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Look-Beyond-Will-You-Focus-on-Eternity · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

2:21
Speaker 1: The a.
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Speaker 2: Extract, Good morning and thank you for being here at
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Speaker 2: this momentous service in the life of our church. When
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Speaker 2: this date was selected about six weeks ago, two of
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Speaker 2: our staff members wanted to write music for this service.
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Speaker 2: To my right is Pete Hazard, he directs the orchestra
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Speaker 2: and all in things instrumental at our church. And to
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Speaker 2: my left is John Dill. So they set about writing
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Speaker 2: a prelude which is belongs to John, and then Pete
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Speaker 2: wrote an offeratry. They're wonderful pieces. They were written just
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Speaker 2: for this day. This will be the first time anyone
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Speaker 2: has ever heard them. Pete tell us a little bit
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Speaker 2: about the backstory about what she wrote.
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Speaker 3: Well, I'll be honest.
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Speaker 4: When Pastor Chuck announced that this would be his last Sunday,
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Speaker 4: it was a daunting task to try to think about
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Speaker 4: how you encapsulate the ministry of somebody that means so
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Speaker 4: much to us in three and a half or four minutes.
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Speaker 4: And so initially I struggled on how to do that,
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Speaker 4: and then the answer came to me, you don't.
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Speaker 3: Try to do that.
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Speaker 4: That doesn't make any sense. So instead we set about
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Speaker 4: to create a musical thank you to Pastor Chuck. We
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Speaker 4: love this church. My wife and I raised our children
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Speaker 4: in this church. We've been here for about seventeen years.
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Speaker 4: And one of the things I love the most about
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Speaker 4: our church is Pastor Chuck's love of great.
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Speaker 3: Music and his love of the hymns.
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Speaker 4: And so the beginning part of this piece is based
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Speaker 4: on the hymn that talks about sweet Hour of Prayer.
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Speaker 4: It's one of those hymns that I remember from being
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Speaker 4: a child and growing up in the church that meant
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Speaker 4: a lot to me. And I remember when we came
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Speaker 4: here about seventeen years ago hearing a beautiful hymn entitled
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Speaker 4: the King of Love My Shepherd is And that hymn
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Speaker 4: is based on the melody Saint Columbia, which is an
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Speaker 4: Irish hymn. And I don't know if you know, but
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Speaker 4: our new senior pastor is Irish. I'm not sure if
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Speaker 4: you're aware of that, and so just ask him to
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Speaker 4: say the word psalm. You'll figure it out really quick.
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Speaker 4: But this is a musical passing of the baton. This
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Speaker 4: piece is an arch form and really focuses on the
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Speaker 4: interchange between those two hymns. Really, the inspiration for it
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Speaker 4: came from Pastor Chuck Sermons series and two Timothy where
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Speaker 4: Paul is talking to Timothy and passing the baton, and
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Speaker 4: so musically, that's what we tried to depict in this
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Speaker 4: musical work of appreciation and gratitude for our pastor who
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Speaker 4: has served so faithfully and led us for the last
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Speaker 4: twenty six years.
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Speaker 2: Thank you, Pete John.
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Speaker 5: I hate microphones, they seem redundant. Fifteen years ago we
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Speaker 5: went on a Reformation tour and mine is His Kingdom
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Speaker 5: is forever, which is the last phrase found in A
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Speaker 5: Mighty Fortress. A Mighty Fortress is the battle hymn of
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Speaker 5: the Reformation. And you go to the Reformation tour, we
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Speaker 5: saw all these wonderful, incredible things, and we learned about
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Speaker 5: all the people that made the sacrifices for us to
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Speaker 5: do what we're doing in here today. So to encapsulate
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Speaker 5: what I could, I chose that last phrase, this is
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Speaker 5: a litany, which is a repetition of that phrase. His
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Speaker 5: kingdom is forever, His kingdom is forever. Then I found
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Speaker 5: out that his last sermon today is on eternity. So
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Speaker 5: at any rate, so well, when you have an orchestra
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Speaker 5: like this, and then you have Lucas there that can
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Speaker 5: milk anything, and so the music inside of it. The
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Speaker 5: text is let goods and kindred go this mortal life.
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Speaker 5: Also the body they may kill, God's truth abide is
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Speaker 5: still His kingdom is forever. So it's loud and I
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Speaker 5: don't care.
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Speaker 6: Mm hm.
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Speaker 2: Hm bound in a nice leather, hard bound, bent, and
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Speaker 2: we're gonna give this to Chuck right now.
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Speaker 1: Ye h h.
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Speaker 7: On s s s s.
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Speaker 3: H Okay, thank you, Citty, And I'll look back on
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Speaker 3: these twenty six years with nothing but delight. Honestly, there
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Speaker 3: have been ups and downs, of course there always will be,
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Speaker 3: but in this church it's mainly up, and the joy
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Speaker 3: far exceeds any of the tests that have been a
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Speaker 3: part of these years. We are grateful for the enviable
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Speaker 3: opportunity to lead this flock and to be a part
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Speaker 3: of your lives through all the journeys that you have
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Speaker 3: been through. You are the Church. We are the church,
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Speaker 3: the people of God. We are Stonebrier Community Church with
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Speaker 3: such an inauspicious beginning, and yet here we are today
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Speaker 3: one of the lighthouses of this North Texas area. And
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Speaker 3: how grateful we are for that. Only God's grace could
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Speaker 3: have made that happen. Thank you, for all that you
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Speaker 3: have met to us personally, for your understanding, for giving
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Speaker 3: us the freedom to be who we are, for trusting
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Speaker 3: us and our leadership. For the elders who have stood
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Speaker 3: alongside and been such a joy to work with. There
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Speaker 3: are a number of pastors who dread being with elders
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Speaker 3: at having elders meetings. I told Cynthia, I've never dreaded
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Speaker 3: them ever, and they're always better than I expect. And
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Speaker 3: the teamwork is just magnificent. And she and I thank
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Speaker 3: you for enhancing our belief that God does work through
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Speaker 3: the church. And because we believe so deeply in worship,
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Speaker 3: we thank you for moving with the us through the years,
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Speaker 3: committed to worship, not concerned about what any other churches
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Speaker 3: are doing, not trying to pattern our style after any
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Speaker 3: other ministry. We just forged our own way by God's
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Speaker 3: grace and mercy and direction. And we've done so year
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Speaker 3: after year. We've watched our music ministry grow, We've watched
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Speaker 3: our choirs grow and deepen in their commitment to music
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Speaker 3: that touches the heart. And we've also loved God's word
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Speaker 3: together from Genesis to Revelation. We have spent every time
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Speaker 3: I've been at this pulpit. The Word has been opened,
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Speaker 3: and you have been right there with your bibles. Every
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Speaker 3: guest preacher I've asked to fill this pulpit has commented
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Speaker 3: to me everyone and he feels so comfortable because all
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Speaker 3: of you are right there with your Bibles, sitting on
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Speaker 3: the edge of your seat, anxious to hear what God
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Speaker 3: is going to say to that person. I want you
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Speaker 3: to meet some of my family, our family who are
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Speaker 3: with us today. Our older son Kurt and his wife
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Speaker 3: Debbie understand left after the first service, which is understandable.
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Speaker 3: They're involved in their church and so they, I'm sure
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Speaker 3: wanted to be there for that. We have with us
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Speaker 3: our older daughter Carisa, her husband Mark Gaither, and those
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Speaker 3: who are related to this segment of our family. All
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Speaker 3: of you please stand and just turn around so the
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Speaker 3: folks can see your front rather than you're back. This
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Speaker 3: is Carisa, Mark Gator. Chrisa serves as the president of
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Speaker 3: Insight for Living and is giving direction there a position
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Speaker 3: Cynthia Hill for forty four years, and now we have
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Speaker 3: passed the baton of leadership to Gresa, doing a marvelous job.
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Speaker 3: Colleen is with her husband today, Tobin and those who
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Speaker 3: are in the Colleen Tobin tribe, please stand up and
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Speaker 3: let's meet them as well, and please turn around that
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Speaker 3: they might see you. Colleen directs our Reframing Ministry and
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Speaker 3: Insight for Living and does a magnificent job helping people
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Speaker 3: find their way back after being sidelined in so many
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Speaker 3: ways that can break a life and really ruin a life.
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Speaker 3: She helps them pick up the pieces and find their
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Speaker 3: way back to dignity and life and health. Our son,
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Speaker 3: Chuck and his wife Jenny are living in the state
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Speaker 3: of Washington. They have two adult children, Noah and Jessica,
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Speaker 3: unable to be with us for this event. We also
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Speaker 3: have with us today some very significant guests. And if
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Speaker 3: I were to start and begin with one group, I'm
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Speaker 3: sure I miss another. So may I do this in
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Speaker 3: a general way. If you represent Dallas Seminary, if you
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Speaker 3: represent Insight for Living, if you represent who else, please stand.
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Speaker 3: We want to recognize you today as representatives of the
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Speaker 3: Seminary and of Insightful Living. If we have the staff
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Speaker 3: from there, please stand and we welcome you today. Doctor
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Speaker 3: Mark Bailey, the former president, and doctor Mark Yarborough, the
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Speaker 3: current president of the Seminary understand we're to be here today,
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Speaker 3: would you if you were here, obviously, if you're here,
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Speaker 3: would you stand up and with your wives, Barbie and Jennifer,
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Speaker 3: let's welcome him as well. Thank you. I'm not going anywhere.
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Speaker 3: I want you to know. I'm not skipping town. I'm not.
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Speaker 3: I'm going to be just a few hundred yards to
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Speaker 3: the northwest in a building there on the corner where
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Speaker 3: I'll have my office in Cynthia's office will be together,
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Speaker 3: and there I will be involved in a podcasts and
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Speaker 3: whatever that is, and maybe a blog. It's a funny name.
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Speaker 3: I have no idea what that is. And I'll be
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Speaker 3: doing interviews. I'll be mentoring a number of the international
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Speaker 3: students who are underway in their work at the seminary,
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Speaker 3: and we'll be someday our voice in the land that
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Speaker 3: they call their homeland in their native language, representing christ
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Speaker 3: On behalf of insight for living. But I will be
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Speaker 3: sitting with Cynthia for the first time in sixty one years,
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Speaker 3: in the right here among you, and so I'll be
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Speaker 3: right down here. I'm gonna like that. I really am.
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Speaker 3: So behave yourself. We love you so much. Thank you
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Speaker 3: for making this transition. So smooth. Those who will carry on,
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Speaker 3: whom I will later introduce personally to all of you
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Speaker 3: in the senior staff of our church. You're in wonderful hands.
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Speaker 3: You are. You will not miss a beat, You'll not
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Speaker 3: miss a step. These are four men of God, and
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Speaker 3: their wives and their families will be standing alongside them
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Speaker 3: and ministering along with them in various ways. Thank you
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Speaker 3: for embracing them and following their leadership. I will do
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Speaker 3: that with you. Okay, Yeah, I think that's enough. So
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Speaker 3: I got the word I'm true for now, but I
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Speaker 3: have more to say.
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Speaker 2: Let's go.
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Speaker 3: I'll welcome you mind.
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Speaker 2: We have made a special video for this day. If
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Speaker 2: you'll direct your attention to the screens place.
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Speaker 3: You will find here not only truth, but I'm pleased
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Speaker 3: to say a great deal of grace, grace and truth.
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Speaker 3: That's what characterized the Savior. It was a cool October
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Speaker 3: evening back in nineteen ninety eight. Little did we realize
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Speaker 3: what God had in mind.
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Speaker 8: If this kind of christ like life interests you, you
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Speaker 8: found the right place, I'll tell you, because that's the
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Speaker 8: only kind of life I'm interested in, and we as
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Speaker 8: leaders are interested in in this church.
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Speaker 3: I determined from that that ours would be a learning
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Speaker 3: church like the first century church. We committed ourselves to exposition,
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Speaker 3: going through books of the Bible, going through doctrines of
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Speaker 3: the Scriptures, or worshiping church, blending lives together, focusing on
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Speaker 3: the Cross of Christ, reminding everyone that the message is
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Speaker 3: believing on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved
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Speaker 3: and saved forever.
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Speaker 9: What I love about Chuck, I love your humility. Chuck's
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Speaker 9: Wendall does not know that he's Chucks Wendall. And I
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Speaker 9: don't mean that you're having some sort of identity crisis,
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Speaker 9: but you don't live daily aware of the huge impact
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Speaker 9: that you've had on the lives of people. Stonebrier, one
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Speaker 9: of the things that has impressed me over the years
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Speaker 9: as you've had me in has been their love for
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Speaker 9: the Word of God. It's christ like and I love
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Speaker 9: what has developed here as you've led these people of
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Speaker 9: God for the last twenty five years, and it's spiritual
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Speaker 9: and it's a beautiful legacy that I believe will continue
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Speaker 9: into the future.
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Speaker 3: I find great delight in knowing the Lord has raised you,
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Speaker 3: and I find great joy and knowing I could have
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Speaker 3: a part in that. For you and to know that
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Speaker 3: you could take it right on beyond my years. See
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Speaker 3: that cross that hangs behind me. It's the most prominent
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Speaker 3: symbol in our church. That's by design. I'm not the
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Speaker 3: most prominent of the church. Far from it that crosses,
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Speaker 3: because that's the kind of thing on which Jesus paid
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Speaker 3: the penalty for our sins.
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Speaker 8: This is a love that comes from the Lord Jesus
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Speaker 8: Christ living his life out through us, that reaches and
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Speaker 8: reaches and gives and gives. God so loved the world
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Speaker 8: that he gave his only son.
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Speaker 3: And everybody said, amen.
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Speaker 10: The fa to try my mo to see like gra.
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Speaker 1: Streams of.
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Speaker 10: Snabac cost to.
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Speaker 11: Hot streets.
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Speaker 3: T s.
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Speaker 11: S tnso.
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Speaker 7: Prazont see so alto he I.
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Speaker 11: May hear my.
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Speaker 3: Call, and I o.
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Speaker 11: I gould blas.
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Speaker 6: Save me to.
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Speaker 7: My God, grow to.
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Speaker 11: Iphe grows to movie.
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Speaker 6: My use my.
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Speaker 11: Take and see.
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Speaker 3: See for.
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Speaker 11: A set front fashio.
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Speaker 6: Cross it.
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Speaker 1: A s s s s s.
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Speaker 6: S s.
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Speaker 1: Oh h.
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Speaker 11: H as a room.
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Speaker 6: So setr pic sa.
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Speaker 1: Si s.
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Speaker 11: S first time something so sa sass s s s s.
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Speaker 4: S s s.
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Speaker 1: S s s s s s s.
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Speaker 11: S s.
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Speaker 7: Siss s.
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Speaker 1: S s s s.
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Speaker 6: S s s s s s s it s not so.
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Speaker 7: Six minutes. See since.
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Speaker 11: It's as.
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Speaker 6: Since s.
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Speaker 7: Stas ss.
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Speaker 3: Ss so, God's word is alive and active and sharper
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Speaker 3: than a double edged sword it is able to pierce.
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Speaker 3: For no surgeon's scalpel can ever reach between the soul
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Speaker 3: and the spirit. And it is a critic, literally, a
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Speaker 3: critic of the thoughts and intentions of the heart. No
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Speaker 3: piece of literature can examine our hearts like the living
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Speaker 3: Word of God. Because only God's book, God's Word, those
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Speaker 3: sixty six books of the Scriptures are inspired of God,
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Speaker 3: that is, God breathed. Only these words are profitable for teaching,
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Speaker 3: for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the
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Speaker 3: amount of God may be matured, prepared, or equipped for
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Speaker 3: every good work. Over these twenty six years, we have
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Speaker 3: learned to love the scriptures, whether they are stories of
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Speaker 3: Abraham and Moses and Joshua, the judges on into the
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Speaker 3: kings like Saul and David and Solomon, and the prophets,
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Speaker 3: even the minor prophets, those who wrote the Gospels, and
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Speaker 3: then Paul who wrote We're thirteen of the New Testament letters,
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Speaker 3: the writings of Peter and James and John all the
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Speaker 3: way to the final great work of God, the Revelation.
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Speaker 3: It's interesting that the Emperor of Rome, who could not
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Speaker 3: kill John, decided to put him in exile and send
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Speaker 3: him off to an island, abandoning him, thinking that would
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Speaker 3: remove him in silence him forever. While Genre was there,
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Speaker 3: he just wrote the Book of the Revelation. I mean,
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Speaker 3: why not, I've got time to do that, And God
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Speaker 3: obviously inspired him to do so. And those chapters hold
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Speaker 3: us breathless as we realize in the end, God wins,
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Speaker 3: though we may not feel it in the meantime. We
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Speaker 3: come to those meantime moments when we get to this
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Speaker 3: second letter that Paul wrote to his beloved protege Timothy.
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Speaker 3: Half his age. Paul's life is behind him, much of
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Speaker 3: Timothy's life is still ahead of him. Paul loves him
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Speaker 3: so much he wants to prepare him for life after Paul,
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Speaker 3: and that will come soon. As Paul writes in these
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Speaker 3: closing words of tewod Timothy, chapter four, verses six, seven
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Speaker 3: and eight. May we stand together as we hear the
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Speaker 3: word of the Lord, as written by the apostle from
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Speaker 3: a dungeon in Rome. My life has already poured out
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Speaker 3: as a drink offering, and the end is coming soon.
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Speaker 3: The good fight I fought, the race I've finished, the
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Speaker 3: faith I've kept. Therefore there is laid up for me.
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Speaker 3: There awaits me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord,
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Speaker 3: the Righteous Judge, shall give me at that day, not
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Speaker 3: to me only, but to all who love is appearing.
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Speaker 3: That's one of those unique places in the Scriptures two Timothy,
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Speaker 3: chapter four, verse eight, where you and I appear. We're
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Speaker 3: among the all who love is appearing, and the Lord
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Speaker 3: remembers us through paulse pen for we too will be
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Speaker 3: rewarded for a life well lived. Paul was neither discouraged
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Speaker 3: nor depressed, though his surroundings were dreadful and death was near.
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Speaker 3: The time of my departure has come. Now one of
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Speaker 3: us knows when that will be in our lives, so
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Speaker 3: moments like this helped prepare us for it. If you've
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Speaker 3: never trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, he comes to
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Speaker 3: you as a gift from God, a love gift especially
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Speaker 3: wrapped in perfection and also compassion, welcoming you into the
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Speaker 3: family of God. If you will simply take the gift
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Speaker 3: which will provide for you a different kind of life
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Speaker 3: on this earth and eternal life secured in heaven. It's
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Speaker 3: yours for the taking. Whether here in this room or
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Speaker 3: after leaving this place, consider seriously the gift of God,
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Speaker 3: unlest you live your life and end it without knowing
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Speaker 3: the Savior. Now with me, as we pray, will you
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Speaker 3: thank your Father for loving us as we are. Thank
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Speaker 3: you for providing us needy as we are. Thank You
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Speaker 3: for being there day and night, never slumbering, never sleeping,
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Speaker 3: never tiring of our calling upon you. Thank you Father,
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Speaker 3: that we can know what it means to have eternal
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Speaker 3: kind of life, even while walking on this earth. Even
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Speaker 3: as David has written, but this shall everyone who is
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Speaker 3: godly pray unto you in a time when you may
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Speaker 3: be found surely in the floods of great waters, this
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Speaker 3: shall not come near to me. You are my hiding place.
1:01:54
Speaker 3: You will preserve me from trouble. You will encompass me
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Speaker 3: with songs of deliverance. Thank you for guiding us with
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Speaker 3: your eye upon us. Thank you for twenty six wonderful years,
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Speaker 3: as we've grown in you and closer together with one another,
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Speaker 3: at this church, in this community, beyond these walls, even
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Speaker 3: beyond the state, where we've reached out to those we
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Speaker 3: love in places we may never travel, who speak languages
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Speaker 3: we may never know, and our gifts reach them as
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Speaker 3: we provide those who will speak to them directly, whom
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Speaker 3: we call our missionaries. Thank you for each one. Encourage them,
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Speaker 3: bless them, protect them. In this day in which we
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Speaker 3: live and now our father is we give you our gifts.
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Speaker 3: We do so confidently that the monies will be handled
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Speaker 3: with integrity and will be spent with wisdom, for it
1:03:13
Speaker 3: is all yours. You own it all. Because of this
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Speaker 3: we worship only You, our God and Father. Through Christ,
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Speaker 3: our Lord, we pray and give our gifts in Jesus' name.
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Speaker 3: Everyone said, amen, please be seated.
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Speaker 6: S s.
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Speaker 3: Nero must have gloated over his most recent achievement. I mean, finally, finally,
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Speaker 3: after persecuting and torturing and killing these cultic followers of
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Speaker 3: the Way, finally he's able to say to the Senate
1:09:35
Speaker 3: their major spokesman has been captured, declared guilty. I've had
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Speaker 3: him flogged and placed in the Mamartine, a prison that
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Speaker 3: was foul smelling and rat infested. I mean, Nero, Oh my,
1:10:02
Speaker 3: the demented, imbecilic ruler of the Roman Empire, never got
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Speaker 3: anything right in that upulent setting where he lived his life,
1:10:19
Speaker 3: sleeping on silk sheets, surrounded by garish decorations all around him,
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Speaker 3: strutting his stuff before the people lighting the colosseum with
1:10:34
Speaker 3: the blazing fire from the bodies of Christians, finding delight
1:10:43
Speaker 3: in the cruelty of punishment. He now has Paul, known
1:10:52
Speaker 3: to him as Saul of Tarsus, just where he wanted him,
1:10:57
Speaker 3: finally silenced. Well not really, not really, you may think so, Nero,
1:11:11
Speaker 3: But Saul has another letter to write, this one to
1:11:18
Speaker 3: a man half his age who has most of his
1:11:22
Speaker 3: life in front of him, at least in ministry, his
1:11:27
Speaker 3: protege Timothy, with whom he traveled for over twenty years,
1:11:33
Speaker 3: And now he has the opportunity and the time. As
1:11:38
Speaker 3: the scabs on his back begin to fester, and the
1:11:44
Speaker 3: filth of the dungeon where he lives gets only worse,
1:11:48
Speaker 3: Paul is not concerned with any of that. Never once, never,
1:11:53
Speaker 3: once in the second letter does he come near complaining
1:11:57
Speaker 3: about his circumstances or the stench of that cell. His
1:12:05
Speaker 3: heart is moving toward the future. He's thinking of Timothy,
1:12:13
Speaker 3: some eight hundred and forty miles to his east in Ephesus.
1:12:22
Speaker 3: Paul in this dungeon under the streets of Rome, knowing
1:12:27
Speaker 3: what is ahead. One of these days he will hear
1:12:31
Speaker 3: the boots of the death squad from the Praetorian Guard,
1:12:41
Speaker 3: marching above that grate, and then with a chain pulling
1:12:47
Speaker 3: him from the dungeon, wrapping him like a wild animal,
1:12:54
Speaker 3: and marching him out of the city in chains, bending
1:12:59
Speaker 3: him over the stump as the lictor lifts the long
1:13:04
Speaker 3: handled axe sharpened to a razor's edge, and brings it
1:13:09
Speaker 3: down on the back of Paul's neck, his head rolling
1:13:15
Speaker 3: into the dust. Paul knew what was ahead of him.
1:13:20
Speaker 3: You wonder what's in his mind? A little speculation of
1:13:25
Speaker 3: you will allow me. I want to believe that Timothy
1:13:30
Speaker 3: took his words at heart and came before winter and
1:13:36
Speaker 3: brought with him the cloak that Paul had left at Troaz,
1:13:41
Speaker 3: along with some books and especially their scriptural rolls, the
1:13:46
Speaker 3: scrolls that were Paul's personal Bible, if you will, and
1:13:54
Speaker 3: also traveled with him John, whom Paul at one time
1:14:02
Speaker 3: written off, but now in his final hours, realizes that
1:14:10
Speaker 3: he's profitable to him for the ministry. Bring John Mark.
1:14:15
Speaker 3: I want to believe they made it to the cell
1:14:18
Speaker 3: and were allowed entrance for a brief visit. As the
1:14:22
Speaker 3: men embraced you, Wonder what they prayed? You? Wonder which
1:14:29
Speaker 3: song or him they sang? You? Wonder what Paul and
1:14:39
Speaker 3: Timothy said to one another as they thought back over
1:14:46
Speaker 3: those years of travel together. Great moment. As you read
1:14:55
Speaker 3: your Bible, allow your imagination to float along with you.
1:15:01
Speaker 3: Relive the scenes you uncover. Otherwise, these words simply appear
1:15:11
Speaker 3: on a page and you go to the next page. Pause, Pause,
1:15:16
Speaker 3: will let the wonder in. If he were in prison today,
1:15:23
Speaker 3: one wonders if he might break into praise the Savior.
1:15:28
Speaker 1: Ye who know him?
1:15:28
Speaker 3: Who can tell how much we owe him? Gladly let
1:15:32
Speaker 3: us render to him all we are and have. Jesus
1:15:36
Speaker 3: is the name that charms us. He for conflict fits
1:15:40
Speaker 3: and arms us. Nothing moves and nothing harms us. While
1:15:45
Speaker 3: we trust in him. Trust in him, you saints forever.
1:15:48
Speaker 3: He is faithful, changing. Never neither force nor guile can
1:15:52
Speaker 3: sever those he loves from him. Keep us, Lord, no,
1:15:56
Speaker 3: keep us cleaving to thyself and still believing till the
1:16:00
Speaker 3: hour of our receiving promised joys with the Then we
1:16:04
Speaker 3: shall be where we would be. Then we shall be
1:16:07
Speaker 3: what we should be. Things that are not now nor
1:16:10
Speaker 3: could be soon shall be our own. What a great
1:16:16
Speaker 3: hymn to sing together? Or majestic sweetness sits enthroned upon
1:16:22
Speaker 3: the Savior's brow, his head with radiant, glorious crown, his
1:16:27
Speaker 3: lips with grace or flow, his lips with grace or flow.
1:16:36
Speaker 3: He saw me plunged in deep despair, and flew to
1:16:40
Speaker 3: my relief For me, He bore the shameful cross and
1:16:47
Speaker 3: carries all my grief, and carries all my grief. What
1:16:57
Speaker 3: song will you sing in the cell if you are
1:17:00
Speaker 3: someday incarcerated for your faith? What scripture will you quote
1:17:07
Speaker 3: to another that you have committed to memory, knowing that
1:17:14
Speaker 3: you'll not be allowed to have a copy of the
1:17:16
Speaker 3: Bible with you. When Paul wrote his beloved son in
1:17:25
Speaker 3: the Faith, Timothy, he was living out the final dream
1:17:33
Speaker 3: of his life. It's his moment to warn him, to
1:17:41
Speaker 3: encourage him to stir up the gift within him, to
1:17:51
Speaker 3: prompt him to step up. Don't be afraid of suffering.
1:17:56
Speaker 3: Savage times are coming. I mean, if you had lived
1:18:02
Speaker 3: in that day, you could easily think that wrong is
1:18:06
Speaker 3: winning and right is being lost. James Russell Lowell wrote
1:18:14
Speaker 3: about it. Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on
1:18:21
Speaker 3: the prone. But keep reading. But that scaffle sways the
1:18:28
Speaker 3: future and beyond the dim unknown standard of God within
1:18:32
Speaker 3: the shadows, keeping watch above his own. You know there's
1:18:39
Speaker 3: a beautiful irony when you contrast Paul's life with Nero.
1:18:51
Speaker 3: One man put it well. He said, we will live
1:18:53
Speaker 3: to see the day when people will name their sons
1:18:57
Speaker 3: Paul and their dogs Nero. I love that never forget,
1:19:08
Speaker 3: Never forget. God has his way in the world, and
1:19:13
Speaker 3: the storms and the clouds are but the dust of
1:19:16
Speaker 3: his feet. Paul didn't write as a depressed man, but
1:19:26
Speaker 3: as an urgent man. He says to Timothy, my life
1:19:35
Speaker 3: is being poured out as a drink, offering strange words
1:19:39
Speaker 3: to us, but not to those in that day. Asian
1:19:45
Speaker 3: Jews would use those words to describe what they would
1:19:49
Speaker 3: do when they would pour out red wine at the
1:19:53
Speaker 3: base of an altar when death was near. Paul says,
1:19:59
Speaker 3: it's near, it's coming. There's no fear in his writings.
1:20:06
Speaker 3: There's no reluctance about the reality of where he was.
1:20:11
Speaker 3: My life is poured out as a drink offering, and
1:20:18
Speaker 3: the time of my departure has come. What a beautiful
1:20:22
Speaker 3: word departure Three word pictures emerge from the original word.
1:20:30
Speaker 3: Translated departure one is of an auction that is suddenly
1:20:36
Speaker 3: unyoked from its burden. Whether it's pulling a cart or
1:20:43
Speaker 3: carrying a load, he's unyoked from the burden. It's also
1:20:49
Speaker 3: used of pulling up tent pegs and striking tent and
1:20:55
Speaker 3: moving on to another location. Also of loosening the ropes
1:21:04
Speaker 3: at the pier so the large ship can move out
1:21:08
Speaker 3: into the deep and begin its voyage. All three applied
1:21:14
Speaker 3: to Paul's life. The time of my being unburdened is
1:21:19
Speaker 3: upon me. I'm being unyoked from the cares of this age.
1:21:27
Speaker 3: My tent pegs are shallow, My location will change shortly.
1:21:34
Speaker 3: Maybe he remembered what he had written to the Corinthians,
1:21:40
Speaker 3: beautiful words as he talks about for me to live
1:21:46
Speaker 3: as Christ, but to die is gained. Oh death, where
1:21:56
Speaker 3: is your sting grave? Where's your victory? The sting of
1:21:59
Speaker 3: death to sin? The strength of sin is the law.
1:22:02
Speaker 3: But thanks me to God who gives us the victory,
1:22:05
Speaker 3: the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, or perhaps what
1:22:13
Speaker 3: he had left in the minds of the Romans. I
1:22:20
Speaker 3: am persuaded. Neither death, notice what he names first. Neither death,
1:22:25
Speaker 3: nor nor life, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
1:22:30
Speaker 3: nor things to come, nor height, nor death nor any
1:22:35
Speaker 3: other created things shall separate me from the love of God,
1:22:40
Speaker 3: which is in Christ, Jesus my Lord. They may separate
1:22:44
Speaker 3: my head from my body, but they will never separate
1:22:48
Speaker 3: me from the love of my Lord. I am secure
1:22:53
Speaker 3: in him, Timothy, my departure is coming soon. Interesting Paul,
1:23:04
Speaker 3: in writing these three verses, addresses his present. First, my
1:23:10
Speaker 3: life is poured out as a drink, offering that's now.
1:23:14
Speaker 3: The time of my departure has come. That's now. Then
1:23:19
Speaker 3: he looks back, looks at the past. Normally, Paul deals
1:23:23
Speaker 3: with the past, and then the present and the future.
1:23:27
Speaker 3: Now it's the present, and now he looks back at
1:23:30
Speaker 3: the past. And in each case of the three, he
1:23:35
Speaker 3: puts the object before the verb. He writes of this
1:23:43
Speaker 3: fight that he has been fighting, and he says, the
1:23:48
Speaker 3: good fight I have thought. I like the way he
1:23:51
Speaker 3: puts it. It's not a needless fight. It's not a
1:23:55
Speaker 3: selfish fight. It's not a silly skirmish fought because he's
1:24:00
Speaker 3: arguing over some detail that doesn't matter. No, this is
1:24:05
Speaker 3: a fight for the truth. This is a fight against
1:24:09
Speaker 3: false teaching. This is a fight against those who would
1:24:16
Speaker 3: hurt the believers, who would take advantage of God's people,
1:24:23
Speaker 3: who would put obstacles in the way of those who
1:24:27
Speaker 3: carry the message of Christ. I've stood in the defense
1:24:32
Speaker 3: of many. The fight, I thought is a good fight.
1:24:38
Speaker 3: The next term he uses the colorful because Paul, who
1:24:42
Speaker 3: loved athletic analogies, said the race I have finished, not
1:24:52
Speaker 3: just run the race, but I've now finished it. My
1:24:57
Speaker 3: life is virtually done. You read it, and you bite
1:25:03
Speaker 3: your lift to keep from weeping when you think of that.
1:25:06
Speaker 3: Not Paul, He isn't weeping, He isn't sad. God set
1:25:15
Speaker 3: out the course, and he believed the Lord led him
1:25:19
Speaker 3: all the way from the road to Damascus where he
1:25:23
Speaker 3: was converted, all the way to the prison where he's
1:25:27
Speaker 3: now held in Rome. God has led him all the way,
1:25:35
Speaker 3: and he's run that race to the finish line. He's
1:25:39
Speaker 3: run through the tape. He's finished it. He saying to Timothy,
1:25:47
Speaker 3: Finish what you begin. One of my favorite lines when
1:25:53
Speaker 3: I speak at the seminary is, don't just begin your course,
1:25:58
Speaker 3: finish your your plan, finish your degree, stay with it,
1:26:04
Speaker 3: don't pull away from it. It's hard, because ministry is hard,
1:26:10
Speaker 3: and I say to all of you, and I know
1:26:13
Speaker 3: some of you are in dire straits. Times are difficult,
1:26:18
Speaker 3: maybe more difficult now than ever in your life. Finish
1:26:22
Speaker 3: the race. It's worth it all. There's a sense of
1:26:28
Speaker 3: satisfaction that comes when you break the tape and you've
1:26:33
Speaker 3: gone all the way to the end. I fought the
1:26:41
Speaker 3: good fight. I've finished the race. I've kept the faith,
1:26:50
Speaker 3: the truth of God's desire for me. I've stood fast
1:26:58
Speaker 3: for it. I've taken blows because of it. I've stood
1:27:04
Speaker 3: against those who would make light of it. I've had
1:27:12
Speaker 3: very little persecution in my life, very little. And it's
1:27:19
Speaker 3: easy to think we have been hurt because of the
1:27:24
Speaker 3: Gospel until we compare ourselves with those who wandered about
1:27:28
Speaker 3: in sheepskins, and they were destitute, afflicted, and tormented. They
1:27:34
Speaker 3: were people of whom the world was not worthy. I
1:27:37
Speaker 3: remember years ago when Swede Anderson, with crusade campus Crusade
1:27:42
Speaker 3: for Christ invited me to go to the Oklahoma University
1:27:45
Speaker 3: of Oklahoma campus and speak on one of the free
1:27:48
Speaker 3: speech platforms. This was back in my last year at seminary.
1:27:54
Speaker 3: And I said to Swede, man, that's pretty tough stuff.
1:27:59
Speaker 3: And he said, yeah, it's good for us. Let's go together.
1:28:02
Speaker 3: And I went with him and I stood on this
1:28:05
Speaker 3: priest speech platform. He stood over there, sort of shouting
1:28:08
Speaker 3: distance away from each other, and all of a sudden,
1:28:11
Speaker 3: I'm out there doing my best to preach to an
1:28:15
Speaker 3: audience of people that were passing by, some standing and
1:28:18
Speaker 3: staring and some sneering, and all of a sudden I
1:28:23
Speaker 3: got hit with a tomato. I thought, oh, man, this
1:28:28
Speaker 3: is a real tough persecution man. So I said, sweet,
1:28:33
Speaker 3: I got it, tomato throne. He said, yeah, it's exciting.
1:28:36
Speaker 3: This gets only better. You and I will know a
1:28:43
Speaker 3: day quite likely when savage times will get worse, and
1:28:53
Speaker 3: we may be incarcerated for our faith, and we will
1:29:00
Speaker 3: be brought before a judge and we will be tempted
1:29:10
Speaker 3: to recant. You know how you prepare for that moment
1:29:20
Speaker 3: now in times like this, sitting where you're sitting, Lord,
1:29:32
Speaker 3: give me that kind of faith. Give me that kind
1:29:35
Speaker 3: of internal strength that I won't back down, whether a
1:29:42
Speaker 3: rotten tomato was thrown on me or a gun is
1:29:45
Speaker 3: pointed into my face. Give me the courage to stand
1:29:49
Speaker 3: firm and not give in. Then, says to Timothy, there's
1:30:03
Speaker 3: a marvelous future awaiting us because of these things. That
1:30:11
Speaker 3: the crown of righteousness definite article, the crown of righteousness.
1:30:16
Speaker 3: Five crowns are named in the New Testament. It's a
1:30:20
Speaker 3: little homework for all of you. Get your bible, look
1:30:24
Speaker 3: in the back under the lexicon in the back of
1:30:27
Speaker 3: your bible, and look up crowns, and you will find
1:30:31
Speaker 3: five different crowns given for five different acts of faith. Note,
1:30:40
Speaker 3: then this is the crown of righteousness given by the
1:30:44
Speaker 3: righteous judge. Unlike, unlike the one who judged me and
1:30:50
Speaker 3: threw me into this dungeon. No, this will be the
1:30:55
Speaker 3: righteous judge, and I'll give an account, and the righteous
1:31:01
Speaker 3: Judge will reward me with the crown of righteousness. And we, together,
1:31:08
Speaker 3: as God's people, in the glories of heaven, will cast
1:31:13
Speaker 3: these crowns before him. That time awaits us, you will
1:31:21
Speaker 3: have yours. There's an old old country song that says,
1:31:30
Speaker 3: will there be any stars, any stars in my crown
1:31:34
Speaker 3: when an evening the sun goes down. Well, the answer
1:31:39
Speaker 3: to that is no, there won't be. There's no stars
1:31:42
Speaker 3: in crowns, but there are crowns. When you look through
1:31:47
Speaker 3: the five crowns, take note of why they will be
1:31:51
Speaker 3: awarded us, and because the Lord tells us of them.
1:31:56
Speaker 3: It isn't with the wrong motive. With those crowns in mind,
1:32:03
Speaker 3: there will be rewards for a job well done. He
1:32:10
Speaker 3: will not overlook that. He will honor that in your
1:32:16
Speaker 3: life and in mind. Paul leaves it with Timothy to
1:32:23
Speaker 3: ponder these thoughts which he may have done. Is he
1:32:27
Speaker 3: made the journey from Emphasis to Rome? If in fact
1:32:31
Speaker 3: he made it. You know what Paul is doing. Paul
1:32:39
Speaker 3: is in a relay and he's handing off the truth
1:32:46
Speaker 3: to Timothy. My favorite event in the Olympics is the relay.
1:32:55
Speaker 3: I love it because it's a team sport. You don't
1:32:59
Speaker 3: run relay alone. You run it with others, usually four
1:33:04
Speaker 3: in the relay, and the most critical part is the
1:33:07
Speaker 3: handoff of the baton. That's a good looking baton, is it?
1:33:14
Speaker 3: Din't you like that? I didn't know they came in gold,
1:33:18
Speaker 3: but they do. It fits. Paul has golden truth to
1:33:27
Speaker 3: pass off to Timothy, and he wants to make sure
1:33:32
Speaker 3: the handoff is solid. He's told Timothy in this letter,
1:33:38
Speaker 3: hold that truth high, lift it up, make certain that
1:33:44
Speaker 3: you honor the Savior who has calm and saved your soul,
1:33:53
Speaker 3: and then embrace it. Take it under yourself. Then live
1:34:02
Speaker 3: it out, be a model of it. Don't just talk
1:34:05
Speaker 3: about it and claim it.
1:34:07
Speaker 1: Live it.
1:34:11
Speaker 3: Pass it on, but first guard it well. Guard it well,
1:34:18
Speaker 3: because you will always be in a context of those
1:34:23
Speaker 3: who will try to weaken the message of the truth.
1:34:29
Speaker 3: Stand for it. Then when you pass it on, make
1:34:34
Speaker 3: sure you've prepared that individual for the truth. Mentor that
1:34:39
Speaker 3: person are you mentoring? Are you spending your life with
1:34:48
Speaker 3: a few that can learn from you the things you've learned?
1:34:53
Speaker 3: Are you handing off the message? It is my privilege
1:35:03
Speaker 3: at this church to hand off this baton one per
1:35:11
Speaker 3: man to four individuals. These are men in whom I
1:35:17
Speaker 3: have confidence. These are men who have spent years in
1:35:22
Speaker 3: training in preparation for their role leading God's people, but
1:35:31
Speaker 3: first embracing the truth themselves. You know them unless you
1:35:39
Speaker 3: are a guest of ours today and may not have
1:35:41
Speaker 3: met them. You who are a part of Stonebrier Church,
1:35:46
Speaker 3: you know them. I'll call them to be here beside me.
1:35:50
Speaker 3: Jonathan Murphy, our pastor, and coming up in the days ahead,
1:35:57
Speaker 3: he will fill this pulpit. He'll receive a baton that
1:36:03
Speaker 3: I've asked him and the other men to place on
1:36:07
Speaker 3: their desk, maybe on their wall, or at a place
1:36:11
Speaker 3: where they will not forget this day where the truth
1:36:15
Speaker 3: is being handed off. The ministry of stoneba our church
1:36:20
Speaker 3: will be a part of Jonathan's life, and you will
1:36:24
Speaker 3: be fed the truth as God feeds it to him,
1:36:29
Speaker 3: and he then feeds it to us next as Chip Dickens.
1:36:38
Speaker 3: You don't miss Chip because he stands about eight feet
1:36:41
Speaker 3: four inches tall, or at least it feels like that
1:36:44
Speaker 3: when you stand beside him. Chip is leading us in
1:36:48
Speaker 3: strategic planning for our church or we have a future
1:36:54
Speaker 3: ahead of us. There are great days coming. I mean,
1:36:59
Speaker 3: our dreams are greater than our memories, and he will
1:37:03
Speaker 3: help us see what those dreams can be and we'll
1:37:07
Speaker 3: be a part of that. We'll pray for those dreams
1:37:11
Speaker 3: and we'll fund those dreams and we'll watch them transpire.
1:37:15
Speaker 3: Chip Dickens will cover that based for us. Then we'll
1:37:20
Speaker 3: come a name you've heard for years, and that's Charleston Hyatt.
1:37:24
Speaker 3: Charleston has been with us almost all of these twenty
1:37:28
Speaker 3: six years. He's the senior member of our senior staff
1:37:32
Speaker 3: when he comes to time and grade as we see
1:37:35
Speaker 3: in the military, and Charleston will represent that for us.
1:37:40
Speaker 3: He will shepherd the staff and will help with the
1:37:45
Speaker 3: counseling ministry and watch over that. And we'll be a
1:37:48
Speaker 3: friend for all of you as he has been through
1:37:51
Speaker 3: these years. And then Don McMahon will lead us continually
1:37:57
Speaker 3: in the arts, in music, the ministry that touches our
1:38:02
Speaker 3: lives deeply, where the soil of our soul is prepared
1:38:07
Speaker 3: for the sowing of the seed. That will be Don's
1:38:10
Speaker 3: continued role. I've urged these men stay put, stay edit.
1:38:17
Speaker 3: I'll be right down here benefiting from your ministry. But
1:38:23
Speaker 3: for this moment, which is a bit of an ethical moment,
1:38:27
Speaker 3: I want to take time to hand off of aton
1:38:30
Speaker 3: to each one. And as I do, listen to the name,
1:38:37
Speaker 3: remember those names in prayer in the days ahead. First,
1:38:43
Speaker 3: Jonathan Murphy, our senior pastor, Handle.
1:38:50
Speaker 1: You love me for.
1:38:53
Speaker 4: I don't know anything.
1:38:54
Speaker 3: Time, God blessing and now Chip Dickens the giant. Thank
1:39:07
Speaker 3: you brothers, somebody allow you quickly. Thank you man, thank
1:39:12
Speaker 3: you for thank you for your presence here. And Charles
1:39:17
Speaker 3: and Hyatt who would guide our shepherding work in Cawnforna, Chuck,
1:39:24
Speaker 3: I go, you bout women, you do more than you
1:39:30
Speaker 3: in your life? Well I've got one more. Don McMahon,
1:39:42
Speaker 3: h that the tuck. What would you do than what
1:39:45
Speaker 3: you're doing? Thank you and you continue to do. It's
1:40:01
Speaker 3: a magnificent moment for me. God is in this. The
1:40:08
Speaker 3: smooth transition has been wonderful to live through. Actually, I've
1:40:17
Speaker 3: found delight in all of it. I've shed no tears.
1:40:21
Speaker 3: I mean, how could I four men taking my place? No, no, no,
1:40:36
Speaker 3: that's one of those stupid lines. I'll say to myself tonight.
1:40:39
Speaker 3: Why did you say that? These are men under themselves,
1:40:45
Speaker 3: living before the Lord God, with lives of integrity and
1:40:51
Speaker 3: committed to purity. They will never bring shame, disappointment or
1:40:57
Speaker 3: embarrassment to this assembly. Their wives are standing alongside them
1:41:05
Speaker 3: in their hearts. They will be part of their lives
1:41:10
Speaker 3: for the rest of their days. How grateful we are
1:41:14
Speaker 3: for Jonathan and Chip and Charlton and don what a
1:41:21
Speaker 3: team to continue to lead us. Will you bow with me, please,
1:41:28
Speaker 3: just where you're sitting and now unto him who is
1:41:38
Speaker 3: able to guard us from stumbling, and will present us
1:41:45
Speaker 3: faultless before his presence with exceeding great joy to the
1:41:52
Speaker 3: only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty and
1:41:58
Speaker 3: dominion and power forever and ever and ever. And God's
1:42:09
Speaker 3: people together said amen, please stand for the doxology Mu