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The Busy Soul Learning to Wait for God · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the podcast on this Monday morning, and
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  Speaker 1: thank you for listening to the podcast. Tomorrow, we read
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  Speaker 1: Isaiah sixty two to sixty four together in our Bible
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  Speaker 1: reading plan, and that leads us to today's question from
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  Speaker 1: a listener named Mattie Pastor John. Hello to you. I
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  Speaker 1: am a doer. I'm always doing the next thing. I
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  Speaker 1: have a lot of energy. If I see something I
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  Speaker 1: need or that others need, I get to work and
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  Speaker 1: then I read a verse like this one in Isaiah
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  Speaker 1: quote no I has seen a God besides you who
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  Speaker 1: act for those who wait for him. That's Isaiah sixty
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  Speaker 1: four to six. I am not a waiter. I don't
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  Speaker 1: wait for anything. My groceries, my coffee, everything I pre
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  Speaker 1: order on an app so I can just drive up
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  Speaker 1: to the store and get my stuff and drive off.
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  Speaker 1: What does an active person like me need to learn
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  Speaker 1: about waiting on God to act? What does waiting look
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  Speaker 1: like for an active person like me?
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  Speaker 2: You know, Tony, one of the things that you and
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  Speaker 2: I both hope for in doing these podcasts is that
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  Speaker 2: over time, people will not only get answers from the
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  Speaker 2: Bible to their questions, but will learn how to go
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  Speaker 2: to the Bible and get answers for themselves. And it
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  Speaker 2: may be helpful with this particular question to give a
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  Speaker 2: simple glimpse into how I prepare to answer question like this,
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  Speaker 2: or how she might answer her own question. I take
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  Speaker 2: the keyword. I do this with most episodes. I take
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  Speaker 2: the keyword or idea that someone asks H and I,
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  Speaker 2: in this case, it's waiting for the Lord, and I
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  Speaker 2: use a concordance or the word search feature of my
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  Speaker 2: Bible software to look up how that word or idea
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  Speaker 2: is used in the Bible. So if you look up
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  Speaker 2: in the ESV, for example, the word weight with all
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  Speaker 2: of its swarms like weighted and waiting, you get one
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  Speaker 2: hundred and thirty five uses in the Bible. If you
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  Speaker 2: look up the phrase wait four you get seventy five uses,
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  Speaker 2: And if you look up the phrase wait for the Lord,
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  Speaker 2: you get twelve uses with that precise wording. So that's
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  Speaker 2: what I did. And the point of reading all these
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  Speaker 2: uses of the word weight in the Bible is to
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  Speaker 2: see what we can find out about how God intends
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  Speaker 2: for us to understand and practice this reality of waiting
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  Speaker 2: in all kinds of circumstances, including living a very busy,
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  Speaker 2: active life which Maddie lives and most of us live today.
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  Speaker 2: I take then a piece of eight by eleven paper.
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  Speaker 2: This is I do this for a certain I do
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  Speaker 2: this for apja preparation, and I fold it in half.
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  Speaker 2: I fold the eight and a half by eleven paper
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  Speaker 2: in half. I use a lot of scrap paper so
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  Speaker 2: they can just fold it and near the backside. And
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  Speaker 2: as I read all those uses in the Bible, I
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  Speaker 2: make notes on the paper how it's being used. And
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  Speaker 2: then as I collect all these notes, I mark similarities
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  Speaker 2: and differences, like I'll circle, Oh, they're in that Psalm
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  Speaker 2: it had this meaning down here in Proverbs it has
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  Speaker 2: a very similar meaning. I circle those in draw line
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  Speaker 2: between those two so I can connect those and see
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  Speaker 2: if there's a pattern emerging. And when I'm done, I
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  Speaker 2: step back and look at that big, messy piece of
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  Speaker 2: paper and try to fit it all together to see
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  Speaker 2: whether or not there's some pattern that's emerging or some
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  Speaker 2: unifying theme that's growing out of it. And so that's
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  Speaker 2: what I did with wait for the Lord. So here's
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  Speaker 2: here's a glimpse into what I saw concerning the meaning
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  Speaker 2: of waiting for the Lord. Let's give my running glimpses,
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  Speaker 2: and then draw some inferences from Maddie at the end. First,
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  Speaker 2: some one O six thirteen they did not wait for
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  Speaker 2: his counsel. So the first meaning of waiting that I
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  Speaker 2: saw was you should when you have a decision in
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  Speaker 2: front of you, don't run ahead, consulting your own intelligence,
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  Speaker 2: your own preparation, consulting your own expert, your own doctor first.
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  Speaker 2: Oh that's fine, of course, but first consult the Lord.
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  Speaker 2: There are a lot of texts in the Bible that
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  Speaker 2: criticize God's people for running ahead to Egypt or running
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  Speaker 2: ahead to some a helper rather than running to the Lord.
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  Speaker 2: So waiting is turn to the Lord first and wait
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  Speaker 2: for his direction, rather than just blundering ahead. Number two
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  Speaker 2: Psalm thirty three twenty. Our soul waits for the Lord.
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  Speaker 2: He is our help and our shield, for our heart
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  Speaker 2: is glad in him because we trust in his holy name.
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  Speaker 2: So waiting for the Lord means not only that we
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  Speaker 2: pause to consult his will, searching his word, but that
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  Speaker 2: once we know God's direction, we trust him. We trust him.
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  Speaker 2: There's a heart disposition to expect and wait for him
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  Speaker 2: to act in a trustworthy way. Number three Psalm thirty
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  Speaker 2: nine seven. Now, O Lord, for what do we wait.
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  Speaker 2: My hope is in you, deliver me from all my transgressions.
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  Speaker 2: Psalmone thirty verse six. My soul waits for the Lord
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  Speaker 2: more than watchman for the mourning, more than watchman for
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  Speaker 2: the morning. So waiting for the Lord means not only
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  Speaker 2: taking time to consult him then trusting him, but also
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  Speaker 2: eagerly expecting and hoping that he will act. We are
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  Speaker 2: looking for his action in our lives. That's the text
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  Speaker 2: she quoted. The Lord acts works for those who wait
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  Speaker 2: for him. Fourth Proverbs twenty verse twenty two. Do not
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  Speaker 2: say I will repay evil. Wait for the Lord and
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  Speaker 2: he will deliver you. In other words, since God says
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  Speaker 2: that he will settle accounts for you and that you
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  Speaker 2: should not return evil for evil, then don't take matters
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  Speaker 2: into your own hands. Go about your business and wait
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  Speaker 2: for the Lord to bring justice. Wait for the Lord
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  Speaker 2: to vindicate your cause. Fifth Isaiah eight seventeen. I will
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  Speaker 2: wait for the Lord who is hiding his face from
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  Speaker 2: the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him.
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  Speaker 2: There are times in the Christian life when God hides
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  Speaker 2: his face from us and puts us to the test.
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  Speaker 2: Will we forget him, Will we start to build our
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  Speaker 2: lives on another foundation, when his visage has grown dim?
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  Speaker 2: Or will we wait for him with patience in seasons
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  Speaker 2: of darkness until God returns and gives us light six
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  Speaker 2: Romase eight twenty three. We who have the first fruits
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  Speaker 2: of the spirit grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for
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  Speaker 2: adoptionist sons the redemption of our bodies, and we wait
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  Speaker 2: for it with patience. The whole posture of the Christian
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  Speaker 2: life is one of eagerly waiting for the cost of
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  Speaker 2: Christ and the redemption of our bodies. The absence of
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  Speaker 2: the one we love, Jesus Christ from this earth. His
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  Speaker 2: absence physically from our presence and this earth implies that
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  Speaker 2: the Christian life is essentially a waiting, longing, expecting, hoping life,
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  Speaker 2: because Christ is our supreme treasure nothing on the earth. Finally,
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  Speaker 2: there are a cluster of texts that make clear that
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  Speaker 2: this life of waiting is a life full of spirit
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  Speaker 2: dependent action. Now Mattie's ears should perk up. For example,
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  Speaker 2: Titus two twelve to fourteen. The grace of God is
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  Speaker 2: training us to live self controlled, upright, godly lives. Sounds
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  Speaker 2: like Maddie is very self controlled in this present age waiting,
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  Speaker 2: waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the appearing
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  Speaker 2: of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,
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  Speaker 2: who gave himself to make us zealous for good works.
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  Speaker 2: So this is very active, zealous working waiting. We are
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  Speaker 2: waiting for our blessed hope, and He makes us in
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  Speaker 2: that waiting zealous for good work. So we step back
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  Speaker 2: from our very brief survey of some of those hundreds, well,
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  Speaker 2: one hundred and what I say, one hundred and twenty
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  Speaker 2: five hundred and thirty five instances of waiting. We step
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  Speaker 2: back from our collection of biblical revelation concerning the meaning
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  Speaker 2: of waiting, and we ask, I ask, are there any
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  Speaker 2: common denominators running through all these uses of the word waiting?
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  Speaker 2: And I would sum it up like, this person who
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  Speaker 2: waits for the Lord is first continually conscious of God,
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  Speaker 2: his will, his promises, his grace to help. It's a
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  Speaker 2: God conscious person, not a person who forgets God all
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  Speaker 2: day long. You're not waiting for God all day long
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  Speaker 2: if you're forgetting God all day long. Second, the person
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  Speaker 2: who waits for the Lord is desiring God to show
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  Speaker 2: up and reveal himself in act in whatever way is needed.
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  Speaker 2: And third, the person who waits for the Lord has
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  Speaker 2: a spirit of moment by moment dependence on the ever
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  Speaker 2: arriving future grace, like a river coming towards you, the
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  Speaker 2: ever arriving grace of God. Moment by moment, we're depending
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  Speaker 2: on that. So for Maddie this would mean that in
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  Speaker 2: all her busyness, she doesn't lose her righteousness of God,
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  Speaker 2: she doesn't lose her continual desire for Him to act.
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  Speaker 2: And even in her most busy moments, she realizes that
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  Speaker 2: unless the Lord acts for her through her all her
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  Speaker 2: busyness is in vain. And so she's ever expecting, ever
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  Speaker 2: waiting for the moment by moment arrival of the sustaining, guiding,
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  Speaker 2: helping grace of God.
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  Speaker 1: Amen, beautiful expectation in our waiting? Are eager waiting? Think you,
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  Speaker 1: Pastor John? And speaking of waiting, if you haven't read
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  Speaker 1: Pastor John's new book on the Second Coming, you really
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  Speaker 1: should consider it. It's basically a biblical theology of waiting.
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  Speaker 1: That's what it is. He's written nothing else like it,
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  Speaker 1: And specifically that Titus two mentioned above reminded me of
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  Speaker 1: this whole book, answering what does it look like to
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  Speaker 1: work in the waiting Check it out. It was published
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  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three. Come Lord Jesus Meditations on the
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  Speaker 1: Second Coming of Christ is the title. The whole book
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  Speaker 1: PDF is available at Desiring Good dot org forward slash Books.
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  Speaker 1: Print books can be purchased online, of course, Come Lord Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: Meditations on the Second Coming of Christ. And thanks for
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  Speaker 1: joining us today. And if you have a question to
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  Speaker 1: ask Pastor John, find a link to email us and
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  Speaker 1: find our complete episode archive at askpastor John dot com.
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  Speaker 1: Every episode with audio and full transcripts up on Thursday.
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  Speaker 1: Rome's Seven Deadly Errors. I'm Tony Rank. We'll see you soon.