Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / The Good News for the Whole World │ Msg 344

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The Good News for the Whole World │ Msg 344 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: We're in the magnificent letter to the Romans. This is
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Speaker 1: Paul at his very best, speaking to us about truth
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Speaker 1: at its greatest level. It requires a mind that can
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Speaker 1: concentrate and a heart that's open. And I know that
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Speaker 1: I'm surrounded by people like that today. Let me read
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Speaker 1: for you four verses that contain the essence of Paul's theology.
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Speaker 1: Romans 1, verses 14 to 17. When I'm finished, you
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Speaker 1: can place the outline that's in your worship folder right here.
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Speaker 1: We'll be back in this section in a few moments.
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Speaker 1: Romans 1.14. I am under obligation both to Greeks and
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Speaker 1: to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.
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Speaker 1: So for my part, I am eager to preach the
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Speaker 1: gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I
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Speaker 1: am not ashamed... Of the gospel. For it is the
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Speaker 1: power of God for salvation. To everyone who believes. To
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Speaker 1: the Jew first. And also to the Greek. For in it.
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Speaker 1: The righteousness of God is revealed. From faith to faith.
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Speaker 1: As it is written. But the righteous man shall live.
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Speaker 1: By faith. I would invite you in the quiet moments
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Speaker 1: of our time of worship to bow, please. Often worship
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Speaker 1: is interrupted by words. Let's not let that happen. Just
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Speaker 1: in silence we sit before our God. As we arose
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Speaker 1: this morning, our father and the soft falling rain was
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Speaker 1: watering the earth to make it bring forth and bud
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Speaker 1: that it may give seed to the sower and bread
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Speaker 1: to the eater. I was reminded that that's the way
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Speaker 1: it is with your word that never returns void. It
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Speaker 1: accomplishes the reason for which you have sent it. We
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Speaker 1: do thank you for watering the land, parched and barren,
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Speaker 1: have been our areas in this part of the country
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Speaker 1: for so long a time. How refreshing and revitalizing is
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Speaker 1: the rain. And it reminds us of your goodness and grace.
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Speaker 1: For the beauty of the earth is ours to behold
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Speaker 1: as it has been yours to create. For the glory
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Speaker 1: of the skies. For the love which from our birth.
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Speaker 1: Over and around us lies. Lord of all to thee.
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Speaker 1: We raise this our hymn of grateful praise. Thank you
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Speaker 1: for the years of ministry at this place. For the
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Speaker 1: hard days. And the great days. For the trials. for
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Speaker 1: the delights, for those who have now gone on who
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Speaker 1: were a part of us at the beginning and the
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Speaker 1: many who have come since we started. Thank you. We
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Speaker 1: anticipate larger facilities, but that isn't what thrills us. What
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Speaker 1: excites us is more from this community who will have
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Speaker 1: a place to worship and a greater breadth of outreach
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Speaker 1: opportunities for the glory of God. And may we in
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Speaker 1: the process, our Father, be reminded of your good hand
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Speaker 1: on us as you construct our lives, shaping us and
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Speaker 1: preparing us to face the future. Thank you for those
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Speaker 1: who care about us enough to wear the uniform and
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Speaker 1: to do the hard work of fighting an enemy that
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Speaker 1: is treacherous. Thank you for another week of safety. We
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Speaker 1: never take that for granted. Thank you for protecting us
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Speaker 1: as a people. Thank you for sustaining the harmony of
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Speaker 1: our fellowship, guarding us from Arguments and ugliness and a
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Speaker 1: breakdown in relationships. Thank you for that. Thank you for
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Speaker 1: your word that lives and abides forever. May we drink
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Speaker 1: from this well with great delight today. May its waters
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Speaker 1: refresh us like the rain about us. Now, our Father,
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Speaker 1: we have the joy of doing what you always do
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Speaker 1: and we rarely do. You always give, we always take.
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Speaker 1: But today we have the joy of giving of all
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Speaker 1: things to you, to your work. We pray that these
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Speaker 1: monies will be used for the right reason, handled in
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Speaker 1: the right way, fulfilling the right purpose. That you may
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Speaker 1: be glorified even in that. Accept our gifts which come
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Speaker 1: to you, our Father, as an expression of our gratitude
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Speaker 1: for your grace. In the lovely name of Christ, our Savior.
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Speaker 1: Everyone said, Amen. Back in the summer of 1962, I
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Speaker 1: was invited to teach a class, an adult class, in
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Speaker 1: a liberal church. The man who had taught the class
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Speaker 1: for about seven or eight, nine months had just graduated
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Speaker 1: from Dallas Seminary and was on his way to UCLA
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Speaker 1: to be involved in campus evangelism with Campus Crusade for Christ.
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Speaker 1: I was in my, would soon be in my last
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Speaker 1: year at the seminary, and he said, I'd like you
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Speaker 1: to take the class at least for the summer. that
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Speaker 1: I don't want to just leave and resign because I
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Speaker 1: think the pastor would probably bring somebody in that doesn't
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Speaker 1: believe the Bible. And I've tried my best during my
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Speaker 1: time with these folks to at least get them acquainted
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Speaker 1: with some things in the scriptures and spiritual truths as
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Speaker 1: best I can. So I'd like you to take over
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Speaker 1: from here. And so I agreed to do that. On
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Speaker 1: my way to the class that morning, I got to thinking,
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Speaker 1: I need to heed the warning he gave me because
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Speaker 1: he said, You need to be careful that you don't
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Speaker 1: go too fast and don't go too deeply because most
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Speaker 1: of these people have never, ever carried a Bible to church.
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Speaker 1: Truth be told, they probably have never really on their
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Speaker 1: own read a book of the Bible ever. So, you know,
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Speaker 1: go easy. I thought, okay, I'm going to go easy.
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Speaker 1: I planned that summer to teach the book of Jonah.
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Speaker 1: I don't know why. But I just thought that would
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Speaker 1: be a great book to teach. And so I announced that.
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Speaker 1: But before I got underway, I said, I'd like for
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Speaker 1: all of you to know about the good news that
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Speaker 1: you may have never heard before. So I want you
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Speaker 1: to turn to John 3.16. And they looked at me
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Speaker 1: just like you're looking at me right now. I never
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Speaker 1: heard turning of pages. I never saw anybody reach over
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Speaker 1: and get a Bible, they just kind of smiled and
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Speaker 1: I thought, they don't know where that is. So I said,
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Speaker 1: this is the truth, I said, now in the New Testament,
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Speaker 1: which is after the Old Testament, my wife is like,
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Speaker 1: oh boy. And you get to the Gospels, Matthew and
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Speaker 1: nobody said Mark. So I go, Mark, Luke, Nobody said it.
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Speaker 1: I said John. John is the name of the book.
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Speaker 1: So in the New Testament, John. Three represents the chapter.
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Speaker 1: By now, Cynthia... But she can't see what I see.
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Speaker 1: People are like... And 16 represents the verse.
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Speaker 2: So.
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Speaker 1: At the end of the class, I had one man, honestly,
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Speaker 1: a man walked up to me, very well-dressed, in fact,
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Speaker 1: an MBA, very bright guy, middle-aged, said to me, you
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Speaker 1: know what, Chuck? I'm so glad you told us. I
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Speaker 1: wondered all my life what all those numbers are that
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Speaker 1: preachers throw around from the pulpit. He says, thanks, this
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Speaker 1: is great. John 3, 16, this is great. So, As
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Speaker 1: I was on my way here today, I got to thinking,
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Speaker 1: I want to talk about the good news, so I'd
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Speaker 1: like for everyone to turn to John 3 16 now
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Speaker 1: John is the no you already know that don't you
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Speaker 1: John 3 16 probably more than any other New Testament
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Speaker 1: verse of scripture is most Christians favorite verse it's the
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Speaker 1: one verse that Most of us can even quote from memory,
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Speaker 1: but I want you to look at it on the
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Speaker 1: page of your Bible. For God so loved the world
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Speaker 1: that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes
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Speaker 1: in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. Isn't
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Speaker 1: that great? Some of you didn't even look at your
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Speaker 1: Bible because you know that verse. Or do you? Here's
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Speaker 1: another little angle to think through this verse of Scripture.
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Speaker 1: For God, the greatest lover, so loved the greatest degree,
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Speaker 1: the world, the greatest company, that he gave the greatest act.
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Speaker 1: His only begotten Son, the greatest gift. That whoever the
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Speaker 1: greatest opportunity believes the greatest simplicity, in Him the greatest
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Speaker 1: attraction shall not perish, the greatest promise, but the greatest difference,
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Speaker 1: have the greatest certainty, eternal life, the greatest possession. Is
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Speaker 1: that great news? Most people around you could not even
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Speaker 1: locate that news. They have never in their life heard
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Speaker 1: it made simple. Many have never even heard it. God,
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Speaker 1: who made us, has a love for us that is
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Speaker 1: so great The Greek began, so much does God love
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Speaker 1: the world. So much. God's love for us is so
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Speaker 1: great that he said to his son, no one else
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Speaker 1: can pay the penalty for sin. You go. And his son, Jesus,
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Speaker 1: begins life on earth as a As an embryo, then
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Speaker 1: a fetus, and then an infant. In Bethlehem's manger. And
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Speaker 1: grows up. Becomes the Lamb of God to take away
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Speaker 1: the sins of the world. And he pays the price
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Speaker 1: in full. Get that. He doesn't leave one work for
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Speaker 1: you to take care of. All of your works and
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Speaker 1: mine are like filthy rags. because they would come from
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Speaker 1: our flesh. But God's lamb paid the price for our
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Speaker 1: sins and died on our behalf. So that whoever, doesn't
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Speaker 1: matter what gender, doesn't matter what race, doesn't matter what nationality,
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Speaker 1: doesn't matter what color, Doesn't matter what geographical location. Doesn't
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Speaker 1: matter what level of maturity. Doesn't matter what level of education.
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Speaker 1: Doesn't matter whoever believes. There's a word the cults never use.
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Speaker 1: They talk about working, earning, gaining. Someday you may find
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Speaker 1: favor with this God. One word I always like to
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Speaker 1: ask is how much is enough? How much work is
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Speaker 1: necessary to know that I have really pleased him? I
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Speaker 1: can never answer that. But when you have a gift,
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Speaker 1: you can take it or you can leave it. And
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Speaker 1: shall have eternal life. I have an attorney friend who
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Speaker 1: lives in California who last Friday at 6.30 lost his father.
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Speaker 1: His father knew Jesus as his savior. His mother, who
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Speaker 1: had died earlier, knew Jesus as her Savior. And so
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Speaker 1: his father joined his mother. And my attorney friend wrote
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Speaker 1: me and he said, there is nothing like knowing that
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Speaker 1: my dad is at home with the Lord. How could
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Speaker 1: he say that? Because his father believes in Jesus and
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Speaker 1: will never perish, but will have life. everlasting life. John
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Speaker 1: wrote this toward the end of the first century. Way
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Speaker 1: back earlier, about AD 33, shortly after Jesus was raised
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Speaker 1: from the dead and had ascended to the Father, and
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Speaker 1: life began to unfold on this earth and persecution broke out,
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Speaker 1: there was a man who led much of the persecution,
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Speaker 1: who lived his life to make life miserable, for Christians.
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Speaker 1: He was a Pharisee. As a result, he was on
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Speaker 1: his way to a remote town, one of the oldest
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Speaker 1: in the world, the town of Damascus. And on his way,
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Speaker 1: he was struck down off the animal he was riding
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Speaker 1: and blinded and heard the good news. And he became
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Speaker 1: born again. He became a vessel in God's hand, ready
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Speaker 1: to be used. He believed in Jesus. He no longer
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Speaker 1: fought against him, but now was converted. 25 years passed
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Speaker 1: in that man's life, during which time he thought through
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Speaker 1: the good news and shared the good news with those
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Speaker 1: all about him traveling literally thousands of miles in the
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Speaker 1: most rugged of circumstances. taking the good news. And then
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Speaker 1: there came a time, 25 years after his conversion, he
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Speaker 1: decided it was time to write it down. Knowing he
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Speaker 1: would soon be going to Rome, or at least anticipating
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Speaker 1: that would happen, he wrote them a letter. And in it,
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Speaker 1: he was careful to explain the good news. It's this
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Speaker 1: letter we are studying together, and it's to this letter
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Speaker 1: I invite you to turn. As we see in the
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Speaker 1: four verses of Romans chapter one, Paul's, the essence of
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Speaker 1: Paul's theology. Not surprisingly, it revolves around the gospel, the
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Speaker 1: good news. If you've never noted before, please note in
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Speaker 1: verse one, the mention of the gospel. Verse nine, the
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Speaker 1: preaching of the gospel. Verse 15, again, the preaching of
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Speaker 1: the gospel. Verse 16, not ashamed of the gospel. It
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Speaker 1: is clear in Paul's heart is a desire to get
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Speaker 1: the message of the good news cemented in the minds
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Speaker 1: of his readers. Here we are 20 centuries later still
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Speaker 1: digging into the treasures of this minefield. This beautiful area
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Speaker 1: where there are hidden for us information, as well as
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Speaker 1: blessings that have never been uncovered before. I find here
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Speaker 1: Paul's testimony in three statements, each of which begin the
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Speaker 1: same way. I am, I am, I am. Look at
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Speaker 1: the first one in verse 14. I am under obligation.
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Speaker 1: The second is in verse 15. I am eager to preach.
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Speaker 1: the gospel, and the third is in verse 16, I
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Speaker 1: am not ashamed of the gospel. Let's do a quick
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Speaker 1: review of each one of those statements since they formulate
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Speaker 1: really the foundation of his testimony. First, I am under obligation.
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Speaker 1: When Paul first wrote the sentence, he actually didn't write
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Speaker 1: under obligation. He wrote the word debtor. For I am
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Speaker 1: a debtor. I am a debtor both to Greeks and
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Speaker 1: to the barbarians. Before I go to the Greeks and barbarians,
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Speaker 1: let's get the debtor part out of the way. We
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Speaker 1: understand one kind of debt. We rarely think of the other.
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Speaker 1: The first and, of course, the most familiar is when
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Speaker 1: I borrow $ 1, 000 from the bank, I am in debt
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Speaker 1: to the bank to pay the money back. This is
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Speaker 1: not that kind of debt. There is another debt where
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Speaker 1: someone gives me money to give to someone else. And
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Speaker 1: until I do that, I am indebted to the one
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Speaker 1: who gave me the money and also in a real
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Speaker 1: sense to the one who's about to receive it. I
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Speaker 1: am the middleman. if you will, in this debt. This
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Speaker 1: is that kind of debt. I have been given the
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Speaker 1: good news from the Savior, Jesus Christ. I now have
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Speaker 1: the responsibility, the debt to pay to give this news
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Speaker 1: to someone else. I forget who said it, but one
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Speaker 1: of the men of my past made a good statement
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Speaker 1: to people who were preparing for ministry. He said to
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Speaker 1: all of us, you do not have a profession to practice,
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Speaker 1: you have a debt to discharge. That's what he means
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Speaker 1: by it. Paul says, I am indebted. Now notice the subject,
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Speaker 1: or I should say the object of his indebtedness to
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Speaker 1: the Greek, referring to the Greco-Roman world, the world of culture,
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Speaker 1: And also to the barbarian. How interesting he'd use that word.
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Speaker 1: To English-speaking people in the 21st century, a barbarian is
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Speaker 1: a savage, a wild-eyed, brutal individual who is uncivilized and
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Speaker 1: sort of races his way through life, getting his way,
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Speaker 1: watching out for himself, manipulating or pushing his way over others.
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Speaker 1: That's a barbarian. That's not the meaning in Paul's mind.
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Speaker 1: Back in his day, a barbarian would be one who
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Speaker 1: was the opposite of the cultured Greek. They spoke a
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Speaker 1: language or a dialect that was not spoken here in
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Speaker 1: the intellectual centers of the world. And so when Greeks
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Speaker 1: would refer to those people, they would often refer to
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Speaker 1: them as bar, bar, bar, bar, bar. Kind of like
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Speaker 1: we do yada, yada, yada, yada. Same type thing. And
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Speaker 1: it came to be a word in the language barbarian.
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Speaker 1: those who were not among the intelligentsia, those not of
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Speaker 1: the Greco-Roman world, those not versed in the classics of
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Speaker 1: the day. And while he's at it, naming the people
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Speaker 1: who are to receive this debt, both to the wise
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Speaker 1: and to the foolish. That needs no explanation. The whole
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Speaker 1: point is it's the good news for the whole world.
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Speaker 1: The whole world. Remember, we just read it. God so
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Speaker 1: loved the world. Again, God so loved the world. Peter says,
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Speaker 1: the Lord is not patient. The Lord is patient, not
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Speaker 1: wishing for any to perish, but for all to come
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Speaker 1: to repentance. 2 Peter 3, 9. His heart is on
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Speaker 1: the whole world. So was Paul's. He felt a debtor
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Speaker 1: to the whole world, which is what drove him from
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Speaker 1: one place to another, always seeking those who had never heard.
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Speaker 1: Now there's the second statement. I am eager. So for
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Speaker 1: my part, I am eager to preach the gospel. Having
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Speaker 1: been given the good news, he couldn't think of not
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Speaker 1: sharing it. I am filled with desire, maybe we would say,
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Speaker 1: I am passionate. I'm driven. For much of my Christian life,
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Speaker 1: I've heard people say that the gospel is really one
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Speaker 1: beggar telling another beggar where to find bread. That's true,
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Speaker 1: but it doesn't go far enough. That alone doesn't make
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Speaker 1: me eager or passionate. What we have here is one
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Speaker 1: potential victim of a disaster telling another potential victim where
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Speaker 1: to find an escape. Go back to 9-11. Put yourself
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Speaker 1: in an office on one of the upper stories of
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Speaker 1: the World Trade Center, the first building that was hit.
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Speaker 1: You're at your desk and suddenly, poof, There's this explosion
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Speaker 1: down below and before long there are flames and there's
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Speaker 1: smoke coming up into your office area. You know it's treacherous.
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Speaker 1: You know you got to get out of there. You
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Speaker 1: have no idea there's another plane to hit the other building.
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Speaker 1: All you know is you stay here, you perish. And
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Speaker 1: you push a door open and you find a stairwell.
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Speaker 1: There's not any smoke in it. In fact, it seems
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Speaker 1: clear all the way down and you at that moment
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Speaker 1: turn and say to all of the others in the office,
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Speaker 1: come this way, come this way, go down this stair,
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Speaker 1: come on. That's one person finding a way to escape disaster.
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Speaker 1: Telling the others, this is how you get out. This
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Speaker 1: is the escape route. Now that's passionate. That's what's on
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Speaker 1: Paul's mind here. I am eager to talk to those
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Speaker 1: who are perishing. I am eager to tell them about
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Speaker 1: the stairwell of escape. And my message is to go
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Speaker 1: to whoever I am with. How marvelous that is that
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Speaker 1: we have the opportunity. And Paul describes it as something
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Speaker 1: he never really got over. Now, I love it that
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Speaker 1: he says, I'm not ashamed. But before he says that,
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Speaker 1: there's a little connecting particle For, see that little word
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Speaker 1: at the beginning of verse 16? This explains why he
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Speaker 1: was eager. See the verse again, 17? It begins with
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Speaker 1: the same little connecting particle, for. When you read that
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Speaker 1: at the beginning of a verse, you can often substitute because.
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Speaker 1: So let me do that. For my part, verse 15,
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Speaker 1: I am eager to preach the good news to you
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Speaker 1: also who are in Rome because... I am not ashamed
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Speaker 1: of the gospel because see there it is again. It
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Speaker 1: is the power of God. So he's got two reasons
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Speaker 1: not to be ashamed. One is in the middle of
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Speaker 1: verse 16 and the second is in verse 17. The
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Speaker 1: first reason it is the power of God for salvation
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Speaker 1: to everyone who believes. The original term is dunamis. And
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Speaker 1: I know you've been reared in the church. No, you've
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Speaker 1: heard this explained many times. It's like dynamite. I think
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Speaker 1: that cheapens it a little, frankly. I don't think that's
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Speaker 1: a good substitute. I think dynamic is better. This is
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Speaker 1: not like an explosion. This is like a growing dynamic.
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Speaker 1: I am not ashamed because when I give the good news,
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Speaker 1: I am giving that which is a dynamic that will
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Speaker 1: impact a life, that will make a change in a life.
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Speaker 1: It's the dynamic for Deliverance, see how he puts it,
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Speaker 1: for salvation. And here it is again, to everyone who believes.
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Speaker 1: John 3.16 said, whoever, Romans 1.16 says, to everyone who believes.
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Speaker 1: Deliverance from what? Deliverance from God's wrath. Deliverance from the
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Speaker 1: domination and control of a sinful nature. Deliverance from a
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Speaker 1: lost condition that distances me from God. Deliverance from the
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Speaker 1: fears of death or suffering before death. I'm delivered because
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Speaker 1: the gospel has landed in my life and made that change.
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Speaker 1: And I am moved by the fact that God loved
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Speaker 1: me enough to give me a son. Had a lady
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Speaker 1: stop me after the second morning service today and tell
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Speaker 1: me when she had first born her child, this precious child,
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Speaker 1: little girl had come into her life. And she took
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Speaker 1: her child. She, the mother, was unsaved. And the physician
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Speaker 1: that she was going to was born again. And the
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Speaker 1: physician could tell that this mother was just absolutely adoring
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Speaker 1: this baby God had given her. And she said, you
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Speaker 1: love this child, don't you? And the mother said, oh,
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Speaker 1: in fact, when she told me the story, she teared up.
28:26
Speaker 1: She said, I teared up, and I said, oh, I
28:29
Speaker 1: can't describe to you how much I love her. And
28:33
Speaker 1: the doctor, realizing the door was open in his tender
28:36
Speaker 1: heart of hers, said, do you love your daughter enough
28:40
Speaker 1: to put her on a cross? Ah. Ah.
28:49
Speaker 2: Um.
28:52
Speaker 1: I don't know how to answer that. And the physician said,
28:58
Speaker 1: that's how much God loves you. Isn't that a wonderful story?
29:03
Speaker 1: And she said, at that moment, I got a glimpse
29:07
Speaker 1: of the kind of love that I had never thought
29:10
Speaker 1: of as it relates to God. This is such a
29:14
Speaker 1: dynamic message that when the truth of God's love reaches
29:19
Speaker 1: a person, that person is has a deliverance, has a
29:26
Speaker 1: hope that he or she never had before. Paul isn't
29:33
Speaker 1: ashamed of telling them that. In fact, another reason he
29:36
Speaker 1: isn't ashamed is because in it is the righteousness of
29:39
Speaker 1: God revealed. Don't you love that? What does that mean?
29:45
Speaker 1: Maybe if I told you what it means, you'd love it, huh?
29:48
Speaker 1: The righteousness of God, right standing before God, being declared
29:54
Speaker 1: righteous before God. All of that credited to our account spiritually. Here,
30:04
Speaker 1: it works like this. I come to the cross by faith.
30:07
Speaker 1: I believe that Jesus paid the complete penalty for my sins.
30:12
Speaker 1: And I trust him. I express my trust to him
30:16
Speaker 1: in my own words. Simple prayer. Lord, I know that
30:20
Speaker 1: there's nothing I have that's worthwhile. But I need your son.
30:24
Speaker 1: I need what he has provided for me. And I
30:26
Speaker 1: take the gift. that you have given me in Christ.
30:30
Speaker 1: At that moment, God declares me righteous. I am brought
30:35
Speaker 1: in right relations with God for the first time in
30:38
Speaker 1: my life and from that time on. The justification that
30:44
Speaker 1: is mentioned later in the letter is the sovereign act
30:48
Speaker 1: of God whereby he declares righteous the believing sinner while
30:52
Speaker 1: we are still in a sinning state. I am at
30:57
Speaker 1: that moment as righteous as his son in his eyes.
31:02
Speaker 1: Which means the need to work for my salvation is over.
31:07
Speaker 1: All of the work was done by Christ. Now my
31:12
Speaker 1: work is a work of voluntary labor, a commitment, an eagerness,
31:16
Speaker 1: a desire, an obligation to make the message known. But
31:20
Speaker 1: not to be saved, but because I am saved. That's
31:24
Speaker 1: why he's not not ashamed of it. I've thought about
31:30
Speaker 1: this matter of shame a lot. And shame comes from
31:36
Speaker 1: two areas. Number one is you've done what's wrong and
31:39
Speaker 1: you feel ashamed for it. That's not this kind of shame.
31:44
Speaker 1: The second is you're ashamed of the ridicule that will come.
31:50
Speaker 1: You're ashamed of looking foolish in the eyes of your peers.
31:54
Speaker 1: You're ashamed of being made to feel foolish by those
31:57
Speaker 1: with whom you share the good news. I thought in
32:02
Speaker 1: Paul's case, were there times he could have been tempted
32:05
Speaker 1: to be ashamed? How about when he broke with the
32:08
Speaker 1: fraternity of Pharisees as he was converted and all of
32:12
Speaker 1: his former friends and what a tight group they were
32:16
Speaker 1: turned against him? How about when he was a stoned
32:22
Speaker 1: by resentful Jews at Lystra who followed him there and
32:27
Speaker 1: later imprisoned at Philippi and chased out of Thessalonica and
32:32
Speaker 1: smuggled out of Berea. And when he got to Athens,
32:36
Speaker 1: they saw him as a seed picker. This hillbilly from
32:40
Speaker 1: over in Tarsus has something new to add to us.
32:43
Speaker 1: And all the eggheads got together to smile and mock
32:46
Speaker 1: him as they listened to his message. Could he have
32:50
Speaker 1: been tempted to be ashamed? Knowing Paul, he wasn't, but
32:54
Speaker 1: I think the temptation was there. I remember standing on
32:58
Speaker 1: a free speech platform at University of Oklahoma years ago
33:02
Speaker 1: with another friend on the other free speech platform. And
33:05
Speaker 1: you sort of took turns in those days as to
33:07
Speaker 1: who's going to stand up and speak. So we sort
33:10
Speaker 1: of shoved our way up there and I began to
33:12
Speaker 1: talk about Jesus and he talked about Jesus and all
33:14
Speaker 1: of a sudden, splat, I got a tomato hit me
33:17
Speaker 1: right here in the side of the neck, kind of
33:19
Speaker 1: ran down my shirt and I looked over at my
33:21
Speaker 1: buddy and he had two tomatoes on him and he
33:23
Speaker 1: looked at me and he said, is this exciting or what?
33:28
Speaker 1: Reminded me of Churchill's words, nothing in life is more
33:31
Speaker 1: exhilarating than being shot at without result. You couldn't shoot
33:38
Speaker 1: at Paul enough to embarrass him. You couldn't make him ashamed. Hey,
33:42
Speaker 1: he had the good news. He had the dynamic. What's
33:45
Speaker 1: there to be ashamed of? Because Paul has been put
33:49
Speaker 1: in debt, because he has been eager to declare it,
33:51
Speaker 1: and because he refused to be ashamed, God was ready
33:55
Speaker 1: to use him in a significant way, and indeed he did.
33:58
Speaker 1: But that's Paul. As I've said for a long time,
34:01
Speaker 1: what's good for Paul is good for all. So let's
34:04
Speaker 1: go back and look at it through our eyes. You
34:07
Speaker 1: thought we were through. Now we're going to see what
34:10
Speaker 1: it has to say to us. What is our response
34:13
Speaker 1: to the good news? Verse 14, we too have been
34:18
Speaker 1: put in debt. Paul has no corner on debt. We
34:23
Speaker 1: too are under obligation. We too have those who are sophisticated,
34:28
Speaker 1: the Greeks, and those who are not sophisticated, the bar, bar, bar, bar,
34:32
Speaker 1: bar group. All of those who are all around us,
34:37
Speaker 1: who aren't clued in. We are equally indebted. What a
34:43
Speaker 1: pleasure it is to open the news of Christ to them.
34:46
Speaker 1: Having been blessed with hearing the message, now believing the message,
34:51
Speaker 1: we are under this impelling sense of obligation to share
34:54
Speaker 1: the message. Second, we too are filled with desire to
35:01
Speaker 1: share the good news. It's what drives us on. I
35:05
Speaker 1: call it the invisible impetus. Knowing that I have been
35:10
Speaker 1: changed from within, how can I not tell a person
35:13
Speaker 1: that the escape route is open if he will only
35:16
Speaker 1: follow me there? Just come with me. Let me show
35:23
Speaker 1: you a passage of scripture. Hold your place in Romans
35:25
Speaker 1: and go to 1 Corinthians 9. Here we have another
35:30
Speaker 1: little glimpse of Paul behind the scenes as to his
35:32
Speaker 1: thinking regarding the gospel. 1 Corinthians 9, 19. For though
35:43
Speaker 1: I am free from all, I have made myself a
35:46
Speaker 1: slave to all so that I may win more. Watch closely.
35:51
Speaker 1: He now breaks that down. To the Jew I became
35:54
Speaker 1: as a Jew, that I might win Jews. To those
35:59
Speaker 1: who are under the law as under the law, though
36:03
Speaker 1: not being myself under the law, so that I might
36:06
Speaker 1: win those who are under the law. There's a third category.
36:11
Speaker 1: To those who are without law, there is the barbarians.
36:15
Speaker 1: There are those who aren't clued in. They're the ones
36:17
Speaker 1: who are in the hinterlands. These are the ones who
36:19
Speaker 1: are out there in the midst of the real world,
36:21
Speaker 1: the secularized individual who has not been reared in the church.
36:25
Speaker 1: To those who are without law, as without law, though
36:27
Speaker 1: not being without the law of God, but under the
36:29
Speaker 1: law of Christ, so that I might win those without law.
36:32
Speaker 1: There's a fourth category. How about to the weak? To
36:35
Speaker 1: the weak, I became weak, that I might win the weak.
36:40
Speaker 1: Now he summarizes, I have become all things to all
36:45
Speaker 1: men so that I may by all means save all. Nope.
36:53
Speaker 1: You see it, don't you? After doing all these things,
36:59
Speaker 1: I will never win them all. There'll be some we'll win. A.T.
37:05
Speaker 1: Robertson writes, this is his goal and worth all the
37:09
Speaker 1: cost of adaptation. He has adapted his life to reach
37:15
Speaker 1: as many, knowing that all will never believe. I will
37:22
Speaker 1: tell you, after more than 40 years of preaching the
37:25
Speaker 1: good news of Christ, I've experienced the truth of that.
37:29
Speaker 1: I have never had everyone in the congregation believe it.
37:35
Speaker 1: While you are on the edge of your seat, there
37:37
Speaker 1: are those around you who are yawning and checking their watch.
37:42
Speaker 1: While you are excited about what's coming next in the
37:45
Speaker 1: verse of Scripture, there are others who wonder, what in
37:49
Speaker 1: the world is this all excited about? What's the deal?
37:54
Speaker 1: We have an anesthesiologist in our church. I tell him
37:58
Speaker 1: sometimes we're in the same business. We both put people
38:00
Speaker 1: to sleep. And he answers back, yeah, but I wake
38:05
Speaker 1: them up. All through life, it's been my privilege to
38:14
Speaker 1: share the good news and watch some grow and emerge.
38:19
Speaker 1: One lady said to me after one of the services today,
38:22
Speaker 1: she said, for 20 years, I've listened to you. She said,
38:24
Speaker 1: the woman I've become is linked to the broadcast at
38:27
Speaker 1: Insight for Living. I'd never met her before, may never
38:30
Speaker 1: see her again. I had no idea. I had no idea.
38:34
Speaker 1: And I'm sure she has neighbors who could listen to
38:36
Speaker 1: the same broadcast, and it wouldn't mean a hill of
38:38
Speaker 1: beans to them. You do all you can to reach
38:43
Speaker 1: all you're able, knowing that when you have done all
38:46
Speaker 1: to reach all, you win some. So I've learned to relax.
38:54
Speaker 1: It used to bother me that all didn't believe it,
38:58
Speaker 1: that all weren't changed by it. And when you fall
39:02
Speaker 1: into that trap, your focus is on the few who don't,
39:05
Speaker 1: and you miss the many who do. In all of
39:09
Speaker 1: the years of sharing Christ, rarely have I had anyone say,
39:12
Speaker 1: I'm not interested. Or, get out of my life. More
39:19
Speaker 1: often than not, it's, really? I never heard this. And
39:24
Speaker 1: that's what makes us eager. By the way, Paul's desire
39:28
Speaker 1: was to share it in Rome. Rome is where you live.
39:33
Speaker 1: Where do you live? Plano? Coppel? The colony? Allen? To
39:42
Speaker 1: the north? To the south? That's your Rome. Where do
39:46
Speaker 1: you work? That's your wrong. I remember when my family
39:53
Speaker 1: and I were struggling with the call of moving from
39:56
Speaker 1: a little town in Texas to the vast metropolis of
40:00
Speaker 1: Los Angeles. I remember the struggle on the flight in
40:04
Speaker 1: that 747 when I was sitting in that seat. We
40:08
Speaker 1: had just gotten below the smog coming into Los Angeles,
40:11
Speaker 1: and it was toward night, so the lights were on.
40:16
Speaker 1: And here we were flying 400 and more miles an hour.
40:19
Speaker 1: over miles and miles and miles and miles and miles
40:23
Speaker 1: and miles of lights. Miles and miles and miles of
40:29
Speaker 1: residential areas that I couldn't name one of them. Miles
40:33
Speaker 1: and miles and miles to the coast where you finally
40:36
Speaker 1: landed LAX right by the Pacific. I remember thinking as
40:42
Speaker 1: I'm struggling, how do you get your arms around this?
40:51
Speaker 1: How do you ever minister in a place like this?
40:54
Speaker 1: And the Lord just made it so clear to me.
40:56
Speaker 1: I'm not calling you to all of this. I got
40:59
Speaker 1: one place for you. That's your Rome. That's your place.
41:08
Speaker 1: God's not calling you to reach every person that's in China.
41:12
Speaker 1: God isn't saying to you, you need to talk to
41:14
Speaker 1: everybody in India before you die. You couldn't. God didn't
41:19
Speaker 1: say to you, you've got to reach everybody in the
41:21
Speaker 1: city of Dallas before you die. He said, I've got
41:25
Speaker 1: you in one spot. You're under obligation. I ask you
41:30
Speaker 1: to be eager, unashamed, unashamed. So you do it by faith.
41:43
Speaker 1: We now live by faith. We must be unashamed of
41:47
Speaker 1: the good news and Reminding ourselves is good news. It's
41:51
Speaker 1: an escape route from hell. It's missing, perishing. Right now,
41:58
Speaker 1: it doesn't seem like much, but wait till you get
42:00
Speaker 1: the doctor's report back. Wait till the elephant stands on
42:04
Speaker 1: your chest. Wait till that car comes out of nowhere
42:13
Speaker 1: and strikes you broadside. And you linger between life and death.
42:21
Speaker 1: You've got to know how to miss perishing at that point.
42:24
Speaker 1: Now's the time to get ready. You say, well, I've
42:31
Speaker 1: never seen Jesus. I've never heard his voice. Well, welcome
42:34
Speaker 1: to the club. I haven't either. I'd be bothered if
42:40
Speaker 1: he started talking to me out loud. I don't see
42:44
Speaker 1: him in cloud formations. Then how do I believe? By faith.
42:48
Speaker 1: Let me give you three words. It'll help you. Trust, expect, rest. Trust.
42:56
Speaker 1: I trust the Word of God. I trust the Son
43:00
Speaker 1: of God. I trust the Gospel of God. I trust Him.
43:06
Speaker 1: I do it when I take a flight. I do
43:09
Speaker 1: it when I drive my car. I trust God. I
43:14
Speaker 1: trust Him to keep His Word. I trust what he
43:19
Speaker 1: says about the Savior is true. I have no better
43:22
Speaker 1: message than this. Now then, I trust him to do
43:26
Speaker 1: what I'm not able to see my way through. And
43:29
Speaker 1: then I expect him to take over. I expect him,
43:36
Speaker 1: once I've trusted him, to fulfill what he says he
43:38
Speaker 1: will do. He says, if you believe in the Lord
43:42
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, you will be saved. I expect him then
43:46
Speaker 1: to save me. to deliver me from perishing. And then
43:50
Speaker 1: I rest. Now, wait a minute. Surrendering doesn't mean I
43:56
Speaker 1: give up. Surrendering means I take my hands off. You
44:02
Speaker 1: know how it is. We who have adult children, we
44:06
Speaker 1: can no longer say, straighten up, because they're 35, 40
44:11
Speaker 1: years old. They'd slap us back. So what do we do?
44:17
Speaker 1: We trust the Lord. We expect Him to work in
44:20
Speaker 1: their lives. We take hands off. Very keen part of
44:25
Speaker 1: parenting is knowing when to take your hands off. Don't
44:28
Speaker 1: mess with them. Sick God on them. I mean, not
44:32
Speaker 1: quite like that, but you say, I expect you to
44:37
Speaker 1: do what I can't do, and you rely on God
44:40
Speaker 1: to do it, and you relax.
44:44
Speaker 2: Ha!
44:45
Speaker 1: Some of you haven't relaxed since you took a nap
44:47
Speaker 1: at three years of age. You are just on the
44:50
Speaker 1: edge of your seat. You hate to miss one panel
44:52
Speaker 1: of a revolving door. You're almost neurotic if you're so driven. Relax. Relax.
44:59
Speaker 1: The door's open. Opportunities every week to share Christ. You
45:05
Speaker 1: just deliberately don't want to walk into them. So trust him. Rest. Rest.
45:13
Speaker 1: even rest through what one might call a disaster. God
45:19
Speaker 1: is good at that. I was reading in a biography
45:24
Speaker 1: recently the story of an old story, really, I'd read
45:27
Speaker 1: before but had forgotten about it. Charles Edison writes about
45:31
Speaker 1: his father, calls this the Electric Thomas Edison. Listen to
45:35
Speaker 1: this little vignette. You'll love it. I especially recall a
45:40
Speaker 1: freezing December night in 1914 at a time when still
45:44
Speaker 1: unfruitful experiments on the nickel iron alkaline battery to which
45:50
Speaker 1: father had devoted much of 10 years had put him
45:53
Speaker 1: on a financial tightrope. Only profits from movie and record
45:58
Speaker 1: production were supporting the laboratory. On that December evening, the
46:03
Speaker 1: cry of fire echoed through the plant. Spontaneous combustion had
46:10
Speaker 1: broken out in the film room within moments. All the
46:13
Speaker 1: packing compounds, all the celluloid for records, all the film
46:18
Speaker 1: and other flammable goods had gone up in a whoosh.
46:23
Speaker 1: Fire companies from eight towns arrived, but the heat was
46:25
Speaker 1: so intense, water pressure so low that the fire hoses
46:29
Speaker 1: had no effect. When I couldn't find my father, I
46:32
Speaker 1: became concerned. Was he safe? With all his assets going
46:36
Speaker 1: up in smoke, Would his spirit be broken? He was 67,
46:42
Speaker 1: no age to begin anew. And then I saw him
46:46
Speaker 1: in the plant running toward me. Where's mom? Where's mom?
46:54
Speaker 1: Go get her. Tell her to bring her friends. They'll
46:57
Speaker 1: never see a fire like this again. At 5.30 the
47:07
Speaker 1: next morning, with the fire barely under control, he called
47:10
Speaker 1: his employees together and announced, we're rebuilding. I love this.
47:16
Speaker 1: One man was told to lease all the machine shops
47:18
Speaker 1: in the area, another to obtain the wrecking crane from
47:22
Speaker 1: the Erie Railroad Company. Then almost with an afterthought, he added, oh,
47:26
Speaker 1: by the way, anybody here know where we can get
47:29
Speaker 1: any money? Later on, he explained, you can always make
47:34
Speaker 1: capital out of disasters. We're just clearing out a bunch
47:38
Speaker 1: of old rubbish. We'll build bigger and better on the ruins.
47:42
Speaker 1: With that, he rolled up his coat for a pillow,
47:44
Speaker 1: curled up on a table, and immediately fell asleep. I
47:50
Speaker 1: love it. All right. Fire. How could he do that?
48:00
Speaker 1: It's called trusting, expecting, resting. Something some of you have
48:12
Speaker 1: never done in your life. No wonder you've missed the
48:15
Speaker 1: good news. No wonder you haven't found it. John 3.16.
48:23
Speaker 1: Transform your life. It's available to every one of us.
48:31
Speaker 1: Even those who don't think they need it. Like those
48:35
Speaker 1: people about 7.30 a.m. on the morning of 9-11, who
48:40
Speaker 1: had sat down at their computer, never giving a second
48:45
Speaker 1: thought to what was in front of them. Oh, you
48:52
Speaker 1: need this. You need this. Let's close our eyes, bow
49:03
Speaker 1: our heads. May I address just you who are perishing?
49:12
Speaker 1: I mean, if you died. just after lunch today or tomorrow,
49:26
Speaker 1: you wouldn't be with God. You wouldn't be like my
49:28
Speaker 1: attorney's dad and mother because you've never, ever taken the gift.
49:37
Speaker 1: What a shame.
49:39
Speaker 2: What a heartbreak.
49:42
Speaker 1: And I got to tell you, even though religions will
49:44
Speaker 1: tell you differently, you'll never have a second chance. You
49:47
Speaker 1: got it now or never. Now or never. May those
49:52
Speaker 1: words haunt you. Just in case God and His grace
49:58
Speaker 1: takes you through the night and gives you another few days,
50:02
Speaker 1: I suggest you do first things first. Believe first. on
50:11
Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ. Join the ranks of those of
50:19
Speaker 1: us who have been rescued.
50:26
Speaker 2: Please.
50:31
Speaker 1: Our Father, in this sober moment, we pause to express
50:35
Speaker 1: our thanks for the time of worship Music has played
50:44
Speaker 1: its part. Quietness and prayer have done their part. The
50:50
Speaker 1: instruction of the scriptures is now complete. It's all in
50:58
Speaker 1: your hands. I refuse to worry. I refuse to plead.
51:09
Speaker 1: Except to you, Father, I pray that you will bring
51:11
Speaker 1: disturbance and unrest Until those who have never trusted in
51:16
Speaker 1: the Savior will turn to him. Lord, you'll need to
51:24
Speaker 1: speak directly and firmly and clearly and loudly. And you'll
51:28
Speaker 1: need to do it when nobody's around. You need to
51:31
Speaker 1: penetrate all the nonsense that we believe for far too
51:40
Speaker 1: long and get through to the truth, Lord. In the
51:45
Speaker 1: lives of those who have never trusted you. And may
51:49
Speaker 1: we as a result realize we are in debt. A
51:54
Speaker 1: debt to discharge. Make us eager and unashamed. Pray as
52:03
Speaker 1: we live our lives for you. I ask it in
52:07
Speaker 1: the Savior's blessed name. And all his people said.
52:15
Speaker 2: The preceding message, The Good News for the Whole World,
52:19
Speaker 2: was copyrighted in 2006, 2010, and 2025, and the sound
52:24
Speaker 2: recording was copyrighted in 2025 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.
52:29
Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
52:33
Speaker 2: commercial use is strictly prohibited.