Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / The Cross We Proclaim, Part 3 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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The Cross We Proclaim, Part 3 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Most of us know what it feels like to drift.
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Speaker 1: We don't intend to, but somewhere along the way, pride
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Speaker 1: moves in, Dependence on God moves out, and before long
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Speaker 1: we're running on empty. Today on insight for living, Chuck
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Speaker 1: Swindaul concludes a three day message with application that you'll
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Speaker 1: want to deploy in your daily walk with God. In
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Speaker 1: First Corinthians chapter one, the apostle Paul described a remedy
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Speaker 1: for the drift we all experience three anchors that will
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Speaker 1: keep believers on course for a lifetime. Chuck titled his
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Speaker 1: message the Cross we proclaim.
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Speaker 2: Let me tell you something, folks, When you get the
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Speaker 2: Cross in the right perspective, everything comes together. Everything comes
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Speaker 2: together when you operate in the flesh. You have not
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Speaker 2: come to grips with the message of the Cross. Now look.
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Speaker 2: Verse eighteen begins a series of statements this apostle makes
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Speaker 2: regarding the message of the Cross, which we proclaim, which
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Speaker 2: he proclaimed, the word of the Cross is foolishness to
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Speaker 2: those who are perishing. And then he says, but to
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Speaker 2: us who are being saved, why it is the very
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Speaker 2: power of God. Verse twenty two, the Jews ask for
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Speaker 2: miracles the word signs is the idea of miracles and
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Speaker 2: the Greek search for wisdom. We're looking for those rhetorical comments,
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Speaker 2: those eloquent words, the things that impress. But I love
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Speaker 2: this Verse twenty three, Paul says, but we who, by
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Speaker 2: the way, was an incredible intellectual studied under gamaliel Pharisee
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Speaker 2: of the Pharisees. He was the up and coming chief Pharisee,
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Speaker 2: brilliant Jewish mind, and then came the road to Damascus
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Speaker 2: where he was converted, and as a result he started
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Speaker 2: running in the right direction. And as a result, verse
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Speaker 2: twenty three he preaches Christ crucified. We're back to the cross.
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Speaker 2: We preach Christ crucified to the Jews of stumbling block,
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Speaker 2: to the Gentiles foolishness. But to those who are the
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Speaker 2: called Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, Christ,
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Speaker 2: the wisdom of God. Why because twenty five says the
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Speaker 2: foolishness of God is wiser than men, the weakness of
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Speaker 2: God stronger than men. Now I love it. When we
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Speaker 2: get to verse twenty six, he says, consider you're calling brethren,
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Speaker 2: we want to look at an opposite group. Look around.
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Speaker 2: There were not many wise, according to the flesh, not many, mighty,
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Speaker 2: not many noble. Didn't say any said not many, meaning what. Well,
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Speaker 2: let's put it this way. This congregation is not made
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Speaker 2: up of the brightest and the best. In the world's eyes.
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Speaker 2: I got the idea that it would be helpful for
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Speaker 2: us to realize that we represent in the world's eyes
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Speaker 2: that which is foolish, that which is weak, that which
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Speaker 2: is base, and that which is despised. Those aren't my words,
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Speaker 2: They're all found in twenty seven and twenty eight. God
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Speaker 2: has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame
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Speaker 2: the wise and the weak things of the world, to
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Speaker 2: shame the things that are strong, the base things of
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Speaker 2: the world, that despised, things that are not, to nullify
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Speaker 2: things that are. He does all these things Verse twenty nine,
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Speaker 2: so that no one may boast before God. The Cross
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Speaker 2: levels all of us. Not many culture, not many mighty.
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Speaker 2: By that it means powerful and prestigious and impressive. Not
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Speaker 2: many noble. You run in a wrong direction when you boast.
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Speaker 2: If you want to toot your own horn, blow a
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Speaker 2: trumpet for God, nobody else cares. Get off your high horse.
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Speaker 2: You're just folks. You just wrapped up in the Cross.
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Speaker 2: And when you focus on that, it is remarkable, what
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Speaker 2: a filter system it will give you, and how to
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Speaker 2: read current events, how to see life as it really is.
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Speaker 2: You'll be so unimpressed because you don't hang around people
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Speaker 2: to be impressed. You hang around folks with the hope
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Speaker 2: of communicating and living out the truth. And the truth
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Speaker 2: sets us free from all that other pizzazz. How about Paul.
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Speaker 2: Since we've been going on and on about how important
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Speaker 2: this is, how about Paul, Let's ask him? Give us
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Speaker 2: your testimony, all right, Verse one, chapter two. Here's my testimony.
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Speaker 2: Here's the honest truth, coming from the man who was
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Speaker 2: running in the right direction. When I came to you,
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Speaker 2: brothers and sisters, I did not come with superiority of
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Speaker 2: speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.
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Speaker 2: I determined to know nothing among you. Accept Jesus Christ
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Speaker 2: and him crucified. I take my time here because I
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Speaker 2: wanted to really sink in nothing. Accept Jesus Christ. I
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Speaker 2: wasn't interested in your salary, I wasn't interested in your pedigree.
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Speaker 2: I wanted to know, however, how you were doing with
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Speaker 2: the Cross. Do you really know Jesus? Is he really
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Speaker 2: your savior. I determined to know nothing but that. Well,
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Speaker 2: what was Paul like when he was there? He tells
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Speaker 2: us in the next two verses, I was with you
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Speaker 2: in weakness, in fear, and much trembling. He says, I
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Speaker 2: was not all that impressive. My preaching and my message
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Speaker 2: were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in the
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Speaker 2: demonstration of the spirit and of power. Oh yeah, you see,
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Speaker 2: when you are around individuals like this, you know they
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Speaker 2: have a lot more behind the counter than they ever
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Speaker 2: put on display. You know there is depth as well
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Speaker 2: as breadth. Paul says, I didn't come to grow up
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Speaker 2: a crowd. I came to deliver the truth, and my
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Speaker 2: words were not that persuasive. If you are among the
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Speaker 2: ranks of the young and up and coming preachers in
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Speaker 2: the making, hear that message. Well, if you're taking courses
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Speaker 2: from those who were trying to get you to look
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Speaker 2: pretty slick, you got the wrong course and the wrong teacher.
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Speaker 2: Your job is to hide behind that cross and declare
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Speaker 2: it forcefully and courageously and consistently, so that no one
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Speaker 2: would boast before God by doing this. He tells you,
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Speaker 2: why you do this verse thirty, You are in Christ, Jesus,
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Speaker 2: who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness and
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Speaker 2: sanctification and redemption, so that, just as it has written,
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Speaker 2: let him boast, boast in the Lord. JB. Lightfoot writes,
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Speaker 2: he spoke in a plain, simple language, as became a
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Speaker 2: witness season verse five, so that your faith would not
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Speaker 2: rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power
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Speaker 2: of God. He never forgot the truth of God's grace
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Speaker 2: in his life. Let's stay here for just a moment.
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Speaker 2: Let me add a word or so about the role
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Speaker 2: of humility mixed with confidence. Please don't read into this
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Speaker 2: that Paul is lacking in confidence in God's truth, or
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Speaker 2: that his humility was any sign of lack of courage
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Speaker 2: or inability to deliver. Authority is not incompatible with humility.
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Speaker 2: Let me say that again, Authority is not incompatible with humility.
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Speaker 2: They can go together if you're running in the right direction. G. K.
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Speaker 2: Chesterton wants penned. You'll have to think now to follow this.
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Speaker 2: He wants penned some wise words about what he called
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Speaker 2: the dislocation of what we suffer from today. He wrote,
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Speaker 2: is humility in the wrong place. Modesty has moved from
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Speaker 2: the organ of ambition and settled upon the organ of
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Speaker 2: conviction where it was never meant to be. A person
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Speaker 2: was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about
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Speaker 2: the truth. This has been exactly reversed. We're on the
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Speaker 2: road to producing a race of people too mentally modest
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Speaker 2: to believe in the multiplication table, how humble and self forgetting.
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Speaker 2: We must be always but diffident and apologetic about the Gospel. Never. Never,
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Speaker 2: my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words
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Speaker 2: of wisdom. What you found in me was a man
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Speaker 2: who didn't call attention to himself. You didn't leave impressed
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Speaker 2: with Paul when you heard him teach in Chlarnth. What
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Speaker 2: you saw was a having proof of the spirit's power.
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Speaker 2: In fact, some of it must have been a conundrum,
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Speaker 2: all of this great truth coming from this rather unimpressive individual.
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Speaker 2: Why would he be like that? Why did he do
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Speaker 2: that verse five? So that your faith would not rest
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Speaker 2: on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
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Speaker 2: We're back to the cross. The purpose of it all
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Speaker 2: was that when people got a hold of truths delivered
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Speaker 2: by the apostle Paul, they connected with the spirit of power,
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Speaker 2: and they ran in the right direction. For much of
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Speaker 2: my life, I have loved the statement made by John Allen,
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Speaker 2: one of the saints of the Salvation Army Ministry, who
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Speaker 2: at the time of death, made this simple statement, I
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Speaker 2: deserve to be damned. I deserve to be in hell.
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Speaker 2: But God, God interfered. God interfered that man ran in
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Speaker 2: the right direction. Right way, John Allen, Right way, Paul. Now, then,
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Speaker 2: I have three things I close with that i'd like
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Speaker 2: you to write down somewhere. If you have the outline,
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Speaker 2: you could use that, maybe a open page in your Bible.
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Speaker 2: These are three statements I'd like you to take to
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Speaker 2: your grave. I'd like you to repeat them. I'd like
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Speaker 2: you to teach them to your kids. I'd like you
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Speaker 2: to remind your grandkids of them. I'd like you to
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Speaker 2: model them. More important than what I would like, I
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Speaker 2: would encourage you to realize what God wants if you
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Speaker 2: want to keep running in the right direction. These three
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Speaker 2: simple things we should never forget will help. Number one,
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Speaker 2: remember the pit. Remember the pit. The prophet puts it
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Speaker 2: this way. Remember the pit from which you were dug.
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Speaker 2: Remember it. Oh, it may have been a big city,
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Speaker 2: it may have been a slick city. It may have
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Speaker 2: been Las Vegas or Los Angeles, may have be in
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Speaker 2: Chicago or Boston, or Dallas or oh Klahoma City, or
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Speaker 2: Miami or Atlanta, may have been a big city. But
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Speaker 2: you're from a pit. Your nature, your drive, your old self.
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Speaker 2: It's a pit. Remember the pit. We are not influential
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Speaker 2: or famous. We have not set a lot of records.
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Speaker 2: We have not found some miracle cure. Nobody in this
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Speaker 2: church has. We have certainly not come from powerhouse backgrounds.
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Speaker 2: Are you kidding? We're all amazed that anybody listens when
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Speaker 2: we talk. I'm surprised anybody reads anything. All right, I'm
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Speaker 2: amazed folks stay through a whole sermon. I'm not saying
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Speaker 2: they stay awake, but they stay through the whole sermon.
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Speaker 2: You know why, because I never forget the pit. When
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Speaker 2: you fail to remember the pit, you'll run in the
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Speaker 2: wrong direction. You can put down because you'll start thinking
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Speaker 2: you're something want to stick. You forget your catfish, You'll
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Speaker 2: forget that. If the enemy had his way, he'd drag
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Speaker 2: you down just to where he's going. And if that
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Speaker 2: doesn't do it far, you just look at the pit
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Speaker 2: of your life. How'd you like for a whole display
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Speaker 2: of your past ten years to be put on a screen. Oh,
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Speaker 2: don't even go any further. That's enough for you to
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Speaker 2: get the message. You know why, because there's a lot
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Speaker 2: of pit there. There's a lot of mess, a lot
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Speaker 2: of sin, a lot of failure, a lot of depravity,
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Speaker 2: a lot of explosions of temper, perhaps a lot of
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Speaker 2: wrong decisions. There's a lot of sin in all our life,
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Speaker 2: a lot of mess. Remember the pit, but that the
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Speaker 2: grace of God and the cross you're rescued. Remember the pit. Second,
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Speaker 2: refuse the praise. Refuse the praise. A few things are
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Speaker 2: a greater turn off in life than conceit. An arrogant
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Speaker 2: Christian is bad news for the body of Christ and
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Speaker 2: the world at large. There's no place for that. I
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Speaker 2: don't care how popular you've gotten. Years ago, I was
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Speaker 2: asked to be a part of a television program that
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Speaker 2: was done in a panel and they invited several of us.
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Speaker 2: One of us a pastor, that's me. Another came as
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Speaker 2: a teacher, and another came who was an administrator at
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Speaker 2: a school happened to be a president of a little school,
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Speaker 2: and the other one was in the media. Christian in
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Speaker 2: the media. We were all a part of the panel
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Speaker 2: of this program, and the man who was putting it
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Speaker 2: all together said to two of us, by the way,
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Speaker 2: would you mind going to the airport and picking up
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Speaker 2: a man who's going to join our panel. He is
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Speaker 2: doctor so and so. And I said, okay, good. I
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Speaker 2: don't know him, but I'll be glad to go. And
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Speaker 2: I said, can you tell me what he looks like?
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Speaker 2: He said, oh, you'll know him. So we knew.
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Speaker 3: He got off, had a head on, a tight tied
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Speaker 3: start shirt, real stern face, like where's the car?
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Speaker 2: And I walked up. I said, you happen to be
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Speaker 2: so and so and so doctor so and so. Uh yes,
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Speaker 2: doctor So, I said, I thought maybe you were. You
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Speaker 2: kind of looked like the president of the school. And
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Speaker 2: she said, here are my bags. Oh okay, So Frank
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Speaker 2: picked up that bag and I picked up this bag,
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Speaker 2: and we're walking along with doctor so and so and
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Speaker 2: so and so. He said, tell me what was your name?
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Speaker 2: And I told him. He said, tell me what does
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Speaker 2: the president look like? I wanted to say, a jerk.
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Speaker 4: You look like a jerk. You sound like a jerk.
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Speaker 4: He was a jerk. What on earth happened to that man.
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Speaker 4: He forgot the pit, spend too much time in front
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Speaker 4: of a mirror.
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Speaker 2: Can you believe it? In the middle of the night,
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Speaker 2: somebody from my group ordered beer and pretzels and had
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Speaker 2: them sent to his room. Who would do something like that?
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Speaker 2: Who would ever do something like that to doctor, doctor, whatever?
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Speaker 2: When you failed to refuse the praise. You're running in
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Speaker 2: the wrong direction, wrong way, Christian, wrong way, Christian. You
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Speaker 2: look like a jerk. You have bad advertisement for Christ.
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Speaker 2: Nobody's impressed. You're a turn off. I tell the guys
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Speaker 2: at the seminary keep television cameras out of your church.
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Speaker 2: You're not there for the world, minister to your flock.
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Speaker 2: Cameras are getting your way. Furthermore, you're not that good.
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Speaker 2: People in front of cameras are good in front of cameras,
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Speaker 2: and those of us who are hiding behind the cross
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Speaker 2: look dumb in the eyes of the camera. We're here
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Speaker 2: to deliver the goods and didn't get out of the way,
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Speaker 2: get hurt a pin drop, And I said that it
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Speaker 2: was like, you know why, because we're so enamored of
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Speaker 2: the entertainment world that preaching has become entertaining and feeding
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Speaker 2: you from the scriptures, is that's what dinosaurs do. Please
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Speaker 2: remember the pit, refuse the praise. Here's the third one.
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Speaker 2: Rely on the power. Rely on the power, Rely on
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Speaker 2: the power. I can't tell you how low I was
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Speaker 2: when I woke up this morning, but a number of
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Speaker 2: things I would love to have been a thousand miles away.
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Speaker 2: Head was bursting. I don't know why. It wasn't a hangover.
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Speaker 2: I've been with Cynthia the night before us. You can
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Speaker 2: be sure of that it wasn't a hangover. I don't
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Speaker 2: know pressure, whatever, disappointment, discouragement, and you probably think why
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Speaker 2: he never goes? So I go through that a lot.
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Speaker 2: Mondays are terrible days from me. I always think through
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Speaker 2: what I said on Sunday and I always think, why
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Speaker 2: in the world did anybody stay listen to that? Then
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Speaker 2: I turned to the power. Oh God, somebody's got to
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Speaker 2: be there for that first and second service a little while,
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Speaker 2: and I'm your man. So if you want to say
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Speaker 2: things through me, I'd be very grateful. But if you don't,
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Speaker 2: I haven't got anything to say. And he's he'd done
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Speaker 2: it again. Remember the words of Jesus John fifteen to five.
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Speaker 2: Apart from me you can do nothing. Apart from me.
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Speaker 2: You can do nothing. Say that with me. Apart from me,
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Speaker 2: you can do nothing. Change it to I. Here we go.
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Speaker 2: Apart from him, I can do nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing.
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Speaker 2: I will continually run in the wrong direction. I will
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Speaker 2: continually score for the wrong side. I'll continually operate in
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Speaker 2: the flesh, because that's the kind of nature I have.
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Speaker 2: Until I shift into his power and I say, Lord,
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Speaker 2: it's your message. It's not mine. It's your book. I
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Speaker 2: didn't write it. It's your truth. I couldn't come up
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Speaker 2: with anything nearly that good. It's your gifts and I'm
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Speaker 2: in your hands. It's about you, Lord, Please do it.
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Speaker 2: I'm available. Thank you for changing me. I love this
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Speaker 2: little story. John Hutton used to tell a story his
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Speaker 2: story with Gusto. John Hutton, a man who had been
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Speaker 2: a reprobate and an alcohol Holly was captured for Christ.
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Speaker 2: Captured by Christ. His workmates used to try to shake
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Speaker 2: him and say, surely, a sensible man like you cannot
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Speaker 2: believe in all those miracles of Bible talks about. You cannot,
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Speaker 2: for instance, believe that this Jesus of yours turned water
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Speaker 2: into wine. Come on, whether he turned water into wine
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Speaker 2: or not, said the man. I don't know, but I
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Speaker 2: know in my own house, I saw him turn liquor
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Speaker 2: into furniture. In my house, I saw a man that
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Speaker 2: almost ruined his marriage get his life turned around. And
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Speaker 2: for ten years she had every reason in the world
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Speaker 2: to walk out on me, and she didn't. I saw
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Speaker 2: a father who could have ruined the lives of his children.
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Speaker 2: I saw a preoccupied dad who traveled too much. He's
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Speaker 2: too busy. And it dawned on me one day. If
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Speaker 2: I don't get a hold of this, I'm gonna be
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Speaker 2: another statistic. Oh God, I'm yours. You got all the power,
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Speaker 2: I have none of it. Tackle me. I want you
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Speaker 2: to bow your heads, and I want you to close
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Speaker 2: your eyes. I know what time it is, so things
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Speaker 2: are under control. I want you to sit there. The
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Speaker 2: only reason you're running in a wrong direction is either
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Speaker 2: you don't know Jesus, and that's a very real probability
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Speaker 2: for you running in the wrong direction. Don't think that's
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Speaker 2: a message given to somebody else. It's you I'm talking to.
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Speaker 2: Either you don't know Jesus or you don't care that
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Speaker 2: you're operating in the flesh. You're a Christian, and you're
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Speaker 2: a jerk, and you're making a mess of the message
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Speaker 2: in the minds of people who've been watching wondering how
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Speaker 2: on earth you could call yourself a Christian. Some I'm
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Speaker 2: living your own home. I suggest you get with it.
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Speaker 2: Trust in the Savior right now, turn your life over
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Speaker 2: to him. Get to the foot of the cross as
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Speaker 2: fast as your little feet will carry you, and say, Lord,
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Speaker 2: Jesus Christ, I am coming to you from the pit.
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Speaker 2: If you don't rescue me, I'm sunk, I'm held bound,
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Speaker 2: I'm lost. Take me, I'm yours. Take me, I take
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Speaker 2: your son. Please give me your righteousness. I take it now.
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Speaker 2: Or if you're cardinal Christian, it's a great time for
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Speaker 2: you this afternoon to look through the journal of your
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Speaker 2: life and find the spot when you miss the mark
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Speaker 2: and starting going in a wrong direction and turn around.
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Speaker 2: Otherwise there will be an incident along the way that's
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Speaker 2: going to tackle you, and you'll realize what a mess
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Speaker 2: you've made, not only of your life, but of others.
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Speaker 2: If we confess our sins, believers, if we confess our sins,
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Speaker 2: that is, agree with God about them. He is righteous
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Speaker 2: and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse
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Speaker 2: us from all unrighteousness. If you need help, and I
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Speaker 2: imagine most of you would, to turn the journey around.
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Speaker 2: There are people who are so carefully trained, have such compassion,
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Speaker 2: such wisdom, better counselors than I ever will be, who
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Speaker 2: are available following every one of our worship services. Or
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Speaker 2: you may simply say I'm going to take care of
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Speaker 2: this myself. Then you need to write us and say,
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Speaker 2: let me tell you the decision I've made. Sign your name,
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Speaker 2: give us a number. We'll contact you. We'll help you.
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Speaker 2: We will never shame you, we will help you. We'll
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Speaker 2: be grateful for you. Father, Thank you for the cross.
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Speaker 2: Thank you for the cross. Help us to remember the
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Speaker 2: pit from which we've been duck. Enable us to refuse
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Speaker 2: the praise. Just deliberately and consistently restore us Lord, as
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Speaker 2: we rely on your power in Jesus dear name. I
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Speaker 2: pray hear my sin.
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Speaker 1: Amen, remember the pit, refuse the praise. Rely on the power.
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Speaker 1: Three simple anchors, but they have the potential to redirect
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Speaker 1: your entire life. Chucksmundahl has walked us through one of
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Speaker 1: Hall's most searching passages, and the invitation is clear. Stop
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Speaker 1: running in the wrong direction, get back to the Cross.
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Speaker 1: If these three days of teaching have stirred something in you,
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Speaker 1: we want to help you go deeper. Reach out to
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Speaker 1: us here at Inside for Living and let us send
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Speaker 1: you the brand new booklet Chuck wrote for this message.
25:12
Speaker 1: It's called The Cross We Proclaim. As Chuck told his
25:16
Speaker 1: story today, perhaps you identified with John Allen. John's life
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Speaker 1: was littered with failures. He was a man headed in
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Speaker 1: the wrong direction at full speed until God interfered. That's
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Speaker 1: the phrase Chuck quoted today, and it may be the
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Speaker 1: most honest description of grace that any of us will
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Speaker 1: ever hear. If today's program reminded you why the Cross
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Speaker 1: changes everything, Chuck's brand new booklet, The Cross We Proclaim,
25:41
Speaker 1: was written for you, and you may have noticed today
25:44
Speaker 1: is one of those rare occasions when the message you're
25:47
Speaker 1: on Inside for Living and our featured resource are one
25:49
Speaker 1: and the same. The booklet comes with our thanks. When
25:53
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25:56
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Speaker 1: eighty eight eight, or go online to Insight dot org
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Speaker 1: for Living post Office Box five thousand, Frisco, Texas, seven
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Speaker 1: When you send a gift to Insight for Living, you're
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Speaker 1: not just covering our expenses, You're actually gaining a ministry
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Speaker 1: of your own. Your generosity is what casts the seed
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Speaker 1: of God's word into faraway places where listeners are just
26:30
Speaker 1: learning about the Cross We Proclaim once again. Our phone
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Speaker 1: number is eight hundred seven seven to two eighty eight
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Speaker 1: eighty eight, or go online to Insight dot org slash donate.
26:50
Speaker 2: I'm Bill Meyer.
26:51
Speaker 1: Join us when Chucks Wendall talks about getting reacquainted with
26:55
Speaker 1: a spirit of power Thursday on Insight for Living. The
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Speaker 1: preceding message, The Cross We Proclaim, was copyrighted in two
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Speaker 1: thousand and eight, two thousand nine, twenty sixteen, twenty nineteen,
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Speaker 1: and twenty twenty six, and the sound recording was copyrighted
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Speaker 1: in twenty twenty six by Charles R. Swindall Incorporated. All
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Speaker 1: rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial
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Speaker 1: use is strictly prohibited