Latest / 1 Year Audio Bible Podcast / Are You Married to Mr. Law or Mr. Christ? | Choosing Love over Rules (Sept 16)

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Are You Married to Mr. Law or Mr. Christ? | Choosing Love over Rules (Sept 16) · 1 Year Audio Bible Podcast

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  Are you married to Mr. Law or are you married to Mr.
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  Christ? If you're married to Mr. Law,
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  that relationship is rule-based,
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  performance-based, based on your own efforts
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  and performance upon your own flesh,
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  your own efforts. If you're married to Mr.
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  Christ, That is a love relationship.
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  It's a relationship based on mutual,
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  deep, intimate love.
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  Which person are you married to?
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  Mr. Law or Mr. Christ?
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  Listen in as we delve into this.
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  Welcome to the Daily Audio Torah. Today is September
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  16th. Now let's continue
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  our journey reading through the entire Bible in 1 year.
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  This week we are reading from the New Living Translation for the Old Testament and
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  for the New Testament.
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  Deuteronomy 28:1-20.
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  If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully keep all his commands that
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  I am giving you today, The Lord your God will set you high above
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  all the nations of the world. You will experience all these
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  blessings if you obey the Lord your God.
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  Your towns and your fields will be blessed. Your children
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  and your crops will be blessed. The offspring
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  of your herds and flocks will be blessed.
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  Your fruit baskets and breadboards will be blessed.
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  Wherever you go and whatever you do, you will be blessed.
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  The Lord will conquer your enemies when they attack you.
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  They will attack you from one direction, but they will scatter from
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  you in 7. The Lord will
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  guarantee a blessing on everything you do and will fill your
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  storehouses with grain. The Lord your God will bless you in
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  the land He is giving you. If you obey the
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  commands of the Lord your God and walk in His ways, The Lord
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  will establish you as His holy people, as He swore He would.
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  Then all the nations of the world will see that you are
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  a people claimed by the Lord,
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  and they will stand in awe of you. The Lord
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  will give you prosperity in the land He swore to your ancestors
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  to give you, blessing you with many children, numerous livestock,
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  and abundant crops. The Lord will send rain
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  at the proper time from His rich treasury in the heavens and
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  will bless all the work you do. You will lend
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  to many nations, but you will never need to borrow from them.
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  If you listen to these commands of the Lord your God that I am giving
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  you today, and if you carefully obey them,
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  the Lord will make you the head and not the tail,
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  and you will always be on top. And never at the bottom.
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  You must not turn away from any of the commands I am giving
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  you today, nor follow after other gods and worship
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  them. But if you refuse to
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  listen to the Lord your God and do not obey all the commands and decrees
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  I am giving you today, all these curses will come and
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  overwhelm you. Your towns and your fields will be
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  cursed. Your fruit baskets and breadboards will be cursed.
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  Your children and your crops will be cursed.
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  The offspring of your herds and flocks will be cursed.
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  Wherever you go and whatever you do, you will be cursed.
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  The Lord himself will send on you curses,
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  confusion, and frustration in everything you do,
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  until at last you are completely destroyed
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  for doing evil and abandoning me.
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  Isaiah 22:1-24:23.
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  This message came to me, Isaiah, concerning Jerusalem.
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  What is happening? Why is everyone running to the rooftops?
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  The whole city is in a terrible uproar. What do I see in
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  this reveling city? Bodies are lying everywhere,
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  killed by famine and disease. All your leaders flee.
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  They surrender without resistance. The people try to slip away,
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  but they are captured too. Leave me alone to weep.
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  Do not try to comfort me. Let me cry for my people
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  as I watch them being destroyed. Oh, what a day
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  of crushing trouble! What a day of confusion and terror
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  the Lord, the Lord Almighty, has brought upon the Valley of Vision.
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  The walls of Jerusalem have been broken, and cries of death
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  echo from the mountainsides. Elamites are
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  the archers; Arameans drive the chariots; the men of Ker hold
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  up the shields. They fill your beautiful valleys and crowd against your gates.
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  Judah's defenses have been stripped away. You run to the
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  armory for your weapons. You inspect the walls of Jerusalem
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  to see what needs to be repaired. You store up water in the lower
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  pool. You check the houses and tear some down to get
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  stone to fix the walls. Between the city walls you build
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  a reservoir for water from the old pool. But all your feverish
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  plans are to no avail because you never ask God
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  for help. He is the one who planned
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  this long ago. The Lord,
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  the Lord Almighty called you to weep and mourn.
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  He told you to shave your heads in sorrow for your sins
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  and to wear clothes of sackcloth to show your remorse.
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  But instead you dance and play, you slaughter sacrificial
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  animals, feast on meat and drink wine.
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  Let's eat, drink, and be merry, you say. What's the difference?
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  For tomorrow we die. The Lord Almighty
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  has revealed to me that this sin will never be forgiven you until
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  the day you die. That is the judgment of the Lord,
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  the Lord Almighty. Furthermore, the Lord, the Lord Almighty told
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  me to confront Shebna, the palace administrator,
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  and to give him this message: Who do you think you are,
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  building a beautiful tomb for yourself in the rock? For the Lord
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  is about to seize you and hurl you away.
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  He is going to send you into captivity, you strong man.
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  He will crumple you into a ball and toss you away
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  into a distant, barren land. There you will die,
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  and there your glorious chariots will remain broken and
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  useless. You are a disgrace to your master.
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  Yes, I will drive you out of office, says the Lord. I will
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  pull you down from your high position. And then I
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  will call my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah to
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  replace you. He will have your royal robes, your title,
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  and your authority, and he will be a father to the people of Jerusalem
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  and Judah. I will give him the key to the
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  house of David, the highest position in the royal court.
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  He will open doors and no one will be able to shut them.
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  He will close doors and no one will be able to open them.
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  He will bring honor to his family name, for I will drive him firmly
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  in place like a tent stake. He will be loaded down
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  with responsibility, and he will bring honor to even the
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  lowest members of his family. The Lord Almighty
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  says, when that time comes, I will pull out the stake that
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  seemed so firm. It will come out and fall to the ground.
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  Everything it supports will fall with it. I, the Lord,
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  have spoken. This message came to me concerning
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  Tyre: Weep, O ships of Tarshish
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  returning home from distant lands! Weep for your
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  harbor at Tyre, because it is gone! The rumors you heard in Cyprus
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  are all true. Mourn in silence, you people
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  of the coast and you merchants of Sidon! Your traders
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  crossed the sea, sailing over deep waters.
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  They brought you grain from Egypt and harvests from along the
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  Nile. You were the merchandise mart of the
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  world. But now you are put to shame,
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  city of Sidon, fortress on the sea, where the sea says,
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  now I am childless, I have no sons or daughters.
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  When Egypt hears the news about Tyre, There will be great
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  sorrow. Lean now to Tarshish. Wail,
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  you people who live by the sea! How can this silent ruin
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  be all that is left of your once joyous city?
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  What a history was yours! Think of all the colonists
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  you sent to distant lands. Who has brought this disaster on Tyre,
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  empire builder and chief trader of the world?
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  The Lord Almighty has done it to destroy your pride and show His
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  contempt. For all human greatness.
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  Come, Tarshish, sweep over your mother Tyre like
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  the flooding Nile, for the city is defenseless.
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  The Lord holds out his hand over the seas.
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  He shakes the kingdoms of the earth. He has spoken out
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  against Phoenicia and depleted its strength. He says,
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  never again will you rejoice. O daughter of Sidon!
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  Once you were a lovely city, but you will never again be
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  strong. Even if you flee to Cyprus, you will find
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  no rest. Look at the land of Babylon!
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  The people of that land are gone. The Assyrians
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  have handed Babylon over to the wild beasts.
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  They have built siege ramps against its walls. Torn down
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  its palaces, and turned it into a heap of rubble.
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  Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for your home port
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  is destroyed! For 70
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  years, the length of a king's life, Tyre will be forgotten.
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  But then the city will come back to life and sing sweet songs
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  like a prostitute long absent from her lovers.
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  She will take a harp walk the streets and sing her songs so
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  that she will again be remembered. Yes,
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  after 70 years, the Lord will revive Tyre,
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  but she will be no different than she was before.
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  She will return again to all her evil ways around the world.
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  But in the end, her businesses will give their profits to the
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  Lord. Her wealth will not be hoarded but
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  will be used to provide good food and fine clothing for the Lord's
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  priests. Look! The Lord is
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  about to destroy the earth and make it a vast wasteland.
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  See how He is scattering the people over the face
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  of the earth— priests and laypeople, servants and masters, maids and
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  mistresses, buyers and sellers, lenders and borrowers,
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  bankers and debtors, None will be spared.
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  The earth will be completely emptied and looted.
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  The Lord has spoken. The earth dries up, the crops wither,
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  the skies refuse to rain. The earth suffers
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  for the sins of its people, for they have twisted the instructions
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  of God, violated His laws, and broken
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  His everlasting covenant.
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  Therefore, a curse consumes the earth and its
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  people. They are left desolate, destroyed by
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  fire. Few will be left alive.
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  All the joys of life will be gone. The grape harvest
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  will fail and there will be no wine. The merrymakers will sigh and mourn.
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  The clash of tambourines will be stilled. The happy cries of
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  celebration will be heard no more. The melodious chords
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  of the harp will be silent.
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  Gone are the joys of wine and song.
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  Strong drink now turns bitter in the mouth.
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  The city writhes in chaos. Every home is locked
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  to keep out looters. Mobs gather in the streets,
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  crying out for wine. Joy has reached its lowest
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  ebb. Gladness has been banished from the land. The city
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  is left in ruins with its gates battered down.
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  Throughout the earth, the story is the same.
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  Like the stray olives left on the tree or the few grapes
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  left on the vine after harvest, only a remnant is
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  left. But all who are left will shout and
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  sing for joy. Those in the west will praise
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  the Lord's majesty, and eastern lands give glory to
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  the Lord. In the coastlands of the sea, praise the name of the
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  Lord, the God of Israel. Listen to them as they sing to
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  the Lord from the ends of the earth. Hear them singing
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  praises to the Righteous One. But my heart
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  is heavy with grief. I am discouraged,
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  for evil still prevails and treachery is everywhere.
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  Terror and traps and snares will be your lot, you people of
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  the earth. Those who flee in terror will fall into a trap,
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  and those who escape the trap will step into a snare.
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  Destruction falls on you from the heavens. The world is
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  shaken beneath you. The earth has broken down and has utterly
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  collapsed. Everything is lost, abandoned,
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  and confused. The earth staggers like a drunkard.
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  It trembles like a tent in a storm. It falls and
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  will not rise again, for its sins are very great.
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  In that day, the Lord will punish the fallen angels in
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  the heavens and the proud rulers of the nations on
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  the earth. They will be rounded up and put in prison until they
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  are tried and condemned. Then the Lord Almighty will mount
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  his throne in Mount Zion. He will rule
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  gloriously in Jerusalem in the sight of all
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  the leaders of his people. There will be such glory that
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  the brightness of the sun and moon will seem to fade away.
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  Galatians 2:17-3:9.
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  But what if we, Paul and other believers,
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  seek to be made right with God through faith in Christ
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  and then find out that we are still sinners? Has Christ led
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  us into sin? Of course not! Rather, I make myself
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  guilty if I rebuild the old system I already
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  tore down. For when I tried to keep the Law,
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  I realized I could never earn God's approval.
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  So I died to the Law so that I might live for
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  God. I have been crucified with Christ.
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  I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
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  So I live my life in this earthly body by trusting
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  in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself
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  for me. I am not one of those who
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  treats the grace of God as meaningless.
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  For if we could be saved by keeping the Law, then there would be
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  no need for Christ to die.
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  O foolish Galatians! What magician
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  has cast an evil spell on you? For you used to see
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  the meaning of Jesus Christ's death as clearly as though I had shown you a
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  signboard with a picture of Christ dying on the cross.
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  Let me ask you this one question: Did you
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  receive the Holy Spirit by keeping the Law? Of course not!
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  For the Holy Spirit came upon you only after you believed the message
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  you heard about Christ, Have you lost your senses?
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  After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are
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  you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?
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  You have suffered so much for the Good News. Surely it
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  was not in vain, was it? Are you now going to just
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  throw it all away? I ask you again, does God
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  give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the
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  Law of Moses? Of course not! It is because
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  you believed the message you heard about Christ.
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  In the same way Abraham believed God, so God declared
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  him righteous because of his faith. The real
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  children of Abraham, then, are all those who put their
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  faith in Christ. What's more, the Scriptures
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  looked forward to this time when God would accept the
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  Gentiles too, on the basis of their faith.
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  God promised this good news to Abraham long ago
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  when He said, all nations will
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  be blessed through you. And so it is.
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  All who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing
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  that Abraham received because of his faith.
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  Psalm 60:1-12.
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  You have rejected us, O God, and broken our defenses.
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  You have been angry with us; now restore us to Your favor.
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  You have shaken our land and split it open; seal
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  the cracks before it completely collapses. You have
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  been very hard on us, making us drink wine that sent
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  us reeling. But You have raised a banner for those who honor
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  You, a rallying point in the face of attack.
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  Use Your strong arm to save us and rescue Your
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  beloved people. God has promised this by His holiness:
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  I will divide up Shechem with joy. I will
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  measure out the Valley of Sukkot. Gilead is Mine,
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  and Manasseh is Mine. Ephraim will produce My warriors,
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  and Judah will produce My kings. Moab will become my
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  lowly servant, and Edom will be my slave.
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  I will shout in triumph over the Philistines.
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  But who will bring me into the fortified city? Who will bring
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  me victory over Edom? Have you rejected
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  us, O God? Will you no longer march with our armies?
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  Oh, please help us against our enemies, for all human
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  help is useless. With God's help,
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  we will do mighty things, for He will trample down our foes.
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  Proverbs 23:15-16. My child,
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  how I will rejoice if you become wise!
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  Yes, my heart will thrill when
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  you speak what is right and just.
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  I want to speak to you today from our reading from Galatians chapter 2
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  and part of chapter 3, and we are continuing on
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  our pursuit with intimacy with
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  Christ. And Paul is identifying
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  for us a huge barrier to having
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  that intimate love relationship with Christ.
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  He says in Galatians 2:18,
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  rather, I make myself guilty if I rebuild the
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  old system I already tore down. For when I tried
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  to keep the law, I realized I
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  could never earn God's approval. So I died
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  to the law so that I might live for God.
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  So let me paint a picture for you. Suppose that you are now
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  married to somebody, and this person is Mr.
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  Law. You are married to Mr. Law. And every time
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  you mess up, you sin, you make a mistake, you fall off
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  the horse, so to speak, he's right there with a big stick,
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  and he hits you over the head with the stick, and he says, you screwed
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  up. You blew it. You're wrong. You're bad. You're wicked.
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  You're evil. You'll never get it right.
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  And so Mr. Law constantly beats you over the head
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  with a stick, with condemnation and accusation,
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  and you can never ever please. But you love him so very,
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  very, very much. You just think, I've just got
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  to try harder. And so you get back on the horse and you keep on
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  trying. You keep on working and trying to earn
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  his favor, his love, and his affection. But you keep falling off the
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  horse over and over and over again, and he keeps beating you over the
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  head with a big stick with condemnation and
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  accusation. And finally,
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  you end up divorced from
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  Mr. Law, and many years go by,
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  and finally the Lord wants to do something new in
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  your life. He wants to restore that which is broken and hurting
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  and wounded, and He sends you a new husband.
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  You fall in love with this new husband, and His name is Mr.
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  Christ. And the old ways,
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  the old way of relating is completely gone. And Mr. Christ,
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  when you fall off the horse, He's right there to say, oh,
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  I see you Bell,
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  here, let me give you my hand and help you up. Here,
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  let me help you mount back up onto the horse. Let me
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  help you continue in your journey. I'm here to walk with you,
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  and I'm here to support you and help you. And He's
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  full of mercy. He's full of kindness. He's full
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  of forgiveness.
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  Which man do you want to be married to? Mr.
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  Law or Mr. Christ?
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  So Paul wants us to have that marriage intimate
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  relationship with Mr. Christ, but the Galatians
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  back then, and so many of us even today,
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  they are falling back into trying to
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  be married to Mr. Law. He says, why would you
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  tear down and Why would you want to rebuild the old system that has already
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  been torn down? He says, I myself
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  no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
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  So I live my life in this earthly body
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  by trusting in the Son of God who loved me
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  and gave Himself for me.
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  It's a love relationship. Not a rule-based
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  relationship, not a performance-based
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  relationship, not an obedience-based relationship.
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  He's calling us into a love relationship.
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  Paul goes on to say, for if we could be saved by keeping
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  the law, then there was no need for Christ
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  to die He strongly exhorts
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  them, oh foolish Galatians, what magician has
• 24:25
  cast an evil spell on you where you used to see
• 24:29
  the meaning of Jesus Christ's death as clearly as
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  though I had shown you a signboard with a picture of Christ dying on
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  the cross? After starting your Christian lives
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  in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by
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  your own human effort.
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  It would be like, now you're married to Mr.
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  Christ. He is your husband. He's full of mercy and
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  kindness and love for you and
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  forgiveness. And then it's like you think, oh,
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  I need to go back to my first husband. I'm going to leave Mr.
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  Christ now, and I'm going to go back to Mr. Law and and, and try
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  to please him.
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  That would be insanity. Jesus calls
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  us into this love relationship.
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  It's not based on works. It's not based on performance.
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  It's not based on obedience. He wants us to
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  love him with all of our heart, mind, soul,
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  and strength, and everything else will flow out
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  of that. It will all flow, but the very first
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  thing is He wants us to simply love Him.
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  May you and I climb higher that
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  mountain, Mount Zion, for Jesus is
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  at the top of that mountain. May we seek Him with
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  all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength.
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  And may we walk in love.
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  May we fall in love with Him all
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  over again. He is crazy in love
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  with you, beloved. May we love
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  Him back. Have a
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  blessed day, and we'll see you tomorrow.
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  Adonai,
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  we wish America.
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  Yeah, yeah,
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  Adonai,
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  anavilka.
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  We connect.
• 27:33
  The Aaronic Blessing from Numbers chapter 6, 24 to
• 27:38
  26. Adonai bless you and
• 27:42
  keep you. Adonai make his face to shine
• 27:45
  upon you and be gracious to you.
• 27:48
  Adonai lift up his countenance upon you and
• 27:52
  give you peace.