Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / The Two Ultimate Questions Msg 621 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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The Two Ultimate Questions Msg 621 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: It was the apostle Paul who wrote to the Colossians,
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Speaker 1: to let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly
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Speaker 1: with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms
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Speaker 1: and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your
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Speaker 1: hearts to the Lord. We have witnessed, we've experienced today
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Speaker 1: how the words of song can teach and admonish and
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Speaker 1: encourage us as we hear God's Word in melodic, harmonious
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Speaker 1: fashion sung for us. As I said and listened to
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Speaker 1: the lyrics, I thought, they are they are truly inspired.
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Speaker 1: And and it speaks to all of us speaking have inspired.
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Speaker 1: When we open God's Word at any place, we have
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Speaker 1: come to writings that are inspired like no other writings.
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Speaker 1: The word that Paul uses in his letter to Timothy
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Speaker 1: is God breathed. All scripture is God breathed. The olp
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Speaker 1: nustas breathed out by God. So the writers of holy
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Speaker 1: scriptures received that's revelation, receive the truth from God. And
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Speaker 1: then they recorded that's inspiration, the truth of God without error.
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Speaker 1: And then we learned from it, and that's called illumination, revelation, inspiration,
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Speaker 1: and then we live it out, having been illumined by it.
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Speaker 1: So we turn to God's Inspired Word in Matthew chapter
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Speaker 1: twenty two, which is a record of Matthew's account of
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Speaker 1: the life of Jesus. As all of you know, there
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Speaker 1: were four who wrote of Jesus' life, commonly referred to
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Speaker 1: in theological works as the evangelists. Mark was the first
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Speaker 1: to write, and he writes of Jesus as a servant,
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Speaker 1: and then Luke or Matthew. It's debatable who wrote next.
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Speaker 1: Luke writes of Jesus as the Man, Matthew as the King,
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Speaker 1: and John writes of him as God Deity. So we
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Speaker 1: look into the Kingly Gospel when we look at Matthew,
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Speaker 1: and we're finishing this twenty two twenty second chapter, beginning
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Speaker 1: at verse thirty three. In the reading. Once you find that,
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Speaker 1: please stand for the reading of God's Inspired Word Matthew
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Speaker 1: twenty two, verse thirty three. I'll be reading from the
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Speaker 1: New Living Translation. When the crowds heard him, they were
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Speaker 1: astounded at his teaching. But when the Pharisees heard that
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Speaker 1: he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met
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Speaker 1: together to question him again. One of them, an expert
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Speaker 1: in religious law. Try to trap him with this question.
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Speaker 1: Teach her which is the most important commandment in the
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Speaker 1: law of Jesus replied, you must know the Lord your
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Speaker 1: God with all your heart. You must love the Lord
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Speaker 1: your God with all your heart, all your soul, and
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Speaker 1: all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.
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Speaker 1: The second is equally important, love your neighbor as yourself.
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Speaker 1: The entire law and all the demands of the prophets
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Speaker 1: are based on these two commandments. Then, surrounded by the pharisees,
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Speaker 1: Jesus asked them a question, what do you think about
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Speaker 1: the Messiah? Whose son is he? They replied, He's the
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Speaker 1: son of David. Jesus responded, then, what does David, speaking
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Speaker 1: under the inspiration of the spirit, call the Messiah my Lord?
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Speaker 1: For David said the Lord said to my Lord, sit
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Speaker 1: in the place of honor at my right hand until
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Speaker 1: I humble your enemies beneath your feet. Since David called
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Speaker 1: the Messiah my lord, how can the Messiah be his son?
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Speaker 1: No one could answer him, And after that no one
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Speaker 1: dared to ask him any more questions. Hadn't that great?
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Speaker 1: I want to go, yes, I want to get to
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Speaker 1: the end of that yes, a great moment, but Jesus
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Speaker 1: doesn't He lets it land hard on their hearts. You
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Speaker 1: may be seated bow with me as we pray. Please,
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Speaker 1: we give today our Father, because we love you, and
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Speaker 1: we're learning to love you more as we grow deeper
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Speaker 1: in our understanding of who you are and how you
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Speaker 1: work in our lives. Watch over the many who travel
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Speaker 1: through this summer and protect them. Give guidance, we pray
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Speaker 1: as we continue to walk with you, as we take
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Speaker 1: your words seriously, and as we give ourselves to you
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Speaker 1: afresh and and you each morning, remembering that your mercies
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Speaker 1: are new every dawn. These are your gifts, and we
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Speaker 1: give them with gratitude in the name of Christ, our Savior.
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Speaker 1: Everyone said, Amen. The best questions in life are not
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Speaker 1: asked to be answered. They're asked to make us think,
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Speaker 1: to make us think deeply. Great questions force us to
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Speaker 1: probe deep within our own soul, and rather than rushing
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Speaker 1: around for an answer, we search the meaning of the
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Speaker 1: question and realize that it is examining us, which is
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Speaker 1: the best part about a great question. Socrates was said
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Speaker 1: to have been wise not because he had all the
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Speaker 1: right answers, but because he knew how to ask the
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Speaker 1: right questions. I think back over my years when I
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Speaker 1: was privileged to have mentors that I've now pretty much outlived,
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Speaker 1: and except for one who recently celebrated his ninetieth birthday.
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Speaker 1: And as I think back over the best teachers in
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Speaker 1: my life, most of whom have gone on, I realized
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Speaker 1: they were great mentors and great teachers. Never because they
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Speaker 1: gave me the list on how they've lived their lives,
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Speaker 1: and therefore I should live like they lived. But they
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Speaker 1: knew how to ask me the probing questions, those questions
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Speaker 1: that forced me to think, to wonder, to confess, to acknowledge.
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Speaker 1: I remember sitting in the registrar's office at Dallas Seminary
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Speaker 1: on a hot summer day in nineteen fifty nine. It
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Speaker 1: was I had gotten out of the Marine Corps in April,
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Speaker 1: and so I was just months out. Still had a flattop,
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Speaker 1: didn't everybody in back in fifty nine, and well men
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Speaker 1: at the flattop. Sinthy was sitting beside me in a
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Speaker 1: beautiful white suit, and I was facing a man who
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Speaker 1: had the authority as to whether I would be admitted
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Speaker 1: or not as a student. And I came to that
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Speaker 1: meeting having completed the written exams that were a part
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Speaker 1: of that process, but I had not had this. I
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Speaker 1: would call it more of an oral exam where we
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Speaker 1: probe some things in my life. And doctor Don Campbell
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Speaker 1: was the registrar at the time. I remember looking at
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Speaker 1: me over the top of his glasses and saying to me,
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Speaker 1: making a question out of the statement, Chuck, would you
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Speaker 1: be happy and fulfilled doing anything other than ministry for
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Speaker 1: the rest of your life? Now that is a question.
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Speaker 1: Nineteen fifty nine, I was twenty five years of my
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Speaker 1: life in front of me. I had a good job
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Speaker 1: in Houston, could return to it, would experienced promotions and
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Speaker 1: go on living a rather simple and secure life, fairly predictable.
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Speaker 1: Or I could enter a whole new realm what we
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Speaker 1: call now another career and in a world of information
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Speaker 1: that I was not that familiar with. That I must
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Speaker 1: work hard to learn and give myself to well. Anyway,
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Speaker 1: my answer, after thinking on it, I must have stared
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Speaker 1: at him blinking fifteen to twenty seconds, and I said
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Speaker 1: to him, no, I wouldn't be fulfilled or happy doing
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Speaker 1: anything else. He frowned and said, we will be in
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Speaker 1: touch with you, okay, I thought, that's it. Really, I
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Speaker 1: had no way of knowing what the decision was, and
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Speaker 1: they accepted me on probation. Praise God. I was accepted,
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Speaker 1: and I quickly became the lawn man. And that's how
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Speaker 1: I made a little money while I was a student,
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Speaker 1: and I poured myself into the studies of theology and
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Speaker 1: Greek and church history and Bible exposition, and on and on,
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Speaker 1: until finally, by the end of that first year, he
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Speaker 1: called me back into his office and said, we're going
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Speaker 1: to keep you as a student, and I believe I
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Speaker 1: walked out with tears grateful. He said, by the way,
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Speaker 1: if you had answered any other way back when I
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Speaker 1: asked you that question, we would never have accepted you.
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Speaker 1: I was really glad that I answered no, I wouldn't
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Speaker 1: be happy and fulfilled. What a question asking a twenty
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Speaker 1: five year old young man sitting beside his wife, no children,
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Speaker 1: the whole future stretched out in front of him. Would
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Speaker 1: you be happy the rest of your life doing this?
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Speaker 1: I've thought of that question many many times. The answer
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Speaker 1: is still the same. I'm reading right now three days
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Speaker 1: in January Dwight Eisenhower's final Mission. In it, I found
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Speaker 1: these words every president is peppered with questions, problems, and
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Speaker 1: decisions to be made. But the one question I always
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Speaker 1: ask was is it good for America? That's a president's question.
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Speaker 1: Is this plan I have for immigration? Good for America?
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Speaker 1: Is my plan for the defense? Good for America is
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Speaker 1: the economy that we have underweigh and the arrangement of things.
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Speaker 1: Good for America is the substructure we are going to rebuild.
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Speaker 1: Good for America is the way we're going to deal
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Speaker 1: with debt. Good for America. On and on and on,
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Speaker 1: asking the question that must be answered. I've always loved
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Speaker 1: the title of the book. It's an old book now,
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Speaker 1: but it's a great title. If Jesus is the answer,
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Speaker 1: what are the questions? The title is designed to make
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Speaker 1: you think, not to come up with quick answers. What
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Speaker 1: are the questions? Why? If you had asked the sadducees
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Speaker 1: in the days of Jesus, they would have had one set,
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Speaker 1: one set of questions, and they certainly asked them, and
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Speaker 1: he put them in their place. Interestingly, in the section
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Speaker 1: we're in today, I find it intriguing that it really
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Speaker 1: begins with answers that they could not question, and ends
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Speaker 1: with questions he asked that they could not answer. In
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Speaker 1: both places, they are silenced, which is the best kind
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Speaker 1: of ultimate dialogue, because now everyone is thinking. We read
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Speaker 1: in verse thirty three. When the crowds heard him, they
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Speaker 1: were astounded. As teaching Matthew twenty two thirty three, they
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Speaker 1: were astounded. But look at what it says about the
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Speaker 1: sad ucees when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced
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Speaker 1: the sad see silenced. Keyword fim moto pH imo. The
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Speaker 1: word means to muzzle, to muzzle. It literally has in
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Speaker 1: mind the idea of forcefully restricting the opening of the mouth.
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Speaker 1: It's used in one Corinthians nine to nine for muscling
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Speaker 1: the mouth of an ox, and in Mark one five
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Speaker 1: it is used by Jesus when he says to the
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Speaker 1: to the demon, be quiet and come out of him.
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Speaker 1: Muscled the demon, muscled the ox. In this case, Jesus'
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Speaker 1: words muscled the sad. You ses, that was a rather
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Speaker 1: amazing thing. That's like muszling a group of politicians. I mean,
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Speaker 1: they have nothing more to say. They were the ones,
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Speaker 1: you remember who came up with this ludicrous series of
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Speaker 1: our question that had a series of what ifs in it.
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Speaker 1: This woman marries this man, he dies, she marries his brother,
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Speaker 1: and that he dies, and she marries the next brother.
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Speaker 1: And then he dies and he marries a next brother. Well, uh,
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Speaker 1: whose wife is she going to be in the in
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Speaker 1: the heaven? Even though they didn't believe in heaven, it
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Speaker 1: wasn't a question they wanted answered. It was a question
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Speaker 1: they wanted to stump him with, which they couldn't do.
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Speaker 1: Now that they're silent, now that they're muscled, the Pharisees
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Speaker 1: move in with great delight. They never enjoyed the Sadducees
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Speaker 1: that much. As a matter of fact, they only had
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Speaker 1: one thing in common. Both of them despise Jesus. So
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Speaker 1: now that the Pharaos, now that the Sadducees or are
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Speaker 1: out of the picture, the Pharisees move in with another question.
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Speaker 1: And they bring their leading lawyer up to the front.
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Speaker 1: We read of him as the expert in religious law,
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Speaker 1: verse thirty five, and they tried to trap him. You
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Speaker 1: see the reading in verse thirty five. It was purposely
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Speaker 1: designed to trip him up. And they're going to ask
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Speaker 1: him what's the greatest commandment, thinking and hoping that he
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Speaker 1: will name one of his commands from his own system
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Speaker 1: of teaching. Knowing that there is no greater command than
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Speaker 1: the one Moses left, They're in for a real surprise.
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Speaker 1: They say to him, what is the what is the
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Speaker 1: most important commandment in the law of Moses? Without hesitation
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Speaker 1: and with no copy of the scripture in hand, Jesus
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Speaker 1: responds from memory with the words found in Deuteronomy six
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Speaker 1: four through nine. Wants you to hold your place here
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Speaker 1: and go back to Deuteronomy. Turn back to that book
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Speaker 1: of the Old Testament, and let's read what Jesus quoted
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Speaker 1: chapter six, verses four through nine. Here, O Israel, the
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Speaker 1: Lord is our God, the Lord alone. Let me interrupt
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Speaker 1: here for just a moment and say, this is known
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Speaker 1: as the shamah sh ema. It's the verb translated here
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Speaker 1: or listen hear this Shamah is the word and when
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Speaker 1: the Jews refer to it. And by the way, every
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Speaker 1: pious Jew could quote this and would quote it twice
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Speaker 1: a day. This would be like the essential creed of Judaism.
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Speaker 1: Look at what Moses left. Listen, O Israel, the Lord
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Speaker 1: is our God, the Lord alone. By the way, I
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Speaker 1: hate to keep interrupting. By the sea, things that are
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Speaker 1: helpful the Lord is one. Your Bible probably reads it's
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Speaker 1: the Hebrew word echad a cod. You know you've said
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Speaker 1: it right when something lands on the neck of the
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Speaker 1: person in front of you, ehd. It's called a guttural
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Speaker 1: e cod, and it means one, as in a cluster,
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Speaker 1: is used for a cluster of grapes, but in this
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Speaker 1: case it's one, as in a trinity, father, son, and Spirit.
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Speaker 1: But you don't see that. All you see is alone
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Speaker 1: or one when you read it in the English. Here
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Speaker 1: o Israel, the Lord, our God is a god. You
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Speaker 1: must love the Lord your God with all your heart,
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Speaker 1: all your soul, all your strength. And you must commit
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Speaker 1: yourselves wholeheartedly to these commandments that I'm giving you today.
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Speaker 1: Repeat them again and again to your children. I love
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Speaker 1: this part. Talk about them when you're at home, when
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Speaker 1: you're on the road, when you're going to bed, and
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Speaker 1: when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands
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Speaker 1: and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them
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Speaker 1: on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,
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Speaker 1: and by the way, in the homes of pious Jews.
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Speaker 1: To this day you will see those words that have
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Speaker 1: been rolled up in a handwritten scroll and placed in
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Speaker 1: the little peace at the doorway. These words from this
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Speaker 1: essential creed of Judaism. It is the most familiar and
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Speaker 1: the most quoted of all the commands, and Jesus answers
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Speaker 1: it immediately off the top of his head. No doubt,
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Speaker 1: he quoted it twice a day. And I love the
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Speaker 1: fact that he had it memorized. This is the first
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Speaker 1: and greatest commandment. But it doesn't stop there. He doesn't
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Speaker 1: stop there. He then quotes Leviticus nineteen eighteen. So go
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Speaker 1: from Deuteronomy back to Leviticus chapter nineteen. Some of you
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Speaker 1: are staring at me, Go back to Leviticus chapter nineteen
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Speaker 1: and locate verse eighteen, love your neighbor as yourself. I
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Speaker 1: am the Lord. The end of the verse reads, love
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Speaker 1: your neighbor as yourself. Out of the blue. Ask the question,
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Speaker 1: Jesus answers, love God with all of your heart, all
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Speaker 1: of your soul, all of your mind. This is the
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Speaker 1: first and great commandment, and the second is equally important,
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Speaker 1: love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all
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Speaker 1: of the demands of the prophets are based on these
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Speaker 1: two commandments. Wow, how's that for an answer? And it's
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Speaker 1: ask spontaneously. You know, when I study the Bible, I
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Speaker 1: often put myself in the sandals of people who lived
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Speaker 1: in that ancient day, and I ask myself, could I've
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Speaker 1: been able what I've been able to think of that
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Speaker 1: quickly or that incisively? Probably would not have been able
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Speaker 1: to do that. Often, when you're in front of opponents,
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Speaker 1: you don't think clearly, and you you get your your
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Speaker 1: head gets a little mushy. But Jesus is not at
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Speaker 1: all intimidated by the critics. He answers immediately, You're to
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Speaker 1: love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul
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Speaker 1: and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself, perfect, brilliant.
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Speaker 1: Now we don't read in Matthew's gospel what the lawyer
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Speaker 1: says in return, but in Mark's Gospel we do. I
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Speaker 1: won't take time to have you look, but he tells
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Speaker 1: us in Mark twelve and verse twelve, calos did oskalae,
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Speaker 1: calos good did oskala teacher, good teacher. Now I'm telling
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Speaker 1: you that's amazing. Here is the critic who is the sharp,
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Speaker 1: the sharpest among their group, probing Jesus for a question,
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Speaker 1: thinking they're going to trip him. And when Jesus answers
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Speaker 1: the question. The man has to say, that's outstanding. We
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Speaker 1: would say today, right on, superb answer, teacher, exactly right.
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Speaker 1: You've accomplished something when you've not only given an answer
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Speaker 1: to a critic, but you've so impressed the critic with
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Speaker 1: the answer that he says to you, what a great answer. Perfect.
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Speaker 1: By the way, before you get lost in the loving
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Speaker 1: others as you love yourself, because today is the day
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Speaker 1: of all about loving self, let me let me warn
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Speaker 1: you against that. The whole idea is we take care
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Speaker 1: of ourselves. We certainly care about our well being, and
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Speaker 1: that's a sign of a wholesome and healthy life. But
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Speaker 1: this is not about loving self. This is about loving
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Speaker 1: the Lord and loving others. Great time for me to
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Speaker 1: pause and probe you with a question. You love God
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Speaker 1: like this? Does your life reveal that kind of God love?
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Speaker 1: How about it others? Others? Or if the truth were known?
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Speaker 1: Back here? Is there a black list? A group of
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Speaker 1: folks that you just really wouldn't mind if you never
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Speaker 1: saw them again? Jesus says, loving God and loving others.
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Speaker 1: I think of the cross, the vertical loving God and
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Speaker 1: the horizontal loving loving others. We pause in moments like this,
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Speaker 1: having read what Jesus answer is, and we do a
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Speaker 1: little soul search, it's good for us. My question is
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Speaker 1: a is a rhetorical question, meaning don't answer out loud,
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Speaker 1: search your heart for the true answer. It's a good
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Speaker 1: time for me to warn you about our culture. It's disintegrating.
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Speaker 1: You notice now your children don't know that, so they'll
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Speaker 1: get caught up in it unless you, as an adult,
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Speaker 1: help them know that it's veering in the wrong direction.
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Speaker 1: Just as a garden will on its own move toward weeds,
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Speaker 1: so a culture will move away from truth and move
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Speaker 1: into error, and before long you'll hear it coming from
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Speaker 1: those who lead a state or lead a country. That's
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Speaker 1: why I would urge you to read. And I mentioned
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Speaker 1: it earlier, but I want to say it again, especially
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Speaker 1: to you who are parents. Will you write it down
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Speaker 1: this time, the vanishing American adult, you need to read
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Speaker 1: that book. Ben Sussy Sassee has written it. It'll really
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Speaker 1: make you think. It'll help you understand why adolescence is
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Speaker 1: prolonged into the thirties and forties. It'll explain why we
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Speaker 1: who are adults are often shocked that those who are
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Speaker 1: younger coming along don't feel the need to be responsible
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Speaker 1: as we did when we were younger. There's a reason.
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Speaker 1: It's all part of the culture that is on a
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Speaker 1: long drift. The Bible's message is to lift you out
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Speaker 1: of us and to turn your attention toward the only
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Speaker 1: one who is worthy of ultimate love and adoration and worship.
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Speaker 1: And once that gets in place and begins to take shape,
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Speaker 1: it's amazing what it does to our relationship with others.
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Speaker 1: And we find it as easier to love others when
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Speaker 1: we love God, as is described here. What a great answer,
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Speaker 1: love the Lord love others. Now Jesus has their attention.
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Speaker 1: Every once in a while. I like it that little
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Speaker 1: blank spaces appear in my Bible. I like to think
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Speaker 1: that that's a pause where everybody is sitting and staring
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Speaker 1: or standing and listening. And that's such a case. So Jesus,
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Speaker 1: we read in verse forty one, surrounded by the Pharisees
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Speaker 1: who for an unusual moment or quiet, and he asks
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Speaker 1: them a question, what do you think about the Messiah?
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Speaker 1: Whose son is he? What do you think of Jesus Christ, or,
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Speaker 1: as he puts it here, does not in a by himself?
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Speaker 1: What do you think about Jesus or Messiah. John Christism,
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Speaker 1: commenting on this question, wrote that Jesus is not quietly
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Speaker 1: leading them to the point of confessing that he is God.
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Speaker 1: But he leads them ever so carefully. Watch how he
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Speaker 1: does it. With questions, what do you think of them?
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Speaker 1: Of a messiah? Whose son is he? Look at the
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Speaker 1: quick reply, he is the son of David. They knew
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Speaker 1: the genealogy Jesus falls in the lineage of David. So
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Speaker 1: that's true. But is that a complete answer? Is that
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Speaker 1: all that should be said? So he probes further. They
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Speaker 1: say he is the son of David. So Jesus responded
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Speaker 1: with a question they wouldn't answer. So he says, then,
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Speaker 1: if he's the son of David, I put your thinking
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Speaker 1: cap on. Why does David, speaking under the inspiration of
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Speaker 1: the spirit, call the Messiah my Lord? For David said,
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Speaker 1: and he quotes from Psalm one hundred ten, verse one,
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Speaker 1: the Lord said to my Lord, sit in the place
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Speaker 1: of honor at my right hand until I humble your
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Speaker 1: enemies beneath your feet. Please observe how he does this.
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Speaker 1: He sets them up by saying, let's go to David's words.
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Speaker 1: So we're gonna quote David who wrote that psalm. And
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Speaker 1: he's speaking under the inspiration of the Spirit. So this
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Speaker 1: is God's word open through David or written by David.
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Speaker 1: And he calls Messiah my lord, not my son. So
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Speaker 1: the Lord said to my Lord, sit in the place
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Speaker 1: of honor at my right hand. May I paraphrase that
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Speaker 1: so you get it a little quicker. God, the Father
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Speaker 1: said to God, the son, sit in the place of
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Speaker 1: honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies
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Speaker 1: beneath your feet. Now the clincher, listen to Jesus' words.
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Speaker 1: Since David called the Messiah my lord, how can the
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Speaker 1: Messiah be his son? I love moments like this. I
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Speaker 1: just watched booths drop open. You had good question, Jesus.
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Speaker 1: You know who he's really referring to himself, of course,
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Speaker 1: and the my Pharisees are the ones who are out
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Speaker 1: to prove that he's not Messiah. Jesus says, look at this.
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Speaker 1: If the works that I do are the works of Messiah,
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Speaker 1: if the words that I say are the words of Messiah,
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Speaker 1: if my origin is the origin of Messiah, obviously I
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Speaker 1: am Messiah. And remember the Psalm one ten verse one.
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Speaker 1: The Father said to the Son said, at my honor,
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Speaker 1: the place of honor, at my right hand, till I
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Speaker 1: humble your enemies beneath your feet. By the way, do
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Speaker 1: you know when that occurred? Get this Jesus on earth
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Speaker 1: is arrested, placed on trial. They're all illegal. He's declared guilty,
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Speaker 1: not proven guilty. He's nailed you across and he dies
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Speaker 1: for the sins of the world. He's taken down from
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Speaker 1: the cross and he's buried. He is resurrected from the
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Speaker 1: dead and is on earth for a brief period of time,
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Speaker 1: and then he ascends and takes his place at the
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Speaker 1: right hand of God, the Father. It's called the doctrine
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Speaker 1: of Satian. The doctrine of ascension is followed by the
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Speaker 1: doctrine of Satian. He is seated at the Father's right hand.
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Speaker 1: That's where he is right now, in visible form, the
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Speaker 1: only member of the Trinity who is visible. Word little theology,
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Speaker 1: it will help straighten all of this out in your mind.
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Speaker 1: But this has not yet happen. Jesus is quoting from
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Speaker 1: a psalm that is prophetic and messianic, but he's referring
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Speaker 1: to himself, and he's saying, in effect, the Son of God,
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Speaker 1: the son of David. Yes, but more than that, he
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Speaker 1: is the son of God. That's the answer that will do.
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Speaker 1: I love the words of one man. Here, then Jesus
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Speaker 1: makes his great clean There would be few that day
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Speaker 1: who caught anything like all that Jesus meant. But when
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Speaker 1: Jesus spoke these words, even the densest of them felt
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Speaker 1: a shiver in the presence of the eternal mystery. Once
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Speaker 1: you love those words, they felt a shiver in the
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Speaker 1: presence of eternal mystery. They had the awed and the
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Speaker 1: uncomfortable feeling that they had heard the voice of God.
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Speaker 1: For a moment, in this man, Jesus, they glimpsed God's
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Speaker 1: very face. Every Christmas, I look forward to a particular song,
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Speaker 1: not one of the familiar cares olds that we've sung
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Speaker 1: through the centuries, but the song Mary did you know?
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Speaker 1: Many of us would say. It's probably among our favorite
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Speaker 1: of the Christmas songs, And it's an imaginary account of
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Speaker 1: Mary with her son, and she's being asked the great questions, Mary,
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Speaker 1: did you know that the one who redeems all of
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Speaker 1: us will one day redeem you? Mary? Did you know
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Speaker 1: that when you touch the face of your baby, you
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Speaker 1: touch the face of God, and it ends with that
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Speaker 1: great crescendo that he is the great I am, and
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Speaker 1: we all want to come out of our seats at
35:51
Speaker 1: that point when that song ends. Now, I've saved all
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Speaker 1: of this for this moment to tell you that this
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Speaker 1: is the place where no other word fits but awesome.
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Speaker 1: I said it. I know. I've warned you about overusing
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Speaker 1: that word. Everything is awesome. I already fifteen times this
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Speaker 1: week from all every car salesman. You know, people are
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Speaker 1: doing insurance, people are saying the roof is awesome, oh brother,
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Speaker 1: and all of this is awesome. Only God is awesome.
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Speaker 1: And in this moment, Jesus is awesome. Awesome. But you
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Speaker 1: know what it says. No one could answer him, and
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Speaker 1: after that, no one dared ask him any more questions.
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Speaker 1: Why Because they wouldn't allow the truth to sink in.
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Speaker 1: They would rather follow the dictator of their carnal lives
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Speaker 1: and to surrender their souls to the only one who
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Speaker 1: could transform them from darkness to light. So they kept
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Speaker 1: their mouths shut. They let it hang. I'm not true
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Speaker 1: until I ask what are your questions? What are yours?
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Speaker 1: How about this question? How could I have lived all
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Speaker 1: this time and never realized the importance of Jesus Christ.
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Speaker 1: Sunday morning happens. I get off shower, dress, eat a
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Speaker 1: quick breakfast, come see friends, take a seat, sing songs
37:56
Speaker 1: that are familiar, But I don't know Jesus. I participate
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Speaker 1: in religious activities, but I don't know Jesus. I don't
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Speaker 1: love God with my whole heart, my whole soul. Why
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Speaker 1: why don't you? What is it going to take for
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Speaker 1: you to realize the importance of Jesus Now that this
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Speaker 1: has begun to make sense to you, what's keeping you
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Speaker 1: from giving him your life? And a man in our
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Speaker 1: service that I had not met before from another city
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Speaker 1: say to me, it was back in the early eighties.
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Speaker 1: You were on the radio, and I listened, and I
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Speaker 1: heard enough to know that I don't know Jesus, and
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Speaker 1: I gave my life to Christ. Nothing thrills me like
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Speaker 1: a story that ends like that or really begins like that.
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Speaker 1: Following my telling that in our first morning service, I
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Speaker 1: had three different people tell me something similar. Their story
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Speaker 1: is different, but when they heard of what Jesus can mean,
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Speaker 1: they realized the question is why don't I trust him? Now?
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Speaker 1: Why don't you? What is it going to take. May
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Speaker 1: I rush to a place that you'd like me not
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Speaker 1: to go? Is it going to take a stroke? Is
39:51
Speaker 1: it going to take some dread disease, some sudden loss
39:57
Speaker 1: that pushes you to the wall, and you realize I
40:00
Speaker 1: can't handle this? Why not now? Why wait till? Then?
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Speaker 1: One of Jesus' closest followers his name John, John was
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Speaker 1: among the disciples, one of the Faithful eleven, and he
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Speaker 1: was on earth when Jesus died. He was standing by
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Speaker 1: Jesus' mother as they witnessed the crucifixion. Can't imagine that
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Speaker 1: awful moment. John had a place in his heart and
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Speaker 1: home for Jesus' mother. After Jesus died and later was
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Speaker 1: ascended and seated and was gone from the earth, John
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Speaker 1: went on with his life of faith. He changed from
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Speaker 1: a life of sight walking with Christ to a life
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Speaker 1: of faith. And he, like I, when I was set
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Speaker 1: in that room at nineteen fifty nine, he didn't know
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Speaker 1: what the future held. All he knew was he loved
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Speaker 1: Jesus with his whole heart, and so he began to
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Speaker 1: serve Jesus by faith, remembering how much he had meant
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Speaker 1: to him, and get this. He didn't know he was
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Speaker 1: going to be a writer, but God used him to
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Speaker 1: write a story of Jesus called the Gospel of John.
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Speaker 1: That's that man. And before John died he wrote three
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Speaker 1: small letters, first and second and third Letters of John.
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Speaker 1: And while he is exiled on the island of Patmos,
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Speaker 1: he writes the Revelation of Jesus Christ, this profound book
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Speaker 1: of prophecy that opens the veil of eternity future. This
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Speaker 1: is John, this simple man who writes simple Greek, but
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Speaker 1: with a heart of love for Jesus. All of that
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Speaker 1: became a part of the New Testament. Think of that.
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Speaker 1: I want to close my mesty today by quoting for
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Speaker 1: you a couple of lines from John's first letter. And
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Speaker 1: this is what God has testified. He has given us
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Speaker 1: eternal life, and this life get this is in his son.
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Speaker 1: He who has the Son has the life. He who
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Speaker 1: does not have the Son of God does not have
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Speaker 1: the life. That's as clear a presentation of the truth
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Speaker 1: as you can find in all the Bible. You have
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Speaker 1: the Son, you have the life. You don't have the
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Speaker 1: Son of God in your life. You don't have eternal life,
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Speaker 1: the life of God in your life. Why would you
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Speaker 1: want to live in that condition? Why would you want
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Speaker 1: to live with that risk, the possibility of dying without Jesus.
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Speaker 1: If you're not absolutely certain that you have the life,
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Speaker 1: make certain. Now that's a bow our heads just sit
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Speaker 1: right there. He who has the Son has the life.
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Speaker 1: Whoever does not have the Son of God not have
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Speaker 1: the life? Crucial question? What is it going to take
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Speaker 1: for you to have the Son of God in your life?
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Speaker 1: This is your moment. Trust in Jesus. Now, believe on
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Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ, and you'll be rescued. You'll be
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Speaker 1: secure and safe throughout life and beyond death. You can't
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Speaker 1: meet that. We can help you in this decision. We
44:47
Speaker 1: want to do that. That is why we exist. Simple prayer. Lord,
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Speaker 1: I'm just lost. I'm religious, but I'm lost. I go
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Speaker 1: through the motions of religion, but I don't know Jesus
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Speaker 1: right now. I acknowledge I'm a sinner and we're distant
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Speaker 1: from each other. But I thank you for the cross,
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Speaker 1: and as I come to you across the cross, I
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Speaker 1: come by faith and I trust in your son, Jesus.
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Speaker 1: Thank you for coming into my life. That's it. He
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Speaker 1: who has the Son has the life. We have our
45:43
Speaker 1: wonderful friends who work with those who are seeking this
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Speaker 1: decision and how to do it, and they just need help.
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Speaker 1: They're there for you today, come today. Thank you for
45:59
Speaker 1: therefore giving us, giving us your life, and thank you
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Speaker 1: for providing us with a model like Jesus to follow.
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Speaker 1: Thank you for your patience over these years. And I
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Speaker 1: pray on behalf of my friends who hear these words
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Speaker 1: who've never trusted in Christ, that they may trust Him
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Speaker 1: now today, right now, that they might know eternal life
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Speaker 1: for the rest of their days and throughout eternity. This
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Speaker 1: I pray through Jesus Christ. Everyone said, Amen. Amen.
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Speaker 2: The preceding message, The Two Ultimate Questions was copyrighted in
46:53
Speaker 2: twenty seventeen and twenty twenty one, and the sound recording
46:57
Speaker 2: was copyrighted in twenty twenty one. Charles R. Swindall, Inc.
47:02
Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
47:06
Speaker 2: commercial use is strictly prohibited.