Latest / Scripture Central / ”Stand Forever” Ep. 4 | The Essential Problem in Life | Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge

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”Stand Forever” Ep. 4 | The Essential Problem in Life | Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge · Scripture Central

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  Now listen to this. There's a problem, a big
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  problem. On our own, nothing is enough.
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  The essential problem in life is separation from God, our Father.
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  That is what King Benjamin characterized as our awful
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  situation, and it is awful. As a result, there is a hole in
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  every heart. Many try to fill the void with
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  money, degrees, recognitions, drugs, alcohol.
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  There is a longing, A yearning. Therefore, remember Him to keep
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  his commandments. It's the only intelligent thing
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  to do. The big picture is a big deal.
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  Few things provide greater comfort, confidence, and clarity
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  than looking beyond present cares to see and remember the
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  big picture. Maybe, except for the Holy
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  Spirit, there may be nothing more helpful to brave life's
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  perils than seeing and remembering the big picture, the
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  whole map. We may live life in the weeds,
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  but if we don't see beyond them, we will think life is only weeds
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  when we stand back. The big picture looks like this.
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  There's three parts to it. First part A.
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  The essential problem in life is separation from God our Father.
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  Without God, chaos, darkness, and death prevail.
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  B Jesus Christ bridges the gap if we will believe and follow
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  Him to the end and help others do the same.
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  He is the way offsetting chaos. He is the truth offsetting
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  darkness. He is the life offsetting death.
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  Therefore, see Cross the bridge and close the gap, Believe and
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  follow Christ to the end and help others do the same.
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  That is the big picture and that is the primary framework for
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  this series. I am Larry Corbridge and this is
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  the Stand Forever series. The focus of this particular
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  episode is the first assertion of that three-part that I've
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  just described. That is the essential problem in
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  life. William Wordsworth, one of the
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  great English Romantic poets, is particularly known for this
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  beautiful and insightful verse. He said our birth is but a sleep
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  and a forgetting. The soul that rises with us.
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  Our life * hath had elsewhere its setting and cometh from
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  afar. Not in entire forgetfulness and
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  not in utter nakedness, but trailing clouds of glory do we
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  come from God who is our home. Life did not begin with birth.
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  Before this life, we lived, learned and progressed in the
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  presence of our Heavenly Father. As the sunsets in one hemisphere
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  and dawns in another. The dawning of our birth here
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  was also the setting of a marvelous phase of life in the
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  presence of God our Father, who is again our Father and our
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  home. Never are the limitations of our
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  faculties more evident, and never are words more inadequate
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  than when employed in the attempt to comprehend and
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  describe the expanse, wonder, glory, and grandeur of God's
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  creations and His plan for all of us, for His children.
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  And His greatest creation is you.
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  You are not only created in His image, you are His spiritual
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  offspring. In the Old Testament, Zachariah
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  says that God stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the
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  foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within
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  him. God's first recorded words to
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  Jeremiah were about where he came from before this life,
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  saying, Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee.
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  Before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and
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  I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
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  The Almighty God of heaven and earth is the great, great
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  Creator of the cosmos, the universe, and all things in
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  them. He is the Author of salvation,
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  omniscient and omnipotent, but first and foremost, above all
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  things, He is a Parent, a Father, a very good Father, a
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  perfect Father and Eternal Father.
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  He is your Father. You are his child.
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  To speak of a divine spark within you is a huge
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  understatement. As the poet said, you come
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  trailing clouds of glory. You are endowed with astounding
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  intelligence which permeates every cell and molecule of your
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  body, intelligence which surpasseth understanding and yet
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  is undeniable. More than your earthly parents,
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  your heavenly parentage is the essence of who you are.
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  Your earthly parents gave you the marvelous blessing of a body
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  which you you animate, which you inhabit, but without you, your
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  body will die, while you will live on.
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  God is not only your Father, but the source of light, security,
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  knowledge, Lovejoy, peace, wisdom, strength, power, order,
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  purpose, fulfillment, life, and every other good thing.
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  You come from the security of a heavenly home, but now you are
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  away from home, separated from your heavenly Father, not only
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  physically, but spiritually and in character, knowledge and
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  power as well. It is the disparity between who
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  and where God is and who and where we are.
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  That separation, that separation in all of its dimensions, is the
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  essential problem in life. One might say it's the central
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  or critical problem in life, but it is essential in the sense
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  that it is necessary to our development and simply the
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  reality that we have much to learn and do to become like our
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  Heavenly Parents. Like children leaving home to
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  make their way in life, we willingly left the security of
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  our heavenly home and family to make our way here in this life
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  and prepare for the next. Surely Heavenly Father knew and,
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  and we must have known as well, how difficult this life would be
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  and how much would hang in the balance of mortality.
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  How much would hang in the balance of mortality?
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  Heavenly Father knew, and we must have known as well, that we
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  would stumble and fall along the way.
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  And yet we chose to come because God promised a Savior who would
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  help us when we fall so our falling would not be failing.
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  On the website of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
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  Saints we find this fairly long description of our pre mortal
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  life under the heading Council in Heaven.
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  Please do not dismiss it even if it seems elementary and
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  familiar. The greatest truths are often
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  time worn and we cannot appreciate why we are here
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  without remembering from whence we came.
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  This is what it says in the pre mortal life.
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  Our Heavenly Father called the Grand Council to present His
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  plan for our progression. We we learned that if we
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  followed His plan, we would become like Him.
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  We would be resurrected. We would have all power in
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  heaven and on earth. We would become Heavenly Parents
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  and have spirit, spirit children just as He does.
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  We learned that He would provide an earth for us where we would
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  prove ourselves, a veil would cover our memories, and we would
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  forget our heavenly home. This would be necessary so we
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  could exercise our agency to choose good or evil without
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  being influenced by the memory of living with our Heavenly
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  Father. He would help us recognize the
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  truth when we heard it again on earth.
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  At the Grand Council, we also learned the purpose for our
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  progression to have a fullness of joy.
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  However, we also learned that some would be deceived, choose
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  other paths, and lose their way. We learned that all of us would
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  have trials in our lives, sickness, disappointment, pain,
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  sorrow, and death, but we understood that these would be
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  given to us for our experience and our good.
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  If we allowed them to. These trials would purify us
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  rather than defeat us. Continuing on at this council,
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  we also learned that because of our weakness, all of us except
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  little children would sin. We learned that a Savior would
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  be provided for us so we could overcome sins and overcome death
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  with resurrection. We learned that if we placed our
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  faith in Him, obeying His Word and following His example, we
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  would be exalted and become like our heavenly Father.
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  We would receive a fullness of joy despite its risks and
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  rigors. You gladly chose to come here.
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  The Lord asked Job. Where was thou when I laid the
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  foundations of the earth? He then said.
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  The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted
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  for joy, presumably at the prospect of life on earth.
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  Your voice was in that joyful chorus.
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  Speaking of the premortal world, Joseph Smith said God himself,
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  finding he was in the midst of spirits and glory because he was
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  more intelligent, saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest
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  could have a privilege to advance like himself.
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  God's commandments are not meant to restrict or vex, but exalt
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  us. This brings us to something that
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  I call ABC. I call it that because it is yet
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  again another syllogism in Scripture.
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  But not just any Rather, it is a primary, if not the central
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  message God has revealed to His children from the beginning of
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  time. There are two ways to study
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  Scripture close up or from a distance.
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  The close up approach plumbs the depths of a single verse, or a
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  few verses or a single topic. To study at a distance, however,
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  is to stand back and read for broad messages, patterns, and
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  repetitions. The Old Testament, along with
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  the Pearl of great prize, reveals God's earliest
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  communications with His children from the from the beginning of
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  time. One of the primary messages is
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  again what I call ABC. It is seen by studying at a
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  distance. Although ABC is a pervasive
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  pattern throughout the Old Testament, Ioffer it here only
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  in a few examples, really out of hundreds.
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  To see ABC once is to understand it in your head, but to see its
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  pervasiveness is to move it from your head to your heart, and
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  then it makes a difference. It is not just the message that
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  is important, it is also its prevalence.
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  So I'm going to give you a number of examples.
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  I hope it will not be too long of a slog, but here, here are
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  the examples. First example Moses proclaimed
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  know that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God which
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  keepeth covenant and mercy within the that love him and
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  keep his commandments to 1000 generations.
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  Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments and the statutes
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  and the judgments which I command thee this day to do
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  them. Another example.
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  The second example of ABC is a more extensive version of the
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  Lord's admonition to Israel, as found in two chapters of
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  Deuteronomy, chapters 28 and 29. Because it is so long, I will
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  need to abbreviate it here for our purposes.
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  This is what it says. If thou shalt hearken diligently
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  unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and do all his
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  commandments, which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy
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  God will set thee on high above all nations on the earth, and
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  all these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee.
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  If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, then
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  the Lord describes a very long list of specific blessings, that
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  which I'm not going to enumerate here.
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  He then adds this warning. But it shall come to pass.
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  If thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God,
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  to observe, to do all His commandments and his statutes,
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  which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come
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  upon thee and overtake thee, the Lord.
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  That then describes an even longer list of curses, none of
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  which anyone wants to experience.
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  Then after that long list, the Lord then says this.
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  This is the conclusion. Keep, therefore, the words of
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  this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do
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  now, unabbreviated. That is a long passage of
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  Scripture, but it serves to illustrate the lengths to which
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  the Lord has gone to teach it. ABC is one of the primary
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  messages of the Old Testament. Only God can preserve, prosper,
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  prepare, perfect, and bless us is an essential truth threaded
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  throughout the entire fabric of the Old Testament, but never
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  more prominently than in the book of Isaiah.
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  Israel was prone to forget God seeking protection and
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  prosperity through alliances with other nations, instead of
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  trusting in the Almighty God, the Creator of heaven and earth
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  and all things therein, in whose hands the destinies of all
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  nations and men reside. God repeatedly said to trust in
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  Him before the arm of flesh. Here are some examples of ABC
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  from Isaiah chapter 1. Come now and let us reason
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  together, sayeth the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet,
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  they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like Crimson,
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  they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient,
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  ye shall eat the good of the land.
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  Chapter 26. Trust ye in the Lord forever,
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  for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.
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  Chapter 41 And you'll recognize these words from the hymn.
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  How firm a foundation. Fear thou not, for I am with
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  thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
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  God. I will strengthen thee.
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  Yeah. I will help thee, yeah.
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  I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness,
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  for I, the Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto
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  thee, Fear not, I will help thee.
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  Chapter 43. O Israel, fear not, for I have
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  redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name.
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  Thou art mine. When thou passeth through the
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  waters I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall
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  not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
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  fire, thou shall not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
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  upon thee. For I am the Lord, thy God, the
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  Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. Fear not prime with thee, I even
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  I. I am the Lord beside me.
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  There is no Savior. I have declared and have saved,
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  and I have showed when there was no strange God among you.
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  Therefore ye are my witnesses, sayeth the Lord, that I am God.
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  Yeah, before the day was I am He, and there is none that can
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  deliver out of my hand. I will work, and who shall let
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  it I even I am he that blotted out thy transgressions for mine
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  own sake, and will not remember thy sins.
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  Chapter 44. I know this is a long list, but
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  stay with me. Thus sayeth the Lord that made
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  thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee.
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  Fear not, O Jacob my servant, for I will pour water upon him
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  that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground.
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  I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine
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  offspring. They shall spring up as among
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  the grass, as willows by the watercourses.
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  Thus sayeth the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the
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  Lord of hosts. I am the 1st, and I am the last.
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  Beside me there is no God. Chapter 46 We're almost done.
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  And even to your old age I am He.
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  And even to your whore hares will I carry you.
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  I have made and I will bear and even I will carry and will
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  deliver you. To whom will you liken me and
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  make me equal and compare me that we may be like.
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  So that's it. Again, those are a few examples
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  out of literally hundreds that we could show, but we don't
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  nearly have that much time. So let's piece together ABC.
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  Now what would a be? What would be the major premise?
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  It begins with Only God can. How would you finish that
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  sentence? Only God can what?
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  Only God can bless you. Only God can cause your heart to
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  beat and give you breath. Only He can preserve and protect
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  you. Only He can give you strength to
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  bear up the burdens of life. Only He can give you power,
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  knowledge, peace, and joy. Only He can forgive your sins.
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  Only He can heal you. Only He can change you and forge
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  a godly soul. Only He can bring you back into
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  His presence. Only He can bless you.
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  That's the major premise. Only God can bless you.
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  So what would the minor premise be?
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  Part B? What would that be?
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  How would you finish this sentence?
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  He will do all of that and more if what?
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  He will do all of that, bless you and more if what?
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  He will do all of that and much more if you remember Him to keep
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  His commandments. What then is the conclusion?
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  Therefore, remember him to keep his commandments.
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  It's the only intelligent thing to do.
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  Now listen to this. It is a monumental mistake to be
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  dismissive of ABC because of its simplicity.
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  Some of the greatest truths are the simplest.
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  Life is not easy, but it's not complicated.
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  It doesn't require a PhD or a great intellect to figure it
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  out. Standing alone, ABC is old news,
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  but that is part of its significance.
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  It is the oldest of the news. From the beginning of time, God
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  has repeatedly invited His children to trust Him.
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  Not instead of everyone and everything else, but above
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  anyone and anything else. Read the Scriptures, especially
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  the Old Testament, with ABC in mind and see how many times it
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  emerges. It is in the account of And here
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  I have to give you a warning. This is another long list, but
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  this is to give you a sense of its prevalence throughout
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  Scripture. But here we're talking about the
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  Old Testament. It is in the account of Cain and
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  Abel, Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and
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  Esau, Joseph and his brothers, Moses, Joshua and the children
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  of Israel, Gideon, Samson, Ruth, Hannah, Esther, Eli and his
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  sons, Samuel, David, Solomon, Elijah, King Josiah, King ASA,
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  King Jehoshaphat, King Hezekiah, King Manasseh, King Ammon, Job,
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  Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, the sons of
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  Ephraim, Joel and Jonah. I said it was a long list.
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  It is repeated hundreds of times over, more than the constraints
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  of this small episode will allow in detailed explanation.
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  As I said, to see ABC once is to understand it in your head, but
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  to see its pervasiveness is to move it from your head to your
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  heart, and then it makes a difference.
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  It is not just the message that is important, it is also its
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  prevalence. But there's a problem, a big
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  problem. We don't keep God's commandments
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  all the time. We make mistakes, and when we
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  do, we may withdraw ourselves from the Spirit of the Lord,
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  which is God's presence in this world.
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  And before we know it, we are left unto ourselves, separated
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  from God, His blessings and power.
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  That is what King Benjamin characterized as he said our
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  awful situation, and it is awful.
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  It is the worst of all. It is the essential problem in
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  life. Separation from God and His
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  Spirit is the hardest part of Heavenly Father's plan for His
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  children. As a result, there is a hole in
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  every heart. There is a longing, A yearning,
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  even an emptiness, a sense of something missing, like a faint
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  hum we constantly hear but are not fully aware.
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  For as glorious and beautiful as our world is, we sense we are
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  here temporarily to be fitted for another and better life,
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  Alistair McGrath, a Northern Irish theologian and Anglican
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  priest, observed. Many have found that the awesome
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  sight of the star-studded heavens evokes a sense of
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  wonder, an awareness of transcendence that is charged
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  with spiritual significance. And yet the distant, shimmering
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  stars does not itself create this sense of longing, it merely
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  exposes what is already there, he said.
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  They are catalysts for our spiritual insights, revealing
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  our emptiness and compelling us to ask whether and how this void
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  might be filled. Might our true origins and
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  destiny somehow lie beyond those stars?
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  Might there not be homeland from which we are presently exiled,
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  to which we secretly long to return?
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  Might not our accumulation of discontentment and
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  disillusionment with our present existence be a pointer to
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  another land where our true destiny lies and which is able
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  to make its presence felt now in this haunting way?
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  Suppose that this is not where we are meant to be, but that a
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  better land is at hand. The beauty of the night skies or
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  a glorious sunset are important pointers to the origins and the
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  ultimate fulfillment of our hearts deepest desires.
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  But if we mistake the signpost for what is signposted, we will
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  attach our hopes and longings to lesser goals which cannot
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  finally quench our thirst for meaning.
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  Many try to fill. I guess we all try to fill the
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  void in a lot of different ways. But many try to fill the void
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  with money, degrees, recognitions, titles,
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  possessions, career success, vacations, entertainments,
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  drugs, alcohol, pornography, promiscuity and self indulgence.
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  Much of what we do is touched by a hazy, almost unconscious
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  desire to fill the void and recover the security and warmth
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  we once knew. The best we can do on our own is
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  with friends, family, and selfless service, but even
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  still, it's not enough. Now listen to this.
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  On our own nothing is enough, because the void is separation
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  from God, and only God's presence can feel it again.
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  And in this life, God's presence is his spirit or power, which we
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  do not merit and cannot have on our own.
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  The essential problem in life is separation from God our Father.
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  Without God, chaos, darkness and death prevail.
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  Now, in coming episodes, we will explore in greater depth some of
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  the dimensions of that problem, and then we will turn to the
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  solution. So remember that.
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  I hope you will stay with me on this journey.
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  But again, we're going to talk about chaos, darkness and death.
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  And by nature, they're somewhat unpleasant topics.
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  So again, please stay with me. There is light at the end of the
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  tunnel as we explore in greater depth the problem to understand
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  better the solution. We will get to the solution.
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  So again, I hope you will stay with me on this journey and
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  stand forever.