Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / Heaven's Door Is Always Open Biblical Sermon- Minister Max Lucado
Transcript
- 0:22Speaker 1: I hope this series on the 23rd Psalm has been
- 0:25Speaker 1: a strength to you over the last few weeks. We've
- 0:29Speaker 1: needed the comfort that comes from these beautiful words, and
- 0:33Speaker 1: I'm so thrilled to turn our attention to the final words,
- 0:36Speaker 1: Psalm 23 and verse 6. And I will dwell in
- 0:41Speaker 1: the house of the Lord forever. Oh, gracious God, we
- 0:47Speaker 1: bow before you, needing you, Father, so in need of you,
- 0:50Speaker 1: so in need of your touch. so in need of
- 0:53Speaker 1: your strength, so in need of your forgiveness and your mercy.
- 0:57Speaker 1: We believe, O Heavenly Father, that you sit on the throne.
- 1:01Speaker 1: You oversee every detail of human life. You know the
- 1:05Speaker 1: end from the beginning. You saw all the challenges of
- 1:08Speaker 1: 2020 coming before 2020 was born. And you have solutions
- 1:13Speaker 1: for that we kneel before you and cry out to you,
- 1:16Speaker 1: Heavenly Father. And now, Father, forgive our speaker. You know
- 1:20Speaker 1: his sins are many. Help us to see Jesus Christ
- 1:25Speaker 1: and just Jesus. Through Christ we pray. Amen. Unhappiness on
- 1:32Speaker 1: earth really cultivates a hunger for heaven. By gracing us
- 1:37Speaker 1: with a deep dissatisfaction, God creates within us a desire
- 1:43Speaker 1: for his affection eternally. The only real tragedy in life
- 1:49Speaker 1: is to be settled in life, to be satisfied prematurely,
- 1:55Speaker 1: to settle for this earth, to be content in a
- 1:57Speaker 1: strange land. We're not happy here, folks, because we were
- 2:02Speaker 1: never intended to be happy here. We're not happy here
- 2:06Speaker 1: because we were never intended to be happy here. We're
- 2:09Speaker 1: not happy here because we weren't made to be here.
- 2:12Speaker 1: We are like foreigners and strangers in this world. 1
- 2:15Speaker 1: Peter chapter 2 and verse 11. Take a fish, put
- 2:20Speaker 1: him on the beach. What does he need? What does
- 2:23Speaker 1: he need to have his life restored to him? As
- 2:26Speaker 1: you watch him, as his gills gasp and his scales dry,
- 2:31Speaker 1: he's not happy. He's not happy. So what's it going
- 2:34Speaker 1: to take to make him happy? Do you cover him
- 2:36Speaker 1: with a mountain of cash? Do you bring him a
- 2:39Speaker 1: beach chair and some sunglasses? Do you go out and
- 2:41Speaker 1: buy him a copy of Playfish magazine and a martini?
- 2:45Speaker 1: Do you get him a wardrobe with double-breasted fins and
- 2:49Speaker 1: people skinned shoes? No, you know what makes him happy.
- 2:53Speaker 1: And that is you put him back in his element.
- 2:55Speaker 1: You put him back in the water. He'll never be
- 2:58Speaker 1: happy on the beach simply because he was not made
- 3:02Speaker 1: for the beach. And friend, you'll never be completely happy
- 3:06Speaker 1: on earth. You won't be. Simply because you were not
- 3:09Speaker 1: made for earth. Now you're going to have your moments
- 3:12Speaker 1: of joy. And may you have plenty of them. You're
- 3:16Speaker 1: going to catch glimpses of light. You'll know moments of peace.
- 3:19Speaker 1: But they do not compare. They do not compare with
- 3:25Speaker 1: the moment that you are placed where you are intended
- 3:28Speaker 1: to be in the presence of God for eternity. Augustine said,
- 3:34Speaker 1: thou has made us for thyself and our hearts are
- 3:37Speaker 1: restless until they rest in thee. So rest on this
- 3:42Speaker 1: earth is a false rest. Now just be aware of
- 3:45Speaker 1: people who tell you that you're going to find total
- 3:48Speaker 1: happiness here. You won't. Guard against those physicians who tell
- 3:52Speaker 1: you that true joy is only a diet away, a
- 3:55Speaker 1: different marriage away, a job away, a transfer away. The
- 3:59Speaker 1: prophet Jeremiah denounced people like this. He said, they tried
- 4:03Speaker 1: to heal my people's serious injuries as if they were
- 4:06Speaker 1: small wounds. They said, it's all right. It's all right.
- 4:09Speaker 1: But really, it's not all right. Jeremiah 6 and verse 14.
- 4:14Speaker 1: And folks, it won't be all right until we get home. Now,
- 4:18Speaker 1: we're going to have our moments, the newborn on the breast,
- 4:21Speaker 1: the bride on the arm, the sunshine on our back.
- 4:23Speaker 1: But even these moments, even these good moments are slivers
- 4:28Speaker 1: of light compared to the great joy in the sunrise
- 4:34Speaker 1: that awaits us. In those moments, God is just flirting
- 4:37Speaker 1: with us. He's tantalizing us. He's romancing us. And he's
- 4:41Speaker 1: urging us to lift up our eyes and look toward
- 4:44Speaker 1: our eternal home. Isn't this the concluding promise of David?
- 4:49Speaker 1: He said, and I will dwell in the house of
- 4:52Speaker 1: the Lord forever. This is what we were intended to do.
- 4:57Speaker 1: Our forever house is the house of the Lord. This
- 5:00Speaker 1: house is not our forever house. This is just short-term housing.
- 5:05Speaker 1: This is not our home. The scripture says our homeland
- 5:09Speaker 1: is where? It's in heaven. It's not here. Our homeland
- 5:15Speaker 1: is in heaven. This explains the homesickness that we feel.
- 5:20Speaker 1: We felt a lot of homesickness over the last days
- 5:24Speaker 1: and weeks and months. It just doesn't feel right. This
- 5:27Speaker 1: is why we were never made to live in a diseased, riddled,
- 5:32Speaker 1: pandemic-clouded world like we are doing now. Now, we all
- 5:37Speaker 1: get homesickness. We've all had cases of homesickness. I've told
- 5:42Speaker 1: you before about a job I took during the summer
- 5:46Speaker 1: of my 19th year that took me a thousand miles
- 5:48Speaker 1: away from home to northern Georgia. You know, the folks
- 5:53Speaker 1: in northern Georgia are wonderful folks, but nobody's really nice
- 5:57Speaker 1: to a door-to-door salesman, and that's what I was. And
- 6:00Speaker 1: there were many times that summer I felt my bones
- 6:03Speaker 1: would melt. I was so lonely. I can recall in
- 6:07Speaker 1: particular when I was on the side of a country road.
- 6:10Speaker 1: I was lost. The hour was late. I'd stopped to
- 6:14Speaker 1: try to find my way. To my right was a farmhouse.
- 6:19Speaker 1: And the fact that I can remember this four and
- 6:22Speaker 1: a half decades later, it just demonstrates how profound that
- 6:26Speaker 1: image was for me. As the sun was setting, I
- 6:28Speaker 1: could look right into the farmhouse through the big pane
- 6:31Speaker 1: glass window, and there was a family seated down at dinner.
- 6:35Speaker 1: The mom was spooning out something out of a, out
- 6:38Speaker 1: of a bowl and putting it on the plates of
- 6:40Speaker 1: the kids. There was a dad, there was a mom,
- 6:42Speaker 1: there were two children. The dad was saying something that
- 6:45Speaker 1: must have been funny because the kids were laughing. They
- 6:48Speaker 1: just all looked so happy. And it was all I
- 6:52Speaker 1: could do to not go up to the front door
- 6:56Speaker 1: and ring the doorbell and ask if I could sit
- 6:59Speaker 1: at the table because I longed to be home. I
- 7:04Speaker 1: felt so far from home. And what I felt that night,
- 7:07Speaker 1: some of you have felt ever since your husband died
- 7:12Speaker 1: or your child was buried or ever since you learned
- 7:16Speaker 1: about the lump in your breast or the spot in
- 7:20Speaker 1: your lung. Some of you have felt weary. You felt wounded.
- 7:25Speaker 1: You have worried ever since this pandemic fell upon this planet.
- 7:32Speaker 1: The twists and turns of life. Have a way of
- 7:35Speaker 1: reminding us that we are not home here. This is
- 7:40Speaker 1: not our homeland. We aren't fluent in the languages of
- 7:43Speaker 1: disease and death. The culture confuses our hearts. The noise
- 7:48Speaker 1: disrupts our sleep. And we feel far from home. And
- 7:52Speaker 1: you know what? This is going to surprise you. But
- 7:55Speaker 1: that's okay. That's okay. If you're unhappy, you're not weird.
- 8:05Speaker 1: You're not emotionally underdeveloped. You're not home. You're not home. Homesickness.
- 8:15Speaker 1: Homesickness is just one way that God continues to remind
- 8:19Speaker 1: us that we were not made to live forever here.
- 8:24Speaker 1: But we will dwell in the house of our Lord forever.
- 8:29Speaker 1: Some time ago I read the story of Pootsie the Parrot.
- 8:33Speaker 1: She escaped from her owner and came into the keeping
- 8:36Speaker 1: of the Humane Society. When nobody else claimed her, Sue
- 8:39Speaker 1: Gleason did. Pootsie and Sue hit it off pretty good.
- 8:44Speaker 1: They talked together. They hung out together. They became friends.
- 8:50Speaker 1: But one day, that bird did something incredible. It flew
- 8:53Speaker 1: over to Miss Gleason, put her... put his beak against
- 8:58Speaker 1: her ear and said, 1500 South Oneida Street, Green Bay.
- 9:06Speaker 1: Is that not the craziest thing? I had to read
- 9:08Speaker 1: this story twice. Gleason was dumbfounded. She researched and found
- 9:12Speaker 1: that that was an actual address. She went to the
- 9:15Speaker 1: house and she found a man, 71, excuse me, 79-year-old
- 9:21Speaker 1: man by the name of John Strubanz. She said, do
- 9:25Speaker 1: you happen to own a parrot? He said, I used to,
- 9:30Speaker 1: and I miss my parrot terribly. And when he saw
- 9:34Speaker 1: his pootsie, he was thrilled. And here's what he told Mrs. Gleason.
- 9:40Speaker 1: You know, he even knows his phone number. As crazy
- 9:44Speaker 1: as that might sound, it's not as crazy as you
- 9:48Speaker 1: might think. Because you have an eternal address fixed in
- 9:52Speaker 1: your mind as well. God has set eternity in the
- 9:59Speaker 1: hearts of men. there is something inside of you that
- 10:02Speaker 1: is longing for an eternal home down deep you know
- 10:06Speaker 1: you know you know this is not your home so
- 10:10Speaker 1: be careful not to act like you are don't lower
- 10:14Speaker 1: the duffel bag too soon Would you hang up pictures
- 10:18Speaker 1: on the wall of a Greyhound bus? Would you set
- 10:21Speaker 1: up a bedroom at the roadside rest stop? Would you
- 10:24Speaker 1: ever load a king-size bed on a commercial flight? No.
- 10:28Speaker 1: You know, it's simply a tool of transportation to get
- 10:33Speaker 1: you to your home. And that's what this life is.
- 10:36Speaker 1: It's simply a mode of transportation to make sure we
- 10:39Speaker 1: get home safely. Don't treat this world like it's home.
- 10:43Speaker 1: It isn't. The greatest calamity is not to feel far
- 10:48Speaker 1: from home when you are, but to feel right at
- 10:50Speaker 1: home when you're not. The greatest calamity is not to
- 10:55Speaker 1: feel far from home when you are, but to feel
- 10:58Speaker 1: right at home when you're not. So don't quench, but
- 11:01Speaker 1: rather stir, stir these longings forever. God's home is our
- 11:06Speaker 1: forever home. That's why the psalmist said, and I will
- 11:10Speaker 1: dwell in the house of the Lord forever. That's your
- 11:13Speaker 1: forever home. I know a couple that adopted a three-year-old
- 11:18Speaker 1: and a one-and-a-half-year-old. The one-and-a-half-year-old obviously doesn't know a big difference,
- 11:25Speaker 1: but the three-year-old can tell a difference between his new
- 11:28Speaker 1: home and the foster home. And when you ask him,
- 11:31Speaker 1: he says, this is my forever home. Wouldn't it be
- 11:35Speaker 1: great when we're in heaven and we can say the
- 11:37Speaker 1: same thing? We can say, this is my forever home.
- 11:43Speaker 1: Couldn't we use a forever home? Birthdays remind us that
- 11:48Speaker 1: we could. You know, I'm officially a man of Medicare.
- 11:54Speaker 1: 2020 saw, in addition to everything else, it saw my
- 11:58Speaker 1: 65th birthday. And all those things that I've heard all
- 12:02Speaker 1: my life about aging are coming true. I'm patting myself
- 12:06Speaker 1: less on the back and more under the chin. I
- 12:09Speaker 1: have everything that I had 30 years ago, except now
- 12:11Speaker 1: it's all lower. The other day I tried to straighten
- 12:14Speaker 1: out the wrinkles in my socks and I found out
- 12:16Speaker 1: I wasn't wearing any. I've come to appreciate this paragraph
- 12:21Speaker 1: written by humorist Dave Barry. He said, with the exception
- 12:26Speaker 1: of dental problems, intestinal malfunctions, muscle deterioration, emotional instability, memory lapses,
- 12:35Speaker 1: hearing and vision loss, impotence, seizures, growths, prostate problems, reduced
- 12:42Speaker 1: limb functions, massive coronary failure, death, and of course, painful
- 12:48Speaker 1: hemorrhoidal swelling, I'm doing just fine.
- 12:53Speaker 2: Aging.
- 12:55Speaker 1: It's no fun. It's no fun. Yeah, and the way
- 12:59Speaker 1: we try to avoid it, you think we could, but
- 13:04Speaker 1: we do everything, right? We paint the body, preserve the body,
- 13:06Speaker 1: protect the body, and we should. These bodies are God's gifts,
- 13:11Speaker 1: and we should be responsible, but we should also be realistic.
- 13:15Speaker 1: This body must die so that our heavenly body can live.
- 13:19Speaker 1: Here's what the apostle said. Flesh and blood cannot die.
- 13:23Speaker 1: have a part in the kingdom of God. Flesh and
- 13:26Speaker 1: blood in our current state cannot have a part in
- 13:29Speaker 1: the kingdom of God. Something that will ruin, which is
- 13:33Speaker 1: this body, cannot have a part in something that never ruins.
- 13:39Speaker 1: And so this body must be changed. Aging is God's idea.
- 13:45Speaker 1: It's one way that he prepares us for our eternal home.
- 13:49Speaker 1: And it's a reminder that we are headed homeward. We
- 13:52Speaker 1: can't change the process, but we can change our attitude
- 13:55Speaker 1: toward it. Here's an idea. What if we begun to
- 13:59Speaker 1: look at the aging body like we do the growth
- 14:02Speaker 1: of a tulip? I don't know a lot about tulips,
- 14:06Speaker 1: but I do know that people don't mourn over the
- 14:09Speaker 1: passing of a tulip bulb. Gardeners don't weep as the
- 14:14Speaker 1: bulb begins to weaken. They don't purchase tulip girdles. They
- 14:19Speaker 1: don't buy petal wrinkle cream or consult plastic leaf surgeons.
- 14:26Speaker 1: We don't moan the passing of the bulb. In fact,
- 14:29Speaker 1: we celebrate it. Tulip lovers get excited when the tulip
- 14:34Speaker 1: bulb begins to weaken. Watch that one, they say. It's
- 14:38Speaker 1: about to blossom. Here's a crazy idea. I wonder if
- 14:44Speaker 1: angels do the same with us. The more frail we become,
- 14:47Speaker 1: I wonder if the angels get excited when they see
- 14:50Speaker 1: the fact that we're about to blossom. Watch that lady
- 14:54Speaker 1: in the hospital. She'll be coming home any day now.
- 14:57Speaker 1: Keep an eye on that fellow with the bad heart.
- 15:00Speaker 1: He's about to blossom. Here's the promise from the apostle Paul.
- 15:04Speaker 1: He said, we are waiting for God to finish making
- 15:07Speaker 1: us his own children. We're waiting on him to finish this,
- 15:11Speaker 1: which means our bodies will be made free. Do you
- 15:16Speaker 1: think our bodies are free now? By no means. The
- 15:20Speaker 1: Apostle Paul describes them as earthly bodies. Here's some other translations.
- 15:27Speaker 1: Lowly body. The body of our humble estate. Weak mortal bodies.
- 15:32Speaker 1: Vile bodies. Humble bodies. I mean, these bodies, they don't
- 15:36Speaker 1: get a lot of positive press in Scripture.
- 15:39Speaker 2: Why?
- 15:39Speaker 1: It's because they have to be transitioned. They have to
- 15:42Speaker 1: be changed. You could add your own adjective. What word
- 15:47Speaker 1: describes your body today? Maybe you say my cancerous body,
- 15:52Speaker 1: my arthritic body, my deformed body, my crippled body, my
- 15:57Speaker 1: addicted body, my ever-expanding body. The word may be different,
- 16:01Speaker 1: but the message is the same. These bodies are weak,
- 16:05Speaker 1: and they begin decaying the minute we begin breathing. And
- 16:09Speaker 1: my friend, that's a part of God's plan. That's a
- 16:13Speaker 1: part of God's plan. We can celebrate our aging because
- 16:18Speaker 1: every day we get closer and closer to that moment
- 16:21Speaker 1: that we are transitioned into our heavenly home. Every wrinkle
- 16:26Speaker 1: and every needle takes us one step closer to the
- 16:29Speaker 1: last step when Jesus Christ will change our simple bodies
- 16:34Speaker 1: into forever bodies. There'll be no pain. There'll be no depression.
- 16:41Speaker 1: There'll be no sickness. There'll be no end. There'll be
- 16:43Speaker 1: no pandemics. This is not our forever home. Now it
- 16:49Speaker 1: will serve for the time being. But there's nothing like
- 16:53Speaker 1: the moment that we enter his door. I just want
- 16:58Speaker 1: to urge you to set your heart on that. During
- 17:01Speaker 1: these times of difficulty, we must have times that are
- 17:04Speaker 1: focused on eternity. Heaven is the green vegetable on the
- 17:10Speaker 1: spiritual diet. We need to think long and hard about it.
- 17:14Speaker 1: We need to set our mind on our heavenly home.
- 17:17Speaker 1: We need to continually try to envision a life that
- 17:21Speaker 1: awaits us. We are here, friends, for just a moment.
- 17:25Speaker 1: Just a moment. And then we'll be with Christ forever.
- 17:30Speaker 1: And that moment is going to pass very quickly. Hang
- 17:33Speaker 1: in there. Don't get discouraged. Don't give up. Keep your
- 17:38Speaker 1: eyes up. Keep looking toward your heavenly home. When sickness comes,
- 17:43Speaker 1: when aging comes, when problem comes, when diseases come, don't
- 17:47Speaker 1: let them pull you down. You keep lifting your eyes
- 17:50Speaker 1: up and looking toward your heavenly home. You were not
- 17:53Speaker 1: made for here. Don't think for a second you'll ever
- 17:57Speaker 1: be completely happy here. Again, you'll have your moments, and
- 18:00Speaker 1: I pray you have a lot of them. But you'll
- 18:03Speaker 1: never be completely happy here. Let your expectations of this
- 18:07Speaker 1: life be realistic. Be realistic. This is not your home.
- 18:11Speaker 1: You're a fish on the beach and your heavenly father
- 18:14Speaker 1: is going to come and he's going to put you
- 18:16Speaker 1: in your element and he's going to do it at
- 18:19Speaker 1: the right time in the right way. He loves you.
- 18:22Speaker 1: Let him love you. Let him love you. Now, maybe
- 18:25Speaker 1: I'm speaking to somebody who doesn't know their heavenly father.
- 18:29Speaker 1: You don't know that the Lord Jesus is coming for you.
- 18:32Speaker 1: You don't know that this earth is just a transition place.
- 18:37Speaker 1: It's just an airport terminal in which we are being
- 18:40Speaker 1: moved from one place to the next. Maybe you're just
- 18:43Speaker 1: hearing this for the first time. Well, let me tell
- 18:45Speaker 1: you what Jesus says. Jesus says this world is not
- 18:48Speaker 1: your home, but that he has gone to prepare a
- 18:50Speaker 1: place for you and he will come back and take
- 18:53Speaker 1: you to be with him so that you can be
- 18:55Speaker 1: where he is. But he won't do that unless you
- 18:57Speaker 1: accept his invitation. Accept his invitation. Invite him to be
- 19:02Speaker 1: the Lord of your life. Invite him to be the
- 19:06Speaker 1: master of your eternity. He's got such great plans for you,
- 19:09Speaker 1: a great destiny for you. And he offers it to you,
- 19:13Speaker 1: but he won't force it upon you. Why don't you
- 19:16Speaker 1: say yes to him? Say yes to him. Just say, Lord,
- 19:19Speaker 1: I receive you as my king. I receive you as
- 19:21Speaker 1: my master. I receive you as my maker. I acknowledge
- 19:25Speaker 1: that this difficult world is not my home and I'm
- 19:27Speaker 1: looking forward to the home you give me. You see,
- 19:30Speaker 1: the reason that Jesus died on the cross is so
- 19:32Speaker 1: that you could become a perfect person in a perfect
- 19:36Speaker 1: place with your perfect heavenly father. I close with the
- 19:41Speaker 1: story that came my way through a friend who heard
- 19:44Speaker 1: it from a friend who heard it from another friend
- 19:48Speaker 1: who knows how many friends it passed through. So I
- 19:50Speaker 1: can't really vouch for its authenticity. Chances are it suffered
- 19:54Speaker 1: through each of the generations. But even if there's only
- 19:57Speaker 1: a splinter of fact in what I heard, it's such
- 20:00Speaker 1: a great story, it's worth the retelling. Seems a fellow
- 20:03Speaker 1: was doing some shopping at a commissary on a military base.
- 20:07Speaker 1: He didn't need much, just some coffee and some bread.
- 20:11Speaker 1: He was standing in line at the checkout stand. Of course,
- 20:14Speaker 1: this was long before he had the social distance, and
- 20:17Speaker 1: it was back in the days when people would, you know,
- 20:20Speaker 1: stand in line and be able to carry on a
- 20:23Speaker 1: conversation one with the other. Behind him was a woman
- 20:26Speaker 1: with the full cart. He noticed that her basket overflowed
- 20:29Speaker 1: with groceries and clothing and even some small appliances. As
- 20:34Speaker 1: he stepped up to the grocer, up to the register.
- 20:37Speaker 1: The clerk invited him to draw out a piece of
- 20:40Speaker 1: paper out of a fishbowl. If you pull out the
- 20:44Speaker 1: correct slip, the grocer said, then all your groceries today
- 20:49Speaker 1: are free. Well, the man asked, well, how many correct
- 20:53Speaker 1: slips are there? And the clerk said, well, there's just one. Well,
- 20:59Speaker 1: the gentleman looked at the fishbowl. It was packed with
- 21:02Speaker 1: all these little tiny pieces of paper. And he said, well,
- 21:04Speaker 1: what are the odds? Even so, It wouldn't hurt. So
- 21:07Speaker 1: he stuck his hand in there and he pulled out.
- 21:10Speaker 1: Wouldn't you know it? He pulled out the winning ticket.
- 21:13Speaker 1: Wouldn't you know it? But then he realized he was
- 21:16Speaker 1: only buying coffee and bread. What a waste. But this
- 21:22Speaker 1: fellow was a quick thinker. He turned to the lady
- 21:26Speaker 1: behind him, the one with a mountain full of groceries
- 21:29Speaker 1: in her basket. And he proclaimed to her, well, what
- 21:34Speaker 1: do you know, honey?
- 21:35Speaker 2: We....
- 21:37Speaker 1: One. And he gave her some serious winks. She stared
- 21:42Speaker 1: at him. He winked some more. And somehow she had
- 21:45Speaker 1: the wherewithal to realize what he was doing. And she
- 21:49Speaker 1: decided to play along. She stepped up beside him and
- 21:52Speaker 1: she put her arm in his and smiled. And for
- 21:55Speaker 1: a moment, they stood side by side, wedded by good fortune.
- 22:00Speaker 1: In the parking lot, she consummated the temporary union with
- 22:04Speaker 1: a quick kiss on the cheek and a hug. And
- 22:08Speaker 1: went her way with a grand story to tell her kids.
- 22:11Speaker 1: I know, I know, I know. Don't send me any emails.
- 22:14Speaker 1: That was a bit shady. That was a bit shady
- 22:17Speaker 1: what that guy did. Yeah, I know, I know. Kids,
- 22:20Speaker 1: he shouldn't have lied. And she shouldn't have pretended. But
- 22:26Speaker 1: all that taken into account. Isn't that a great story?
- 22:32Speaker 1: Isn't that a great story? And isn't that a story
- 22:35Speaker 1: that's not too distant from our own We too have
- 22:39Speaker 1: been graced with a surprise, even more than the lady.
- 22:43Speaker 1: And she had a big debt to pay. We had
- 22:48Speaker 1: a debt that we could not pay. But like the woman,
- 22:52Speaker 1: we've been given a gift. And not at a checkout stand,
- 22:57Speaker 1: but a gift we're going to receive as we stand
- 23:01Speaker 1: before our great God who loves us in our heavenly home.
- 23:05Speaker 1: And we too have become a bride, not just for
- 23:08Speaker 1: a moment, but for eternity. And not just for groceries,
- 23:14Speaker 1: but for the feast. And don't we have a great
- 23:18Speaker 1: story to tell our friends. We're going to dwell in
- 23:23Speaker 1: the house of the Lord.
- 23:26Speaker 3: Forever.
- 23:28Speaker 1: Lord, thank you for these comforting words. May they lift
- 23:32Speaker 1: our hearts today. May they lift our hearts today. And
- 23:36Speaker 1: may you speak especially to those who are lonely, who
- 23:39Speaker 1: are afraid, who are finding it difficult to press forward
- 23:44Speaker 1: day to day. Lift their spirits, Lord, with the promise
- 23:47Speaker 1: of their heavenly home. For it's just a moment and
- 23:51Speaker 1: we'll be there. Through Christ we pray.
- 23:57Speaker 3: Amen.
- 24:15Speaker 2: As long as you're somewhere out there, that's enough for me.
- 24:44Speaker 4: I don't need to hold you near me Don't need
- 24:47Speaker 4: promises to keep Just the thought that you are breathing
- 24:53Speaker 4: Somewhere in this world I see Even if I'm not
- 24:58Speaker 4: beside you Even if you never know There's a quiet
- 25:04Speaker 4: kind of comfort Just in knowing you still glow I
- 25:11Speaker 4: don't need forever I just need you to exist You
- 25:22Speaker 4: don't have to stay with me You don't have to
- 25:26Speaker 4: feel the same Just as long as you're still out
- 25:32Speaker 4: there Calling softly through my days You don't have to
- 25:36Speaker 4: look my way You don't have to be my home
- 25:43Speaker 4: It's enough to know you're living In a world I'm
- 25:47Speaker 4: not alone I won't chase you through the distance Won't
- 25:56Speaker 4: disturb your chosen life I'll just keep you in my
- 26:00Speaker 4: silence Like a star that shines at night Through the
- 26:07Speaker 4: dark and through.
- 26:08Speaker 2: The blue I still think of you.
- 26:21Speaker 4: You don't have to be my home. It's enough to
- 26:25Speaker 4: know you're living in a world I'm not alone. I
- 27:00Speaker 4: don't need to be your light. I don't need to
- 27:04Speaker 4: cross your mind. All I need is just the truth
- 27:08Speaker 4: that you're somewhere still alive.
- 27:15Speaker 2: You don't have.
- 27:16Speaker 3: To stay with me You don't have to feel the
- 27:21Speaker 3: same Just as long as you're still out there Calling
- 27:26Speaker 3: softly through.
- 27:27Speaker 2: My days You don't have.
- 27:29Speaker 4: To look my way You don't have to be my
- 27:34Speaker 4: home It's enough to know you're living In a world
- 27:42Speaker 4: I'm not alone