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Putting-Down-Evil-Lifting-Up-Friends · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Turn please to Romans Chapter sixteen. We are getting toward
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Speaker 1: the end of our study of this letter, and we
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Speaker 1: have come to the twentieth through the twenty fourth verses
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Speaker 1: of this last chapter of the Letter to the Romans.
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Speaker 1: In honor of our great God and in respect for
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Speaker 1: his word, may we stand for the reading of the
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Speaker 1: scriptures and remain standing for prayer. Please, Romans sixteen twenty.
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Speaker 1: The God of Peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
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Speaker 1: The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. Timothy,
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Speaker 1: my fellow worker, greets you, and so do Lucius and Jason,
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Speaker 1: and Suscipi, my kinsman I Tertius, who write this letter,
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Speaker 1: greet you in the Lord Gaius host to me, and
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Speaker 1: the whole church greet you. Erast Us, the city Treasurer,
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Speaker 1: greets you, and courtas the brother. The grace of our
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Speaker 1: Lord Jesus Christ be with you. All and everyone said
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Speaker 1: our Father, we are grateful that you have not only
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Speaker 1: our names written across your heart and mind, but you
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Speaker 1: have the very hairs of our head numbered. You know
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Speaker 1: the end from the beginning. You know the deepest valley
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Speaker 1: and the highest peak of our experience. There is no
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Speaker 1: pain that touches us, that does not arouse within you
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Speaker 1: a deep sense of understanding and compassion, You are, in
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Speaker 1: fact touched with the feet of our weaknesses. We thank
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Speaker 1: you for these unknowns who have been remembered in this
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Speaker 1: ancient letter of your inspired word, reminding us that no
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Speaker 1: one is forgotten before you. We are all at the
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Speaker 1: same level at the foot of the cross. There is
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Speaker 1: no rich or poor, There is no slave or free.
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Speaker 1: There is no significant or insignificant. There is no young
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Speaker 1: or old, married or single, troubled or rejoicing. We are
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Speaker 1: all one in your eyes. Thank you for your grace
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Speaker 1: that applies in so many ways to our lives. It
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Speaker 1: has marked our steps this week, and you have shown
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Speaker 1: yourself strong over and over. Thank you, Father for working
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Speaker 1: in ways about which we do not even ask you,
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Speaker 1: and often ways we are not even aware. How faithful
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Speaker 1: you are. Watch over this flock, our father, and guide
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Speaker 1: and guard this church for your greater glory, for your
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Speaker 1: good and towards the end that you have in mind.
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Speaker 1: May we remain your faithful and trusting and humble servants.
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Speaker 1: Now Lord, these gifts are yours, and we give them
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Speaker 1: because you have already given to us in such abundance,
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Speaker 1: and out of that we express our delight and our
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Speaker 1: generosity in the name of the Savior, your Son, our
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Speaker 1: Savior Jesus. And everyone said, Amen, Well, you may have
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Speaker 1: thought we had forgotten about Romans, but we're back. After all,
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Speaker 1: it's just the forty third message. Why should we be
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Speaker 1: in a hurry? Huh. Reminds me of when we were
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Speaker 1: finishing the letter or the Book of Job. It was
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Speaker 1: an eighth grade or eight year old boy that leaned
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Speaker 1: over and said to his dad, as I was finishing
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Speaker 1: it up, that it was I three or four when
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Speaker 1: Pastor Swindahl began Job. Next Sunday will mark the eighteenth
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Speaker 1: month that we have spent in this grand grand letter. Clearly,
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Speaker 1: Roman stands as the magnum opus of the great Apostle Paul.
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Speaker 1: What the Fifth Symphony was to Beethoven, the A B
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Speaker 1: Minor Mass was to Johann Sebastian Bach, what the Messiah
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Speaker 1: was to George Frederick Handel, the Sistine Chapel ceiling was
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Speaker 1: to Michaelangelo, and the incandescent lamp to Edison. Romans is
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Speaker 1: to the prolific Apostle Paul Coleridge, the British poet realized
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Speaker 1: the profound effect of the letter when he wrote it
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Speaker 1: is the profoundest piece of writing in existence. It changed
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Speaker 1: the life of Martin Luther. Not surprisingly, Luther was so
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Speaker 1: taken by it he referred to Romans as the chief
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Speaker 1: book of the New Testament. It deserves to be known
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Speaker 1: by heart, word for word by every Christian. If that
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Speaker 1: sounds like to daunting a challenge, pause and think what
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Speaker 1: we would be like if the terrorists want ultimately invading
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Speaker 1: churches and boarding up our doors and sending us off
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Speaker 1: in all different directions to live the rest of our lives.
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Speaker 1: If in fact they allowed us to have our lives
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Speaker 1: in camps with high fences and walls around them, the
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Speaker 1: Bibles would be burned and removed, and we would be
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Speaker 1: left only with our memories. How much of the scriptures
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Speaker 1: could we bring back to life? If you are laying
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Speaker 1: God's word in your heart and committed you to the
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Speaker 1: discipline of scripture memory, you would be of enormous asset.
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Speaker 1: In a place like that, you would be for many
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Speaker 1: of us a source of incredible strength. And so I
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Speaker 1: remind you the writings of this man who was constantly
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Speaker 1: contemporary and consistently relevant and regularly engaged in life, are
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Speaker 1: just as appropriate for today as they were in the
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Speaker 1: century in which they were written. Never underestimate the authority
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Speaker 1: or the power of God's inspired word. It sets people free,
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Speaker 1: It puts people on a rock in the midst of
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Speaker 1: these sandy cultural times in which we live. It gives
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Speaker 1: us hope not just in life, but beyond life, and
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Speaker 1: it holds us close to the heart of God. Never
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Speaker 1: underestimate the importance of the exposition of the scriptures. May
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Speaker 1: this church forever be known for its expository pulpit, for
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Speaker 1: its faithful preaching of the Word of God. Man, I've
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Speaker 1: heard some of the amen since we started this place wonderful,
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Speaker 1: and I know you agree. My wife and I remember
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Speaker 1: the time in our lives when we were adrift spiritually
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Speaker 1: and we hungered for the Word of God. Finally found
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Speaker 1: a place that taught it, and it was like an
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Speaker 1: oasis in the desert for our souls. We feasted there
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Speaker 1: and truth be told. By the time I got to
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Speaker 1: Dallas Seminary for the first couple of years, honestly, I
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Speaker 1: learned a few new truths in my theology class because
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Speaker 1: of the things I had learned from the teaching of
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Speaker 1: God's Word in the church where we had attended, where
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Speaker 1: He's God for the teaching of his word. Now I
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Speaker 1: love the way the apostle provides a balance. Obviously, his
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Speaker 1: is the most astute of theological minds in the first century,
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Speaker 1: save that of Christ, our Savior. But he is also
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Speaker 1: a people person. For eleven chapters he hammers away at
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Speaker 1: the great doctrines of the faith, the constitution of the
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Speaker 1: Christian life set forth in chapters one through eleven of Romans.
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Speaker 1: And we learn of a God who justifies by faith,
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Speaker 1: and who gives us his peace, and provides us his power,
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Speaker 1: and enables us to live the Christian life, and sovereignly
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Speaker 1: watches over the affairs of life. But when you get
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Speaker 1: to chapter twelve, all the power of the vertical has
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Speaker 1: then shifted and added to it is the horizontal of
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Speaker 1: the transforming life set forth in Romans twelve one and two.
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Speaker 1: And then before long you find Paul dealing with the
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Speaker 1: most practical of subjects, and you realize he is not
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Speaker 1: some distant, dusty minded scholar hiding away in some room,
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Speaker 1: removed from life, but he's engaged in the world in
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Speaker 1: which we live, and he mentions names in the sixteenth
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Speaker 1: chapter of this letter that most of which we find
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Speaker 1: nowhere else in any part of the scriptures. And we'll
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Speaker 1: mention more today to tell you what kind of a
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Speaker 1: people person he was. So just an added word here
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Speaker 1: to all of us. Never get so intellectually caught up
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Speaker 1: in the scriptures that you begin to lose touch with people,
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Speaker 1: and so heavenly minded. You're of little earthly good to
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Speaker 1: folks around you. And never let it be a source
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Speaker 1: of pride, but a reminder that God has graciously opened
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Speaker 1: your mind to his truth to change your life, than
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Speaker 1: to use it to share with others. As you get
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Speaker 1: to the end of the chapter, he levels a very
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Speaker 1: strong warning. In verse seventeen, he said, I urge you
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Speaker 1: keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances.
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Speaker 1: That's a very practical warning. They are the ones whose
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Speaker 1: teaching is contrary to the truths you have learned. Turn
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Speaker 1: away from them. That takes courage to live that kind
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Speaker 1: of truthful life. It takes being willing to be misunderstood.
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Speaker 1: He says, such men are slaves not of our Lord Christ,
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Speaker 1: but of their own appetites. Guard yourself when you are
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Speaker 1: around evil. Just as you lock your doors at night,
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Speaker 1: just as you lock your car when you walk away
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Speaker 1: from it at the mall. Just as you watch over
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Speaker 1: your children when they're out in the public places, So
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Speaker 1: watch over your lives so that evil doesn't encroach and
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Speaker 1: take up root. In fact, at the end of verse nineteen,
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Speaker 1: I love the way he puts it. I want you
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Speaker 1: to be wise in what is good, but I want
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Speaker 1: you to be innocent in what is evil. Isn't that
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Speaker 1: a wonderful balance. Traffic in the good when you encounter evil.
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Speaker 1: Don't be experienced in it. Stay naive about the evil
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Speaker 1: if you will. By that, I mean an experience not
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Speaker 1: in your protective mindset. But don't traffic in it now appropriately,
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Speaker 1: He turns immediately to the God of peace. Here's those
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Speaker 1: same terms in chapter fifteen, verse thirty three of this letter.
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Speaker 1: And don't pass this off as insignificant. John Stott puts
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Speaker 1: it this way. God's peace allows no appeasement of the evil.
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Speaker 1: With God, peace purveys not with evil. Where you find evil,
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Speaker 1: you will not find things calm, but rather chaotic, or
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Speaker 1: at least moving toward the chaotic. Where you find peace,
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Speaker 1: you find the removal of evil. Influences, and you are
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Speaker 1: at peace within only through the restraint of evil. Can
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Speaker 1: you know that prevailing peace of God, and he will
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Speaker 1: sustain you because He is a God of peace. And
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Speaker 1: then he offers this hope and a promise, This God
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Speaker 1: of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. Good?
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Speaker 1: Is that literally the word means to shatter, to smash,
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Speaker 1: to annihilate, to subdue completely. We need to turn back
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Speaker 1: to the first prediction of that in the Bible. Hold
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Speaker 1: your place at Romans sixteen and go to Genesis chapter three.
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Speaker 1: Will you Genesis three? What a chapter. Everything until chapter
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Speaker 1: three is talk about innocent, talk about peaceful. The garden
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Speaker 1: of Eden, all of the things are created, Adam and
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Speaker 1: Eve replaced in it. They have magnificent harmony with one
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Speaker 1: another and with their God. There is a sense of
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Speaker 1: intimacy like we cannot even imagine. Until the serpent comes
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Speaker 1: and tempts them to do the very thing. In fact,
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Speaker 1: the only thing that was prohibited, and that was that
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Speaker 1: they not partake of the tree of the knowledge of
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Speaker 1: good and evil. Don't go there. But that's the very
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Speaker 1: thing Satan used in the form of the serpent to
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Speaker 1: tempt them, and they took of the tree, and Eve
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Speaker 1: was seduced. And then she brings Adam into it and
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Speaker 1: he is. And the Lord comes back and waiting for
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Speaker 1: the regular walk in the cool of the day, as
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Speaker 1: we read of it in verse eight, and he finds
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Speaker 1: that the man and his wife are hidden from the
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Speaker 1: living God. That was a first. They're now hiding when
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Speaker 1: he brings them out in the open. Look at what
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Speaker 1: the man says verse twelve. The man said, the woman
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Speaker 1: who you gave to be with me, she gave me
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Speaker 1: from the tree, and I ate. And then the Lord
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Speaker 1: looked at the woman, and the Lord God said, or
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Speaker 1: what is this you have done? The woman said, the snake.
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Speaker 1: The snake deceived me. Isn't that interesting? We are forever
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Speaker 1: blaming someone else for what is our problem? I thought
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Speaker 1: of that what a friend of mine gave me this
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Speaker 1: fun story of a man who feared his wife was
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Speaker 1: losing her hearing. Didn't know what to do about it,
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Speaker 1: So we went to the dock and the doc said, oh,
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Speaker 1: there's a simple, simple test. Stand about forty feet away
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Speaker 1: from her and in normal conversation speak. If she doesn't answer,
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Speaker 1: move another ten feet closer and speak in normal conversational tone,
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Speaker 1: she doesn't speak. Move another ten feet closer. If she
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Speaker 1: still doesn't get a response, then go right up near
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Speaker 1: her face and say it again and you'll find out.
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Speaker 1: So we said to her that evening at forty feet away, honey,
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Speaker 1: what's for dinner? No response. So he moved up ten
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Speaker 1: more feet and he said, honey, what's for dinner. There's
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Speaker 1: still no response. Well, next he moves into the dining room,
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Speaker 1: gets close to the kitchen about twenty feet aways his honey,
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Speaker 1: what's for dinner. She doesn't even turn around, and so
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Speaker 1: he gets ten feet away, honey, what's for dinner. Still
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Speaker 1: there's no response. That he gets right up behind her says, honey,
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Speaker 1: what is for dinner? She says, for the fifth time, chicken.
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Speaker 1: It's always the other person we think is the problem. Well,
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Speaker 1: I'm interesting. The snake doesn't blame it on anybody else.
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Speaker 1: Verse fifteen. God has him. If you will pin to
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Speaker 1: the ground now, and he says, I watch closely, I
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Speaker 1: will put enmity between you and the woman. Notice the
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Speaker 1: first level of conflict is between Satan and the woman.
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Speaker 1: Next between your seed and her seed. So this is
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Speaker 1: between those who follow Satan and those who will follow
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Speaker 1: in faith in her train. And he says, he shall
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Speaker 1: bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him
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Speaker 1: on the heel. So there'll be another conflict between Satan
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Speaker 1: and Christ. James Montgomery Boyce, in his fine work on Romans,
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Speaker 1: writes this, we know what Satan did when he was
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Speaker 1: able to strike Christ's heal. It included hatred from the
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Speaker 1: religious leaders, mocking by the crowd, severe beatings, and eventually
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Speaker 1: the terrible agony of crucifixion. Satan might have thought he
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Speaker 1: had won, but it was only a bruising, not a
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Speaker 1: defeat for Christ. Because on the third day, after the Reserve,
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Speaker 1: after the Crucifixion, Jesus rose from the grave triumphantly. And
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Speaker 1: Paul writes of this Inlans chapter two, verses thirteen to fifteen,
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Speaker 1: where he triumphs over the forces of evil. Never forget
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Speaker 1: that he won the victory over the power of the
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Speaker 1: devil at the crucifixion, at the resurrection, and Satan, living
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Speaker 1: this deluded life, thought he was the one who won that.
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Speaker 1: I like Jonathan Edward's words, Satan is the greatest blockhead
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Speaker 1: the world has ever known. For although Satan is exceedingly
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Speaker 1: knowledgeable and cunning, he was supremely stupid to suppose that
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Speaker 1: he could outthink the all wise God are overpower the Almighty.
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Speaker 1: Every move Satan makes is like playing a game of
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Speaker 1: chess with a master. He moves closer to checkmate. Every
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Speaker 1: year we live, Satan is closer to being christ wiped out, removed, annihilated.
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Speaker 1: You read of it in Revelation chapter twenty, the first
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Speaker 1: two verses and then the tenth verse where he is
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Speaker 1: thrown into the lake of fire and there he is
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Speaker 1: left forever. That's a wonderful thought. But look at what
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Speaker 1: Paul says in Romans sixteen twenty. The God of Peace
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Speaker 1: will soon chrush Satan. Now he wrote that in the
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Speaker 1: first century. This is the twenty first century. What's soon
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Speaker 1: all about? Well, we have two ways of using that
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Speaker 1: particular term rendered soon. One is just around the corner,
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Speaker 1: or I'll be there soon, meaning right away, if not immediately.
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Speaker 1: There's another kind of soon, which means quickly. It will
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Speaker 1: happen quickly, it won't take long. And when you read
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Speaker 1: of the crushing ultimate crushing Satan and the removal of
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Speaker 1: him from this planet or from time and eternity, you
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Speaker 1: don't read of any wrestling. There's no lengthy struggle. There's
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Speaker 1: no fight. I mean, the Lord doesn't have to roll
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Speaker 1: up his sleeves and take him on and spend the
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Speaker 1: next for thirty years defeating him. It's just you're through,
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Speaker 1: exit out. And that's the promise right here in verse twenty.
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Speaker 1: When it happens, it will happen quickly. And aren't you glad?
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Speaker 1: He then adds the grace of our Lord Jesus be
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Speaker 1: with you grace. This magnificent subject really has the signature
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Speaker 1: of Paul all over it. If you find yourself a
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Speaker 1: demon fighter, if you will locating the evil in every turn,
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Speaker 1: you will not be a person of grace. When you
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Speaker 1: operate in the realm of grace with a grace mindset,
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Speaker 1: it is remarkable what that will do to you. Grace,
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Speaker 1: of course, is what God does for us, which we
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Speaker 1: do not deserve, and we will never arn and we
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Speaker 1: cannot repay. It is the It is the great cry
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Speaker 1: of the reformers, salvation by grace alone, through faith alone,
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Speaker 1: in Christ alone, not by works of righteousness, which we
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Speaker 1: have done, but by His mercy, by his grace unmerited favor.
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Speaker 1: I I shudder when I realize how rarely I'm around
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Speaker 1: a person of grace. It's hard to find. We talk
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Speaker 1: of grace, but we live under guilt and shame. We
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Speaker 1: think we embrace grace, but we seem to prefer works.
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Speaker 1: We encourage grace and others, and then we judge them
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Speaker 1: when they fail. We even sing a doctrine of works.
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Speaker 1: At times, I look through an old hymnal I have
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Speaker 1: and found a gospel song that I sang as a kid,
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Speaker 1: and I thought, this is not good theology. I am
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Speaker 1: satisfied with Jesus. He has done so much for me.
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Speaker 1: He has suffered to redeem me. He has died to
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Speaker 1: set me free. Well, that's great, now you're talking, but
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Speaker 1: you get to the chorus. Listen. I am satisfied. I
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Speaker 1: am satisfied with Jesus. But the question comes to me
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Speaker 1: as I think of Calvary. Is my master satisfied with me?
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Speaker 1: That's shaming you? Yes is the answermon. The writer doesn't
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Speaker 1: want you to think yes. He wants you to think no.
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Speaker 1: And I have to work hard for him to be
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Speaker 1: satisfied with me. Another put it best, nearer, still nearer,
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Speaker 1: and nearer I cannot be for in the person of
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Speaker 1: his son, I am as near as he. Grace, Grace, Grace,
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Speaker 1: operate in grace, my friends. Louis Ferrychafer wrote this, any
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Speaker 1: recognition of human guilt or shame, any recognition of human obligation,
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Speaker 1: any recognition of human merit and grace cannot exist there.
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Speaker 1: How important you know what moves us. It isn't law,
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Speaker 1: it is a judgment. It's mercy, it's grace. Stephen Brown
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Speaker 1: tells a wonderful story in his in his book A
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Speaker 1: Scandalous Freedom. I was not the best student in the
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Speaker 1: large high school I attended. In fact, I I graduated
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Speaker 1: fourth from the bottom in my class. Let me tell
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Speaker 1: you about a teacher I had who cried when she
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Speaker 1: gave me a low grade on a test. It really
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Speaker 1: surprised me because I generally considered teachers the enemy. The
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Speaker 1: teacher returned our papers and asked me to wait after
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Speaker 1: the class to get my paper. I figured I was
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Speaker 1: in really big trouble. But after everyone had left, she
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Speaker 1: handed me my paper with an F marked on it. Steven,
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Speaker 1: She said, you can do a whole lot better than this,
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Speaker 1: and she began to weep. I didn't know what to
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Speaker 1: say or how to react, so I quietly left the classroom.
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Speaker 1: You know something, I made an A on the next test.
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Speaker 1: I didn't make an A because I grown smarter or
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Speaker 1: because I bought into academic excellence. I'm not that smart
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Speaker 1: and at that age didn't care a house about academic excellence.
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Speaker 1: I made an A because a teacher loved me enough
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Speaker 1: to shed tears over my failure. That's grace. Please listen.
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Speaker 1: Take the word shame out of your vocabulary. Take the
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Speaker 1: words I am ashamed of you out of your vocabulary,
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Speaker 1: or you'll never traffic in grace. Parents, Take away the
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Speaker 1: shame shame based disciplined statements I'm ashamed of you. I mean,
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Speaker 1: would any kid after that go? Oh boy? Now really obey?
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Speaker 1: That's really motivating to know that you're a shamed of me.
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Speaker 1: That's what I've been waiting for. Wow, let me tell
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Speaker 1: you something. When you put your arm around him and
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Speaker 1: you cry and you tell them how it broke your
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Speaker 1: heart because you know they can do so much better,
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Speaker 1: and you believe they will. Mitteism, they will, they will.
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Speaker 1: Nothing motivates like grace. Speaking of grace, look at this list.
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Speaker 1: These are some of my favorite people. Timothy, my fellow worker,
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Speaker 1: Greets you now. By the way, the ones listed at
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Speaker 1: the beginning of chapter sixteen live in Rome, and Paul
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Speaker 1: in Corinth is greeting them all twenty seven of them
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Speaker 1: in Rome. But at the end of the letter verses
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Speaker 1: twenty one to twenty three, they're living in Corinth and
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Speaker 1: they're greeting the people back in Rome. These are people
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Speaker 1: around Paul when he's the letter's being written. So these
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Speaker 1: are people that he could turn around and see they're
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Speaker 1: around him. The others he sees them in his mind's eyes,
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Speaker 1: so he names Timothy. Didn't name him at the beginning
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Speaker 1: of the letter, probably because Timothy was gone. Normally he
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Speaker 1: would list Timothy as one of those along with him writing.
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Speaker 1: But he calls him as my fellow worker, Timothy, his
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Speaker 1: child and the faith everybody needs a Timothy. Everybody is
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Speaker 1: a better person because of a Timothy. We all need
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Speaker 1: a Paul, and we all need a Timothy, and we
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Speaker 1: all need a Barnabas, which is another subject. But Timothy,
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Speaker 1: Timothy from a mixed marriage, led to Christ by the
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Speaker 1: Apostle and recipient of a couple of the letters before
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Speaker 1: Paul is gone, and he calls him my fellow worker.
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Speaker 1: I hope you have some fellow workers in your life.
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Speaker 1: You know what Timothy was. Let me use the word
29:06
Speaker 1: I've used recently quite a bit. He was an advocate.
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Speaker 1: He was right alongside Paul. He took away a lot
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Speaker 1: of the sting of loneliness and rejection by being as
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Speaker 1: advocate fellow worker. The next three names are called kinsman.
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Speaker 1: See the end of verse twenty one. My kinsmen. It
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Speaker 1: could either be shirttailed relatives, most likely their fellow Jews.
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Speaker 1: And one is Lucious, probably not doctor Luke. Paul doesn't
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Speaker 1: call Luke Lucius. This is maybe the same one mentioned
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Speaker 1: in Acts thirteen. In fact, to really trace these guys,
29:51
Speaker 1: you need to keep a finger in the Book of Acts.
29:54
Speaker 1: Need to keep a finger here in Romans, and then
29:56
Speaker 1: go back and forth, because you'll see these men mentioned
29:59
Speaker 1: often in in that other book. Lucius is a man
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Speaker 1: named who was among the group before Paul and Barnabas
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Speaker 1: struck out on the first missionary journey. He is called
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Speaker 1: a man of Syene. One of those men in Antioch
30:15
Speaker 1: see the name Jason. He was his friend from Thessalonika
30:20
Speaker 1: mentioned in Acts seventeen one to nine. Jason was one
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Speaker 1: who put him up and gave him a place to
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Speaker 1: stay and later suffered for it. He remembers Jason and Soucipiter.
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Speaker 1: We know nothing more except it may be the same
30:34
Speaker 1: as Supiter mentioned in Acts twenty and verse four. But
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Speaker 1: they're there because they're around Paul and he they want
30:45
Speaker 1: to greet the people in Rome. And then look at
30:47
Speaker 1: the next word, not name, next word. I d you
30:55
Speaker 1: love it. Tertius is writing the letter, so he says, hey, Paul,
31:00
Speaker 1: can I yeah, go ahead, by Tertius, who write this letter,
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Speaker 1: greet you in the Lord. You know what the name means. Third. Third.
31:15
Speaker 1: If you ever send one of your kids or grandkids
31:18
Speaker 1: to Canna cook camp, y'all come back with a little
31:22
Speaker 1: little button says I'm third. Usually it's big. I'm third.
31:27
Speaker 1: When you first look at it, you go, no, honey,
31:30
Speaker 1: you're our fifth child. You know it's not not like
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Speaker 1: that dead. Third is God or Christ is first. Others
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Speaker 1: are second and I'm third. Not good They learned, you know,
31:44
Speaker 1: think of others, serve Christ your third. They could all
31:48
Speaker 1: be named Tertius primus, secundus, Tertius courtis quintus, and I
31:58
Speaker 1: don't know anymore. So that's the the first five. But
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Speaker 1: why would he be called Tertius Because he's a slave.
32:05
Speaker 1: And when you became a slave, they took away your
32:07
Speaker 1: proper name. You were a number. So he's number three
32:14
Speaker 1: here in the house of Gaeis. And he could, he
32:18
Speaker 1: could write, and so he was chosen to be the
32:22
Speaker 1: the uh stenographer, if you will, the Amanuensis, the one
32:25
Speaker 1: who wrote the letter I third greet uniford. You know,
32:32
Speaker 1: I love that because he's a nobody. But he's ahead
32:40
Speaker 1: of you and me. His name's in the Bible, isn't that?
32:45
Speaker 1: Just like the Lord, there is no nobody. There is
32:52
Speaker 1: no such thing as insignificant. Your life may have been
32:57
Speaker 1: an absolute cesspool of activities for years. You have no
33:02
Speaker 1: less status and the wealthiest, most blessed, most gifted, most
33:10
Speaker 1: educated believer in the family of God. You're there, Why, Grace?
33:16
Speaker 1: What's your name? Third? Third? And Gaius probably had some bucks.
33:26
Speaker 1: Gaius was the host to Paul and to the whole church.
33:30
Speaker 1: So he's got a nice, big home, and that's great.
33:35
Speaker 1: Paul needed a place to stay in all those people
33:37
Speaker 1: around him, So Gaius has come on in stay here.
33:41
Speaker 1: So he greets you, and along with him is Erastus
33:46
Speaker 1: Erestes great. What is he called? He's not third, He's
33:53
Speaker 1: called the Oiconomus manager. He's a city manager. The guys loaded,
34:02
Speaker 1: in fact, they found near the ancient ruins of Corinth
34:06
Speaker 1: on the marble pavement these words. Erastus laid the pavement
34:12
Speaker 1: at his own expense. The guy adopted a highway, and
34:17
Speaker 1: he got his name inscribed in marble. Erastus. You a
34:27
Speaker 1: little insight, and it doesn't come from me. I don't
34:28
Speaker 1: get the credit for this. Donald Barnhouse gets the credit
34:31
Speaker 1: for this insight. Many of the slaves picked up the
34:37
Speaker 1: name Restus because they didn't want a name of a
34:42
Speaker 1: number primus or secundous or tertius. We'll call him Erastus.
34:51
Speaker 1: Not good, but Erastuses. He's wealthy. He's right there next
35:02
Speaker 1: to Turchies. I love that urches. Move over. I gotta
35:07
Speaker 1: get this written down here. Erest Us. And you know,
35:11
Speaker 1: look at the last one and courtas the brother that great,
35:18
Speaker 1: he's the younger brother. Hey, bud, don't forget me, okay,
35:24
Speaker 1: the brother Cortas if in fact that's what it was.
35:33
Speaker 1: You see, folks, Uh, we have turned these people in
35:36
Speaker 1: the Bible into sort of untouchable icons, Splaster, Paris Saints
35:45
Speaker 1: Marble standing in a corner of some joint. It's got
35:49
Speaker 1: a cross on top. Probably shouldn't call it a joint,
35:53
Speaker 1: but you know what I mean. I'm big. You know
35:56
Speaker 1: it's just people. If the book were to be written,
36:00
Speaker 1: you'd be in it, you say, not me. Why not
36:05
Speaker 1: happened to be there with Paul hanging out writing a letter. Hey,
36:12
Speaker 1: don't forget my brother, don't forget quartus. The grace of
36:20
Speaker 1: our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you. The
36:25
Speaker 1: last verse probably isn't in the better texts, so the
36:28
Speaker 1: grace flows out of verse twenty. Really, God always has
36:34
Speaker 1: a remnant. God always has a remnant. You're part of
36:39
Speaker 1: that remnant. And the less known don't worry, you won't
36:46
Speaker 1: get to glory. And the Lord says, what who are you?
36:52
Speaker 1: You're one of his sovereign act of God. Whereby he
36:56
Speaker 1: declares righteous the believing sinner, while we're still in the
37:00
Speaker 1: sinning state. Every tertius, every secundous, every primus, every quintus,
37:06
Speaker 1: every quartus, he remembers, it's grease. Now three great lessons
37:17
Speaker 1: that linger. Number one, we cannot ignore or deny the
37:23
Speaker 1: presence of evil. If Satan will soon be crushed under
37:28
Speaker 1: our feet, he hasn't yet been crushed. There will always
37:34
Speaker 1: be people and circumstances and influences from the world system,
37:38
Speaker 1: our own flesh working in concert. And let me tell you,
37:42
Speaker 1: spiritual warfare is the real deal. It isn't the figment
37:48
Speaker 1: of some fanatics imagination. If you could see the evil forces,
37:53
Speaker 1: it would shock most of you at work in the heavenlys,
37:58
Speaker 1: at work around us, and even at work in the
38:02
Speaker 1: family of God, the Venerables. The Bible teacher Jay Sidloe
38:07
Speaker 1: Baxter wrote, whenever Satan gets to Christians, eight out of
38:11
Speaker 1: ten times he does so through other Christians. I have
38:17
Speaker 1: lived to see that come true, far more troubles with
38:23
Speaker 1: fellow Christians than unbelievers. You cannot ignore or deny the
38:32
Speaker 1: presence of evil. Here's the second. We need not fear
38:40
Speaker 1: nor be intimidated by evil. First on five, First on four,
38:49
Speaker 1: verse four, and five in verse four. Greater is he
38:53
Speaker 1: who is in you than he who is in the world.
38:55
Speaker 1: Don't be intimidated by evil by the way it takes
39:00
Speaker 1: to do the first. So you are regularly aware that
39:06
Speaker 1: evil is present, and evil maybe at work. You don't
39:09
Speaker 1: live suspicious, but you don't ignore or deny could be
39:13
Speaker 1: from evil. Second, when you encounter it, you're not afraid.
39:17
Speaker 1: In a previous church I served for a number of years,
39:20
Speaker 1: our receptionist received a call or The caller asked, this
39:24
Speaker 1: is this the church that teaches people about Jesus, the
39:27
Speaker 1: church that believes the Bible, that tries to get people
39:30
Speaker 1: to turn their lives over to Christ as their master.
39:34
Speaker 1: The receptionist, taken back, said well, yes, that's us. You
39:39
Speaker 1: described us accurately. Are you interested in where we're located?
39:43
Speaker 1: He quickly responded no. I just want you to know
39:45
Speaker 1: that I'm a representative of the Church of Satan, and
39:48
Speaker 1: we worship Satan and the demons. There are just as
39:51
Speaker 1: many of us working against you and your teacher, and
39:55
Speaker 1: we are going to win. Hung up the phone. But
40:03
Speaker 1: that's blatant evil. Four More often it's subtle. Have another
40:09
Speaker 1: friend sitting on her plane years ago, back when they
40:12
Speaker 1: served food on plates, remember toy food, but they served
40:18
Speaker 1: food little weenies and little piece of wilted lettuce and
40:25
Speaker 1: enjoy your meal. Anyway, my friend got the meal and
40:28
Speaker 1: the one next tour did not, and she noticed it,
40:31
Speaker 1: passed it up and kind of was bowing, and she said,
40:35
Speaker 1: I noticed you didn't eat. He said, no, I'm fasting. Oh.
40:40
Speaker 1: She said, you must be a Christian. He said, know,
40:42
Speaker 1: as a matter of fact, I am fasting in honor
40:45
Speaker 1: of my Master Satan. We're praying that at least one
40:49
Speaker 1: hundred Christian leaders marriages will break up this year. It's amazing.
40:58
Speaker 1: It puts a chill up our back when we hear that.
41:01
Speaker 1: But why should we be surprised by the way. It's
41:06
Speaker 1: pretty effective, isn't it. Don't be afraid of it, just
41:14
Speaker 1: be aware of it. Greater is he who is in
41:17
Speaker 1: you than he was in the world. Cynthia was telling
41:22
Speaker 1: me of a lady who was going through the horrors
41:27
Speaker 1: of an assault and of a rape, and the man
41:33
Speaker 1: was going to do her greater harm. And she said,
41:36
Speaker 1: in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, leave me alone.
41:40
Speaker 1: And he ran, he ran, Praise God, he ran the
41:52
Speaker 1: third And don't ever forget this. We will not experience
41:57
Speaker 1: victory until we appropriate grace personally. Pray that the Lord
42:06
Speaker 1: in the study of Romans will building you a person
42:11
Speaker 1: of grace, and when he does, you will be a rarity.
42:17
Speaker 1: You may be the only grace person in your home.
42:21
Speaker 1: You certainly will be the only grace person where you work,
42:25
Speaker 1: most likely the only one in your neighborhood. Pray that
42:30
Speaker 1: you will be a person of grace. You know what
42:32
Speaker 1: grace people do. They free people, They free them, they
42:37
Speaker 1: set them free. I read this past week that Abraham
42:42
Speaker 1: Lincoln went to a slave market, and there he noted
42:45
Speaker 1: a young, beautiful African American woman being auctioned off to
42:50
Speaker 1: the highest offer he bid on her. In one he
42:57
Speaker 1: could see the anger in the young woman's eye and
43:00
Speaker 1: could imagine what she was thinking. Another white man, who
43:06
Speaker 1: will buy me and use me and then discard me.
43:11
Speaker 1: As Lincoln walked off with her, he turned to the
43:13
Speaker 1: woman and said, you're free. Yeah, free? What does that mean?
43:25
Speaker 1: It means you're free, he smiled. Does that mean I
43:30
Speaker 1: can say whatever I want to say? Yes, it means
43:35
Speaker 1: you can say whatever you want to say. Well? Does
43:39
Speaker 1: it mean, she asked, incredulously, that I can be whatever
43:43
Speaker 1: I want to be. Yes, you can be whatever you
43:46
Speaker 1: want to be. Well does it mean she said, hesitatingly, hesitatingly,
43:55
Speaker 1: that I can go wherever I want to go. Yeah,
43:58
Speaker 1: it means you're free to go wherever you want to go,
44:03
Speaker 1: and the young woman, with tears welling up in her eyes, said,
44:07
Speaker 1: I I think I want to go with you. I
44:15
Speaker 1: want to go with you. Most contagious people on the
44:20
Speaker 1: planet are people of grace. They're also the most misunderstood.
44:31
Speaker 1: I'll welcome you to the ranks. I'm going to tell
44:38
Speaker 1: you there's a price to pay. It's called being misunderstood.
44:47
Speaker 1: I want us to bow our heads. Let me say
44:53
Speaker 1: to fellow Christians today that what repeatedly kills our witness
44:58
Speaker 1: is pretense. It's not freedom, it's pretense. I urge you,
45:10
Speaker 1: fellow Christians, to set people free. I love Ruth Graham's
45:17
Speaker 1: words when she was alive. She said, it's my job
45:22
Speaker 1: to love Billy. It's God's job to make him good.
45:31
Speaker 1: God help us to get this message because it isn't
45:34
Speaker 1: being promoted in the church today. Grace. If you've never
45:45
Speaker 1: met the Lord of Grace, you're right now free to
45:48
Speaker 1: trust him or turn him off. Nobody here is going
45:53
Speaker 1: to force you or embarrass you. You can live your
45:57
Speaker 1: life and then you can die your lonely death without him.
46:00
Speaker 1: That's your call. Now, trust me, He's at work. I
46:07
Speaker 1: don't say that in a cavalier manner, but he's at work.
46:14
Speaker 1: You've never trusted him. He has a way of making
46:16
Speaker 1: you pretty miserable till you do. May you have no sleep,
46:22
Speaker 1: no rest, no relief, till you come to the Savior.
46:32
Speaker 1: If we can help you with that decision, connect with us.
46:35
Speaker 1: That's why we're here. God of grace and God of glory,
46:48
Speaker 1: God of magnificent freedom, God of profound and endless love.
46:59
Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you, thank you, Thank you for the Savior.
47:05
Speaker 1: Thank you that he took all of the cursing. He
47:09
Speaker 1: took all of the load of sin, once for all,
47:17
Speaker 1: and in taking it, he relieved us from having to
47:21
Speaker 1: pay penance, earn our way in or prove the sincerity
47:27
Speaker 1: of our faith. Teach us the simplicity of taking the
47:33
Speaker 1: gift and reveling in the freedom. Forgive us, our father
47:39
Speaker 1: for putting anyone under bondage, which we do regularly. May
47:45
Speaker 1: we stop it. And Lord, just as you've remembered these
47:51
Speaker 1: seven eight virtually unknown people, remind us that you know us.
47:56
Speaker 1: You know everything about us. And the one who loves
48:00
Speaker 1: the best noses the best. How great of you. I
48:09
Speaker 1: pray for those who've never trusted your son, that they
48:12
Speaker 1: may do so before sundown this day, in the name
48:19
Speaker 1: of Jesus I pray, and all the people of Grace
48:24
Speaker 1: said Amen. Amen.
48:29
Speaker 2: The preceding message, putting down Evil, Lifting Up Friends, was
48:33
Speaker 2: copyrighted in two thousand and eight, twenty ten, and twenty
48:36
Speaker 2: twenty five, and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty
48:39
Speaker 2: twenty five by Charles Rswindahl Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide.
48:45
Speaker 2: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.