Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / God Won't Leave You Alone- Minister Max Lucado

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God Won't Leave You Alone- Minister Max Lucado · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

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Speaker 1: Heavenly Father, Now have mercy upon us as we open
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Speaker 1: your word forgive our speaker. You know his sins are many.
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Speaker 1: Help us to see Christ, just Christ, to Christ. We pray,
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Speaker 1: and all the church said, Well, the phrase shelter in
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Speaker 1: place was not in our vocabulary a few months ago.
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Speaker 1: Now even our children know its meaning. Quarantine was, at
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Speaker 1: least in my vocabulary, an extreme measure to isolate a few.
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Speaker 1: Now I see it as an extreme measure to isolate us.
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Speaker 1: All self isolation, at least for me, conjured up images
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Speaker 1: of a a peaceful sabbatical.
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Speaker 2: Not anymore.
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Speaker 1: Those who self isolate have fevers and cough and the
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Speaker 1: possibility of a deadly disease. We used to wear masks,
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Speaker 1: I'm sorry. We used to shake hands, Now we wear masks.
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Speaker 1: We used to give hugs, Now we keep our distance.
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Speaker 1: We used to smile at the fellow shopper in the grocery.
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Speaker 1: I was in the grocery yesterday and people were walking
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Speaker 1: around me like I hadn't had a bath in six weeks.
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Speaker 1: We're avoiding each other, walking wide circles around a potential carrier. Now,
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Speaker 1: while the intended outcome is to keep us safe, a
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Speaker 1: certain byproduct is loneliness.
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Speaker 2: Loneliness.
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Speaker 1: It's as if we each live on an isolated island,
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Speaker 1: separated from others. We are alone. Do you know the feeling?
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Speaker 1: Are you acquainted with the downward spiral of isolation? Do
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Speaker 1: you feel that you're all by yourself? If you know
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Speaker 1: the feeling, you're not alone. I don't mean you're not
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Speaker 1: alone in knowing the feeling. I mean simply, you're not alone.
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Speaker 1: You may feel like you are, but you're not. That raw,
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Speaker 1: dark sense of isolation and powerlessness. It's not here to stay.
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Speaker 1: And your gracious, heavenly father has some words to talk
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Speaker 1: to you to help you step out of that lonely
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Speaker 1: spot of loneliness. It's a psalm, the twenty third psalm,
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Speaker 1: perhaps the best known psalm of all of the book.
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Speaker 1: In the Book of Psalms, King David wrote this a
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Speaker 1: former shepherd himself, he said, the Lord is my shepherd.
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Speaker 1: I shall not want. He makes me to lie down
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Speaker 1: in green pastures, and he leads me beside the still waters,
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Speaker 1: and he restores my soul. He leads me in paths
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Speaker 1: of righteousness for his namesake. And yea, though I walk
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Speaker 1: through the valley of the shadow of death, I will
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Speaker 1: fear no evil. Why, for you are with me. Your
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Speaker 1: rod and your staff they comfort me. You prepare a
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Speaker 1: table before me, and the presence of my enemies. You
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Speaker 1: anoint my head with oil, and my cup runs over.
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Speaker 1: And surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the
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Speaker 1: days of my life, and I will dwell in the
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Speaker 1: House of the Lord forever. This poem of worship is
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Speaker 1: easily divided into sixteen stanzas or phrases. And right at
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Speaker 1: the heart of the psalm is the heart of the psalm,
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Speaker 1: and that is the phrase, you are with me. You
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Speaker 1: are with me. Because you are with me, I'll fear
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Speaker 1: no evil. Because you are with me. I shall not
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Speaker 1: want Because you are with me. My soul is restored,
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Speaker 1: and my path is righteous. And I shall walk through
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Speaker 1: the valley of the shadow of death. But I won't
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Speaker 1: be afraid. Why because you are with me. You see,
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Speaker 1: the presence of God changes everything. Let's look for just
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Speaker 1: a moment at the pain of the lonely, the pain
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Speaker 1: of the lonely.
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Speaker 2: I have a friend.
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Speaker 1: Who worked his way through college at the University of
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Speaker 1: Texas by delivering goods to nursing homes from a pharmacy.
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Speaker 1: An additional task, however, was a trip he made right
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Speaker 1: next door. Every four days, he would shoulder a large
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Speaker 1: jug of water and carry it fifty or so feet
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Speaker 1: to a building that was behind the pharmacy. The customer
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Speaker 1: was an older woman, perhaps in her seventies, who lived
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Speaker 1: alone in a dark, sparse, tarnished appointment apartment. A single
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Speaker 1: light bulb hung from the ceiling in the living room.
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Speaker 1: The wallpaper was and it was peeling. The shades were
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Speaker 1: always drawn, the room was always shadowy, and Steve, my friend,
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Speaker 1: would deliver the jug and receive the payment, and thank
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Speaker 1: the woman and leave. Over the weeks, he grew puzzled
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Speaker 1: by her purchase. He came to learn that the woman
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Speaker 1: had no other source of water except what he brought her.
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Speaker 1: She would rely on his delivery for four days of washing, drinking, bathing.
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Speaker 1: Odd choice. Municipal water was cheaper. The city would have
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Speaker 1: charged her twelve to fifteen dollars a month, but her
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Speaker 1: bill at the pharmacy added up to fifty dollars a month,
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Speaker 1: and he wondered why didn't she choose the less expensive
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Speaker 1: source of water. The answer, he came to note, was
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Speaker 1: in the delivery system the city water costs less, but
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Speaker 1: the city said only water. They didn't send a human being.
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Speaker 1: She preferred to pay more and see a person, then
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Speaker 1: pay less and see no one. He was one of
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Speaker 1: the few people she saw all week long. Could anyone
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Speaker 1: be that lonely? By now you've learned that you don't
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Speaker 1: have to be alone to feel lonely. Two thousand years ago,
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Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty million people populated our planet. Today
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Speaker 1: there are more than five billion people. If loneliness could
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Speaker 1: be cured simply by the presence of people, there would
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Speaker 1: certainly be less loneliness. But loneliness lingers. I remember, very
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Speaker 1: early in my ministry, I offered what I thought was
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Speaker 1: an innocent Sunday morning prayer. I said, thank you Lord
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Speaker 1: for all our friends. We have so many friends, we
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Speaker 1: can't get with them all. Didn't think much about it.
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Speaker 1: After the service, a gentleman corrected me. In the church
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Speaker 1: for you, a very successful businessman said, you may have
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Speaker 1: so many friends you can't visit them all.
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Speaker 2: Not me. I don't have a single friend.
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Speaker 1: You see, a person can be surrounded by people, he
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Speaker 1: can even attend a church. He can even be very
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Speaker 1: successful and be very very lonely. Loneliness is not the
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Speaker 1: absence of faces. It is really the absence of intimacy.
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Speaker 1: It doesn't come from being alone. It comes from that
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Speaker 1: feeling of a loneeness, feeling as if you're facing death alone,
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Speaker 1: facing disease alone, facing the future alone. And whether it
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Speaker 1: strikes you in your bed at night, or your drive
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Speaker 1: to the hospital, in the silence of an empty house,
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Speaker 1: or even in the noise of a crowded bar, loneliness
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Speaker 1: is that moment in which you think, I'm all by myself.
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Speaker 1: It's just me and I ain't much. Does anyone care?
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Speaker 2: Boy?
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Speaker 1: Don't we need this message today? Even in the pre
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Speaker 1: pandemic era, we were a country marked by loneliness. Administrators
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Speaker 1: of one of the largest hospitals in America cite loneliness
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Speaker 1: as the major reason for overcrowded emergency rooms. The Parkland
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Speaker 1: Hospital of Dallas, Texas made this startling discovery as they
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Speaker 1: were looking for ways to unclog their system. They analyzed
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Speaker 1: data and compiled a list of high utilizers. They identified
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Speaker 1: eighty patients who went to four emergency rooms look at
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Speaker 1: this five one hundred and thirty nine times in a
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Speaker 1: twelve month period, costing the system fourteen million dollars. Once
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Speaker 1: they identified the name of these repeat visitors, they commissioned
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Speaker 1: teams to meet with them and determine the reason their conclusion. Loneliness. Loneliness, poverty,
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Speaker 1: and food shortage were contributing factors, but the number one
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Speaker 1: determinant was the sense of isolation. The er provided a
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Speaker 1: source of attention, kindness, friendship, and care, hence multiple return visits.
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Speaker 1: They all want to know someone cares, don't we all?
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Speaker 1: When life feels depleted, does anyone care? Most of all,
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Speaker 1: does God care when I hear him saying no? Does
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Speaker 1: he have a response when I'm facing an onslaught of challenges?
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Speaker 2: Will he help me?
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Speaker 1: When life grows dark and stormy? Does he notice? And
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Speaker 1: when I'm facing the fear of death or the uncertainty
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Speaker 1: of the future, will he help me? The resounding answer
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Speaker 1: and welcome answer of Psalm twenty three is yes. Can
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Speaker 1: you look at this God's promise to the lonely? This
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Speaker 1: could very well be the promise he wants you to
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Speaker 1: hear today. His promise to the lonely is what David
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Speaker 1: said to God. You are with me, You are with me, Yes, Lord,
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Speaker 1: You're in heaven. Yes, Lord, you rule the universe. Yes, Lord,
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Speaker 1: you sit on the stars and make your home in
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Speaker 1: the deep. Yes, yes, yes you are up there. But yes, yes, yes,
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Speaker 1: you are in here. You are with me. The Lord
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Speaker 1: is with me, The Creator is with me. Yahweh is
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Speaker 1: with me. Moses proclaimed it. He said, what a great
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Speaker 1: nation has a God as near to them as the Lord,
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Speaker 1: our God is near to us. Paul pronounced it. He said,
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Speaker 1: God is not far from each one of us. What
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Speaker 1: David discovered is the absolute truth of scripture, and that
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Speaker 1: is you are with me. I don't know where he
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Speaker 1: discovered it. Maybe in the wilderness when he was running
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Speaker 1: from Saul, maybe in the pasture when he was caring
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Speaker 1: for the sheep, maybe in the loneliness of leadership as
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Speaker 1: he was the King of Israel, or maybe even in
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Speaker 1: the redemption, the seeking of forgiveness after his sin with Bathsheba.
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Speaker 1: But at some point he was able to make that
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Speaker 1: declaration right at the heart of the psalm you are
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Speaker 1: with me. He discovered that God meant business when he
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Speaker 1: said what he said in the Book of Genesis, I
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Speaker 1: will not leave you, or First King six thirteen, I
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Speaker 1: will not forsake my people, or Psalm ninety four or fourteen.
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Speaker 1: The Lord will not abandon his people, or God will
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Speaker 1: never leave you or forsake you. Deuteronomy, chapter thirty one
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Speaker 1: and verse six. The discovery of David is indeed the
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Speaker 1: discovery of Scripture, and that is we are never alone,
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Speaker 1: never alone.
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Speaker 2: God is with us.
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Speaker 1: And since the Lord is near, that changes everything, changes everything.
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Speaker 1: You may be facing death, but you're not facing it alone.
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Speaker 1: The Lord is with you. You may be facing unemployment,
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Speaker 1: but you're not facing it alone.
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Speaker 2: The Lord is with you.
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Speaker 1: You may be facing marital struggles, but you're not facing
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Speaker 1: them alone.
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Speaker 2: The Lord is with you.
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Speaker 1: You may be facing death, but you're not facing dead alone.
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Speaker 1: The Lord is with you. Would you please underline those words?
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Speaker 1: Would you please carve them on the entryway to your house?
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Speaker 1: Would you please tattoo them on your part? The Lord
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Speaker 1: is with you. You are not alone. Yeah, your family
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Speaker 1: may turn against you, but God won't. Friends may betray you,
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Speaker 1: but God won't.
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Speaker 2: You may feel.
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Speaker 1: Alone in the wilderness, but you're not. He is with you,
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Speaker 1: and because he is, everything is different.
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Speaker 2: Hear this.
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Speaker 1: Because God is with you, he will change you're in
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Speaker 1: to a the He will change you from lonely.
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Speaker 2: To lovely.
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Speaker 1: You see, when you know God is with you, everything changes.
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Speaker 1: When you know God loves you, you won't be desperate
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Speaker 1: for the love of others. You'll no longer be a
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Speaker 1: hungry sharp shopper at the grocery store. When I went
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Speaker 1: to the grocery store yesterday, I texted Deanlan. I said,
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Speaker 1: is there anything you need me to get while I'm here?
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Speaker 1: I was just going to the pharmacy. She said, well,
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Speaker 1: we're all out of chips and we're all out of crackers.
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Speaker 1: Boy does she live to regret that mistake. You see,
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Speaker 1: I was hungry.
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Speaker 2: I was hungry.
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Speaker 1: It's not wise to go to a grocery store when
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Speaker 1: you're hungry. Every bag of chips looks good, every box
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Speaker 1: of crackers looks like a candidate. When I brought it home,
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Speaker 1: she said, I shouldn't send you to the grocery store.
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Speaker 1: I said, I just shouldn't go there when I'm hungry.
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Speaker 1: If you go to the grocery store on an empty stomach,
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Speaker 1: you're a sitting duck. You'll buy everything that you don't need.
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Speaker 1: Doesn't matter if it's good for you or not. All
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Speaker 1: you want to do is fill your tummy. Friend, when
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Speaker 1: you're lonely. When you're lonely, you'll do the same in life.
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Speaker 1: You'll do the same in life, pulling stuff off the shelf,
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Speaker 1: not because you need it, but because you're lonely, because
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Speaker 1: you're hungry for love. Why do we do it well?
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Speaker 1: We fear of facing life alone, for fear of not
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Speaker 1: fitting in what. We take drugs for fear of standing out.
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Speaker 1: We wear clothes that we don't like for fear of
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Speaker 1: appearing small. We go into debt and buy a house
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Speaker 1: that we don't need for fear of going unnoticed. We
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Speaker 1: dress to seduce or dress to impress. For fear of
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Speaker 1: sleeping alone. We sleep with anyone for fear of not
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Speaker 1: being loved. We search for love in all the wrong places.
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Speaker 1: That's what loneliness can do for you, if you're lonely,
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Speaker 1: If you're lonely, would you please today let God deal
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Speaker 1: with your loneliness. Hear the calming voice of your shepherd
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Speaker 1: as he says to you, this, this will not last forever,
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Speaker 1: its isolation. It's going to pass, this loneliness. It won't
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Speaker 1: be here but much longer. This feeling of looking around
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Speaker 1: seeing nobody or feeling like nobody's here. Listen, God, will
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Speaker 1: help you here on this earth. But I got to
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Speaker 1: tell you his ultimate answer to our loneliness is our
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Speaker 1: heavenly home. He's coming for us. He's coming for us.
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Speaker 1: Praise to his name. Years after David wrote these words,
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Speaker 1: another Bethlehem's shepherd would say these words that are so precious.
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Speaker 1: And Jesus said, there are many rooms in my father's house.
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Speaker 1: I would not tell you this if it were not true.
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Speaker 1: And I'm going there to prepare a place for you.
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Speaker 1: After I go and prepare a place for you, I
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Speaker 1: will come back take you to be with me, so
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Speaker 1: that you may be where I am. Thote the promise
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Speaker 1: of Jesus. I will come back. I will come back
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Speaker 1: and take you to be with me. He doesn't delegate
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Speaker 1: this task. He may send a missionary to teach you,
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Speaker 1: angels to protect you, teachers to guide you, singers to
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Speaker 1: inspire you, physicians to heal you, counselors to counsel you,
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Speaker 1: pastors to lead you. But he sends no one else
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Speaker 1: to take you. He has reserved this task for himself.
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Speaker 1: I will come back and take you home, my friend.
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Speaker 1: He is your personal shepherd. If you have said yes
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Speaker 1: to Jesus Christ as your savior. He has become the
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Speaker 1: shepherd of your soul. And at the right time, in
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Speaker 1: the right way, on the right day, he will come back.
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Speaker 1: He will come back. Do not think for a moment
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Speaker 1: that when you close your eyes to die, that you
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Speaker 1: will close your eyes to be alone. Your Lord Jesus
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Speaker 1: will meet you on this side of death, and he
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Speaker 1: will walk you through. He will come back. He is
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Speaker 1: personally responsible to lead you home. Once, when we moved
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Speaker 1: from one house to another, we promised our daughters a
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Speaker 1: big dog. We had a small, yippity yappity dog by
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Speaker 1: the name of Salty.
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Speaker 2: We all liked Salty, but little dogs aren't real dogs, right.
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Speaker 1: I wanted a big dog, you know, a big, lumbering dog,
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Speaker 1: and so did my daughter Sarah. She wanted a big dog,
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Speaker 1: and so we double teamed Denal and convinced her that
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Speaker 1: we should get a big dog. And I got online
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Speaker 1: and I found a woman in South Carolina who breeds
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Speaker 1: golden retrievers in a Christian environment. Must have been Lord's will, right,
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Speaker 1: I mean from birth. The dogs are surrounded by inspirational
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Speaker 1: music and prayers. They're even taught to tie with their
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Speaker 1: dog biscuits. I'm looking at an empty sanctuary. But you
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Speaker 1: would have laughed at that joke had you been here.
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Speaker 1: When the trainer told me that she had read my books,
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Speaker 1: I knew that this was the trainer for us. What
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Speaker 1: a woman. She's such good taste. Surely she has to
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Speaker 1: be a good breeder. Right, So we ordered a pop
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Speaker 1: Maybe you remember me talking about her, Mollie. We mailed
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Speaker 1: the check, we selected the name, and we cleared a
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Speaker 1: corner for her dog, Pillow. Now the dog had not
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Speaker 1: even been born, and she was already named, claimed and
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Speaker 1: given a place in the house. Can the same not
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Speaker 1: be said about you? Long before your first whimper? Your
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Speaker 1: master claimed you, and he named you, and he hung
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Speaker 1: a reserved sign on your room. You and Mollie have
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Speaker 1: more in common than odor and eating habits. You're both
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Speaker 1: being groomed for a trip. We prefer the maturation and
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Speaker 1: sanctification to weaning and training, but it's all the same.
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Speaker 1: We're all being prepared for a place in our master's house.
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Speaker 1: You see, Heaven is a perfect place for those who
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Speaker 1: have been made perfect by Jesus Christ, and all these
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Speaker 1: challenges that we face in our lives are part of
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Speaker 1: his sanctification. He is preparing us. He is using us.
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Speaker 1: He is preparing us for his prepared place, and he
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Speaker 1: is using us to get the word out to others
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Speaker 1: about this prepared place. He's going to come and get us, folks,
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Speaker 1: He's going to come and get us. But until then,
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Speaker 1: we're just in training. We're in training. We're learning to
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Speaker 1: lean on him, learning to lean into him, learning to
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Speaker 1: trust him. That's why there are, in times of such
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Speaker 1: intense struggle as these days, it is more important than ever,
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Speaker 1: more important than ever, that we turn to him. We
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Speaker 1: keep our open and our knees bent, and our eyes heavenward,
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Speaker 1: that we do whatever it takes to stay close to
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Speaker 1: our master. We don't know the day he's coming. I
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Speaker 1: sometimes wonder if it doesn't seem like he's coming any
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Speaker 1: minute now. But I don't know. I don't know his
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Speaker 1: departure date. But I do know that he's just waiting.
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Speaker 1: He's just waiting for that moment that the heavenly Father
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Speaker 1: turns to the shepherd and says, now, go get them,
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Speaker 1: Go fetch them, go save them, go rapture them, Go
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Speaker 1: call them into their eternal home. You can bet your
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Speaker 1: sweet puppy chow that you're going to be seeing your
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Speaker 1: Maker someday. This is, by the way, the concluding promise
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Speaker 1: of David. We're not concluding the study of the twenty
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Speaker 1: third song, but this is the final scripture of the
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Speaker 1: twenty third Psalm. And I will dwell in the House
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Speaker 1: of the Lord forever forever. How could he face the
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Speaker 1: challenges of life? He knew he was going to face
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Speaker 1: the challenges. He was going to spend his forever life
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Speaker 1: facing his Master in the home of his Maker forever. Now,
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Speaker 1: you see, folks, this house that we're in.
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Speaker 2: This is not our forever house. It's not.
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Speaker 1: That's why we feel so lonely here. That's why even
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Speaker 1: on good days, in good times, we have this gnawing
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Speaker 1: sense that we were not made for this place, this here,
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Speaker 1: this life on this earth, this houth house. And let
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Speaker 1: me tell you what it is. It's short term housing.
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Speaker 1: It's a hotel room on your way home. It's not
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Speaker 1: you were not made to live here. The scripture tells
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Speaker 1: us that our homeland is where it's in heaven. I
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Speaker 1: know your passport says you're a citizen of the United States,
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Speaker 1: or a citizen of Mexico, or a citizen of Canada. Yeah,
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Speaker 1: I know.
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Speaker 2: I know.
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Speaker 1: But if you're in Christ, you're a citizen of Heaven.
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Speaker 1: That's your true home. That's why we're so lonely, that's
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Speaker 1: why we're homesick. That's why really this loneliness and this
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Speaker 1: homesickness will be lifted once and for all when we're home.
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Speaker 1: When we're home, and oh, what a moment that's going
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Speaker 1: to be, Mollie could tell you all about it. Yeah, Mollie. Finally,
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Speaker 1: if we got her to our house a month into
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Speaker 1: her house life in our new house, she ran away.
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Speaker 2: She ran away.
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Speaker 1: I came home one night found the house unusually quiet.
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Speaker 1: Everybody was sad and concerned. Mollie was gone. She had
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Speaker 1: slipped out unnoticed. Well, the search began immediately. Within an
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Speaker 1: hour we knew she must She was far far from home. Now,
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Speaker 1: if you don't like pets, what I'm about to say
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Speaker 1: is going to sound strange. If you do like pets,
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Speaker 1: you're going to understand. You're going to understand why I
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Speaker 1: walked up and down the street calling her name. You're
22:54
Speaker 1: going to understand why I drove around the neighborhood at
22:57
Speaker 1: ten thirty pm. You're going to understand why put up
23:00
Speaker 1: a poster in the convenience store and convened the family
23:04
Speaker 1: for prayer.
23:04
Speaker 2: Honestly, I did.
23:07
Speaker 1: You'll understand why I sent emails to the staff asking
23:10
Speaker 1: for prayers. Why I emailed the breeder asking if she
23:13
Speaker 1: had any advice. You'll understand. While we were ready to
23:16
Speaker 1: toss the confetti and throw a party.
23:19
Speaker 2: When she showed up, she did. Here's what happened.
23:23
Speaker 1: The next morning, Delon was on her way home from
23:25
Speaker 1: taking the girls to school.
23:26
Speaker 2: This is some years ago, but she.
23:29
Speaker 1: Was on her way home when she saw the trash
23:31
Speaker 1: truck and she pulled over lord the window and said, hey,
23:35
Speaker 1: could you keep an eye out for a little puppy
23:38
Speaker 1: golden retriever.
23:40
Speaker 2: They said they would.
23:41
Speaker 1: She hurried home to host a a mom's prayer group.
23:45
Speaker 1: Soon after the ladies arrived, the trash truck pulled into
23:48
Speaker 1: our driveway.
23:50
Speaker 2: A worker.
23:52
Speaker 1: Walked up the walked up the driveway and he had
23:56
Speaker 1: in his arms guests who yep, little Mollie. Mollie had
24:00
Speaker 1: been found. And when Delon called to tell me the news,
24:04
Speaker 1: I could hardly hear her voice. I mean, it was
24:08
Speaker 1: Marty Gras in our kitchen. Everybody was so excited. They
24:11
Speaker 1: were all celebrating the return of Mollie. Now that story
24:16
Speaker 1: pops with symbolism, the Master leaving his house, searching for
24:20
Speaker 1: the lost victories in the midst of prayer, great things
24:23
Speaker 1: coming out of trash, But most of all, the celebration
24:28
Speaker 1: of coming home. You know, that's something else you have
24:32
Speaker 1: in common with Mollie. You're going to have a party
24:36
Speaker 1: at your homecoming. Those who love you are going to shout. Now,
24:41
Speaker 1: those who know you will applaud, But all the noise
24:45
Speaker 1: will cease when your Master sees you, and when he
24:49
Speaker 1: cups your chin and lifts your eyes to look into his,
24:55
Speaker 1: and he says, welcome home. We have a place prepared
25:01
Speaker 1: just for you. And with scarred hands he'll wipe away
25:04
Speaker 1: every tear from your eye, and you will dwell in
25:08
Speaker 1: the house of the Lord forever, My friend. Would you
25:13
Speaker 1: set your heart on your forever home. May He give
25:18
Speaker 1: you strength while we're here on earth. May He keep
25:21
Speaker 1: you faithful, May you find joy. But may you never
25:24
Speaker 1: feel at home here, because you're not at home here.
25:28
Speaker 1: And the ultimate mistake is to feel at home too soon,
25:32
Speaker 1: because this is not your home. But your home is
25:35
Speaker 1: soon coming. It is soon coming. And for those of
25:39
Speaker 1: you who have said yes to Jesus Christ as your
25:42
Speaker 1: personal savior and shepherd. You can take great hope in that.
25:46
Speaker 1: You can take great hope in that. And for those
25:49
Speaker 1: of you who, for whatever reason, have not, my question
25:53
Speaker 1: to you is simply, why not?
25:56
Speaker 2: Why not?
25:57
Speaker 1: Why don't you just say yes to him? Why say
26:00
Speaker 1: yes to him? He is the perfect savior, but he's
26:04
Speaker 1: also a perfect gentleman, and he doesn't force his way
26:07
Speaker 1: into anyone's life.
26:10
Speaker 2: Once you invite him, he'll.
26:11
Speaker 1: Come in and he'll do everything, change everything, make you
26:15
Speaker 1: a better person, prepare you for your eternal home. But
26:18
Speaker 1: that only happens upon invitation. Behold us stand at the
26:22
Speaker 1: door and knock, he said, I stand at the door
26:25
Speaker 1: and knock. Do you hear him knocking on the door
26:28
Speaker 1: of your heart? Open the door, Let him come in.
26:31
Speaker 1: Let him come in and sit at the table and
26:34
Speaker 1: eat with you. Receive your shepherd today. Let me lead
26:38
Speaker 1: us all in a prayer. But for those of you
26:40
Speaker 1: who are saying yes to Jesus for the very first time,
26:42
Speaker 1: this prayers especially for you, Lord Jesus, we thank you,
26:49
Speaker 1: and we receive you, Father, We receive you as our shepherd.
26:54
Speaker 1: We thank you, Father for the gift of loneliness because
26:57
Speaker 1: it reminds us that we're not home. We thank you
27:01
Speaker 1: for the gift of your son, Heavenly Father, our shepherd,
27:07
Speaker 1: and his guarantee that we will be at home with
27:10
Speaker 1: you forever during these difficult days, Heavenly Father, would you
27:15
Speaker 1: please reach out and call in a whole oop expansion
27:21
Speaker 1: to your flock. Would you please reach out and call
27:24
Speaker 1: those who have always turned away from you, And would you,
27:27
Speaker 1: right now, Heavenly Father, call them home, call them by
27:31
Speaker 1: the dozens, by the hundreds, by the thousands.
27:34
Speaker 2: Dear Father, Yes, please.
27:39
Speaker 1: And thank you Lord, for these who have said yes
27:41
Speaker 1: to You for the first time today, to Christ. We
27:44
Speaker 1: pray if you said yes to Christ for the first
27:47
Speaker 1: time today, let us know. Let us know so we
27:50
Speaker 1: can encourage you, so we can be there with you,
27:53
Speaker 1: so we can help you understand the Bible, so we
27:56
Speaker 1: can see your participate in your baptism, and where you
28:00
Speaker 1: can belong to this church. God bless you, and we're
28:04
Speaker 1: looking forward to seeing you soon.
28:28
Speaker 3: That's who is endless, so wide, so far, But somehow.
28:39
Speaker 4: I'm still lost in you. The streets are.
28:58
Speaker 3: Full of moving shadows, countless place as I could go,
29:05
Speaker 3: city shining people passing.
29:08
Speaker 4: Yeah, I still feel so lone. Every old keeps leading nowhere.
29:15
Speaker 4: Every sky feels cold and blue.
29:19
Speaker 3: In this world so fast and open, I'm still lost
29:23
Speaker 3: in missing you.
29:27
Speaker 5: The world is wise, so wid before me, but I
29:36
Speaker 5: keep blues in.
29:38
Speaker 3: My way.
29:41
Speaker 4: Somewhere is this us?
29:49
Speaker 5: Your memory makes mistake the worlds without us, but my
30:04
Speaker 5: heart remains unshrue. For no matter where these feet may.
30:14
Speaker 4: Wonder, I'm still lost in seeing you.
30:24
Speaker 3: I have tried to outgrown silence, try to leave your
30:29
Speaker 3: ghost behind, but your name still echo.
30:33
Speaker 4: Softly through the corners of my mind.
30:39
Speaker 5: The world is wide so.
30:44
Speaker 4: Before me, but I keep loves.
30:50
Speaker 5: In my way somewhere in.
30:58
Speaker 4: Less test us.
31:01
Speaker 5: Your man movie makes me stay.
31:08
Speaker 4: The world who.
31:12
Speaker 5: Without us, but my heart remain is untrue formal matter
31:23
Speaker 5: where these people may wonder.
31:29
Speaker 4: I'm still lost in the same. Maybe someday stop.
31:39
Speaker 5: Searching for your face in every crowd, But until that day,
31:45
Speaker 5: this broken heart will keep.
31:48
Speaker 4: Calling your name out. The world is why so why
31:56
Speaker 4: before me? But I keep losing my way.
32:06
Speaker 5: Somewhere in.
32:10
Speaker 4: Less distance.
32:13
Speaker 5: Your memory thanks me stand.
32:20
Speaker 4: The world moves.
32:24
Speaker 5: Without us, but my heart remains some intrue.
32:34
Speaker 4: Do No matter where these feet may you wonder I'm
32:42
Speaker 4: still lost in missing you.