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Transcript

Strong Talk on the Cosmos Msg 616 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: In preparation for the teaching of God's Word. Will you
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Speaker 1: turn please to the letter of First John, not to
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Speaker 1: be mistaken with the Gospel by John. John wrote three
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Speaker 1: letters as well as the revelation along with the Gospel,
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Speaker 1: and this first letter is the longest of the three letters.
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Speaker 1: We're in chapter two, and I will read for you
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Speaker 1: verses twelve to seventeen. We love to express our respect
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Speaker 1: for our God by standing for the reading of the scriptures.
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Speaker 1: Will you please join me as we give attention to
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Speaker 1: God's word First John two, beginning at verse twelve. I
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Speaker 1: am writing to you little children, because your sins have
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Speaker 1: been forgiven you for his name's sake. I am writing
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Speaker 1: to you, fathers, because you know him who has been
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Speaker 1: from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men,
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Speaker 1: because you have overcome the evil One. I have written
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Speaker 1: to you children, because you know the Father. I have
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Speaker 1: written to you, fathers, because you know him who has
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Speaker 1: been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men,
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Speaker 1: because you are strong and the word of God abides
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Speaker 1: in you, and you have overcome the evil one. Do
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Speaker 1: not love the world nor the things in the world.
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Speaker 1: If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father
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Speaker 1: is not in him. For all that is in the world,
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Speaker 1: the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes,
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Speaker 1: and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father,
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Speaker 1: but it's from the world. The world is passing away,
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Speaker 1: and also its lusts. But the one who does the
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Speaker 1: will of God lives forever. Our desire is that God
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Speaker 1: be honored, even in the reading of his word, and
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Speaker 1: certainly in its declaration and the living out of its truths.
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Speaker 1: Please be seated. If there's any part of a worship
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Speaker 1: service that can be confusing, it is the time to
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Speaker 1: which we've now come, and that's called the offering. And
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Speaker 1: because so many of us have had strange experiences in churches,
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Speaker 1: it's a times helpful to explain that this is an
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Speaker 1: act of worship for God's people. You may have never
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Speaker 1: met the Lord Christ as Savior, so this offering really
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Speaker 1: isn't of any concern to you. Whatever we don't want
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Speaker 1: your money. Of great concern to all of us is
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Speaker 1: your soul. If it isn't right with God, or if
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Speaker 1: there's distance, or quite likely you've never come to Christ,
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Speaker 1: then today is a day for you to pause and
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Speaker 1: reflect on that and remember God has given you a gift,
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Speaker 1: and that's his son, who came from heaven, lived on
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Speaker 1: this earth, died on the cross, raised from the dead,
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Speaker 1: has ascended and now lives lives in Heaven, awaiting his
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Speaker 1: eminent return. During this time of waiting is our opportunity
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Speaker 1: to trust in Him with our hearts. So this offering
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Speaker 1: time be an occasion for you who don't know Christ,
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Speaker 1: to offer yourself to him, as God's people give their
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Speaker 1: offerings for the Lord's work. Join me in prayer. Please,
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Speaker 1: we do laud and honor your name, our Father, and
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Speaker 1: often search for ways to do it. Often music does
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Speaker 1: it best for us. Prayer also enables us to pause
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Speaker 1: and give our complete intense concentration upon you, our Father,
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Speaker 1: and your son Christ. We love you, Lord, We love
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Speaker 1: your son Jesus. Now we don't always live like it,
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Speaker 1: but we do love you. And when we come together
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Speaker 1: like this, we realize it's time to keep short accounts
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Speaker 1: with you. And we lay before you the things that
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Speaker 1: have interrupted our relationship with you. They have disturbed and
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Speaker 1: made us uneasy, and they've grieved you. And we would
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Speaker 1: never take lightly those things that do that. Thank you
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Speaker 1: for forgiving us as your children. I pray for those
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Speaker 1: who find themselves today in a strange place, a place
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Speaker 1: of worship. I pray for those whose hearts are broken
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Speaker 1: and heavy, twisted and turned and fractured. Some are trying
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Speaker 1: to pick up the pieces and don't know where to start.
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Speaker 1: Others are in the middle of it and have become exhausted,
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Speaker 1: perhaps even confused. Some grieve the loss of those that
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Speaker 1: they've said goodbye to on this earth, and others live
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Speaker 1: in the fear of their loved one passing soon. So
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Speaker 1: they're not even here, They're there in some remarkable way.
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Speaker 1: I pray that you would bring them encouragement and inner peace,
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Speaker 1: knowing that your plan is unfolding, though it is mysterious
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Speaker 1: to us. I would also ask Lord that you would
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Speaker 1: help us understand these few verses tucked away in the
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Speaker 1: middle of an ancient letter written on an isolated island
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Speaker 1: in the Aegean Sea. Maybe realize that those words, though
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Speaker 1: written centuries ago, are ever relevant, and they speak to
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Speaker 1: twenty first century people as if written yesterday, and so
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Speaker 1: we take them to heart. May we remember these are
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Speaker 1: warnings to be taken seriously. Help those Lord in distant
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Speaker 1: places serving our country and towns and villages and regions
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Speaker 1: we find it hard even to pronounce. Protect them, we
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Speaker 1: love them, Give them the reassurance of our pleasure in
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Speaker 1: their faithful loyalty to their country. Bring them home safely.
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Speaker 1: We ask now, Lord, as those who've never met you
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Speaker 1: offer themselves to you to day, we who know you,
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Speaker 1: have the joy of giving our gifts, and we do
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Speaker 1: so gratefully, generously, joyfully, in the name of our Savior Jesus.
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Speaker 1: And everyone said, when danger is near, a warning is
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Speaker 1: in order, and the greater the danger, the more important
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Speaker 1: the warning. My mind goes back a little over fifty
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Speaker 1: years ago, when I found myself standing on the deck
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Speaker 1: of an enormous troop ship, seeing Yokohama in the distant
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Speaker 1: area before us. We were by then in the Tokyo Bay,
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Speaker 1: and we were worming our way through this body of
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Speaker 1: water because of still some land mines that were or
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Speaker 1: i should say mines under the sea that were there
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Speaker 1: that had not yet been diffused. The pilot was guiding
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Speaker 1: us carefully, and all of us who were on that ship,
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Speaker 1: some thirty five hundred marines, were called down to a
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Speaker 1: large bay area in the base of that ship, and
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Speaker 1: standing before us was a full bird colonel, and he
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Speaker 1: began by saying to us, all of you, listen up.
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Speaker 1: For the first time in your lives. You will be
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Speaker 1: the foreigner. You are going to be walking in an
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Speaker 1: area you've never walked in before. You will be among
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Speaker 1: people who speak a language you have never spoken before.
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Speaker 1: You'll be in the midst of a culture you do
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Speaker 1: not understand. So I have a few words of warning
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Speaker 1: for all of you. First off, to every one of you,
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Speaker 1: you'll be wearing your uniform. It's the uniform of the
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Speaker 1: United States Marine Corps. You are representing your country while
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Speaker 1: you are on this land. Do not bring reproach to
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Speaker 1: our land and our country. Behave yourselves. And then he
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Speaker 1: went into some specifics as he addressed not just all
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Speaker 1: of us together, but to various categories. He said, some
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Speaker 1: of you are older men, and you have traveled abroad before.
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Speaker 1: You know better what to expect. However, you're not safe
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Speaker 1: anymore than the younger men among us. And then he
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Speaker 1: said to us who were younger, you have never been
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Speaker 1: out of your own country, so you hardly know where
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Speaker 1: the danger lies. So let me say to all of
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Speaker 1: you remember these things today, because forty eight hours from
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Speaker 1: now at eleven hundred hours in the morning, we will
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Speaker 1: be leaving this doc and I want all of you
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Speaker 1: back on this ship. In the meantime, when you go
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Speaker 1: on Liberty, you're going to find yourself occasionally in great crowds.
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Speaker 1: Watch out for pickpockets. They know you have money, so
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Speaker 1: be careful with your money. Be careful what you eat.
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Speaker 1: You're going to be in places where they will serve
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Speaker 1: foods you're not familiar with, and it may not be
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Speaker 1: the kind of food that your body will tolerate. So
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Speaker 1: don't buy any food off the street. Furthermore, when you
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Speaker 1: are at a restaurant, before you even go in, make
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Speaker 1: sure there is that sign on the window that says
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Speaker 1: to you in the military, this is safe for you.
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Speaker 1: In some areas of the city there is open prostitution.
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Speaker 1: Don't be stupid. Then he said other things that wouldn't
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Speaker 1: be appropriate for me to mention on this place today.
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Speaker 1: He says, the bars will love to see you come in.
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Speaker 1: They have plenty of saki, and they'll serve you all
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Speaker 1: you'll drink, and they'll love to see you. Finally, on
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Speaker 1: your face on the floor when you wake up, I
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Speaker 1: have nothing that belonged to you before, so restrain yourself. Finally,
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Speaker 1: he said, we're leaving this dock, and he repeated the
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Speaker 1: time and the day. He said, I want all of
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Speaker 1: you back on the ship in uniform, on your feet,
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Speaker 1: ready to make our way down to Okinawa. Well, I
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Speaker 1: hardly need to tell you that there were some who
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Speaker 1: promptly forgot the warnings, and wasn't long before some had
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Speaker 1: their pockets picked. Some got back on the ship with
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Speaker 1: diseases they picked up from one of the prostitutes. A
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Speaker 1: number of them got on andebriated or they had been,
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Speaker 1: and some of them even missed the ship. I'll never forget.
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Speaker 1: When we were leaving the dock at eleven hundred hours
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Speaker 1: on the money, a few guys were running toward the ship,
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Speaker 1: waving their ties and yelling, wait, wait, wait, do you
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Speaker 1: think that colonel move that ship right on out. What
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Speaker 1: happened to them, I don't know, but the colonel had
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Speaker 1: a few words for them that will stay on the ship.
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Speaker 1: I will not repeat those either. They even missed the
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Speaker 1: ship time, why because they didn't take the warning seriously
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Speaker 1: and because they had been the victims of the danger
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Speaker 1: that had been lurking and had forgotten the warnings they
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Speaker 1: were then paying the consequences. Five decades of time cannot
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Speaker 1: erase the memory of that. And I immediately thought of
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Speaker 1: that scene when I turned to these verses tucked away
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Speaker 1: in the middle of the second chapter of John's first letter.
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Speaker 1: If you will think of John as the battle hardened
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Speaker 1: colonel who understands what it is to be in danger
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Speaker 1: because his age has taken him through things that the
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Speaker 1: younger have never experienced, it will help you. He's doing
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Speaker 1: a quick review as he begins, as much like our
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Speaker 1: colonel did as he got us all together in the
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Speaker 1: hold of the ship. He speaks to all of the
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Speaker 1: little children. When you're almost one hundred years old. Everybody
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Speaker 1: is little children. Believe me, John is about that age,
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Speaker 1: and he likes that title. In fact, he uses it frequently.
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Speaker 1: Look at two to one of this letter. My little
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Speaker 1: children uses it again in verse twelve, as we saw,
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Speaker 1: and now verse eighteen, I'm sorry twenty eight of this
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Speaker 1: second chapter, verse twenty eight, Now little children abide in him.
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Speaker 1: Look at three and verse seven, little children, make sure
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Speaker 1: no one deceives you three eighteen, little children. Let us
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Speaker 1: not love with word or with tongue. But indeed, in truth.
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Speaker 1: Chapter four, verse four, again you are from God little
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Speaker 1: children and have overcome them. And finally the last verse
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Speaker 1: in the letter five, verse twenty one, little children. So
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Speaker 1: it's one of John's favorite titles. So it's like our
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Speaker 1: colonel who spoke to all of us in uniform, and
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Speaker 1: John is saying to all of us in the family
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Speaker 1: of God, you wear the uniform of God. You are
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Speaker 1: clothed in the righteousness of Christ. The garments of purity
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Speaker 1: and righteousness are upon you. Now behave yourself. Would be
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Speaker 1: a general way of saying what he has to say.
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Speaker 1: In fact, all of the little children, he says in
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Speaker 1: verse twelve, have had their sins forgiven for the namesake
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Speaker 1: of our Savior. So if you're a believer in Christ,
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Speaker 1: you're found in verse twelve. Then he writes to the older,
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Speaker 1: just as our Colonel spoke to those who were seasoned veterans.
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Speaker 1: He says, fathers in both verses thirteen and fourteen, because
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Speaker 1: you know him who has been from the beginning, I'm
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Speaker 1: writing to you, And look at fourteen, Fathers, because you
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Speaker 1: know him who has been from the beginning, I have
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Speaker 1: written to you. So he's referring to their maturity, but
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Speaker 1: never think that because you have grown older in Christ,
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Speaker 1: you have grown up in Him. The older people like
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Speaker 1: us need the warnings just as much as the younger
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Speaker 1: men and women around us. We'll say more about that
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Speaker 1: in a moment, but now Verse thirteen includes young men.
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Speaker 1: These would be those who are younger in age and
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Speaker 1: obviously with less maturity in their lives. But they're walking strong.
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Speaker 1: Verse fourteen tells us they're living victoriously. They have rejected
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Speaker 1: false teaching, they're remaining faithful to their Lord and saviors.
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Speaker 1: So there's nothing wrong with youth. In fact, you have
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Speaker 1: strength that the older do not have, and you have
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Speaker 1: before you a whole world of life to live. So
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Speaker 1: this applies to you as well as the older. Be
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Speaker 1: out a word to the older, if I may hear.
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Speaker 1: It is easy for us to think, we who have
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Speaker 1: been in the church for years, to think that we
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Speaker 1: have some kind of corner on victory. I mean, we've
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Speaker 1: been there. We've got the scars to prove it. We've
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Speaker 1: had hard knocks, We've lived some of our years in
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Speaker 1: a crucible. We've known heartache, heartbreak, betrayal, disloyalty, we have fallen,
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Speaker 1: we have failed. I mean we are veterans. It's easy
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Speaker 1: to think we're now bulletproof. Not so if you are
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Speaker 1: tending toward that. Remember Job thirty two nine. Great men
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Speaker 1: are not always wise. Neither do the older understand justice.
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Speaker 1: Eugene Peterson in the Message renders it getting old doesn't
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Speaker 1: guarantee good sense. Pause, and remember Abraham made some foolish
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Speaker 1: mistakes when he was getting up in years. Moses well
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Speaker 1: over eighty when he struck the rock in anger. He
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Speaker 1: knew better, but his anger got the best of him.
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Speaker 1: David took that evening walk on the roof of the
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Speaker 1: palace and looked out across the backyard and lusted after Bathsheba. David,
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Speaker 1: check it out, is a father many times over, and
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Speaker 1: in fact multiple wives and already passed fifty. Made a
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Speaker 1: stupid decision, and his transgression took the life of her
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Speaker 1: her husband, and he married Bathsheba, and she bore his child.
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Speaker 1: David wasn't a young man, he was older. And Usiah
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Speaker 1: the King Second Chronicles includes the account of this king
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Speaker 1: who had set all kinds of records as a young monarch,
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Speaker 1: and then he reaches an age where the whole country
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Speaker 1: is standing in awe of him, and he now believes
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Speaker 1: his own press clippings. Before you know it, he walks
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Speaker 1: smartly into the temple and offers up and offering a
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Speaker 1: place that only a priest belonged. And when confronted with
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Speaker 1: that by the priest and numerous other priests standing near
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Speaker 1: the high Priest, he resisted them and tried to strike
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Speaker 1: them with a censer from the fire. At that moment,
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Speaker 1: the Lord struck him with leprosy. Usiah is not a
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Speaker 1: young man. Remember, if you're old, you're still susceptible. I
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Speaker 1: remember attending the Navigator conference where there were a number
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Speaker 1: of senior adults and Lauren Sannie, then the president of
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Speaker 1: the Navigators, was interviewing an eighty three year old veteran missionary.
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Speaker 1: He put his arm around him. He knew him well.
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Speaker 1: And mister Sannie said to this missionary, tell me, when
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Speaker 1: did you finally gain victory over lust. The old missionary said, well, Lauren,
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Speaker 1: it hadn't happened yet. You'll fight lust till the last
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Speaker 1: day of your life. You'll fight materialism as long as
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Speaker 1: you draw breath on this earth. You're not immune. We
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Speaker 1: are not. Let me use the right pronoun. We can
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Speaker 1: fall on any given day Listen up, fellow soldiers of
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Speaker 1: the Cross, young and old, men and women, boys and girls,
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Speaker 1: listen up, take heed to this. There is no place,
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Speaker 1: even though you have overcome the evil one many times,
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Speaker 1: there's no place for arrogance or presumption. Now the warning
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Speaker 1: to all two of us who are living in the cosmos.
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Speaker 1: I think verses fifteen and sixteen will take on you,
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Speaker 1: meaning if I could read a paraphrase that I'd like
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Speaker 1: you simply to sit and listen to. Don't try to
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Speaker 1: follow it in your Bible. Just listen to the words.
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Speaker 1: Don't love the world's ways, don't love the world's goods.
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Speaker 1: Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father.
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Speaker 1: Practically everything that goes on in the world, wanting your
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Speaker 1: own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important,
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Speaker 1: has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates
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Speaker 1: you from him. The world and all it's wanting wanting
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Speaker 1: wanting is on the way out. But whoever does what
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Speaker 1: God wants is set for eternity. That's probably plain enough
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Speaker 1: for everybody to get it. But there are some specifics
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Speaker 1: it would help us to know about. So allow me
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Speaker 1: this is applied to believers. If you will we are
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Speaker 1: foreigners in a culture that is not our own. Our
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Speaker 1: citizenship is in Heaven, and for a reason we're left
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Speaker 1: on earth. God didn't make a mistake in making certain
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Speaker 1: that our feet continued to walk on this planet and
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Speaker 1: to live in this era. God is not surprised in
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Speaker 1: Heaven over our problems and our ills and struggles and
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Speaker 1: our sinfulness. It's the way of the Cosmos, and here
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Speaker 1: we are among it on purpose for a reason. So
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Speaker 1: we need to understand that we represent a different culture.
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Speaker 1: Though we live among a foreign culture. We have truths
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Speaker 1: that we meditate on and fill our minds with that
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Speaker 1: the Cosmos people do not fill their minds with. They
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Speaker 1: march to that drum beat. We march to this one.
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Speaker 1: But we live among them. That must be handled wisely,
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Speaker 1: just as we in the Marines needed to handle ourselves
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Speaker 1: wisely in the midst of a culture that we weren't
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Speaker 1: familiar with, with dangers we didn't even know. We're lurking.
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Speaker 1: So understand, first of all, lest we miss the ship,
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Speaker 1: that we're dealing with loving the world, not living in it.
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Speaker 1: There's a difference. His exhortation is don't love the world,
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Speaker 1: meaning what well, it's a different love than in verse ten,
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Speaker 1: where he tells us to love our brothers and sisters,
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Speaker 1: and because of that we're known as those who abide
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Speaker 1: in the light. But this is a love that we
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Speaker 1: get caught up into and become addicted to, and the
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Speaker 1: consequences are dreadful and very unhealthy spiritually, emotionally as well
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Speaker 1: as physically. And let's identify the world here. Let's understand
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Speaker 1: what he means by the world. It's the Greek term koss.
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Speaker 1: We got our word cosmopolitan from it. Cosmetics. The cosmonauts
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Speaker 1: are the astronauts of Russia. We are living among the cosmos.
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Speaker 1: The cosmos in brief, it has reference to the attitudes
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Speaker 1: and values that characterize our world, all of which are
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Speaker 1: in opposition to God. Charles Riri gives this definition. It
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Speaker 1: is that organized system headed by Satan that leaves God
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Speaker 1: out and is a rival to him. That's our world.
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Speaker 1: That's where you work, That's that's where you find entertainment.
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Speaker 1: That's where you live in the neighborhood. People don't have
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Speaker 1: a big s on their forehead. It's not like that.
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Speaker 1: It's all an atmosphere where there are values embraced that
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Speaker 1: are not our values. That's a world of humanity that
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Speaker 1: exists in rebellion against the living God, characterized by all
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Speaker 1: that is an opposition to him. The values. Listen to
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Speaker 1: the list the values, the pleasures, the pastimes, the aspirations,
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Speaker 1: even the attitudes, comprise the lives of those who have
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Speaker 1: no place for God and no patience with those who
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Speaker 1: follow God. That's our world. You say, it's sounding more
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Speaker 1: dangerous the longer you spend on it. It's good that
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Speaker 1: you know that. It Isn't that there aren't times of
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Speaker 1: great delight and pleasure and enjoyment in this world. It's
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Speaker 1: just that it's got to be handled right. A man
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Speaker 1: named Trench, one of the older writers of truth, regarding
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Speaker 1: the New Testament, gives it this definitions the best I've
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Speaker 1: ever heard of. The cosmos, all that floating mass of thoughts, opinions, maxims, speculations, hopes, impulses, aims,
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Speaker 1: aspirations at any time current in the world, which it
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Speaker 1: may be impossible to seize that accurately define, but which
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Speaker 1: constitutes a most real and effective power, being the moral
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Speaker 1: or immoral atmosphere, which, at every moment of our lives
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Speaker 1: we inhale again inevitably to exhale. This is the world system,
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Speaker 1: to which John refers, it's just life on planet Earth.
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Speaker 1: And so John is saying to us, don't fall in
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Speaker 1: love with the the stuff of this age. Be discerning that,
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Speaker 1: be aware, just as we were to be aware before
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Speaker 1: we touch the food, or before any of the guys
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Speaker 1: drank too much, or before we went into a district
28:36
Speaker 1: that would have been harmful to us physically. Be aware.
28:40
Speaker 1: Be aware. You're not gonna clean up the district. Just
28:45
Speaker 1: be aware, behave yourself in it. By the way, in
28:54
Speaker 1: case you wonder if he's serious about the cosmos, six
28:59
Speaker 1: times in three verses, the word is used the world,
29:03
Speaker 1: the world, the world, the world, the world. We often
29:07
Speaker 1: blame the devil for everything that occurs. Why it could
29:10
Speaker 1: be the flesh within us, as we're going to read,
29:13
Speaker 1: it could be just simply the allurement of the world.
29:16
Speaker 1: That's why Demas forsook Paul. He loved the things of
29:20
Speaker 1: the world rather than the things that Paul was involved in.
29:24
Speaker 1: He forsook me, and he's now gone, writes Paul in
29:28
Speaker 1: his letter to Timothy. So let's go further and look
29:34
Speaker 1: at the things in the cosmos Verse sixteen. See fifteen,
29:41
Speaker 1: do not love the world. And if anyone loves the world,
29:45
Speaker 1: the love of the Father is not in him. So
29:48
Speaker 1: note that when you fall in love with the world,
29:51
Speaker 1: you fall out of love with the Father. Well, what
29:56
Speaker 1: does he mean by the things of the world. Well,
29:59
Speaker 1: look at verse sixteen. He first he names the lust
30:05
Speaker 1: of the flesh. Interesting word lust, It's obsolete in our day,
30:12
Speaker 1: you rarely read of it. It's the Greek epithu mea epithumia.
30:18
Speaker 1: It means a craving, a passionate desire. It appears thirty
30:25
Speaker 1: eight times in the New Testament, and only three of
30:28
Speaker 1: those times is it positive. So these are normally thirty
30:32
Speaker 1: five out of thirty eight times evil cravings, base cravings,
30:41
Speaker 1: un Christian desires. That's lust. So now we have first
30:48
Speaker 1: the cravings of the flesh. Let's use the word cravings
30:52
Speaker 1: rather than lust. The cravings of the flesh is a
31:00
Speaker 1: broad term that means more than illicit sexual involvement, activity,
31:07
Speaker 1: and thoughts. This would include selfish ambitions and self serving objectives.
31:15
Speaker 1: This era in which we live is all about ourselves. Me,
31:21
Speaker 1: myself and I us four and no more, and I'm
31:24
Speaker 1: not sure about you three. It's all about me, my comfort,
31:31
Speaker 1: my possessions, my money, my future, my career, my hopes,
31:41
Speaker 1: and on and on. The list goes the flesh craves
31:46
Speaker 1: that William Barclay delineates it. It is to be gluttonous
31:53
Speaker 1: in food, effeminate in luxury, slavish in pleasure, lustful and
31:59
Speaker 1: lax in morals, selfish in the use of possessions, extravagant
32:05
Speaker 1: in the gratification of material desires. The flesh's desire is
32:11
Speaker 1: regardless of the commandments of God, the judgment of God,
32:16
Speaker 1: and the standards of God. That's the flesh and men
32:21
Speaker 1: and women who belong to Christ. Listen to me, the
32:25
Speaker 1: flesh will never change. Just as you were in your
32:30
Speaker 1: lost of state, you are still there. We never will
32:37
Speaker 1: have that changed until we are taken to be with
32:40
Speaker 1: our Lord and made like him. So the goal, of course,
32:44
Speaker 1: is for the Spirit of God to restrain this inner
32:49
Speaker 1: craving for selfish gratification. Well, that's the cravings of the flesh.
32:56
Speaker 1: Look at the next one. It's a little by the way.
32:59
Speaker 1: Don't fall in love with those things. That's his point.
33:02
Speaker 1: Don't love the things the flesh craves. Don't go there. Now,
33:07
Speaker 1: the cravings of the eyes. This would include sinful cravings
33:13
Speaker 1: activated by what people see that lead to coveteousness and envy.
33:23
Speaker 1: We have an old saying in our family, keeping up
33:25
Speaker 1: with the Joneses. Maybe you've heard that as you were
33:28
Speaker 1: growing up. My mom and dad used to say, let's
33:31
Speaker 1: not worry about keeping up with the Joneses. The jones
33:35
Speaker 1: has represented any family that had what we didn't have
33:39
Speaker 1: and couldn't afford. How easy to crave what someone else
33:45
Speaker 1: enjoys the symbols of success. If you will an automobile
33:53
Speaker 1: that you can't afford, but someone near you has that automobile,
33:58
Speaker 1: and the lust of the eyes long for that automobile
34:02
Speaker 1: ourselves lust for clothing someone else is able to wear,
34:06
Speaker 1: an expensive suit or outfit that you can't afford. Lusting
34:11
Speaker 1: for that expensive furniture, expensive house, second home in the
34:16
Speaker 1: hill country or at the coast, or maybe a boat
34:21
Speaker 1: or an RV. If you're tempted with a boat or RV,
34:25
Speaker 1: see me after the meeting, because I'll help you overcome
34:30
Speaker 1: that temptation really quick. Two great days in your life,
34:36
Speaker 1: the day you buy them and the day you get
34:39
Speaker 1: rid of them. Anyway, so much for then these so
34:45
Speaker 1: called symbols of success. Could even be abilities and titles
34:48
Speaker 1: and position and education that we lust after someone else
34:54
Speaker 1: as the president. I want to be the president of
34:56
Speaker 1: that outfit. Someone else is the senior whatever, and I
35:00
Speaker 1: want to be the senior whatever. Someone else is CEO,
35:04
Speaker 1: and I deserve to be certainly more than he. That's
35:07
Speaker 1: the lust of the eyes, the physique of another one.
35:12
Speaker 1: I mean, the TV is full of these hulks. You
35:16
Speaker 1: look at them. Try to imagine right now Ripple's stomach.
35:24
Speaker 1: A stomach was never meant to look like that. I'm
35:29
Speaker 1: like irma bomback. I have everything I used to have,
35:31
Speaker 1: but it's four inches lower and you can lust after.
35:37
Speaker 1: That's how they sell their product. They prey on your lust.
35:44
Speaker 1: You long for that. And there's one other, the boastful
35:48
Speaker 1: pride of life. This would refer to arrogance, just plain
35:53
Speaker 1: elevation of oneself above another. One of the world's wags
36:00
Speaker 1: called it the glorification of the worm. That a good
36:04
Speaker 1: way to put it. Do we really need illustrations about this?
36:12
Speaker 1: Maybe so once a year on a Sunday night, the
36:17
Speaker 1: Academy Awards appear on television. You want to finish my
36:23
Speaker 1: sentence sir, you already have. How much lust goes on?
36:29
Speaker 1: Not so much at the Academy, though certainly it does,
36:32
Speaker 1: but among those watching it, the lust of the flesh,
36:37
Speaker 1: the lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of winning
36:43
Speaker 1: the Academy. And then there are big beauty contests that
36:49
Speaker 1: are around the cosmos. How about classic car auctions? Oops,
36:57
Speaker 1: I was watching one the other night, channel surfing sent
37:00
Speaker 1: he had gone to bed, so the no, I'm not
37:04
Speaker 1: going to say that. I was all on my own
37:06
Speaker 1: and going from one channel to another, and stayed at
37:09
Speaker 1: this channel and watched the classic cars roll by an
37:12
Speaker 1: old packard whoa eighteen thirty something only two hundred and
37:22
Speaker 1: seventy thousand dollars, I mean, why not? Another one was
37:27
Speaker 1: five hundred and twenty thousand dollars, another was one hundred
37:30
Speaker 1: and six thousand dollars, And when they were first purchased,
37:34
Speaker 1: why nothing? How easy to lust after that kind of thing?
37:40
Speaker 1: You see where I'm going, the fast life of high society,
37:45
Speaker 1: wanting that clothing, wanting that hairdo How about the professional
37:53
Speaker 1: sports world paid obscene salaries for playing a little boy's game,
38:02
Speaker 1: and free agency comes one hundred thousand dollars one hundred
38:08
Speaker 1: million dollars for alignment alignment. Try to interview him. Well,
38:17
Speaker 1: uh uh uh, well, you know, uh, I always love
38:26
Speaker 1: reading Rick Ryan Ricky Rick Riley used to write for
38:32
Speaker 1: Sports Illustrated. He rewrote funny stuff. Always read Sports Illustrated
38:37
Speaker 1: from the back forward because he always wrote the last
38:39
Speaker 1: page called the Life of Riley. He's now with ESPN,
38:42
Speaker 1: but back then, while he was with Sports Illustration, one
38:45
Speaker 1: of my favorite that he ever wrote called speaking of
38:47
Speaker 1: class to the graduating class. And he's addressing, you know,
38:53
Speaker 1: in his mind as this commencement speaker, all of these
38:57
Speaker 1: athletes that are going from college into professional sports. Listen
39:01
Speaker 1: to thank you. Thank you, graduates, please be seated. It's
39:05
Speaker 1: an honor to address the college athletes who are going
39:08
Speaker 1: to the pros this year. If I may, I'd like
39:10
Speaker 1: to offer just a few pieces of advice. Every now
39:13
Speaker 1: and again, turn off Nintendo, shut off Spectra Vision, and
39:18
Speaker 1: open a book. We already have enough jocks who think
39:26
Speaker 1: the brothers Krazov were the WWF Tag team champions. And
39:31
Speaker 1: if you ever hear yourself saying they offered.
39:34
Speaker 2: Me eighty one million dollars, put an insult, find a tire,
39:40
Speaker 2: iron go into a quiet room and hit yourself several
39:44
Speaker 2: times on the shin.
39:49
Speaker 1: Here's another. Marry someone who has never heard of you.
39:56
Speaker 1: I like this one. If you write a book, read
39:59
Speaker 1: it before it comes out. Be careful with your money,
40:10
Speaker 1: write your own checks. None of this power of attorney crap.
40:13
Speaker 1: Get an agent and a lawyer and tell each one
40:15
Speaker 1: of them you're a crook. Shock the world. Apologize when
40:21
Speaker 1: you screw up. Okay, so you didn't grow up with
40:26
Speaker 1: a father, then go be one. Make a difference in
40:31
Speaker 1: the life of one kid who is not your own,
40:33
Speaker 1: and it'll give you more joy than a lifetime shoe contract.
40:40
Speaker 1: See that woman up there in section five ninety five
40:44
Speaker 1: rode ww's seat twenty nine. She makes twenty six grand
40:48
Speaker 1: a year. She paid twenty two dollars for each ticket
40:53
Speaker 1: for her family, and you just plunk down seventeen bucks
40:56
Speaker 1: bucks for three cokes and a warm beer without her.
41:01
Speaker 1: You're a three hundred and twenty pounds bouncer with half
41:04
Speaker 1: a pe degree, and go easy on the tattoos. By
41:13
Speaker 1: the time you're sixty, the hula girl on your biceps,
41:15
Speaker 1: it's gonna look like Don Knutts. That is a good line. Riley.
41:24
Speaker 1: All right, no offense. He ends with this, no offense.
41:32
Speaker 1: But when you're setting off the airport metal detector from
41:37
Speaker 1: the back of the line, you might have on too
41:39
Speaker 1: much jewelry. You think it's the world system? You got it? Flaunt? Hey, hey,
41:53
Speaker 1: who else making this kind of money? Let me tell
41:56
Speaker 1: you something, folks, He'll take none of it with him.
42:02
Speaker 1: I've buried lots of people. They all have their hands open,
42:05
Speaker 1: and their hands are always empty. They're all dead. America
42:17
Speaker 1: is shot through with cravings of the flesh and cravings
42:21
Speaker 1: of the eyes, and just the desire to be important. Wow, nonsense,
42:32
Speaker 1: to quote my colonel stupid. Why not live like the
42:41
Speaker 1: world system? Why not love the world system because we
42:44
Speaker 1: love God? Second, because of what the world represents, which
42:49
Speaker 1: we've just gone over in. Third, because every bit of
42:52
Speaker 1: it's going to be burnt up. There's not going to
42:55
Speaker 1: be one nineteen thirty seven packard into eternity. There's not
43:02
Speaker 1: going to be one house in the hills getting into eternity.
43:09
Speaker 1: Not one title that somebody you envy has earned, and
43:14
Speaker 1: it's going to make it past the grave. Not why
43:20
Speaker 1: this is the way to live life. In fact, he says,
43:24
Speaker 1: look at the contrast, the world is passing away and
43:28
Speaker 1: it's lusts. So when you love the cosmos, you're embracing
43:32
Speaker 1: what's temporal. It's like loving a car, paying for a car,
43:39
Speaker 1: getting the car, and driving off the cliff. It's going
43:44
Speaker 1: it's going out of style, if not out of existence.
43:50
Speaker 1: You're embracing what is temporal, and when you're doing God's will,
43:54
Speaker 1: you're living for what is eternal. Are we ever? It
43:59
Speaker 1: doesn't mean we're more important than any other individual. It
44:02
Speaker 1: just means, by the grace of God, we've been caught
44:06
Speaker 1: before we did the most stupid thing in life, as
44:10
Speaker 1: to live for ourselves and spend eternity without the one
44:13
Speaker 1: who made us. Now, let me say some very personal
44:18
Speaker 1: and practical things that I hope will add sensibility and practicality.
44:24
Speaker 1: Guard against extremes when you apply what you've just heard. Okay,
44:28
Speaker 1: guard against extreme. Here's one extreme. This extreme comes from
44:33
Speaker 1: those who mean well, but it's bad advice. Isolate yourself.
44:39
Speaker 1: That's the answer. When you have to live into cosmos.
44:44
Speaker 1: Isolate yourself. The old monks did it behind a wall.
44:49
Speaker 1: The problem is the lust, the flesh, the lust, the eyes,
44:51
Speaker 1: and the boastful pride. Of life went with them, but
44:54
Speaker 1: they didn't mingle with the worldings those who say yourself
45:00
Speaker 1: with add don't own a television, don't ever go to
45:04
Speaker 1: a movie ever ever. Don't own a computer. You can
45:09
Speaker 1: touch up internet coote. Stay away from all people who
45:14
Speaker 1: are worldly and driven by cravings of life. Don't watch sports,
45:20
Speaker 1: that's a show of pride. Don't own an iPhone. Don't
45:27
Speaker 1: watch sports. Don't own an iPhone. Don't pay any attention
45:30
Speaker 1: to fashion or anything that's updated. Don't buy nice cars
45:36
Speaker 1: or new clothing or good furniture. Keep yourself plane and
45:41
Speaker 1: drab and colorless. Isolate, Stay gray, Stay gray. I rarely
45:53
Speaker 1: quote people like this, but the other day I heard
45:55
Speaker 1: Ted Turner refer to Christians as a bunch of bozos
45:59
Speaker 1: and idiots. And the reason he did is because it's
46:02
Speaker 1: with those kind of people he must have been around.
46:05
Speaker 1: We are neither, and John is not saying become a
46:11
Speaker 1: freak in the twenty first century. That's a wrong application.
46:17
Speaker 1: I mean, think of what Jesus said, Father, I ask
46:20
Speaker 1: you not to take them out of the world, but
46:22
Speaker 1: keep them from the evil of the world. The answer
46:25
Speaker 1: is not isolation, it's insolation. When will we ever learn
46:29
Speaker 1: that you can be the most winsome, magnetic individual and
46:36
Speaker 1: never whats go on drugs, never once fall into an
46:42
Speaker 1: addiction to alcohol, never once run around with somebody else's mate.
46:48
Speaker 1: You can live like this, and you can be happy
46:52
Speaker 1: and winsome and a delightful person to be around. And
46:55
Speaker 1: the worling will want to know how on earth do
46:59
Speaker 1: you live like this and not act like us? You
47:04
Speaker 1: could be the friendliest person in the neighborhood, not a
47:07
Speaker 1: bozo or an idiot or a freak. We're not asking
47:11
Speaker 1: to be isolated, Paul says. I wrote you in another
47:16
Speaker 1: letter not to associate with immoral people. I did not
47:19
Speaker 1: at all mean the immoral people of this world, for
47:21
Speaker 1: then you'd have to go out of the world. I mean,
47:24
Speaker 1: you don't ask the person that does your dry cleaning
47:27
Speaker 1: are you a believer? I'm not gonna let you do
47:29
Speaker 1: my dry cleaning? Can a non believer do good dry cleaning?
47:35
Speaker 1: Check out stand to ask the gall at the checkouts now,
47:38
Speaker 1: are you are you a Christian?
47:38
Speaker 2: No?
47:39
Speaker 1: Well, I'm not taking my groceries here. I'm gonna go
47:41
Speaker 1: to a Christian store where we buy Christian food and
47:43
Speaker 1: we drink Christian coffee and we have Christian catchup and
47:46
Speaker 1: we enjoy Christian meat. See how stupid silly the enemy
47:55
Speaker 1: will do anything to push us to extremes, even if
47:58
Speaker 1: it's adjusting a window shade. Isolating is not the answer.
48:02
Speaker 1: Second the second says, assert yourself nowice even worse, be obnoxious.
48:10
Speaker 1: Insult people who don't know Christ. Put down people that
48:14
Speaker 1: are living with somebody else's mate or not married. Be
48:19
Speaker 1: sure you insult them because you're a Christian. Yeah, you'll
48:22
Speaker 1: really win them to Christ. How did you come to Christ? Well,
48:25
Speaker 1: this friend insulted me, and I just couldn't stay away
48:27
Speaker 1: from Jesus. And wonderful, very helpful Cent and I were
48:35
Speaker 1: at a banquet. They served nice things at the banquet.
48:38
Speaker 1: It happened to be at a lovely hotel, and we
48:41
Speaker 1: had a great evening. And we walked out and here
48:43
Speaker 1: stood for well meaning people with big placards, against the
48:47
Speaker 1: worldliness of our being at a nice banquet. And so
48:51
Speaker 1: they decided it was their calling to insult all the
48:53
Speaker 1: people that were at the banquet. When they left, to know,
48:56
Speaker 1: they could have said that they were Christians. But you
49:00
Speaker 1: came to this real, nice banquet and enjoyed this nice evening. Please.
49:06
Speaker 1: Verna McGee put it well, we're never told to clean
49:09
Speaker 1: up the fish bowl. We're told of fish. You can't
49:14
Speaker 1: clean up the fish bowl. Fish. I say to every
49:19
Speaker 1: congressman I know, make a difference for Christ in the
49:23
Speaker 1: midst of a setting that's almost impossible. Count for Christ.
49:29
Speaker 1: Win them over. So what's the answer. Discipline yourself, don't
49:36
Speaker 1: isolate yourself, don't assert yourself. Discipline which means restrain yourself,
49:41
Speaker 1: control your cravings. When you're on the internet. Don't go
49:45
Speaker 1: to the bad site. It's stupid. When you do, you'll
49:48
Speaker 1: get into trouble. Furthermore, it's sin and you'll get addicted.
49:53
Speaker 1: Then you'll be found out and you'll mess up your
49:55
Speaker 1: home and family and life. Don't go there. But doesn't
49:59
Speaker 1: mean you can't have a computer. You can even have
50:03
Speaker 1: an iPhone. Just don't get addicted to it. It's the
50:09
Speaker 1: most amazing thing in the world. You walk out of
50:10
Speaker 1: places and everybody's like this. He said, Hey, how you
50:13
Speaker 1: doing well? Wait? Wait, how about drivers? Although day I
50:20
Speaker 1: was at a green light that changed three times, I
50:23
Speaker 1: did very well with that. You might want to know,
50:28
Speaker 1: by the way, And I closed with this true story.
50:30
Speaker 1: I said to a good friend of mine in ministry,
50:32
Speaker 1: I said, well, I'm in first John two. Next Sunday,
50:36
Speaker 1: twelve to seventeen, he said, Man, I remember when I
50:39
Speaker 1: was a youth pastor, He said, I did something I
50:41
Speaker 1: had never heard anybody else had ever done. I thought
50:43
Speaker 1: it was a great idea, he said. I told all
50:45
Speaker 1: the kids, went about one hundred and fifty high schoolers,
50:47
Speaker 1: and I said, when you go home this afternoon from church,
50:50
Speaker 1: look at rummage're around in your house and finds a
50:53
Speaker 1: few old magazines, not the ones your mom is keeping
50:57
Speaker 1: or they're important to your dad, but old magazines ready
51:00
Speaker 1: to throw them away. And you know, Sports, Illustrated, Glamour,
51:06
Speaker 1: one of the tabloids, or one of those. And every
51:10
Speaker 1: time you find something on the page that relates on
51:12
Speaker 1: any page that relates to the lust of the flesh
51:14
Speaker 1: or the lust of the eyes, of their pride of life,
51:17
Speaker 1: just tear out the page. And then next Sunday, bring
51:20
Speaker 1: the magazine. Bring what's left. The most any kid brought
51:26
Speaker 1: was four pages. Several brought just the front and back,
51:31
Speaker 1: and one of them said, the back is kind of raunchy,
51:33
Speaker 1: but I'd have had nothing if I'd have left that
51:35
Speaker 1: all most of the kids had done it and brought
51:40
Speaker 1: nothing back front back. Every page appeals to the flesh
51:50
Speaker 1: the eyes. Let me tell you, we live in a
51:54
Speaker 1: really smart world system. They know what turns us on
52:01
Speaker 1: or what they want us to get turned on over.
52:07
Speaker 1: The only way I can see any hope for us
52:09
Speaker 1: in surviving and counting for Christ is that we know
52:13
Speaker 1: him personally. Let's bow our heads together. You've never personally
52:24
Speaker 1: taken the gift which I referred to earlier. This is
52:27
Speaker 1: a great time for you to do that. God has
52:30
Speaker 1: brought you to this place in your life. He's quieted you,
52:33
Speaker 1: he slowed you down, had you listen very attentively. Now
52:38
Speaker 1: he's saying in so many words, listen to that man.
52:44
Speaker 1: Those words will help you. But you are helplessly out
52:52
Speaker 1: of power to change without Christ. So right now is
52:59
Speaker 1: the moment. Right now, join the ranks of fellow believers
53:05
Speaker 1: that stay in the world and are learning to discipline
53:08
Speaker 1: ourselves in the midst of it. Believe on the Lord Jesus,
53:16
Speaker 1: You'll be delivered. Father, thank you for the way you
53:21
Speaker 1: speak to us in a world that's lost its way.
53:28
Speaker 1: Control us and restrain us and discipline our minds, and
53:31
Speaker 1: give us a handsome understanding of those who are hopelessly
53:37
Speaker 1: caught and lost. And rather than mimicking their ways, may
53:43
Speaker 1: we become the exception that draws them instead of turning
53:50
Speaker 1: them off. And may they realize that there is no
53:54
Speaker 1: life like the one Christ can give. I pray in
53:59
Speaker 1: his match Smith's name, Everyone said Amen.
54:06
Speaker 3: The preceding message, Strong Talk on the Cosmos, and the
54:10
Speaker 3: sound recording were copyrighted in two thousand and nine by
54:13
Speaker 3: Charles Arsland All Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication
54:18
Speaker 3: of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited