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Waging War Against Drift · Pastor John Piper's answers

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Well, God did not make us to float lazy along
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  Speaker 1: with the trends of pop media, like a jellyfish drifting
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  Speaker 1: this way in that way by the currents of pop culture. No,
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  Speaker 1: He made us be dolphins. You cut against the currents
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  Speaker 1: of pop culture. That is, of course, Pastor John, a
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  Speaker 1: pair of your favorite metaphors to use here. And this
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  Speaker 1: jellyfish and dolphin metaphor comes up when we talk about
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  Speaker 1: cultural pressures like those of cussing or using crude language,
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  Speaker 1: or even on the topic of the currents, the cultural
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  Speaker 1: currents towards lustfulness. For those examples, see the ap J
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  Speaker 1: book on pages one thirty seven to one thirty eight
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  Speaker 1: and three twenty two just to see how the Bible
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  Speaker 1: warns us against cultural drift and to see how Pastor
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  Speaker 1: John uses that pair of metaphors, the jellyfish and the dolphin,
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  Speaker 1: in both contexts. Really illuminating to see. I'm thinking of
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  Speaker 1: currents today because we're talking about drifting today, and we're
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  Speaker 1: talking about drifting because we just ra that haunting lest
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  Speaker 1: we drift text of Hebrews two to one in our
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  Speaker 1: Bible reading yesterday, very sobering warning against drifting away from
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  Speaker 1: Christ and the topic of this question from a twenty
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  Speaker 1: four year old young woman named Haley. Pastor John, thank
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  Speaker 1: you for the APJA podcast and all that is given
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  Speaker 1: to me over the years. I'm writing because I want
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  Speaker 1: to understand Hebrews two one to three better, specifically the
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  Speaker 1: warnings about the dangers of drifting away, not an outright rebellion,
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  Speaker 1: but in neglect and the slow, imperceptible process of losing
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  Speaker 1: grip on the greatness of Christ. Lately, I feel this
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  Speaker 1: happening in my own heart. I'm not resisting Christ, but
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  Speaker 1: my affections for him feel duller, My prayer's weaker, my
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  Speaker 1: longing for his presence fainter. It's not that I've abandoned
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  Speaker 1: the truth, but I can sense that the current of
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  Speaker 1: the world is tugging at me. I don't want to
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  Speaker 1: wake up one day and find myself far downstream wondering
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  Speaker 1: how I got there. How does this drifting happen? And
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  Speaker 1: more importantly, how do I fight against it? How can
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  Speaker 1: I rekindle the wonder of salvation and anchor myself more
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  Speaker 1: firmly in Christ before the poll becomes too strong.
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  Speaker 2: The first thing I want to say to Haley and
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  Speaker 2: all of us who have tasted the frightening seasons of
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  Speaker 2: spiritual dullness and fear of drifting into a kind of
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  Speaker 2: cold indifference which would not only make us useless, but
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  Speaker 2: would ruin our souls. The first thing I want to
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  Speaker 2: say is be thankful. Oh, be so thankful. You are
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  Speaker 2: aware of what is happening. That's the first great discovery
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  Speaker 2: which leads us back to the sweetness and authenticity of
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  Speaker 2: walking in fellowship with Jesus. And I say that because
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  Speaker 2: when Paul tells us not to be anxious for anything,
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  Speaker 2: not to fear, he doesn't just say, pray about your fears.
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  Speaker 1: He says, pray about.
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  Speaker 2: Them with thanksgiving. That's in Philippins four. So right in
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  Speaker 2: the middle of our impending darkness, we are to mingle
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  Speaker 2: our desperations with thanksgiving. That's the first thing I would say.
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  Speaker 2: Be thankful, Haley, that you are not blind to what
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  Speaker 2: is happening. Hebrews two one says we must pay closer
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  Speaker 2: attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away
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  Speaker 2: from it. I have tried to remind myself and the
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  Speaker 2: church I served that life is war. At the end
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  Speaker 2: of his life, Fall said I have fought, I have
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  Speaker 2: fought the good fight all the way to the end.
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  Speaker 2: Life is war. And we used to say at Bethlehem,
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  Speaker 2: you do not know what prayer is for until you
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  Speaker 2: know that life is war. Prayer is not an intercom
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  Speaker 2: to ask the butler for another pillow in the den.
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  Speaker 2: Prayer is a wartime walkie talkie to headquarters. We need
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  Speaker 2: air cover right now, or we're going to be swept
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  Speaker 2: away and overrun by the enemy of unbelief God. However,
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  Speaker 2: Hebrews uses another image besides war, namely, rowing our boat
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  Speaker 2: against the current life is like rowing your boat upstream
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  Speaker 2: against the current of secular culture and our own sinful flesh.
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  Speaker 2: That's what he means when he says don't drift, don't drift.
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  Speaker 2: If you stop rowing against your own sinful nature, you
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  Speaker 2: will drift towards the Niagara waterfalls of destruction. I can
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  Speaker 2: hear someone say, no, no, no, no. The Holy Spirit is
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  Speaker 2: like an outboard on the back of the boat. You
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  Speaker 2: don't need to fight and work as a Christian turn
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  Speaker 2: on the motor. Well, you can say that if you
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  Speaker 2: ignore a lot of biblical texts. I think it would
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  Speaker 2: be better to say the Holy Spirit is the strength
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  Speaker 2: in our back and our arms to keep us rowing.
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  Speaker 2: So the first thing the writer tells us about this
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  Speaker 2: danger is to warn us that it's real, that drifting
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  Speaker 2: toward destruction and shipwreck of your faith are real possibilities
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  Speaker 2: if you don't heed what he has said, how should
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  Speaker 2: we escape if we neglect such a great salvation. That's
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  Speaker 2: verse three. Here's how he put the warning. In the
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  Speaker 2: next chapter, he said, we have come to share in Christ.
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  Speaker 2: If indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end,
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  Speaker 2: that's chapter three, verse fourteen. That's the opposite of drifting
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  Speaker 2: whole firm your confidence to the end, don't drift away.
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  Speaker 2: So in the Book of Hebrews, God tells us one
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  Speaker 2: to pay close attention to the precious Gospel, and two
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  Speaker 2: he warns us of the dangers of not paying attention. Now,
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  Speaker 2: what else does he do to help Haley and us
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  Speaker 2: all not drift into destruction? And he mentions at least
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  Speaker 2: six things, and I'll just mention them briefly. This is
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  Speaker 2: for our help, this is for our perseverance, this is
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  Speaker 2: for our rowing until we're in heaven. First, he tells
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  Speaker 2: us to rivet our attention on Jesus. Chapter three, Verse one.
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  Speaker 2: Consider Jesus the apostle and high priest of our confession,
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  Speaker 2: who was faithful or Chapter twelve, Verse one. Look to Jesus,
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  Speaker 2: founder and perfector of your faith, who, for the joy
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  Speaker 2: that was set before him, endured the cross. It's no
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  Speaker 2: mistake that there are four gospels in the New Testament,
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  Speaker 2: four not one, four four different portraits of Jesus. Look
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  Speaker 2: look at him, Look at him every day. That's why
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  Speaker 2: they're there. Number two, be inspired by faithful, persevering Christian
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  Speaker 2: leaders Hebrews thirteen seven. Remember your leaders, consider the outcome
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  Speaker 2: of their way of life, and imitate their faith. This
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  Speaker 2: is true of living leaders, and it's especially true of
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  Speaker 2: dead leaders, whose biographies are so precious for stirring us
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  Speaker 2: up to press on. Oh, how significant biographies have been
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  Speaker 2: in my life to kindle my faith and hope when
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  Speaker 2: they have been languishing. Number three, don't fight alone. Don't
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  Speaker 2: row your boat by yourself. Exhort others and seek to
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  Speaker 2: be exhorted Hebrews three twelve. Take care, brothers, lest there
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  Speaker 2: be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart leading
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  Speaker 2: you away that's drifting from the living God. But exhort
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  Speaker 2: one another every day, as long as it is called
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  Speaker 2: today that none of you may be hardened by the
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  Speaker 2: deceitfulness of sin. What a clear word from God that
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  Speaker 2: the antidote to drifting is to hear brothers and sisters
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  Speaker 2: exhort us with the word of God. And he says
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  Speaker 2: even daily. Number four, learn to interpret your afflictions as
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  Speaker 2: loving acts of discipline from your heavenly Father. They're intended
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  Speaker 2: to help us persevere in faith and holiness. Chapter twelve.
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  Speaker 2: After the writer explains that the Lord disciplines the one
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  Speaker 2: whom he loves verse six, he says, therefore, and that's
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  Speaker 2: that's the key here, because of this discipline. Therefore verse twelve,
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  Speaker 2: lift your drooping hands, that is, putting them back on
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  Speaker 2: the oars. Put them on the oars. In other words,
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  Speaker 2: because you know the good purposes of God in your afflictions.
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  Speaker 2: Don't lose heart and let your hands droop and fall
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  Speaker 2: from the oars and drift to destruction. Put you back
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  Speaker 2: into it, row row on, because God is for you
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  Speaker 2: even in your afflictions. Number five. Make good use of
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  Speaker 2: the promises of God and the hope of great reward.
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  Speaker 2: For example, Chapter thirteen, verse five, how shall we not
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  Speaker 2: drift into the love of money? Answer keep your life
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  Speaker 2: free from the love of money, because he has said,
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  Speaker 2: there's the promise, I will never leave you or forsake you.
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  Speaker 2: It's the power of God's promise that keeps us rowing
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  Speaker 2: upstream against the deadly current of the love of money.
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  Speaker 2: And finally, I'm six. The book ends with a prayer,
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  Speaker 2: a prayer to God by the author that God would
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  Speaker 2: work in and through all these other exhortations heb. Thirteen twenty. Now,
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  Speaker 2: may the God of Peace equip you with everything good
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  Speaker 2: that you may do His will working in us, the rowing,
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  Speaker 2: working in us that which is pleasing in His sight,
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  Speaker 2: through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
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  Speaker 2: So we take all these biblical strategies for rowing against
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  Speaker 2: the current of culture and sin, and we saturate them
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  Speaker 2: with prayer every day. I suppose that alongside the prayer
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  Speaker 2: that God would hallow His name in my life, the
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  Speaker 2: prayer I have prayed most often is keep me. You
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  Speaker 2: have died for me, you have bought me, hold on
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  Speaker 2: to me, keep me, don't let me stop rowing. And
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  Speaker 2: I hope you'll join me in that lifelong prayer. Man.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, another great image share Pastor John. If you stop
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  Speaker 1: rowing against your sinful nature, you will be swept towards
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  Speaker 1: the Niagara Falls of destruction. And while some might claim
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  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit is an outboard motor to make the
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  Speaker 1: journey easy, the truth is that He is the strength
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  Speaker 1: in our arms and back the power as we row
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  Speaker 1: against the current to avoid the shipwreck of our faith.
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  Speaker 1: There's a lot in that picture. Think you, Pastor John,
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  Speaker 1: for it a new metaphor to add into the mix
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  Speaker 1: is beautiful. Thank you and thanks for joining us today.
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  Speaker 1: If you have a question to ask Pastor John, find
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  Speaker 1: a link to email us and find our complete episode
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  Speaker 1: archive at the same place. Askpastor John dot com, well
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  Speaker 1: should Christians ever rejoice when God destroys their enemies? It's
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  Speaker 1: a weighty question from Liz that brings us back to
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  Speaker 1: the tension between mercy and justice. Attention. Pastor John is
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  Speaker 1: wrestled with deeply, especially in light of key Bible texts
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  Speaker 1: that have largely shaped him into a pacifist. Not completely so,
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  Speaker 1: but largely so. That's up next. I'm Tony Ranky. We'll
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  Speaker 1: see you on Monday.