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Resuming Life After a Captivity with Pastor Rick Warren · Voice of Rick warren

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Hello, Saddleback. I have missed you so much. Have I
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: told you lately that I love you? You know, today
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: is the day we've all been looking forward to, we've
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  Speaker 1: been praying for, we've been waiting to happen for over
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  Speaker 1: a year. And today is the first time since the
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  Speaker 1: pandemic that almost all of our Saddleback Church family on
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  Speaker 1: four different continents is able to meet for public worship,
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  Speaker 1: with the exception of Berlin, Germany, and with Santa Rosa
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  Speaker 1: in the Philippines. But I do want to say hello
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  Speaker 1: to every campus of our church family, because this is
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  Speaker 1: a historic day. So, hello, Anaheim. Hello, Berlin. Hola, Buenos
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  Speaker 1: Aires y Saddleback en Español. I say hello, Corona. Hello,
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  Speaker 1: Dana Point. Saiga Ho, Hong Kong. Hello, Irvine North, Irvine South,
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  Speaker 1: Irvine Chinese. Hello, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest, Los Angeles, Newport Mesa. Hello,
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  Speaker 1: Rancho Capistrano. Kamusta, Santa Rosa, Philippines. And hello, San Clemente,
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  Speaker 1: San Diego, South Bay, Yorba Linda. And hello to all
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  Speaker 1: of you who are members of our online congregation. Now,
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  Speaker 1: you know, after an entire year There are so many
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  Speaker 1: personal things that I'd like to tell you, but I
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  Speaker 1: wouldn't have time to teach God's word if I told
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  Speaker 1: you everything that's on my heart. But let me just
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  Speaker 1: say this. First, I have missed you. I have missed
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  Speaker 1: you so, so much, but I've never stopped praying for
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  Speaker 1: you all year. I pray for you all the time. Second,
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  Speaker 1: I am so proud of you. I really am. And
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  Speaker 1: I'm so grateful for all of you and how you
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  Speaker 1: responded to the challenges of this past year with grace
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  Speaker 1: and with spiritual maturity. You know, the core of Saddleback
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  Speaker 1: Church is healthy. The core is strong. The core is growing.
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  Speaker 1: And that's why in spite of the pandemic restrictions that
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  Speaker 1: we all went through this last year, 2020 had to
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  Speaker 1: be our most effective year in reaching people for Jesus
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  Speaker 1: Christ in 41 years. In fact, over 20,000 people have
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  Speaker 1: come to Christ through Saddleback Church during the pandemic. And
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  Speaker 1: we welcome all you new brothers and sisters into our family. Now,
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  Speaker 1: if this was a normal Palm Sunday, I would be
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  Speaker 1: teaching a message about Palm Sunday. But since this is
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  Speaker 1: our first day of gathering back together in over a year,
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  Speaker 1: I want to share a very special message about how
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  Speaker 1: to reenter the world as this pandemic subsides. You know,
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  Speaker 1: you cannot read this book through the Bible without noticing
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  Speaker 1: the concept of captivity. The concept of captivity is a
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  Speaker 1: major theme of the Old Testament. Now, of course, the
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  Speaker 1: people of Israel spent 400 years in captivity in Egypt,
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  Speaker 1: and then later they spent 70 more years in captivity
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  Speaker 1: in Babylon. And the words captivity and the words captives
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  Speaker 1: are used over 400 times in the Bible. Now, I
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  Speaker 1: wanted to understand this concept of captivity better this week,
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  Speaker 1: so I started by looking up a definition of the word.
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  Speaker 1: You know, we talk about animals living in captivity or
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  Speaker 1: being kept in captivity when they're in a zoo. What
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  Speaker 1: is captivity? Well, I put a definition on your outline.
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  Speaker 1: Captivity is the condition of having your freedom limited, having
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  Speaker 1: your freedom limited involuntarily. Captivity is being confined or trapped
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  Speaker 1: or restricted or controlled against your will. Now, does that
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  Speaker 1: sound vaguely familiar to you about this last year? The
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  Speaker 1: opposite of captivity is emancipation, freedom, independence, liberty, and choice. Now,
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  Speaker 1: using that definition, we could say that this past year,
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  Speaker 1: the COVID-19 global pandemic was a year of captivity for
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  Speaker 1: all of us because our freedom was limited, our choices
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  Speaker 1: have been restricted, our lifestyles have been confined, our behavior
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  Speaker 1: has been controlled, and in some ways, we have felt
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  Speaker 1: trapped sometimes by this pandemic. But now, It seems like
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  Speaker 1: things are turning around. We're seeing the light at the
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  Speaker 1: end of the tunnel. It seems that we may be
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  Speaker 1: moving into a less restricted time. Slowly, our freedoms and
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  Speaker 1: our choices are being restored. But in a world that
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  Speaker 1: we're returning to, we're gonna find a lot of differences.
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  Speaker 1: that it's very different than it was a year ago.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, I would compare reentering the world after this
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  Speaker 1: pandemic to how a military serviceman or service woman feels
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  Speaker 1: when they return from deployment in a war overseas. In
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  Speaker 1: other words, when they come back home, they know they're
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  Speaker 1: coming home, but things have changed. And during their time
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  Speaker 1: in battle, they changed too. So there's often some difficulty
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  Speaker 1: in reentering and readjusting to normal life because guess what?
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  Speaker 1: Normal changed. Now, I am certain that in this next year,
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  Speaker 1: tens of millions of people around the world are going
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  Speaker 1: to feel that way in 2021 as we resume life
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  Speaker 1: after the pandemic. Because things are never going back to
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  Speaker 1: the way they were exactly before the pandemic. The world
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  Speaker 1: has changed. And you have changed. And the church has changed.
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  Speaker 1: And we all have to make some adjustments in many,
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  Speaker 1: many ways. This past year was really one long trauma.
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  Speaker 1: And if you know anything about trauma, you know that
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  Speaker 1: trauma changes you. You're not the same person after a
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  Speaker 1: trauma that you were before. So as your pastor and
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  Speaker 1: as your spiritual coach, I want to help you make
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  Speaker 1: the adjustments that you're going to need to make this
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  Speaker 1: year so that you can resume life successfully as best
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  Speaker 1: as you can with God's help. That's what we're going
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  Speaker 1: to look at for the next couple of weeks. How
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  Speaker 1: do we reenter life after the pandemic? In many ways,
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  Speaker 1: God is giving us an opportunity to reset our lives
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  Speaker 1: after this pandemic. And instead of just returning to the
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  Speaker 1: same old, same old, old patterns, old behaviors and old
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  Speaker 1: habits and hurts and hangups, God is giving us a
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  Speaker 1: moment where we can build a better life. Build a
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  Speaker 1: better you. Build healthier lives. And that's why I decided
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  Speaker 1: to resume our public worship services with a series called
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  Speaker 1: Building a Better Life. Now, fortunately, the Bible gives us
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  Speaker 1: a lot of encouragement and actually a lot of advice
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  Speaker 1: on how to do what to do in a time
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  Speaker 1: when all of the choices start coming back at us,
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  Speaker 1: when all of a sudden we're not as restricted in
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  Speaker 1: our freedom. Now, the Old Testament, in the Old Testament,
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  Speaker 1: there are five books of encouragement that were written to
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  Speaker 1: God's people to encourage them and to tell them what
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  Speaker 1: to do when they were finally released from 70 years
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  Speaker 1: of captivity in Babylon. These are called the post exile books.
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  Speaker 1: And these post captivity books, are the ones we're gonna
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  Speaker 1: look at for the next couple of weeks. They are
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  Speaker 1: the book of Ezra, who was a priest, Nehemiah, who
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  Speaker 1: was a civic leader and a builder, and then we
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  Speaker 1: have Haggai and Zechariah and Malachi, who were prophets of God.
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  Speaker 1: And we're gonna look in the next few weeks at
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  Speaker 1: each of these five books together to find encouraging principles
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  Speaker 1: that God gave to his people through these five men
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  Speaker 1: and taught them how to build a better, stronger life
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  Speaker 1: after experiencing trauma and captivity and crisis. Now, you don't
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  Speaker 1: want to miss any part of this series because it'll
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  Speaker 1: save you from a lot of unnecessary mistakes. What I
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  Speaker 1: want to do today is introduce you to seven, seven
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  Speaker 1: principles on how to reenter the world as Christians, the
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  Speaker 1: COVID captivity comes to an end as it starts winding down.
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  Speaker 1: And I wanna share with you how to build an
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  Speaker 1: even better life with this opportunity to do life as
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  Speaker 1: God is giving you an opportunity to do a reset.
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  Speaker 1: So we're gonna look at these principles and other principles
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  Speaker 1: in detail in the days ahead. But I just want
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  Speaker 1: today give you a quick overview. Now we find the
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  Speaker 1: first principle of resuming life in the book of Ezra. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: here's the first principle. You might write this down. Expect
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  Speaker 1: to feel mixed emotions. Expect to feel mixed emotions. Now,
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  Speaker 1: let me give you the background. on this. Okay. When
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  Speaker 1: people were allowed to return to Jerusalem after 70 years
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  Speaker 1: of captivity in Babylon, they found that their homes and
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  Speaker 1: the city of Jerusalem and the temple, their house of
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  Speaker 1: worship were completely destroyed. Everything was in ruins. So the
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  Speaker 1: first thing they did was they started to rebuild the
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  Speaker 1: house of worship. They started by laying a new foundation
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  Speaker 1: for a new temple, a new house of worship, the
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  Speaker 1: very first thing they did. And that brought everybody a
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  Speaker 1: lot of great joy, but it also brought some grief
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  Speaker 1: and some sadness to those who remembered what worship had
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  Speaker 1: been like in the old temple, okay? Because things are
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  Speaker 1: different now. And while they're rebuilding the temple, they're going
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  Speaker 1: to have to meet outside. Which, by the way, while
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  Speaker 1: we are meeting outside, we are remodeling the Lake Forest
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  Speaker 1: Worship Center. It actually looks like this. Ezra chapter 3,
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  Speaker 1: verses 3 to 13, says this. all who had returned
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  Speaker 1: from captivity, talking about in Babylon, began to work on
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  Speaker 1: rebuilding the temple of God. And when the builders finished
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  Speaker 1: laying the foundation, everyone sang with thanksgiving to God. And
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  Speaker 1: they shouted, praise the Lord. The foundation of the temple
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  Speaker 1: has been laid. But, it says, many of the older people,
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  Speaker 1: including the priests and the family leaders who had seen
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  Speaker 1: and remembered the first temple, Wept with sadness when they
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  Speaker 1: saw the new foundation. Evidently, it wasn't as big. But
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  Speaker 1: because everyone made so much noise that they could be
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  Speaker 1: heard far away, no one could tell the difference between
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  Speaker 1: the joyful shouting and the sad crying. And it was
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  Speaker 1: all mingled together. okay? See what's going on here? When
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  Speaker 1: they have the reunion, they finally get back together in
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  Speaker 1: Jerusalem for their first worship service, and they're laying the
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  Speaker 1: foundation of the temple. There were mixed emotions. Don't be
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  Speaker 1: surprised if you feel mixed emotions and even conflicting emotions
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  Speaker 1: as you reenter life after this pandemic. And as we
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  Speaker 1: begin public worship services again, you know, we're having to
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  Speaker 1: spread chairs out. We're having to wear masks. You know,
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  Speaker 1: things are different right now. We're easing into this. But,
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  Speaker 1: you know, you can feel joy that we're finally back together,
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  Speaker 1: but you can also feel the sadness at the same
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  Speaker 1: time for all the things that were lost this past
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  Speaker 1: year and for how things are going to be different post-pandemic.
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  Speaker 1: I wanna say to you, if you have mixed emotions,
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  Speaker 1: conflicting emotions about reentering after a pandemic, welcome to the
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  Speaker 1: human race. This is 100% normal. It is possible to
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  Speaker 1: have conflicting emotions at the exact same time, especially after
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  Speaker 1: a trauma or after a major loss. You remember that
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  Speaker 1: I told you last year when this pandemic started that
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  Speaker 1: I predicted there would be a tsunami of grief This year, 2021,
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  Speaker 1: all around the world. Because as people have their fears
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  Speaker 1: go down and they realize what they lost in the
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  Speaker 1: past year, there's going to be a tsunami of grief.
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  Speaker 1: You know, here in America, families are grieving the loss
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  Speaker 1: of over half a million family members who died from COVID-19.
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  Speaker 1: Over half a million Americans died And their family members
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  Speaker 1: are still grieving those losses. But even those of us
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  Speaker 1: who have never been touched by the virus itself, you've
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  Speaker 1: had losses. There have been lost jobs, lost graduations, missed celebrations,
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  Speaker 1: missed family events like weddings. And as I said, graduations
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  Speaker 1: and the births of babies. And many of you had
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  Speaker 1: loved ones die, not from COVID, but you couldn't travel
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  Speaker 1: to their funeral to be there for that. Now, the
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  Speaker 1: Bible tells us to weep with those who weep and
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  Speaker 1: to rejoice with those who rejoice. So I want to
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  Speaker 1: encourage you. Step number one is be empathetic with other
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  Speaker 1: people's mixed emotions in the days ahead. You need to
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  Speaker 1: give yourself grace for the mixed emotions that you feel and,
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  Speaker 1: you know, give it to others too. You've had a
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  Speaker 1: full year. Think about this. You've had a full year
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  Speaker 1: to get used to new patterns of living, new behaviors,
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  Speaker 1: new habits. And now, guess what? Things are gonna radically
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  Speaker 1: change again. So expect to have mixed emotions. Congratulations, you're normal. Now,
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  Speaker 1: that's the principle we get from Ezra. There was both
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  Speaker 1: weeping and rejoicing when they finally got back together for worship. Now,
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  Speaker 1: here's the second principle that God wants you to practice
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  Speaker 1: in this new time. Number two, extract love. The lessons
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  Speaker 1: you learned. Extract the lessons that I learned in this
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  Speaker 1: past year of restrictions. As restrictions are eased and opportunities
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  Speaker 1: are opened up around you, before you rush off and
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  Speaker 1: start a bunch of new things, here's what God wants
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  Speaker 1: you to do. He wants you to pause for a
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  Speaker 1: moment and he wants you to consider the lessons that
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  Speaker 1: you learned in the last year. Before you start rushing
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  Speaker 1: off to resume life in every way, write down the
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  Speaker 1: lessons that you learned in the last year of the
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  Speaker 1: pandemic so you don't forget them. Write them down so
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  Speaker 1: you don't forget them. Write them down so you can
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  Speaker 1: review them. Write them down so you can share them
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  Speaker 1: with other generations. Don't let this last year be wasted.
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  Speaker 1: You went through all that pain. Make sure you take
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  Speaker 1: the time to glean some spiritual truths from what you
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  Speaker 1: learned and what you experienced this past year. St. Paul
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  Speaker 1: tells us this in Galatians chapter 3, verses 4. He says,
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  Speaker 1: you have experienced many things. Were all those experiences wasted?
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  Speaker 1: I hope not. I hope not. And I want to
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  Speaker 1: say that as your pastor. I hope you actually learned
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  Speaker 1: something out of this last year. Otherwise, last year was
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  Speaker 1: a total waste. Now, if you can't identify, if you
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  Speaker 1: can't write down some lessons that you learned this past
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  Speaker 1: year in all the trauma we went through, then guess what?
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  Speaker 1: That entire year was wasted. It had no value to you.
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  Speaker 1: You know, the message translation of Galatians chapter 3 says this,
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  Speaker 1: Galatians 3, 4. Did you go through this whole painful
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  Speaker 1: learning process for nothing? Good question. It is not yet
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  Speaker 1: a total loss, but it certainly will be if you
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  Speaker 1: keep this up. In other words, you don't learn anything
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  Speaker 1: from it. So as your pastor, as your spiritual coach,
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  Speaker 1: here's your homework assignment for this week. I've listed on
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  Speaker 1: your outline some starter questions for you to consider thinking
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  Speaker 1: through the life lessons you learned in the last year
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  Speaker 1: while all this pandemic was going on. And what I
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  Speaker 1: want you to do is this week, get alone by
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  Speaker 1: yourself in a quiet place, a quiet space where you're
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  Speaker 1: not bothered. And sometime this week, sit down and ask yourself,
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  Speaker 1: what did I learn in this past year? Then write
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  Speaker 1: down your answers, okay? In fact, you might want to
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  Speaker 1: start a life journal. Okay, this would be a good
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  Speaker 1: time to start a life journal for the rest of
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  Speaker 1: your life. And page number one, the first page could
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  Speaker 1: be the life lessons I learned during the pandemic. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: now life journal is not a diary. Dear diary, here's
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  Speaker 1: what I did today. I'm not interested in what you
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  Speaker 1: did and you won't be either. But what you are
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  Speaker 1: interested in, what did I learn? What I learned. And
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  Speaker 1: here's some questions. Ask these questions. What have I learned
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  Speaker 1: about what matters most? Good question. What did I learn
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  Speaker 1: about what matters most this last year? What did I
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  Speaker 1: learn about what doesn't matter? What have I learned about
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  Speaker 1: my weaknesses? What have I learned about my strengths? What
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  Speaker 1: have I learned about my relationships this last year? What
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  Speaker 1: have I learned about my pace of living, my pace
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  Speaker 1: in life? What have I learned this year about God?
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  Speaker 1: What did I learn this last year about the world
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  Speaker 1: and the culture around me? The places that I live?
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  Speaker 1: What did I learn about using my time? These are
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  Speaker 1: some questions you can ask yourself. What did I learn
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  Speaker 1: about money? What did I learn about happiness? So number one,
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  Speaker 1: expect to have mixed emotions as you reenter, happy and
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  Speaker 1: sad and all over the place. Number two, Pause before
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  Speaker 1: you get really involved and write down the lessons so
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  Speaker 1: you don't waste what happened this last year. Here's the
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  Speaker 1: third principle that we learn from these five books that
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  Speaker 1: are about encouragement after the exile, okay? Resuming life after captivity,
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  Speaker 1: we now get to a prophet named Haggai, okay? And
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  Speaker 1: he wrote to encourage people, too, as they were trying
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  Speaker 1: to resume normal life after being in captivity for a period.
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  Speaker 1: Here's the third thing. Evaluate everything before resuming it. All right,
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  Speaker 1: this is gonna be really important for you to do
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  Speaker 1: for your future. Evaluate everything, reevaluate everything you do before
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  Speaker 1: you automatically resume it. Don't just automatically say, well, I'm
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  Speaker 1: gonna go back and start doing everything I did before
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  Speaker 1: the pandemic. Because there was some stuff you were doing
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  Speaker 1: before the pandemic and it's likely that some of those
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  Speaker 1: activities you shouldn't restart. And what's happening right now is
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  Speaker 1: God is giving you an opportunity to reset your entire life.
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  Speaker 1: Now's the time to do it, to reset your entire life.
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  Speaker 1: He's giving you the opportunity to establish new habits and
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  Speaker 1: patterns and to go back and automatically start things that
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  Speaker 1: you've always done is dumb. And there are actually some
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  Speaker 1: things you've always wanted to start doing, but you didn't
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  Speaker 1: have time for them because you were doing other things.
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  Speaker 1: And there are things that God wants you to stop
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  Speaker 1: doing because they were harmful to you. So as I said,
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  Speaker 1: God is giving you an amazing opportunity to reset your life.
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  Speaker 1: That's what this series is all about. And build a
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  Speaker 1: better life, a better you for the rest of your life.
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  Speaker 1: But that begins with evaluating and analyzing and examining God.
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  Speaker 1: what you were doing before the pandemic and then deciding,
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  Speaker 1: do I want to keep doing that? Or do I
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  Speaker 1: want to restart that? Or do I? No, no, I don't.
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  Speaker 1: I didn't. I don't miss it. Now, here's what God
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  Speaker 1: said in this third principle through the prophet Haggai. Haggai
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  Speaker 1: chapter one, verses seven and eight. He says this. This
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  Speaker 1: is what the Lord Almighty wants you to do. He's
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  Speaker 1: talking to people who've come out of captivity. This is
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  Speaker 1: what the Lord Almighty wants you to do. Take a good,
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  Speaker 1: hard look at your life. Think it over, he says.
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  Speaker 1: You've spent a lot of money, but you haven't much
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  Speaker 1: to show for it. You keep filling your plates, but
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  Speaker 1: you never get filled up. You keep drinking, but you're
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  Speaker 1: always thirsty. You put on layers of clothes, but you
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  Speaker 1: can't get warm. What's he talking about here? unfulfillment, the
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  Speaker 1: sense of frustration. He goes, you're frustrated because all your
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  Speaker 1: needs aren't being met. You're not getting what you want
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  Speaker 1: out of life. He says, you earn wages only to
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  Speaker 1: put them in a purse with holes in it. Okay.
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  Speaker 1: He says, okay, I know, God says, I know you're frustrated.
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  Speaker 1: You've been frustrated by this last year. And then he
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: says this, so give serious thought to your ways. Now,
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: this is great advice from Haggai. But actually, Haggai is
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: speaking for God. And God is telling you to do this.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: And to not do it would be disobedient. So one
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: of the principles in getting set up for your future,
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: building a better you on this time to reset your life,
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: God says you need to admit your frustrations and You
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: need to admit your lack of fulfillment. I keep eating,
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: but I'm not satisfied. I keep drinking, but I'm still thirsty.
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: These are metaphors for dissatisfaction. He says, just admit it
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: and ask yourself, why am I so unfulfilled? And if
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: what I was doing before the pandemic was so unfulfilling,
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: why in the world should I start it up again?
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: Just because I got the freedom to do it. Just
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: because I can do it doesn't mean I should do it.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: Do I just want to restart the rat race? No. Now, again,
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: let me give you a homework assignment, okay? We're getting
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: started here. Instead of making a to-do list this week,
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: I want you to make a don't-do list, okay? Don't
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: make a to-do list this week. Make a don't-do list.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: What are some of the things that I used to
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: do that I'm not going to restart post-pandemic, post-COVID? examine
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: your life, evaluate it before you automatically resume anything. Socrates
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: is famous for saying the unexamined life is not worth living.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: Now that's not Socrates, our worship leader. That's the Socrates, the,
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: you know, the poet and the philosopher. Before you get
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: in a hurry to restart something that you used to
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: do before the pandemic, make sure you get all the
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: facts first. The wisest man who ever lived, his name
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: was Solomon. once said this, Proverbs 19, verse 2. Zeal
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: without knowledge is not a good thing. And a person
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: who moves too quickly may go the wrong way. Now,
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: what's he talking about here? He's saying zeal is not
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: a good thing if it doesn't have knowledge. What's zeal?
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: Zeal is enthusiasm. Zeal is passion. Zeal is excitement. Zeal
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: is love. excitement. He says, before you get all excited
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: about all the restored freedom, yeah, we're not restricted anymore.
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: I can go out and do things. Some of the
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: things you're doing, you shouldn't do. He's saying some things
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: are not necessarily wrong. They're just not necessary. So he says,
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: evaluate everything before resuming it. This is your chance again
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: for a reset. Now, this leads me to the fourth principle.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: I'm giving seven of them today that are just kind
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: of setting the course for where we're going, building a
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: better you. Here's number four. These post-exile prophets say this,
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: engage slowly. Don't get in a hurry. Go slow. Don't
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: be in a rush to restart everything all at once
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: just because you have the freedom to do it. Let
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: me just tell you something you may not realize. You
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: don't have the same energy level that you did before
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: this pandemic. You say, how do you know that? Because
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: you've been in a trauma for a year and trauma
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: drains you. And like lights attached to a battery, the
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: more lights you attach to it, the quicker it drains.
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: You have every day this trauma has gone on, you've
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: been being drained. You don't have the same energy level
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: you did before. So be kind to yourself, be kind
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: to others and go slow. Don't try to start everything
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: all at once. Now we all know we've all been eager.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: We've all been in a hurry for this pandemic to
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: be over and we've all felt a little impatient, but
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: God knows what he's doing and his timing is perfect.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: And you know what? God is never in a hurry.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: We have not a single example of scripture where God
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: is in a hurry. We don't have any example of
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: Jesus running anywhere. One time his best friend Lazarus was
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: dying who was only half a day away and it
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: took Jesus three days to get there. Why? God had
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: a better plan. He was gonna resurrect Lazarus, not just
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: heal him. So I'm sure they're thinking, why is it
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: taking him three days to get half a day's walk?
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: Because God's timing is perfect. God wants you to trust him.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: You know, the people who are in a hurry to
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: get everything to go back to the way they imagined
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: that it was in the past, the prophet Habakkuk had
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: a word for them. And let me show you that verse.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: Habakkuk chapter two, verse three. God says this, at the
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: appointed time, at the appointed time that I have decided
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: everything I've planned will happen. Okay. So God not only
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: has a plan, but he has a timetable. And God
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: says this, you can trust what I say about the future,
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: but he says it won't happen all at once. If
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: you're taking notes, circle, star, underline, point an arrow to that.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: You can trust what God says about the future, but
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: he says it won't happen all at once. God is
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: not in a hurry. It says it may seem like
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: it's taking a long time, but be patient and keep
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: waiting because the vision will surely, that means certainly, happen. Now,
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: This might be a verse that you want to write
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: out and put on a card and post it on
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: your refrigerator as a reminder to be patient and to
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: engage slowly. As we move back into a post COVID world,
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: don't try to do it all at once. Don't get
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: in a hurry. Go slow on your re-entry into the world.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: You don't have the same energy level you did before. Now,
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: You know, this is such a common problem that God
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: reminded his people of this principle, going slow, and the principle,
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: I call it the principle of pacing, many, many different
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: times in Scripture. In fact, hundreds of years earlier, before
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: this 70-year period of captivity, the Israelites were getting ready
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: to possess the promised land after they'd been in captivity
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: for 400 years in Egypt. And they're getting ready to
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: go in, and God warned them that the possession of
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: the land was not going to be instant and that
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: their progress would be gradual. Did you hear this? Progress
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: is always gradual, and it will be measured, and progress
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: would be incremental, not instant. There is no switch we
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: can flip where everything's going to just change and immediately
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: go back to the way it was before the pandemic.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: There is no such switch, and on top of that,
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: some things you can't go back to. But God has
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: a plan, and part of that plan includes a slower
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: timetable than you want. and that everybody else wants. Let
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: me read you the verse. Exodus 23, 29 and 30.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: God told this to the Israelites. He said this. They're
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: coming out of the captivity of Egypt, and they're getting
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: ready to go on the promised land. And God says this.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to get rid of all your enemies
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: in a single year. You hear that? All your problems
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: aren't going to be gone in a single year because
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: the land would then be deserted forever. and unmanaged, and
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: wild animals would multiply quickly beyond your control. So God says, instead,
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: I'm going to drive out the enemy, all these problems
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: that are in the land. It's promised land. I'm going
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: to give you the whole land. But instead, I'm going
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: to drive them out slowly, little by little. That's pacing growth,
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: little by little, until you have grown strong enough to
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: take full possession of the land. Now, I want you
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: to notice in that verse that I just read that
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: God's slower timetable is always for our benefit. You're in
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: a hurry. God is not. God says, I'm not going
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: to get rid of this problem instantly. Instead, I'm going
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: to remove it gradually so that you can grow strong enough, notice,
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: to take full possession of all the blessings that I
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: want to give you. Now you might write that one down.
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: In fact, write this down. God's sovereign plan. In God's
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: sovereign plan, delays are always for our benefit. Write that down.
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: In God's sovereign plan for your life, delays are always
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: for your benefit. So go slow. Pacing growth. Don't try,
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: Rome isn't built in a day. Don't try to just
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: flip a switch and say, we're going to go back
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: to the way it was. Now we've only covered four
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: of these seven principles that we learned from God's word.
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: in resuming life after a trauma or a crisis or
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: a period of captivity. But I decided to interrupt my
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: own sermon and stop right here and divide this message
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: into two parts. And the reason I decided to do
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: this is for a couple reasons. First, at many of
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: our campuses today, we're supposed to have very hot weather.
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: And since we're all in meeting outside right now and
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: most of our campuses don't have any shade, I am
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: very sensitive to your discomfort. So that's the first reason.
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: But second reason is that I've already given you two
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: homework assignments to apply what you've learned so far in
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: this message this week. And I gave you those from
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: the second and third principle. And I don't wanna overload
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: you in your first week back. So instead, I'm gonna
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: share the other three principles. resuming life after a trauma
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: or a crisis or a period of captivity, I'll share
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: that part two after Easter. So let me wrap it
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: up real quickly with a review. First, God wants you
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: to realize that having mixed emotions after all of the
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: changes this past year is normal and it's natural and
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: it's human and it is to be expected. So Be
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: kind to yourself and be kind to everybody else. You're
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: gonna have often conflicting emotions as you reenter because so
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: many things have changed. Second, God wants you to pause
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: right now. Pause this week and take the time to
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: think through and write down the lessons that you learned
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: this past year. during the pandemic, okay? Before you get
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: all involved in everything else, you wanna be able to
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: remember those lessons so you don't have to learn them again.
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: And you wanna be able to pass them on to others,
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: including future generations. The third thing we said is that
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: God wants you to evaluate everything before you resume it.
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: as you move back into the world. And there are
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: probably some things that you don't need to resume. And
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: I'm going to explain a little bit more about that
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: in part two of this message. Finally, in the point
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: I just shared, fourth, God wants you to re-engage slowly.
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: So don't be in a hurry. to restart everything suddenly
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: all at once. It's not flipping a switch. It's more
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: like a dimmer turning up. And all the things that
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: you were doing before the pandemic hit, you don't need
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: to start them all back up immediately. In fact, realize
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: that coming out of a very stressful and traumatic year,
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: you don't have the same level of energy. As I said,
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: you don't have that same level of energy as you
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: did before the pandemic. And remember, God's timing is different
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: than yours and God is never in a hurry. Now,
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: the key to these all four principles, these first four
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: that we've looked at, the key to all of these actions,
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: plus the other three that I'm gonna teach you in
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: part two of this message is this. Don't depend on
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: your own willpower to do these things. Rely on God's
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: spirit to give you the insight and the direction and
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: the wisdom and the power to reenter the world in
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: a healthy way. How do you get that power? Well,
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: it's real simple, from a daily connection with Jesus Christ.
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: If you don't have that, you need to start a
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: daily connection, a daily time with God. If you've never
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: had any connection with Jesus Christ, it would be my
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: honor to lead you in a prayer as we close today.
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: So if you've never opened your life to Christ, follow
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: me in this prayer. And let me introduce you to
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: my best friend, Jesus Christ. I've known him for over
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: 60 years. I've walked with the Lord for a long time.
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: So let's bow our heads. Just say something like this.
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: Dear God, I want to get to know you. Just
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: say that. Dear God, I want to get to know you.
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: Thank you for making me and loving me. And thank
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: you for having a purpose for my life. I want
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: to know your purpose for my life. And I want
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: to be healthy in reentering the world after this. this pandemic.
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: So Jesus Christ, as much as I know how, I
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: ask you to come into my life and save me.
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: Give me your forgiveness and your power and your purpose
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: and your peace in my life. I open myself to you.
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: I humbly ask you to lead me and be my Lord.
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: And I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.