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STRONG WORD from The LORD The Wicked Will Not Win - Minister Max Lucado · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

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Speaker 1: Good morning, everybody. Good morning. Way to go. Way to
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Speaker 1: be here. Way to be strong.
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Speaker 2: Way to just keep putting the oar in the water
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Speaker 2: and paddling the boat.
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Speaker 1: Way to show up. Way to show up.
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Speaker 2: May the Lord give you strength and bless you today
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Speaker 2: with steadfastness, with energy, with resolve, with hope, with hope.
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Speaker 1: With hope.
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Speaker 2: What crazy seasons we continue to weather through, right? Yeah,
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Speaker 2: somebody said this morning that they were sure glad to
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Speaker 2: have an extra hour, and another person said, no, I
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Speaker 2: don't want one more hour of 2020.
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Speaker 1: Well, we have it, so here we go, but we're
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Speaker 1: going to make it. We're going to be okay.
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Speaker 2: Selma Rivas told me to tell you thank you for
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Speaker 2: praying for her husband. Ruben had a heart attack earlier
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Speaker 2: this week, and Selma, longtime minister of our church, called
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Speaker 2: upon you to pray, and Through God's grace and the
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Speaker 2: skill of a wonderful medical team, Ruben is recovering well,
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Speaker 2: and she wanted me to tell you that, so way
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Speaker 2: to go.
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Speaker 1: Thanks for your prayers.
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Speaker 2: And speaking of prayers, this is an important week for
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Speaker 2: us to pray for our nation as we head into
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Speaker 2: a national election.
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Speaker 1: Did you know we had an election coming up? Sorry,
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Speaker 1: just kidding. Of course you did.
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Speaker 2: It's important that we vote, and it's even more important
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Speaker 2: that we Realize that the most important vote has already
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Speaker 2: been cast and that is God's vote in favor of
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Speaker 2: humanity and that he's on the throne regardless of who's
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Speaker 2: in the White House. The throne room is occupied and
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Speaker 2: we can trust in him.
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Speaker 1: Amen. You know, it was about a year ago.
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Speaker 2: In fact, it was exactly a year ago this weekend
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Speaker 2: that during the middle of a sermon that I was
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Speaker 2: Sharing on the theme of revival, one of our elders
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Speaker 2: stood up in the middle of one of the services
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Speaker 2: and began to sing the song.
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Speaker 1: Revive Us Again.
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Speaker 2: The whole church stood up and I took that as
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Speaker 2: the Lord's desire for us to be more serious about
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Speaker 2: praying for revival. A group of people began praying every
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Speaker 2: Sunday afternoon at 5 p.m. for revival. That's gone on
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Speaker 2: for a whole year now. Initially, of course, in person.
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Speaker 2: More recently, virtual prayers. But it's also expanded into a
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Speaker 2: citywide prayer effort. Last summer, a couple of times at
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Speaker 2: the AT & T Center in the parking lot, and
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Speaker 2: then last weekend and this weekend at San Pedro Springs Park. Today,
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Speaker 2: we're going to gather with pastors and people from all
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Speaker 2: over San Antonio and the hill country to pray, to
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Speaker 2: pray for healing, to pray for help, to pray for
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Speaker 2: protection over our city, and to pray for the Lord's
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Speaker 2: will to be done. You don't need to register if
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Speaker 2: you'd like to come in person. In the past, we've
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Speaker 2: requested registrations, but we don't need that. Today, if you'd
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Speaker 2: like to come to San Pedro Springs Park and use
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Speaker 2: this beautiful Sunday afternoon as a time of prayer, we
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Speaker 2: ask only that you come and don't bring any virus
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Speaker 2: with you. If you have a virus, please stay home.
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Speaker 2: You need to be at home. And if you're cautious
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Speaker 2: or concerned, as we all are, if you're concerned, you
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Speaker 2: can participate online by going to praysa.org, praysa.org or maxlocato.com
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Speaker 2: at 3 p.m. We're looking at probably about a 90-minute
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Speaker 2: prayer service if you'd like to be a part of it.
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Speaker 2: And now, Lord, we turn our hearts to you asking
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Speaker 2: for your presence, your power, your word, your strength to
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Speaker 2: speak to us today. In a world in which so
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Speaker 2: many people are pummeled by the pandemic, by political seesawing,
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Speaker 2: By personal issues, we really need a word from you today.
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Speaker 2: And we thank you that you promised to give it.
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Speaker 2: Through Christ we pray. And all the church said, Amen.
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Speaker 2: In a 1962 episode of The Twilight Zone, the story
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Speaker 2: tells of a narcissistic, harsh man He hunkers and bunkers
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Speaker 2: in his apartment, convinced that the whole world is one
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Speaker 2: big conspiracy theory. He and only he perceives the world
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Speaker 2: for what it is, and that is a planet inhabited
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Speaker 2: by evil people. The episode begins, as each does, with
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Speaker 2: an introduction to the Twilight Zone by, does anybody remember?
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Speaker 1: Rod Serling. Boy, some of you just showed your age.
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Speaker 1: Rod Serling.
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Speaker 2: In fact, I saw that the Twilight Zone is one
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Speaker 2: of the hottest shows on television right now. He introduces
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Speaker 2: the self-absorbed man this way. That's Oliver Crangle, a dealer
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Speaker 2: in petulance and poison. And he proceeds to talk about
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Speaker 2: Kringle's metamorphosis from a twisted fanatic, poisoned by the gangrene
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Speaker 2: of hate to the status of avenging angel, upright and omniscient,
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Speaker 2: dedicated and fearsome. Kringle is a man of no empathy.
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Speaker 2: He rages against people he's never met. He demands that
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Speaker 2: their employees fire them. He calls upon law enforcement. To
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Speaker 2: arrest them. In Crangle's world only he is good. He
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Speaker 2: sees nothing but good in himself. And he ascends the
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Speaker 2: judicial bench of self-righteousness. And declares a guilty verdict on
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Speaker 2: everyone else. He concocts a plan to purge the world
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Speaker 2: of all unsavory folk. And he informs the FBI that
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Speaker 2: at 4 p.m.
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Speaker 1: That afternoon.
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Speaker 2: The world's despicable and evil people will be easy to
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Speaker 2: identify because he is going to shrink them all to
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Speaker 2: the height of two feet. As the fateful hour draws near,
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Speaker 2: Kringle can hardly contain his excitement. Justice will finally be served.
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Speaker 2: Evildoers will be disclosed and he will be seen for
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Speaker 2: the hero that he is. So at 4 p.m., he
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Speaker 2: rushes to the window to look out and to see
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Speaker 2: who has been reduced to size. But alas, he's not
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Speaker 2: able to look out the glass. He, Krangel, has been shrunk.
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Speaker 2: He is two feet tall.
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Speaker 1: You know him, Mr. Krangel.
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Speaker 2: Have you ever crossed trails with a small-minded, self-centered, despicable
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Speaker 2: despot who demands that everybody else subject themselves to him?
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Speaker 2: They have the audacity to think that they and they
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Speaker 2: alone have the world understood. Consequently, they abuse, they bully,
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Speaker 2: they scorn, they enslave, they even seek to exterminate. Haman
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Speaker 2: was a Kringle. The villain of Esther's story lived inside
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Speaker 2: a one-person world.
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Speaker 1: Everyone else was called to bow down to him.
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Speaker 2: When one of them didn't, a man by the name
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Speaker 2: of Mordecai, Haman declared his fate as well as the
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Speaker 2: fate of his people. And that would be death. Death.
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Speaker 1: Yet his swagger was short-lived.
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Speaker 2: His reign of terror came to an end in the
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Speaker 2: dining hall of King Xerxes. So the king and Haman
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Speaker 2: went to dine with Queen Esther. And as they were
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Speaker 2: drinking wine on that second day, the king again asked
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Speaker 2: Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given
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Speaker 2: to you. What is your request? Even up to half
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Speaker 2: of the kingdom. This is the second banquet. Feast number two.
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Speaker 2: And so much has happened since feast number one. We
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Speaker 2: talked about it last week. Haman plotted the death of Mordecai,
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Speaker 2: the Jew. King Xerxes, however, chose to celebrate and honor
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Speaker 2: the life of Mordecai the Jew. The king publicly applauded
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Speaker 2: the man whom Haman had sought to destroy. Haman was
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Speaker 2: so angry and upset that he nearly missed the party.
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Speaker 2: Just like banquet number one, the wine was abundant, food aplenty.
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Speaker 2: And the festivity helped Haman forget his miserable day. He
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Speaker 2: was just about to pour himself another goblet of wine
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Speaker 2: when the king asked the queen what she desired. You
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Speaker 2: might recall he's asked this question twice. And both times
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Speaker 2: she has deferred, but now the time was right. I'm
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Speaker 2: thinking that her heart rate was at triple digits when
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Speaker 2: she said, if I have found favor with you, your majesty,
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Speaker 2: and if it pleases you, grant me my life.
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Speaker 1: This is my petition. And spare my people. This is
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Speaker 1: my request.
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Speaker 2: For I and my people have been sold to be destroyed, killed,
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Speaker 2: and annihilated. If we had merely been saved. as male
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Speaker 2: and female slaves, I would have kept quiet because no
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Speaker 2: such distress would justify disturbing the king. Now, the important
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Speaker 2: words are the small words in this text. The queen said,
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Speaker 2: we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed,
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Speaker 2: to be killed, if we only had been sold to slaves.
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Speaker 1: We, I, my, we.
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Speaker 2: Esther links her fate to the fate of her people. Remember,
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Speaker 2: up until this point, Xerxes did not know that she
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Speaker 2: was of Jewish heritage. And now she discloses that she
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Speaker 2: is not just Esther the queen, but she is Esther
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Speaker 2: the Jew. Silence certainly fell on the room like a curtain.
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Speaker 2: The king's head was surely spinning, struggling to connect the dots.
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Speaker 1: You're a Jew?
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Speaker 2: Somebody's plotting to kill you? Somebody's plotting to kill me?
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Speaker 1: The Jews, he asks, who is he?
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Speaker 2: Where is this man who has dared to do such
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Speaker 2: a thing? Here it comes, folks. Esther said, our enemy
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Speaker 2: and foe is this wicked Haman. Then Haman was filled
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Speaker 2: with terror before the king and the queen. Haman, all
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Speaker 2: two feet of him, began to tremble. He had no recourse.
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Speaker 2: Both his jaw and his goblet dropped. Xerxes stormed out
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Speaker 2: of the room, livid, fuming, seething with rage. He was
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Speaker 2: angry at Haman for playing him the fool, angry at
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Speaker 2: himself for being one. The blood drained from Haman's face
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Speaker 2: and unless he acted quickly, it would soon drain from
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Speaker 2: his body.
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Speaker 1: He threw himself upon the mercy of Esther. Literally.
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Speaker 2: He fell onto her couch, begging her to help him.
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Speaker 2: Xerxes reentered the room and saw Haman groping in the
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Speaker 2: direction of his queen, and that did it. Haman, who
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Speaker 2: wanted to kill a Jew for not falling down in
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Speaker 2: his presence, was caught falling down before a Jew. Oh,
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Speaker 2: the ironies continued. The guards took Haman in custody. One
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Speaker 2: of the officials looked out the window at the 75-foot
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Speaker 2: gallows that Haman had constructed for Mordecai, and he said, well,
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Speaker 2: if I may make a suggestion, Your Majesty. And he
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Speaker 2: pointed toward the execution instrument. Xerxes gave the nod, and
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Speaker 2: Haman got the point. There's much more to be resolved
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Speaker 2: in the story of Esther. Namely, a decree to exterminate
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Speaker 2: all the Jewish people in Persia. But we're gonna press
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Speaker 2: the pause button right now and pick that part up
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Speaker 2: next week because we need to make sure we make
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Speaker 2: a very important point that appears throughout scripture, but clearly
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Speaker 2: here in the book of Esther. And that is our
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Speaker 2: God is a good God and the wicked will not win.
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Speaker 1: The wicked will not win. Win.
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Speaker 2: We live in a day that even says there are
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Speaker 2: no wicked people. Everything's relative. Intolerance is the virtue. And
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Speaker 2: nobody's really wicked. Scripture's clear. No, there are wicked people.
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Speaker 2: There are wicked people. There are wicked people that tell
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Speaker 2: God to leave them alone and disregard.
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Speaker 1: His teachings completely. And the teaching of.
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Speaker 2: Scripture is the wicked will not win. Nothing escapes God.
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Speaker 2: I wonder if you have time for another example. Scroll
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Speaker 2: back on your timeline 150 years into the nation that
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Speaker 2: preceded the Persians, the Babylonian Empire.
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Speaker 1: And look at the story of Belshazzar.
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Speaker 2: He became king of Babylon in 539 BC.
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Speaker 1: Again, 150 years before Xerxes.
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Speaker 2: In a fateful feast, he invited about a thousand of
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Speaker 2: his gentry to join him in his banquet hall that
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Speaker 2: was reportedly 1,650 feet wide.
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Speaker 1: And a mile long.
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Speaker 2: Along the walls of this banquet room were pillars carved
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Speaker 2: to look like elephants, some 450 of them. There was music,
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Speaker 2: there was dancing, and you guessed it, there was much wine.
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Speaker 2: While Belshazzar was drinking wine, he gave orders to bring
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Speaker 2: in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar, his father,
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Speaker 2: had taken from the temple in Jerusalem so that the
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Speaker 2: king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might
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Speaker 2: drink from them. So they brought in the gold goblets
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Speaker 2: that had been taken from the temple of God in
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Speaker 2: Jerusalem and the king and his nobles.
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Speaker 1: His wives and his concubines drank from them.
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Speaker 2: As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of.
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Speaker 1: Gold and silver. of bronze, iron, wood, and stone.
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Speaker 2: So when Nebuchadnezzar overthrew the city of Jerusalem and he
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Speaker 2: destroyed the temple, he took all the artifacts and brought
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Speaker 2: them home with him. All those artifacts from the temple,
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Speaker 2: every utensil, the menorah, the table of the showbread, every spoon,
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Speaker 2: every fork, and yes, every cup, every cup. And these
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Speaker 2: utensils stayed in storage for 50 years, going untouched until
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Speaker 2: this party of.
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Speaker 1: Belshazzar.
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Speaker 2: And he called for those cups that had been used
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Speaker 2: in the temple, holy utensils, to be used in a
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Speaker 2: pagan celebration, a drunk wine fest. Now, why would he
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Speaker 2: do this? Were they out of cups? Were they out
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Speaker 2: of glasses? Did their dishwasher break? Did their kitchen staff
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Speaker 2: go on strike? No, this is a targeted move on
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Speaker 2: the part of Belshazzar. He wanted to blaspheme the God
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Speaker 2: of Israel. He wanted to make a mockery of Jehovah.
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Speaker 2: So he used these holy utensils in a drunken pagan celebration.
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Speaker 1: Friends, his irreverence did not go unnoticed.
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Speaker 2: Out of the sleeve of the knight, a mysterious hand
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Speaker 2: came into view. Suddenly the fingers of a human hand
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Speaker 2: appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall near
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Speaker 2: the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the
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Speaker 2: hand as it wrote. His face turned pale. He was
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Speaker 2: so frightened that his legs became weak. And his knees
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Speaker 2: were knocking. Can you envision this moment? A hand disattached
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Speaker 2: from a body appeared out of thin air. It hovered
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Speaker 2: in the glow of a lampstand. And a finger, the
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Speaker 2: finger of the hand began to carve a message into
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Speaker 2: the plaster of the wall. Silence fell over the entire room.
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Speaker 2: All thousand people deathly silent. King Belshazzar shook so much
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Speaker 2: that he fell down and his proud sneer became a
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Speaker 2: troubled frown. His boast became a whimper and his heart
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Speaker 2: pounded like a kettle drum. The people could not decipher
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Speaker 2: the writing. Belshazzar called for the astrologists and the diviners
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Speaker 2: to come in. Interpret the message, he said. And I'll
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Speaker 2: make you rich and powerful.
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Speaker 1: None could.
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Speaker 2: The wife of Belshazzar overheard the commotion and stepped into
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Speaker 2: the banquet hall. When she saw the king, she said,
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Speaker 2: don't be alarmed. Don't look so pale. There is a
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Speaker 2: man in your kingdom who has the spirit of the
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Speaker 2: holy gods in him. Call for Daniel and he will
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Speaker 2: tell you what this writing means. Daniel's an older man now.
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Speaker 2: His hair is silver. His back is stooped. He spent
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Speaker 2: his life in Babylon. But his mind and his faith
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Speaker 2: are as keen as honed steel. Belshazzar offered him money
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Speaker 2: and power. He dismissed them both. He reminded Belshazzar how
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Speaker 2: God had humbled and disciplined his father, Nebuchadnezzar, with a
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Speaker 2: season of insanity. Belshazzar, he says, should have been paying attention,
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Speaker 2: but he wasn't. But you, Belshazzar, his son, have.
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Speaker 1: Not humbled yourself. Though you knew all this.
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Speaker 2: Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven.
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Speaker 2: That's the definition of wickedness. Someone who sets themselves up
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Speaker 2: against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from
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Speaker 2: his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles
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Speaker 2: and your wives and your concubines drank from them. You
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Speaker 2: praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood,
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Speaker 2: and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But
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Speaker 2: you did not honor the God who holds you in
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Speaker 2: his hand. hand who holds in his hand your life
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Speaker 2: and all your ways. Therefore, he sent the hand that
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Speaker 2: wrote the inscription. This is the inscription that was written. Many,
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Speaker 2: many Tekel, Parson. This is what these words mean. Many,
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Speaker 2: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought
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Speaker 2: it to an end. Tekel, you have been weighed on
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Speaker 2: the scales and found wanting. Paris, your kingdom is divided
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Speaker 2: and given to the Medes and the Persians. That very night, Belshazzar,
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Speaker 2: King of the Babylonians was slain. And Darius the Mede
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Speaker 2: took over the kingdom at the age of 62. At
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Speaker 2: the precise moment that Daniel was speaking, the Medes and
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Speaker 2: the Persians were creeping through the underground aqueducts, ready to
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Speaker 2: take the city. Belshazzar never saw it coming. The takeover
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Speaker 2: was swift, total. The mighty nation of Babylon collapsed. Belshazzar
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Speaker 2: was killed. And we are left with yet another sobering reminder,
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Speaker 2: and that is our God is a just God. Our
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Speaker 2: God is a just God. Now what are we to
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Speaker 2: do with stories like these? What are we to do
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Speaker 2: with stories in which an evil, anti-Semitic, crangled, of a
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Speaker 2: man comes to an end. In which Belshazzar, irreverent, disrespectful,
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Speaker 2: who had a regard for nothing as being holy, comes
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Speaker 2: to an end.
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Speaker 1: Where do we go with these stories?
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Speaker 2: I think of two directions. Number one, for some of
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Speaker 2: you this is a word of caution.
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Speaker 1: It's a word of.
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Speaker 2: Caution, a reminder that God will render to each one
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Speaker 2: according to his deeds. Do not think, my friend, do
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Speaker 2: not think for a second that God will turn a
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Speaker 2: blind eye to a life or acts of rebellion and
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Speaker 2: deeds of malice. The scripture says, therefore, consider the goodness
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Speaker 2: and severity of God. Goodness and severity. We love to
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Speaker 2: consider the goodness of God, do we not? How many
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Speaker 2: songs have been written about the goodness of God? How
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Speaker 2: many sermons have been preached about the mercy of God?
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Speaker 2: How many books have been written about the grace and
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Speaker 2: wonderful grace of God? And yet how many songs have
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Speaker 2: been written? How many songs do we sing that acknowledge.
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Speaker 1: The day of reckoning? that awaits all evil people, not
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Speaker 1: so many.
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Speaker 2: Out of curiosity, I pulled the concordance down off my shelf,
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Speaker 2: looked up the word wrath of God, looked up the
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Speaker 2: word mercy of God, and just tallied up the number
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Speaker 2: of references of each just to compare. The number of
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Speaker 2: references in the Bible to wrath of God, 108. The
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Speaker 2: number of references in the Bible to the mercy of God, 48.
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Speaker 2: It's good to talk about the goodness of God and
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Speaker 2: nobody wants to talk about the goodness of God more
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Speaker 2: than your preacher today. But to discount the severity of God,
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Speaker 2: the just nature of God, to present God as a
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Speaker 2: teddy bear who is blind or ignorant or indulgent toward
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Speaker 2: the wicked and the evildoer is simply not a fair
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Speaker 2: presentation of the characteristic of our holy God. Somebody needs
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Speaker 2: to hear this today. Somebody is in a cycle of sin.
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Speaker 2: And somebody has been led to believe that they can
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Speaker 2: continue to do what they're doing, and God doesn't see,
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Speaker 2: and God doesn't care, and that there will be no punishment,
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Speaker 2: and that there will be no consequence. That's the culture
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Speaker 2: we live in. Do what you want, and as long
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Speaker 2: as nobody gets hurt, friend, somebody's gonna get hurt. There
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Speaker 2: are consequences to our actions. God is gracious to those
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Speaker 2: who trust him, but he's dead serious about about correcting
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Speaker 2: those who rebel against him. Today's adultery is tomorrow's divorce.
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Speaker 2: Today's indulgence is tomorrow's addiction. Today's laziness is tomorrow's poverty.
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Speaker 2: Most supremely, dismiss God in this life.
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Speaker 1: And he'll dismiss you in the next.
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Speaker 2: Spend a life telling God to leave you alone and
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Speaker 2: on the day of judgment, he will do just that.
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Speaker 2: Actions have consequences. Has this pandemic had a negative effect
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Speaker 2: on your life? Has it caused you to engage in
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Speaker 2: some behavior that you know is irreverent or rebellious against God?
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Speaker 2: If so, the reason God has you listening to this
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Speaker 2: story is to tell you.
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Speaker 1: He sees. And you will not escape. Return. Return.
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Speaker 2: Return to your heavenly father. For some of you, this
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Speaker 2: is a word of caution. For some of you, oddly,
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Speaker 2: a bit strangely, this is a word of comfort because
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Speaker 2: you have a Haman in your life. You have a
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Speaker 2: Haman in your life. He was the boss who demanded servitude.
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Speaker 2: She was the teacher who played favorites. He was the
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Speaker 2: uncle who abused his niece, the husband who womanized his
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Speaker 2: way through marriages, including yours. The pastor who was more
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Speaker 2: arrogant than reverent, who used the pulpit as a way
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Speaker 2: to be seen, not as a way to serve. Hamans
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Speaker 2: snake their way into our worlds. And when they do,
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Speaker 2: victims feel their calendars flip to January and they are
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Speaker 2: left in the chill of Of the consequence, searching for springtime, wondering,
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Speaker 2: does God know what this Haman is doing? Does God
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Speaker 2: care about my suffering? Will Haman ever meet justice? Or
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Speaker 2: to borrow the words of the psalmist, oh Lord, how
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Speaker 2: long will you look on? Or Jeremiah who asked, why
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Speaker 2: does the way of the wicked prosper? Do evildoers get
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Speaker 2: a free pass? Do oppressors walk free? Do Hamans and
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Speaker 2: Hitlers and lynch mobs and porn peddlers get away with murder?
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Speaker 2: The resounding answer from Scripture is no.
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Speaker 1: No.
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Speaker 2: The day is coming when God will forever balance the
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Speaker 2: scales of injustice.
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Speaker 1: God has set a day.
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Speaker 2: It is set today. He has determined a day in
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Speaker 2: which He will judge the world. The louse who took
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Speaker 2: advantage of you, God knows. The seductress who divided your
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Speaker 2: home and wrecked your marriage, God knows. The racist who raged,
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Speaker 2: the misogynist who raped, the bully who bullied, God knows
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Speaker 2: about them all.
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Speaker 1: God is a just God.
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Speaker 2: And God is angry with the wicked every day. To
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Speaker 2: be clear, friends, the door of repentance is wide open
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Speaker 2: right now for anybody, regardless of how wicked they are.
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Speaker 2: It is not his will that anyone perish. But the
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Speaker 2: fact that some will is simply a marker of his justice.
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Speaker 2: Satan knows this. I didn't tell Satan anything new as
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Speaker 2: he listened in to this sermon. The demons are not saying, oh,
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Speaker 2: I never knew that. They've known it from the beginning
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Speaker 2: because they realize that the real battle is against the
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Speaker 2: devil and his forces. The scripture says, we do not
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Speaker 2: wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
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Speaker 2: against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against
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Speaker 2: the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. The
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Speaker 2: devil placed the anti-Semitic hatred in Haman. the irreverence in Belshazzar.
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Speaker 2: He is the Hitler behind the Hitler, the pimp behind
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Speaker 2: all pimps, and the pillager behind all pillagers.
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Speaker 1: But his days are numbered. And he knows it. He
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Speaker 1: knows it.
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Speaker 2: He's angry because his days are short. He's angry because
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Speaker 2: he knows that the tables have been turned. Just as
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Speaker 2: Haman died on gallows that he made for Mordecai, Satan
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Speaker 2: was defeated on a cross that he designed for Christ.
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Speaker 2: God raised Christ from the dead and seated him at
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Speaker 2: the right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule, authority,
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Speaker 2: and power and dominion. And after he did, he made
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Speaker 2: it clear. God's plan was made known to the rulers
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Speaker 2: and authorities in the heavenly places. Everybody in the heavenly
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Speaker 2: places saw it. The devil saw it. And that is
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Speaker 2: the very cross that the devil had hoped would be
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Speaker 2: the end of Christ became the beginning of life for
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Speaker 2: billions of people. Don't you know, every time Satan hears
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Speaker 2: us celebrate our Christ who died on the cross, he
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Speaker 2: kicks himself. Had he known that an instrument of death
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Speaker 2: would become life for us, he never would have been
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Speaker 2: a part of the cross. Had Haman known that the
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Speaker 2: gallows would serve to bring his own life to an end,
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Speaker 2: he never would have created those gallows for Mordecai. But Satan, Haman, Belshazzar, Crangle,
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Speaker 2: they don't see it coming. It's hard to see anything
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Speaker 2: when you're two feet tall. Gracious Father, These stories that
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Speaker 2: you gave us today, they're sobering.
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Speaker 1: They are. But they're a reminder.
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Speaker 2: They rightly adjust the lens of our eyes so that
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Speaker 2: we see what's happening. Father, we pray for mercy for
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Speaker 2: those who have turned from you, who have fallen into
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Speaker 2: a state of wickedness. Those who worship Satan those who
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Speaker 2: worship alcohol, those who indulge in every type of evil behavior,
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Speaker 2: we beg, oh Heavenly Father, that you would please awaken them.
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Speaker 2: Even as we pray, names come to our minds of
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Speaker 2: people that we know.
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Speaker 1: Have mercy, please. And have mercy upon us.
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Speaker 2: That we might rightly divide ourselves the word of truth
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Speaker 2: and understand where you are taking civilization.
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Speaker 1: Thank you. In Jesus' name.
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Speaker 3: Amen.
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Speaker 1: So so Thank you.
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Speaker 3: Thank you. Thank you.
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Speaker 1: Thank you. You don't have to be new.
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Speaker 2: You don't have to stay close.
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Speaker 1: As long as you're somewhere out there. That's enough for me.
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Speaker 4: I don't need to hold you near me. Don't need
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Speaker 4: promises to keep. Just the thought that you are breathing.
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Speaker 4: Somewhere in this world I see. Even if I'm not
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Speaker 4: beside you. Even if you never know. There's a quiet
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Speaker 4: kind of comfort just in knowing you still glow.
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Speaker 1: I don't need forever. I just need.
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Speaker 4: You to exist. You don't have to stay with me
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Speaker 4: You don't have to feel the same Just as long
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Speaker 4: as you're still out there Calling softly through my days
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Speaker 4: You don't have to look my way You don't have
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Speaker 4: to be my home It's enough to know you're living
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Speaker 4: In a world I'm.
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Speaker 1: Not alone.
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Speaker 4: I won't chase you through the distance Won't disturb your
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Speaker 4: chosen life I'll just keep you in my silence Like
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Speaker 4: a star that shines at night.
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Speaker 1: Through the dark and through the blue.
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Speaker 4: I still think of you Just as long as you're
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Speaker 4: still out there calling softly through my days. You don't
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Speaker 4: have to look my way. You don't have to be
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Speaker 4: my home. It's enough to know you're living in a
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Speaker 4: world I'm not alone.
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Speaker 1: I don't need to be your light.
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Speaker 4: I don't need to cross your mind All I need
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Speaker 4: is just the truth That you're somewhere.
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Speaker 1: Still alive You don't have.
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Speaker 3: To stay with me You don't have to feel the
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Speaker 3: same Just as long as you're still out there Calling
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Speaker 3: softly through my days You don't have to look my
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Speaker 3: way You don't have to be my home It's enough
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Speaker 3: to know you're living
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Speaker 1: In a world I'm not alone