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To-God-Alone-Be-the-Glory-Forever · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: We have come to the end of this wonderful letter
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Speaker 1: to the Romans, and it's the final three verses that
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Speaker 1: form the final doxology. In the language of common Greek,
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Speaker 1: doxa is the word for glory, so not surprisingly, the
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Speaker 1: focus of the duxa is the glory of God. And
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Speaker 1: may I remind all of us that if a church
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Speaker 1: has one challenge over all others, it is making certain
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Speaker 1: that the Living God receive all the glory, all the glory,
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Speaker 1: no matter how large the place may become, no matter
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Speaker 1: how many may participate in the worship. To God goes
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Speaker 1: all the glory, and to God alone all the glory.
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Speaker 1: I met with a lady just after the second morning service,
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Speaker 1: and she said, having just attended our service that earlier
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Speaker 1: this morning, she was at a church which was on
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Speaker 1: its last Sunday, closing the doors. She said, I left
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Speaker 1: that service and I came here, and I found myself
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Speaker 1: in the midst of all of these worshiping the Living God.
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Speaker 1: The contrasts almost more than you could take in. We
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Speaker 1: hold it all very loosely. It is all about our
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Speaker 1: great God, and that isn't an automatic thought in the
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Speaker 1: standard American culture mind. We will read of that in
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Speaker 1: this magnificent doxology, may we stand together for the reading
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Speaker 1: of these last three verses the Letter to the Romans,
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Speaker 1: and then remain standing for prayer. Now to him who
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Speaker 1: is able to establish you according to My Gospel and
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Speaker 1: the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of
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Speaker 1: the mystery, which has been kept secret for long ages past,
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Speaker 1: but now is manifested, and by the scriptures of the Prophets,
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Speaker 1: according to the commandment of the Eternal God, has been
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Speaker 1: made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of
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Speaker 1: faith to the only wise God through Jesus Christ, be
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Speaker 1: the glory forever. And God's people said Amen. And now,
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Speaker 1: our Father, as we pause in these moments of quietness
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Speaker 1: to reflect on your good hand that has been upon
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Speaker 1: us since our conception, and as we focus our attention
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Speaker 1: on the climactic words of this inspired pen, may our
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Speaker 1: adoration for you reach new heights, and may our devotion
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Speaker 1: to you reach new depths. I ask in the name
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Speaker 1: of Christ, our Savior and Lord. And everyone said amen,
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Speaker 1: may be seated. There was always something exciting about coming
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Speaker 1: home after a long journey. Often the longer the journey,
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Speaker 1: the more excitement we feel when we turn the corner
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Speaker 1: into our street and then ultimately walk into where we
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Speaker 1: are living, and we often say things like it is
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Speaker 1: so good to be home, journey ended. I don't know
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Speaker 1: if you've traveled much internationally, but when you do, you
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Speaker 1: will notice the culture of people who are international. When
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Speaker 1: they land the plane, they often break into an applause.
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Speaker 1: Have you noticed that. I remember the first time I
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Speaker 1: took a flight abroad and we were landing and they
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Speaker 1: started applauding. I thought someone performing somewhere, and in fact,
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Speaker 1: I guess it was. There was their way of saying,
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Speaker 1: we're just so glad to be home, or we're grateful
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Speaker 1: for the safe landing. MILLI Graham, in his book How
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Speaker 1: to Be Born Again, tells an interesting story of a
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Speaker 1: group of people that probably really did applaud when they
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Speaker 1: landed that plane. This is a big jumbo jet that
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Speaker 1: lifted up over O'Hare Field and finally reached about forty
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Speaker 1: thousand feet elevation on its way to Los Angeles International.
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Speaker 1: As they reached height of the right elevation over the
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Speaker 1: loud speaker, these words were heard. This is a recording.
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Speaker 1: You have the privilege of being the first to fly
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Speaker 1: a holy electronic jet. This aircraft took off electronically. It
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Speaker 1: is now flying at forty thousand feet electronically. It will
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Speaker 1: ultimately land at Los Angeles Internation. Electronically is no pilot,
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Speaker 1: no copilot, and no flight engineer. But do not worry.
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Speaker 1: Nothing can go wrong. Go wrong, go wrong, go wrong,
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Speaker 1: go wrong, go wrong, go wrong. Landing in that plane
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Speaker 1: would have been a thrill all its own, wouldn't it?
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Speaker 1: Talk about applauding. It's been quite a journey through this
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Speaker 1: great letter to the Romans. We have begun with a
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Speaker 1: clear view of the depravity of humanity. And if that
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Speaker 1: wasn't enough, we found that God, in realizing that so
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Speaker 1: many have gone their own way and are determined to
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Speaker 1: take it to the end in their own way, gave
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Speaker 1: them over, gave them up, gave them up. I call
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Speaker 1: the first three chapters of Romans cinerama in panorama spelled
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Speaker 1: si in cinerama in panorama. And then you get to
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Speaker 1: chapter four, and you meet up not with the goodness
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Speaker 1: of man, but with the grace of God. And in
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Speaker 1: chapters four and five we are told of the peace
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Speaker 1: that is possible to have with God through faith that
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Speaker 1: is in Jesus Christ, by faith alone, in Christ alone,
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Speaker 1: because of His grace alone. And as the grace shines
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Speaker 1: through chapter five, we realize now that we are in Christ,
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Speaker 1: we have the Spirit of God living within us. However,
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Speaker 1: we are still living with an old sin nature. Remember
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Speaker 1: the justification definition we've been hearing over and over, the
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Speaker 1: sovereign act of God, whereby he declares righteous the believing sinner,
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Speaker 1: while we are still in a sinning state. Let it
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Speaker 1: sink in Christ saved us while we were sinners. He
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Speaker 1: gave us his nature, the person of the Holy Spirit,
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Speaker 1: took up residence within us. However, the old nature is
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Speaker 1: still there, longing to be obeyed. Habits have been formed,
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Speaker 1: sinful activities have gotten in a rut, and those activities
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Speaker 1: don't want to give up the throne of our lives.
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Speaker 1: And so there is. Galatians five tells us a warfare
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Speaker 1: between the work of the Spirit and the flesh in
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Speaker 1: our lives. They war against one another. That's chapters six, seven,
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Speaker 1: and eight of Romans. When you get to chapter nine,
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Speaker 1: we learn of the sovereignty of God. It all under
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Speaker 1: his control. No reason to panic, Really, there's no reason
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Speaker 1: to worry, though you cannot see him, though you cannot
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Speaker 1: audibly hear him, you witness over and over again how
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Speaker 1: all things are working together for good to them who
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Speaker 1: love God, to them who are the called according to
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Speaker 1: His purpose. Chapter nine, ten and eleven are full of
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Speaker 1: that truth. And then chapter twelve we come to the
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Speaker 1: place where we are challenged to have our minds transformed
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Speaker 1: as we allow the Lord God full control, which is
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Speaker 1: our reasonable worship, our reasonable service of worship. We learn
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Speaker 1: of our liberty in Christ in chapter thirteen, and the
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Speaker 1: importance of living that liberty, yet not to the abuse
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Speaker 1: of it fourteen and fifteen, and then we learn a
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Speaker 1: whole other dimension when we get to chapter sixteen. Paul
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Speaker 1: was a people person all the way through the first
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Speaker 1: fifteen chapters. It's vertical. Oh, there are moments where he
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Speaker 1: addresses the things of this earth, but so much of
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Speaker 1: it keeps going back to the living God. When you
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Speaker 1: get to chapter sixteen, you come across names you don't
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Speaker 1: find anywhere else in any part of the Bible. There
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Speaker 1: are many of these names appearing here and nowhere else.
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Speaker 1: And then another list of eight of them come in
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Speaker 1: twenty one to twenty three. As we saw last time,
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Speaker 1: as we realize that Paul never lost touch with people.
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Speaker 1: And let me add that the importance of that, no
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Speaker 1: matter how deep your walk may be in Christ, no
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Speaker 1: matter how serious you may get regarding the Christian life,
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Speaker 1: we need each other. You need others, and I need
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Speaker 1: you and you need me. If you keep a journal,
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Speaker 1: your journals should be full of others' names. People who
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Speaker 1: have crossed your path and whose shadow has touched your life.
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Speaker 1: Mentors who have helped train you and shape your life,
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Speaker 1: and challenge you and even confront you. People one after another.
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Speaker 1: But I am so grateful. In the final docsaw the
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Speaker 1: closing doxology of the letter, people are set aside, Doctrines
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Speaker 1: related to the Christian life are pushed away, and the
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Speaker 1: attention turns toward God and only to him. It is
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Speaker 1: Paul's way of saying, to Him be all the glory,
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Speaker 1: and to him alone, be that glory forever again, just
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Speaker 1: as an aside. Take time. I am for sixty to
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Speaker 1: ninety seconds of your day every day to pause, to
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Speaker 1: pause and say Lord to you goes all the glory.
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Speaker 1: Remind me of that now that I have gotten this promotion,
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Speaker 1: Or remind me of that now that I have lost
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Speaker 1: my position. Remind me of that as I anticipate my
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Speaker 1: wedding day. Remind me of that as I go through
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Speaker 1: the struggles in the battles of a broken relationship, even
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Speaker 1: a marriage. Remind me, Lord that you get all the glory.
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Speaker 1: As I go into surgery next week, Remind me, Lord,
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Speaker 1: bring to my attention that my times are in your hands.
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Speaker 1: To you goes all the glory. Last week I was
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Speaker 1: with the doctor Howie Hendrix for just a little bit
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Speaker 1: of time. We've been in a meeting together that I'll
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Speaker 1: talk about later in this message, and driving home, I
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Speaker 1: was so privileged to have him with me. He didn't
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Speaker 1: know it, but I took a longer way home than
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Speaker 1: I needed to as just to be with him a
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Speaker 1: little longer. And I said to him, Hendrix, you never
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Speaker 1: dream that your later years would be like they have been,
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Speaker 1: would you? He has lost his eye through a battle
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Speaker 1: with cancer, recently had back surgery and it was a
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Speaker 1: wonderfully successful surgery and other things. He's going to be
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Speaker 1: the bionic Man before long, when all of this is
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Speaker 1: said and done. He said, no, Chuck, I never would have.
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Speaker 1: But I have learned no matter what, it's what God
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Speaker 1: has for me. That's another way of saying, to God,
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Speaker 1: be all the glory. That's what Paul does here. In fact,
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Speaker 1: you will notice that the title I've chosen is directly
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Speaker 1: from the text. And what Paul is doing is introducing
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Speaker 1: us to the pilot, the tour guide of our trip.
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Speaker 1: He's been invisible. It isn't Paul, the human writer. It
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Speaker 1: isn't Tertius, the one who has described verse twenty two,
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Speaker 1: who induces himself to us. It's the living God. And
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Speaker 1: so he pauses at this moment as if to lift
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Speaker 1: his hands and to look up and say, not to him,
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Speaker 1: be all the glory to him and to him alone.
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Speaker 1: But he doesn't stop with just the statement of praise.
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Speaker 1: He reminds us that God is awesome. He is awesome
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Speaker 1: in his works, and he aims four of them for
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Speaker 1: us here. Will you never forget what you've learned in
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Speaker 1: this lesson, in these lessons in Romans, only God is awesome.
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Speaker 1: Reserve that word just for him. The iPhone isn't awesome.
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Speaker 1: It's interesting, takes too much of your time, but it
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Speaker 1: isn't awesome. Your new car isn't awesome, no matter what
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Speaker 1: the make may be. Your house isn't awesome. Your child, Sorry,
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Speaker 1: isn't awesome? Only God, only God to him, the awesome one,
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Speaker 1: the only awesome one who is able to there's our
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Speaker 1: first step off establish you. This is a reference to
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Speaker 1: the invisible, albeit invincible power of God supporting us. The
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Speaker 1: original word has in mind a prop as in a support,
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Speaker 1: and the prefix on the original word puts it inside
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Speaker 1: of us, the one who supports you down within, the
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Speaker 1: one who stabilizes you and holds you steadfast. You're not aware,
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Speaker 1: and I am not aware of those threatening occasions in
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Speaker 1: our lives when we miss death by just a quick shadow.
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Speaker 1: It happened years ago in the life of Ira sank
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Speaker 1: the song leader for Dwight L. Moody. Years ago, when
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Speaker 1: Ira Sankie was at the height of his ministry in
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Speaker 1: traveling on a steamer in the Delaware River, he was
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Speaker 1: recognized by some of the people on board that had
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Speaker 1: seen his picture in the newspaper. When he was asked
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Speaker 1: to sing one of his own compositions, Sankie said he
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Speaker 1: preferred the hymn by William Bradbery, Savior like a shepherd
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Speaker 1: lead us. He suggested that everyone there who knew the
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Speaker 1: song to join and with him and to sing it.
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Speaker 1: One of the stanzas begins, we are thine, Do thou
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Speaker 1: befriend us? Be the guardian of our way? When he
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Speaker 1: finished the song, a stranger stepped out of the shadows
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Speaker 1: and asked, Sankie. Were you in the army? Mister Sankie, yes,
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Speaker 1: I joined up in eighteen sixty. Well did you ever
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Speaker 1: do guard duty at night in Maryland about eighteen sixty two? Yes,
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Speaker 1: I did, well, he said. I was in the Confederate
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Speaker 1: Army and I saw you one night at Sharpsburg. You
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Speaker 1: were wearing your blue uniform, and I had you in
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Speaker 1: my gun sight as you stood there in the light
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Speaker 1: of the full moon. Then just as I was about
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Speaker 1: to pull the trigger, you began to sing. Sankie was
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Speaker 1: astounded as he recalled the incident. It was the same
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Speaker 1: hymn we sang tonight, said the stranger. And when I
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Speaker 1: heard you singing, I just couldn't shoot you. Well, that
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Speaker 1: was nice, wasn't it. When I sing, people want to
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Speaker 1: shoot me. But when he said, it doesn't happen, why
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Speaker 1: wouldn't he shoot him? The establishing power of God, the
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Speaker 1: same reason you didn't lose your child in that accident.
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Speaker 1: The same reason you live through that event when others
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Speaker 1: said you'll never make it. We always focus on those
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Speaker 1: who are victims of a situation, and seldom do we
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Speaker 1: stop and remember the remarkable stories who of those people
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Speaker 1: who made it through. I've talked to veterans who landed
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Speaker 1: at Normandy, and they said, my buddy died here, my
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Speaker 1: next buddy died there. My commanding officer died right in
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Speaker 1: front of me, and right in front of him, the
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Speaker 1: blood from his neck splattered all over me, and I
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Speaker 1: never got a scratch. Remarkable how God establishes certain individuals
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Speaker 1: for his own purpose and in his own time. But
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Speaker 1: this establishment is more than just dealing with threatening situations.
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Speaker 1: This is an establishment that makes us firm and strong
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Speaker 1: with standing against error. Some of us have been called
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Speaker 1: to do that in our lives, and we sometimes wonder
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Speaker 1: where we get the strength to do that. It's from
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Speaker 1: the Living God, it's not from our own constitution. When
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Speaker 1: you face temptation and you're tempted to move it in
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Speaker 1: the wrong direction, and you say no and you stay pure,
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Speaker 1: that's the work of God establishing you from within. When
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Speaker 1: we're given courage to stand under attack or under fire
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Speaker 1: from those who don't know us, who don't understand us,
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Speaker 1: who don't realize our motives are pure, They misinterpret the
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Speaker 1: ability to keep standing firm is the work of God.
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Speaker 1: Let's learn. Let's teach ourselves. Since the media will never
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Speaker 1: help in learning this, Let's teach ourselves to say frequently,
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Speaker 1: thank you, Lord, Thank you, Lord, you get all the
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Speaker 1: praise Lord, Thank you for watching over Lord. Thank you.
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Speaker 1: It's the establishing work of God. He's also the real
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Speaker 1: of the Gospel. Keep reading verse twenty five. Now to
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Speaker 1: him who is able to establish you, we've seen that
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Speaker 1: according to My Gospel. He calls it my gospel because
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Speaker 1: it's the one he's been proclaiming for years. It's the
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Speaker 1: gospel he has embraced and preaches according to My Gospel
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Speaker 1: and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation
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Speaker 1: of the Mystery, which has been kept secret for long
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Speaker 1: ages past, but now is manifested, and by the scriptures
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Speaker 1: of the prophets, according to the commandment of the Eternal God,
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Speaker 1: has been made known to all the nations. God is
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Speaker 1: the revealer of the good news. The good news is
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Speaker 1: always linked to the person of Christ. Never forget that
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Speaker 1: you haven't given people the gospel until you've given them
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Speaker 1: something to believe. And you haven't given them something to
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Speaker 1: believe in till you've given them some one to believe in.
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Speaker 1: You could talk to people about the church, and that's
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Speaker 1: not witnessing. That will never lead a person to Christ.
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Speaker 1: You could talk to people about how your life has
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Speaker 1: been changed, and that's a great statement, it's a wonderful story.
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Speaker 1: It's just not what will change their lives. But when
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Speaker 1: you mentioned the name of Christ, you have moved into
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Speaker 1: the territory of the gospel. May I give it to
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Speaker 1: you again. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures,
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Speaker 1: and he was buried, he was raised miraculously and bodily
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Speaker 1: from the grave, and he still lives to continue to
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Speaker 1: forgive our sins. He paid the complete price for our
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Speaker 1: sins on the cross. No other sins need to be
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Speaker 1: paid for. All of it has been taken care of
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Speaker 1: by his death and God's approval of that death. Is
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Speaker 1: the reserrace of Jesus from the grave and from death,
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Speaker 1: and he lives on and will someday return for it.
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Speaker 1: That is the gospel. Now, when you get to that
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Speaker 1: subject is when you will find eyebrows lifting, or frowns forming,
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Speaker 1: or has happened to me? When I got through giving
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Speaker 1: that message to a medical doctor friend of mine years ago,
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Speaker 1: I worked on this little bridge illustration. I put it
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Speaker 1: together so carefully. I even drew it out as if
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Speaker 1: he were a kindergarten kid. I put the cliff on
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Speaker 1: one side and the cliff on the other side, and
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Speaker 1: put the cross in the middle. I thought, as I
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Speaker 1: was writing, this is going to really really result in
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Speaker 1: his salvation. So I turned it around a little napkin
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Speaker 1: on the table and I said, here, doctor so and so,
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Speaker 1: that's that's the good news. And he said to me,
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Speaker 1: not in a million years would I ever believe that.
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Speaker 1: How's that for the great evangelist Swindall's work. They're at
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Speaker 1: the table that day. He wasn't rejecting me. It wasn't
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Speaker 1: about me. He listened his law long as I was
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Speaker 1: telling him about all of these religious things. But when
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Speaker 1: I got to the person of Jesus, suddenly that was
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Speaker 1: the turning point. Don't be afraid of being that narrow.
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Speaker 1: In our pluralistic world. We're offered all kinds of gods,
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Speaker 1: just everybody, sincere doesn't matter who they believe in. Just
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Speaker 1: sincerely believe in whatever, and your sincerity will get you
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Speaker 1: to heaven. Now you'll wind up in the other place,
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Speaker 1: and you'll wonder how in the world and I not
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Speaker 1: make heaven because you didn't sincerely believe in the only way.
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Speaker 1: Jesus said, I Am the Way, the Truth, and the life.
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Speaker 1: No one comes to the Father but through me. And
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Speaker 1: that sounds so narrow. It is it is. I mean,
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Speaker 1: when you go to catch a plane, a guy at
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Speaker 1: the front desk doesn't say, well, there's a lot of
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Speaker 1: planes here, just pick whichever one that's a nice red
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Speaker 1: one over there? Would you like that one? Dark listens close.
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Speaker 1: You have to walk as far take that one. Yeah,
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Speaker 1: but I'm going to New York. Well, uh, try one
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Speaker 1: of those down there at the end of the runway.
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Speaker 1: Let's see if that works for you, or the end
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Speaker 1: of the terminal. By the way, it always bothers me
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Speaker 1: call they call them terminals. Does that concern anybody else?
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Speaker 1: He's the revealer of the Gospel. One of these words
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Speaker 1: in here I'm always attracted to, and that's the word mystery.
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Speaker 1: The preaching of Jesus Christ to growing, the revelation of
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Speaker 1: the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past.
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Speaker 1: We are so blessed to have the Gospel revealed in
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Speaker 1: our day, but it wasn't always so it was for
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Speaker 1: a long time mystery. Now the word mysteryon is is
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Speaker 1: not the word like our mystery. Our mystery is as
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Speaker 1: convoluted and it's it's it's intriguing and it's complicated. That
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Speaker 1: that's our mystery. This is a word like secret, something
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Speaker 1: that is going on behind the scenes, but you don't
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Speaker 1: know about it, and once the word is out, everybody
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Speaker 1: knows about it. That's our word secret. Illustration. Let's say
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Speaker 1: you've got an eighty year old dad and a seventy
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Speaker 1: eight year old mother, and your mom's been sick a
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Speaker 1: long time and she finally passes on, and your dad
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Speaker 1: gives your call and he says, I want you to
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Speaker 1: know that your mom is gone and planned the service. Right,
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Speaker 1: Oh Dad, we'll be there. So you stop everything and
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Speaker 1: you and you make your trip and you get there
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Speaker 1: and you help him through the grief, and he's doing
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Speaker 1: great fact there In some ways he's relieved to have
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Speaker 1: the days of sickness past, and he's still in good
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Speaker 1: health and he's got a good mind. And he just
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Speaker 1: he's all frankly ready to go on with his life.
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Speaker 1: And you say, listen, we're open to have you come
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Speaker 1: moved near No, I don't want to move near you.
26:50
Speaker 1: I'm doing great, house paid for, everything's fine. So you
26:54
Speaker 1: kind of lose touch after a while, you know how
26:56
Speaker 1: that is. You're busy and dad's busy, and phone call
27:00
Speaker 1: every now and then all of a sudden, a couple
27:01
Speaker 1: of years later, your phone rings, Hi, honey, this is
27:04
Speaker 1: your dad. Yeah, yeah, dad, how are you great? I'm
27:07
Speaker 1: getting married day after tomorrow. I just thought i'd tell
27:10
Speaker 1: you what's happened. The mystery has occurred. Nothing's been known
27:16
Speaker 1: ahead of time, and all of a sudden, everything is
27:19
Speaker 1: now known. Older people do things like that, don't they.
27:23
Speaker 1: Isn't it interesting? I got a cute story somebody handed
27:29
Speaker 1: to me. Morris, an eighty two year old man, went
27:32
Speaker 1: to the doctor to get a physical. A few days later,
27:35
Speaker 1: the doctor saw Marris walking down the street with a
27:38
Speaker 1: gorgeous young woman on his arm. A couple days later,
27:41
Speaker 1: the doctor spoke to the man, said you're really doing great,
27:44
Speaker 1: aren't you. Morris replied, I'm doing just what you said. Doctor.
27:48
Speaker 1: Get a hot mama, and be cheerful. Doctor said, I said,
27:52
Speaker 1: you got a heart, murmur, be careful, hot mama. So
28:07
Speaker 1: Dad calls you up and he said, yeah, I just
28:09
Speaker 1: got married. You go. Wait a minute. All I'm think
28:12
Speaker 1: of is my mother. Well, he's got other plans. He's
28:15
Speaker 1: going on with his life. All the way through time,
28:19
Speaker 1: the gospel has been there, but now it is revealed,
28:23
Speaker 1: and you twenty four to seven. You'd punch it onto
28:26
Speaker 1: the radio and pick up a station that will tell
28:28
Speaker 1: you the gospel. You'd go to a bookstore and pick
28:31
Speaker 1: up books that'll tell you the gospel. You could talk
28:34
Speaker 1: to friends who openly speak of the gospel. But I'll
28:37
Speaker 1: tell you it's not true in every nation. Some nations
28:41
Speaker 1: you do it and they'll pick you off. You got
28:43
Speaker 1: a target on your chest, which brings us to the
28:47
Speaker 1: third point here as we see the hand of our
28:51
Speaker 1: awesome God, he's the proclaimer to all the nations. You
28:54
Speaker 1: didn't miss that, did you. The eternal God has been
28:57
Speaker 1: made known to all the nation. How magnificent of our God.
29:03
Speaker 1: And may I urge you that this would include every race,
29:06
Speaker 1: every tribe, every color of skin, every culture, every language.
29:11
Speaker 1: Now they've all met the Savior. Most have not met
29:14
Speaker 1: the Savior, but he's available to them. While I was
29:19
Speaker 1: away this past weekend, I spoke down at T. Barm
29:22
Speaker 1: Ranch for the Dallas Seminary. Had a wonderful weekend with
29:27
Speaker 1: some of our donors, and we were there with several
29:30
Speaker 1: hundred people. And just before I got up speak yesterday morning,
29:34
Speaker 1: one of our graduates was featured on a video clip
29:39
Speaker 1: that they showed. They didn't give her full name because
29:42
Speaker 1: she's ministering among the Muslims, and to make that name
29:46
Speaker 1: known and for that information to get back, they'd finish
29:49
Speaker 1: her off. And she said, so want you to know
29:52
Speaker 1: what's going on behind the scenes. And she turned around
29:55
Speaker 1: and she reached her hand across the faces of all
30:00
Speaker 1: all of these young women, most of whom she's led
30:02
Speaker 1: to Christ. That great right in the heart of a
30:05
Speaker 1: country they wouldn't even reveal the place, but in a
30:09
Speaker 1: Muslim country, she said, most of the virtually all of
30:14
Speaker 1: these women have given their hearts to Christ. Why because
30:19
Speaker 1: the Gospel touches every one of these places. They knew
30:24
Speaker 1: the if they knew him at all, he was just
30:26
Speaker 1: a prophet. But when they found out that He's the
30:29
Speaker 1: Savior of their lives. Christ was proclaimed to them and
30:37
Speaker 1: He's changing their lives, which brings us to this fourth
30:41
Speaker 1: characteristic of our God. He is the initiator of obedience.
30:45
Speaker 1: It leads to obedience of faith. God and God alone
30:52
Speaker 1: takes the good news of Christ, makes it clear to us.
30:57
Speaker 1: We believe it, and it's it's remarkable how the direction
31:02
Speaker 1: of our lives changes. We move in a way that
31:07
Speaker 1: is no longer to please ourselves, but it's to please Him.
31:12
Speaker 1: And the obedience comes from the work, the awesome work
31:16
Speaker 1: of God. I just have to take time to go
31:21
Speaker 1: back to chapter ten. Let's do this quickly. Let me
31:24
Speaker 1: show you what I call the chain reaction of the
31:27
Speaker 1: Gospel message Romans ten, verse eleven down through verse fifteen.
31:33
Speaker 1: These are like little dominoes sitting on the end, and
31:36
Speaker 1: one bumps up against another, that touches another, and bumps another,
31:40
Speaker 1: until the whole trail runs its course. You can see
31:43
Speaker 1: it for yourself verse eleven of Romans ten. For the
31:46
Speaker 1: scripture says, whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.
31:51
Speaker 1: That's the starting point, that's the hope, that's the promise.
31:55
Speaker 1: Whoever believes in Christ will not be disappointed. Are some
31:59
Speaker 1: people marked off not available for that. And no, there's
32:02
Speaker 1: no distinction between Jew and Greek. The same Lord as
32:07
Speaker 1: Lord of all, abounding and riches for all, all, for
32:11
Speaker 1: all who call on him, and that includes every one
32:14
Speaker 1: of us, every one of us, all who call on him.
32:20
Speaker 1: Now watch closely, for whoever will call on the name
32:23
Speaker 1: of the Lord will be saved. No matter what culture,
32:29
Speaker 1: no matter what language. If you call on the Lord,
32:32
Speaker 1: you will be saved. And now he does as only
32:35
Speaker 1: Paul can do. He goes through the logical step. How
32:38
Speaker 1: then will they call on him and whom they have
32:40
Speaker 1: not believed? And how will they believe in him whom
32:45
Speaker 1: they have not heard? And how will they hear without
32:50
Speaker 1: a preacher? And how will they preach unless they are sent?
32:56
Speaker 1: Pause right here, because I know you're thinking, I'm so
32:59
Speaker 1: glad this is written to the preachers. Well, you're one
33:02
Speaker 1: of them. You're a communicator of the good news. That
33:06
Speaker 1: makes you a preacher. You say, well, I've never been sent.
33:09
Speaker 1: Well I'm sending you right now, right now is an
33:12
Speaker 1: automatic sending. You're on your way. You are sent the
33:15
Speaker 1: moment you believe you are ignited with enough of the
33:21
Speaker 1: spirit of God to send you to wherever you may
33:24
Speaker 1: go to give the good news of Christ. And it says,
33:27
Speaker 1: it says, how will they go unless they're sent? And
33:31
Speaker 1: then once that's settled, look at the promise. How beautiful
33:34
Speaker 1: are the feet of those who bring good news of
33:39
Speaker 1: good things? You'll get beautiful feet for doing this. What
33:45
Speaker 1: does that mean? Your path will be blessed by God.
33:50
Speaker 1: He'll open doors for you. You will have an opportunity to
33:54
Speaker 1: give this good news in places Listen to me that
33:57
Speaker 1: would never otherwise hear unless you're there, because you will
34:02
Speaker 1: touch lives. The person on your right or left will
34:05
Speaker 1: never touch. What gives a whole new dimension to sharing
34:09
Speaker 1: the Savior. Some are on campuses and they make Christ known.
34:14
Speaker 1: Some are on the actual athletic teams making Christ known.
34:19
Speaker 1: Some are in retirement villages making Christ known. Some are
34:22
Speaker 1: in hospitals making Christ known. Some are in neighborhoods making
34:26
Speaker 1: the Savior known. How beautiful the feet of all of
34:30
Speaker 1: those who give the good news of Jesus. But listen
34:35
Speaker 1: to me. The change life, Huh, we're back again. That's
34:42
Speaker 1: the work of our awesome God. You give the good
34:46
Speaker 1: news till you're blue in the face. And some people
34:49
Speaker 1: will believe it. But for that change life, you can't
34:51
Speaker 1: make it happen. That's the work of God. Most of
34:57
Speaker 1: us sigh. Would we think if someone could have seen
34:59
Speaker 1: me twenty year years ago, Oh maybe you'd have to
35:03
Speaker 1: say what a mess I was making of my life?
35:07
Speaker 1: Others of Yousaiah don't have to go back twenty years
35:09
Speaker 1: for that. It was rather recently. But you know, something happened.
35:13
Speaker 1: Let me tell you what happened. The awesome God of
35:17
Speaker 1: Heaven intervened and he got your attention. He may have
35:22
Speaker 1: worked through people, or he may have worked through circumstances,
35:25
Speaker 1: maybe even tragedies we would call him. But it alerted
35:30
Speaker 1: you to the work of God, and you realized, I'm
35:33
Speaker 1: living my life in vain or for all the wrong reasons.
35:36
Speaker 1: So we read. He brings it, He leads it to
35:39
Speaker 1: obedience of faith. Now, this kind of awesome God who
35:44
Speaker 1: does these wonderful things we've just enumerated, Look at him,
35:50
Speaker 1: look at his uniqueness. To the only wise God. Isaiah's record,
36:00
Speaker 1: especially chapters forty three, forty four, and forty five, is
36:04
Speaker 1: full of references to this God. And there is no other.
36:08
Speaker 1: There is no other. Don't be afraid of that that's
36:13
Speaker 1: a relief. It isn't a multiple choice. When it comes
36:18
Speaker 1: to selecting the God who is worth following, it is
36:22
Speaker 1: our creator, God, the one who shaped us and made us.
36:28
Speaker 1: Even the Solemnes says there is none other, and he's
36:33
Speaker 1: saying here he is the only wise God. Now there's
36:36
Speaker 1: the next characteristic. He's wise. Our tendency is to think knowledgeable.
36:43
Speaker 1: But there's a difference. There's a difference between wisdom and knowledge.
36:52
Speaker 1: Wisdom would include God's perception, the ability to devise perfect
36:59
Speaker 1: ends carried out achieved through perfect means. No guess work,
37:05
Speaker 1: no hoping for the best. God sees everything clearly and
37:09
Speaker 1: with determined focus, is able to move us toward predetermined goals,
37:15
Speaker 1: and he will have his way. Paul writes elsewhere, Oh,
37:20
Speaker 1: the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and
37:23
Speaker 1: the knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and
37:26
Speaker 1: unfathomable his ways. You can't figure them out. We try,
37:31
Speaker 1: We wish we could, but we can't. Because God's ways
37:34
Speaker 1: are often done in secret places. He created this world
37:39
Speaker 1: in secret places, no one was there to witness it.
37:42
Speaker 1: He devised a plan of salvation in the secrecy of
37:45
Speaker 1: the Godhead, just the members of the Trinity. The son
37:50
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ was secretly placed in the virgin's womb and
37:54
Speaker 1: for nine months grew to term and came to birth,
38:00
Speaker 1: and Jesus bore the sins of the world. Even shrouded
38:03
Speaker 1: in darkness, no one was there to assist, No one
38:07
Speaker 1: was needed to assist. He rose from the grave out
38:11
Speaker 1: of the darkness of the tomb. No one was there
38:13
Speaker 1: to see it, and God was doing his work. These
38:18
Speaker 1: are magnificent eternal plans. And let me tell you something.
38:24
Speaker 1: A great thing occurs when you don't try to figure
38:26
Speaker 1: it all out. You just put your hand in his
38:29
Speaker 1: and say, Okay, I'm going to trust you in this.
38:33
Speaker 1: I can't figure out why this is happening, but I'm
38:35
Speaker 1: going to trust you. Let me tell you a story
38:39
Speaker 1: you'll never forget. It happened to me. I was about
38:43
Speaker 1: ten years old, and we were down at the Little
38:46
Speaker 1: Bay Cottage, where my granddaddy allowed our family to vacation
38:51
Speaker 1: most every summer. One of the things I enjoyed doing
38:53
Speaker 1: the most that my brother and sister weren't too big
38:56
Speaker 1: on was floundering with my dad. If you've never floundered,
39:01
Speaker 1: you look at me like you're looking at me right now,
39:04
Speaker 1: and so I understand it sounds a little weird. It's
39:09
Speaker 1: in the night, so it's dark, and you wade into
39:12
Speaker 1: the water about up to your knees or up to
39:15
Speaker 1: your thighs, up to your hips, and you're carrying a
39:18
Speaker 1: coalman lantern. You're also with the other hand carrying a
39:22
Speaker 1: gig which looked like a long broomstick at the end,
39:26
Speaker 1: or two real sharp points that you want to jam
39:29
Speaker 1: in the back of the flounder when you see them.
39:31
Speaker 1: But I'll get to that. So you're walking along with
39:34
Speaker 1: a lantern in water, mud or sand. As you're walking along,
39:39
Speaker 1: and I'm about ten years old, everything's fine until we
39:43
Speaker 1: get to the point. Now, this little bay had a
39:47
Speaker 1: point where when you go around the point, you could
39:50
Speaker 1: no longer see the light of the cottage where the
39:53
Speaker 1: family was having fun playing games in the middle of
39:56
Speaker 1: the night. You could even hear them. And I remember
39:58
Speaker 1: walking along as we go around on the point, looking
40:01
Speaker 1: like this, kind of getting nervous because I couldn't see
40:04
Speaker 1: the light of the cottage. And I'd say, Daddy, what
40:07
Speaker 1: are you looking for? Flounder? He'd say, yeah, yeah, Daddy,
40:10
Speaker 1: But you know, we can't see the cottage. I know
40:14
Speaker 1: some We're gonna be fine. Look for flounder, Okay, I said,
40:18
Speaker 1: I'm going to. But what if you know when you
40:21
Speaker 1: gig a flounder, the fins just and water goes everywhere,
40:26
Speaker 1: and sometimes put your lanner out. So I said, Daddy, uh,
40:30
Speaker 1: He said, we're going to get a big one here.
40:31
Speaker 1: And he always said that, and we're walking along, and
40:35
Speaker 1: finally he would mention that. I would say, Daddy, when
40:39
Speaker 1: it throws his tail up, mollent, it's gonna get cold
40:42
Speaker 1: water on the lanner and it's gonna put the mantle out.
40:45
Speaker 1: Won't have any light, he said, son, I got a
40:47
Speaker 1: flashlight here? I said, Daddy, or the batteries good in
40:50
Speaker 1: the flashlight. I was a little bit of a worrisome
40:53
Speaker 1: child back when I was ten, and I kept looking
40:55
Speaker 1: for the lights at the home. He says, the batteries
40:57
Speaker 1: are good, So I said, could we try him? We're
41:00
Speaker 1: not gonna try, and we're looking for founder. So we're
41:02
Speaker 1: walking along and I'd finally say, Daddy, you know where
41:05
Speaker 1: you are? He said, yeah, I know where I am.
41:10
Speaker 1: So I'd reach up my little ten year old hand
41:12
Speaker 1: and I'd grab hold of his. It's funny thing when
41:17
Speaker 1: I put my hand in his, I never once looked
41:19
Speaker 1: back to see the lights of the cottage because he
41:23
Speaker 1: knew where he was. And it's an amazing thing. We
41:27
Speaker 1: never got lost, never got lost. That happens to you
41:34
Speaker 1: when you trust in the living God. You can't explain
41:40
Speaker 1: how to get back. You can't explain how you're going
41:42
Speaker 1: to have that journey along the way. You don't know
41:45
Speaker 1: what's going to happen. Oh God, our help in ages
41:51
Speaker 1: passed our hope for years to come, our shelter from
41:55
Speaker 1: the stormy blast, and our eternal home before the hills
42:04
Speaker 1: in order stood. Our earth received her frame from everlasting
42:10
Speaker 1: Thou art God, and every year the same, Oh God,
42:18
Speaker 1: our help in ages past. It's literally from the vanishing
42:23
Speaker 1: point of the past to the vanishing point of the future,
42:27
Speaker 1: never a beginning, never an ending. That's why I'm thrilled
42:31
Speaker 1: to read here of the eternal God to whom be
42:35
Speaker 1: glory forever. And he doesn't say at the end, I
42:39
Speaker 1: sure hope this is right or I'm counting on this,
42:44
Speaker 1: and why don't you join in and hope with me?
42:48
Speaker 1: He says, amen, which is a punctuated period at the end,
42:56
Speaker 1: saying I believe it. I stand on truth. This is
43:03
Speaker 1: the truth for you to count on. Now I want
43:10
Speaker 1: you to listen very closely to something I have to say.
43:14
Speaker 1: I'll not linger here, but it'll take me a few
43:16
Speaker 1: moments to say it. When God led me to form
43:23
Speaker 1: this church, and I say that only because it is true,
43:27
Speaker 1: and I was amazed that that was his plan. I
43:31
Speaker 1: had no idea where it would go. But I knew this.
43:36
Speaker 1: I knew Dallas, in the Dallas area didn't need just
43:39
Speaker 1: another church. There's a church on virtually every other corner,
43:46
Speaker 1: some places, every corner. What we needed, I felt, was
43:50
Speaker 1: a unique place that would from start to finish allow
43:56
Speaker 1: the word of God to guide us. Not the roots
44:02
Speaker 1: of a denomination, as good as some of them may be.
44:05
Speaker 1: Didn't want to go there, not the longstanding tradition of
44:09
Speaker 1: great churches. And there are great churches, and but that's
44:12
Speaker 1: their tradition. So I said to the Lord in so
44:16
Speaker 1: many words, the Lord, your word is truth. And I
44:22
Speaker 1: asked that you guide me as we think through how
44:27
Speaker 1: to do church. By the way, this has led me
44:30
Speaker 1: to begin the new series next week on the church.
44:34
Speaker 1: And I want to do it with a whole fresh
44:37
Speaker 1: look in mind. And so I said Lord, back then
44:42
Speaker 1: this is almost In fact, it was ten years ago
44:45
Speaker 1: or more, said Lord, before I ever get underweigh in.
44:47
Speaker 1: This be our guide, be my guide. However, the Lord
44:54
Speaker 1: would would have the church governed. May you govern it
44:57
Speaker 1: your way. May it be Biblical government, not American style
45:00
Speaker 1: of government. Everything about us is shaped by the American mentality.
45:06
Speaker 1: May it be biblical. May our worship not be a
45:09
Speaker 1: worship like every third church or every other church. But
45:13
Speaker 1: may our worship be a worship that really does bring
45:16
Speaker 1: honor to you in the broad sense of the word.
45:19
Speaker 1: It can have a taste from one side to another.
45:21
Speaker 1: But may it always be for your glory. May it
45:24
Speaker 1: be done with excellence, because you deserve excellence. May it
45:28
Speaker 1: be with passion, because you deserve our best energies. I've
45:33
Speaker 1: felt in the last couple or three years that we
45:36
Speaker 1: have strayed from those original ideas and truths that I
45:40
Speaker 1: was standing on, and it's troubled me. And some of
45:45
Speaker 1: you are aware of the sense of trouble and struggle
45:47
Speaker 1: I've gone through. I've chosen not to bring the struggle
45:52
Speaker 1: to the pulpit that's not appropriate. But I couldn't just
45:55
Speaker 1: ignore it and just let it go on. And so,
45:58
Speaker 1: through a process of some very painful and difficult days,
46:03
Speaker 1: I've come to realize that the Lord would have us
46:06
Speaker 1: come back to where we started to look again, and
46:10
Speaker 1: to draw from what the scriptures teach to be a
46:15
Speaker 1: new Testament church, to draw the principles from it, and
46:20
Speaker 1: in the words of Lincoln, to have a new birth
46:22
Speaker 1: of freedom, so that we would sense a new direction
46:27
Speaker 1: and a fresh direction for us from the inside out.
46:33
Speaker 1: It's a good time. Like you do in wedding anniversaries,
46:36
Speaker 1: you rethink your vows, you rethink how strong you are
46:41
Speaker 1: with those things you promised back then. We need help
46:46
Speaker 1: in doing this, and I knew I needed minds certainly
46:50
Speaker 1: deeper and more devoted than mine. And I called on
46:54
Speaker 1: two men whom you know, without your responding in any way,
47:00
Speaker 1: I want the two men to stand up. One is
47:02
Speaker 1: doctor stand two Saint two Saint, would you just stand up?
47:06
Speaker 1: The others doctor Howard Hendrick, sitting to his right, a
47:08
Speaker 1: little further back right there. Just take a look. These
47:12
Speaker 1: are mentors of mine. These are men who taught me
47:14
Speaker 1: virtually everything I know that means they are really old. Uh.
47:22
Speaker 1: With that, Doctor two Saint felt the need to sit down.
47:24
Speaker 1: Go ahead and have a seat, Doctor Hendricks, I'm jerking
47:28
Speaker 1: him around. There are not two men on earth I
47:30
Speaker 1: admire more than those two men. They know more about
47:33
Speaker 1: the Bible and most of us will ever get a
47:35
Speaker 1: hold of. I said to Doc two Saint, doctor Hendrix,
47:38
Speaker 1: could you help us, Could you meet along with the
47:40
Speaker 1: remaining elders we have, and would you meet with us
47:43
Speaker 1: and the senior staff, and would you speak openly with
47:47
Speaker 1: us in any area that we need to look at
47:49
Speaker 1: in a new way, help us look at it and
47:52
Speaker 1: help us come back to where we were as we
47:54
Speaker 1: were getting underway, and so many things and all the
47:57
Speaker 1: fast growth began to move, all all different directions. Let's
48:01
Speaker 1: come back to just the basics. I want to tell you.
48:05
Speaker 1: I praise God. Both of them said yes, And we
48:10
Speaker 1: haven't put an end on their time. We haven't. We've
48:14
Speaker 1: told him it won't be permanent. But I figured up
48:17
Speaker 1: the years in ministry that they represent. It's about four
48:21
Speaker 1: hundred and maybe four point fifty. I can't count that high. No,
48:27
Speaker 1: it's over one hundred years in the church. So these
48:30
Speaker 1: men along with our elders and along with our staff.
48:34
Speaker 1: I'm confident we will have some of the most incredible
48:38
Speaker 1: days in front of us. So rather than looking back
48:42
Speaker 1: with a sigh, I want us to look ahead with delight,
48:45
Speaker 1: and I want you to pray. I was driving home
48:48
Speaker 1: after the meeting, and I was all alone in my pickup,
48:52
Speaker 1: and I decided I need to listen to the words
48:55
Speaker 1: of that great theologian Waylon Jennings. Oh. I pulled out
49:00
Speaker 1: my little CD. I've played it so many times it's
49:03
Speaker 1: now kind of messy, and I stuck it in my
49:07
Speaker 1: truck and I began to listen to his album called Eagle,
49:11
Speaker 1: and I got to my favorite song, and I drove
49:14
Speaker 1: around the block a couple or three times till he finished.
49:18
Speaker 1: Splintered wood, rusty chains. This old front porch swing remains
49:23
Speaker 1: of pendulum of memories, swinging back and forth on a
49:28
Speaker 1: summer breeze, singing old church hymns and nursery rhymes from
49:33
Speaker 1: the days way back before, my time with a little
49:36
Speaker 1: child upon my knee, singing every sweet word back to me.
49:42
Speaker 1: Look how far I had to come to get back
49:44
Speaker 1: where I started from. I love that line. Look how
49:47
Speaker 1: far I had to come to get back where I
49:49
Speaker 1: started from, with a child's wisdom, passing time, singing old
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Speaker 1: church hymns and nursery rhymes. Amen. Amen. The only way
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Speaker 1: I know to have a group like this give God
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Speaker 1: the glory, is just like this. And now our Father,
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Speaker 1: we are. We are standing on the verge of our
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Speaker 1: greatest years. You have been gracious to give us these
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Speaker 1: nine and a half years, and we've just begun. There
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Speaker 1: will be years unfolding by your grace, and should your
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Speaker 1: son Terry has returned, and there will be others who
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Speaker 1: will stand on our shoulders, and they on others, and
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Speaker 1: others on theirs, and you will guide us in the
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Speaker 1: way we should go. May you be glorified through it,
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Speaker 1: and it guard us from any error along the way.
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Speaker 1: Give us an unguarded openness and honesty as we together
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Speaker 1: as leaders, think through and shape the years of the future.
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Speaker 1: May this church be like none other. May it be
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Speaker 1: like none other, so that we can say, from start
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Speaker 1: to finish, this is the work of God. And we
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Speaker 1: worship in the midst of it to the only wise God,
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Speaker 1: our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power forever
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Speaker 1: and ever and ever and ever, Oh God, our help
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Speaker 1: in ages past, our hope for years to come. In
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Speaker 1: the name of Jesus, everyone said Amen.
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Speaker 2: The preceding message to God alone be the Glory Forever
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Speaker 2: was copyrighted in two thousand and eight, twenty ten, and
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Speaker 2: twenty twenty five, and the sound recording was copyrighted in
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Speaker 2: twenty twenty five by Charles R. Swindahl, Incorporated. All rights
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Speaker 2: are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use
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Speaker 2: is strictly prohibited. In the preceding message, Charles Rswindahl Incorporated
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Speaker 2: is grateful to w B Music Corporation for permission to
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Speaker 2: quote lyrics to the song Old Church Hymns and Nursery Rhymes,
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Speaker 2: copyrighted in nineteen ninety by Beth Nielsen Chapman