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178. Summer Sermon Series - Ps 78 James Safrit · 4-Freedom Podcast

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I found my freedom in you. I found a toy I can't lose, and
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thank God it's true. You wrapped your arms around me
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and heaven broke through. From the moment she found me.
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I found. Welcome to the Four Freedom.
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Podcast This podcast exists to bring the freedom of the gospel
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for everyday Christians with everyday issues.
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Now here are your hosts. James Seyfried.
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And Brett Marks. The worst been.
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With us this morning. If you have a child who wants to
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be dismissed, the children's church that is available for you
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at this time will be in Psalm chapter 78 this morning.
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If you're flipping there, you may notice that Psalm 78 is a
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long Psalm. It's got 7072 verses in it.
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We're not going to preach all 72 verses this morning.
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I don't think you're going to be here all day.
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We're just going to look really at the main of the 1st 8 verses
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and that's all we're going to read this morning.
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Psalm 78, the 1st 8 verses in traveling from Texas to
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Tennessee, we stopped in Arkansas and now back in North
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Carolina. As you can tell, the weather
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changes, the atmosphere changes and going from the mountains
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back and forth and so be praying.
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For our voice. This morning it is a little
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weak, so we'll try to get through it.
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It is good to have Johnny here today.
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He's our AMS from our association.
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He recently took over and he recently retired from Elkin
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Valley Baptist and so glad to have him here this morning.
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Honored to have him as well. So if you have your place there,
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we'll stand out of reading of God's Word.
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Psalm 78 verses one through 8 this morning says my people hear
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my instructions, listen to the words from my mouth.
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I will declare wise sayings. I will speak mysteries from the
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past, things that you have heard and known about our ancestors
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that have passed down to us. We will not hide them from our
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children, but will tell a future generation the praiseworthy acts
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of the Lord, His might and His wondrous works He has performed.
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He established a testimony in Jacob and set up a law in Israel
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which He commanded our ancestors to teach their children so that
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future generation, children yet to be born, might know they were
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to rise and tell their children, so they might put their
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confidence in God and not forget the God's works, but keep His
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commands. Then they would not be like
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their ancestors, A stubborn and rebellious generation, a
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generation whose heart was not loyal to, whose spirit was not
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faithful to. Godfather, we love you with this
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morning. We thank you for what you've
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done. Thank you for the wonderful
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worship. Thank you for the choir singing,
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the congregational singing, lifting up your name.
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But you'll be with your word as it was read this morning.
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In your name we pray, Amen. You may be seated.
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As I was studying for this message this past week, I came
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across a story. The guy named George And George
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when he was 12 years old was rummaging through some things in
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his father grandfather's house and was looking through the
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attic. And while he was up there he saw
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beneath some blankets and some war metals dusty and forgotten
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piece of furniture that was there.
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And he opened his chest up and as he looked inside, he saw an
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old leather bound Bible that his grandfather had had.
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Curiosity got the best of him. He began looking through this.
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He was sort of timid. Do I touch this?
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I don't really know what it is. And he began flipping through
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the pages that were yellowed and curled.
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And as he opened up the cover, he saw inside the cover shaky
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handwriting that were four generation names.
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His great great grandfather, his great grandfather, his
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grandfather and his father. George began to run his finger
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over the dates, wondering what kind of men these men might have
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been. He noticed something else.
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Beside each of their names was a verse that was highlighted,
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circled and underlined. Scribbled in the margins were
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prayers that the great grandfather and the great great
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grandfather had written down. They were faint and yet they
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were stained and and there was one that he was looking at that
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even resembled some type of maybe tears that were on it that
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night at dinner. George in the dinner table
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looked up at his dad and asks his dad about it, and his dad
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said Oh yes, that was your great grandfather's and I think you
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read it every day of his life. And he asked it, did Grandpa
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read it too? Dad shrugged shoulders.
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Maybe he didn't really talk about that stuff much.
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George never forgot that box. He went back to it often and.
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As a teenager, he began to find himself more and more going back
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to that Bible. And, and reading those verses
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and reading the prayers of his grandfather and great
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grandfather, and it became more than just ink on paper.
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It became a. Path.
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That he would follow a legacy that he would begin to leave
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himself years later, as George became a father himself, he
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wrote this down, he said. I bought a new Bible for my son,
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and in the front of it I wrote my son's name and I wrote this
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verse, Psalm 78, verse four. He will not hide from them, from
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their children. But will tell.
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To them, the coming generations, A glorious deed of the Lord.
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This is what he said as he wrote that down.
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As someone was asking him about this, He said, I want my kids to
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know who God is. Not just from church, not from
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YouTube, not from some influencer or not from some
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Christian School, but I want them to know who God is from me.
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Psalm 78 is this Father's chapter.
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It's a legacy that we can look at of fathers of faith and how
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we can not just believe in the Lord, but pass on to the next
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generation. A legacy of not just wealth, not
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just a reputation, but pass on to them our faith fathers and
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grandfathers and spiritual fathers in the room today.
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Our job is not just to provide or protect.
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We think that has a huge responsibility for us this
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morning, but our job is to proclaim the greatness of God to
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those who will come after us. There's a generation coming up
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behind us that as, as Claude said just a minute ago, that
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that don't know the Lord, that don't know who God is.
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And we have an opportunity to share, as we talked about in
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Sunday school, a life that is stepping out by faith, where
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people will look at us and say they're doing something
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radically different than me. And I want to know what that is.
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And I want to find out how they're living a life that is
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radically different than the way I'm doing.
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And so as we dissect this passage this morning, I want to
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look at three main things. The first is, as fathers of
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faith, what do we do? What is it that we do with our
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life? And, and I put a sub point here,
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our responsibility as fathers of faith, what is the
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responsibility that we have this morning, Men specifically in the
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room and women. You can apply these to yourself
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as well, but specifically on Father's Day.
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I want to preach to the fathers here this morning.
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And Psalm 78 is, is a historic Psalm.
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And what that simply means is it brings to us to call to
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remembrance. It'll be like you sitting in
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history class and your history teacher, your socialist teacher
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would open up and say we're going to learn about the
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Revolutionary War today. And they would begin to expound
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on the things of the Revolutionary War, how it
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happened, what happened in those events.
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This is what a historical Psalm would be.
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This would be the history book of the Old Testament.
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This will be the history of the Jewish generations here.
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And he's telling them, Asaph is the writer and he's reminding
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Israel not just to reflect, but to relay what's going on.
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It's one thing to reflect and and sit there and meditate as
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you're outside and you begin to think about all what has God
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done in my life? And and then I can remember when
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God worked in this situation and when God worked in these areas.
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But but he's saying don't just reflect on them.
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Go and tell someone else. Relay this information to
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someone else. It's good to have it in your
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mind. But but sit down with your sons
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and your daughters and tell them what God has done.
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Tell them the the greatness of who God is and tell our children
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those things. It is a task that we must do or
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will fail as fathers of faith. So what do we do?
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What are some four ways we'll we'll look through?
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The first one is to communicate the Scriptures.
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Fathers this morning, I think it is our job in here to tell our
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children about the Scriptures, to tell our children about what
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God has done through our lives versus 4 through 8 specifically
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talk about this and it says this.
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We will not hide from them, from their children, but tell the
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coming generation of the glorious deeds.
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Of the Lord. God has, has given us his word.
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I believe it's infallible. I believe it's perfect.
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I believe it's preserved for our generation and forward.
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It's been passed down from generation to generation.
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And I would hate for me to be the generation that fails to
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pass it down to the next generation.
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And God looked down and say for 2000 years, the word of the
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Lord, my word has been passed on from generation to generation,
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but there was a generation in 2025 and that generation in 2025
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decided that it wasn't worth passing it on.
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And you failed to pass on the word of God to the next
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generation. What a travesty that would be
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for us this morning for the Lord to look down on us and say, I
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thought I could trust you. I gave you the word, I gave you
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the the gospel, and yet you failed to communicate the
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scriptures. Every morning a a Jewish person
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would wake up and they would quote these verses.
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Now I want us to think about them this morning.
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It's Deuteronomy 6 verses 6 and seven.
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I put them on the screen for you.
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You may want to write it down and this is what it says.
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These are the words that I'm giving you today are to be in
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your heart. Repeat them to your children.
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Talk about them when you sit down in your house and when you
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walk along the road and while you lie down and when you get
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up, it continues on. I didn't put these on there, but
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bind them as a sign in your hands and a symbol on your
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forehead. Write them on the door host post
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of your house and on your city gates.
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And this is what we should be doing.
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Verse 4. Listen, O Israel, the Lord our
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God, the Lord is 1 Love the Lord your God with all your heart,
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with all your soul, and with all your strength.
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These are the words that we're talking about.
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Are we communicating Scripture that we love the Lord with our
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heart, soul, mind, and strength As I I was writing through this.
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I didn't put these in your notes because I put these notes for
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Brenda a couple weeks ago and the Lord gave me as I was
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studying through this three simple ways that we can
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communicate Scripture. The 1st is this, we teach who
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God is. We look at our children, we look
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at our grandchildren and we say this is who God is.
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God is the one who who begins and ends with everything.
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He created the world, He created us and everything that we have
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begins and ends with him. When we talk about God, we're
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talking about His Holiness, we're talking about his love,
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we're talking about his power, we're talking about the
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character of who God is this morning.
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And church. When we begin to think and we
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begin to teach these to our children, they'll begin to run
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to God themselves. They'll begin to say, I want
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that same faith. I want the faith that my father
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has. I want the faith that my
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grandfather has. I want to be able to step into a
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storm of life that I don't know what's going to happen on the
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other side, but just believe and trust that the Lord is going to
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bring me through it. We begin to teach them who God
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is, but not only do we teach them who he is, but what God has
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done. The Bible says in verse 4, the
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wondrous works of the Lord from creation to the cross, what God
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has done. He created us perfect in the
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garden and we failed to uphold his perfectness.
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And yet he didn't just dispose of us and throw us away.
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No, He said, I've got an Indian sight that I'm going to send my
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own son to come and to die on a cross for your sins so that you
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can be redeemed back to the Lord.
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It's not only what he who he is, but what he's done for us from
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the creation to the cross. And as we look at our life and
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we look at the life of Israel to our own personal story, how God
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chose Abraham and Isaac and he chose Israel.
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And yet now we can look at our life and we can see that God
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grafted us into his plan. The Gentile nation was brought
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in as we've been looking through acts over these last couple of
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months, how he brought this Church of Gentiles and brought
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them into the Church of the Jesus Christ.
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And we get to worship him this morning through the gospel.
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So it's not only who God is and what God has done, but what God
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has said. To communicate what God has
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said, His commands, His promises, his warnings that he
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tells us. Think of the Scripture this
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morning as someone who's running a relay race.
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I think that was the school here recently that won the 4 by 400
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and they got to have dinner with Eddie Settle or got to go to
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who? What school was that?
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East? So E got to go and they got to.
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There was a marathon that they once stayed in and they got to
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sit down with the senator. And there were other teams that
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tried on that same thing. And other teams didn't pass the
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baton off perfectly. Other teams have prepared.
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They had planned their life. They had planned this race that
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was going to happen. It was the state championship
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race. They were, this is what they had
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lived their life for. And yet some teams when they
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went to hand the baton off to the team in front of them, they
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missed the baton. They went to grab it.
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And as they went to grab it, they, they, they fumble it and
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in fumbling it, they didn't come in first place.
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But E as it's shown, they, they, they ran it well.
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They began to do well. They passed the baton perfectly.
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They, they continued on in that journey.
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This is our faith journey. When when we step out with that
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baton of faith and we're handing it to our next generation, are
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we fumble in the baton or are we giving the baton off with
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purpose, with integrity where they say, yes, I understand
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this. Yes, I understand what you're
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doing. I understand what God has done
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in your life. I understand what he says and,
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and now I'm ready to continue on in my journey of life.
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Do your kids ever see you and know what you believe about God?
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Do you ever have that conversation?
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Dads, do they ever see you open your Bible?
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Do they ever see you quote Scripture?
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They ever see you live it out and live out Scripture the way
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God says for you to live was at John's house, my buddy John's
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house this past week and we're sitting around.
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I think it was like midnight. Anytime you start talking to
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midnight, you never know what's going to come out of your mouth.
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And we're sitting there and, and John, he, he's having some
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struggling ministry and I love him, but he just, he holds on to
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things a lot. And so we're sitting there and
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his wife told me the next day at breakfast.
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She said, I'm thankful that you made John laugh.
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It's been a while since he's laughed like that.
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I told him, I said, anytime we get together, my goal is for you
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to laugh so hard that your cheeks are hurting.
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I want to just try to get you to laugh.
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And so we're talking about some different movies and shows to
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watch. And he mentioned one about a
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lady that went for a run in her culdesac and she was taken from
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her run. And 22 days later she showed
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back up and and it was beaten. And they were like, is this
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true? Is it not?
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And and as he's saying this, he leans over to his wife and he
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says she was running. His wife likes to run and run
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the cul-de-sac and run where they're at.
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He said, I don't want to happen to you.
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And I said, well, John, you never have to worry that out
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with me because the Bible says you should never run unless
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you're being chased. And people don't chase me often,
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so therefore I'm not going to run often.
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Whatever was said there at midnight, John rolled laughing
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for a solid 10 or 15 minutes every time.
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I mean, he would come back and I'd, I'd say something and he'd
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just go off laughing again. But it's scripture, right?
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We're talking through scripture. We're enjoying scripture.
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Is this part of our everyday conversation?
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Is this part of when you get together with your buddies at at
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dinner and at lunch and you're out and about?
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Are we bringing up scripture the way we would bring up the
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football team or about some sport event that we love?
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Are we telling others what God has said to us?
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Not only do we that, but we need to celebrate the stories.
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The majority of my message are going to be on these first four
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points to celebrate the stories versus 10, verses 13 through 16
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versus 22 through 31 versus 38. This entire time is a history
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book of the story of of Israel. Asaph is saying this fathers, we
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must be storytellers. We must be people who are able
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to tell not fantasies, but stories of faith to be able to
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tell stories of God's power and God's provision in our life and
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the discipline that God gave us, but also yet the mercy that God
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gives us. As I said at the beginning, this
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is the longest historical Psalm in the book of the Bible.
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It is especially in the book of Psalms, but it's the longest
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historical book, period. And, and it goes like this.
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He gives the law in verse 10. He parts the Red Sea in verse
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13, God's guidance to the wilderness in verse 14.
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He talks about God's provision as they're in the wilderness in
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verses 15 and 16. He talks about God's judgement
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of sin in verse 30 and 31, and then he talks about God's mercy
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in verses 38 and 39. He talks about God's signs and
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wonders in verse 44 and 51. And then he begins to talk about
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God's victories in verse 55 and the victories that God has done,
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the victories that God has proven in our life.
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And then in verse 59 through 64, he talks about how God rejects
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sinful people. And he's saying, listen, you
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need to tell these things. Tell these things to our
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children. But then he gets to the
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wonderful story of God choosing David in verses 67 through 72
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when we pass. Our stories of our faith are we
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showing our children. And our grandchildren.
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That God is faithful through all these generations, and yet he's
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still faithful today. He's still faithful to save.
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He's still powerful. He's still the God of all great
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gods, and he's still the God who is going to tell us how to live
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our life. One of my favorite things to do
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is just to sit there and, and if I don't get to see them in
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person, I listen to them online. But a couple years ago at my
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wife's school, they had a World War 2 veteran that was actually
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at Normandy where Don and Latricia just were at.
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And he got to stand up. He was the clerk of court and he
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had served his country and they brought him in on that on the
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near the end of the Chapel. And he just told his story of
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storming the beaches of Normandy.
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My wife, she said, hey, you've got to be here this day.
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He's going to come. You're a history guy.
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You got to listen to this. And I sat there in awe for 45
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minutes as this man stood up and shared his war story of the
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planes that were coming in, the boats that were landing, the the
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makeshift boat ramps that they were making.
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As the jeeps are coming off onto the water, as they stormed the
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beaches, as they stormed the mountain, as thousands upon
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thousands of men on both sides of the war died.
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And I sat there in awe, Man, this guy lived what I love to
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read. And it made that story not only
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a story, but a reality. It's not just something that I
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read in my in a history book somewhere, but this is actual
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people who who did something amazing in our history.
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And when we hear those stories, we latch on and we listen.
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And yet fathers, are we that type of storytellers where we're
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able to sit down with our children and say, let me tell
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you about a time where I was struggling, where God stepped in
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and he he worked in my life in a way that I did not even see fit
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or see that God was gracious and merciful enough to me.
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A couple of questions I want to ask your dad's this morning.
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Do your children know your personal testimony?
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Do your children know the time where you came to know Christ?
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Have they heard you talk about how God has provided the answers
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of prayers or you prayed and you said, God, I'm struggling here.
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I need you to work in my life. And yet, God answer those
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prayers and you share those with your children.
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How many times do we do that dads and we tell our children
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who God is and and what he's done.
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But also as dads, we can't just communicate scripture and and
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celebrate stories. Sometimes dads, this is the hard
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part. We have to confront sin.
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Verses 10 through 1117 through 18, verse 3236 through 3740
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through 42 and 56 through 58. If you didn't get all those, go
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back and listen to the live stream because I don't have a
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lot of time right now. But we must warn our children of
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the dangers of sin. We must tell them the dangers of
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not believing in Jesus. We must tell them the dangers of
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idolatry when we have misplaced priorities in our life.
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And Psalm 78 lays out example after example.
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Of how the? Lord turns away His mercy and
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His grace from those who turn away from Him and live in sin,
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and they ultimately paid the price.
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I've heard the statement many, many times.
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When you play dumb games, you get dumb Brazos and often times
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in the life of our life of legacy, when we live our life
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for Christ, if we're not going to play the right games with God
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and do the right thing and this thing with God is not a game.
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It's a life. It's a legacy that we're living.
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It's a oh, eventually there's going to be a judgement.
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See that we stand before God and we give an account for
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everything we've done. And if we don't be men who stand
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up and confront our children when they do wrong, we are
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failing our children. Last night we drove for many
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hours. 814 days is the longest that I've been away from any
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church. I've never taken 14 days away.
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We get home last night at 5:00. I'm mow, it's raining.
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I'm trying to get everything done.
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I'm exhausted after driving. We get done.
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It's bedtime. The kids aren't listening, Dad
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at the moment. They're in the physical,
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physical body. I, I lost my temper and I
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confronted my sins. I yelled at my kids.
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I, I, I been vulnerable here this morning I confronted their
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wrongdoings. But then that night after I was
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praying with them, I had to confront my wrongdoings.
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You see, when we confront sin, it corrects us, but it also
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corrects those. And if we never correct sin, if
22:12
I never tell my children what is right and what is wrong, my
22:15
children are going to grow up and never be able to discern
22:17
what is right and what is wrong. So therefore, dads, we must not
22:21
let culture dictate for our children what is right and what
22:25
is wrong. We must be the example.
22:27
And we must tell them what sin is.
22:29
And we must tell them what God condemns a sin.
22:32
And ultimately what that's going to do is it's going to drive
22:34
them to the Lord for God's grace and mercy.
22:36
Because when we're confronted with sin, God's merciful God's
22:40
graceful to forgive us of our sins, and yet we get to lead our
22:44
children. And how to see that grace and
22:47
mercy. And then we get to celebrate the
22:49
Savior, verses 38 and 39 and verses 67 through 72.
22:54
We get to see God being glorified even when the people
22:57
failed and we are going to fail. We are not perfect.
23:01
If you're perfect, you're probably at the wrong church
23:04
because you're under a pastor who's not perfect, who's going
23:06
to make mistakes, who's going to fail you.
23:08
But I'm so thankful that we serve a God who is faithful, a
23:12
God who is perfect, and a God who raised up David, a shepherd
23:16
boy, to point people to Christ who in and of himself was an
23:22
imperfect leader. And yet he led them to the Good
23:25
Shepherd. He led them to the God who was
23:27
faithful, who was there for them.
23:29
And in verse 38, he says, yet he been compassionate, atoned for
23:34
their iniquity. God Forgives us of our sins.
23:38
God Forgives us of our failures, if yet will come to him.
23:41
And God remains faithful. His love isn't based on our
23:45
perfection, His love is based on who He is and he is perfect and
23:51
therefore his love never fails as we looked at a couple of
23:54
months ago in First Corinthians first chapter 13.
23:57
So fathers this morning, do you model forgiveness in your home?
24:03
Do you model what forgiveness looks like and how we should
24:06
forgive others? Are we forgiving the way Christ
24:08
forgives? Are we loving the way Christ
24:10
loves? And do your family know the
24:12
difference between being a moral person, someone who's upright,
24:15
and yet a person who has been redeemed by the glory of God?
24:19
We celebrate the savior #2 that was just my first point.
24:22
The next one's going to go a lot faster, I promise you.
24:25
OK #2 what we hope, right? I haven't preached in two weeks.
24:29
Guys. This has been great.
24:30
So I got a little preach in me. I hope you're, you're OK with
24:33
it. What we hope our vision for the
24:35
next generation verses 6 and seven, my daughter's been saying
24:39
6-7 non-stop and she looked at the notes.
24:41
She said dad 6-7 right here it is all my older generation
24:44
didn't know. Apparently that's the new thing
24:46
right now on TikTok and social media, 6-7 is a it's we've been
24:50
saying 6-7 since before time began, but apparently now 6-7 is
24:54
something big. And so verses 6 and seven
24:56
reveals our desire for the next generation, that they would know
25:01
about God, that they wouldn't just know about God, but they
25:04
would truly know who he is. It's about it's, it's, it's like
25:09
this. It's like looking at a history
25:11
book and reading about the stories of Abraham Lincoln and
25:15
George Washington. And you can read about them.
25:17
But then, somehow, by God's miraculous events, you walk into
25:21
a room and there sits George. Washington in the flesh.
25:24
And you sit down and you begin to have a conversation with him.
25:27
Man, how do things go when you begin to talk to our first
25:29
president? You begin to talk about the
25:31
history and about the the knowledge.
25:32
All of a sudden you're going from someone who knows about him
25:36
to someone who knows him intimately.
25:38
And this is what we must have, a vision for our next generation,
25:41
is that our children don't just know about who God is, but have
25:45
a relationship and a walk with the Lord themselves so that when
25:49
times get tough, they know who to go to.
25:52
They know that there's a God who loves them.
25:54
A God that. Cares for him and I'm going to
25:56
go to that God because I know him personally.
25:59
And So what are our desires? The first one is this, that they
26:01
will know God in their minds. Everything we do starts in our
26:07
minds, we think about it, it permeates our heart and they
26:10
begin to live that way. And so how they know God in
26:13
their minds versus 7 says this, that they should set their hope
26:17
in God. Our anchor of our hope is that
26:21
we truly know Him in our minds. Who is shaping the worldview of
26:28
our children? Who is the thing or the person
26:32
that is shaping who and what your children believe?
26:35
Is it the Internet? Is it social media?
26:38
Is it a teacher at school or parents?
26:41
Is it you? Is it us that are developing who
26:45
and what our children believe and know?
26:47
They know God in their minds. The second one is they would
26:51
trust God in their hearts since my children were born from the
26:55
moment they were born, before they were born, I would sit
26:58
there as they were laying in the crib and I would pray a prayer
27:01
from their head to their toes. God bless their minds.
27:05
God bless their their mouth. As they go through this life,
27:08
they would have a mouth that is speaking truth.
27:11
God bless their ears, help them as they absorb things in their
27:15
life. Bless their hands Lord, as they
27:17
go through life, when they begin to interact with other people
27:20
that their hands would do the work of the Lord.
27:22
Bless their, their, their, their feet.
27:24
That when they would walk for you that they would go the right
27:26
way. God bless their heart.
27:28
Help them to trust you at a young age and follow you just as
27:31
I did as a 5 year old boy who accepted Jesus in Salisbury.
27:34
The Lord bless their heart as they begin to go through this.
27:38
And I would pray this every single night.
27:39
I would pray through their head, from their head to their toes,
27:42
before they could speak, before they could walk.
27:44
I'm praying this prayer for them because I don't want them to
27:48
forget the works of God. I don't want them to just have
27:51
God as an information tool. I want them to have God as
27:55
someone who is affectionate and someone they can trust even when
27:58
the times are tough. You see, I have no affection
28:01
toward my history books, and I've got a whole shelf of
28:03
history books in here. They're just history books to
28:05
me, but when I read God's history, when I read God's Word,
28:09
it's more than just a history, but because it forms.
28:11
My. Life and it transforms my life.
28:13
It transformed my mind, it transformed my heart so that we
28:16
can trust him ultimately this morning.
28:19
Have your kids seen you trust God when things are hard.
28:23
The third thing is that they will obey God in their lives.
28:27
Verse 7, See all this is all basically verse 7, that they
28:31
would keep His commands. Faith doesn't just affect our
28:35
behavior, but it affects every single area of our life.
28:40
Real faith effects everything that we do because all of a
28:44
sudden the way we live, the way we go, everything that we do is
28:48
focused and faced on Jesus Christ and are we obeying God in
28:53
our life? Think about a tree that's
28:55
planted by water. It begins to grow it.
28:58
It doesn't just exist there. It grows and it bears fruit.
29:01
And the Bible says in Psalms that it bears much fruit because
29:05
it's planted by water. Children are the same way.
29:09
They're planted by a stream of something and they're going to
29:12
produce some type of fruit. What are we streaming into their
29:16
lives? Hopefully it's not just Netflix
29:18
and YouTube. Hopefully we're streaming
29:20
something, the word of God in their lives so that when they
29:22
step out in faith and they begin to produce fruit, that they're
29:25
producing God. Honoring fruit for the followers
29:27
of Jesus Christ that would love him and would serve him.
29:31
Then ultimately, fathers this morning, this is where there are
29:33
meets Rd. How are we walking this morning
29:36
#3 practical steps for you this morning.
29:39
I'm going to go through these very quickly. 4 practical steps
29:42
for faithful fathers. Four things that we can look at
29:46
as we look at the entire chapter of Psalm chapter 78.
29:49
And I hope you go back and you read all of them because time
29:52
did not allow me to, but I promise you will be beneficial
29:54
to you as fathers this week to really meditate on this chapter.
29:58
Practical steps for you as fathers this week to live out
30:02
Psalm 78. Number one, be present #1 be
30:06
present. We have a lot of resources in
30:08
our life. We have water, we have oxygen,
30:12
we have our homes, we have our vehicles, we have oil and gas
30:16
that we put into our vehicles, we have food that we consume
30:19
that we have a lot of resources at our disposal.
30:23
The one resource that we have that is a non renewable resource
30:26
that we will never get back is our time.
30:30
We are only given X amount of time.
30:32
We cannot add more time to our life.
30:34
As much as we want to have more time and as much as we desire to
30:38
have more time with our children, every single day we
30:41
step another step closer to the end of our life.
30:43
Unfortunately, every single day that we get closer to the end of
30:47
our life, we begin to realize there is more time behind me
30:50
than I have in front of me. We can't add more time.
30:52
We can't get more time, but the one thing we can do is we can
30:56
spend quality time with our children.
30:58
We can love our children. We can show them what it means
31:01
to be a father. We can show them what it means
31:05
to live a life that is worthy of Christ.
31:07
You see, you cannot microwave. Think about this.
31:10
You can't microwave discipleship.
31:12
Discipleship is walking step by step faithfully with other
31:16
people. Jesus took his disciples and for
31:18
3 1/2 years he walked with them every single step of their life.
31:22
He went to the, if there would have been movies, he went to the
31:24
movies with them. OK, He would have done these
31:27
things with his disciples. He, he went to the upper room,
31:30
He was on the boat with them. He is at the upper, he's at the
31:33
temple, he's in the upper room, He's having meals.
31:35
He is living his life for 3 1/2 years with them.
31:39
He didn't take his disciples and throw them in the microwave and
31:41
say, OK, in 30 seconds you're going to be on disciples.
31:43
Boom, there's disciples, we're good to go.
31:47
It would be great if that would be it, but life is difficult and
31:51
we have a time that is hard and our kids need to see quality
31:55
time that we spend with them so that we can influence them for
31:58
the gospel and spending time with other people.
32:00
Just being present with them, being present for them overtime.
32:05
I was at my sister's house this last week before the convention
32:07
and they had a sign on their fridge.
32:10
It said be present, not presents.
32:15
It was just a simple reminder every time they go to the
32:17
fridge. Be present with your kids.
32:19
Don't just buy them things. Don't just try to win them over.
32:22
Don't just try to do things for them, but simply be there with
32:25
them and do life with them. Be present with our families #2
32:30
be consistent, be consistent. Live your faith daily, every day
32:36
when you wake up. Are we going to the Word every
32:39
day when we wake up? Are we living our life that is
32:42
for Christ every single morning? One thing that I've learned as a
32:46
father, children spot hypocrisy very easily.
32:51
Dad, that guy was there. He's not real.
32:53
Hey, that's a mannequin. Is that a mannequin?
32:56
Yeah, he's not real, Dad. OK, good.
32:58
Walk through the store. They notice these things.
33:00
They pick up these things. And our life as living examples
33:04
of who Christ has called us to be, our children will spot if we
33:08
are real or if we are fake. Our children will spot if our
33:11
life that is living for Christ is just a simple routine that
33:15
we're doing or if it's an intimate relationship with Jesus
33:19
Christ. And they'll spot that.
33:20
And you've spotted that as well. You've seen that before.
33:23
You've seen someone and you said they're only Christians on
33:26
Sunday, and you've also seen others who every day of their
33:29
life they follow the Lord, they love the Lord, they're
33:32
consistent with the Lord because their life is for the Lord's
33:35
life #3 be transparent, be transparent, share your
33:40
struggles, show that grace is for you and it's also for them.
33:46
We try to do the best of our ability to at least have one
33:49
meal every single day of the week.
33:52
Sometimes we fail because of sports and stuff, but we try to
33:54
have one meal where we sit around the table and we just
33:57
share life and we talk about things that are going on, things
34:00
that sometimes I don't go in detail.
34:02
Trust me, I don't tell my family everything, but but struggles
34:05
that I have as a pastor, struggles that I have as a
34:07
father, struggles that that Ally has as a teacher.
34:10
And, and me and Ally are just talking back and forth.
34:12
We're being real. Our kids are seeing this, our
34:14
kids are hearing this, Our kids are are asking, well, how did
34:17
you respond to that? What did you do in that
34:19
situation? We're being transparent.
34:21
We're being real. We're showing them that grace is
34:23
not just for some high up elite person, but it's for us.
34:27
It's for those who will trust in the Lord.
34:30
Just as windows let light in, we should be vulnerable in allowing
34:34
others to see Jesus in us. And we should.
34:37
Allow. Our lives to repel Jesus out
34:40
from us so that people can see us.
34:42
As a pastor, I have to live in a glass house.
34:45
I have to live in a house that's vulnerable.
34:47
And people know my struggles. People, I live a vulnerable
34:50
life. I don't try to.
34:53
I learned this when I was in high school as a computer guy.
34:55
At the top of your keyboard you have some letters, WYSIWYG.
35:00
These letters mean what you see is what you get.
35:04
And when we see this is what you type in your computer, whatever
35:08
you see on that document when you hit print is what you're
35:11
going to get. You should not be that way, but
35:13
but through Microsoft, they invented this.
35:15
And I just determined as a young person, I want to be a WYSIWYG
35:18
person. I want to be a What you see is
35:20
what you get. If you hang out with me at my
35:22
house, if you're at dinner with me, if we're out on a vacation,
35:26
if you're just hanging out in my building with me wherever I'm
35:29
at, I want to be the same person in the pulpit as I am in my
35:32
house with my kids. What you see is what you get.
35:35
And I believe church, when we are living a life that is
35:37
transparent like that, our children look at that and they
35:40
say, you know, it's OK to be vulnerable.
35:42
Jesus carried them through their darkest time.
35:44
And I think I want Jesus to carry me through my darkest time
35:47
too. We begin to be an example for
35:50
our children through a transparent life and #4 be
35:53
intentional, be intentional. As Terry comes and I close this
35:58
down, make family devotions a priority, something that we
36:02
struggle with a lot. We don't do a lot of sit down
36:04
family devotions, but but we drive a lot.
36:07
So we try to throw songs and music and sometimes podcasts.
36:12
Even though my my kids tell me to turn my podcasts off.
36:14
We we try to incorporate the Bible and and life in with them.
36:20
The devotions may not happen every night, but what does
36:23
happen every night to the best of my ability for 12 years,
36:28
almost 12 years for 9:00, almost 10 years for Jade and for
36:32
Hudson. Every night we pray with our
36:34
kids every night individually. I sit down with them.
36:37
Last night I didn't do all my singing that I normally do with
36:39
them, but I sat down and I prayed with them because I
36:42
failed him as a father. Last night.
36:44
But I sat down and I prayed with them.
36:46
And I said, Lord, forgive me for the, the wrongdoings that I had,
36:49
but also forgive them for their wrongdoings against their
36:52
father. And I, I was intentional to pray
36:54
with them and I'm intentional to speak truth to them daily.
36:57
And we as young men and fathers and grandfathers, we must be
37:02
people who are intentional on being spiritual leaders in our
37:06
home. Are we this morning been
37:09
intentional in that the legacy that you leave will only be 1
37:14
legacy? I said it a.
37:16
Couple weeks ago. We only have one life and it's
37:18
only for Christ's sake and only what we've done for Christ will
37:23
matter anything. We must be people who are living
37:27
a life that is a legacy for Christ.
37:29
You see, Psalm 78 is not just a chapter as a history lesson, but
37:35
it's a mandate for us. It's a heritage mandate to tell
37:38
us that God has been faithful to us into one generation.
37:42
Are we going to be faithful to share what God has done with us
37:45
to the next generation, or is it just going to die with this
37:48
generation? Fathers, you're not just shaping
37:51
and raising children. You are shaping and raising
37:55
eternity. And if we fail our kids, we will
38:00
stand before God one day and have to give an account for what
38:03
we've done. I challenge you, men, women as
38:06
well, but specifically on Father's Day, I can preach a
38:08
little harder. We must be men who are men of
38:11
character, who stand for what is right, even when the world says
38:15
it's not. We stand for truth.
38:17
We stand for righteousness. Let's all stand and respond as
38:20
you see fit. Father, we love you.
38:22
We thank you for what you've done.
38:24
God, you are faithful to us. Help us to be faithful to you.
38:28
Help us to trust you more than we ever have.
38:30
Thank you for my father here this morning and what he means
38:33
to me, my grandfather. Lord, I pray that you would just
38:37
continue to help us this morning to be men and women of faith and
38:41
integrity. Be with us this morning as we
38:42
have our time of invitation and response.
38:44
In your name we pray. Amen.
38:45
Found my new name. Found that good grace, Found
38:50
that healing. And the tears fell down my face
38:54
when I found my beginning. It has no ending.
38:58
I found that second chance, Found my best friend.
39:17
Thanks for listening to the Four Freedom Podcast.
39:20
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39:23
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39:30
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