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Living a Legacy - 2026-10-24 A Regular Diet of God's Word part 1 · Your Network of Praise

0:01
S1: The four relationships that we're to have with the truth
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S1: of God's Word. We're to love it. We're to learn it.
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S1: We're to live it. And we're to share it. We
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S1: live under the canopy of God's voice. That's where we
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S1: have our identity as followers of Jesus.
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S2: Hello and welcome to Living a Legacy with pastor and
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S2: author Doctor Crawford. Lawrence Crawford served as senior pastor of
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S2: Fellowship Bible Church in Roswell, Georgia. In a few moments,
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S2: we'll head to John chapter 17, verse 17 for another
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S2: message in Crawford series, the DNA of the church. Now,
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S2: originally this series was presented at Fellowship Bible Church as
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S2: part of a refocusing of the mission of that local assembly.
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S2: But the principles Crawford's been sharing each week in the
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S2: series are ones that help all of us see the
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S2: true function of the church wherever we worship each week.
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S2: Today's message is titled A Regular Diet of God's Word,
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S2: and we'll look at four primary relationships we have to
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S2: the Bible. At the close of our time together, I'll
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S2: tell you how you can hear other messages in this series.
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S2: Let's join the Congregation of Fellowship Bible Church now again,
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S2: our text, John chapter 17 verse 17. Here's Crawford on
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S2: living a legacy.
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S1: Our mission statement is that we exist to glorify God
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S1: by making disciples of Jesus, who love God passionately and
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S1: who love others unconditionally. Now, that's not just something that
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S1: we dreamed up and that's anchored, as I said last
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S1: week in two passages of Scripture. Last week I gave
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S1: sort of the banks of the river. You know, a
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S1: river that doesn't have banks is not a river. It's
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S1: a swamp. Uh, in order for something to have direction,
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S1: it needs banks. And those there's two passages of scripture
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S1: that represents the banks of the river here at Fellowship
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S1: Bible Church. Matthew chapter 22. When Jesus responded to the
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S1: lawyer that came up to him and said, and now
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S1: I said, lawyer, I made the differentiation. You do know
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S1: that this is not a barrister or trial lawyer like
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S1: we have today. This guy was literally a lawyer in
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S1: the sense that he was an expert in the mosaic law,
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S1: and the Pharisees put him up to going up to
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S1: Jesus to try to show him out. And he asked Jesus, well,
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S1: what's the greatest commandment in the law? And I made
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S1: the observation there were 613 commandments that these dudes would
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S1: argue over as to which one was the greatest. And
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S1: Jesus did not give him one of the Ten Commandments,
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S1: which he probably thought he was going to, but he
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S1: gave him one that they quoted every day from the Decalogue.
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S1: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
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S1: with all your mind, with all your soul, with all
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S1: your might. And then Jesus gave him a bonus. And
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S1: the second is like it he only asked for one,
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S1: but Jesus gave him two. And you shall love your
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S1: neighbor as yourself. And I tried to point out last
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S1: week the reason why he gave him two is that
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S1: you cannot authentically love God without loving your neighbor. They're inseparable.
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S1: They're inseparable. And so that represents one part. We love
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S1: God passionately and we love others unconditionally. But the first
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S1: part of our mission statement is large. And what Jesus
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S1: said to his followers in Matthew chapter 28, verses 18
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S1: to 20, just before he was going to ascend into heaven,
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S1: he says, this is what you need to know in
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S1: order to change the world, and rightly so. We call
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S1: it the Great Commission. He says, therefore all authority is
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S1: given to me in heaven and earth. Go, therefore, and
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S1: make disciples of all the nations, all the nations. And
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S1: so the emphasis there is, is reproducing ourselves by making disciples,
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S1: making disciples, not converts, but by making disciples. I'm going
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S1: to say this repeatedly. This mission statement is not our
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S1: mission statement, meaning Crawford, the staff, the elders. This is
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S1: not this is not our mission statement. This is not
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S1: our program template for Fellowship Bible Church. This is not
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S1: what we're going to do for the church, but this
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S1: is our mission statement. My job, my role here at
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S1: the church is not to come up with creative programs
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S1: to keep things afloat. Our job as staff and elders
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S1: is not to sit in some little boardroom and whiteboard.
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S1: Where are we going to be now? We do that.
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S1: I mean, obviously, I'm using a little bit of hyperbole here,
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S1: but our job is not to think of ways of
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S1: how we can help the church and sell you on
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S1: where we're going. Our job, our job is to help
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S1: you to reproduce the life of Jesus. Our job is
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S1: to equip you to be what God's called you to be.
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S1: It's about multiplying discipleship. Now, beginning today, beginning today, and
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S1: for the next three weeks, we're going to look at
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S1: the four big house HOWS, the four big hows in
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S1: scripture in terms of making disciples and reproducing followers of
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S1: Jesus Christ. What is that built on? What are the
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S1: four lanes? And I trust these will be the four
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S1: things that every program, every emphasis, what we do here
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S1: at Fellowship Bible Church will be measured by. These are
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S1: the four things, four things. And we don't want anything
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S1: to compete with them. But there are four very clear things.
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S1: And I would like to say that these are embedded
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S1: throughout the scriptures. These are the four pathways, the four
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S1: major tributaries, if you will, that flow into this great
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S1: river of making disciples of Jesus who love God passionately
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S1: and love others unconditionally. The first one which where we
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S1: really begin is a regular diet of God's Word, a
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S1: regular diet of God's Word. In John chapter 17. Now
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S1: we call, we call the prayer, the model prayer that
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S1: Jesus prayed in the sermon on the Mount. We call
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S1: that the Lord's Prayer. But technically speaking, that's a little wrong.
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S1: If you want to call something a Lord's Prayer, it
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S1: is John 17, because that is the Lord's Prayer in
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S1: John 17. Jesus is praying in the garden, and this
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S1: is the content of his prayer just before he's going
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S1: to ascend into heaven, just before I'm sorry, before he's
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S1: going to be crucified, he's praying. And the theme of
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S1: that prayer is that he is praying for his disciples
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S1: and followers throughout every generation. And then he has this
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S1: remarkable statement. Listen to the prayer request. Listen to what
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S1: he asks the father to do. He says about his followers,
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S1: us in succeeding generations. He says, sanctify them in your truth,
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S1: for your word is truth. Sanctify them in your truth,
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S1: for your word is truth. The word sanctify means to
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S1: be set apart. It means to be holy. Now, he's
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S1: not asking for Christians to be weird from one generation
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S1: to the next. What he's talking about there, what he's
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S1: talking about there, is that I want you to sanctify,
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S1: set apart your followers, and protect them during their moment
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S1: in history. May the culture not determine the content and
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S1: veracity of their Christianity and their walk with me. May
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S1: the Word of God give them life and vibrancy and stability.
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S1: May the literal voice of God be everything that marks them.
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S1: The signature over their souls. Listen to me. Listen to me.
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S1: When Jesus said in Matthew 28 verse 20, he says
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S1: in verse 19, make disciples of all nations, baptizing verse
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S1: 20 and teaching them everything that I've commanded you. He
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S1: is saying that there is no discipleship apart from identification
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S1: with Jesus. That's baptism. And there is no such thing
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S1: as being a follower, a disciple of Jesus, without a
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S1: passion for his word. None. Now, I know that's very strong. Uh,
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S1: some of you would, would, would rather me speak in
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S1: emotional terms here and inspirational terms and say wonderful, nice,
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S1: glowing things that are not true and touchy feely. But
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S1: the truth of the matter is, Jesus prayed that we
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S1: might be sanctified in truth, for your word is truth.
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S1: And then he told his followers, listen, listen. The only
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S1: mark of true discipleship is if they identify with me
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S1: and they continue in my teaching, which is his his word.
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S1: Now I'm struggling a little bit as I put this together,
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S1: because there's a side of me that wanted to talk
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S1: about the validity and veracity of the Bible, and I
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S1: decided not to do this. But I do need to
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S1: say this. If if you're struggling with whether or not
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S1: the Bible is true, and how do we know that
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S1: the Bible is true? Let me just click off five areas,
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S1: five headers that I think maybe you can go and
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S1: investigate for yourself, but I'll just sort of give a
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S1: brief sentence summary of each one. Um, we know that
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S1: the Bible is true when we consider these five areas,
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S1: I mean, there's more of them, but these are five
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S1: to consider. Number one experience. What do you mean by that? Well,
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S1: the Bible gives us the experiences that it claims to give. Uh,
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S1: the forgiveness of sin and the transformation of lives. You
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S1: must look at that in terms of the billions of
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S1: people throughout history who have been transformed by the words
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S1: of this book. Secondly, science. Now, to be sure, the
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S1: Bible is not a scientific textbook as such, but check
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S1: it out. Whenever the Bible speaks about a scientific principle,
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S1: it is 100% accurate. Thirdly, Jesus. And you might say, well, Crawford,
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S1: aren't you appealing to the source to be the validation
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S1: of the source? I guess I am in a certain way,
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S1: but Jesus was the greatest religious leader figure throughout all
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S1: of history, and Jesus himself believed in the authority of
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S1: the Bible. He said in Matthew chapter five, verse 18,
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S1: Heaven and earth shall pass away, but not one part
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S1: of this book shall fail miracles. The Bible is a
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S1: supernatural book. It is a. It is a book that
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S1: demonstrates a supernatural activity of the God who authored it.
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S1: And then, of course, there's prophecy. This is absolutely remarkable.
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S1: You know, here you have a book that's written by
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S1: 1000 witnesses, Peter 1600 years by about 40 different authors,
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S1: most of whom were not contemporaries. Now, you think about
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S1: that for a second. Most of whom were not contemporaries.
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S1: And yet not only is there not any contradiction in
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S1: the Bible itself, but 100% of everything that the Bible
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S1: predicted comes out with pinpoint accuracy. And so you have
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S1: to consider these things as other things. Again, I don't
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S1: want to step all into that. Christians need to be
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S1: people of one book. What do you mean by that?
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S1: I don't think the Bible is. Obviously, I'm not saying
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S1: that the Bible is the only book that we read.
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S1: But as as followers of Christ, we need to be
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S1: people of one one book. You, you you may have
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S1: heard of Doctor Walter Scott, who was a British novelist
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S1: and poet and a great Christian. Uh, when Walter Scott
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S1: was dying, he summoned his secretary and he said to her,
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S1: bring me the book. She she sort of looked at
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S1: him aghast, and she looked around the library that he
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S1: had thousands of books. And she said, um, Doctor Scott,
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S1: which book? Look at these books. What what which book?
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S1: He says, no, bring me the book, the Bible. And
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S1: then he made this statement. It's the only book for
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S1: a dying man. I would add to that. It's the
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S1: only book for a living, a living person. We're living
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S1: in an open ended culture and an open ended time
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S1: in history where people do not like to make decisions,
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S1: especially decisions relative to which is better than something else.
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S1: So we we live in this time in which even
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S1: as followers of Christ, we don't want to say that
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S1: the Bible is greater than or better than all other
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S1: sources of quote truth. But the truth of the matter
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S1: is we need to make a decision. This is God's Word.
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S1: It is his book. It is his voice. It is
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S1: given to us. It speaks with authority. There. There cannot
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S1: be any other options. The Bible is God's word. And
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S1: I think as followers of Christ, we need to make
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S1: up our minds. Either it is that or it isn't
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S1: that we need to be people of the book. Now,
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S1: everything I say today is based upon that, that assumption. Uh,
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S1: in fact, I'd like for you to look at this
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S1: on the screen. I want to summarize this by saying,
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S1: here's the importance of the Bible being the Word of
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S1: God to us. If we do not approach the Bible
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S1: with wonder, awe, and a heart to hear and embrace
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S1: the voice of God, we forfeit intimacy with him and
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S1: abandon his plan for our lives. You can't be neutral
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S1: when it comes to the Bible. If we do not
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S1: approach the Bible with wonder, awe, and a heart to
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S1: hear and embrace the very voice of God, we forfeit
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S1: intimacy with him and abandon his plans for our lives.
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S1: I chose those words intentionally, and I used the word
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S1: voice intentionally. This book that's in your hand is the
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S1: voice of Almighty God. They're not a collection of sacred writings.
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S1: They're not musings of great poets and cultural leaders. The
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S1: book that you're holding in your hand is the voice
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S1: of God Almighty. If you don't embrace that. We will
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S1: forever struggle and be casual about our relationship to this book.
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S1: It is the voice, the voice of God. Now, I
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S1: want to talk today, just real briefly, in the time
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S1: that I have left on the four primary relationships that
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S1: we're to have with the Bible. As you read through
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S1: the scriptures, what. What are the relation? How should we
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S1: be related to the Scripture? Now, I very seldom do
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S1: this because I don't know that certain things are sequential,
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S1: but I actually think the order that I'm giving these
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S1: four things, these four primary relationships we ought to have
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S1: with the Bible are in order. But as I've often said,
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S1: be careful when you listen to guys like me who
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S1: are listed that They're not as separated as they come across.
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S1: They're together, but they are in order. These are the
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S1: four primary relationships that a disciple, a follower of Jesus,
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S1: ought to have with the voice of God. Number one,
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S1: we're to love it. Number two, we're to learn it.
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S1: Number three, we're to live it. And number four were
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S1: to share it. Not all that heavy. The four relationships
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S1: that we're to have with the truth of God's Word.
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S1: We're to love it. We're to learn it. We're to
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S1: live it. And we're to share it. We live under
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S1: the canopy of God's voice. Did you hear what I
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S1: just said? We live under the canopy of God's voice.
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S1: That's where we have our identity as followers of Jesus.
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S1: I got I got you. You gotta understand what I'm
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S1: trying to say here. You don't make forays into truth
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S1: and then live your life based upon your assumptions, and
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S1: you get out there on a limb and then you
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S1: come back to God's truth. Multiplying disciples say to themselves,
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S1: I live under the canopy of the voice of God.
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S1: I live there. And so within that confines and within
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S1: that context, I've made my decision to live there. Which
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S1: means I must love it. I've gotta learn it. I
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S1: must live it. And I have to share it. First
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S1: of all, I need to need to love it over in, in, in, uh,
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S1: Psalm 119, I'll read verse 129 and verse 136. Uh,
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S1: most believe that David David wrote this, but in, in
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S1: these two verses, I, I've, I've observed, uh, there are three, um,
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S1: heart descriptions of a relationship to the word of God.
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S1: Listen to what David says here in verse 129. He says,
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S1: your testimonies are wonderful, therefore my soul keeps them. Your
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S1: testimonies are wonderful and therefore my soul keeps them calm.
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S1: The word wonderful, that's to be taken in its broadest
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S1: emotional sense, in the sense that, you know, the the
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S1: Word of God, the voice of God, strikes in me,
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S1: or it is amazing. Nothing compares to it. It is
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S1: the ultimate. It is the ultimate model and, and, and
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S1: moral good. It captures my thinking. It captures my heart.
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S1: It is out of this world and meant to be
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S1: captured by everything that I am. It is wonderful. Imagine
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S1: the God of the universe would choose to communicate what
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S1: is pure, holy and right to us. It is wonderful.
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S1: And that's the reason why God gives us testing trials
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S1: as followers of Jesus, for us to prove the richness
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S1: and wonder of his word. It is wonderful that the
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S1: one who created our souls would speak to us and
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S1: speak to us so, so clearly. And secondly, it is
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S1: a treasure. And you guard that treasure. The second part
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S1: of verse 129 says, your testimonies are wonderful, therefore my
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S1: soul keeps them. Uh, what is treasured requires to be guarded.
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S1: When I travel outside of the country now, uh, uh,
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S1: Karen still does this, but this was it's always meaningful,
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S1: but this was particularly meaningful. I'm showing my age here,
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S1: dating myself in those days when we didn't have Skype
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S1: and FaceTime and, you know, email was not all that accessible.
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S1: And when I'd be taking a long trip out of
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S1: the country, whether I was in Johannesburg or, you know, Kampala, Uganda,
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S1: or wherever it might be, you know, one of the
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S1: things she used to do, she does this to this day,
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S1: by the way, if I'm on a long trip and
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S1: I look forward to this. One of the things she
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S1: used to do, she would always write me a letter
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S1: and put it in the envelope and put it in
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S1: my suitcase. You know, the first thing I would do.
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S1: I still do this. The first thing I do before
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S1: I even unpack my clothes is I look for that letter,
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S1: and I read that thing over and over and over
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S1: and over and over and over and over because the
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S1: letter was her voice. It reminded me of her presence.
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S1: And this stuff about the Word of God is not all.
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S1: Don't make it so theoretical. God has written to us
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S1: his voice. It's him. It's his presence. And we need
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S1: to immerse ourselves in it. And so the very first
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S1: thing I want to ask you to do, and this
19:49
S1: is why I started the message this way, the very
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S1: first thing I want to ask you to do. You know,
19:54
S1: don't legalistic gut Legalistically gut your way through the Bible. Okay?
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S1: But the very first thing to do, and I want
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S1: to challenge every last one of us. Would you ask
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S1: God if you're struggling with reading God's Word? If you're
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S1: struggling with applying it to your life, will you ask
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S1: God to give you a love for His Word? Will
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S1: you ask him to give you a love for his voice?
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S1: Will you do that? Will you write that down? Write
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S1: that down. Lord God, help me to love the Word
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S1: of God. And I gotta tell you, he will. In fact,
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S1: he will in fact, do that just for you. It
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S1: is meant to be treasured. Our life and priorities should
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S1: show that we love His Word. But he also says
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S1: it's accessible. 136 verse 136 is a powerful emotional verse.
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S1: Listen to what David says. He says, my eyes shed
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S1: streams of tears because people do not keep your law. Uh,
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S1: David's not being self-righteous here. What he's saying is I
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S1: have learned and experience the liberating passion of the Word
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S1: of God. It has set me free and I know
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S1: what it can do. And my eyes shed tears when
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S1: I see the bondage of people and I see the
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S1: messes that they're in, and they won't respond to the
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S1: Word of God. You know, I gotta tell you this,
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S1: even as a pastor, I have talked to people in
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S1: my office, I've interacted with folks and this kind of thing.
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S1: They're going through hard times. They're facing consequences of bad
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S1: choices and bad decisions and all of this stuff. And,
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S1: you know, you know, when it boils down to it,
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S1: they won't listen to God. And I say to myself,
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S1: why are you assigning yourself to hell? I look at
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S1: the mess that our country is in. God being disinvited.
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S1: Now look at the complexity of sin and mess and
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S1: I see in my own life. Crawford, don't you know
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S1: if you were more consistently cherishing this book. How liberating
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S1: it could be. And what David is bemoaning is the
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S1: fact that it's accessible and it's right here, and you
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S1: could be free. So the very first relationship we have
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S1: with the Word of God is that we should love it.
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S1: Number two, the second relationship that we need to have
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S1: with the Word of God is that we learn it.
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S1: We learn it. Now listen. Listen to me. I'm all
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S1: in favor of good emotions and raising our hands and
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S1: good warm feelings and sensing God's presence. But learning is
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S1: what Christians do. Learning God's Word is what Christians do.
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S2: Doctor Crawford Lawrence here on Living a Legacy. Well, next
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S2: week more about learning God's Word along with living it
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S2: and sharing it. Today's message, titled A Regular Diet of
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S2: God's Word, is part of Crawford's series about the DNA
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S2: of the church, and the series was originally delivered at
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S2: Fellowship Bible Church in Roswell, Georgia, where Crawford serves as
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S2: senior pastor. Now, if you've been listening over the past
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S2: several weeks, you no doubt have noticed that we've temporarily
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S2: departed from our series in. Matthew called for his kingdom. Well,
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S2: don't panic, we'll be returning to it after our current
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S2: short series. If you found today's message helpful, you can
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S2: hear it again online at Living legacy dot mp3. Downloads
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S2: are also available. Thanks for your emails. It's so encouraging
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S2: to know how God is using Crawford's teaching in your life.
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S2: Contact us through our website at living legacy.org. Living a legacy.org.
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S2: Look for the contact link. Also, thanks for the role
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S2: you play in helping to keep living a legacy on
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S2: this station each week. For more details, follow the link
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S2: on our website. Living a legacy.org. For Crawford Lawrence, I'm
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S2: Bill Davis. Thanks for being with us today. This program
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S2: is a production of Moody Radio.