Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Mission Underway . . . Thanks to the Lesser-Known │ Msg 522 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Mission Underway . . . Thanks to the Lesser-Known │ Msg 522 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: In tracing through the New Testament and the study of
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  Speaker 1: the life and times of Paul, we are watching a
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  Speaker 1: strong and self willed man become Christ under the mighty
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  Speaker 1: hand of God. It was necessary in his training so
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  Speaker 1: that he might become the man god Head for him
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  Speaker 1: to be. I'd like to read the scriptures for you
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  Speaker 1: over in the book of Acts, chapter nine, if you
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  Speaker 1: will locate chapter nine, verse twenty two. Let me read
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  Speaker 1: ten verses down through verse thirty one. Luke, I'm sorry,
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  Speaker 1: Acts nine twenty two to thirty one. But Saul kept
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  Speaker 1: increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived in
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  Speaker 1: Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ. And
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  Speaker 1: when many days had elapsed, the Jews plotted together to
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  Speaker 1: do away with him. But their plot became known to Saul,
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  Speaker 1: and they were also watching the gates day and nights
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  Speaker 1: so that they might put him to death. But his
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  Speaker 1: disciples took him by night and let him down through
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  Speaker 1: an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.
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  Speaker 1: And when he had come to Jerusalem, he was trying
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  Speaker 1: to associate with the disciples, and they were all afraid
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  Speaker 1: of him, not believing that he was a disciple. But
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  Speaker 1: Barnabas took hold of him and brought him to the
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  Speaker 1: apostles and described to them how he had seen the
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  Speaker 1: Lord on the road, and that he had talked to him,
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  Speaker 1: and how at Damascus he had spoken out boldly in
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  Speaker 1: the name of Jesus. And he was with them, moving
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  Speaker 1: about freely in Jerusalem, speaking out boy in the name
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  Speaker 1: of the Lord. He was talking and arguing with the
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  Speaker 1: Hellenistic Jews. They were attempting to put him to death,
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  Speaker 1: but when the Brethren learned of it, they brought him
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  Speaker 1: down to Cessarea and sent him away to Tarsus. So
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  Speaker 1: the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace,
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  Speaker 1: being built up and going on in the fear of
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  Speaker 1: the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.
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  Speaker 1: It continued to increase. Now, our Father, today we step
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  Speaker 1: into an interesting body of truth. It doesn't come easily
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  Speaker 1: for us, who are Americans, to hear what will be preached.
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  Speaker 1: It is not the way most of us were reared.
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  Speaker 1: It represents your method of training us, not the world's,
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  Speaker 1: and it certainly cuts across grain with what we hear
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  Speaker 1: about all around us today. But this is your word.
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  Speaker 1: We pray that you would really give us ears to
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  Speaker 1: hear and eyes to see, and hearts to absorb what
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  Speaker 1: you have for us. Lift us, if you will, from
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  Speaker 1: this earth's set of values, philosophy of life, and manner
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  Speaker 1: of living, and give us insight into another way of thinking,
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  Speaker 1: and we who have children and grandchildren, another way of
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  Speaker 1: rearing children, another way of thinking. May we accept what
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  Speaker 1: you have said as our directions for life, and may
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  Speaker 1: we alter our course accordingly. Thank you for what this
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  Speaker 1: day represents around our country. Thank you for white crosses
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  Speaker 1: that stand as mute reminders of courage to the end,
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  Speaker 1: for valiant women and men who stood in the gap
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  Speaker 1: when all of us were younger and uninvolved as they were.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you, also, Father, for those fine men and women
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  Speaker 1: who represent the military and our country in places of obscurity.
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  Speaker 1: Those who have served you and those who now serve
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  Speaker 1: you well and loving their country, are doing their duty,
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  Speaker 1: and in places of loneliness and even forgotten spots, they
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  Speaker 1: stand vigilant guard on our behalf. Help us, our father,
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  Speaker 1: as a country, to return to thinking straight, to becoming
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  Speaker 1: less and less engaged in and concerned about what we
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  Speaker 1: hear or read from the media. Give us good filters
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  Speaker 1: to understand and to perceive, and Lord, in the process
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  Speaker 1: of this time, encourage us to become people with chests,
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  Speaker 1: people who are not afraid to stand alone, those who
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  Speaker 1: love you and represent you in a balance and reasonable manner,
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  Speaker 1: and who do so even when no one is looking.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for the joy that this church brings to
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  Speaker 1: so many of us, for raising it up from nothing,
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  Speaker 1: for faithfully working through the hearts of your people, as
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  Speaker 1: in this moment, as we give to you, be honored
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  Speaker 1: in our gifts, and give us hearts full of joy
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  Speaker 1: as we do so, or we ask it in Christ's name,
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  Speaker 1: everyone said Amen. Regardless of how you were reared, God
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  Speaker 1: is not pleased with an independent spirit. That comes a
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  Speaker 1: shocking information to people from the United States of America.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, after all, one of our great memories is
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  Speaker 1: represented every year at what we call Independence Day, when
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  Speaker 1: we earned our independence over England. But I am not
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  Speaker 1: talking about national independence. I'm talking about a spirit of
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  Speaker 1: independence personally, and I know that you were raised to
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  Speaker 1: have it. I'm just saying it doesn't please God. It's
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  Speaker 1: always a conflict of wills when you come into terms
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  Speaker 1: with things from the Bible that cut cross grain against
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  Speaker 1: the way you were raised. I was raised to be
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  Speaker 1: my own man, take care of myself, take care of
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  Speaker 1: my family, to do what I believe was right, stand alone,
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  Speaker 1: need nobody else, and not even leave the impression that
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  Speaker 1: I need someone else. Much of that is bad counsel.
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  Speaker 1: I can't find it supported in the scriptures. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: much of this is an exaltation of humanistic philosophy, stated
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  Speaker 1: so well by William Ernest Henley toward the end of
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  Speaker 1: the nineteenth century in a piece he called Invictus. Listen
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  Speaker 1: to this, and you'll be remind minded of some high
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  Speaker 1: school valedictorian speeches at commencement. Out of the night that
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  Speaker 1: covers me black is the pit from pole to pole.
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  Speaker 1: I thank whatever Gods may be for my unconquerable soul.
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  Speaker 1: In the fell clutch of circumstance. I have not winced
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  Speaker 1: nor cried aloud under the bludgeonings of chance. My head
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  Speaker 1: is bloodied but unbowed. It matters not how straight the gate,
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  Speaker 1: how charged with punishment the scroll. I am the master
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  Speaker 1: of my fate. I am the captain of my soul.
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  Speaker 1: Abominable theology, But a nice poem makes us feel good,
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  Speaker 1: especially if we're from the Northwest up there where rugged
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  Speaker 1: timber people live. We make it on our own, or
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  Speaker 1: may I say, from the lone star state, don't mess
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  Speaker 1: with Texas. We're our own people. The fact is those
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  Speaker 1: who say that the loudest are just as dependent on
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  Speaker 1: God for life as those who never say those things.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, when we stand tall and strong and alone,
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  Speaker 1: like a steer in a blizzard, looking like we can
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  Speaker 1: make it on our own, we forget that the very
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  Speaker 1: pulse beat of our heart comes as a gift from God,
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  Speaker 1: and we are never ever really that independent. And in fact,
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  Speaker 1: we need others. We need others desperately, And the lower
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  Speaker 1: we get in life, and the more desperate we get,
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  Speaker 1: the greater our need for others. We cannot make it
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  Speaker 1: on our own. We did not give birth to ourselves.
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  Speaker 1: We do not give breath to ourselves. We cannot direct
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  Speaker 1: our own steps in the right way. And God help
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  Speaker 1: those who try. I've heard people say, well, you know
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  Speaker 1: that great verse in the Bible we all love. God
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  Speaker 1: helps those who help themselves. The problem is it's not
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  Speaker 1: in the Bible, and you try in vain to locate
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  Speaker 1: such a verse or even one like it. God helps
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  Speaker 1: the help less those who are not able to handle life.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, he brings us to that place ultimately and finally,
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  Speaker 1: so we will surrender and say you take over. You
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  Speaker 1: give me strength. You teach me to lean and to trust,
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  Speaker 1: and to wait, and to say no to myself and
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  Speaker 1: yes to you. There's a hard lesson for Saul of
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  Speaker 1: Tarsus to learn. I mean, strong willed and brilliant of
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  Speaker 1: mind and determined to go his own way. The lord
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  Speaker 1: had to get his attention up to the point where
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  Speaker 1: he was blinded on the road to Damascus. According to
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  Speaker 1: Philippians chapter three, no one put more confidence in the flesh.
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  Speaker 1: No one had more and more impressive pedigree. No one
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  Speaker 1: was more zealous or energized. No one persecuted Christians quite
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  Speaker 1: like Saul of Tarsus. No one was more proud of
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  Speaker 1: his own achievements until until a light shone from heaven
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  Speaker 1: and he was blinded, and for the first time in
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  Speaker 1: his adult life, he found himself totally in need of
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  Speaker 1: someone to lead him by the hand. It's what would
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  Speaker 1: happened to you if he woke up in the morning
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  Speaker 1: blind You couldn't even find the glasses to put on
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  Speaker 1: your face. You need you couldn't find the bathroom, You
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  Speaker 1: couldn't fix your own breakfast. You wouldn't know what clothes
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  Speaker 1: to choose. You couldn't drive your car. You wouldn't be
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  Speaker 1: able to get around. It would take you weeks to
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  Speaker 1: learn how to get around in your own home without
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  Speaker 1: stumbling over articles of furniture. You wouldn't know north southeast
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  Speaker 1: from west. You would be blind. And that's exactly the
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  Speaker 1: way Paul was. Saul of Tarsus, Acts, Chapter nine, verse nine.
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  Speaker 1: Three days without sight and without an appetite. He sits
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  Speaker 1: alone in a room, whether it was daylight or dark.
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  Speaker 1: His world was dark, not knowing what was next. It
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  Speaker 1: was just the Lord's beginning to work on this stubborn
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  Speaker 1: will of Saul, so that he might learn. When he
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  Speaker 1: was weak, God was strong, and he had spent all
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  Speaker 1: of his life trying to be strong. Before I go
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  Speaker 1: any further in the biblical text, I know that I
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  Speaker 1: already speak to a number of you who are raised
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  Speaker 1: to be independent and stubborn of will. Some of you
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  Speaker 1: have already gone through more than one marriage. You have
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  Speaker 1: made a horrible marriage partner, You have been a poor
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  Speaker 1: mother or father. You have worked your way through life.
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  Speaker 1: Determined to make it on your own in this elite
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  Speaker 1: club called self willed living. Maybe a message like this
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  Speaker 1: today will help you see that that is a dead
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  Speaker 1: end street and it is not God's way. God's way
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  Speaker 1: is described by Peter. Humble yourself under the mighty hand
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  Speaker 1: of God, that He may exalt you in proper time.
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  Speaker 1: Alone in this room for these three days, Saul had
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  Speaker 1: no idea what the future held. His entire mission had
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  Speaker 1: collapsed around him, with plans to come into Damascus like
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  Speaker 1: a flood and take charge of Christians like levitical police.
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  Speaker 1: Saul is now even unable to find his way around
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  Speaker 1: this room, and he sits waiting, waiting, waiting. Unbeknownst to Saul,
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  Speaker 1: the Lord is moving in the heart of a man
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  Speaker 1: Saul had never met and would never see again. If
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  Speaker 1: he does see him again, the scriptures never mentioned him again.
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  Speaker 1: Out of the blue comes a man named Ananias, who,
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  Speaker 1: like a meteor across the sky, appears in the Acts
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  Speaker 1: nine passage and does a bit of errand running for
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  Speaker 1: God and then leaves the scene, never to be mentioned again.
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  Speaker 1: In scripture Acts nine, verse fifteen, the Lord taps Anonius
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  Speaker 1: on the shoulder and said go for he is a
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  Speaker 1: chosen instrument of mind to bear my name before the
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  Speaker 1: gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. What a mission,
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  Speaker 1: what a plan? This is going to be my spokesman.
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  Speaker 1: Why do you realize what would have happened in America
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  Speaker 1: if God had told some father that his son was
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  Speaker 1: going to be in that role. I mean, you'd put
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  Speaker 1: him in a finishing school right away, you'd hire an
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  Speaker 1: ad agency, you'd put together the plan so that you
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  Speaker 1: wouldn't waste any time getting him soon into the limelight.
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  Speaker 1: After all, he's going to speak to kings and to
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  Speaker 1: gentiles and to Jews alike. A this is a great
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  Speaker 1: man in the making. Let's get it underway. Several years
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  Speaker 1: ago I followed with interest the life of a certain
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  Speaker 1: athlete who was still in high school. At the time.
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  Speaker 1: The father and mother of the athlete had divorced, and
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  Speaker 1: the boy was living with the father, and the father
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  Speaker 1: had one plan in mind that this boy would become
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  Speaker 1: an all pro football player. He showed all the signs
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  Speaker 1: of athletic prowess greatness. As a matter of fact, the
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  Speaker 1: first thing the father gave the infant was a football.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know if he dropped it on him or what.
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  Speaker 1: But here's this little tiny infant in the crib with
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  Speaker 1: a football right by him. And all through the training
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  Speaker 1: years of his life, the father watched over the diet.
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  Speaker 1: By the time the boy was out of high school,
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  Speaker 1: he had eleven trainers, eleven to train him in all
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  Speaker 1: forms of coordination and physical strength and accuracy in passing
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  Speaker 1: and whatever. And he indeed he got his scholarship and
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  Speaker 1: went to a school and he was a star. I
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  Speaker 1: mean everything the boy ate was monitored by these parents
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  Speaker 1: or this parent. In fact, he said on one occasion,
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  Speaker 1: he never even had an oreo cookie. I thought that
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  Speaker 1: kid's missed a lot in life, not even one Oreo cookie.
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  Speaker 1: Hadn't even licked the white on the inside of an
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  Speaker 1: oreo cookie. Well, how sacrificial can you be? All the
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  Speaker 1: way through his life? And you know what happened? He
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  Speaker 1: petered out in professional football in less than five years.
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  Speaker 1: No one today even knows where he is as far
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  Speaker 1: as the game is concerned. That's the way it is.
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  Speaker 1: Whether it's a young actor or actress, or athlete or artist,
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  Speaker 1: we promote them fast, We get them on their way
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  Speaker 1: so that by the time they turned twenty they've already
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  Speaker 1: had all the experiences of life and are ready to
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  Speaker 1: sue their parents for taking their money. What is wrong
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  Speaker 1: with the picture we in our country love to promote
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  Speaker 1: and to idolize and to make a heroes out of
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  Speaker 1: in individuals, forgetting all the while the character they lack,
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  Speaker 1: the fact that God never promotes like that. You have
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  Speaker 1: a child who is gifted, skilled, capable, a heart for God.
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  Speaker 1: Take your time. One of the best little books, secular
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  Speaker 1: though it is, I ever read, was called The Hurried Child,
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  Speaker 1: where the author traces the story of one child after
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  Speaker 1: another who is hurried through childhood so that he or
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  Speaker 1: she might become You know this dream the parent has
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  Speaker 1: for that child. When God plans to use an individual,
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  Speaker 1: he puts him through the paces. He takes her through
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  Speaker 1: a process of suffering. You see, I quit early in
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  Speaker 1: my reading because verse fifteen is followed same sentence with
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  Speaker 1: the words of verse sixteen. I will show him how
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  Speaker 1: much he must suffer for my names sake. When I
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  Speaker 1: see a child evangelist being promoted by individuals who are
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  Speaker 1: in the promotion business, I shudder and shiver for that child.
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  Speaker 1: He has not suffered for his name's sake. He is
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  Speaker 1: not ready for the limelight. That's not God's plan. God
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  Speaker 1: does not use the strong, stubborn, independent individuals in life.
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  Speaker 1: He uses the humble, the broken, the bruised, those who
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  Speaker 1: have suffered, who have been desperate, who have been crushed,
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  Speaker 1: And then He begins to use them. And then they
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  Speaker 1: realize the value of other people. They can't make it,
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  Speaker 1: they dare not try to make it on their own.
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  Speaker 1: They need to be accountable. They need other individuals close by.
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  Speaker 1: They need to be told the truth, especially when we
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  Speaker 1: become adults and our parents step aside, and then marriage comes,
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  Speaker 1: and then peer relationships. We have to have relationships where
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  Speaker 1: people continue to give us information, hold us accountable. If
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  Speaker 1: you will help keep us humble. He must see how
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  Speaker 1: much he must suffer for my namesake. He was never
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  Speaker 1: meant to be the master of his fate, the captain
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  Speaker 1: of his soul. And so Saul feels the tap on
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  Speaker 1: his shoulder verse seventeen. And here's for the first time
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  Speaker 1: a word that will become familiar to him. Brother. After
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  Speaker 1: laying his hands on him, anonaias said to Saul, brother Saul,
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  Speaker 1: And immediately Saul realizes, as he's listening now better when
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  Speaker 1: you're blind. As he listens to the word, he realizes
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  Speaker 1: he's a member of a family. He's a brother. He's
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  Speaker 1: a brother, brother, Saul. The Lord Jesus, who appeared to
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  Speaker 1: you on the road by which you were coming, has
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  Speaker 1: sent me so that you may regain your sight. Now
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  Speaker 1: you talk about a wonderful a wonderful errand Anonius ran.
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  Speaker 1: He was there to assist him as he regained his sight,
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  Speaker 1: as he was filled with the Holy Spirit. Immediately there
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  Speaker 1: fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained
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  Speaker 1: his sight. He arose, and Anonius was there to baptize him.
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  Speaker 1: He was baptized. Anonius was there to help prepare his meal,
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  Speaker 1: if that was in fact part of what God had
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  Speaker 1: for Anonius. He was there to assist him in that
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  Speaker 1: this man, now weakened from three days without food, is
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  Speaker 1: sustained and strengthened by a brother and noticed. For several
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  Speaker 1: days he was with the disciples who were at Damascus.
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  Speaker 1: Verse nineteen concludes what did he do? We're not told
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  Speaker 1: it never made the headlines. I don't think he preached
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  Speaker 1: to us all. He wasn't ready to preach. He's like
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  Speaker 1: a first year seminary student. He knew just enough to
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  Speaker 1: be dangerous. He was just a brand new believer, straight
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  Speaker 1: out of the choot, brand new, not gifted. I didn't
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  Speaker 1: say he wasn't gifted, wasn't intelligent. I didn't say he
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  Speaker 1: wasn't intelligent. I said he wasn't ready. Preparing for a
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  Speaker 1: life of this significance, of this significant of nature as
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  Speaker 1: standing before Jews and gentiles, including kings, takes years of
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  Speaker 1: preparation in places of obscurity and suffering and hardship and
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  Speaker 1: waiting and waiting, and then then God may say it's time.
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  Speaker 1: You can hardly find an exception in the scriptures, and
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  Speaker 1: that cuts right across the grain of our American soul.
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  Speaker 1: But this isn't about Americanism. This is about theology, and
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  Speaker 1: this really, you know, we're studying the life of Saul.
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  Speaker 1: This isn't really about the life of Paul. This is
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  Speaker 1: about God and his working in the life of a
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  Speaker 1: man named Saul. This is how God works. After a while,
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  Speaker 1: while in Damascus, he began to proclaim Jesus in the
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  Speaker 1: synagogues verse twenty, saying he is the Son of God.
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  Speaker 1: While the audience was amazed to hear that coming from
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  Speaker 1: the lips of a man who had come into the
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  Speaker 1: place to take it by storm. All those hearing him
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  Speaker 1: continue to be amazed, And we're saying, this isn't he
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  Speaker 1: who in Jerusalem destroyed those who called on his name,
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  Speaker 1: and who had come here for the purpose of bringing
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  Speaker 1: them bound before the chief priests. But Saul kept increasing
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  Speaker 1: in strength and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus
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  Speaker 1: by proving that this Jesus was the Christ. I am
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  Speaker 1: sure his intellect focused in on a new theology, and
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  Speaker 1: as he put it together, I'm sure these new and
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  Speaker 1: fresh words came with a wonderful articulation, as only Saul
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  Speaker 1: could do it. But then you run out of stuff.
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  Speaker 1: It isn't long in ministry before you realize the need
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  Speaker 1: for time alone with God. Any man who is in
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: the pastorate and has gotten there before proper training and
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: sufficient time, will tell you his own story. You run
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: out quick. Unless you're going to just tell people what
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: they want to hear and talk about current events and
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: give the gospel. If you're going to minister in depth,
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: you need to know God deeply and seriously. That's why
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: I'm saying between verse twenty two and verse twenty three
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: is the time. I believe salts slipped away for Arabia.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: And if you need to remind your Galatians Chapter one,
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: Galatians one, verse seventeen. Where in the world is Galatians, Oh,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: it's before Ephesians. Here is Galaisiman, there it is one seventeen.
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: I did not go to Jerusalem, to those who were
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: apostles before me, but I went away to Arabia verse eighteen.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: Three years later I went to Jerusalem. I want to
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: suggest for three years he was in Arabia, obscure, forgotten,
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: alone in the silence and the howling winds of the desert.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: Perhaps he got as far down as Mount Horeb, got
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: to the to Thesa Sinai, where Moses once stood, where
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: Elijah hid out. Maybe it was there through sleepless nights.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: Maybe it was there in the burning heat of the day,
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: month after month after month after month after month after month,
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: alone with God. That's how God does his best work.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: Every person of depth hearing me at this moment can
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: tell you of his or her Arabia.
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: Every one of you.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: Usually it's related to a time of intense suffering or deprivation,
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: or either mistreatment or misunderstanding. But It is a period
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: of time, different times for different people, but we all
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: have our own Arabia. When many days had elapsed Verse
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: twenty three, content the Jews plotted together to do away
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: with him. I think by now his ministry began to
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: be effective, and it cut to the core, It cut
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: to the very nucleus of their souls. And their plot
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: became known to Saul, and they were watching the gates
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: day and night, so they might put him to death.
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: Ever had a contract out on your life, probably not
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: ever known that someone was out to kill you. Some
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: of you do, Some of you have known that, and
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: it's terribly serious. This man was so wanted that they
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: guarded every gate around Damascus. It's pretty humiliating, it's pretty frightening.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: I don't care if you're Sala Tarsus. Instead of his
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: planning to kill them, he's now got them planning to
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: kill him. That's all part of God's plan. The tables
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: turn and guess what people came to his rescue, And
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: not one of them is named. They're called verse twenty five,
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: his disciples. They're the lesser known, they're the unknown. You
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: won't find their names here. Seven Crienton's eleven when he
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: mentions that you won't find it in Romans, you won't
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: find in Philippians, you won't find it even in Timothy,
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: because they're never named. His disciples took him by night
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: and let him down through an opening in the wall,
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: lowering him in a basket. Can you imagine Saul of Tarsus,
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: five years earlier, saying, sure, I'll get in the basket.
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: I mean, it would be kind of humiliating for me
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: to just lay down on the floor right here in
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: front of all of you and act like I was
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: in a basket. I thought about doing that. I thought now,
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: I don't think I want to do that. It's not necessary.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: But imagine Saul of Tarsu's thirty five or so years old,
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: hanging in a basket, being let down a wall by
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: a bunch of unnamed go away. They don't let him
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: go yet, he's not down there, and he's hanging it.
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: The word that Saul uses in Second Corinthin's eleven for
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: this basket is a platted a set of ropes. In fact,
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: one writer calls it a fish basket where they let
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: fish up and down into this area and they put
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: him on this basket, which fits kind of like a
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: kind of like a net, a big net, you'd call it.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: And they let him down through some friend's house who
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: had a place by the wall, and they all the
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: way down, and he waded through the weeds and the
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: fruit trees and the vegetable gardens on his way along
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: to Jerusalem. Saul of Tarsus, it's all part of God's plant.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: It's all part of it. Have you had your own
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: net let down? They all look differently. Had your own
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: experience where you were so dependent on another that if
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: they let go, you wouldn't make it. They lowered him
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: in a basket. R. H. Lensky writes Paul's career began
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: like that of Moses, with flight and with a long
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: period of waiting, nothing but waiting. This makes the flight
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: from Damascus so significant. It forced Paul toto the long wait,
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: in which he fully learned he was nothing, that his
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: mightiest asset was utter weakness, weakness which enabled God to
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: do everything with him and through him. Boy, this makes
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: great preaching, but it makes hard living. He's escaping for
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: his life at night, running from Damascus. He came in
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: with such pomp and pride. Then he was blinded starved,
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: met by an unknown brought to a group of disciples,
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: escaped to Arabia, came back to Damascus, and for the
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: last time let down by a wall and a net,
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: only to escape in the night to go where Watch closely.
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: When he had come to Jerusalem, hot dog Jerusalem. He
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: owns Jerusalem. He got trained here, That's where he went
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: to school. He has a couple of advanced degrees from Jerusalem.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: He knows every ally, he knows every escape, he knows,
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: he knows all the people. Surely in Jerusalem they'll remember him,
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: and he'll have a ministry. Get the microphones. Turn the
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: lights upright, televangelists now appearing at the Jerusalem Auditorium just
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: coming here. Watch him pre You know, it's not like
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: that at all. Look at what happened. He was trying
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: to associate with the disciples. Hi, I'm Soli of Tarsar's Slam. Hi,
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: I'm solovent Slam. What was wrong? He was trying to
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: associate with the disciples, and they were all afraid of him,
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: not believing he was a disciple. Of course, they were
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: afraid of him. The last thing they remember he killed
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: their cousin. He put thumbs down on their uncle, or
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: their father, or their mother, or their whole family. Of course,
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: they're scared of him. They think he's a spy. It's
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: a setup. Don't let salt in our ranks. You ever
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: been rejected like that, ever had such a bad track
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: record that people don't want to associate with you, who
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: once loved being around you? A lot of you know
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: that feeling you said, yeah, I want to forget it. Don't, No, don't, don't,
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: don't forget it. It's helping you become the person you're
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: meant to be. Don't forget it. It's part of the
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: breaking of your will. It's part of the humbling of
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: your spirit. It's part of what adds wisdom in place
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: of knowledge. That's what gives you a message. They were
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: afraid of him, They didn't believe he was a disciple.
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: But Barnabas, isn't it a great lion? Out of the blue?
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: Did Saul call barnabus No? How did Barnabas hear? I
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: don't know? God sovereign? I mean, he wasn't confused saying,
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: oh what am I going to do with Saul? He
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: was right, roll won't you Barnabas get over there? Oh, okay,
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: he goes over, he meets him, Barnavas, son of Encouragement.
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: That's what his name means. Is that a great name,
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: your son, Barnabas. He won't appreciate it, but after a
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: while he'll see the significance of it. Call him Barney,
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: that'll be easier. Barnabus, son of encouragement. Every time you
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: see Barnabus, he's encouraging. Every time he's encouraging, standing up
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: for the guy who's losing it, standing in place of
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: the one who's got a bad track record. He even
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: stood against Saul, who was by then Paul. When John
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: Mark wanted to go on that second journey, Barnabas said,
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: let's let him go. No, he's not fit. Barnabas said
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: that I'm going with him, son of encouragement. So rather
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: than being afraid, Barnabas stepped up, and we read he
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: took hold of him. That's dependence. He took hold of him.
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: I see resistance there. Come on, Come on, Saul, come
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: on with me. And he brought him to the apostles,
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: and he described to the apostles how he had seen
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: the Lord on the road, and that the Lord had
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: talked to him, and how at Damascus he had spoken
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: out boldly in the name of the Lord, and he
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: was now with them, moving about freely in Jerusalem. You
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: know the secret Barnabas. I speak today to a few Barnabas.
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: You know somebody who's been kicked in the teeth. You
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: know somebody who's had a bad track record. You know
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: someone who doesn't deserve to have a hearing, but they've
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: turned their life around, and nobody wants to believe it.
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: Step up, Step up. I'm not asking you to blindly
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: go after somebody who's got a bad track record and
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: they're ruining the name of Christ, and they're ruining their
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: name in the process. I'm saying, if they've turned their
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: life around, step up. Everybody in this room can name
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: a Barnabas who stood in our place when we desperately
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: needed him. Barnabas took hold of him and brought him
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: to the apostles. I love the way it reads. And
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: he was with them, moving about freely in Jerusalem. You
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: know what I think, for the first time in Saul's life,
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: he began to be free. He was free of all
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: the musts and should and got to and reputation and image.
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: He was free of all of that, and he moved
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: freely among the people, could be just what he was.
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: He also was free of having to be somebody or
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: make an impression, or make a name that frees you,
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: that frees you to minister without concern of what people
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: say or think. He was moving freely in Jerusalem, speaking
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: out bolly in the name of the Lord. Hot dog.
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: We're moving ahead now. They got a little momentum going.
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: Maybe this meeting before kings and Jews and Gentiles is
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: gonna work. My head is bloody, but it's it's unbowed. No, no, no, no, Saul,
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: it's got to be bowed. It's got to be bowed.
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: It's not the bludgeonings of chance. It's the sovereign hand
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: of God working on you. Saul bow, and so he does.
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: He was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews, this
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: is in Jerusalem, verse twenty nine. But they were attempting
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: to put him to death. Here we are again another
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: very threatening setting. And when the Brethren learned of it,
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: they brought him down to Cesarea and sent him away
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: to Tarsus. But wait a minute, the brethren, who are
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: the Brethren? I don't know. Nobody else knows. You know
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: what it isn't important, Saul, isn't important. You're getting it.
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: God is important. God is going to build his church
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it,
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: and no man will get the glory for it. So
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: when he's got a man who's preparing to be used
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: for a little while and then he'll be gone. Being
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: temporary as he is, he brings along some people to
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: help him get down a wall in Damascus and get
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: an audience with the apostles and get an opportunity to minister.
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: And then when it's about time to learn some more,
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: along come the brethren. He say, you know what's aw man,
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: They're gonna they're gonna kill you. They're gonna slice your
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: throat so fast you won't know it to you sneeze,
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: it's gonna be bad, Paul, And you got to get
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: out of town. And a bunch of unknowns help him
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: escape Jerusalem owned Jerusalem. Now he escapes Jerusalem, and of
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: all things, get it. He goes back to Tarsus, Tarsus,
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: what's Tarsus home town? Yaha? Can you imagine going back
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: to your hometown with a track record? Like you've had
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: and they know you well. Every time I go to Houston,
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: I want to hide out from my English teacher, Lupi Lopez,
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: and I rode that motorcycle right down the middle of
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: the English literature class high school. Who right now, dear
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: miss Straisner grab for every one of her little pills
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: to put under her tarue. We ran right into the principal,
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: who ran us right out of the school. I'll never
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: forget that. I don't want to go to Houston again.
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: He's got his own memory from Tarsus. Can I get
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: serious with you? Maybe he had some people he had
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: to make things right with. How about his mom and dad?
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: How about some friends that he offended? How about some
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: people that he hurt. I don't know what was in Tarsus.
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: I just know that God doesn't make mistakes. When he
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: leads us to places that we wouldn't have personally chosen.
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: That's all part of his plan. Go there. It's remarkable,
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: isn't it. F. B. Meyer writes this. So the disciples
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: brought the hunted preacher down to Cesarea and sent him
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: forth to Tarsus, and probably he resumed tent making there,
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: content to await the Lord's will and bidding. Year years
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: passed slowly, possibly four or five were spent in comparative
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: obscurity and neglect. Possibly four or five years in obscurity.
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: Wait a minute, wait, this is one gifted man. The mission.
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: The mission is to reach the kings and the gentiles
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: in God's time. But you see, in America, we don't
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: want to wait. We don't want to wait for the
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: red light, and we jump at that. Even we don't
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: want it to calm either, So we make yellow lights.
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: Last minute and a half. Now, we don't want to wait.
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: Don't make me go to Tarsus, because in Tarsus are
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: all the memories, all the stuff. That's where he went
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: and that's where he stayed. Well, I mean, how can
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: the church get along well? Verse thirty one. So the
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: church without Saul, throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria,
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: without Saul, enjoyed peace without Saul, being built up without salt,
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: and going on the fear of the Lord without Saul,
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit without Saul,
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: and it continue to increase without Saul. The secret of
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: the Church is not Saul of Tarsus. It is God Almighty.
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: It is not a man. We don't like that. We
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: like men on pedestals. We like women becoming our heroes.
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: And if they're singing great ay age thirteen, we want
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: to promote them so that they're getting the Grammy at
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: age fourteen, and if they can handle the ball at
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: age fifteen, oh for sure. We want to be sure
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: they're in the right touch with the right people so
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: that they can go to the right school and get
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: on the right team, so they can make them that
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: kind of money, because after all, it just got a
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: few years. Stop. That is not God's way. This book
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: I read on the Hurried Child a number of years ago,
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: talked about how we put them in eyes ods shirts
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: and designer genes before they could, you know, get into
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: junior high school. We've got them dressed for dressed for
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: the day. Why why hurry it? I mean, doesn't it
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: seem a waste that God would put Saul Tarsus. Not
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: if you want Saul to write Romans or to impact Corinth,
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: or to endure the house arrest for two years and
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: the imprisonment and the dungeon and leave Timothy letters that
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: still minister to the church. It takes character to be
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: like that. And that character is learned in waiting and
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: obscurity and solitude. One one, don't fight it, don't hurry it.
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: Eugene Peterson wraps up this part of the narrative. When
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: his friends learned of the plot, they got him out
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: of town, took him to Cessarea, then shipped him off
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: to Tarsus. Things calmed down after that, and the church
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: had smooth sailing for a while. All over the country Judea, Samaria, Galile.
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: The church grew up. They were permeated with a deep
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: sense of reverence for God. The Holy Spirit was with them,
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: strengthening them. They prospered wonderfully. They didn't need Saul. Saul
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: is learning in Tarsus. He needed them. Isn't about independence?
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: God help us to learn this. Three lessons linger Three
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: lessons that I think are timeless. The first one is
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: value others. Don't go out there on your own value
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: others to put in other words, rather than seeing others
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: as those who hold us back, we need to discover
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: they're the secret of our survival and our success. God
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: doesn't usually use a solo, He's usually got another person
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: or several others alongside. They taught us in the Marines
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: when I was getting basic training, that you always dig
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: a hole big enough for two, preferably three, because you're
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: strong now. But in battle alone you become a coward.
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: You need somebody near you. You need more than one
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: if you can get it value others, Spurgeon wrote, success
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: exposes a man to the pressure of people, and thus
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: tempts him to hold onto his gains by by means
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: of fleshly methods and practices, and to let himself be
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: ruled wholly by the dictatorial demands of incessant expansion. Listen
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: to these words. Success can go to my head, and
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: it will unless I remember it is God who accomplishes
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: the work. He can continued to do so without my help,
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: and that he will be able to make out with
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: other means whenever he cuts me down to size. You
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: are not indispensable. I am not irreplaceable. God is both.
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: It's his church. He's looking for broken vessels, wounded hearts
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: people with bad track records. They've repented and when the
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: scars of their past they have a message that's real
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: and not enamored with ego. Second, lesson, humble yourself. Humble
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: yourself rather than being tutored to handle the limelight. We
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: need to treasure and embrace the shadows. Don't promote yourself,
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: don't push yourself, don't exalt yourself. Solomon writes, let another
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: man praise you, and not your own mouth, a stranger,
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: and not your own lips. If you're great, we'll find you.
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: If you're necessary for the plan, God will put you
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: in the right place. He'll pull the strings, he'll turn
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: on the lights. He'll get a hold of Ananias or Barnabas.
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: We'll find you. Just stumble yourself. Don't fight for your
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: own way. Your own way is not what the agenda
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: is about, which brings me to the third. Trust God.
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: Trust God. Rather than considering yourself indispensable, we need to
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: remember it's the Lord's work to be done the Lord's way.
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: I learned that principle from Francis Shaeffer, sitting in a
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: large audience watching this man up there, standing in knickers
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: and a turtleneck sweater as he delivers this message to
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: a group of people in the seventies, many of many
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: of us clamoring to find our way. I heard him
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: say it time after time. The Lord's work must be
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: done the Lord's way. The Lord's work must be done
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: the lord's way. The Lord's work must be done the
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: lord's way. If you're in a hurry, you can make
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: it work your way, and it'll get big, and it'll
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: have all the marks of promotion. But it's not the
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: Lord's way. Relax. John Pollock, in his book The Man
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: who Shook the World says his disciples took him at
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: night to a friendly family who lived on the city walls.
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: In one of the private houses. When was jutting some
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: eight or ten feet above the ground, they found a
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: fish basket, a large shapeless sack which folded around his
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: body so no casual observer would notice in the darkness
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: that it hid a man. In the small hours, they
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: lowered him to the ground. The crusade on which he
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: had embarked so gloriously had come to a stop. The
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: appointed leader was a fugitive already. The irony was not
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: lost on him that the mighty Paul, who had originally
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: approached Damascus with all the panoply of the High Priest's representative,
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: should make his last exit in a fish basket, helped
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: by the very people he had come to hurt. William
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: Ernest Henley was absolutely wrong, absolutely wrong. Our lives are
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: not caught in the clutch of circumstance. Our heads are
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: not to be bloodied but unvowed. We are not the
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: master of our fate or the captain of our souls.
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: We are wholly, continually and completely dependent at the mercy
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: of our God if we want to do it his way.
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: Paul had to learn that. My question is, are you
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: learning that? Are you learning it's possible today that? And
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: you've come this far in your life, and no one's
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: ever talked to you quite a straight about yourself, will
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: about your stubborn spirit, about your pride. And that's been
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: my assignment. And I've tried to do it in a
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: way that you'd hear it without walking out. And you've
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: done that. When you turn around, you're going to see
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: a cross. And when you see a cross, you're going
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: to see the strongest man who ever lived hanging there,
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: dying for you. You're going to see his blood in
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: your imagination, blood that course through his veins that stop
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: running when he died for you, And you're going to
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: thank him. You're going to believe in him. If you don't,
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: you're a fool. You're just simply a fool. You cannot
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: make it through eternity without him. I invite you to
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: go to that cross right now, take him as your
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: own savior. Then let him do his way, his work,
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: his way within you. You will be amazed at the
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: difference it will make. You'll be amazed. Thank you, Father,
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: for the night and the darkness of our night, for
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: the blackness of our past, for bringing us to an
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: end of all of that, for showing us the horror
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: of our depravity, the wickedness of our will, and for
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: reducing us to a place where we would listen and believe.
• 54:04
  Speaker 2: And obey.
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: Thank You for the needed reminder for all of us
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: who are so self willed, so determined, so goal oriented,
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: so in a hurry.
• 54:19
  Speaker 2: Make us.
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: Patient to wait with you as you prepare.
• 54:24
  Speaker 2: Us for our our moment, our day, our ministry, in
• 54:35
  Speaker 2: your time. In the precious name of Jesus, I pray Amen.
• 54:47
  Speaker 3: The preceding message, Mission Underway Thanks to the Lesser Known,
• 54:52
  Speaker 3: was copyrighted in two thousand and one, two thousand and three,
• 54:54
  Speaker 3: and twenty twenty four, and the sound recording was copyrighted
• 54:58
  Speaker 3: in twenty twenty four by Charles are Swindall. Incorporated. All
• 55:02
  Speaker 3: rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial
• 55:06
  Speaker 3: use is strictly prohibited.