Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / The Cross We Proclaim │ Msg 812

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The Cross We Proclaim │ Msg 812 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: During these weeks, we are focusing on the greatness of
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Speaker 1: our God. Four messages were delivered on the character of
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Speaker 1: the Father, which took place in Sunday's past. And then
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Speaker 1: for the next four messages, we've been focusing on the
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Speaker 1: cross of Christ. Today being the fourth in that series
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Speaker 1: of four, then beginning next Sunday and for the balance
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Speaker 1: of this month, the power of the Holy Spirit, the Father,
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Speaker 1: the Son, and the Holy Spirit. When we think of
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Speaker 1: our Father, it is his character that draws us to
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Speaker 1: him and near him. When we focus on the Son,
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Speaker 1: it is the cross, always the cross, always. I have
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Speaker 1: a colleague in ministry who before I would get up
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Speaker 1: to preach for almost 20 years would lean over and
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Speaker 1: say to me, preach grace, preach the cross. So it
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Speaker 1: rings in my ear to this day, preach the cross.
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Speaker 1: Then when we think of the spirit of God, we
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Speaker 1: think of the empowerment he provides. How we thank our
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Speaker 1: God for the cross. Thank you for the cross. Say
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Speaker 1: that with me. Thank you for the cross. Again. Thank
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Speaker 1: you for the cross. We will see that theme woven
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Speaker 1: into the reading of the scriptures out of 1 Corinthians
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Speaker 1: chapters 1 and 2. If you have a Bible, turn,
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Speaker 1: if you will, to the 18th verse of the first chapter.
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Speaker 1: of the first letter written to Corinth, 1 Corinthians 1.18.
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Speaker 1: We'll read randomly through chapter two, verse five. May we
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Speaker 1: stand out of respect for the word of God and
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Speaker 1: the God of the word, 1 Corinthians 1.18. For the
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Speaker 1: word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.
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Speaker 1: But to us who are being saved, it is the
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Speaker 1: power of God. Verse 22. For indeed, Jews ask for
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Speaker 1: signs and Greeks search for wisdom. But we preach Christ
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Speaker 1: crucified to the Jews, a stumbling block, and to Gentiles, foolishness.
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Speaker 1: Verse 26. For consider your calling, brethren, that there were
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Speaker 1: not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty,
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Speaker 1: not many noble. But God has chosen the foolish things
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Speaker 1: of the world to shame the wise and God has
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Speaker 1: chosen the weak things of the world to shame the
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Speaker 1: things which are strong and the base things of the
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Speaker 1: world and the despised God has chosen the things that
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Speaker 1: are not so that he may nullify the things that are,
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Speaker 1: so that no man may boast before God. Verse one,
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Speaker 1: chapter two. And when I came to you, brethren, I
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Speaker 1: did not come with superiority of speech or wisdom, proclaiming
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Speaker 1: to you the testimony of God, for I determined to
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Speaker 1: know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
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Speaker 1: I was with you in weakness and in fear, and
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Speaker 1: in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were
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Speaker 1: not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of
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Speaker 1: the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would
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Speaker 1: not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the
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Speaker 1: power of God. May our Heavenly Father bring to our
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Speaker 1: minds the truths and cause them to live out in
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Speaker 1: our minds and then in our lives this week. You
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Speaker 1: may be seated. Before this wonderful privilege of giving to
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Speaker 1: our God from all that he has provided, join me
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Speaker 1: in prayer, please. Thank you for the cross, our God.
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Speaker 1: Thank you for the way it redirects our steps and
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Speaker 1: refocuses our minds and reshapes our attitudes, renews our perspective.
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Speaker 1: So that as life unfolds, we fall back on it
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Speaker 1: and we think of it. And we realize at the
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Speaker 1: foot of that cross, all things are level. And we
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Speaker 1: can but look up and give you our praise as
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Speaker 1: we have done. All hail the power of the name
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Speaker 1: of the one who hung on the cross. We magnify
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Speaker 1: your name. We exalt your name together. From a busy
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Speaker 1: and active week, we pause for this time of worship,
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Speaker 1: deliberately setting aside the things that would otherwise bring us anxiety,
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Speaker 1: and we focus on the cross together. We pray, our Father,
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Speaker 1: that as we do that, it will rejuvenate an awareness
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Speaker 1: within us that life is meant to be lived out,
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Speaker 1: not just lived in. Remind us of the value of
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Speaker 1: serving you, being among your hands and feet, your voice,
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Speaker 1: your presence. As we give our gifts, remind us today
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Speaker 1: that it is for the purpose of magnifying the cross
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Speaker 1: of our Savior. These are treacherous times, even dangerous. Decisions
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Speaker 1: will be made that will shape years to come. Oh,
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Speaker 1: our Father, we place before you decisions, choices. We pray
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Speaker 1: that you will raise up your people, that we may
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Speaker 1: be led of you in a unique, significant way. Now,
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Speaker 1: our Father, as we in this moment turn our thoughts
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Speaker 1: to your Son, May his cross become for us preeminent.
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Speaker 1: We thank you for the cross. And because of that,
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Speaker 1: we give you our gifts in our Savior's name. The
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Speaker 1: name of the one who hung on that cross. We
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Speaker 1: pray and give. Everyone said. Few things are more demoralizing
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Speaker 1: than realizing you've been helping the wrong side. And that
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Speaker 1: demoralization is intensified when you didn't even know it. Sports
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Speaker 1: fans the world over will remember the name Roy Regals,
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Speaker 1: especially football fans, way back when the Rose Bowl was
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Speaker 1: being played. Roy Regals was a ballplayer for the California
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Speaker 1: Golden Bears. They were playing the Georgia Tech. And right
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Speaker 1: in the middle of the game, at a crucial point,
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Speaker 1: there was a fumble. And Roy Regals, the player for
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Speaker 1: the Bears, picked up the ball, and he only had
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Speaker 1: 30 yards to run for the touchdown. Seems simple enough. However,
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Speaker 1: Roy ran almost 70 yards in the wrong direction. Now,
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Speaker 1: what you may not remember is that one of his teammates,
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Speaker 1: Benny Lum, realized it. Even though four other players were
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Speaker 1: blocking for him, they were also confused. And Benny is
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Speaker 1: running along, hoping to tackle him before he goes across
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Speaker 1: the wrong goal line. At which time, Roy yells out,
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Speaker 1: get away from me! This is my touchdown. Thinking that
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Speaker 1: Long wanted to get the glory for the touchdown. And
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Speaker 1: six inches before the goal line, down went Roy Regals. Well,
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Speaker 1: actually Georgia Tech won the game. But nobody remembers the score.
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Speaker 1: Nobody remembers the date. But sports fans all over remember
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Speaker 1: Wrong Way Regals. The nickname given this poor chap Who
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Speaker 1: ran the wrong direction? Every time the story is told,
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Speaker 1: sports fans chuckle, it's laughable, but one man feels the sting.
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Speaker 1: And that's Regals. It's possible in the Christian life to
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Speaker 1: help the wrong side and not know it. We could
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Speaker 1: call individuals like that wrong way Christians or if you
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Speaker 1: want to go back to that group that seemed to
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Speaker 1: sort of set the pace for it to start with
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Speaker 1: wrong way Corinthians. My Bible is open to 1 Corinthians
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Speaker 1: chapter 1, and there we read a rather sad account
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Speaker 1: of a church that was squabbling with one another. Think
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Speaker 1: of that. It goes all the way back into the
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Speaker 1: first century. Church is not able to get along. Paul
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Speaker 1: calls it like it is. Verse 11, chapter 1, I
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Speaker 1: have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe's people,
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Speaker 1: that there are Quarrels among you. The Greek word is
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Speaker 1: the actual term from which we get our word schism. Schism,
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Speaker 1: the making of a split. There are quarrels among you. Now,
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Speaker 1: what are the quarrels about? Well, I mean this, that
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Speaker 1: each one of you is saying, I am of Paul.
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Speaker 1: I am of Apollos. I am of Cephas. I am
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Speaker 1: of Christ. You see, there were splitter groups in the church.
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Speaker 1: One group said, we follow only Paul, the apostle, the
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Speaker 1: one on the road to Damascus who was wonderfully transformed
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Speaker 1: and He's the founder of our church and we listen
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Speaker 1: only to Paul. Others would say, but have you heard Apollos?
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Speaker 1: I mean, compared to Apollos, Paul is tongue-tied. Apollos, wonderful rhetoric,
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Speaker 1: wonderful ability, wonderful eloquence, wonderful mind, trained in Alexandria, mentored
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Speaker 1: by Quillen Priscilla and Paul himself. Oh, there's no one
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Speaker 1: like Apollos. And the third group said, but Peter, Peter
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Speaker 1: was walking with the Savior before either Paul or Apollos
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Speaker 1: named his name as Lord. Peter, we follow. Then there
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Speaker 1: was this ultra-pious group. We follow only Jesus. We only
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Speaker 1: listen to him. They're the ones, by the way, who
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Speaker 1: write you letters of hate saying, in the love of Jesus,
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Speaker 1: and they sign their name. Or usually they don't sign
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Speaker 1: their name. They're the ones who say, Jesus told me
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Speaker 1: to do this. I always want to know, is he
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Speaker 1: baritone or is he bass? Tell me what his voice
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Speaker 1: is like. And they don't like that question because you're
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Speaker 1: taking them literally. But of course, these people believed it literally.
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Speaker 1: We follow only, we need no earthly leader, only Jesus.
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Speaker 1: And from that group, by the way, the Jesus only
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Speaker 1: cult began, which may be of interest to some of you.
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Speaker 1: They're all wrong way Corinthians. So Paul decides decides to
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Speaker 1: set them straight. And he does it without mincing words.
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Speaker 1: Chapter 3, verse 1. I love this about the apostle.
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Speaker 1: He slings political correctness to the winds. He doesn't worry
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Speaker 1: about what they say or think about him. He tells
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Speaker 1: them the truth, which is the only way to operate
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Speaker 1: as a spokesman for God. Brethren, I could not speak
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Speaker 1: to you as to spiritual men, but as to men
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Speaker 1: of flesh. The Greek term is sarkinos, S-A-R-K-I-N-O-S, from which
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Speaker 1: the word flesh is translated. I could speak to you
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Speaker 1: only as carnal. Wrong way, Corinthians. Wrong way. Even as
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Speaker 1: to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink,
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Speaker 1: not solid food, but you were not able to receive
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Speaker 1: it indeed. Even now you're not able. Why not? Next verse.
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Speaker 1: Because you're still sarkinos. You're still flesh. You're still driven
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Speaker 1: by the things that characterize lost humanity. You're still fleshly,
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Speaker 1: for since there is jealousy and strife among you, are
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Speaker 1: you not sarkinos? Are you not fleshly? Are you not
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Speaker 1: walking like mere men, meaning like the lost person? It'll
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Speaker 1: surprise you to hear this, some of you, but you
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Speaker 1: cannot tell the difference between a carnal Christian and an unbeliever.
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Speaker 1: Sometimes the carnal Christian can be even more snotty, more difficult,
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Speaker 1: more demanding. More self-willed. The enemy loves it when we
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Speaker 1: operate in the flesh. Now you're talking. People know you're
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Speaker 1: a Christian. Listen to me. I'll tell you how to walk.
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Speaker 1: I'll tell you how to run. Problem is, it's in
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Speaker 1: the wrong direction. And how many folks discover it late
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Speaker 1: in life? For he says, when one says, I am
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Speaker 1: of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos. Don't you
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Speaker 1: sound like you're just a bunch of lost people following
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Speaker 1: the popular one? What then is Apollos and who is Paul?
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Speaker 1: They are servants through whom you believed even as the
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Speaker 1: Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted after planting
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Speaker 1: Apollos watered after watering God was causing the growth so
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Speaker 1: then neither the one who nor the one who waters
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Speaker 1: is anything, but God who causes the growth. Back to
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Speaker 1: chapter 1 verse 18, what the Apostle decides to do
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Speaker 1: when he exposes these people in all their carnality is
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Speaker 1: to point them to the cross. Let me tell you
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Speaker 1: something folks, When you get the cross in the right perspective,
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Speaker 1: everything comes together. Everything comes together. When you get Christ
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Speaker 1: in the clear focus, it is amazing how you know
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Speaker 1: which one is the right goal line. It's amazing how
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Speaker 1: you know how to walk and how to run the
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Speaker 1: race set before us. David Jackman, a British expositor, writes this.
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Speaker 1: In the spiritual context, we must never remain content with childishness.
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Speaker 1: To be so is, for Paul, synonymous with worldliness, that is,
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Speaker 1: the flesh. It is to drift back to the old
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Speaker 1: way of living, to the world's outlook and value systems,
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Speaker 1: behaving only in a human way, in other words, like
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Speaker 1: a natural man. And he adds, Paul's point is that
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Speaker 1: this worldliness, this fleshiness illustrates they have not yet come
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Speaker 1: to grips with the message of the cross. You will
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Speaker 1: not drift from the truth if the cross remains your focus.
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Speaker 1: By that I mean all that the cross represents, all
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Speaker 1: that it symbolizes. It will reduce your pride to zilch,
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Speaker 1: to nothing. And it will lift up the person of
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Speaker 1: the Savior and your whole way of life will be transformed.
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Speaker 1: And you will again run in the right direction. Truth
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Speaker 1: be told, some of you are just now discovering the
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Speaker 1: right way to run. You've never been taught it before.
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Speaker 1: Because religion will send you to the wrong goal line
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Speaker 1: every time. Now look. Verse 18. Begins a series of
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Speaker 1: statements this apostle makes regarding the message of the cross
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Speaker 1: which we proclaim. Which he proclaimed. The word of the
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Speaker 1: cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. Stop right there.
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Speaker 1: See the word foolishness? The Greek term is moria. Guess
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Speaker 1: what word we get from it in English. To the
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Speaker 1: people who are perishing, the cross is moronic. I mean,
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Speaker 1: how stupid can you get? You cut off your head
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Speaker 1: when you come to know this Jesus? When you start
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Speaker 1: believing some cross message? How moronic. That's the word of
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Speaker 1: the lost person. That's the person running in the wrong direction.
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Speaker 1: In fact, Paul describes this conflicting opinion as those who
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Speaker 1: see the cross as foolishness. And then he says, but
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Speaker 1: to us who are being saved, why it is the
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Speaker 1: very power of God. Then he quotes from Isaiah 29
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Speaker 1: in the verse that follows, I will destroy the wisdom
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Speaker 1: of the wise, the cleverness of the clever, I will
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Speaker 1: set aside. Look at the different desires that emerge. Verse 20,
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Speaker 1: where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where
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Speaker 1: is the debater of this age? Pinpoint each of the
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Speaker 1: three subjects. Let's let the wise represent the unsaved Gentile intellectual.
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Speaker 1: Where is that individual? What does he believe? Where is
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Speaker 1: the scribe? That would be the learned Jewish scholar who
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Speaker 1: is lost. Where is the debater of this age? That
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Speaker 1: would be the Greek philosopher, who is an expert in
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Speaker 1: debates and disputes and dialectical arguments and skills and discussions.
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Speaker 1: They love philosophy. You've heard my definition of a philosopher, perhaps.
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Speaker 1: He's a person who talks about things he doesn't understand,
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Speaker 1: makes it sound like it's your fault. I mean, it's
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Speaker 1: full of conundrums. Questions are answered by questions, and another
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Speaker 1: question leads to another question. And you never come to
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Speaker 1: a period. You only come to question marks. They love debate.
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Speaker 1: They love this whole thing about disputes and arguments. All
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Speaker 1: three represent the same kind of thinking. Their desire is
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Speaker 1: to appear brilliant, to impress you. Ooh, listen to that vocabulary. Ooh, wow.
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Speaker 1: Wonder where he studied. Look at those letters after his name. Whoa.
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Speaker 1: That guy is unreal. Look at that. But read further.
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Speaker 1: Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
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Speaker 1: God's desire is to use the declaration of truth to
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Speaker 1: save those who believe. One man writes, it is impossible
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Speaker 1: to exaggerate the almost fantastic mastery that the silver-tongued rhetorician
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Speaker 1: held in Greece. Plutarch says they made their voices sweet
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Speaker 1: with musical cadences and Modulations of tones and echoed resonances.
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Speaker 1: They thought not of what they were saying, but how
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Speaker 1: they were saying it. So impressed with their own stuff.
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Speaker 1: So proud. Why? God looks on that and brings them
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Speaker 1: back to reality. Look here. Since the wisdom of God,
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Speaker 1: in the wisdom of God, the world through which wisdom
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Speaker 1: did not come to know God, God was well pleased
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Speaker 1: through the foolishness of the message preached to save those
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Speaker 1: who believe. Don't think preaching is foolishness. It's just a
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Speaker 1: method that seems foolish to the world system. Why on
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Speaker 1: earth would intelligent people come and sit and listen to
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Speaker 1: somebody preaching? I mean, how moronic can you get? I
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Speaker 1: like the way Eugene Peterson renders this section. Listen. Since
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Speaker 1: the world in all its fancy wisdom never had a
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Speaker 1: clue when it came to knowing God, God in his
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Speaker 1: wisdom took delight in using what the world considered dumb,
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Speaker 1: preaching of all things, to bring those who trust him
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Speaker 1: into the way of salvation. Well, then what does the
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Speaker 1: lost person want? Well, read on. Verse 22. The Jews...
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Speaker 1: Ask for miracles. The word signs is the idea of miracles.
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Speaker 1: Show us a miracle. Prove it with a miracle and
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Speaker 1: we'll believe it. Do what you cannot do in natural
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Speaker 1: ways and who will be impressed? We're looking for signs.
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Speaker 1: And the Greeks search for wisdom. We're looking for those
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Speaker 1: rhetorical comments, those eloquent words, the things that impress. But
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Speaker 1: I love this, verse 23, Paul says, but we, who
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Speaker 1: by the way was an incredible intellectual, studied under Gamaliel,
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Speaker 1: Pharisee of the Pharisees. He was the up and coming
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Speaker 1: chief Pharisee. Brilliant Jewish mind. And then came the road
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Speaker 1: to Damascus where he was converted. And as a result,
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Speaker 1: he started running in the right direction. And as a result,
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Speaker 1: verse 23, he preaches Christ crucified. We're back to the cross.
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Speaker 1: To the Jews, it's a stumbling block. To the Gentiles,
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Speaker 1: here's our word again, moronic. Now if you question that,
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Speaker 1: next time you find yourself in a sophisticated group, bring
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Speaker 1: up the cross. Just bring it up as a topic
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Speaker 1: of conversation. Hey, by the way, folks, I've noticed lately
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Speaker 1: a great deal. I've been studying a great deal about
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Speaker 1: Jesus and his death on the cross. Boom! Hang on.
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Speaker 1: Not a soul in the group will go, good for you.
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Speaker 1: What a great study. They'll go, what? What? You believe what?
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Speaker 1: That's a whole point of this section of Scripture. Scripture.
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Speaker 1: But God honors the proclamation of the cross to change lives.
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Speaker 1: Roy Regals was absolutely positive he was running in the
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Speaker 1: right direction. And along came his buddy, he said, wait,
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Speaker 1: I'm going to tackle you. He said, what do you think?
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Speaker 1: Get out, this is my touchdown. You look back, you go, oh, Roy, please, please, please,
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Speaker 1: wrong direction. But to him, it was the right way
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Speaker 1: to run now. Until he was tackled and somebody said, hey, man,
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Speaker 1: that's their goal. We preach Christ crucified to the Jews,
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Speaker 1: a stumbling block to the Gentiles foolishness. But to those
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Speaker 1: who are the called Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power
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Speaker 1: of God, Christ, the wisdom of God. Why? Because 25
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Speaker 1: says the foolishness of God is wiser than men. The
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Speaker 1: weakness of God is stronger than men. Now, I love
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Speaker 1: it when we get to verse 26. I have to
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Speaker 1: believe that Paul had tongue in cheek for just a moment.
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Speaker 1: Just a little touch of apostolic humor here. We're talking
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Speaker 1: about sophisticates, those who are noble, blue bloods, those who
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Speaker 1: are really slick. He says, consider your calling, brethren. We
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Speaker 1: want to look at an opposite group. Look around. There
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Speaker 1: were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty,
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Speaker 1: not many noble. Didn't say any, said not many. Meaning what? Well,
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Speaker 1: let's put it this way. This congregation is not made
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Speaker 1: up of the brightest and the best in the world's eyes.
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Speaker 1: I got the idea that it would be helpful for
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Speaker 1: us to realized that we represent in the world's eyes
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Speaker 1: that which is foolish, that which is weak, that which
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Speaker 1: is base, and that which is despised. Those aren't my words.
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Speaker 1: They're all found in 27 and 28. And I thought, well,
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Speaker 1: let's look around. So why don't you do that? Look around.
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Speaker 1: Just take a look. You haven't noticed yet. You shook
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Speaker 1: their hands, but maybe you haven't taken a real good look.
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Speaker 1: Look around. Just whisper, are you blue blood? Just go ahead.
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Speaker 1: You got really, really great roots. I also took note
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Speaker 1: of some places people could come from. I just pulled
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Speaker 1: down an Atlas and started looking. Booger Holler, Arkansas is
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Speaker 1: one of those. Booger Holler, not bogey, Booger Holler. Lizard Lick,
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Speaker 1: my son-in-law told me about Lizard Lick, North Carolina. And
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Speaker 1: Spivey's Corner, now maybe you heard of Spivey's Corner. They
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Speaker 1: have the hollering contest there. Hollering contest in Spivey's Corner.
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Speaker 1: If you're from Spivey's Corner, don't tell anybody. Just leave it.
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Speaker 1: How about Pratsville, Arkansas? How about Pee Wee, West Virginia? Dimebox, Texas.
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Speaker 1: And I'll tell you my favorite one for creativity, Nameless, Tennessee.
28:54
Speaker 1: What shall we name our town? I don't know. Let's
28:59
Speaker 1: go with Nameless. Good idea! Let's call it Nameless. Folks,
29:05
Speaker 1: in case you've been sitting around a room full of mirrors,
29:08
Speaker 1: in case you, like Narcissus, have been staring in the
29:11
Speaker 1: pool a little too long, focused on your image, look
29:16
Speaker 1: a little deeper, and you will not see a lacy,
29:19
Speaker 1: slick little rainbow trout. What you will see is a
29:21
Speaker 1: wide mouth bottom-feeding catfish. If you don't like that, that's
29:28
Speaker 1: part of your problem. Because you've forgotten your pit. You've
29:34
Speaker 1: forgotten your depravity. You see, all ground is level at
29:39
Speaker 1: the foot of the cross. There is no captain or
29:43
Speaker 1: colonel or general. There is no sergeant or corporal. There
29:48
Speaker 1: is no CEO. Remember that the next time you're in
29:52
Speaker 1: a church where the top guy is called CEO, off base.
29:58
Speaker 1: There is no president. There is no cabinet. Not in
30:03
Speaker 1: the family of God. All the ground at the foot
30:05
Speaker 1: of the cross. Level. Level. I love the way Jim
30:12
Speaker 1: Elliot wrote it in his journal shortly before being martyred.
30:17
Speaker 1: We're all a bunch of nobodies trying to exalt the somebody.
30:22
Speaker 1: Praise God. You start there, you'll run in the right direction.
30:29
Speaker 1: Look at it. 27, God has chosen the foolish things
30:33
Speaker 1: of the world to shame the wise. Who would have
30:37
Speaker 1: ever thunk it? And the weak things of the world
30:41
Speaker 1: to shame the things that are strong. The base things
30:44
Speaker 1: of the world, the despised. Things that are not to
30:49
Speaker 1: nullify things that are. You know, there's a lady in
30:52
Speaker 1: our congregation from a town that no longer exists. No
30:56
Speaker 1: longer exists. Pitcher. Oklahoma. Picture. Where are you from? Zero.
31:07
Speaker 1: Ain't even there anymore. Me, I'm from the great metropolis
31:15
Speaker 1: of El Campo. Woo! Great white wave. Right down the
31:21
Speaker 1: road from Rosenberg. Bay City. Wharton. You go further south, plashes.
31:33
Speaker 1: Plashes you can smell before you get there. Shrimp, great spot.
31:39
Speaker 1: Port Lavaca. That's B-boy. Isn't this crazy? You know why
31:51
Speaker 1: I'll get there? That cross. That's how come I'm going
31:58
Speaker 1: to get there. I got nothing else to give. I
32:02
Speaker 1: just got the cross. I just had the Savior. He
32:08
Speaker 1: does all these things, verse 29, so that no one
32:11
Speaker 1: may boast before God. You run in the wrong direction
32:17
Speaker 1: when you boast. If you want to toot your own horn,
32:22
Speaker 1: blow a trumpet for God. Nobody else cares. Get off
32:29
Speaker 1: your high horse. You're just folks. You're just wrapped up
32:34
Speaker 1: in the cross. And when you focus on that, it
32:39
Speaker 1: is remarkable what a filter system it'll give you in
32:42
Speaker 1: how to read current events, how to see life as
32:46
Speaker 1: it really is. You'll be so unimpressed because you don't
32:50
Speaker 1: hang around people to be impressed. You hang around folks
32:54
Speaker 1: with the hope of communicating and living out the truth.
32:58
Speaker 1: And the truth sets us free from all that other pizzazz.
33:05
Speaker 1: How about Paul? Since we've been going on and on
33:08
Speaker 1: about how important this is, how about Paul? Let's ask him.
33:12
Speaker 1: Give us your testimony. All right. Verse 1, chapter 2.
33:18
Speaker 1: Here's my testimony. Here's the honest truth coming from the
33:23
Speaker 1: man who was running in the right direction When I
33:29
Speaker 1: came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come
33:34
Speaker 1: with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you
33:44
Speaker 1: the testimony of God. I determined to know nothing among
33:49
Speaker 1: you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I take my
34:00
Speaker 1: time here because I want it to really sink in.
34:06
Speaker 1: Nothing except Jesus Christ. I wasn't interested in your salary.
34:14
Speaker 1: I wasn't interested in your pedigree. I wasn't impressed by
34:18
Speaker 1: your prestigious background or even for a few of you,
34:23
Speaker 1: your impressive roots. Didn't care. Don't care. Never will care.
34:32
Speaker 1: I wanted to know, however, how you were doing with
34:34
Speaker 1: the cross. Do you really know Jesus? Is he really
34:39
Speaker 1: your savior? I determined to know nothing but that. Robertson
34:52
Speaker 1: and Plummer write, I not only eschewed all affection of
34:56
Speaker 1: cleverness or eloquence, But I went to the opposite extreme
35:01
Speaker 1: of nervous self-effacement. You see, Corinth put a premium on
35:09
Speaker 1: the veneer of false rhetoric and thin thinking. Gullible people
35:15
Speaker 1: are easy marks for pulpiteers. You can whip up a
35:24
Speaker 1: crowd anywhere if you can handle it on your feet. Whoa.
35:28
Speaker 1: Have you heard so and so? But what is he saying?
35:36
Speaker 1: Who is he exalting? I determined to know nothing except
35:41
Speaker 1: Christ and Christ crucified. Well, what was Paul like when
35:47
Speaker 1: he was there? He tells us in the next two verses,
35:50
Speaker 1: I was with you in weakness, in fear, In much trembling.
36:03
Speaker 1: I was with you in weakness. And fear. And much. Trembling.
36:10
Speaker 1: You maybe didn't know that about Paul. You know the
36:13
Speaker 1: Corinthians later wrote him and said. You know his letters
36:15
Speaker 1: are very weighty and impressive. But in his presence. He's weak.
36:25
Speaker 1: He says I was not. Oh, that impressive. My preaching
36:31
Speaker 1: and my message were not in persuasive words of wisdom,
36:35
Speaker 1: but in the demonstration of the spirit and of power. Oh, yeah.
36:41
Speaker 1: You see, when you are around individuals like this, you
36:44
Speaker 1: know they have a lot more behind the counter than
36:46
Speaker 1: they ever put on display. You know there is depth
36:50
Speaker 1: as well as breadth. You know that there is a
36:54
Speaker 1: humble sense of security and confidence in Whereas there is
36:59
Speaker 1: restraint in manipulating people. Gullible people love to be manipulated.
37:08
Speaker 1: Corinth was full of them. I mean, they just moved
37:11
Speaker 1: from the theater back to the place of ministry and thought,
37:15
Speaker 1: do it like that. I mean, look at the crowds
37:18
Speaker 1: they get. Paul says, I didn't come to grow up
37:23
Speaker 1: a crowd. I came to deliver the truth. And my
37:27
Speaker 1: words were not that persuasive. I love the words of G.
37:31
Speaker 1: Campbell Morgan in his work on Corinthians. Listen to this
37:35
Speaker 1: very brief statement. Years ago, a great man, a good man,
37:40
Speaker 1: a saint, scholarly, devoted, said to me, speaking of another preacher, yes,
37:47
Speaker 1: he's a wonderful preacher, but, you know, he has sacrificed
37:51
Speaker 1: the prophet to the artist. Preachers should think of that,
37:58
Speaker 1: writes Morgan. It is possible to sacrifice the prophet to
38:02
Speaker 1: the artist, to be so concerned with eloquence and language
38:06
Speaker 1: and phrasing and beauty of style that the impact of
38:09
Speaker 1: truth is lost. That is what Paul meant. J.B. Lightfoot writes,
38:20
Speaker 1: he spoke in a plain, simple language as became a witness.
38:29
Speaker 1: His reason, verse 5, so that your faith would not
38:31
Speaker 1: rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power
38:34
Speaker 1: of God. He never forgot the truth of God's grace
38:40
Speaker 1: in his life. For much of my life, I have
38:44
Speaker 1: loved the statement made by John Allen, one of the
38:47
Speaker 1: saints of the Salvation Army ministry, who at the time
38:51
Speaker 1: of death made this simple statement. I deserve to be damned.
38:57
Speaker 1: I deserve to be in hell, but God interfered. God interfered.
39:09
Speaker 1: That man ran in the right direction. Right way John Allen.
39:19
Speaker 1: Right way Paul. Now then. I have three things I
39:26
Speaker 1: close with that I'd like you to write down somewhere
39:29
Speaker 1: if you have the outline you could use that maybe
39:32
Speaker 1: a open page in your bible these are three statements
39:35
Speaker 1: i'd like you to take to your grave i'd like
39:39
Speaker 1: you to repeat them i'd like you to teach them
39:40
Speaker 1: to your kids i'd like you to remind your grandkids
39:43
Speaker 1: of them i'd like you to model them more important
39:48
Speaker 1: than what I would like, I would encourage you to
39:50
Speaker 1: realize what God wants. If you want to keep running
39:52
Speaker 1: in the right direction, these three simple things we should
39:56
Speaker 1: never forget will help. Number one, remember the pit. Remember
40:05
Speaker 1: the pit. The prophet puts it this way, remember the
40:10
Speaker 1: pit from which you were dug. Remember it. Oh, it
40:18
Speaker 1: may have been a big city. It may have been
40:20
Speaker 1: a slick city. It may have been Las Vegas or
40:22
Speaker 1: Los Angeles. It may have been Chicago or Boston or
40:26
Speaker 1: Dallas or Oklahoma City or Miami or Atlanta. It may
40:30
Speaker 1: have been a big city, but you're from a pit.
40:35
Speaker 1: Your nature, your drive, your old self, it's a pit.
40:44
Speaker 1: Remember the pit. We are not influential or famous. We
40:52
Speaker 1: have not set a lot of records. We have not
40:54
Speaker 1: found some miracle cure. Nobody in this church has. We
40:58
Speaker 1: have certainly not come from powerhouse backgrounds. Are you kidding?
41:03
Speaker 1: We're all amazed that anybody listens when we talk. I'm
41:08
Speaker 1: surprised anybody reads anything I write. I'm amazed folks stay
41:14
Speaker 1: through a whole sermon. Not saying they stay awake, but
41:17
Speaker 1: they stay through the whole sermon. You know why? Because
41:22
Speaker 1: I never forget the pit. When you fail to remember
41:26
Speaker 1: the pit, you'll run in the wrong direction. You can
41:31
Speaker 1: put her down. Because you'll start thinking you're something on
41:36
Speaker 1: a stick. You'll forget your catfish. You'll forget that if
41:44
Speaker 1: the enemy had his way, he'd drag you down just
41:46
Speaker 1: to where he's going. But with the grace of God
41:50
Speaker 1: and the cross... You're rescued. Remember the pit. Second, refuse
41:56
Speaker 1: the praise. Refuse the praise. Few things are a greater
42:05
Speaker 1: turnoff in life than conceit. An arrogant Christian is bad
42:11
Speaker 1: news for the body of Christ and the world at large.
42:18
Speaker 1: There's no place for that. I don't care how popular
42:23
Speaker 1: you've gotten. Years ago, I was asked to be a
42:29
Speaker 1: part of a television program that was done in a panel,
42:33
Speaker 1: and they invited several of us, one of us a pastor,
42:37
Speaker 1: that's me, another came as a teacher, and another came
42:40
Speaker 1: who was an administrator at a school, happened to be
42:42
Speaker 1: a president of a little school, and the other one
42:44
Speaker 1: was in the media, Christian in the media. We were
42:46
Speaker 1: all a part of the panel of this program, and
42:49
Speaker 1: The man who was putting it all together said to
42:51
Speaker 1: two of us, by the way, would you mind going
42:53
Speaker 1: to the airport and picking up a man who's going
42:57
Speaker 1: to join our panel? He is Dr. So-and-so. And I said, OK, good.
43:01
Speaker 1: I don't know him, but I'll be glad to go.
43:03
Speaker 1: And I said, can you tell me what he looks like?
43:06
Speaker 1: He said, oh, you'll know him. So we knew him.
43:16
Speaker 1: He got off, had a hat on, tight tied. starched shirt,
43:22
Speaker 1: real stern face like, where's the car? And I walked up,
43:28
Speaker 1: I said, do you happen to be so-and-so? Dr. So-and-so? Yes, Dr. So-and-so.
43:36
Speaker 1: I said, well, I thought maybe you were. You kind
43:38
Speaker 1: of looked like the president of the school. And he says,
43:41
Speaker 1: here are my bags. Oh, OK. So Frank picked up
43:48
Speaker 1: that bag and I picked up this bag. We're walking
43:50
Speaker 1: along with doctors, so and so and so and so.
43:52
Speaker 1: He said, tell me, what was your name? And I
43:55
Speaker 1: told him, I said, he said, tell me, what does
43:58
Speaker 1: the president look like? I wanted to say a jerk.
44:03
Speaker 1: You look like a jerk. You sound like a jerk.
44:11
Speaker 1: He was a jerk. What on earth happened to that man?
44:18
Speaker 1: He forgot the pit. Spend too much time in front
44:22
Speaker 1: of a mirror. Can you believe it? In the middle
44:25
Speaker 1: of the night, somebody from our group ordered beer and
44:27
Speaker 1: pretzels and had them sent to his room. Who would
44:34
Speaker 1: do something like that? Who would ever do something like that?
44:40
Speaker 1: To Dr. Jerk, uh, Dr. Whatever. When you fail to
44:51
Speaker 1: refuse the praise, you're running in the wrong direction. Wrong way, Christian.
44:57
Speaker 1: Wrong way, Christian. You look like a jerk. You're a
45:03
Speaker 1: bad advertisement for Christ. Nobody's impressed. You're a turnoff. I
45:12
Speaker 1: tell the guys at the seminary, keep television cameras out
45:15
Speaker 1: of your church. You're not there for the world. Minister
45:20
Speaker 1: to your flock. Cameras are getting your way. Furthermore, you're
45:25
Speaker 1: not that good. People in front of cameras are good
45:29
Speaker 1: in front of cameras. And those of us who are
45:32
Speaker 1: hiding behind the cross look dumb in the eyes of
45:35
Speaker 1: the camera. We're here to deliver the goods and then
45:39
Speaker 1: get out of the way. Could have heard a pin
45:43
Speaker 1: drop when I said that. It was like. You know why?
45:48
Speaker 1: Because we're so enamored of the entertainment world that preaching
45:51
Speaker 1: has become entertaining. And feeding you from the scriptures is,
45:56
Speaker 1: that's what dinosaurs do. Please, remember the pit. Refuse the praise.
46:10
Speaker 1: Rely on the power. Rely on the power. Oh, God.
46:22
Speaker 1: Without you, John 15, 5, I am zilch. I am nothing.
46:35
Speaker 1: I got up this morning with a splitting headache. Last
46:38
Speaker 1: place I wanted to be was here. I got to thinking, oh, man,
46:43
Speaker 1: somebody's got to show up. I didn't feel like being here.
46:49
Speaker 1: I was discouraged. Something had happened that just cut the
46:52
Speaker 1: slats out from under me. And I thought, good night
46:57
Speaker 1: of all days. Why couldn't this be Tuesday or Saturday?
47:02
Speaker 1: But it's Sunday. And between the splitting headache and the
47:11
Speaker 1: first morning service, I decided to rely on a pal.
47:18
Speaker 1: I'll tell you, I just said, God, I've got to
47:25
Speaker 1: have you. You just have to say it for me,
47:29
Speaker 1: through me. Change me, God. Change me. Use me. And
47:40
Speaker 1: give enough people patience to listen, because this is such
47:43
Speaker 1: good truth. Remember the pit. Refuse the praise. Rely on
47:49
Speaker 1: the power. When you fail to rely on the power,
47:53
Speaker 1: you run in the wrong direction. Please. I don't care
47:58
Speaker 1: how gifted you are. Boy, the changes he can bring.
48:08
Speaker 1: I love this little story. John Hutton used to tell
48:11
Speaker 1: his story with gusto. John Hutton. a man who had
48:16
Speaker 1: been a reprobate and an alcoholic was captured for Christ,
48:21
Speaker 1: captured by Christ. His workmates used to try to shake
48:25
Speaker 1: him and say, surely a sensible man like you cannot
48:29
Speaker 1: believe in all those miracles the Bible talks about. You cannot,
48:33
Speaker 1: for instance, believe that this Jesus of yours turned water
48:37
Speaker 1: into wine. Come on. Whether he turned water into wine
48:43
Speaker 1: or not, said the man, I don't know. But I
48:48
Speaker 1: know in my own house, I saw him turn liquor
48:51
Speaker 1: into furniture. In my house, I saw a man that
49:03
Speaker 1: almost ruined his marriage get his life turned around. And
49:10
Speaker 1: for 10 years, he had every reason in the world
49:13
Speaker 1: to walk out on me, and she didn't. I saw
49:17
Speaker 1: a father who could have ruined the lives of his children.
49:20
Speaker 1: I saw a preoccupied dad who traveled too much. He
49:26
Speaker 1: was too busy. And it dawned on me one day,
49:31
Speaker 1: if I don't get a hold of this, I'm going
49:35
Speaker 1: to be another statistic. Oh, God. I'm yours. You've got
49:45
Speaker 1: all the power. I have none of it. Tackle me.
50:00
Speaker 1: I want you to bow your heads and I want
50:02
Speaker 1: you to close your eyes. I know what time it is,
50:05
Speaker 1: so things are under control. I want you to sit there.
50:16
Speaker 1: The only reason you're running in the wrong direction is
50:19
Speaker 1: either you don't know Jesus and that's a very real
50:25
Speaker 1: probability for you running in the wrong direction. Don't think
50:30
Speaker 1: that's a message given to somebody else. It's you I'm
50:33
Speaker 1: talking to. Either you don't know Jesus or you don't
50:40
Speaker 1: care that you're operating in the flesh. You're a Christian
50:44
Speaker 1: and you're a jerk. And you're making a mess of
50:48
Speaker 1: the message in the minds of people who've been watching,
50:52
Speaker 1: wondering how on earth you could call yourself a Christian.
50:56
Speaker 1: Some of them live in your own home. I suggest
51:01
Speaker 1: you get with it. Trust in the Savior right now.
51:06
Speaker 1: Turn your life over to Him. Get to the foot
51:09
Speaker 1: of the cross as fast as your little feet will
51:11
Speaker 1: carry you. And say, Lord Jesus Christ, I am... Coming
51:17
Speaker 1: to you from the pit. If you don't rescue me,
51:22
Speaker 1: I'm sunk. I'm hell bound. I'm lost. Take me. I'm yours.
51:30
Speaker 1: Take me. I take your son. Please give me your righteousness.
51:38
Speaker 1: I take it now. Or if you're a carnal Christian,
51:44
Speaker 1: it's a great time for you this afternoon to look
51:46
Speaker 1: through the journal of your life and find the spot
51:50
Speaker 1: when you missed the mark and started going in a
51:53
Speaker 1: wrong direction and turn around. Otherwise, there will be an
51:58
Speaker 1: incident along the way that's going to tackle you and
52:01
Speaker 1: you'll realize what a mess you've made, not only of
52:04
Speaker 1: your life, but of others. If we confess our sins, believers,
52:11
Speaker 1: if we confess our sins, that is, agree with God
52:14
Speaker 1: about them, He is righteous and just to forgive us
52:19
Speaker 1: our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If
52:26
Speaker 1: you need help, and I imagine most of you would
52:28
Speaker 1: to turn the journey around, there are people with soul
52:32
Speaker 1: care who are so carefully trained, have such compassion. Such wisdom.
52:37
Speaker 1: Better counselors than I ever will be. Who are available
52:41
Speaker 1: following every one of our worship services. At the prayer rooms,
52:44
Speaker 1: at the doorway. Or you may simply say, I'm going
52:49
Speaker 1: to take care of this myself. Then you need to
52:51
Speaker 1: write us and say, let me tell you the decision
52:54
Speaker 1: I've made. Sign your name. Give us a number. We'll
52:58
Speaker 1: contact you. We'll help you. We will never shame you.
53:02
Speaker 1: We will help you. We'll be grateful for you. Father,
53:09
Speaker 1: thank you for the cross. Thank you for the cross.
53:23
Speaker 1: Help us to remember the pit from which we've been dug.
53:27
Speaker 1: Enable us to refuse the praise just deliberately and consistently.
53:33
Speaker 1: Restore us, Lord, as we rely on your power. In
53:37
Speaker 1: Jesus' dear name, I pray. Everybody sit. Amen. The preceding message,
53:48
Speaker 1: The Cross We Proclaim, was copyrighted in 2008 and the
53:52
Speaker 1: sound recording was copyrighted in 2009 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.
53:57
Speaker 1: All rights are reserved worldwide.