Latest / Crosswalk / Faith Comes by Hearing — Romans 10:16–18

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Faith Comes by Hearing — Romans 10:16–18 · Crosswalk

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Jesus tells us to take up our cross and follow
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Him. You're listening to Crosswalk with Pastor
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Steve Winnery. Crosswalk is the radio ministry
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of Calvary Chapel Tri -Cities and it is our aim
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to lead you to the cross through the teaching
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of God's Word. Let's start in verse 13 of Romans
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chapter 10. I'll read it. You guys can follow
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along. It says, whoever calls on the name of
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the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they
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call upon him in whom they have not believed?
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How shall they believe in him of whom they have
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not heard? How shall they hear without a preacher?
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And how shall they preach unless they are sent?
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As it is written, how beautiful are the feet
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of those who preach the gospel of peace, who
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bring glad tidings of good things. But they've
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not all obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah says, Lord,
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who has believed our report? So then faith comes
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by hearing and hearing by the word of God. But
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I say, have they not heard? Yes, indeed. Their
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sound has gone out to all the earth and their
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words to the ends of the world. But I say, did
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Israel not know? First, Moses says, I will provoke
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you to jealousy by those who are not a nation.
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I will move you to anger by a foolish nation.
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But Isaiah is very bold and says, I was found
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by those who did not seek me. I was made manifest
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to those who did not ask for me. But to Israel,
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he says, all day long I have stretched out my
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hands to a disobedient and contrary people. I
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say then, has God cast away his people? Certainly
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not. For I also. I am an Israelite of the seed
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of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has
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not cast away his people, whom he foreknew. Or
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do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah,
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how he pleads with God against Israel, saying,
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Lord, they've killed your prophets, torn down
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your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek
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my life. But what does the divine response say
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to him? I have reserved for myself 7 ,000 men
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who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Even so,
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then, at this present time, there's a remnant
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according to the election of grace. Let's pray.
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And Lord, we thank you for that election. We
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thank you for the fact that you look down through
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the ages and you pick us. The Lord, you've made
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it clear in your word that we have to respond,
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that we need to say yes to you. We need to, again,
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confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe
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in our hearts that you have raised him from the
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dead. And if we call upon your name, then we'll
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be saved. And so Lord as we're going through
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and talking about some of these things especially
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as it relates to the people of Israel we pray
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that you'd be speaking to our hearts and opening
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up our eyes as far as what our relationship is
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like with you and Lord that you by your spirit
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would teach us this morning. And we ask that
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you do this all in the name of Jesus. Amen. You
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can have a seat. Okay, I'm not gonna go way into
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the whole outline here but Romans chapter 10
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is basically answering a second question about
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the people of Israel. When you're talking about
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the issues that Paul is bringing up with issues,
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it's all about what happened to Israel. And in
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chapter 9, Paul goes through and talks about
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the fact that just because they're from the nation
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of Israel doesn't mean that they're all actually
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followers of God, that they're all actually the
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Israel of God, as it says in Galatians chapter
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6, 16. And then when you get to chapter, and
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so he goes through and defends election, the
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choice of God. God can pick anybody that he wants.
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But then when you get to the end of the chapter,
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he says Israel's problem is that they haven't
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responded. Israel's problem is that they're trying
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to seek righteousness by pursuing their own righteousness,
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and they're not going after the righteousness
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of God. He reiterates that when you get to chapter
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10. And then he starts talking about the difference
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between law and faith. And so the Jews are on
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a works trip. A lot of people in church are on
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a works trip, just like the Jewish nation. And
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so the Jews are on a works trip and they're not
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going to get in that way. And then Paul begins
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talking about how God, speaking to the Jews in
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the Old Testament, he uses nothing but Old Testament
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passages here. goes through and shows them that
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number one, the salvation of God is straightforward.
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It's a simple thing. It's not something where
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we have to pull Christ down out of heaven or
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pull him up from the grave. There's no works
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that need to be done on our part. It's all a
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work of God. And then he talks about the fact
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that the salvation that God gives is simple.
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You need to confess the Lord Jesus and believe
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in your heart that God is raised from the dead.
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You call on the name of the Lord and you will
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be saved. classic Romans 10. It's the basis for
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the gospel. And people look at that and they
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go, that's too easy. What do you want God to
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do? Make it too difficult? He made it easy so
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anybody could come. You know why? Because He
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wants anyone to come. You know who the anyone
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includes? People who aren't as smart and awesome
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as you are. And maybe you smart, awesome people
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need more difficult things for you to do to get
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into heaven, but God doesn't condescend to that.
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He makes it the same for everybody. And what
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ends up happening with that is he takes the very
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simple and he elevates them and he takes the
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very prideful and he puts them in their place.
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There's only one way in, it's the door and you're
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gonna come in the door and anybody can get in
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that way. And I think that's cool because lots
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of people think that they're way too good for
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the gospel that God brought through Jesus Christ.
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You are not way too good. You're actually goofy.
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And so you're here at Calvary Chapel. That's
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gonna make you nuts. In any case, it's simple.
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It's a simple thing, and God made it simple on
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purpose. He begins also talking about man's free
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will in verses 9 and 10. It answers the issue
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of if God is sovereign, then it doesn't matter
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what I do. If I'm elected, I'm going to go no
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matter what. And the answer to that is absolutely
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not. You have to confess and you have to believe.
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That is the process. How's election work in there?
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I don't know. And nobody else does. Don't let
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them tell you that they do. People have been
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arguing over this whole thing from the 400s on.
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And so God just tells you that it's both. And
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you have to confess and believe. And again, it's
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not just something where God's gonna do it and
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you have no part in this whole thing. Verses
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11 through 13 answers the question that if God
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is sovereign, then that means that there's no
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choice. for some if some people are chosen to
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go to heaven then obviously other people are
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chosen for hell and again that's wrong it's wrong
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because god's not willing that any should perish
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whoever believes on him whoever in greek that
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there's no distinction between Jew and Greek
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for the same Lord over all is rich to all who
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call upon him and all means all in Greek and
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then it says for whoever calls on the name of
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the Lord shall be saved and again whoever is
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whoever in Greek and so it's anyone who calls
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on the name of the Lord and so you don't get
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to sit there and go I there's nothing I can do
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about this and so I don't need to respond that's
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nonsense And the last one is the fact that some
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of these guys who take off on this will say,
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if God's sovereign, then there's no need for
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me to share Jesus. And verse 14 answers that.
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How then shall they call on him in whom they've
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not believed, and how shall they believe in him
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of whom they have not heard, and how shall they
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hear without a preacher? And so you absolutely
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need to have somebody that's preaching the gospel
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to people who don't know it. And that includes,
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when you're talking about election, it includes
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the whole idea of election. And basically, when
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you're looking at election, it's just salvation
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from God's point of view, from God's side. He
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knows all, He understands all, there is no history
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with Him. Everything is the absolute present.
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He is, He was, He is to come. That's why it's
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phrased that way. He's outside of time and so
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he knows everything that's going on. And so from
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God's point of view, you were always here and
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you were always going to be here and that's the
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way that it was going to be. But when he puts
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it into man's point of view, he lets you know
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exactly what needs to take place for you to come
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into a relationship with Jesus. And it's all,
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again, in the passage. That's a paradox, and
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God's allowed to do paradoxes. And again, when
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we're looking at this, if you've got a situation
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where you've got God all explained, you have
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him all figured out, you've got him in a nice
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little box, guess what you don't have? God. Because
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you can't put him in a box like that, not if
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he is what he is. Outside of time, outside of
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dimensionality, somebody who can't learn, and
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so on. In any case, That's basically where we
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got to and then we talked about the need for
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those sent, people to be sent and talked about
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feet and beautiful feet and how I hate feet and
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all of that kind of stuff. And then we ended
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up in verse 16. So verse 15, and how shall they
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preach unless they are sent as it is written,
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how beautiful are the feet of those who preach
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the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of
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good things. Before we move on from that verse,
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let me just point this out. I want to be sent.
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And we are sent. Last time we talked about the
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Great Commission. We are sent. But I want to
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be specifically sent. And so I want appointments.
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And so when I look at sharing the gospel with
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people, and a lot of times I will pray about...
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situations before I get into them. And so, for
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example, if I'm going on a trip someplace, I'm
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praying about the people that I'm going to meet.
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And I go, God, just set me up. If you've got
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somebody that you want me to talk to, set me
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up. Just give me an appointment. And God has
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been faithful to do that. And I could tell you
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story after story. When God sets you up, he's
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already been working in the heart of the person.
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He's already had other people who've been working
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on the heart of that person, and he's just setting
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you up to share the gospel many times to lead
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people to the Lord. So pray for setups. I wanna
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be sent. And again, if I'm sent, there's a purpose
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for that. And it can just be to basically plant
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seeds, that kind of thing, but I wanna see people
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come to the Lord, so I wanna be sent. He goes
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on and he talks about the fact that Israel has
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rejected the gospel but they have not all obeyed
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the gospel for Isaiah said Lord who has believed
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our report and again we talked about that last
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time also and the fact that God had given evidence
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in the Old Testament actually prophecies in the
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Old Testament about the fact that the people
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of Israel when Messiah came We're not going to
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understand him as Messiah. In fact, they were
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going to rebel against him as Messiah. They were
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going to consider him despised and rejected of
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men. They were going to consider him under the
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judgment of God. That's all in Isaiah 53. And
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that's where Paul quotes from in verse 16 right
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there. And so is Israel uninformed? And the answer
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to that is no, they're not uninformed. God over
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and over has reached out to these people. Verse
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19 says, but I say did Israel not know? And then
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he starts giving passages where Israel has been
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warned about what was going to happen. But I
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want to zero in on verse 17 here. It says, but
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they have not all obeyed the gospel for Isaiah
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says, Lord who has believed our report, so then
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faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word
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of God. Faith. So the trust that the Bible talks
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about in this passage, where you're believing
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on Jesus, and you're confessing with your mouth
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his Lordship, and you're calling on the name
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of the Lord. That faith, that belief, comes from
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hearing. And again, that's the point that Paul
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is making here. It's what happened to Israel.
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They stopped hearing. And so the word hearing
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in this passage means to hear and understand.
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It's the idea of listen up. And so I was involved
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in athletics the whole time that I was in high
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school and also in college, and coaches would
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have talks with you, for example, at halftime.
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If things were going bad at halftime, the coach
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would get you in the locker room and he would
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start talking. And if anybody had their head
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down, if anybody was not paying attention or
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talking to his neighbor, the coach would go,
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listen up. And then your eyes got on the coach
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and you started paying attention to what he had
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to say because what he had to say is important
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for what's going to happen in the next half hour
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of play. Right? Listen up. And that's what the
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word hear means. You can hear without hearing.
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And there are moms who are in grocery stores
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right at this moment who have children who are
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screaming their heads off and they're not hearing.
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Have you ever been around a person like that?
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You're walking through the grocery store, there's
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a mom, she's got a little kid in the cart, and
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this kid is just screaming their head off. And
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she's just like, everything's fine. Four -year
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-old's going crazy. And anybody who's around
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her, they start going to the outskirts of the
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grocery store, because they don't want to be
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around that wreck. And why is the mom doing that?
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It's because that kid's been screaming since
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they were two, and she's never done anything
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about it. So she just tuned the kid out. And
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a lot of people do exactly that with the Word
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of God. And you know who the biggest perpetrators
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are? People who grew up in church. They don't
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hear. They're not listening anymore. I've already
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heard that. And I get that. You grew up in church
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and you've heard the Bible stories when you're
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in Sunday school. If you come here, I've been
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the pastor here since 1990, and so that's, what,
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36 years. So if you've been here that whole time
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and some of you have been here that whole time
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You know what I'm gonna say next for the most
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part, right? You know what all my stories are
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I only have a certain amount of stories and I
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don't want to use yours because that's weird
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So all I can do is use my stories and here's
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the other thing I can't use stories that come
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from the past 30 years because you're still here
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and I want to talk about you and so what happens
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is I go to other states and And that's where
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I use your stories in other states so that nobody
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gets hurt or offended or anything like that.
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It's exactly the same thing with me. Greg Laurie
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is my pastor. I listen to him on the radio. That
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dude is still telling jokes from 1975. Exactly
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the same jokes. He's got a few new ones, but
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mostly it's, oh, I know that you guys do that
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with me. Oh, here's the gorilla story. I stole
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that from Greg Laurie. Here's the jail story.
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That's just mine. Greg had nothing to do with
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that. In any case, I've got these stories. I
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get it. I understand. But you know what? We come
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here to hear from God, don't we? We want God
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to be speaking to us. And so, even if you check
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out during the point where I'm telling an old
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illustration or something like that, we just
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stood up and read this whole passage. And guess
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what? You're accountable for what we just read.
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Even if I don't make major points, the passages
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that we read, which I'm going to, but even if
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I didn't make points on the passages that we
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read, you can't say that you don't know. You
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just had it going into your ears while you were
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looking at it on the page, and you're going to
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stand before God. When you stand before God,
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you are accountable for everything that we just
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did at the very beginning of the service, and
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it's something that you need to keep in mind.
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When you look at what happens in church many
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times church can be a really bad place Actually,
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not many times all the time Church is a really
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bad place for people who aren't going to do anything
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with anything that they hear If you're a person
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who sits there and checks out while we're going
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through the studies. It's a bad place for you
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If you're in a situation where you've decided
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you're not going to change your life in one area
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or another area, and that's something that we
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speak about, and I'm just talking about basic
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stuff. Your lust, your anger, your lack of love
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towards your wife, towards your husband, your
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issues with your kids. We talk about these things
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all the time, and if all you're going to do is
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tune that out and not do anything with what the
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Word of God has to say, this is a lousy place
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for you to be. You need to get out of here. In
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fact, get out right now. Leave. No, I'm just
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joking. Look, we all know what's happening there.
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And so, again, you don't want to harden your
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heart. There's a passage. This is one of my favorite
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passages, Proverbs 29 .1. It says, He who is
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often rebuked and hardens his heart will be suddenly
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destroyed. And that without remedy. And that
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was a problem that you had with the people of
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Israel. They were hearing it. They were used
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to it. Prophets came up and said the same things
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over and over again. And they just despised the
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word. They wouldn't listen to it. They didn't
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do anything with it. And so, sudden destruction,
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whether you're talking about the Assyrian captivity
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or the Babylonian captivity or in the New Testament
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with Jesus, what was going on there. So faith
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comes by hearing, the idea that you listen up,
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and hearing comes by the word of God. And so
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the reason that you listen up to the reason that
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you get faith is because you're hearing. And
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the thing that you're supposed to be hearing
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is the word of God. And again, When you grew
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up in church, a lot of times you're hearing the
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same verses over and over, you're hearing the
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same concepts over and over. I'll bet you most
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people in this room, unless you're brand new,
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know exactly what the gospel is. And so every
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time I'm sharing the gospel with somebody who's
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brand new, you're like, da, da, da, right? You're
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doing that kind of stuff. And again, you need
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to be careful about that. It needs to be something
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that's cool, that's something that... is a blessing,
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something that is awesome in your ears because
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that's how you hear. It's the Word of God. And
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here again is another problem. I think that a
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lot of times people despise the Word of God.
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And I'm not just talking about people who are
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out in the world. People who are out in the world
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don't know anything about the Word of God. And
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so you say, let me tell you what the Bible says.
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And they go, the Bible? That's just a 2000 year
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old book. And what's that got to do with me?
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And blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Let me tell
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you what that's got to do with me. First time
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I walked into a church, you guys have heard my
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testimony, guy who invited me never showed up.
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I sat out there until everybody went inside hoping
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that he would show up. He did not. And so I dragged
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myself in, I'm in the back row, and a dude comes
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out. First they're singing, which was weird because
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they're all raising their hands and doing this.
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being in love with Jesus and stuff, and I'd never
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seen that. And then after they get done singing,
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a dude comes out in a t -shirt and a pair of
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jeans, and he opens up a Bible, and you guys,
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I just sat there in shock in the back row, because
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everything that he was saying, everything that
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he was showing me out of the Bible were things
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that I was dealing with. that week, and I kept
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looking up at him, and then looking down at my
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Bible, looking up at him, looking down at my
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Bible, and in my head I'm going, how is he doing
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this? Because he's taken this 2 ,000 year old
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book, I had exactly that same attitude I talked
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about. He's taken this 2 ,000 year old book and
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he's making it applicable to my life today. How
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is this going on? And what he was doing was using
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the word of God to reach my heart. And that's
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what Greg Laurie does every single time that
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he gives a gospel message. He always starts with
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the Word of God. He's always going through a
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passage. He's always talking about what the Word
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has to say because there are all these people
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who've never opened up the Bible and when they
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do, all of a sudden it comes alive. The Bible
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says that the Word of God is alive and powerful.
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It's sharper than a two -edged sword. It's a
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discerner between the thoughts of the end, the
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intents of the heart. And that's what it's designed
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for. It's designed to make people understand
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that there is a God, he is real, and he has spoken.
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And he's spoken through his word. And so consequently,
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that's what I do all the time. Actually, you
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know what? And again, when I'm talking about
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people who grew up in church, I'm talking about
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my kids too. My kids are used to the Bible. We've
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got Bible verses all around our house. And I
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get it that they've grown up with this whole
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thing, but there needs to be a wonder at the
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word. There's a passage in the book of Isaiah
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55 10 through 11 it says this for as the rain
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Comes down in the snow from heaven And do not
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return there but water the earth and make it
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bring forth and bud That it may give seed to
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the sower and breath bread to the eater So shall
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be my word that goes forth from my mouth. It
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shall not return to me void But it shall accomplish
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what I please and it shall prosper in the thing
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for which I sent it God promises that he's going
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to prosper the Word, promises that he's going
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to bless the Word. He never promises that he's
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going to bless worship. He never promises that
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he's going to bless church attendance. He never
21:50
promises that he's going to bless your awesome
21:52
prayer life in that sense. The promises that
21:55
he makes are about the Word of God and the life
21:57
-changing qualities of God's Word. Everybody
22:00
who walks into a church walks in with an agenda.
22:03
You have an agenda when you walk in here. And
22:06
especially when you're brand new, you don't know
22:07
anything. You're coming in to find out about
22:09
that religious stuff. You're coming in to maybe
22:12
find, I need something in my life that will kind
22:15
of help me along, and that kind of stuff. Some
22:17
people come in here, and they go, that's where
22:19
all the people are, and I'm gonna get in there,
22:21
and I'm gonna tell them what they need to think.
22:23
There's all kinds of agendas that come in, and
22:25
frankly, most of you people are weird. You walk
22:28
in here, you got weird agendas and it's all about
22:31
you and all that kind of stuff and then you start
22:33
hearing the Word of God and it starts changing
22:35
you. There's been all kinds of times over the
22:37
years and mostly when it was smaller where some
22:40
dude would walk in and he's just a goofball and
22:43
I'm sitting there going, man, Lord, what do I
22:45
do with this guy? Do I need to get rid of this
22:47
guy? Because he's got some weird ideas and stuff
22:49
like that and God would speak to my heart and
22:51
just go, give him the Word, dude. God says, dude
22:54
to me. Just give him the Word. And just watching
22:59
a man change over just a period of months as
23:03
the word is being taught and he's realizing what
23:05
God has to say, it's just the coolest thing ever.
23:09
This stuff is powerful. And again, I understand
23:13
that there are people who think that it's not.
23:14
There's Christians who think that it's not. And
23:17
so in many Christian churches what will happen
23:19
is a guy will get up and he's got this great
23:21
illustration that he wants to use or he's got
23:23
a couple of great jokes that he wants to use
23:25
and he starts looking for a text that he can
23:27
base it off of because what he really wants to
23:30
do is share his joke, share his illustration,
23:33
share what he did last summer or whatever. He
23:36
wants to do that kind of thing and he thinks
23:38
that's going to be something that's actually
23:39
going to change the lives of people. It does
23:41
not change the lives of people. And it's not
23:45
that I don't like illustrations. I use them all
23:46
the time. It's not that I don't like jokes. I
23:49
use those all the time. But it's the Word of
23:51
God that changes people, and you need to understand
23:53
that. And so you don't... Taking an illustration,
23:57
a joke, and then tacking a verse onto it is not
23:59
teaching the Word of God. That's teaching your
24:02
joke. You've been listening to Crosswalk with
24:06
Pastor Steve Winnery. Crosswalk is the radio
24:08
ministry of Calvary Chapel Tri -Cities in Kinoent,
24:11
Washington. If you're wanting to know more about
24:13
what it means to follow Christ, then please contact
24:15
our church office by phone at 509 -736 -2086.
24:21
You can also look us up online at calvary -tricities
24:24
.org. Calvary Chapel Tri -Cities is offering
24:27
two in -person training courses for those seeking
24:30
to serve in missions or ministry. The School
24:33
of Missions starts with 12 weeks of classroom
24:35
-style learning and local outreach in the Tri
24:37
-Cities, Washington, followed by a 10 -week cross
24:40
-cultural mission outreach. The School of Ministry,
24:43
this course is 18 weeks of in -person learning
24:45
environment, followed by a four -week mission
24:48
trip. Find out more at calvarytrainingcenternw
24:51
.com.