,
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  Speaker 1: but she couldn't. Exactly where Eric journeyed, only he and
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  Speaker 1: God know, and neither of the two have ever given
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  Speaker 1: that information. And what we do know is that at
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  Speaker 1: some point Eric heard a voice, and in that voice
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  Speaker 1: was an assignment, and that assignment was to pick up
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  Speaker 1: garbage alongside Interstate ten in San Antonio, Texas to the commuters.
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  Speaker 2: On Interstate ten.
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  Speaker 1: His lanky beard, and his bearded face and his lanky
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  Speaker 1: form became a familiar sight. He made a home out
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  Speaker 1: of a hole in a vacant lot. He made a
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  Speaker 1: wardrobe out of split trousers and a torn sweatshirt. An
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  Speaker 1: old hat deferred the summer sun, and a plastic bag
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  Speaker 1: would wrap he'd wrap around his shoulders to keep him
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  Speaker 1: warm in the winter. His weathered face and stooped shoulders
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  Speaker 1: made him look twice his forty four years of age.
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  Speaker 1: But then sixteen years on the side of the road.
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  Speaker 1: We'll do that to you. That's how long it had
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  Speaker 1: been since Debbie had seen her brother. She might never
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  Speaker 1: have seen him again were it not for two events.
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  Speaker 1: The first was the construction of a car dealership on
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  Speaker 1: Eric's vacant lot. It was a CarMax that's on Interstate
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  Speaker 1: ten to this day. The second was a severe pain
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  Speaker 1: in his abdomen. The dealership took his home, the pain
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  Speaker 1: nearly took his life. MS found him curled up in
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  Speaker 1: a ball on the side of the road, clutching his stomach.
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  Speaker 1: The hospital ran some tests and determined that Eric had cancer,
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  Speaker 1: terminal cancer. Another few months and he would be dead
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  Speaker 1: with no known family or relatives.
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  Speaker 2: He had die alone.
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  Speaker 1: His court appointed attorney couldn't handle this thought. Surely somebody
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  Speaker 1: is looking for Eric, he reasoned, And so the lawyer
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  Speaker 1: got online and looked and looked and looked for anybody
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  Speaker 1: in search of a brown haired adult male with the
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  Speaker 1: last name Hill. It took a long time, but he
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  Speaker 1: finally found someone. He found Debbie. His description seemed to
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  Speaker 1: match her memory, but she had to know for sure.
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  Speaker 1: So Debbie came to Texas. She and her husband and
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  Speaker 1: two children rented a hotel room and set out to
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  Speaker 1: see Eric. But now he had been released from the hospital.
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  Speaker 1: But the chaplain knew where he was hanging out, and
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  Speaker 1: they found it sitting again to the building not far
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  Speaker 1: from the Interstate. As they approached, he stood. They offered fruit,
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  Speaker 1: he refused. They offered juice, he declined. He was polite,
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  Speaker 1: but he was unimpressed, and he did not recognize this
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  Speaker 1: lady who claimed to be his family. His interests perked, however,
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  Speaker 1: when Debbie offered him a pin to wear, an angel pin,
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  Speaker 1: he said yes, and his first time to be touched
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  Speaker 1: by a family member in sixteen years happened when he
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  Speaker 1: allowed Debbie to pin the angel on his shirt. Debbie
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  Speaker 1: had intended to stay a week, but a week past
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  Speaker 1: she stayed. Her husband returned home.
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  Speaker 2: She stayed.
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  Speaker 1: Spring became summer. Eric improved a bit. She stayed. Debbie
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  Speaker 1: rented an apartment and began homeschooling her kids and reaching
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  Speaker 1: out to her brother wasn't easy. He didn't recognize her.
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  Speaker 1: He didn't really want anything to do with her. One
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  Speaker 1: day he cursed her. He didn't want to sleep in
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  Speaker 1: her apartment. He didn't want her food, he didn't want
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  Speaker 1: to talk. He liked his vacant lot, he wanted his job.
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  Speaker 1: Who was this woman?
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  Speaker 2: Anyway? But Debbie refused to give up on Eric.
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  Speaker 1: She understood that he didn't understand, so she stayed. I
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  Speaker 1: met her. I met Debbie. I would come to meet Eric,
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  Speaker 1: though only briefly. I even said a word at his funeral.
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  Speaker 1: I met Debbie at church one Sunday. Yes, she visited
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  Speaker 1: the Oak Hills church many years ago. When she shared
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  Speaker 1: her story, I asked her what you might have wanted
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  Speaker 1: to ask. I said, how do you keep from giving up?
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  Speaker 1: And she said, simple, He's my brother. The story of
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  Speaker 1: her great pursuit reminded me of another. That heart of
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  Speaker 1: hers reminded me of another heart, another kind heart who
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  Speaker 1: left home in search of the confused, another compassionate soul
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  Speaker 1: who couldn't bear the thought of a brother or sister
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  Speaker 1: in pain. So, like Debbie, he left home. Like Debbie,
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  Speaker 1: he found his sibling. And when Jesus found us, we
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  Speaker 1: responded like Eric. Our limitations kept us from recognizing the
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  Speaker 1: one who came to save us. We even doubted his presence.
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  Speaker 1: We've been known to curse him. Yet how does he respond?
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  Speaker 1: How does he deal with our doubts? Well, I'll tell
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  Speaker 1: you what He falls us As deb Be followed Derek,
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  Speaker 1: God follows us. He pursues until we, at least some
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  Speaker 1: of us finally see him as our father, our savior.
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  Speaker 1: His spirit is our source of inner strength, and he
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  Speaker 1: will follow us still all the days of our lives.
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  Speaker 1: Can we talk for just a few moments about God's
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  Speaker 1: pursuit of you? The psalmist David wrote these wonderful words,
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  Speaker 1: Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days
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  Speaker 1: of my life, and I will dwell in the house
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  Speaker 1: of the Lord forever. This must be one of the
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  Speaker 1: sweetest phrases ever penned. Can we read it from a
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  Speaker 1: few other translations? Goodness and love unfailing these will follow
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  Speaker 1: me all the days of my life, and I shall
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  Speaker 1: dwell in the House of the Lord my whole life.
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  Speaker 1: Law or this, I know that your goodness and love
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  Speaker 1: will be with me all my life, and that your
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  Speaker 1: house will be my home as long as I live.
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  Speaker 1: And this one, your beauty and love chase after me
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  Speaker 1: every day of my life. I'm back home in the
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  Speaker 1: house of Yahweh for the rest of my life. To
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  Speaker 1: read the verses to open a box of jewels. Each
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  Speaker 1: word sparkles and begs to be examined in the face
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  Speaker 1: of our doubts. Goodness and mercy all the days dwell
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  Speaker 1: in the House of the Lord forever. These phrases sweep
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  Speaker 1: in like a swat team on the doubts of our heart.
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  Speaker 1: I want to look at the first word. Surely, surely,
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  Speaker 1: goodness and mercy shall follow me. David didn't say maybe
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  Speaker 1: goodness and mercy shall follow me, or possibly goodness and
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  Speaker 1: mercy shall follow me, or I'm hoping that goodness and
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  Speaker 1: mercy shall follow me. He could have used one of
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  Speaker 1: those other phrases, but he didn't. David believed in a
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  Speaker 1: sure God, a God who makes promises and provides a
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  Speaker 1: sure foundation. You know, David would have loved the words
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  Speaker 1: of one of his great, great, great, great great grandsons,
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  Speaker 1: the apostle James, who wrote spoke of God, with whom
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  Speaker 1: there is never the slightest variation or shadow of inconsistency.
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  Speaker 1: Our moods may shift, but God's doesn't. Our minds may change,
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  Speaker 1: but God's doesn't. Our devotion may falter, but God's doesn't,
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  Speaker 1: even if we're faithless. Two Timothy two thirteen says he
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  Speaker 1: cannot betray himself, so he'll remain faithful.
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  Speaker 2: He's a sure God.
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  Speaker 1: And because he's a sure God, surely goodness and mercy
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  Speaker 1: shall follow me all the days of my life. And
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  Speaker 1: what follows the word surely goodness and mercy, goodness and mercy.
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  Speaker 1: You see, if the Lord is the shepherd who leads
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  Speaker 1: the flock, goodness and mercy are the two sheep dogs
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  Speaker 1: that guard.
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  Speaker 2: The rear of the flock.
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  Speaker 1: Goodness and mercy, not goodness alone, for we are sinners
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  Speaker 1: in need of mercy, not mercy alone, for refragial in
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  Speaker 1: need of goodness. We need them both as one man wrote,
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  Speaker 1: goodness to supply every want, mercy to forgive every sin, mercy,
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  Speaker 1: Goodness to provide, mercy to pardon. Goodness and mercy the
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  Speaker 1: celestial escort of God's flock. And if that duo doesn't
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  Speaker 1: reinforce your faith, try this phrase, all the days of
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  Speaker 1: my life, All the days of my life. What a
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  Speaker 1: huge statement. Look at the size of it. Goodness and
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  Speaker 1: mercy follow the child of God each and every day,
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  Speaker 1: all the days. Think of the days that lie a hit.
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  Speaker 1: What do you see? Days at home with only toddlers.
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  Speaker 1: God will be with you, Days in an unemployment line.
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  Speaker 1: God will be with you, days of loneliness. God will
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  Speaker 1: take your hand, days in a hospital bed. Surely goodness
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  Speaker 1: and mercy shall follow you there. Surely goodness and mercy
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  Speaker 1: shall follow you, not some, not most, not nearly all,
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  Speaker 1: but all the days of my life.
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  Speaker 2: And what will he do during these days?
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  Speaker 1: Well, here's my favorite word, he will follow us. He
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  Speaker 1: will follow us? Is that not a surprising way to
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  Speaker 1: describe God. We're accustomed to a God who remains up
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  Speaker 1: there in one place, a God who sits enthroned in
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  Speaker 1: heaven and rules and reigns and ordains. Indeed, he is.
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  Speaker 1: But David envisioned a mobile and active God who follows us,
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  Speaker 1: who pursues us. Dare we do the same?
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  Speaker 2: There?
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  Speaker 1: We envision a God who follows us. Dare you Dare
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  Speaker 1: you envision a God who follows you, who tracks you down,
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  Speaker 1: who wins you over, who follows you with goodness and
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  Speaker 1: mercy all the days.
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  Speaker 2: Of your life.
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  Speaker 1: Friend, this is the God we find in the Bible.
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  Speaker 1: Look at this, Look with me at the passion of
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  Speaker 1: God for just a moment. You've got to go no
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  Speaker 1: further than the third chapter of the first book of
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  Speaker 1: the Bible, the book of Genesis, before you find God
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  Speaker 1: in the role of a seeker, had him an Eva
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  Speaker 1: hiding in the bushes, partly to cover their bodies, partly
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  Speaker 1: to cover their sin. But does God wait for them
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  Speaker 1: to come to him No. Genesis chapter three and verse nine,
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  Speaker 1: his words the words of God ring in the garden?
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  Speaker 2: Where are you? Where are you?
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  Speaker 1: And with that question God began a quest for the
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  Speaker 1: heart of humanity that continue up through and to the
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  Speaker 1: moment you hear these words, where are you, God sayth
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  Speaker 1: he comes following us, pursuing us. Moses can tell you
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  Speaker 1: about it. He was forty years in the desert when
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  Speaker 1: he looked over his shoulder and he saw a bush blazing.
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  Speaker 1: God had followed him into the wilderness. Jonah can tell
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  Speaker 1: you about it. He was a fugitive on a boat
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  Speaker 1: when he looked over his shoulder and saw the clouds brewing.
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  Speaker 1: God had followed him onto the ocean. The disciples of
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  Speaker 1: Jesus knew the feeling of being followed by God. Now
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  Speaker 1: they were rains soaked and shivering when they looked over
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  Speaker 1: their shoulders and saw Jesus walking toward them on the storm.
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  Speaker 1: Through the storm, God had followed them into the storm.
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  Speaker 2: A woman who goes.
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  Speaker 1: Unnamed in the in the region of Samaria knew the same.
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  Speaker 1: She lived all alone in her life, and she was
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  Speaker 1: alone at the well when she looked over her sh
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  Speaker 1: and saw Messiah speaking. And God had followed her through
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  Speaker 1: her pain. John the Apostle was banished on Patmos, and
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  Speaker 1: he looked over and saw the skies began to open.
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  Speaker 1: God had followed him into exile. Remember Elazarus, three days
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  Speaker 1: dead in a sealed tomb, he heard a voice. He
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  Speaker 1: lifted his head and looked over his shoulder. There was
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  Speaker 1: Jesus standing telling him to stand up that God had
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  Speaker 1: followed him right there into the grave. Peter had denied
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  Speaker 1: his lord, gone back to fishing when he heard his
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  Speaker 1: name and looked over his shoulder and saw Jesus cooking
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  Speaker 1: breakfast tacos. God had followed him in spite of his failure.
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  Speaker 1: God is the God who follows. He's the God who follows.
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  Speaker 1: Let me ask your friend, have you sensed him following you?
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  Speaker 2: Have you?
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  Speaker 1: Have you?
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  Speaker 2: Well?
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  Speaker 1: I know we often missing, Like Eric, we don't know
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  Speaker 1: our helper when he's near comes. Is he coming to you?
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  Speaker 1: Is he speaking to you through the kindness of a stranger,
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  Speaker 1: through the forgiveness of a spouse, through the love of
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  Speaker 1: a parent, through the joy of a child, through a
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  Speaker 1: word well spoken, or a touch well timed, or even
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  Speaker 1: through a sermon?
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  Speaker 2: Right now? Do you sense him coming.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: To you, calling to you, wooing you, whispering, calling you,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: saying I'm calling you back, I'm calling you back.
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: Do you sense him coming for you? Is so?
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: Would you do this? Would you just release your doubts?
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: Just release your doubts, set them down, be encumbered by them.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: No longer you're not a candidate for insecurity. You're no
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: longer a client of timidity. You can trust God. He
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: has given his love to you. Why don't you give
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: your fears to him? Give your doubts to him? Not
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: easy to do, you say, I know, but it's not
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: him possible and it's not as difficult as you might think.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: Try these ideas and then I'll be done. Just trust
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: the promise of the Shepherd. Trust the promise of the Shepherd.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: First of all, don't consult your feelings. Don't consult your feelings.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: You feel that you're all alone, that's a lie. Scripture
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: says God is with you. Your feelings have no impact
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: on God's presence. On the days you don't feel close
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: to God, then just don't consult your feelings. One of
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: the most common questions that I get asked is how
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: do I behave on the days that I don't feel
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: close to God. I say, well, just take your feelings
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: outside and give them a good talking to. Your feelings
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: are not reliable. I don't always feel close to God,
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: but scripture. Scripture says He is with me every day,
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: and He will be with me every day. Surely, goodness
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: Your feelings don't get a vote, they don't and during.
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: These days some stress.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: Of course, you don't feel all peppy and enthusiastic and
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: faithful and energetic.
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: That's okay.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: Cut yourselves some slack, don't consult your feelings. And then
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: number two, measure your value through God's eyes, not your own.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: To everyone else, Eric Hill was just a homeless drifter,
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: but to Debbie he was a brother. You know, there's
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: times in our lives we feel like we're gangrels, homeless, disoriented,
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: hard to help, hard to love, like drifters. And in
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: those seasons, just remember this factor. You're in God's family.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: You're in God's family, and he loves you. And his
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: love doesn't come and go like the love of humans.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: His love never changes. Why does he love you because
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: of your family? Your family, He'll follow you all the
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: days of your life. And then, thirdly, and lastly, see
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: the big picture, not the small. You see, Eric's home
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: was taken, as his health was taken, but through the tragedy,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: his family was returned to him in the big picture.
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: In the big.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: Picture, what started office as a burden became a wonderful blessing.
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: I know what's been rough over the last few days
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: and weeks and months. I get that, and maybe your
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: home is and your health have been threatened. And I'm
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: not saying that's easy, but could it be that through
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: this you're going to find your family, your spiritual family
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: as well. You'll find your heavenly father, a father who
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: will follow you all the days of your life. By
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: the way, the last chapter of Eric's life was his best.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: One.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: Days before he died, he he recognized Debbie as his sister,
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: and in doing so, he discovered his home. I can
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: remember meeting him, visiting him and her in the hospital,
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: and he looked at her with that familiarity that you
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: have when you're looking at a family member's face. We
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: will see our heavenly Father. I know that many of
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: us have doubted him, like Debbie. Even though we have
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: doubted him, God has followed us.
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: Like Eric.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: We've been quick to turn away. But Debbie, she was
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: slow to anger, and so is God. He's slow to anger.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: He's determined to stay.
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: Like Eric.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: We don't always accept God's gift. But Debbie still gave
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: gifts to Eric, and God still gives them to us.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: And well, he gives us his angels, and he doesn't
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: just give us his angels as a pen on a lapel,
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: but placed on our path to protect us and to
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: guide us. And most of all, he gives us himself.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: Even when we choose our hovel over his house, when
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: we choose our trash over his grace, he still follows us,
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: never forcing us, never leaving us, patiently, persistent, faithfully present,
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: using all of his power to convince us that he
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: is who he is, and that he could be trusted
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: to lead us home, because his goodness and mercy shall
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: follow us all the days of our life. We understand
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: right that our heavenly father is doing more than just
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: recruiting a flock for this earth. But he's recruiting a flock,
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: summoning to himself a people with whom he can reign
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: throughout eternity. Everything, everything, is working together to invite you
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: to be a part of that forever flock, that forever family.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: Could I urge you, my friend, if you've never said
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: yes to him, pleased?
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: Please do?
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: Don't wait another day. Don't wait another day. No one
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: knows when he's returning. But boy, these these activities, these circumstances,
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: these events of these days make us take a good
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: long look into the Eastern sky to see if he
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: isn't about to call us home, and I want you
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: to be home with him. Say yes to him. Pray
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: with me if you would just say this, say Lord,
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: I call upon you as my savior and shepherd. Please
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: forgive my sins. I call out to you as the
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: Lord of all. I confess you as the Lord of
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: my life through Christ.
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: I pray.
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: Amen for those of you who prayed that prayer. God
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: bless you and welcome to the Family of God, and
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: welcome to the Church. We would love the opportunity to
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: connect with you, to encourage you, to help you understand
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: the Bible, to help you belong to a church family,
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: and to participate in your baptism. Reach out to us
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: so we can reach out to you. God bless you
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: in Jesus' name. Amen.
• 30:03
  Speaker 3: Everything I used to live for faith is slowly out
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: of sight. Now my days just circle around you like
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: I'm lost without life.
• 30:17
  Speaker 4: All the noise just turns to silence when your memory
• 30:21
  Speaker 4: comes to And the world I want was chasing and
• 30:26
  Speaker 4: now feel small.
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: A shape like you. My whole world is only.
• 30:36
  Speaker 5: Every dog he's breaking through. You're so close inside my mind,
• 30:43
  Speaker 5: but so far and reife.
• 30:46
  Speaker 3: I can feel you everywhere else and the things we
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: live sh.
• 30:53
  Speaker 6: All this love I'm going through never reaches you.
• 31:03
  Speaker 4: Heavy humage feels so real now, like you're standing next
• 31:08
  Speaker 4: to me.
• 31:10
  Speaker 5: But the truth is in the silence you or never.
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: Man to see.
• 31:19
  Speaker 6: My world is on me.
• 31:23
  Speaker 5: Every dog he is breaking through. You're so close inside
• 31:28
  Speaker 5: my mind, but so far and real life. I can
• 31:33
  Speaker 5: feel you everywhere and the things.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: We live sh.
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: Ah this all I'm going.
• 31:42
  Speaker 5: Through never reaches you.
• 31:47
  Speaker 7: If you fail to fall, moment would have changed the
• 31:51
  Speaker 7: way stay Oh would still be shadow at you Faal.
• 32:13
  Speaker 6: My world is only you on is only your world
• 32:17
  Speaker 6: a different you. I'm just someone passing by in your
• 32:24
  Speaker 6: old and Scott still.
• 32:26
  Speaker 5: Hold on to every Harvey costs.
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: For you.
• 32:33
  Speaker 5: On this life. I always know who'll never reach you.
• 32:50
  Speaker 6: Mm hmm