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The Battle We Fight- Minister Max Lucado · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We are about to begin less than three of our
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: study of the Book of Romans. It's somewhat of a
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: flyover of the Book of Romans, trusting the Holy Spirit
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  Speaker 1: to get our hearts, because we know when we get Romans,
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  Speaker 1: God gets us. I think, however, before the message, I'd
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  Speaker 1: like to offer a prayer for healing. Do you feel
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  Speaker 1: like we've just come out of a battle, or feel
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  Speaker 1: like we're still.
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  Speaker 2: Coming out of a battle. What a year.
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  Speaker 1: I wonder if somehow we could reveal the state of
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  Speaker 1: our souls, how many of us would be black and blue,
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  Speaker 1: just beaten up after the whiplash of everything from political
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  Speaker 1: turmoil it's a global pandemic, the economic insecurity and uncertainty.
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  Speaker 2: Let me pray for you. Let me pray for you.
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  Speaker 1: I just really sense in my heart that some of
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  Speaker 1: us are wounded. Just a few moments ago we sing
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  Speaker 1: that great song. Just one word, with one word, Jesus
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  Speaker 1: can heal you. With one word, he can heal you.
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  Speaker 1: No elaborate staging, no over dramatic moment, Just a word
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  Speaker 1: from Christ and He'll bring healing into your heart.
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  Speaker 2: If you want to.
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  Speaker 1: Be a recipient of a prayer for healings, just stand.
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  Speaker 2: Where you are, we'll enter into a spirit of prayer.
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  Speaker 2: Gracious Lord, Gracious.
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  Speaker 1: Lord, look kindly upon these who come to stand before
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  Speaker 1: you and ask for a special blessing today.
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  Speaker 2: Do not let one of them.
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  Speaker 1: Do not let one of them leave with any doubt
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  Speaker 1: about your love. Come among us, blessed spirit, Just float
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  Speaker 1: among us, fill this place. We welcome you, We welcome you.
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  Speaker 1: I invite each and every one of you, myself included,
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  Speaker 1: to just open the door to your heart, go to mentally,
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  Speaker 1: just open a door and say, come in, Lord, Come in.
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  Speaker 2: Some of our hearts are broken, some of our hearts.
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  Speaker 1: Are hard, they're weary. But welcome him in. Welcome him in.
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  Speaker 1: Say come in, Lord. Now where do you want the
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  Speaker 1: Lord to touch you? Just tell him, please, just say Lord.
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  Speaker 1: I'm hurting about this. My family's in turmoil, my future's insecure.
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  Speaker 1: I'm wounded because of something somebody said. Physically, I'm tired.
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  Speaker 2: Telling him.
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  Speaker 1: He is near to all who seek him. Bless you,
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  Speaker 1: may the Lord, bless you, May the Lord.
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  Speaker 2: Bless you. May the Lord bless you.
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  Speaker 1: And the way God taught Aaron to pray, which is
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  Speaker 1: really the first prayer that a priest was told to offer.
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  Speaker 2: He just said, the Lord bless you, Bless you, and
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  Speaker 2: keep you.
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  Speaker 1: Sustain you, build a hedge around you, keep you, keep
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  Speaker 1: you from falling, keep you from stumbling.
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  Speaker 2: May he keep you.
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  Speaker 1: And then may the Lord shine his face upon you,
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  Speaker 1: direct his countenance upon you. May you sense the joy
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  Speaker 1: boy of the Father's face as he looks upon you.
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  Speaker 1: And may he give you peace, peace, that inner rest.
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  Speaker 1: May he speak over the the inner disturbances, the same
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  Speaker 1: word he spoke over the Galilean storm.
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  Speaker 2: Peace, Peace, Be still.
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  Speaker 1: I hope you don't mind if we just linger here
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  Speaker 1: for a moment. There is healing happening right now.
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  Speaker 3: Mhm.
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  Speaker 2: Now just tell the Lord thank you.
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  Speaker 1: Say thank you, Lord, thank you, thank you that you
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  Speaker 1: have touched me so deeply.
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  Speaker 4: Thank you.
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  Speaker 1: In the name of Jesus, we pray.
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  Speaker 2: And all God's people said, amen, Amen, Well, let's go home.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, that's the work, right, that's the work right there.
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  Speaker 1: One word from Jesus is worth a billion from a preacher.
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  Speaker 2: Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen. But you're expecting a sermon, So
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  Speaker 2: we are.
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  Speaker 1: Doing a dash through the Book of Romans, the Great
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  Speaker 1: Epistle of Grace.
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  Speaker 2: This would be less than number three. And as we
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  Speaker 2: begin it.
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  Speaker 1: I invite you to use your imagination to envision a prison,
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  Speaker 1: large imposing structure, maybe with two or three stories tall,
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  Speaker 1: with complete with guards and barbed wire, the whole works.
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  Speaker 2: And picture the main.
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  Speaker 1: Entrance, the entrance to the prison, and maybe you can
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  Speaker 1: watch in your mind and see the gates open and
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  Speaker 1: a gentleman steps out. He's not wearing prison clothing, just
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  Speaker 1: wearing I don't know, street clothes.
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  Speaker 2: He's a bit elderly.
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  Speaker 1: And you begin connecting a few dots and realize, here's
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  Speaker 1: a man stepping out of prison. He's being released. He's
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  Speaker 1: feeling the wind in his air and the sun on
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  Speaker 1: his face. He's not restrained he was. He was in prison.
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  Speaker 1: He does know the feeling of handcuffs, he knows what
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  Speaker 1: it's like. But now today he's been released. The road
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  Speaker 1: is clear before him. He can go wherever he wants.
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  Speaker 1: He could go to the right, he could go to
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  Speaker 1: the left. I mean, the future is wide open. His
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  Speaker 1: time in prison is over. It's his choice to make.
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  Speaker 1: He can go wherever he wants. No one's gonna hinder him.
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  Speaker 1: No one's gonna tell him where he can go or
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  Speaker 1: where he has to go, what he should do now
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  Speaker 1: imagine this man stopping in his tracks after just a
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  Speaker 1: few steps and looking at the path and saying no.
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  Speaker 2: And he turns, and he goes back into the prison.
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  Speaker 1: And he re robes himself in the prison garb, and
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  Speaker 1: he enters his jail cell, and he takes his seat
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  Speaker 1: on a metal bed frame and thin mattress, choosing instead
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  Speaker 1: to spend the rest of his life under lock and key.
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  Speaker 1: But that makes sense to you, of course not. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: the whole scene is just impossible. It's laughable. Yet it's
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  Speaker 1: more realistic that you than you might imagine. As we
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  Speaker 1: turn our pages in the Book of Romans, we enter
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  Speaker 1: the center section of it. Romans six and seven and
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  Speaker 1: eight and Romans six and seven and eight deal with
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  Speaker 1: this mindset that, having been set free, we Christians have
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  Speaker 1: a proclivity to return to slavery, to oppression, that we
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  Speaker 1: find it very difficult to feel like we are truly
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  Speaker 1: released and forgiven. And sometimes the hardest, the most challenging part,
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  Speaker 1: is to believe that grace that saved us is the
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  Speaker 1: grace that sustains us. Paul begins this discussion in Versus
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  Speaker 1: six and seven of Romans six.
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  Speaker 2: He says, we know that our old life.
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  Speaker 1: Died with Christ on the cross, so that our sinful
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  Speaker 1: selves would have no power over us and we would
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  Speaker 1: not be slaves to sin. Anyone who has died is
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  Speaker 1: made free from sin's control.
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  Speaker 2: Remarkable statement, don't you agree?
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  Speaker 1: Paul is saying, there is the potential within your life
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  Speaker 1: to be free from the sin, free from the prison.
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  Speaker 1: He continues in verses twenty through twenty three. When you
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  Speaker 1: were slaves to sin, you are free from the control
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  Speaker 1: of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time
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  Speaker 1: from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things
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  Speaker 1: result in death. But now that you've been set free
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  Speaker 1: from sin and become slaves of God, the benefit you
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  Speaker 1: reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
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  Speaker 1: For the wages of sin is death, but the gift
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  Speaker 1: of God is eternal life. In Christ Jesus, our Lord.
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  Speaker 1: The wages of sin is death. But you don't have
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  Speaker 1: to pay those wages any longer because you've been set
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  Speaker 1: free and you're receiving the gift, the greatest gift of
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  Speaker 1: God's great grace, and that is eternal life. And so
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  Speaker 1: Paul is about to pose the possibility, the curiosity and
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  Speaker 1: deal with the proclivity of Christians who return back to
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  Speaker 1: their old behavior even though they've been set free. It's
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  Speaker 1: almost like going back to the old life, returning to
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  Speaker 1: the old habits, assuming that you can never give that up,
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  Speaker 1: move out of that, move into a new life. Many
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  Speaker 1: years ago, I committed a serious, serious felony. Well maybe
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  Speaker 1: it wasn't a felony, but I did violate a traffic law.
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  Speaker 1: But I know I was doing it until my wife
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  Speaker 1: told me.
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  Speaker 2: That's happened a lot.
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  Speaker 1: There was a season of our life when we lived
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  Speaker 1: in a certain neighborhood and to get to the church office,
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  Speaker 1: I had to go through the most congested intersection in
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  Speaker 1: the history of humanity. Every car in Texas was trying
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  Speaker 1: to turn left where I was needing to turn left.
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  Speaker 1: It would happen every morning, no matter how early.
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  Speaker 2: I got there. There was a long line.
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  Speaker 1: The light was too short, and you had to wait,
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  Speaker 1: and you had to wait, and you had to wait.
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  Speaker 1: One day, I noticed an alley about a mile away
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  Speaker 1: from the intersection, or this side of the intersection. I
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  Speaker 1: saw an alley, and this alley wrapped around a shopping center,
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  Speaker 1: and I thought to myself, if I take that alley
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  Speaker 1: I can scoot around all this traffic. I can bypass
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  Speaker 1: that intersection. I'll try it.
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  Speaker 2: I did. I was set free before I knew it.
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  Speaker 1: I said goodbye to all those folks stuck in the intersection,
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  Speaker 1: and I just flew turned left and I was already
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  Speaker 1: gone while they were still waiting.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, I was so happy.
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  Speaker 1: This went on day after day after day, until one
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  Speaker 1: day Dnlon was in the car with me and I said, Honey,
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  Speaker 1: watch this, and I turned my blinker on my left blinker,
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  Speaker 1: and I whipped into that alley and I said, look
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  Speaker 1: what I'm doing, honey. And I looked to my right
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  Speaker 1: to expecting a look of admiration, all love, But what
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  Speaker 1: I saw was disdain.
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  Speaker 2: She said, now you broke the law.
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  Speaker 1: You didn't see You're going the wrong way on a
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  Speaker 1: one way street. I said, honey, you didn't have to
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  Speaker 1: tell me that. I was fine, not knowing I was
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  Speaker 1: really fine. Why did you have to tell me that.
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  Speaker 1: All of a sudden, I was left with this inner
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  Speaker 1: turmoil because just moments before I was innocent. But now
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  Speaker 1: I knew the law. But there was this civil war
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  Speaker 1: of the soul taking place. I knew what to do,
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  Speaker 1: but I didn't want to do it. I just didn't
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  Speaker 1: want to. Can you relate? I didn't want to. I
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  Speaker 1: didn't want to go sit in the traffic again. But
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  Speaker 1: what could I do?
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  Speaker 2: Now? I knew? The same is true for each and
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  Speaker 2: every one of us.
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  Speaker 1: If you are in Christ, you can reflect back to
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  Speaker 1: your pre Christ days and you can recall some shortcuts
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  Speaker 1: you took. Shortcuts Immorality was a shortcut to pleasure. Cheating
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  Speaker 1: was a shortcut to success. Boasting was a shortcut to popularity.
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  Speaker 1: Lying was a shortcut to power. But then you've found
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  Speaker 1: Christ and he called you to a.
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  Speaker 2: Higher level of life.
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  Speaker 1: The Bible calls this holiness righteousness, and you agreed. Okay, Lord,
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  Speaker 1: you know more about the right road than I do.
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  Speaker 1: And if you say that's a wrong way on a
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  Speaker 1: one way street, then I'm gonna trust you. But every
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  Speaker 1: so often, oh, are we not tempted to turn left?
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  Speaker 1: Do we not find ourselves thinking, Oh, life would be
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  Speaker 1: so much easier if I just did what I.
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  Speaker 2: Used to do.
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  Speaker 1: This inner battle, this struggle that we have to succumb
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  Speaker 1: to sin, is actually the old self versus the new self.
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  Speaker 1: Paul got this, and right at the heart of the epistle,
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  Speaker 1: the Romans, chapter seven. He has this great confession, I
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  Speaker 1: have the desire to do what is good.
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  Speaker 2: But I cannot carry it out, for I do not do.
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  Speaker 1: The good I want to do, But the evil I
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  Speaker 1: do not want to do, I keep on doing. And
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  Speaker 1: he goes on to lament in verse twenty four. What
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  Speaker 1: a wretched man that I am? Who will rescue me
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  Speaker 1: from this body that is subject to death? Thank you,
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  Speaker 1: Paul for your honesty. Thank you, because if you an apostle,
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  Speaker 1: a writer of epistles, had to battle with the temptation
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  Speaker 1: to drive down the one way street, how much do
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  Speaker 1: the rest of us? He was amazed by God's grace,
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  Speaker 1: but he was equally amazed by his own propensity to sin,
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  Speaker 1: to go back to the old way. This is the
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  Speaker 1: time of year that, at least around our house, we
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  Speaker 1: start seeing a lot of redbirds. And all this week
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  Speaker 1: there has been a redbird banging his head against a
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  Speaker 1: window outside my office. Do you ever see this happen?
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  Speaker 1: Poor fella? He or she I can't tell, But he
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  Speaker 1: continues to see a reflection of himself in the window
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  Speaker 1: and just.
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  Speaker 2: Flies boom boom.
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  Speaker 1: Just this morning, as I was looking over this message,
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  Speaker 1: I heard.
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  Speaker 2: Boom, boom boom.
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  Speaker 1: And I said, you bird, bring How long are you
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  Speaker 1: going to do this? I wonder how many times our
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  Speaker 1: heavenly Father has said that to look at him. Why
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  Speaker 1: are you just beating your head? This is not the
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  Speaker 1: right way. The apostle Paul said, I know I'm beating
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  Speaker 1: my head. I keep doing I know it's not going
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  Speaker 1: to work, but I just keep doing it. Maybe you've
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  Speaker 1: noticed a similar pattern in your life, and you're stunned
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  Speaker 1: by your ability and interest in returning to the way
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  Speaker 1: that you used to live your life. And that struggle
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  Speaker 1: gives birth to some terrible hours for the Christians. So
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  Speaker 1: two ideas that come from the pen of the apostle.
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  Speaker 1: Number one, he says to us, just remember your position
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  Speaker 1: in God. Remember your position in God. The logic goes
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  Speaker 1: something like this, I call myself a Christian, but I
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  Speaker 1: still have desires that a Christian should not have. So
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  Speaker 1: I guess I'm really not born into the family of God.
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  Speaker 1: Hog wash, hogwash. Don't you listen to that lie? Don't
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  Speaker 1: you listen to that lie? Been born again.
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  Speaker 2: By the blood of Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 1: And once you have been born again, Satan cannot have you.
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  Speaker 1: He cannot have you. He can influence you, he can
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  Speaker 1: tempt you, and he will try to trip you, but
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  Speaker 1: he cannot have you. Am I talking to anyone who
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  Speaker 1: believes that the grace that saved you initially is enough
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  Speaker 1: to sustain you eternally. The grace that saved you initially
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  Speaker 1: is enough to sustain you eternally. May God deliver you
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  Speaker 1: from yo Yo Salvation. Yoyo's salvation says, well, I was
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  Speaker 1: saved this morning, but then I send at lunch, so
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  Speaker 1: I'm lost. But then I repented that I'm saved again.
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  Speaker 1: Oh a fella, again I'm lost. And by the time
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  Speaker 1: you go to bed, you've been in and out of it.
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  Speaker 1: Kingdom of God like a yo Yo a dozen times. Friend,
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  Speaker 1: that dis empowers a life. That this empowers a life.
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  Speaker 1: When you have been born into the family of God,
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  Speaker 1: you are a member of the family of God. God
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  Speaker 1: has a great grace. And there will be seasons in
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  Speaker 1: which you do not behave like your father. There will
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  Speaker 1: be seasons and which you do not reflect the nature
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  Speaker 1: of your family. I get that I've done that, but
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  Speaker 1: you're not gonna convince me that God kicked me. You
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  Speaker 1: remember your position in the family it's God's grip on
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  Speaker 1: you that matters more than your grip on God. If
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  Speaker 1: it ever comes to the point where it's your grip
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  Speaker 1: that matters and not his, that's not grace, that's legalism.
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  Speaker 1: You've placed yourself in charge of staying saved. Oh, you
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  Speaker 1: talk about something that will turn you into an old
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  Speaker 1: sour cynic, going asleep every night with such fear.
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  Speaker 2: Would you please allow yourself.
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  Speaker 1: To rest in the hammock of God's great grace. Remember
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  Speaker 1: your position and then the second truth. Paul would quickly say,
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  Speaker 1: remember your progression. The reason that you have struggles is
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  Speaker 1: because God's not finished with you yet. We're in boot camp, folks,
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  Speaker 1: we're being trained for eternal life. We're also still in
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  Speaker 1: the battle, and Satan is doing his best to take
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  Speaker 1: away our influence and our joy. But the writer of
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  Speaker 1: Hebrews summarized it in one sentence.
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  Speaker 2: He said, with one sacrifice he made.
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  Speaker 1: Perfect forever those who are being made holy, he made perfect.
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  Speaker 1: That's positional sanctification. You're positioned in the family. You are
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  Speaker 1: made holy, but you are also being made holy.
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  Speaker 2: You're being made more and more into the image of Christ.
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  Speaker 1: And as long as this progression goes, You're gonna have
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  Speaker 1: days in which you're strong, days in which you are weak.
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  Speaker 1: But take encouragement from Romans seven and verse twenty five.
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  Speaker 1: After Paul confessed what a wretched man that I am,
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  Speaker 1: he said, thanks be to God who delivers me through
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  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 4: Our Lord.
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  Speaker 1: So who is the one who delivers the saint Jesus Christ?
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  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. Paul has so many powerful passages on this teaching.
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  Speaker 2: Can I share just one more? Of course I can.
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  Speaker 1: I have the microphone tewod Corinthians, Chapter twelve, verses seven
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  Speaker 1: through nine. He says, there was given to me a
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  Speaker 1: thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me.
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  Speaker 2: Three times.
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  Speaker 1: I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me,
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  Speaker 1: but he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you.
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  Speaker 2: My power is made perfect in weakness.
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  Speaker 1: When I meet the apostle Paul in heaven, I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to ask him what.
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  Speaker 2: Was that born?
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  Speaker 1: We do not know, We are not told. Oh, how
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  Speaker 1: many people have speculated. Maybe it was sexual temptation. Maybe
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  Speaker 1: it was a temper. Maybe it was his desire to control.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe it was his possible inability to see. Maybe he
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  Speaker 1: was partially blind all kinds of suggestions. But what we
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  Speaker 1: do know is he kept going to Jesus saying, Lord,
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  Speaker 1: take this away from me, Take this away from me,
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  Speaker 1: take this away from me. He pleaded with the Lord
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  Speaker 1: three times, and he heard from the Lord this wonderful phrase,
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  Speaker 1: My grace is sufficient for you. My grace is so great,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus is saying, it offsets this temporary struggle that you have.
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  Speaker 1: What thorn have you been praying about? You keep looking
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  Speaker 1: to heaven for some divine tweezers that maybe God will
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  Speaker 1: come in and just remove this from you.
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  Speaker 2: I pray he does.
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  Speaker 1: But until he does, and even if he doesn't, Jesus says, Oh,
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  Speaker 1: You've got everything you need with my grace, my grace,
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  Speaker 1: my forgiveness, my devotion, my commitment, my sacrifice for you
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  Speaker 1: on the cross. My grace is sufficient for your temptation,
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  Speaker 1: for your crisis, for your struggle, for your questions. My
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: grace is sufficient. I'm with you. Do we not fear
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: the antonym? Do we not fear the word insufficient?
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: Oh? I have insufficient grace for you. Friend. That's a phrase.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: You'll know.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: You may have insufficient funds, you may have insufficient gasoline.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: There are many areas in life that you may suffer
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: from a deficiency, but you will never hear Heaven say, oh,
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: my goodness, I just looked and you have expired all
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: the grace in your account. You did that last week.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: Don't you remember when you came and you prayed, and
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden you went from being in the
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: black and I are in the red. Sorry, that does
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: not happen in the Kingdom of God. It just does
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: not happen. And to the person who says, you know,
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: I've asked for forgiveness soul many times, I'm afraid that
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: I've asked for it.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: I don't deserve it.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: God says you're right, you didn't deserve it the very
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: first time.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: That's why we call it grace. His grace is sufficient
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: to forgive you. Friend.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: Oh, I'm just begging the Lord to let somebody hear
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: this for the first time. Who has carried so much guilt,
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: so much guilt for something in your past.
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: It just pulls you down. It's wearing you down. Would
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: you please today.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: Come out of prison, let the Lord forgive you, receive
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: grace over a part of your life, perhaps where you've
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: never received grace before His grace is sufficient for you.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: In that a beautiful phrase, my grace is sufficient for you.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: Speaking of birds, not too long ago, I saw a
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: bird come out of the sky and sit on the
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: edge of our swimming pool in the backyard. And that
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: bird leaned over with his beak and took a drink.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: And when that bird took a drink out of our pool,
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: this verse came to my mind as if the Lord
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: was saying, that bird will never drink up all that water.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: There is sufficient water for that bird.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: And there's you dip your beaconto the well of God's grace.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: You're going to find ample refreshment every single time.
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: Amen. Carl Barth.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: Believe this name's not real well known to many people,
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: but those of us who labored our way through New
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: Testament theology and seminary came to know Karl Bart. He
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: was recognized as really the best or most widely recognized
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: theologian of last century. He's got this paragraph about this
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: verse that's a favorite of mine.
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: He said.
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: I've written many books, some large. I will freely and
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: frankly and gladly admit that these six words say much
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: more and much better things than all the heaps of
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: paper with which I have surrounded myself, And when my
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: books are long since outdated and forgotten, and every book
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: in the world with them, these words will shine with
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: everlasting fullness. My grace is sufficient for thee, sufficient grace
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: sufficient to transform you into an eternal being, sufficient to
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: shape you into the person with whom God will spend eternity,
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: sufficient to forgive every sin, sufficient to love every person
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: who feels unloved, sufficient to heal every wound, Sufficient grace
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: sufficient to cause the apostle Paul to proclaim, Therefore, now
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: there is no condemnation, no condemnation for those who are
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus, the law of
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: the Spirit who gives life, has set you free from
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: the law of sin and death.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: There is no.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: Condemnation, friend, none not. Paul doesn't say, well, there's just
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: a little bit of condemnation or limited condemnation, or maybe
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: get your act together with no comm He says, there's
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: no condemnation. No one in heaven is pointing their finger
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: at you. No one your heavenly father is extending his
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: arms towards you.
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: Don't look at me.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: In that tone of voice, some of you don't believe me.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: You've been carrying guilt so long. Oh Heavenly Father, breakthrough today.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: No condemnation.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: That's why Paul could proclaim in verses fourteen and fifteen
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: of Romans Chapter eight, those who are led by the
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: Spirit of God are children of God. Then the spirit
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: you receive does not make your slaves so that you
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: live in fear again. Rather, the spirit you received brought
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry Abba,
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: Father Ahba, that tender word, that that pedestrian word, that
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: the most homely phrase that the Hebrews or the Jews
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: would use to call out to their.
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: Father, Abbah, Abbah, Papa, Daddy.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: You can call God Abba, remember your position and remember
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: the progression.
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: We are children of God.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: And then he triumphantly declares in Romans eight thirty seven
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: through thirty nine, we are more than conquerors through Him
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: nor life, nor angels, no demons, neither the present nor
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: the future, nor any powers, neither height nor death nor
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: anything else in all creation will be able to separate
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: us from the love of God that is in Christ
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: Jesus our Lord. Paul said, I'm convinced. So he begins
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: this section of scripture by acknowledging the struggle. But then
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: he comes to this point of triumph and he says,
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: in spite of it all, I'm convinced, are you? Are
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: you convinced that nothing can separate you from the love
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: of God in Christ, Jesus our Lord. In one of
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: his fine books, Chuck Swindall tells a story about a
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: bazaar that was held in northern India, and everyone brought
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: wares to trade and sell, and one farmer brought a
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: covey of quail. He had tied a string around each leg,
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: or one leg of each bird, and the other ends
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: of the strings were tied to a ring which fit
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: loosely over a central stick. And he had taught the
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: quail to walk in a circle, dolefully in a circle,
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: kind of like mules. At a sugar cane mill. A
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: priest came upon the quail, and he felt sorry for
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: the birds, and he purchased them all. And then he
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: turned to the farmer and he said, just cut the twine,
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: set them free. I'm not going to take him home.
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: I just want to set them free, and the farmer
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: looked at him and said, well, they're yours now, So
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: he went about cutting the strings. But even though he
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: cut the strings, you know what the quail still did.
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: They just kept walking in circles, kept walking in circles.
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: The farmer showed them.
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: And they flew just a few yards away, and then
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: they stopped, and they started walking in circles again, walking
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: in circles again. They were free, but they didn't believe it.
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: No more walking in circles for you, my friend, No
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: more prison life for you, my friend. The doors are open.
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: The new you is about to happen. May God have
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: mercy upon you as you enter into this new season
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: of a soul set free.
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: Amen. Oh gracious Lord for the story of grace. We
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: just can't thank you enough. Where would we be.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: Some of us have tried to save ourselves, how exhausting,
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: how impossible, And some of us have let you save us,
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: but then thought, oh, it's up to us to stay saved,
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: equally exhausting and even more shameful. Oh Lord, thank you,
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: Thank you for amazing grease. Lord, grant that we can
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: have strength as we do face these inner battles, these temptations,
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: We pray for strength to move forward. We pray for victories.
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: We pray for a new day. We pray that we
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: would not be like.
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: We used to be, but we can be better tomorrow.
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you for the work you've done here
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: today and continue to do.
• 32:54
  Speaker 4: In Jesus' name, part.
• 35:21
  Speaker 3: Stand wart.
• 36:02
  Speaker 5: Loving you alone feels so beautiful, and yet.
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: It hurts the most.
• 36:17
  Speaker 5: You became my quiet sunrise, the dream I never dared
• 36:22
  Speaker 5: to say. Every smile you gave so freely took my breath.
• 36:29
  Speaker 4: A little away.
• 36:31
  Speaker 5: I held this love like fragile glass, so precious, soft and.
• 36:37
  Speaker 6: True, but every being inside my heart was only reaching
• 36:42
  Speaker 6: out to you. Unspoken love is sweet and painful, like
• 36:50
  Speaker 6: honey mixed with rain. But send the whole by all
• 36:55
  Speaker 6: so sadly while it slowly breaks me. Loving you from
• 37:02
  Speaker 6: just one side, now leave my soul in silent blue.
• 37:07
  Speaker 6: Because the deeper that I fall a long, the lonelier
• 37:13
  Speaker 6: I do.
• 37:16
  Speaker 5: I can blame my heart for choosing someone.
• 37:20
  Speaker 6: It could never keep, So I smiled through hidden heartache.
• 37:27
  Speaker 6: Hell love you quietly. Spoken love is sweet and painful,
• 37:34
  Speaker 6: like hon e mixed with rain. A'send the whole pile
• 37:39
  Speaker 6: so tightly walid slowly breaks me. Loving you from just
• 37:46
  Speaker 6: one side, Now leave my soul in silent blue, because
• 37:52
  Speaker 6: the deeper that I follow long, the lonely I do.
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: Maybe loving you in silence.
• 38:18
  Speaker 5: It's the closest dye can stay, though.
• 38:22
  Speaker 6: Leaves behind the sorrow that may never fat away. Spoken
• 38:32
  Speaker 6: Lord is sweet and painful, honey mixed with rain, a
• 38:39
  Speaker 6: tender whole bil so tightly wal it slowly breaks me
• 38:46
  Speaker 6: loving you from just one side. Now leaves my soul
• 38:51
  Speaker 6: in silence, because the deeper that I.
• 38:55
  Speaker 4: Follow love.
• 38:58
  Speaker 3: The loely
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: Hard to