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Psalm 119:121-128 - Ayin · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. Hope that you're having a good
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  day. Today we are in Psalm 119 and we
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  are looking at verses 121 through one, 28121 through 128,
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  and these verses all start with the Hebrew letter ayin ayin.
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  And in these verses I'm going to describe this as a holy
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  discontentment. A holy discontentment.
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  So often as we look at the Word of God, at our relationship with
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  God, we expect things to happen instantaneously.
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  We expect for good things to happen and we don't really know
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  how to react or how we're supposed to react when things
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  don't go according to plan, like when things go wrong, when stuff
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  is taking too long. And I think this particular
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  portion of Psalm 119, looking at the word of God can really help
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  us to understand, number one, that God sees your emotions
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  during times of waiting and dissatisfaction and he knows and
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  he cares. And he actually gave us some of
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  these words that we can pray to God.
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  So if you are praying for something right now and God
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  hasn't done it yet, He hasn't brought it to pass, you think
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  that it's time for Him to act. Pray the words of this Psalm and
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  find encouragement. Know that God knows exactly
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  where you're at in this moment in time, and He's not judging
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  you for some of that holy dissatisfaction.
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  There's a truth that I heard a song in my high school years by
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  Laura Story, the song called Blessings.
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  Many of you are familiar with it.
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  I'm certain that, you know, K Love played it to death.
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  Maybe they still play it to death, I don't know.
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  But the the song says, what if the aching of this life?
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  What if my greatest disappointments and the aching
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  of this life are the revealing of a greater thirst that this
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  world can't satisfy? Or I think there's an old CS
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  Lewis quote that says if we have a longing that nothing in this
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  world can satisfy, then it's an indication that I was not made
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  for this world. A part of what we so need as
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  humans is to be able to experience the fullness of God
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  that we can't right now because of our sin.
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  Cursed world. Christ has not yet returned.
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  When He returns, we will find eternal growth and learning and
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  satisfaction in getting to know Him more and more and more
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  throughout the eternal ages. And because He is eternal and
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  endless and perfect in every way, even the more that we learn
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  about him, we will never learn everything there is to know
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  about God because there's always more and more to learn about
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  Him. And I love just that thought
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  that that meditation. What that has to do with this
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  passage is when we experience dissatisfaction, it's because
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  there is a portion of God that we know is there that we want to
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  experience. We want to experience God's
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  nature and his character and his presence and his will being
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  accomplished. And so even our dissatisfaction
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  with the with the status quo is not inherently sinful.
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  It's not inherently a problem. You are expecting the fullness
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  of God and throughout all eternity, you will get to
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  experience and learn that more and more and more.
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  So let's read through these verses and you'll probably get
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  a, a better handle on on some of what I'm saying.
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  Verse 121 I have done what is just and right.
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  Do not leave me to my oppressors.
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  Guarantee Your servant's well-being.
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  Don't let the arrogant oppress me.
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  My eyes grow weary, looking for Your salvation and for Your
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  righteous promise. Deal with Your servant based on
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  Your faithful love. Teach me your statutes.
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  I am your servant. Give me understanding so that I
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  may know Your decrees. It is time for Yahweh to act,
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  for they violated Your instruction.
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  Since I love Your commands more than gold, even the purest gold,
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  I carefully follow all your precepts and hate every false
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  way. Let's begin in verse 121 and see
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  about a holy dissatisfaction with the status quo and how we
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  can pray to God as a result. Says I have done what is just
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  and right. Do not leave me to my oppressors
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  here. There are people that do not
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  care if you walk with God. They don't care if you are doing
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  what the Lord has asked you to do.
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  They either want to take what you have.
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  They want to judge you for following the Lord, that they
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  think there's a better way to live.
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  And here the psalmist says, God, I have done what is Justin
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  right? What should be happening to me
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  is like reward or gratitude or relationship or fellowship.
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  That's what I should be experiencing, but instead I'm
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  experiencing people oppressing me and many of us have gone
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  through circumstances like that. Can I encourage you?
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  When you have done what is just and what is right, you can take
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  it to the bank that God will reward you.
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  We read in Hebrews Chapter 11 and verse number six.
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  Those that come to God must believe that He exists and that
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  He rewards those who diligently seek Him.
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  So as you are doing what is right, as you are pursuing the
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  Lord and His way and His method of interacting, know that God
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  will reward you for that one day.
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  And you can pray that God would begin giving you those rewards.
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  I'm thankful that in my life, I, I haven't just had to wait for
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  great someday for God to come through on his word.
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  I'm thankful that I'll, I'll say right now within my marriage for
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  times when I was rude or when I was proud or when I didn't
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  listen. And I turned from some of those
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  things into I want to be humble with my wife.
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  I want to be kind. I want to try and work
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  diligently to give her what she's deserving of, not just in
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  like the workplace, but within our our home that it would be a
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  good environment. Even, you know, sometimes quote
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  UN quote, silly stuff like helping the kids clean their
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  room can make my wife's evening much better.
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  And so as I have followed what God has said about how to treat
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  my wife, man, I am so thankful for my relationship with
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  Samantha that I I get to every single day experience the reward
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  of a loving, kind, respectful relationship that we have with
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  one another. It's a blast.
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  Like I love spending time with her and I'm thankful that God
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  has given me a reward. He's given me goodness as a
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  result of I followed His way and good came.
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  Now, not in every area of my life where I've done right have
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  I yet experienced the rewards for all the stuff.
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  There are times when I've treated people in a way that
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  that God's word has said and they have treated like the world
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  would treat or they would treat in the way that that Satan would
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  want them to retaliate. But in those moments where we
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  go, God, I know that in this situation I have done what is
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  right. I am not always going to
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  immediately receive the reward. I recognize God will eventually
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  reward me either here or hereafter.
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  But God, would you reward me? Would you not leave me to the
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  oppressors instead? Would you respond to me?
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  Would you bring me with you that I leave the oppressors behind if
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  you will? Verse 122 guarantee your
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  servants well-being. Do not let the arrogant oppress
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  me. He says, God, I have like
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  humility in how I am interacting.
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  And so God, as I am humble before you, I am wanting you to
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  look after me. Don't let the proud people,
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  don't let them destroy me. And this is a prayer that we can
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  pray to God when we are experiencing oppression.
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  God, would you help my well-being?
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  I kind of want to look at what this word is in Hebrew.
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  Oh, this is taupe. It is what is good.
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  So the the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
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  He says guarantee your servants good that I have what is right
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  within this life and you can ask you can ask the Lord this.
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  Did you know that you can say God?
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  I really right now with my coworkers, there is a lot of
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  hatred and animosity that is happening.
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  God, I just want a good workplace.
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  Would you help me? And God may or may not follow
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  through on that eventually. Your good is absolutely
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  guaranteed. It's guaranteed by what Jesus
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  did for us on the cross and in his resurrection.
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  But you can pray for your well-being that it would be told
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  that it would be good with you and that the arrogant would not.
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  The proud would not win. Verse 123 my eyes grow weary
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  looking for your salvation and for your righteous promise.
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  You can say, God, I'm just tired right now.
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  I'm exhausted. I, I don't know if I can keep my
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  eyes on the horizon looking for the, the hope, the the good day
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  that you have promised. And can I tell you when you pray
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  that God knows and He cares and He doesn't, if you will, He
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  doesn't look down on you for saying, God, I'm exhausted.
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  As you pray that to God, as you pray God, I'm at the end of my
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  rope. God is near to the broken
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  hearted. He loves those who are cast down
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  and he rejoices in being able to lift those people up and being
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  able to stand by them when no one else does and being able to
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  provide for their needs in ways that no one could have ever seen
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  coming. So I want to encourage you pray
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  to the Lord even when you are tired and done.
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  God will hear and he will answer verse 124 deal with your servant
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  based on your faithful love. Teach me your statutes.
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  He says, God, I need you to treat me like you made a
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  relationship, a covenant with me here, faithful love.
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  It's I said it's God's loyal, steadfast covenant, faithful
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  love. And so he says, God treat me
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  like you, you signed that marriage contract.
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  And so we, we are in a covenant together.
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  Treat me that way. If it's just me, I'm thinking,
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  man, that that seems like a kind of disrespectful way to talk to
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  God like God, act like you love me, act like you signed the
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  covenant. But I love that God put this
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  here in his word in Psalm 119, and this is a prayer that I can
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  pray just with raw human emotion of despair and grief and sorrow
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  and hurt. I can say, God, treat me like
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  you saved me. Treat me like you have adopted
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  me as your child and God will hear and care about that.
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  He is not going to strike you with lightning as you pray raw
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  and from the heart to your father.
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  Verse 125 I am your servant. Give me understanding so that I
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  may know your decrees. He says God I work for you.
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  Help me to understand what I'm supposed to be doing when you
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  just feel lost in your life. I can think back to when I was
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  searching for a church. We knew we wanted to be around
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  family. My family didn't really know
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  where they were going to be living and we had initially
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  looked at a church in Colorado and Colorado's where I grew up.
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  I love Colorado, I love the scenery, I love the environment.
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  There's just I, I love everything about Colorado.
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  And we had, we'd gone through an interview process at a church
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  and it just became clear through our time there that it was not
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  what the Lord would have for us. And they actually invited me to
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  come out and to candidate where where we'd be voted on by the
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  congregation. But I just knew this is not what
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  God has for me. And after that, I didn't know
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  what the next step was. I didn't know if God just wanted
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  us to stick around where we were at in Washington.
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  I didn't know if you wanted me to do something else.
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  And and so I can remember asking God to guide me.
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  Like God, I want to do whatever you have for me.
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  But would you show me what I'm supposed to be doing?
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  And when we pray that God can line out the way and God did it
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  in the perfect time to where I reached out to Tabernacle at a
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  time when they would actually, you know, consider my my resume,
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  my application when they would consider me as a person.
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  We actually happen to be out here in Maryland celebrating my
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  in laws anniversary and my mother in law's birthday and my
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  mother in And as you serve the Lord, He
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  will give you understanding so that you can know what you are
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  supposed to do in your life. And so I want to encourage you
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  be praying for the Lord to show you the next steps, but have a
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  commitment. Whatever he talks to you about,
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  whatever direction he wants you to go, that you're going to do
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  it. He's not always going to tell
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  you to just do what your heart wants to do.
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  He's going to guide you in the way that is best.
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  Verse 126, it is time for Yahweh to act for they have violated
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  your instruction. Can you imagine telling God, Hey
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  God, you need to get up and do something?
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  I think about Mary and Martha. Mary's sitting there at the feet
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  of Jesus. Martha is super just down laden
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  with a whole bunch of serving. I think the King James has it.
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  She's cumbered about with much serving.
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  She, she's just doing and doing and doing and, and cooking for
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  Christ in the apostles and Jesus and she tells Jesus, Jesus tell
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  Mary to help me because I'm doing all of this work.
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  And Jesus tells Martha lovingly, caringly, there is one important
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  thing. You you're worried about a lot
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  of stuff, but there's one important thing and Mary has
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  chosen that one important thing and it's not going to be taken
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  away from her. Sometimes we think that God
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  needs to act. We think he needs to judge.
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  We think he needs to punish. And the truth is we need to
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  change in those moments where maybe like Martha and we're
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  like, God, I need you to act. I need you to do this on my
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  timetable. And God says, no, actually, I
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  need you to rethink the situation now.
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  It very well could be that it is God's time to act.
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  And as you pray God, would you act?
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  Would you punish? Would you do this or that?
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  God will come through. I can tell you, I think I've
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  mentioned this before on the podcast.
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  There have been a couple of times even as a pastor where
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  someone did something, said something that they definitely
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  like should not have done it. It was it was harmful.
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  It was hurtful and very, very closely after normally within
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  day, couple days, sometimes couple weeks, something happens
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  to them that's like big, it's crazy.
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  It's very out of the ordinary. But every time that it happens
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  and I I've I've had the Holy Spirit both go like, Hey, make
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  sure like you're loving and caring for this person, like
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  they're going through hardships. People aren't your enemy.
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  Satan is your enemy. But then there's also been a
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  like, hey, I'm watching out for you.
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  I'm caring for you. And so I've begun kind of
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  leaning into it a little bit just to go like, hey, Lord, you
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  see the circumstance, you hear what's going on?
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  Would you do just or would you do justice?
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  Would you act justly in this situation?
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  Would you take care of this? I'm not going to be the one to
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  like harm someone else, but God, I'm hurting right now and I want
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  there to be like reconciliation. I want there to be just an
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  understanding of, hey, this was wrong.
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  This was not right. God, would you deal with this?
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  And I've seen him do it several times.
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  It always freaks me out too, because I'm like, Oh my word,
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  well, I know this wasn't me, like this was God, but God, it,
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  it blows my mind how you act and how you operate.
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  So you can certainly pray for the Lord to act, but pray again
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  according to the Lord's will, not your own will, and then
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  always be looking even in God's justice.
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  Let that move you towards compassion and love and care for
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  others. Don't let it move you towards
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  like a superiority mindset of Oh yeah, they got theirs.
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  No care for those that have experienced hardship, whether
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  from the hand of God directly from the hand of God or not.
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  Care about them and love them and care for them.
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  Verse 127 Since I love your commands more than gold, even
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  the purest gold, I carefully follow all your precepts and
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  hate every false way you can tell God, God, I am pursuing
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  you. I, I love you.
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  I want to follow you. It doesn't matter what other
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  people want. It doesn't matter if I can make
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  more money if I was just doing things kind of the world's way
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  instead of God's way, or I could keep more money in my pocket if
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  I, you know, wasn't giving to the Lord's work or wasn't being
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  generous to the poor or something like that.
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  You, you can tell God, God don't.
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  Don't you see the way that I am loving and pursuing you and God
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  knows and He cares and He will not allow your love for Him and
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  your service towards Him and your care for other people and
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  your love. He will not allow that to go
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  unrewarded. I mentioned in a sermon several
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  weeks ago now where Jesus mentions to His disciples there
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  is no one that has given up. His family is his mother or
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  father or lands or friends who will not receive 3060 or 100
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  times that amount. And certainly we know that's not
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  that's very rarely true in the here and now, but certainly we
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  can believe in the promise of that new heaven and new earth
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  that is Jesus creates that there is eternal reward and blessing
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  for those that choose to center their life around the Son of
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  God. Well, this I got to tell you
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  guys, this portion of Scripture is just it's really rich.
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  I I hope that as I talked through, even as you read
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  through these verses, that the tone and the mindset of this
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  portion of someone 19 came across in, in how I in how I
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  talked. I do want to say I would always
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  love to hear from you on if the podcast is a blessing to you.
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  If you're, if you're watching it, if you're listening to it, I
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  would love to hear from you. Number one, it, it helps me to
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  know like, hey, is this beneficial or am I, you know,
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  kind of wasting my time, you know, recording it.
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  Certainly anytime spending the word is a good and worthwhile
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  thing. But for, for some of the effort
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  that's putting in, it's always great to be able to hear from
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  people who are listening to the podcast.
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  I got to talk with a couple of people this past Saturday at
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  time of recording that they were listening to it.
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  It's huge encouragement to me. It also helps me to know even as
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  I'm talking through different applications and things from the
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  passages to know, all right, what what circumstances are
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  people in and is this helpful to them?
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  Obviously the word of God speaks to all areas of life as someone
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  that's currently, you know, in the workplace and in church.
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  I'm married and I have kids. A lot of my, you know, kind of
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  illustrations are applications that come to mind, kind of
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  filter through some of that. But I certainly love hearing
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  whatever background that you are from and want to make sure that
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  this podcast is a blessing and an encouragement to you.
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  And then certainly it helps encourage me.
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  This might sound a little silly, but I mean it very earnestly.
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  Satan's always looking to discourage and dishearten.
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  And anytime that I'm able to hear like, hey, this was an
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  encouragement. This was a blessing.
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  Man, that makes me feel like I can stomp on the devil a few
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  more times and I can keep on going for the glory of Christ.
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  And so I so appreciate all of the encouragement and love from
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  those that have been listening. I feel like maybe a few weeks
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  ago I looked and we've had over 6000 listens to Tabernacle talk
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  and I'm just blown away by that. And my prayer would be Lord be
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  glorified in what I say and what I do.
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  I have actually, I'm going to grab this Bible right over here.
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  I grabbed Bible last year at some point that right here on
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  the cover, pardon me, right here on the cover says let the words
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  of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in
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  your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.
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  And that's my prayer for Tabernacle talk is that as I
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  talk through these things, as I pray over it, as I tell you guys
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  what cuts word says that it would be acceptable in the sight
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  of the Lord and ultimately I want to do everything that I do
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  for him. Thanks for tuning in.
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  Hope you have a wonderful day.