Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / We Overwhelmingly Conquer │ Msg 2244 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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We Overwhelmingly Conquer │ Msg 2244 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Wonderful group of people who traveled with us. The journey
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Speaker 1: began where the roots of the Reformation row deep, and
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Speaker 1: that was in.
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Speaker 2: Prague, Czech Republic.
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Speaker 1: It was there Jon Huss, known to us as John Huss,
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Speaker 1: did his great work and ultimately died of martyr's death.
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Speaker 1: As a magnificent statue in Prague of Jon Huss as
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Speaker 1: he stands among a group of people liberated with the
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Speaker 1: truth of the good news for which he gave his life.
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Speaker 1: Our journey then took us into Germany, Eisenbach and Leipzig,
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Speaker 1: and certainly Wittenberg, where the Martin Luther country. Of course,
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Speaker 1: he and Philip melanchthen together served to free the people
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Speaker 1: of Germany with the great news of the Gospel, and
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Speaker 1: to let them know that the church that had kept
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Speaker 1: them ignorant continuing to teach, which the Bible in Latin
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Speaker 1: in a pulpit chain, a Bible chain to the pulpit,
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Speaker 1: now was freed in the language of the Germans. And
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Speaker 1: it was great to be right there at the door
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Speaker 1: of the College Church where Luther had once preached. His body,
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Speaker 1: along with Melantha, were buried right there at that church.
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Speaker 1: And then we went down into Switzerland, everyone needs to
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Speaker 1: go to Switzerland at least once in your life. You
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Speaker 1: have never seen a place quite like Switzerland. I said
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Speaker 1: to Sentia as we were going along in the bus.
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Speaker 1: Even the fields are manicured. It's unbelievable. It must be
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Speaker 1: little guys with scissors along cutting off the tops of
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Speaker 1: the grain. I mean, the grass has never been greener
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Speaker 1: and the sky is never blewer. Well, anyway, it is
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Speaker 1: there Ulrich Zwingli, along with of course John Calvin's work
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Speaker 1: was accomplished, and they're teaching made known, and there were
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Speaker 1: great statues of Zwingli and Calvin and others there in
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Speaker 1: the great land of Switzerland. We, as you can imagine,
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Speaker 1: after two weeks of traveling like that, were exhausting, and
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Speaker 1: I was so glad that she and I thought ahead
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Speaker 1: enough to set aside a one extra week to just rest,
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Speaker 1: just the two of us. So we rented a car
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Speaker 1: and we drove up to the north northeast to a
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Speaker 1: little hamlet named Interlocking. If you ever get to Switzerland,
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Speaker 1: don't miss Interlocking. It is one of.
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Speaker 2: Those idyllic spots, green.
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Speaker 1: Meadows with wildflowers and people who, of all things, jump
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Speaker 1: out of airplanes and parachute down onto the meadow, and
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Speaker 1: some jump off of mountains and sail down, and what
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Speaker 1: a it is. And I found myself as I looked
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Speaker 1: out our hotel window, and the window framed Young Frawl,
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Speaker 1: which is a great peak in the Alps. As you
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Speaker 1: look up, snow capped all year long. And I wanted
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Speaker 1: to run out of the streets and tell the people
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Speaker 1: of Interlocking.
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Speaker 2: Look, look, there's a mountain.
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Speaker 1: There's a mountain up there. Have you seen the mountain?
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Speaker 1: People are busy doing their work, Merchants are at their places,
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Speaker 1: waitresses and waiters are serving to me and say, look
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Speaker 1: look at the young Look at the mountain. You see
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Speaker 1: when you're from Frisco and ant Hill is a is
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Speaker 1: a mountain, So when you see one like the Young Fraw,
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Speaker 1: it is like something you don't normally see.
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Speaker 2: We took a little lift up.
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Speaker 1: There, and you change at one point and your ears
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Speaker 1: are popping, and you go even farther up. You don't
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Speaker 1: get quite to the peak, but you get up a
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Speaker 1: long ways. Little coffee shops up there and places to
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Speaker 1: hang out. And we sat at a table and look
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Speaker 1: down into the valley below. See to miss all of that,
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Speaker 1: if you're busy about your work. People who love the
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Speaker 1: Bible and appreciate the truth of the scriptures. If we
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Speaker 1: are not careful, we will walk along and pass right
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Speaker 1: on by Romans eighth thirty one to thirty nine and
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Speaker 1: failed to realize it is not just the young Frau
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Speaker 1: of the Alps. It is Everest of the biblical Himalayas.
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Speaker 1: It is the Senacnan of Paul's writings. It is the magnum.
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Speaker 2: Opus his work.
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Speaker 1: It is Pauline theology at its best, setting free forever
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Speaker 1: those who have been captured by and caught under the.
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Speaker 2: Grip of guilt.
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Speaker 1: As the grace that flows through it is like the
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Speaker 1: lakes that flow along interlocking. This is a magnificent passage
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Speaker 1: of scripture that causes us to pause and just stare
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Speaker 1: and soak it in and let the sights land on us.
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Speaker 1: We let the wonder in. So today we want to
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Speaker 1: take the cable car up, take the lift up, not
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Speaker 1: to the peak all the way that will come someday
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Speaker 1: when we see our Savior face to face, but literarily
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Speaker 1: in the scriptures, we go to the heights. Today we
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Speaker 1: go toward the top. Need to clarify, because Paul is
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Speaker 1: summarizing at the beginning of verse thirty one, what shall
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Speaker 1: we say to these things? Any intelligent reader asks what things? Well,
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Speaker 1: the things he's been writing about. Salvation Chapters one to five, Sanctification,
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Speaker 1: Chapter six seven. In the early part of chapter eight, Salvation,
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Speaker 1: we need to clarify who helps whom? Humanists say God
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Speaker 1: helps those who help themselves. Work hard at pulling up
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Speaker 1: your own bootstraps, stand tall, be strong. You're the captain
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Speaker 1: of your faith. You're the master of your soul. Humanistic
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Speaker 1: message says you're the one.
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Speaker 2: You can do it.
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Speaker 1: God in chapters one through five leads Paul to clarify,
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Speaker 1: it's not about that. It's not Paul's way of saying.
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Speaker 1: How do we help ourselves? Do we join a church?
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Speaker 1: Do we pray all night? Do we stay faithful? Do
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Speaker 1: we give up something we love to do? Do we
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Speaker 1: feed a missionary? Do we go to the Holy Land?
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Speaker 1: Do we fast for weeks on end? Do we work
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Speaker 1: hard and sacrifice so that God will somehow say, good job,
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Speaker 1: good for you. I like that, and compared to him,
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Speaker 1: are gonna look at her? You come out on ty,
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Speaker 1: You're doing well, keep it up. Nonsense, there's no grace
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Speaker 1: in that that's a salvation by works. The good news
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Speaker 1: is that it's not about us. It is about God.
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Speaker 1: It is not about what we have done for him.
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Speaker 1: It's about what Christ has accomplished on our behalf.
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Speaker 2: Think of it this way.
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Speaker 1: God did not send his son Jesus to make bad
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Speaker 1: people good. He sent his son Jesus to bring dead
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Speaker 1: people back to life. We're dead, not just bad. We're
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Speaker 1: dead in trestmasses and sins. I love the prodigal son's
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Speaker 1: father's announcement. This my son was bad, but now he's good.
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Speaker 1: That's not what he said. This my son was lost,
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Speaker 1: but now he's found. It was as if he had
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Speaker 1: died and he's come back to life. The message of
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Speaker 1: the salvation is that God gives life to people who
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Speaker 1: were otherwise spiritually dead. That's chapters one to five. And
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Speaker 1: you can't, you can't in any way take the.
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Speaker 2: Edge off of it.
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Speaker 1: And we haven't done. So we've let it say what
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Speaker 1: it says. When you get to chapter six, down through
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Speaker 1: the early part of chapter eight, you've come to the
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Speaker 1: subject of sanctification. Humanism says about sanctification. God has done
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Speaker 1: so much for me. Now I must work hard to
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Speaker 1: do much for him, as if to say, I'm now
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Speaker 1: got to earn this favor that He's given me in Jesus.
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Speaker 1: Another heresy again, it's not about us who's helping whom
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Speaker 1: God has devised a way for us to overwhelmingly conquer.
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Speaker 1: His indwelling spirit does the great work of righteousness, prompting
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Speaker 1: us to obey. And as we obey under the power
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Speaker 1: of the Holy Spirit, God is glorified.
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Speaker 2: He has a way to bring.
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Speaker 1: Us to the place of obedience, and he has never
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Speaker 1: lost hold of us in the process. What shall we
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Speaker 1: say to these things? Asks this apostle at verse thirty one.
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Speaker 1: So he begins to investigate. At this point he comes
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Speaker 1: to the end of chapter eight, and he looks back
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Speaker 1: over his shoulders, saying, now, all of these great things
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Speaker 1: about salvation, sanctification, what do we say about these things?
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Speaker 1: Then there's another phrase in there that says, if God
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Speaker 1: is for us, who should be against us? In the
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Speaker 1: Greek language, the word if is rendered in various ways
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Speaker 1: depending on the construction of the sentence. In this particular case,
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Speaker 1: it's assumed as true, so it could be rendered since
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Speaker 1: and since the punctuation marks are not inspired allow me
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Speaker 1: to change the punctuation. Okay, I don't want to change
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Speaker 1: words or I'll get hit by lightning, but I'm free
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Speaker 1: to change punctuation. Look at how it could read. What then,
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Speaker 1: shall we say to these things? Since God is for us?
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Speaker 1: How's that for another way of seeing it? What shall
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Speaker 1: we say to these things? Since God is for us?
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Speaker 1: That's the declaration God is for us.
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Speaker 2: Isn't that great news? People who live their lives under
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Speaker 2: guilt rarely think.
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Speaker 1: Such a thing. We hope God will someday like us.
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Speaker 1: Right now, he's dragging this club around heaven looking for
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Speaker 1: somebody to whop who stepped out a line? That's sort
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Speaker 1: of a peeved deity idea of God. No, that's heresy.
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Speaker 1: God took all of his wrath out on his son,
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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. All of his wrath was poured out on
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Speaker 1: the Son of God. That's why Jesus declaring, why have
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Speaker 1: you forsaken me? In that moment of time, the Father
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Speaker 1: turned his back on the sun as the son bore
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Speaker 1: the sins of the whole world. At that point, the
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Speaker 1: father's wrath was poured out. When the father raised the
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Speaker 1: son from the dead, it was as if he were saying,
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Speaker 1: I am satisfied with the death of my son. It
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Speaker 1: is the complete payment for sin. From now on, I
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Speaker 1: am for you. God is for us. Put that down
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Speaker 1: as a declaration.
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Speaker 2: God is for us.
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Speaker 1: Remind yourself of it. When you have disobeyed and you
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Speaker 1: feel like you need to somehow pay penance, or you
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Speaker 1: need to somehow you deserve just you know, a lot
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Speaker 1: of days behind the woodshed. You just you just deserve
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Speaker 1: nothing but a lot of punishment. God took the punishment
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Speaker 1: out on his son. Oh, he'll discipline his own, just
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Speaker 1: as you. A parent who loves your children will discipline
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Speaker 1: your children. But you never disowned him, You never condemned them.
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Speaker 1: Doesn't work like that. They are your children. But God's
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Speaker 1: even better than that. It's God is for us. Who
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Speaker 1: who does it matter? Who is against us? I think
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Speaker 1: to put it in today's terms, who can trump that hand?
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Speaker 1: If you have God on your side, since he's for us,
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Speaker 1: who's going to pull out any card that's going to
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Speaker 1: be played against that? One man? Put it this way,
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Speaker 1: the apostles answer to his own question is to ask
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Speaker 1: more questions. He hurls them into space, as it were,
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Speaker 1: in a spirit of bold defiance. He challenges anybody and
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Speaker 1: everybody in heaven, earth, or hell to answer them and
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Speaker 1: to deny the truth which they contain.
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Speaker 2: It's as if.
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Speaker 1: He's on the mountaintop shouting these questions to people in
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Speaker 1: the valleys and across the peaks, asking one question after another.
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Speaker 1: And there are four of them here, none of which
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Speaker 1: is answered any other way, but impossible. Look at the questions,
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Speaker 1: look closely. You can mark them in your Bible, or
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Speaker 1: you can put them in your outline. Number one, Verses
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Speaker 1: thirty one and thirty two. Who shall oppose us? Since
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Speaker 1: God is for us? Who is against us? He who
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Speaker 1: did not spare his own son, but delivered him up
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Speaker 1: for us all?
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Speaker 2: How will he not also.
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Speaker 1: Freely give us all things? Who will oppose us? The
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Speaker 1: point is who? On earth? Who in heaven? Who under earth?
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Speaker 1: Even matters if you have God? Who is for you?
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Speaker 1: Second question, who shall accuse us? That's verse thirty three.
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Speaker 1: Who will bring a charge against God's elect? Who shall
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Speaker 1: accuse us? Verse thirty fours Who shall condemn us? Who
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Speaker 1: is the one who condemns? And the fourth question is
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Speaker 1: down at verse thirty five, Who shall separate us? So
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Speaker 1: you got them? Who shall oppose us, Who shall accuse us,
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Speaker 1: who shall condemn us?
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Speaker 2: Who shall separate us?
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Speaker 1: Christian Friend, My beloved men and women of Stonebrough Community Church,
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Speaker 1: fellow believers, I want you to hear this message today,
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Speaker 1: as you rarely listen to messages. This message today will
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Speaker 1: save you hours, if not days, of anxiety worry over
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Speaker 1: things You have nothing to worry about. Just believe what
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Speaker 1: God has written as we come to this mountain peak
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Speaker 1: of truth. First question, verse thirty one, Who shall oppose us? Now?
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Speaker 1: Are there things that stand against us? Oh? You know
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Speaker 1: there are. I've made a list of a few. Hardships
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Speaker 1: are against us, and they work hard to bring us down.
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Speaker 1: Unbelievers who persecute are against us. In dwelling sin within
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Speaker 1: works against us. It's against us. Death, our constant enemy
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Speaker 1: is against us. All sorts of fears and foes can
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Speaker 1: be against us. And I haven't even mentioned the invisible,
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Speaker 1: sinister forces of Satan and the demons who stand against
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Speaker 1: us and accuse us. The point is, what are they
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Speaker 1: in light of the one who is for us? Don't
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Speaker 1: you love the words of verse thirty two, He who
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Speaker 1: did not spare his own son, but delivered him up
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Speaker 1: for over for us all. How will he not also
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Speaker 1: with him freely give us all things he gave you Christ?
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Speaker 1: Doesn't it make all the sense in the world that
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Speaker 1: you'll be happy to give you, delighted to give you
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Speaker 1: whatever else you may need.
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Speaker 2: I thought of this sort of silly example. Let's say
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Speaker 2: you put your.
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Speaker 1: Name in atniemon mark up for a free Memon Marcus.
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Speaker 1: I should have said for a free full length mank coat,
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Speaker 1: just really expensive coat. Okay, unless you're a wacko, this
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Speaker 1: story will be a very interesting to you. You're you're
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Speaker 1: gonna get a free full length mint coat if your
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Speaker 1: name is drawn. And then you wait, and one day, lady,
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Speaker 1: you get the call and the phone call phone rings,
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Speaker 1: and you hear the manager of the nmon Markus store saying.
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Speaker 2: You won You got the gift.
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Speaker 1: Could you come down and.
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Speaker 2: Pick it up?
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Speaker 1: You say, sure, Sure, I didn't come down and get it.
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Speaker 1: How about tomorrow afternoon. That's great, And it's the middle
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Speaker 1: of the summer. You're not gonna wear it. So you
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Speaker 1: go down and they show it. There's media there and
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Speaker 1: the flashing cameras, and d magazine is gonna do a
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Speaker 1: little clip on you, and Dallas Morning News is gonna
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Speaker 1: let everybody know you won this wonderful mink coat. And
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Speaker 1: finally the crowd dissipates and people are gone, and you
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Speaker 1: get ready to walk out. You just got a coat,
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Speaker 1: and you over your arm. And do you think Nemon
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Speaker 1: Marcus would mind if you said, could I have a hanger?
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Speaker 1: Could you put it in a bag? Can you imagine
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Speaker 1: the manager going, not on your life, We gave you
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Speaker 1: the coat. You're not gonna put a hanger. You're not
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Speaker 1: gonna throw a bag in? Are you kidding? Of course
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Speaker 1: they say, they run, get the hanger, they run, get
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Speaker 1: the plastic bag, and it's they.
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Speaker 2: Zip it up.
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Speaker 1: Why because they'll freely give you whatever goes with the gift.
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Speaker 1: That is that significant. And we feel like we have
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Speaker 1: to come to our God as beggars, having already been
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Speaker 1: given the great gift. How marvelous is the gift? And
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Speaker 1: it says he will don't miss the word freely with
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Speaker 1: a God who is continually supporting us and defending us
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Speaker 1: and protecting us and standing with us, having given us
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Speaker 1: his one and only son, surely he would without hesitation,
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Speaker 1: give whatever else we may need. Don't beg God, just
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Speaker 1: call on him as James wright you don't have because
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Speaker 1: you haven't asked. And God and his mercy in God
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Speaker 1: and his wisdom will grant you what he pleases is
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Speaker 1: best for you and will bring him glory, and he'll
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Speaker 1: do it freely. The next question, who shall accuse us?
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Speaker 1: It's a little, a little bit darker here. See the
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Speaker 1: words bring a charge against The Greek terms are to
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Speaker 1: call in, two monosyllable words to call in. The point
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Speaker 1: is it is a It is a forensic term. It's
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Speaker 1: a legal word for summons. Who will summons you?
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Speaker 2: Who will impeach you?
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Speaker 1: Our own president can be impeached, but the believer never
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Speaker 1: never impeached. Remember asking one of our presidents when I
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Speaker 1: was with him, how do you how do you stand?
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Speaker 1: This job has gotta be a crummy job. Say you
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Speaker 1: got all these people against you?
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Speaker 2: He said, your prayers. Chuck your prayers and the prayers
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Speaker 2: of your people the.
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Speaker 1: Only way we make it. And I think if that's
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Speaker 1: if that's true of a president in a country, think
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Speaker 1: of the number of the enemy could do on us
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Speaker 1: in the spiritual realm. The no summons you ever been summoned,
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Speaker 1: don't answer out loud. I was singing on the platform
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Speaker 1: of a church at a church service church I passed
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Speaker 1: through before we came to Dallas, and I remember singing
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Speaker 1: my heart out as I always am, and saw a
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Speaker 1: guy come in the back door. Looked real serious, and
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Speaker 1: he had a little envelope and he was walking right
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Speaker 1: down toward me, and I thought, man, he's gonna sit
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Speaker 1: right down front. So he started up the steps. I thought,
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Speaker 1: he's gonna sit by me. He's coming all the way up,
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Speaker 1: and he slapped me on the shoulder and handed me
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Speaker 1: that It was a summons. Now that's a great beginning
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Speaker 1: before you preach, you've got a what is this about?
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Speaker 1: It was some nut who was assuing me and and
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Speaker 1: the church for some nutty issue wanted. And he said
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Speaker 1: to the guy that brought the summon to be sure
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Speaker 1: and do it during.
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Speaker 2: The church service.
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Speaker 1: Oh that's cute, really nice. So I went out and
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Speaker 1: cut his lips off. No, no, I no, it's it's
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Speaker 1: it's it's a it's a it's a joke. I didn't.
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Speaker 2: I turned the other cheek. God, who will bring a.
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Speaker 1: Charge against God's elect?
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Speaker 2: Don't you love this? Nobody?
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Speaker 1: I mean, why, because we are the elect, we have
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Speaker 1: the Supreme Court on our side. We have the attorney
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Speaker 1: who defends us before the Father, pleading our calls and
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Speaker 1: putting down every accusation from the enemy. Nothing will stand
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Speaker 1: to bring a charge against you. Some of you live
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Speaker 1: under such guilt. All you can remember is the wrong
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Speaker 1: you've done, the shame you brought into your life, the
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Speaker 1: failure you've accomplished, and as a result of going your
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Speaker 1: own way, and you just live in the fear of
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Speaker 1: that that somehow that's going to accuse you when you die.
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Speaker 3: Please stop it. God is for you. Christ died on
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Speaker 3: your behalf. He took out all of his wrath on Christ.
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Speaker 3: Jesus bore our sins.
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Speaker 1: Christ is the one who paid the complete penalty. That's
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Speaker 1: why coming to the Lord Jesus is coming to a
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Speaker 1: free gift. There's no accusation. Well, surely there are some
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Speaker 1: who can condemn us verse thirty four. Who is the
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Speaker 1: one who condemns? Pay close attention to the answer. Let
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Speaker 1: your eyes graze over verse thirty four. Paul does not
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Speaker 1: even hint at human works. He refuses to focus on
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Speaker 1: the goodness of any person or how bad we are. Instead,
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Speaker 1: it's all about Christ. Look at how he answers. Who
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Speaker 1: is he that condemns answer.
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Speaker 2: Christ Jesus died, was raised.
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Speaker 1: He's at the right hand of God and intercedes for us.
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Speaker 1: There are four massive doctrines wrapped in that single thirty
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Speaker 1: fourth verse. Crucifixion tied into the whole subject of salvation,
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Speaker 1: he died, resurrection tied into the subject of satisfaction. When
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Speaker 1: God raised Christ from the dead, it was saying, I'm
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Speaker 1: satisfied with your death. As Lewis Johnson used to say,
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Speaker 1: that the resurrection was God's amen to Christ's It is finished,
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Speaker 1: and that having been raised, he is seated. When is
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Speaker 1: the last time you heard a sermon on the sation
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Speaker 1: of Christ. He is seated at the right hand of
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Speaker 1: the Father, the doctrine of Satan, which means his work
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Speaker 1: is done. Salvation is provided you don't keep coming back
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Speaker 1: again and again and again to the mass, so that
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Speaker 1: Christ can die again and the sacrifice can be paid again,
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Speaker 1: so that somehow.
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Speaker 2: We might be delivered again.
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Speaker 1: The Reformation announced deliverance from such we are freed from
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Speaker 1: that kind of bondage. Christ is seated. It's called the
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Speaker 1: finished work of Christ. And not only is he seated,
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Speaker 1: And how marvelous is this? Lest you think he sort
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Speaker 1: of dozes off into a slumber, having finished his work,
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Speaker 1: says he intercedes for us. Christ is our advocate, our advocate.
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Speaker 1: I don't know if you've ever been in the minority,
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Speaker 1: or you've ever been in a situation where you needed
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Speaker 1: someone to speak on your behalf. I've been there. I
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Speaker 1: know that feeling. I'm sure many of you have been there.
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Speaker 1: Christ is always there. He's always our advocate. The enemy comes.
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Speaker 1: Have you seen the life? Just like the enemy who
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Speaker 1: came accusing Job and the Lord Jesus. Christ speaks on
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Speaker 1: our behalf and says, she's under the blood. He's one
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Speaker 1: of my own. I stand on his behalf. I'm for him,
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Speaker 1: I'm for her. This is grace at its very best.
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Speaker 1: It nullifies all opposition, It silences all accusers. It overrules
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Speaker 1: all condemnation. Doesn't get better than that. We've unpacked the
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Speaker 1: four doctrines. Christ died, was raised, is seated and intercedes,
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Speaker 1: who can stand against that? Well, there's a one final
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Speaker 1: fear that is, somehow I will I'll not make it
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Speaker 1: to heaven. Somehow I haven't the security I need because
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Speaker 1: some of these things that I've done. If you only knew, no,
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Speaker 1: it says in verse thirty five, who will separate us
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Speaker 1: from the Love of Christ? Again impossible. I don't know
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Speaker 1: if you have any what is commonly called separation anxieties,
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Speaker 1: but usually they come toward death. Usually they come when
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Speaker 1: people are in a helpless state, lying there, unable to
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Speaker 1: carry on any longer the signs of death or around them.
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Speaker 2: There isn't much hope for.
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Speaker 1: Them physically, and they realize it won't be long before
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Speaker 1: they will, at least in their spirits, stand before the
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Speaker 1: presence of God. This is why these verses need to
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Speaker 1: be learned and committed to memory. Look closely, who will
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Speaker 1: separate us from the Love of Christ? And he begins
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Speaker 1: the list with tribulation or distress, with persecution or famine,
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Speaker 1: or nakedness, or danger.
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Speaker 2: Or sword.
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Speaker 1: It's as though the apostle is standing on the mountain
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Speaker 1: peak and he's shouting this out into space. He's shouting
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Speaker 1: it for all to hear and for all to embrace. Yes.
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Speaker 1: In fact, he quotes from the Psalms when he says,
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Speaker 1: is it is written for your sake we are being
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Speaker 1: put to death all day long. We were considered as
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Speaker 1: sheep to be slaughtered. I love the word picture do
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Speaker 1: you know why we can't earn our way in? Do
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Speaker 1: you know why we're not qualified to handle our own salvation?
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Speaker 1: We're sheep. That's the best we can do. Sheep don't
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Speaker 1: run fast. Sheep can't defend themselves. They got little, tiny mouths.
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Speaker 1: They stink. He ever looked at the north end of
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Speaker 1: a southbound sheep, it's frightening. All they do is just
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Speaker 1: grow wool and get fatter, Just grow wool. He could
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Speaker 1: have said you're wolves with our wolves. Could ha said gorilla?
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Speaker 1: And he doesn't say that. So grateful he doesn't say gorillas.
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Speaker 2: He says, you're.
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Speaker 1: Counted as sheep. And in the most helpless moment, is
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Speaker 1: sheep to be slaughtered? Sheep that are about to be
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Speaker 1: sheared or that's one site, and I've seen that in Australia.
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Speaker 1: But sheep that are about to be slaughtered, that's helplessness
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Speaker 1: at its worst. That's us, the point being, we're sunk.
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Speaker 1: If it depends on us, we can't make it. But
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Speaker 1: the fact is verse thirty seven, which makes everybody smile,
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Speaker 1: in all these things being put to death all day long.
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Speaker 1: Counted as sheep to be slaughtered, we overwhelmingly conquer through
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Speaker 1: him who loved us? You know who's conquering? Sheep? Is
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Speaker 1: that at all? See more on? Or what sho who conquer?
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Speaker 1: It's even funny when you try to act it out.
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Speaker 1: We sang about the lamb who heals us, and the
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Speaker 1: one who has healed us of all of those things
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Speaker 1: that have plagued us. He the lamb has his sheep.
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Speaker 1: We are the sheep of his Pastor how magnificent this is?
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Speaker 1: It is now at the place where Paul is at
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Speaker 1: the apex of his writing. If this were a pipe organ,
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Speaker 1: he would be pulling out all of the stops and
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Speaker 1: playing at full volume. That's the only way a pipe
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Speaker 1: organ ought to be played, by the way. I don't
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Speaker 1: know if you like pipe organ music, but man, I
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Speaker 1: am thrilled with it when I'm around it. It's I
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Speaker 1: like it when it kind of sends out afron that
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Speaker 1: just opens up all the holes in your head, just
28:57
Speaker 1: gets rid of cleans out all the sinus as you
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Speaker 1: believe a little from the ears and a little from
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Speaker 1: the nose, as you take in the sounds of this
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Speaker 1: magnificent We heard one in Leipzig. We set through a
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Speaker 1: pipe organ or recital played by several organists. It was magnificent,
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Speaker 1: and you know, nobody chattered when we walked out. It's
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Speaker 1: done to say anything after a great pipe organ.
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Speaker 2: Recital, you go out in silence.
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Speaker 1: Like sheep.
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Speaker 2: If this were a work of art, this would be.
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Speaker 1: The supreme, the supreme wonder of the world. Nothing will
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Speaker 1: separate us from the love of Christ. Nothing we overwhelmingly
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Speaker 1: conquer through these things. And even when we reach the
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Speaker 1: very end, we have conquered in Christ, and we breathe
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Speaker 1: our last on this earth, we take our first breath
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Speaker 1: of celestial air. It's just like that, because we have
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Speaker 1: been born anew. And then, as if to put the
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Speaker 1: finishing touches on it, as Martin Lloyd Jones right, he
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Speaker 1: now is climbing a grand staircase. Here, I am persuaded.
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Speaker 1: What a magnificent statement, the Greek implies. I stand, I
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Speaker 1: stand persuaded. I stand convinced. This is unquestioned, unqualified, unconditional assurance.
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Speaker 1: I stand convinced. And he goes right to the ancient
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Speaker 1: enemy of death. Neither death nor life, anything in life,
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Speaker 1: nor angels elect or fallen, nor principalities and powers, those
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Speaker 1: things that we cannot see in the realm of the
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Speaker 1: sinister forces of darkness that are insidious and invisible. None
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Speaker 1: of the things that threatened us, none of the things
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Speaker 1: yet future that prognosticators would tell us about to frighten us.
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Speaker 1: Nor height, nothing from out of space, nor depth, nothing
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Speaker 1: from beneath us, nothing from beneath the sea, nothing from
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Speaker 1: within the earth. Nothing shall separate us. Not even any
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Speaker 1: other created thing will separate us from the love of God,
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Speaker 1: which is in Christ. Jesus, our Lord. I don't know
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Speaker 1: where you are in your awareness a sense of security,
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Speaker 1: but this passage will give it to you. For all
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Speaker 1: of the people who would put you down, and all
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Speaker 1: of the people who would condemn you, and all of
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Speaker 1: the people who would accuse you, and all of those
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Speaker 1: who would stand against you, please understand they hold nothing
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Speaker 1: in the presence of the Living God and what he
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Speaker 1: is able to do for you. The old King James says,
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Speaker 1: we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
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Speaker 2: Roy Lawrence writes.
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Speaker 1: Here is Christianity's superlative result, his superlative result. To be
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Speaker 1: more than a conqueror over tribulation is to be patient
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Speaker 1: through it. To be more than a conqueror over distress
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Speaker 1: is to become master over the most straightened circumstances. To
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Speaker 1: be more than a conqueror over persecution is to become
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Speaker 1: christ Like toward your persecutor. To be more than a
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Speaker 1: conqueror over famine and nakedness is to let economic adversity
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Speaker 1: teach us the wealth of spiritual things. To be more
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Speaker 1: than a conquer over peril is to have a confident
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Speaker 1: dependence on God that gives poise in the midst of
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Speaker 1: impending calamity, and on and on. Egos, we are more
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Speaker 1: than conquerors. Now, I remember sitting at that table on
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Speaker 1: the ledge, as we were so high above water level
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Speaker 1: on Earth, and looking down and realizing from that vantage
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Speaker 1: point there at Young Frau, how insignificant the things were
33:08
Speaker 1: back in the meadow, how insignificant they were. The hotel
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Speaker 1: that seems so big you could barely find it, just
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Speaker 1: to spec people. You couldn't identify one of them, not one.
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Speaker 1: Was that significant change the whole perspective to stand up
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Speaker 1: the peak, or to sit there and look down and
33:32
Speaker 1: to see it in light of that vantage point. Now,
33:39
Speaker 1: with that in mind, it seemed to me a couple
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Speaker 1: of very practical statements need to be made, because we
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Speaker 1: spend our life at this level and not in the ethereal.
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Speaker 1: The first is this, when we lose what we expected,
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Speaker 1: we received something far better from God. On this earth,
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Speaker 1: we all have dreams and expectations, and when those dreams
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Speaker 1: are dashed or they die, what we had hoped for
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Speaker 1: falls away. What God has planned is something far better.
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Speaker 1: The other when God removes what we considered valuable, he
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Speaker 1: replaces it with something invaluable. He isn't interesting that the
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Speaker 1: best things from God have no price tag, and they
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Speaker 1: are all ours to claim and live in the light
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Speaker 1: of from eternity's vantage point. Philip Melanthuten lived some fourteen
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Speaker 1: years beyond the life of Luther. By the year fifteen
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Speaker 1: sixty he breathed his last. They buried him beside his
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Speaker 1: longtime companion in their fight for freedom and grace. When
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Speaker 1: he died, I have read this week he had this
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Speaker 1: passage of Scripture on his lips. Not a great thought.
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Speaker 1: All the more reason I urge you to memorize these
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Speaker 1: verses of Scripture. You will need them. You do need them.
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Speaker 1: You will come to an impasse, and you will need
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Speaker 1: the reminder that no one can oppose, no one can accuse,
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Speaker 1: no one can condemn, No one can separate you from
35:28
Speaker 1: the things that matter most and the one who loves
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Speaker 1: you the most. These words were on the lips of
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Speaker 1: Philip Malank one hundred years after his death, life had
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Speaker 1: turned upside down. For another man, living on another continent,
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Speaker 1: the land of England, John Bunyan, was fighting for survival.
35:51
Speaker 1: The simple tinker was about to be again imprisoned, and
35:57
Speaker 1: he says in one of his works, I remember I
35:59
Speaker 1: was sitting in a neighbour's home, very sad. The word
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Speaker 1: came to me, if God be for us, who can
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Speaker 1: be against us? That was a help to me. Correct,
36:14
Speaker 1: that was a help to me. While in prison, he
36:18
Speaker 1: wrote Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, and of
36:21
Speaker 1: course left in his legacy the immortal Pilgrim's progress to
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Speaker 1: the very end of his life. It was this section
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Speaker 1: of scripture that held him close to his God. That
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Speaker 1: is my message to every one of us today. Wherever
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Speaker 1: you find yourself you need, you need these words, You
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Speaker 1: need these truths, and when you reach the very end,
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Speaker 1: may they be the words that are on your lips.
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Speaker 1: I am persuaded that neither life nor death, nor principally
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Speaker 1: these nor powers nor things present or things to come,
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Speaker 1: nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall
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Speaker 1: be able to separate us from the love of God,
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Speaker 1: which is in Christ, Jesus Our Lord. Amen. Amen, Amen,
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Speaker 1: let's bow together. Everything falls in place for us except
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Speaker 1: for you who don't know Christ. And I must say,
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Speaker 1: since I am committed to truth, I will not lie
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Speaker 1: to you. Your future is very bleak if you choose
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Speaker 1: to live and die in that condition. I would even
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Speaker 1: be so bold as to say you could not make
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Speaker 1: a more foolish choice, and to think there's something within
37:50
Speaker 1: yourself that will somehow merit the favor of God when
37:54
Speaker 1: you pass from this earth to the next. In your
37:58
Speaker 1: heart you know better than that. By a simple trust,
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Speaker 1: simple trust in another, you are able to move from
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Speaker 1: death to life. You can know a peace you've never
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Speaker 1: known before, and a relief regardless of what you may
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Speaker 1: face yet future. I plead with you trust Him. Trust
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Speaker 1: in the Lord Jesus Christ. You will be saved.
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Speaker 2: If we can help you.
38:40
Speaker 1: We have our sole care men and women who are
38:44
Speaker 1: trained to talk with those who seek to know more,
38:48
Speaker 1: or have made a decision and longed to have the
38:51
Speaker 1: assurance of their decision, or even help in knowing how
38:54
Speaker 1: to make it. The prayer room has been designed in
38:58
Speaker 1: our worship center for you. Whoever came with you won't
39:02
Speaker 1: mind waiting. Just slip into that room down here to
39:05
Speaker 1: the front of the church. There'll be someone there to
39:09
Speaker 1: meet with you. Happens every Lord's day. You do give
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Speaker 1: and take away our Father. Blessed be your name. You
39:26
Speaker 1: provide healing and grace, the things our hearts have always
39:32
Speaker 1: hungered for. Blessed be your name. We pause in the
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Speaker 1: silence of this moment to give you thanks for the
39:45
Speaker 1: view from the mountain peak, for guiding your servant to
39:51
Speaker 1: pause and to write these words sitting in Corinth, a
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Speaker 1: city so far from the things of God. You gave
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Speaker 1: him these truths for the Romans and even for us.
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Speaker 1: Thank you.
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Speaker 2: May they go with us.
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Speaker 1: May they comfort us when the nights are dark and long,
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Speaker 1: when the news is frightening, when the future is bleak,
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Speaker 1: when the hope seems gone. May they comfort us. And
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Speaker 1: Now to him who is able to guard us from
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Speaker 1: stumbling and to present us faultless before the presence of
40:39
Speaker 1: His glory with exceeding great joy. To the only wise God,
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Speaker 1: our Savior, be glory and Majesty, dominion and power now
40:53
Speaker 1: and forever and ever and ever and ever, and everyone
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Speaker 1: said amen.
41:06
Speaker 4: The preceding message, We Overwhelmingly Conquer was copyrighted in two
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Speaker 4: thousand and seven, twenty ten, and twenty twenty five, and
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Speaker 4: the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty twenty five by
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Speaker 4: Charles R. Swindahl Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication
41:23
Speaker 4: of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited