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The Wicked Will Not Win- Minister Max Lucado · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Good morning, everybody, Good morning, Way to go, way to
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: be here, Way to be strong, Way to just keep
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: putting the ore in the water and paddling the boat.
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  Speaker 1: Way to show up, Way to show up. May the
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  Speaker 1: Lord give you strength and bless you today with steadfastness,
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  Speaker 1: with energy, with resolve, with hope.
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  Speaker 2: With hope, with hope.
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  Speaker 1: What crazy seasons we continue to weather through? Right?
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
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  Speaker 1: Somebody said this morning that they were sure glad to
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  Speaker 1: have an extra hour, and another person said, no, I
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  Speaker 1: don't want one more hour of twenty twenty. Well we
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: have it, so here we go, but we're going to
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  Speaker 1: make it. We're going to be okay. Selma Reeves told
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  Speaker 1: me to tell you thank you for praying for her husband.
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  Speaker 1: Reuben had a heart attack earlier this week, and Selma,
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  Speaker 1: longtime minister of our church, called upon you to pray,
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  Speaker 1: and through God's grace and the skill of a wonderful
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: medical team, Ruben is recovering well. And she wanted me
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  Speaker 1: to tell you that, So way to go. Thanks for
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  Speaker 1: your prayers. And speaking of prayers, this is an important
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  Speaker 1: week for us to pray for our nation as we
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  Speaker 1: head into a national election. Did you know we had
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  Speaker 1: an election coming up. Sorry, just kidding, of course you did.
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  Speaker 1: It's important that we vote, and it's even more important
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  Speaker 1: that we realized that the most important vote has already
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  Speaker 1: been cast, and that is God's vote in favor of humanity,
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  Speaker 1: and that He's on the throne. Regardless of who's in
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  Speaker 1: the White House, the throne room is occupied, and we
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  Speaker 1: can trust in him.
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  Speaker 2: Amen.
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  Speaker 1: You know it was about a year ago. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: it was exactly a year ago this weekend that during
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  Speaker 1: the middle of a sermon that I was sharing on
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  Speaker 1: the theme of revival, one of our elders stood up
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  Speaker 1: in the middle of one of the services and began
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  Speaker 1: to sing the song Revive Us Again. The whole church
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  Speaker 1: stood up, and I took that as the Lord's desire
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  Speaker 1: for us to be more serious about praying for revival.
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  Speaker 1: A group of people began praying every Sunday afternoon at
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  Speaker 1: five pm for revival. That's going on for a whole
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  Speaker 1: year now, initially of course in person, more recently virtual prayers,
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  Speaker 1: but it's also expanded into a citywide prayer effort. Last
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  Speaker 1: summer a couple of times at the AT and T
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  Speaker 1: Center in the parking lot, and then last weekend and
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  Speaker 1: this weekend at San Pedro Springs Park. Today, we're going
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  Speaker 1: to gather with pastors and people from all over San
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  Speaker 1: Antonio and the Hill Country to pray, to pray for healing,
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  Speaker 1: to pray for help, to pray for protection over our city,
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  Speaker 1: and to pray for the Lord's will to be done.
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  Speaker 1: You don't need to register if you'd like to come
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  Speaker 1: in person. In the past we've requested registrations, but we
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  Speaker 1: don't need that today. If you'd like to come to
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  Speaker 1: San Pedro Springs Park and use this beautiful Sunday afternoon
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  Speaker 1: as a time of prayer, we ask only that you
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  Speaker 1: come and don't bring any virus with you. If you
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  Speaker 1: have a virus, please stay home. You need to be
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  Speaker 1: at home and if your cautious are concerned as we
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  Speaker 1: all are. If you're concerned, you can participate online online
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  Speaker 1: by going to praysa dot org, praysa dot org or
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  Speaker 1: Maxlocato dot com. At three pm, we're looking at probably
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  Speaker 1: about a ninety minute prayer service.
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  Speaker 2: If you'd like to be a part of it.
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  Speaker 1: And now, Lord, we turn our hearts to you, asking
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  Speaker 1: for your presence, your power, your word, your strength to
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  Speaker 1: speak to us today in a world in which so
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  Speaker 1: many people are pummeled by the pandemic, by political sea sawing,
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  Speaker 1: by personal issues. We really need a word from you today,
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  Speaker 1: and we thank you that you promised to give it
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  Speaker 1: through Christ. We pray and all the Church said. In
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  Speaker 1: a nineteen sixty two episode of The Twilight Zone, the
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  Speaker 1: story tells of a narcissistic harsh Man. He hunkers and
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  Speaker 1: bunkers in the apartment, convinced that the whole world is
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  Speaker 1: one big conspiracy theory. He and only he perceives the
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  Speaker 1: world for what it is, and that is a planet
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  Speaker 1: inhabited by evil people. The episode begins, as each with
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  Speaker 1: an introduction to the Twilight Zone by does anybody remember
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  Speaker 1: Rod Serling? Boy? Some of you just showed your age
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  Speaker 1: Rod Serling. In fact, I saw that the Twilight Zone
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  Speaker 1: is one of the hottest shows on television right now.
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  Speaker 1: He introduces a self absorbed deman this way, that's Oliver Kringle,
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  Speaker 1: a dealer in petulance and poison, and he proceeds to
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  Speaker 1: talk about Kringle's metamorphosis from a twisted fanatic poisoned by
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  Speaker 1: the gangering of hate to the status of avenging angel,
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  Speaker 1: upright and omniscient dedicated in fearsome Kringle is a man
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  Speaker 1: of no empathy. He rages against people he's never met.
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  Speaker 1: He demands that their employees fire them. He calls upon
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  Speaker 1: law enforcement to arrest them. And Kringles were world only
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  Speaker 1: he is good. He sees nothing but good in himself,
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  Speaker 1: and he ascends the judicial brent bench of self righteousness
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  Speaker 1: and declares a guilty verdict on everyone else. He concocts
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  Speaker 1: a plan to purge the world of all unsavory folk,
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  Speaker 1: and he informs the FBI that at four pm that afternoon,
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  Speaker 1: the world's despicable and evil people will be a easy
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  Speaker 1: to identify because he is going to shrink them all
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  Speaker 1: to the height of two feet. As the faithful hour
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  Speaker 1: draws near, Kringle can partly contain his excitement. Justice will
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  Speaker 1: finally be served, evildoers will be disclosed, and he will
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  Speaker 1: be seen for the hero that he is. So at
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  Speaker 1: four pm he rushes to the window to look out
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  Speaker 1: and to see who has been reduced to size, But
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  Speaker 1: alas he's not able to look out the glass, he
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  Speaker 1: Kringle has been shrunk. He is two feet tall. You
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  Speaker 1: know a mister Kringle, have you ever cross trails with
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  Speaker 1: a small minded, self centered, despicable despot who demands that
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  Speaker 1: everybody else subject themselves to him. They have the audacity
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  Speaker 1: to think that they and they alone have the world understood. Consequently,
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  Speaker 1: they abuse, they bully, they scorn, they enslave, they even
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  Speaker 1: seek to exterminate. Haymon was a krangle, the villain of
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  Speaker 1: Esther's story, lived inside a one person world. Everyone else
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  Speaker 1: was called to bow down to him. When one of
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  Speaker 1: them didn't, a man by the name of Mordecai, Hayman
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  Speaker 1: declared his fate as well as the fate of his people,
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  Speaker 1: and that would be death. Yet his swagger was short lived.
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  Speaker 1: His reign of terror came to an end in the
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  Speaker 1: dining hall of King Xerxes. So the King and Hayman
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  Speaker 1: went to dine with Queen Esther, and as they were
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  Speaker 1: drinking wine on that second day, the king again asked
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  Speaker 1: Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given
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  Speaker 1: to you. What is your request? Even up to half
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  Speaker 1: of the kingdom. This is the second banquet, Feast number two,
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  Speaker 1: and so much has happened since Feast number one. We
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  Speaker 1: talked about it last week. Hayman plotted the death of
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  Speaker 1: Mordecai the Jew. The King Xerxes, however, chose to celebrate
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  Speaker 1: and honor the life of Mordecai the Jew. The king
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  Speaker 1: publicly applauded the man whom Hayman had sought to destroy.
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  Speaker 1: Hayman was so angry and upset that he nearly missed
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  Speaker 1: the party. Just like Banquet number one, the wine was abundant,
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  Speaker 1: food of plenty, and the festivity helped Hayman forget his
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  Speaker 1: miserable day. He was just about to pour himself another
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  Speaker 1: goblet of wine when the king asked the queen what
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  Speaker 1: she desired. You might recall he's asked this question twice,
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  Speaker 1: and both times she has deferred. But now the time
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  Speaker 1: was right. I'm thinking that her heart rate was at
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  Speaker 1: triple digits when she said, if I have found favor
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  Speaker 1: with you, your majesty, and if it pleases you, grant
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  Speaker 1: me my life. This is my petition, and spare my people.
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  Speaker 1: This is my request for I and my people have
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  Speaker 1: been sold to be destroyed, killed and annihilated. If we
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  Speaker 1: had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I
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  Speaker 1: would have kept quiet, because no such distress would justify
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  Speaker 1: disturbing the king. Now the important words are the small
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  Speaker 1: words in this text. The queen said, we have been
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  Speaker 1: sold I and my people to be destroyed, to be killed.
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  Speaker 1: If we only had been sold as slaves, I we
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  Speaker 1: Esther links her fate to the fate of her people. Remember,
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  Speaker 1: up until this point, Xerxes did not know that she
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  Speaker 1: was of Jewish heritage, and now she discloses that she
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  Speaker 1: is not Esther the Queen, but she is Esther the jew.
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  Speaker 1: Silence certainly fell on the room like a curtain. The
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  Speaker 1: King's head was surely spinning, struggling to connect the dots.
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  Speaker 2: You're a Jew.
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  Speaker 1: Somebody's plotting to kill you. Somebody's plotting to kill the Jews.
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  Speaker 1: He asks, who is he? Where is this man? Who
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  Speaker 1: is there to do such a thing? Here it comes, folks,
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  Speaker 1: Esther said, our enemy, and foe is this wicked Hayman.
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  Speaker 1: Then Hayman was filled with terror before the King and
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  Speaker 1: the queen. Hayman, all two feet of him, began to tremble.
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  Speaker 1: He had no recourse. Both his jaw and his goblet dropped.
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  Speaker 1: Xerxes stormed out of the room, lived the fuming, seething
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  Speaker 1: with rage. He was angry at Hayman for playing him
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  Speaker 1: The fool, angry at himself for being one. The blood
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  Speaker 1: drained from Hayman's face, and unless he acted quickly, it
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  Speaker 1: would soon drain from his body. He threw himself upon
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  Speaker 1: the mercy of Esther. Literally he fell onto her couch,
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  Speaker 1: begging her to help him. Exerxes re entered the room
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  Speaker 1: and saw Hamon groping in the direction of his queen,
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  Speaker 1: and that did it. Hayman, who wanted to kill a
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  Speaker 1: Jew for not falling down in his presence, was caught
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  Speaker 1: falling down before a Jew. Oh, the ironies continued. The
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  Speaker 1: guards took Hayman in custody. One of the officials looked
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  Speaker 1: out the window at the seventy five foot gallows that
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  Speaker 1: Hayman had constructed for Mordecai, and he said, well, if
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  Speaker 1: I may make a suggestion, your majesty, and he pointed
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  Speaker 1: toward the execution instrument. Xerxes gave the nod, and Hayman
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  Speaker 1: got the point. There's much more to be resolved in
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  Speaker 1: the story of Esther, namely a decree to exterminate all
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  Speaker 1: the Jewish people in Persia. But we're going to press
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  Speaker 1: the pause button right now and pick that part up
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  Speaker 1: next week because we need to make sure we make
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  Speaker 1: a very important point that appears throughout scripture, but clearly
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  Speaker 1: here in the Book of Esther, and that is our
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  Speaker 1: God is a good God, and the wicked will not win.
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  Speaker 1: The wicked will not win. We live in a day
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  Speaker 1: that even says there are no wicked people. Everything's relative,
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  Speaker 1: and tolerance is the virtue, and nobody's really wicked. Scriptures
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  Speaker 1: clear no, there are wicked people. There are wicked people.
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  Speaker 1: There are wicked people to tell God to leave them
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  Speaker 1: alone and disregard his teachings completely. And the teaching of
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  Speaker 1: scripture is the wicked will not win. Nothing escapes God.
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  Speaker 1: I wonder if you have time for another example. Now
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  Speaker 1: scroll back on your timeline one hundred and fifty years
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  Speaker 1: into the nation that preceded the Persians, the Babylonian Empire,
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  Speaker 1: and look at the story of Belshazar. He became king
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  Speaker 1: of Babylon in five thirty nine BC, again one hundred
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  Speaker 1: and fifty years before Xerxes. In a faithful feast, he
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  Speaker 1: invited about a thousand of his gentry to join him
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  Speaker 1: in his banquet hall that was reportedly one and six
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  Speaker 1: one thousand, six hundred and fifty feet wide and a
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  Speaker 1: mile long. Along the wall of this banquet room were
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  Speaker 1: pillars carved to look like elephants, some four hundred and
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  Speaker 1: fifty of them. There was music, there was dancing, and
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  Speaker 1: you guessed it, there was much wine. While bel Shazar
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  Speaker 1: was drinking wine, he gave orders to bring in the
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  Speaker 1: gold and silver goblets that Nebuka Neezer his father, had
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  Speaker 1: taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king
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  Speaker 1: and his nobles, his wives, and his concubines might drink
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  Speaker 1: from them. So they brought in the gold goblets that
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  Speaker 1: had been taken from the Temple of God in Jerusalem,
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  Speaker 1: and the king and his nobles, his wives, and his
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  Speaker 1: concubines drank from them. As they drank the wine, they
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  Speaker 1: praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron,
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  Speaker 1: wood and stone. So when Nebuca Neezer overthrew the city
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  Speaker 1: of Jerusalem and he destroyed the temple, he took all
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  Speaker 1: the artifacts and brought them home with him. All those
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  Speaker 1: artifacts from the temple, every utensil, the menora, the table
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  Speaker 1: of the showbread, every spoon, every fork, and yes, every cup,
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  Speaker 1: every cup, and these utensils, stayed in storage for fifty years,
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  Speaker 1: are going untouched until this party of bel Shazar, and
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  Speaker 1: he called for those cups that had been used in
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  Speaker 1: the temple holy utensils to be used in a pagan celebration,
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  Speaker 1: a drunk wine fest. Now why would he do this?
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  Speaker 1: Were they out of cups? Were they out of glasses?
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  Speaker 1: Did their dishwasher break? Did their kitchen staff go on strike? No,
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  Speaker 1: this is a targeted move on the part of bel Shazar.
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  Speaker 1: He wanted to blaspheme, the god of Israel. He wanted
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  Speaker 1: to make a mockery of Jehovah. So he used these
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  Speaker 1: holy utensils in a drunken pagan celebration. Friends, his irreverence
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  Speaker 1: did not go unnoticed. Out of the sleeve of the night,
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  Speaker 1: a mysterious hand came into view. Suddenly, the fingers of
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  Speaker 1: a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of
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  Speaker 1: the wall near the lamp stand in the Royal Palace.
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  Speaker 1: The king watched the hand as it wrote. His face
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  Speaker 1: turned pale. He was so frightened that his legs became
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  Speaker 1: weak and his knees were knocking. Can you envision this moment?
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  Speaker 1: A hand disattached from a body appeared out of thin air.
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  Speaker 1: It hovered in the glow of a lampstand and a finger.
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  Speaker 1: The finger of the hand began to carve a message
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  Speaker 1: into the plaster of the wall. Silence fell over the
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  Speaker 1: entire room, all thousand people, deathly silent. King bel Shazar
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  Speaker 1: shook so much that he fell down, and his proud
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  Speaker 1: sneer became a troubled frown. His boast became a whimper,
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  Speaker 1: and his heart pounded like a kettle drum. The people
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  Speaker 1: could not decipher the writing. Bel Shazar called for the
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  Speaker 1: astrologists and the diviners to come in interpret the message.
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  Speaker 1: He said, and I'll make you rich and powerful. None could.
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  Speaker 1: The wife of bel Shazar overheard the commotion and stepped
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  Speaker 1: into the banquet hall. When she saw the king, she said,
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  Speaker 1: don't be alarmed. Don't look so pale. There is a
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  Speaker 1: man in your kingdom who has the spirit of the
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  Speaker 1: Holy Gods in him. Called for Daniel, and he will
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  Speaker 1: tell you what this writing means. Daniel's an older man now,
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  Speaker 1: his hair of silver, his back is stooped. He spent
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  Speaker 1: his life in Babylon, but his mind and his faith
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  Speaker 1: are as keen as honed steel. Bel Shazar offered him
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  Speaker 1: money and power. He dismissed them both. He reminded bel
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  Speaker 1: Shasar how God had humbled and disciplined his father, Nebukanezar
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  Speaker 1: with a season of insanity. Bel Shasar, he says, should
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  Speaker 1: have been paying attention, but he wasn't. But you, bel Shazar,
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  Speaker 1: his son, have not humbled yourself. But you knew all this. Instead,
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  Speaker 1: you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven.
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  Speaker 1: That's the definition of wickedness, someone who sets themself up
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  Speaker 1: against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from
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  Speaker 1: his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles,
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  Speaker 1: and your wives and your concubines drank from them. You
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  Speaker 1: praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, ironwood
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  Speaker 1: and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But
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  Speaker 1: you did not honor the God who holds you in
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  Speaker 1: his hand, who holds in his hand your life and
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  Speaker 1: all your way. Therefore he sent the hand that wrote
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  Speaker 1: the inscription. This is the inscription that was written many many, Teckel, Parson,
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  Speaker 1: this is what these words mean. Many. God has numbered
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  Speaker 1: the days of your reign and brought it to an end. Tekel,
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  Speaker 1: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting Paris,
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  Speaker 1: your kingdom is divided and given to the Meads in
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  Speaker 1: the Persians. That very night, bel Shazar, king of the Babylonians,
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  Speaker 1: was slain, and Darius the Mead took over the kingdom
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  Speaker 1: at the age of sixty two. Precise at the precise
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  Speaker 1: moment that Daniel was speaking, the Meds and the Persians
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  Speaker 1: were creeping through the underground aqueducts, ready to take the city.
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  Speaker 1: Belshazar never saw it coming. The takeover was swift, total
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  Speaker 1: the mighty nation and a babylon collapse. Bel Shanzar was killed,
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  Speaker 1: and we are left with yet another sobering reminder, and
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  Speaker 1: that is our God is a just God. Our God
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  Speaker 1: is a just God. Now what are we to do
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  Speaker 1: with stories like these? What are we to do with
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  Speaker 1: stories in which an evil, antisemitic crangle of a man
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  Speaker 1: comes to an end, in which bel Shas are irreverent, disrespectful,
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  Speaker 1: who had a regard for nothing as being holy comes
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  Speaker 1: to an end? Where do we go with these stories?
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  Speaker 1: I think of two directions. Number one, for some of you,
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  Speaker 1: this is a word of caution. It's a word of caution,
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  Speaker 1: a reminder that God will render to each one according
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  Speaker 1: to his deeds. Do not think, my friend, do not
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  Speaker 1: think for a second that God will turn a blind
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  Speaker 1: eye to a life or acts of rebellion and deeds
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  Speaker 1: of malice. The scripture says, therefore, consider the goodness and
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  Speaker 1: severity of God. Goodness and severity. We love to consider
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  Speaker 1: the goodness of God. Do we not? How many songs
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  Speaker 1: have been written about the goodness of God? How many
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  Speaker 1: sermons have been preached about the mercy of God? How
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  Speaker 1: many books have been written about the grace and wonderful
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  Speaker 1: grace of God. And yet how many songs have been written.
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  Speaker 1: How many songs do we sing that acknowledge the day
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  Speaker 1: of reckoning that awaits all evil people? Not so many.
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  Speaker 1: Out of curiosity, I'll pulled the concordance down off my shelf,
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: looked up the word wrath of God, looked up the
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: word mercy of God, and just tallied up the number
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  Speaker 1: of references of each. Just to compare the number of
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  Speaker 1: references in the Bible to wrath of God one hundred
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  Speaker 1: and eight the number of references in the Bible to
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  Speaker 1: the mercy of God forty eight. It's good to talk
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  Speaker 1: about the goodness of God, and nobody wants to talk
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  Speaker 1: about the goodness of God more than your preacher today.
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  Speaker 1: But to discount the severity of God, the just nature
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  Speaker 1: of God. To present God as a teddy bear who
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  Speaker 1: is blind or ignorant or indulgent toward the wicked and
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  Speaker 1: the evil doer, is simply not a fair presentation the
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  Speaker 1: characteristic of our Holy God. Somebody needs to hear this today.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: Somebody is in a cycle of sin, and somebody has
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  Speaker 1: been led to believe that they can continue to do
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  Speaker 1: what they're doing and God doesn't see, and God doesn't care,
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  Speaker 1: and that there will be no punishment, and that there
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: will be no consequence. That's the culture we live in. Now,
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: do what you want, and as long as nobody gets hurt. Friend,
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: somebody's going to get hurt. There are consequences to our actions.
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  Speaker 1: God is gracious to those who trust him, but he's
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: dead serious about correcting those who rebel against him. Today's
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: adultery is tomorrow's divorce. Today's indulgence is tomorrow's addiction. Today's
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: laziness is tomorrow's poverty. Dismiss God in this life and
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: he'll dismiss you in the next. Spend a life telling
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: God to leave you alone, and on the day of judgment.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: He will do just that. Actions have consequences. Has this
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: pandemic had a negative effect on your life? Has it
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  Speaker 1: caused you to engage in some behavior that you know
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: is irreverent or rebellious against God? If so, the reason
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: God has you listening to this story is to tell
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: you He sees and you will not escape. Return, return
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: to your heavenly Father. For some of you, this is
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: a word of caution. For some of you, oddly, a
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: bit strangely, this is a word of comfort because you
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: have a Hayman in your life. You have a Hayman
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: in your life. He was the boss who demanded servitude.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: She was the teacher who played favorites. He was the
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: uncle who abused his niece, the husband who womanized his
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: way through marriages, including yours. The pastor who was more
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: arrogant than reverend, who used the pulpit as a way
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: to be seen, not as a way to serve. Haymans
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: snake their way into our worlds, and when they do,
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: victims feel their calendars flip to January, and they are
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: left in the chill of the consequence, searching for springtime,
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: wondering does God know what this Hayman is doing. Does
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: God care about my suffering? Will Hayman ever meet justice?
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: Or to borrow the words of the Psalmist? Oh Lord,
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: how long will you look on or Jeremiah who asked,
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: why does the way of the wicked prosper? Evil doers
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: get a free pass, do a pressor's walk free to
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: Haymans and hitlers and lynch mobs and porn peddlers get
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: away with murder. The resounding answer from scripture is no, No.
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  Speaker 1: The day is coming when God will forever balance the
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: scales of injustice. God has set a day. It is set.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: He has determined a day in which He will judge
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: the world. The laos who took advantage of you. God
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: knows the seductress who divided your home and wrecked your marriage.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: God knows the racist who raged, the misogynist who raped,
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: the bully who bullied. God knows about them all. God
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: is a just God, and God is angry with the
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: wicked every day. To be clear, friends, the door of
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: repentance is why right now for anybody, regardless of how
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: wicked they are. It is not his will that anyone perish,
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: but the fact that some will is simply a marker
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: of his justice. Satan knows this. I didn't tell Satan
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: anything new as he listened in to this sermon. The
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: demons are not saying, oh, I never knew that. They've
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: known it from the beginning, because they realized that the
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: real battle is against the devil in his forces. The
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: scripture says, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood,
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: darkness of this age, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: In the heavenly places, the devil placed the anti Semitic
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: hatred in Hayman, the irreverence in Belshazar. He is the
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: hitler behind the hitler, the pimp behind all pimps, and
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: the pillager behind all pillagers. But his days are numbered,
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: and he knows it. He knows. He's angry because his
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: days are short. He's angry because he knows that the
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: tables have been turned. Just as Hayman died on gallows
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: that he made for Mordecai, Satan was defeated on the
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: cross that he designed for Christ. God raised Christ from
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: the dead and seated him at the right hand in
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: the heavenly places. Far above all rule, authority, and power
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: and dominion. And after he did, he made it clear.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: God's plan was made known to the rulers and authorities
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: in the heavenly places. Everybody in the heavenly places saw it.
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: The devil saw it. And that is the very cross
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: that the devil had hoped would be the end of
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: Christ became the beginning of life for billions of people.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: Don't you know every time Satan hears us celebrate our
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: Christ who died on the cross, he kicks himself. Had
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: he known that an instrument of death would become life
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: for us, he never would have been a part of
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: the cross. Had Haman known that the gallows would serve
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: to bring his own life to an end, he never
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: would have created those gallows for Mornecai. But Satan, Haymon,
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: Belshazzar Krangle, they don't see it coming. It's hard to
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: see anything when you're two feet tall. Gracious Father, these
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: stories that you gave us today are they're sobering, they are,
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: but they're a reminder. They rightly just the lens of
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: our eyes so that we see what's happening. Father. We
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: pray for mercy for those who have turned from you.
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: Who have fallen into a state of wickedness, those who
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: worship Satan, those who worship alcohol, those who those who
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: indulge in every type of evil behavior. We beg o,
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: Heavenly Father, that you would please awaken them, even as
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: we pray. Names come to our minds of people that
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: we know.
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: Have mercy, Please and.
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: Have mercy upon us, that we might rightly divide the
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: word of truth and understand where you are taking civilization.
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: Thank you in Jesus' name. Amen, you know.
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: You don't have to stay close. As long as you're
• 32:38
  Speaker 3: somewhere out there. That's enough for me.
• 32:47
  Speaker 4: I don't need to hold you near me, don't need
• 32:51
  Speaker 4: promises to keep just the thought that you are breathing
• 32:56
  Speaker 4: somewhere in this world. Let's see, even if I'm not
• 33:02
  Speaker 4: beside you, even if you never know, there's a quiet
• 33:08
  Speaker 4: kind of comfort just.
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: In knowing you still glow.
• 33:15
  Speaker 3: I don't need forever, I just need you to exist.
• 33:26
  Speaker 5: You don't have to stay with me, You don't have
• 33:30
  Speaker 5: to feel the same just as long as you're still
• 33:35
  Speaker 5: out there, calling softly through mondays. You don't have to
• 33:40
  Speaker 5: look my way, you don't have to be in my home.
• 33:46
  Speaker 6: It's enough to know where you're living in the world.
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: I'm not alone.
• 33:56
  Speaker 4: I won't chase it through the distance.
• 33:59
  Speaker 6: I won't just he your chosen life.
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: I'll just keep you.
• 34:03
  Speaker 6: In my silence, like a star that shines at night.
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: Through the darkened, through the blue.
• 34:17
  Speaker 6: I still think of you.
• 34:21
  Speaker 3: You don't have.
• 34:22
  Speaker 6: To stay with me.
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: You don't have to feel the same.
• 34:28
  Speaker 6: Just as long as you're still out there, calling softly
• 34:33
  Speaker 6: through my days.
• 34:34
  Speaker 5: You don't have to look my way.
• 34:38
  Speaker 6: You don't have to be in my home. It's enough
• 34:42
  Speaker 6: to know you're living in a world. I'm not alone.
• 35:03
  Speaker 3: I don't need to be your late.
• 35:06
  Speaker 4: I don't need to cross your mind. All I need
• 35:10
  Speaker 4: is just the truth that you're somewhere, still alive.
• 35:18
  Speaker 5: You don't have to stay with me, You don't have
• 35:23
  Speaker 5: to feel the same. Just as long as you're still
• 35:28
  Speaker 5: after calling softly through my days.
• 35:32
  Speaker 6: You don't have to look my way. You don't have
• 35:36
  Speaker 6: to be my home. It's enough to know you're living.
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: In a world.
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: I'm not alone.