Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Jesus The Gift of God’s Love │ Msg 34

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Jesus The Gift of God’s Love │ Msg 34 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: We are thinking this Christmas season about the significance of
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Speaker 1: that one sentence Paul adds at the end of the
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Speaker 1: ninth chapter of 2 Corinthians, where he writes, thanks be
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Speaker 1: to God for his indescribable gift. He couldn't find a word,
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Speaker 1: so he simply chose words. a term found nowhere else
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Speaker 1: in all the scriptures translated in English, indescribable. The indescribable
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Speaker 1: gift of Jesus came to us through Mary at Bethlehem
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Speaker 1: and beyond that place to us as the Savior, the
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Speaker 1: Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.
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Speaker 1: We're thinking of four facets of this gift that God
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Speaker 1: gave to us during these four Sundays during the Christmas season.
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Speaker 1: God's gift of grace was the first. God's gift of
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Speaker 1: truth was the second. God's gift of love is our
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Speaker 1: thinking today And next Sunday, God's gift of hope, the
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Speaker 1: last Sunday of this year. So to prepare us for it,
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Speaker 1: I'd like you to look at the familiar words in
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Speaker 1: the third chapter of John. If you're not familiar with
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Speaker 1: your Bible, it is in the New Testament and the
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Speaker 1: fourth book called the fourth gospel. the book of good
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Speaker 1: news written by John. Interestingly, this gospel written much later
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Speaker 1: than the other three, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. This one
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Speaker 1: was not written until very near the end of the
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Speaker 1: first century when John was an old man and had
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Speaker 1: time to think about those years many years earlier when
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Speaker 1: he walked as one of the 12 disciples. In the
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Speaker 1: third chapter of John, we'll read the familiar story of
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Speaker 1: a dialogue Jesus had with a man who lived in
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Speaker 1: that day, not just any man, but a member of
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Speaker 1: the Sanhedrin, which would be like our Supreme Court justice.
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Speaker 1: He was one of the 70 members, and he came
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Speaker 1: at night. to talk with Jesus. John 3, once you
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Speaker 1: find your place, please stand for the reading of the scriptures.
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Speaker 1: I'm reading from the New Living Translation. There was a
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Speaker 1: man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee.
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Speaker 1: After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. Rabbi,
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Speaker 1: he said, we all know that God has sent you
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Speaker 1: to teach us your miraculous signs or evidence that God
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Speaker 1: is with you. Jesus replied, I tell you the truth,
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Speaker 1: unless you were born again, you cannot see the kingdom
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Speaker 1: of God. What do you mean? exclaimed Nicodemus. How can
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Speaker 1: an old man go back into his mother's womb and
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Speaker 1: be born again? Jesus replied, I assure you no one
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Speaker 1: can enter the kingdom of God without being born of
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Speaker 1: water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life,
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Speaker 1: but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So
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Speaker 1: don't be surprised when I say you must be born again.
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Speaker 1: The wind blows where it wants, just as you can
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Speaker 1: hear the wind, but can't tell where it comes from
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Speaker 1: or where it is going. So you can't explain how
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Speaker 1: people are born of the Spirit. How are these things possible?
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Speaker 1: Nicodemus asked. Jesus replied, you are literally, you are the
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Speaker 1: teacher in Israel, and yet you don't understand these things.
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Speaker 1: I assure you, we tell you what we know and
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Speaker 1: have seen, and yet you won't believe our testimony. But
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Speaker 1: if you don't believe me when I tell you about
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Speaker 1: earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell
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Speaker 1: you about heavenly things? No one has ever gone to
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Speaker 1: heaven and returned, but the Son of Man has come
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Speaker 1: down from heaven. And as Moses lifted up the bronze
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Speaker 1: snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son
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Speaker 1: of Man must be lifted up. So that everyone who
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Speaker 1: believes in him will have eternal life. For God loved
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Speaker 1: the world so much that he gave his one and
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Speaker 1: only son so that everyone who believes in him will
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Speaker 1: not perish but have eternal life. God sent his son
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Speaker 1: into the world not to judge the world but to
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Speaker 1: save the world through him. We welcome you to this
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Speaker 1: Christmas Eve service, realizing that some of you may not
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Speaker 1: regularly attend a church, but you've chosen today to do so.
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Speaker 1: We welcome you back. Regardless of your spiritual background or
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Speaker 1: lack of such, we want you to know that we
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Speaker 1: here believe In the Lord Jesus Christ, we believe he
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Speaker 1: alone is the source of eternal salvation, and it is
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Speaker 1: our privilege to offer him to all who will trust
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Speaker 1: in him, including you. We hope today you will do so.
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Speaker 1: If you have never before, please be seated. Before the
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Speaker 1: morning offering, will you bow with me for our brief
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Speaker 1: time of prayer? What a day this is, O Lord.
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Speaker 1: What a weekend. And what a day tomorrow will be
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Speaker 1: for many. Difficult for some, glorious for others, meaningful for all.
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Speaker 1: And we acknowledge, Lord, that without the Savior, it's just
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Speaker 1: another day, just another number of hours to be spent
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Speaker 1: doing something to get us into yet another day. But
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Speaker 1: we who know the Savior rejoice in this day, a
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Speaker 1: day we acknowledge as the time we celebrate the birth
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Speaker 1: of our Savior Jesus. Thank you, Father, for sending him
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Speaker 1: and for what prompted you to do so, your great
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Speaker 1: love for us. We today give you grateful thanks for
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Speaker 1: loving us, we who are so, in many ways, so unlovely,
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Speaker 1: so unattractive, so unappealing, And yet you find in us
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Speaker 1: a reason to give your son. We find in him
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Speaker 1: grace as we find in none other and truth as
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Speaker 1: we hear from none other. And today we exult in
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Speaker 1: the reality of the love he brings to us, which
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Speaker 1: we're able to share with one another. A love that
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Speaker 1: we find in in this extent, in no other. Thank
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Speaker 1: you for Jesus who loved us and gave himself for us.
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Speaker 1: Speak to us individually, though we are large in number.
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Speaker 1: Speak today as though we were the only one here,
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Speaker 1: understanding what you are saying and what it means to
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Speaker 1: us personally. May this holiday not pass Without our deepening
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Speaker 1: a relationship with you. Through your son Christ. Accept our
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Speaker 1: gifts which we give gratefully and generously. In the name
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Speaker 1: of the one we worship today, Jesus Christ. And everyone said, Amen.
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Speaker 1: It was an epic rivalry. And it happened in an
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Speaker 1: area that some called a college basketball mecca. In North Carolina,
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Speaker 1: three schools located fairly close to one another with basketball
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Speaker 1: teams coached by those who would become legends. Two of
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Speaker 1: them have passed. One lives on. still coaches. The late
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Speaker 1: Dean Smith was at that time coach of the University
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Speaker 1: of North Carolina Tar Heels. At the same time, not
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Speaker 1: far away at the North Carolina State Wolfpack, Jim Valvano
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Speaker 1: was the head coach. And of course, we cannot forget
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Speaker 1: since he is still coaching, Coach K, who coaches at
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Speaker 1: Duke University, Mike Krzyzewski, that's a mouthful, familiarly called Coach K,
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Speaker 1: and to this day known as that. The rivalry went
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Speaker 1: on for years, and they They swapped off winning national championships.
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Speaker 1: What an era it was. John Feinstein, interestingly, writes a
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Speaker 1: book of this era, which he called The Legends Club.
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Speaker 1: In the book, he tells the story of how cancer
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Speaker 1: finally brought the contest, this rivalry, to an end. Jim
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Speaker 1: Valvano writes, contracted this disease and it ultimately took him.
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Speaker 1: Eight weeks before Coach V passed, he delivered a speech
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Speaker 1: that had a major impact, not only in the sports world,
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Speaker 1: but around the world among those who love great speeches.
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Speaker 1: It has been heard, it's been told millions of times
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Speaker 1: And the one line that is remembered that came from
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Speaker 1: Valvano in the speech was this, take time every day
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Speaker 1: to laugh, to think, to cry. So meaningful was that
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Speaker 1: to Coach V and to his family and loved ones
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Speaker 1: that it found its way etched into granite on a
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Speaker 1: tombstone above his grave to this day. Take time every
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Speaker 1: day to laugh, to think, to cry. Without taking away
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Speaker 1: a thing from those three, I would add one more.
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Speaker 1: that we take time every day to say those three
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Speaker 1: all-important words to someone else, I love you. Take time
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Speaker 1: every day to laugh, to think, to cry, and to
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Speaker 1: say to at least one other person, I love you.
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Speaker 1: Even though people seem strong and secure in themselves, little
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Speaker 1: do we realize the emptiness in many a heart, many
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Speaker 1: a soul. You can't tell by looking, but it's there.
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Speaker 1: Moving from those coaches to another strong-willed and very well-known
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Speaker 1: individual now gone from us. I turned to one whose
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Speaker 1: face is, in his day, was as familiar as any
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Speaker 1: in our nation. He had distinguished himself with an Ivy
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Speaker 1: League law degree. He had served as an officer in
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Speaker 1: the United States Marine Corps. He had been engaged in
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Speaker 1: politics in a measure, so much so was he a
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Speaker 1: standout among his peers that President Richard Nixon chose him
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Speaker 1: to join his team. And Charles Colson became a member
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Speaker 1: of that unique band of individuals. Colson, respected by some,
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Speaker 1: feared by many, hated by most. ultimately was found to
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Speaker 1: be guilty of corruption, obstructing justice during the Watergate scandal.
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Speaker 1: Some of us are old enough to remember the details
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Speaker 1: of that. We listened to it on our radios, we
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Speaker 1: watched it with interest on our television, and we saw
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Speaker 1: those faces that we had seen before, actively involved in
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Speaker 1: the affairs of the Oval Office, now beginning to realize
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Speaker 1: as the shadow crossed their lives that they were facing
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Speaker 1: quite likely time in prison. Before the sentence was ultimately declared,
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Speaker 1: Chuck Colson, by now feeling the heavy hand of justice
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Speaker 1: upon him, began to acknowledge the emptiness in his own
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Speaker 1: life this man who was so distinguished in his world,
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Speaker 1: who had really, really reached the pinnacle of what would
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Speaker 1: be called success, but soon faced the fact that his
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Speaker 1: life would be reduced to numbers. Prisoner number 23226 at
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Speaker 1: Maxwell Federal Penitentiary in Alabama. But before that, he paid
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Speaker 1: a visit to his friend Tom Phillips. Tom knew Jesus
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Speaker 1: as Savior, and he realized Chuck didn't. Chuck didn't go
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Speaker 1: seeking that. He went simply to spend time with a friend,
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Speaker 1: to hear those words that everyone loves to hear, which
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Speaker 1: he heard. because Tom said to him, I love you.
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Speaker 1: Chuck had laughed much. He had thought deeply in life.
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Speaker 1: And now he would cry. Upon hearing those words and
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Speaker 1: began reading of the Savior that Tom Phillips embraced from
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Speaker 1: the writings of C.S. Lewis in a little book named
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Speaker 1: Mere Christianity, I'll let Chuck tell his story. I quote,
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Speaker 1: early that Friday morning while I sat alone staring at
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Speaker 1: the sea I loved, words I had not been certain
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Speaker 1: I could understand or say fell naturally from my lips.
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Speaker 1: Lord Jesus, I believe you. I accept you. Please come
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Speaker 1: into my life. I commit it to you. With these
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Speaker 1: few words that morning, Chuck continues, while the briny sea churned,
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Speaker 1: came a sureness of mind that matched the depth of
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Speaker 1: feeling in my heart. There came something, something more. strength
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Speaker 1: and serenity, a wonderful new assurance about life, a fresh
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Speaker 1: perception of myself and the world around me. In the process,
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Speaker 1: I felt old fears and tensions and animosities draining away.
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Speaker 1: I was coming alive to things I had never seen before,
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Speaker 1: as if God was filling the barren void I'm... for
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Speaker 1: so many months, filling it to its brim with a
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Speaker 1: whole new kind of awareness. No one back then would
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Speaker 1: have thought Chuck had such needs, because on the surface,
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Speaker 1: He was so competent, so successful, and I might add,
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Speaker 1: so selfish and self-serving. But he discovered that no love
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Speaker 1: affair would meet his need, no marriage would work, no
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Speaker 1: enviable career, no academic degree, no increased salary, no treasured possession,
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Speaker 1: only Jesus. And Chuck today, now gone from us, reaps
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Speaker 1: the benefit of his faith in Christ, which took place
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Speaker 1: before he spent his time in prison and then ultimately
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Speaker 1: began what came to be known as Prison Fellowship, a
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Speaker 1: ministry that reaches out to those behind bars who would
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Speaker 1: never otherwise know of Christ. Every Christmas, God announces to
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Speaker 1: every one of us the three words that are most
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Speaker 1: important to hear. He says to us, I love you.
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Speaker 1: I love you so much that I gave you my son.
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Speaker 1: And as you see my son and as you come
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Speaker 1: to terms with the things he can do for you
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Speaker 1: in your life, you realize there's so much more than
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Speaker 1: a baby in a feed trough in Bethlehem. What you
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Speaker 1: will find in him is the lamb of God who
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Speaker 1: takes away the sins of the world. When I thought
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Speaker 1: about the testimony of Chuck Colson, I immediately reflected on
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Speaker 1: another testimony from the first century. Recorded in the third
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Speaker 1: chapter of John. A man who lived when Jesus was
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Speaker 1: a man. And a man who had watched from a distance.
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Speaker 1: This man also had distinguished himself as a member of
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Speaker 1: the highest court in the land, well-educated, drawn by sheer
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Speaker 1: curiosity to this one who could do things that no
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Speaker 1: one else could do. In fact, according to John chapter 2,
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Speaker 1: there were miraculous signs that Jesus did in and around
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Speaker 1: Jerusalem and Many believed in him. We have to believe
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Speaker 1: that Nicodemus, the man we're referring to, watched them from
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Speaker 1: a distance. He must have, since he's getting up in years,
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Speaker 1: he must have stood back and wondered, could this possibly
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Speaker 1: be the one he claims to be? Surely not. Surely not. However,
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Speaker 1: the curiosity got the best of him and he decided
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Speaker 1: one evening to have an appointment with Jesus and to
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Speaker 1: spend time alone. He came at night so his colleagues,
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Speaker 1: other members of the court would not know that he
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Speaker 1: was interested since they were busy about their conspiracy of
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Speaker 1: getting him nailed to a cross, finding reason to condemn
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Speaker 1: him Old Nicodemus, he is getting up in years, and
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Speaker 1: so just to feel a little closer to him, let's
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Speaker 1: call him Nick. Old Nick decides that he can stay
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Speaker 1: at a distance only so long. So he makes an appointment,
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Speaker 1: and Jesus grants it, and the two of them are
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Speaker 1: alone one dark evening. And he looks directly in the
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Speaker 1: face of the one he has watched from a distance.
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Speaker 1: And he says to him, Rabbi, the word meaning teacher,
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Speaker 1: we all know that God sent you to teach us.
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Speaker 1: Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.
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Speaker 1: Some say it's only flattery. I would like to believe
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Speaker 1: there was some truth in that. I think the man
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Speaker 1: has been laughing with his colleagues in the court at
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Speaker 1: this so-called Messiah and the things he was saying and doing,
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Speaker 1: but he's done even more thinking deeply about how he
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Speaker 1: could perform these miracles, how he could change the weather pattern,
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Speaker 1: how he could calm the seas, how he could heal
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Speaker 1: the sick, how he could raise the dead. This is
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Speaker 1: one unique individual. Somehow God and you are on speaking terms,
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Speaker 1: and he's intrigued by that. So Nick and Jesus are
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Speaker 1: talking together, and he says to him, the evidence that
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Speaker 1: God is with you is obvious. He's waiting for an
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Speaker 1: answer that has to do with his opening line. He
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Speaker 1: doesn't get it. The thing I love about Jesus is
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Speaker 1: when he has an opportunity to address the real issues,
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Speaker 1: I would use the words, he goes for the jugular.
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Speaker 1: His answer is, you must be born again. Out of
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Speaker 1: the blue, Nick had gone to him talking about what
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Speaker 1: he had been seeing and the evidence of God's miraculous
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Speaker 1: power in his life. And he winds up hearing that
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Speaker 1: this really is about a need in your life, Nick,
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Speaker 1: and the need is a new birth. Now, don't sell
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Speaker 1: him short. Don't think he isn't a thinker He wouldn't
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Speaker 1: have the position he has if he weren't. But he's
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Speaker 1: stumped with that statement. We're familiar with it because we've
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Speaker 1: been raised reading John 3, but he's never heard words
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Speaker 1: like that in his life. So naturally he asks, what
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Speaker 1: do you mean? What do you mean I must be born...
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Speaker 1: How can an old man go back into his mother's
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Speaker 1: womb and be reborn? Impossible. Jesus doesn't flinch. He replies,
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Speaker 1: I assure you, John 3, verse 5. No one can
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Speaker 1: enter the kingdom of God without being born of water
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Speaker 1: and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but
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Speaker 1: the Spirit of God produces spiritual life. Don't be surprised
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Speaker 1: when I say you must be born again. So now
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Speaker 1: Nick is in deep. He's really, really curious, and he's
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Speaker 1: beginning to feel conviction because that's not been his experience.
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Speaker 1: He realizes that the meeting today is not about Jesus.
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Speaker 1: It's about him. Being intrigued, he has questions that lack answers.
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Speaker 1: And the main one is, how are these things possible?
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Speaker 1: Which he asks in verse 9. Jesus' response, I don't
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Speaker 1: want you to miss something important, is that you are
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Speaker 1: the teacher in Israel and you don't know this? Interesting,
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Speaker 1: the definite article is used by John as he 50
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Speaker 1: years after it happened, remembers the story as Jesus must
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Speaker 1: have told it. And he uses a word that highlights
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Speaker 1: the leader or the teacher. I take it that Nick
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Speaker 1: is the top teacher among the Sanhedrin, among the Pharisees.
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Speaker 1: When it came to serious issues, he would speak for
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Speaker 1: the nations. And he says to him, you mean you're
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Speaker 1: the teacher and you don't know this? You don't know
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Speaker 1: what I'm talking about? So Jesus realizes that he's dealing
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Speaker 1: with a man who is religious, but he's a Spiritually vacant.
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Speaker 1: There is no life. There's no spiritual life within him.
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Speaker 1: And so Jesus goes to an area where he is,
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Speaker 1: he's very capable. He knew his Old Testament. So Jesus
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Speaker 1: slips back to the story recorded in Numbers 21. where
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Speaker 1: the people of Israel have been complaining about how difficult
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Speaker 1: the journey is from Egypt to the promised land and
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Speaker 1: finally the Lord brings snakes to discipline them and they're
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Speaker 1: venomous and they're bitten by the snakes and many of
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Speaker 1: them begin to die. Moses prays for them and the
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Speaker 1: Lord hears and his heart goes out to the people,
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Speaker 1: love for them and The Lord says to Moses, build
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Speaker 1: a bronze serpent and put it on a pole and
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Speaker 1: hold it up. And whoever in the camp will look
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Speaker 1: at that serpent, that bronze symbol that you've carved and
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Speaker 1: put on the pole will be healed. He tells him
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Speaker 1: the story, and Nick knows that story. He's familiar with it,
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Speaker 1: but he doesn't know the analogies. So the Lord adds
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Speaker 1: to the story. As Moses, verse 14, lifted up the
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Speaker 1: bronze serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of
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Speaker 1: Man be lifted up. So that everyone who believes in
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Speaker 1: him will have eternal life. Nick remembered teaching on this
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Speaker 1: and the miraculous healing that came from God's love for
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Speaker 1: the people who had been so impatient. He doesn't say
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Speaker 1: anything more, but he's thinking. He's wondering about how this
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Speaker 1: relates to him. And then we get to that most
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Speaker 1: familiar verse in all the scriptures. Look at it again,
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Speaker 1: though you could quote it from memory. For God so
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Speaker 1: loved the world. Stop. If you were to read it
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Speaker 1: in the original text, as John wrote it, Those Greek
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Speaker 1: words do not begin with God. That comes a little later.
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Speaker 1: You know what the sentence begins with? So much. So
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Speaker 1: much does he love that is God, the world. Sounds
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Speaker 1: out of order, but it's out of order for the
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Speaker 1: sake of emphasis. It's about God's love. It's not about
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Speaker 1: a snake. It's not about venom. It isn't about so
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Speaker 1: much healing. It's about the love of God coming to
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Speaker 1: the rescue of of man and men and women and
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Speaker 1: their needs. And he says it's about God's love. That
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Speaker 1: beginning adverb emphasizes the degree or the extent of the
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Speaker 1: Father's love. So much does God love the world. You
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Speaker 1: know what I think at that moment? I think at
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Speaker 1: that moment, though I don't read of it, I think
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Speaker 1: He's touched to his heart, deep in his heart. I
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Speaker 1: wonder if he's swallowing some tears. When you realize that
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Speaker 1: another loves you that much and has done something for
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Speaker 1: you that will provide that great a benefit, it chokes
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Speaker 1: you up, as it did with Colson. When he realized
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Speaker 1: that though he didn't have much room in his life
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Speaker 1: for love for others, that he had been the object
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Speaker 1: of God's love all his life. And he had run
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Speaker 1: away long enough. We don't read any further word from
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Speaker 1: Nicodemus here. You don't read of him in chapter 4,
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Speaker 1: chapter 5, chapter 6. When you get to chapter 7, however,
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Speaker 1: he resurfaces. All this time, he's been with the cynical Pharisees,
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Speaker 1: listening to them talk about this phony Messiah with his
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Speaker 1: phony miracles and his false claims. He's listening, listening, knowing
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Speaker 1: something they don't know, and that's his private dialogue with Jesus.
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Speaker 1: And when you get to chapter seven, you discover Nick
35:32
Speaker 1: shows up again on the biblical page. Pick up the
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Speaker 1: story at verse 45. The pressure is intensifying on the
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Speaker 1: arrest of Jesus. When the temple guards returned without having
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Speaker 1: arrested Jesus, the leading priests and Pharisees demanded why didn't
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Speaker 1: you bring him in? Why didn't you arrest him? That's
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Speaker 1: why you were sent on that detail. And their answer is,
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Speaker 1: we've never heard anyone speak like this. The guards responded,
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Speaker 1: you wonder if Nick may have hidden a smile at
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Speaker 1: a moment. He understood what they'd been listening to. Now,
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Speaker 1: read on. Have you been led astray too? These other
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Speaker 1: Pharisees mocked. Here it is. Laughing at this preposterous thought.
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Speaker 1: Is there a single one of us rulers or Pharisees
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Speaker 1: who believes in him? Here stands his neck among the
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Speaker 1: group knowing he's far away from where they are at
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Speaker 1: this moment. He says this foolish crowd follows him, but
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Speaker 1: they're ignorant of the law. God's curse is on them.
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Speaker 1: Look at verse 50. Then Nick, the leader who had
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Speaker 1: met with Jesus earlier, spoke up. Watch closely. Here's what
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Speaker 1: he asks. Is it legal to convict a man before
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Speaker 1: he's given a hearing? You could just see the heads
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Speaker 1: turn toward Nick. In fact, you hear them. They reply,
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Speaker 1: are you from Galilee too? Search the scriptures and see
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Speaker 1: for yourself. No prophet ever comes from Galilee. Hey, you
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Speaker 1: know what? He'd been searching. He'd been finding evidence. Silently
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Speaker 1: and ever so carefully, he's been putting together the real
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Speaker 1: story of Jesus, different from all of the information that
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Speaker 1: is being fed by his fellow Pharisees. His cynicism is fading.
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Speaker 1: He's no longer laughing at the man. He's now thinking,
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Speaker 1: in fact, he comes full circle. If you know the story,
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Speaker 1: as most of you do, by the time you get
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Speaker 1: to John 19, they've not only arrested him, they've not
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Speaker 1: only tortured him, They've nailed him to a cross and
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Speaker 1: Jesus has now died hanging lifeless on the cross. One
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Speaker 1: man finds that his heart goes out to him. His
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Speaker 1: name is Joseph of Arimathea. I find him in verse
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Speaker 1: 38 of John 19 when you track the story you
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Speaker 1: see He surfaces here. Mark tells us that he is
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Speaker 1: an honored member of the council. So he's a fellow
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Speaker 1: member of the Sanhedrin. along with Nick. They know each other,
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Speaker 1: of course. And Joseph of Arimathea, who had been a
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Speaker 1: secret disciple of Jesus, because he feared the Jewish leaders,
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Speaker 1: asked Pilate for permission to take down Jesus' body. When
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Speaker 1: Pilate gave permission, Joseph came and took the body away.
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Speaker 1: With him came Nicodemus. Well, there he is. He's now
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Speaker 1: stepped out into the public eye. He's no longer hiding
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Speaker 1: the fact that he's a follower. In fact, he not
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Speaker 1: only steps alongside Joseph, to help with preparing the body
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Speaker 1: for the burial, we read that he brought about 75
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Speaker 1: pounds of perfumed ointment made from myrrh and aloes, those
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Speaker 1: gummy substances that would be used for the wrapping of
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Speaker 1: the body, like a mummy. as bodies were prepared for burial,
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Speaker 1: and these spices were tucked into the wrappings to hold
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Speaker 1: them tightly around the dead body of Jesus. So we
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Speaker 1: read in verse 40, following Jewish burial custom, they wrapped
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Speaker 1: Jesus' body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth.
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Speaker 1: Here's another way to look at all of that. And
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Speaker 1: I've been thinking on it for well over two weeks.
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Speaker 1: At Christmas time, God wrapped his gift in the form
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Speaker 1: of a baby and gave him to us. And there
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Speaker 1: he is in the feed trough at Bethlehem, And there
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Speaker 1: the shepherds come and worship him. Mary and her husband
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Speaker 1: stand alongside and of course all the while are embracing
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Speaker 1: the baby, seeing for the first time God in human flesh.
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Speaker 1: And as life goes on through the years, 30, 31, 32,
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Speaker 1: 33 years, he lives and becomes in the eyes of
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Speaker 1: the whole Believing world, the God-man, the Savior, who would
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Speaker 1: take away the sins of the world. And in order
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Speaker 1: to do that, he must die. And in dying, he
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Speaker 1: is saying he loves us. God proved his love to
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Speaker 1: us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
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Speaker 1: for us. And here is Nick. if you will, rewrapping
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Speaker 1: the gift. The precious body of the Savior. We're not
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Speaker 1: told what they said, but that takes time to prepare
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Speaker 1: a body for the grave site. You wonder, and I
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Speaker 1: would like to think that both of them had the
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Speaker 1: same things in common. since both of them were Pharisees,
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Speaker 1: both had laughed at cynics. Both had thought deeply, more
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Speaker 1: deeply than any of the others, about the facts that
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Speaker 1: the Savior had come. And he, in reality, is the
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Speaker 1: Son of God who has died. And now both, I think,
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Speaker 1: cry and say in the wrapping, Lord Jesus, I love you.
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Speaker 1: I love you. As they turn him over, rewrap, wrapping
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Speaker 1: all the way, and then the little handkerchief around the neck,
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Speaker 1: around the head, down to the neck, preparing it for
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Speaker 1: that burial. And then they took him to the gravesite,
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Speaker 1: and they laid Jesus there we know the rest of
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Speaker 1: the story which prompts all of us to rejoice every
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Speaker 1: Easter as we celebrate his resurrection from the grave as
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Speaker 1: he is miraculously and bodily raised from the dead but
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Speaker 1: Nick's gone through the whole process isn't that great we
44:39
Speaker 1: know nothing of what happened to him later Well, we
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Speaker 1: know nothing of the Pharisees turning him away or of
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Speaker 1: his being demoted from the role of Sanhedrin. If in
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Speaker 1: fact that occurred, probably did. But we do know this,
44:56
Speaker 1: he spent the rest of his life saying to the
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Speaker 1: Lord himself, I love you, I love you. Christmas is
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Speaker 1: only a few hours away from us. It'll be a
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Speaker 1: special day in many ways, different for each one hearing
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Speaker 1: me right now. It'll be a day of rejoicing, so
45:25
Speaker 1: let's be sure and laugh. Laugh loudly. Let your place
45:30
Speaker 1: be filled with joy and laugh often. What a day
45:37
Speaker 1: to celebrate, and laughter fits well. This Christmas Day, like
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Speaker 1: few others, it's a day of rejoicing. Christmas is also
45:50
Speaker 1: a day of reflecting when we will think. If you're
45:56
Speaker 1: like me, you will think about those who are no
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Speaker 1: longer here with whom we used to celebrate Christmas. Christmas,
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Speaker 1: psychologists tell us, is cyclical. The memories in it are
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Speaker 1: and we return to them and we remember those who
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Speaker 1: mean much to us and we will think deeply and privately.
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Speaker 1: Our own thoughts will take us there because it is
46:26
Speaker 1: a day of reflecting as well as rejoicing. In doing so,
46:32
Speaker 1: it will be a day of remembering and we will cry.
46:41
Speaker 1: gratefully and softly for the Lord's grace in getting us
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Speaker 1: past the difficult, dark days of the past and bringing
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Speaker 1: us to the day where we are now, rejoicing and
47:04
Speaker 1: reflecting and remembering. And since it's the day Our Lord
47:11
Speaker 1: entered our world the day that we celebrated Christmas. Let's
47:15
Speaker 1: also make it a day of repeating those three words.
47:21
Speaker 1: Let's do that with one another on Christmas Day. Those
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Speaker 1: in whose home you visit or who visit in your home,
47:34
Speaker 1: make certain before they're gone and you're now alone again,
47:40
Speaker 1: And you have used those words that we all need
47:44
Speaker 1: to hear. It'll be a day of repeating the words,
47:52
Speaker 1: I love you. It's been a long time since some
47:57
Speaker 1: of you Texans have used those words. Say them with me.
48:06
Speaker 1: I love you. Now that others of you have awakened,
48:11
Speaker 1: let's all say them together. Here we go. I love you.
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Speaker 1: Reach over next to you, and there's somebody, most likely,
48:25
Speaker 1: whom you know. Look at him. And if you don't
48:29
Speaker 1: know him, you're going to know him right now. Look
48:34
Speaker 1: him in the eye. Tell him that. Here we go.
48:38
Speaker 1: You're on. And I must tell you how much I
48:57
Speaker 1: love you. You really have no idea. In many ways,
49:07
Speaker 1: you're the joy of my life. When we gather like
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Speaker 1: this and you listen so well and you participate as
49:19
Speaker 1: you always do, do, I can't describe what that does
49:26
Speaker 1: to me. I would like to know that everyone who
49:33
Speaker 1: leaves this place understands how much God loves you. If
49:41
Speaker 1: it helps for you to remove the word world and
49:45
Speaker 1: put your name there, it's okay. God so loved you
49:52
Speaker 1: that he gave his one and only son. Bow with me,
50:00
Speaker 1: will you? Thank you, Father, for the joy For the
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Speaker 1: laughter we've engaged in it from the very beginning of
50:16
Speaker 1: our meeting today. We think you have laughed with us.
50:25
Speaker 1: This time together has been all about you. We've sung
50:29
Speaker 1: your songs. We played your music. Thank you for helping
50:37
Speaker 1: us think. Think deeply. think differently from the world around us,
50:47
Speaker 1: for giving us the courage to think beyond our peers
50:52
Speaker 1: and apart from the pressure of where we work or
50:57
Speaker 1: perhaps even where we live, since we're surrounded by those
51:02
Speaker 1: who do not believe. Thank you, Father, for giving us
51:08
Speaker 1: the ability to think deeply, And to cry. For moving
51:18
Speaker 1: within us in such a way that we're softened. Just
51:23
Speaker 1: as you softened hardened people in days past. You have
51:30
Speaker 1: softened us. And we're grateful. May the day tomorrow honor you.
51:38
Speaker 1: May we laugh, and think, and cry. And may it
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Speaker 1: not end before we have said to others, I love you.
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Speaker 1: We do love you, Lord, and we give you thanks
52:08
Speaker 1: for Jesus. In his name. We pray. Everyone sit. Amen.
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