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Jesus’ Magnificent Obsession · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout.
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  Speaker 1: The voice of the archangel, the trump of God, and
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  Speaker 1: the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who
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  Speaker 1: are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
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  Speaker 1: them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
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  Speaker 1: So shall we ever be with the Lord. We will rise.
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  Speaker 1: We will rise. So good. It was a sad day
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  Speaker 1: this week when I got word that my mentor of
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  Speaker 1: some 64 years passed into the Lord's presence. He would
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  Speaker 1: be by the 29th of this month, 95 years old.
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  Speaker 1: Bob Newkirk and I met while I was a young
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  Speaker 1: 20-something Marine on Okinawa, and he was a representative with
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  Speaker 1: the Navigators, and little did I realize that our first
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  Speaker 1: handshake would lead to a friendship that would last a lifetime.
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  Speaker 1: I'm grateful for the touch he had in my life
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  Speaker 1: and the impact for good and for eternity. His body
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  Speaker 1: will one day rise, and if I'm alive when he's
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  Speaker 1: taken up, I'll join him as we will join others
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  Speaker 1: we loved. For when death comes, there's a separation between
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  Speaker 1: the soul, spirit, and the body. The body remains. The
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  Speaker 1: soul is taken immediately to be with the Lord, and
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  Speaker 1: At the resurrection time for all of us, the body
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  Speaker 1: joins the soul and we are joined together forever with
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  Speaker 1: the Lord. How great that will be. Five Sundays remain
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  Speaker 1: before Easter, counting this one. And so for these five Sundays,
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  Speaker 1: we're going to be on a journey with Jesus from
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  Speaker 1: one Sunday to the next as we visit various scenes
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  Speaker 1: along the way as he came nearer and nearer to
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  Speaker 1: the cross. Today we're looking at a passage in Matthew
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  Speaker 1: 16 where he breaks the news to the disciples for
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  Speaker 1: the first time. Imagine that. They knew he was Messiah.
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  Speaker 1: They knew he would come. ultimately conquer, but they didn't
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  Speaker 1: have in their plans that he would die. So it
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  Speaker 1: came as a shock to them. We'll read of it
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  Speaker 1: in Matthew 16, 21 through 26. I'll be reading the
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  Speaker 1: passage from the New Living Translation. I'd like you to
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  Speaker 1: follow along in your Bible. Matthew 16, 21 is the
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  Speaker 1: starting point. Please stand. and remain standing for prayer. From
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  Speaker 1: then on, Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that
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  Speaker 1: it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem and
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  Speaker 1: that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands
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  Speaker 1: of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of
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  Speaker 1: religious law. He would be killed. But on the third day,
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  Speaker 1: he would be raised from the dead. But Peter took
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  Speaker 1: him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things.
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  Speaker 1: Heaven forbid, Lord, he said, this will never happen to you.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus turned to Peter and said, get away from me, Satan.
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  Speaker 1: You are a dangerous trap to me. You're seeing things
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  Speaker 1: merely from a human point of view, not from God's.
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  Speaker 1: Then Jesus said to his disciples, if any of you
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  Speaker 1: wants to be my follower, you must give up your
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  Speaker 1: own way. Take up your cross and follow me. If
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  Speaker 1: you try to hang on to your life, you will
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  Speaker 1: lose it. But if you give up your life for
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  Speaker 1: my sake, you will save it. And what do you
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  Speaker 1: benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your
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  Speaker 1: own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? We
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  Speaker 1: thank you, our Father, for your son, Jesus, and his
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  Speaker 1: magnificent model following his obsession to go to the cross
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  Speaker 1: as you sent him to go. We come to live,
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  Speaker 1: he came to die. So many of us come seeking
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  Speaker 1: our own way He came pursuing yours. What a model
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  Speaker 1: to follow. The personification of obedience. Thank you for Christ
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  Speaker 1: who loved us and gave himself for us. Thank you
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  Speaker 1: for the words he spoke such as these we read today,
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  Speaker 1: give us ears to hear them as if for the
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  Speaker 1: first time. May we see these words in a whole
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  Speaker 1: new light as it relates to our giving up our way,
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  Speaker 1: taking up our cross, and like he, following Jesus. Our
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  Speaker 1: hearts go out today to those who are in a
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  Speaker 1: war they did not want. Defending a country they never
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  Speaker 1: imagined would be brutally taken from them. Give the Ukrainians
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  Speaker 1: great courage. Remove the one who pursues, bludgeons his way
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  Speaker 1: into their land. Take him away, Lord. Remove this plan
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  Speaker 1: to invade. Stop it, we pray, by your grace, for
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  Speaker 1: your glory. In the meantime, may these dear people find
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  Speaker 1: refuge and hope and a reason to go on as
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  Speaker 1: they stand against the tyrant. They're not the first and
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  Speaker 1: will not be the last. in this old world of ours.
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  Speaker 1: Remind us, we pray, as we sit down to an
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  Speaker 1: abundance of food and rest our bodies in comfortable beds,
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  Speaker 1: drive nice cars, wear comfortable clothes, are warm within as
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  Speaker 1: it is cold without, and cool within as it is
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  Speaker 1: hot without. How blessed we are. Thank you, Father. We
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  Speaker 1: do not take this for granted. Thank you, Father, for
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  Speaker 1: dealing with us softly and tenderly, even wooing us to
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  Speaker 1: the cross that we might believe Thank you that your
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  Speaker 1: call is gentle, that you never force your way in.
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  Speaker 1: We hear you today. We're listening carefully. May we be
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  Speaker 1: ready to alter our lives to fit your plan, whatever
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  Speaker 1: it may be. In the name of Jesus, we pray.
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  Speaker 1: Everyone said, amen. You may be seated. The late Winston
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  Speaker 1: Churchill was never one to sort of wander aimlessly through life.
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  Speaker 1: Those who knew him and those of us who love
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  Speaker 1: to read his works know that he was a man
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  Speaker 1: on a mission. In fact, it became an obsession. On
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  Speaker 1: May the 10th, 1940, King George VI asked him to
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  Speaker 1: come and spend some time with him. The 66-year-old prime
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  Speaker 1: minister would be forming a new government and would be
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  Speaker 1: leading his beloved England against the forces of Nazism. When
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  Speaker 1: he met with the king, he realized this was more
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  Speaker 1: than just an assignment, just another responsibility for his life.
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  Speaker 1: As he put it, I felt as if I were
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  Speaker 1: walking with destiny, and that all my past life had
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  Speaker 1: been but a preparation for that hour and for that trial.
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  Speaker 1: We could say that it became for Churchill his magnificent obsession.
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  Speaker 1: He saw it through to the end. He was the
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  Speaker 1: influence that turned the attention of our own president toward Europe.
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  Speaker 1: He was the moving force that would save the land
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  Speaker 1: of England because of this obsession. How different it was
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  Speaker 1: for Jesus Christ. Even before he arrived on this earth,
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  Speaker 1: he understood his mission. It would become his obsession, the cross.
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  Speaker 1: Unlike us who come to live, he came deliberately to die.
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  Speaker 1: For people like you and like me, how grateful we
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  Speaker 1: are that he never lost sight of that. Oh, he
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  Speaker 1: was a little boy in Nazareth growing up there, worked
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  Speaker 1: in Joseph's carpenter shop until he was about 30, and
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  Speaker 1: then he left as he began his itinerant ministry for
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  Speaker 1: the next three, three and a half years. During that time,
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  Speaker 1: he would call 12 men to become his close followers,
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  Speaker 1: his disciples. Interesting choices he made, weren't they? These men
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  Speaker 1: ultimately hung on every word, watched with constant attention the
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  Speaker 1: things he did, the way he handled opposition. They believed
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  Speaker 1: in him. They loved him. They sat alongside him, walked
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  Speaker 1: with him, ate near him, slept beside him, traveled along
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  Speaker 1: the way, having left their own trades and businesses to
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  Speaker 1: be his disciples. but they never expected him to die.
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  Speaker 1: He didn't break that news to them until an epical
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  Speaker 1: moment when they were at Caesarea Philippi. It was there
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  Speaker 1: he decided it's time to tell them the whole story.
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  Speaker 1: It begins with a casual sounding question That we began
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  Speaker 1: reading of in Matthew 16. About verse 13 it is.
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  Speaker 1: Look for yourself. Who do people say that the son
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  Speaker 1: of man is? He asked. What's the word out on
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  Speaker 1: the street? I'm sure they wouldn't tell Jesus who they
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  Speaker 1: thought he was but. What are they saying to you
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  Speaker 1: about me? The answer came rather easily. Some say you're
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  Speaker 1: the baptizer, you're John. Others say you're Elijah, having come
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  Speaker 1: back from beyond. Some say you're Jeremiah. Or one of
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  Speaker 1: the prophets. Then Jesus looked deeply into the eyes of
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  Speaker 1: these men he's been traveling with these three years. Look
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  Speaker 1: at it for yourself. But who do you say that
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  Speaker 1: I am? You can't see it in the English statement,
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  Speaker 1: but the you, the pronoun is plural in the original
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  Speaker 1: Greek text. Who do y'all say that I am? I
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  Speaker 1: thought I'd just use the colloquial. We're used to that.
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  Speaker 1: Or all y'all. Who do all y'all say I am?
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  Speaker 1: Peter doesn't wait for the others to answer. He steps
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  Speaker 1: up and his greatest moment occurs when he steps out
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  Speaker 1: all on his own and he says, You are the Mashiach.
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  Speaker 1: Your Bible may read Christ. Christos. That's the Greek word. Mashiach.
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  Speaker 1: Transliterated from the Hebrew Messiah. Means anointed one. And he
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  Speaker 1: goes on. You are the son of the living God.
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  Speaker 1: I love the way it reads in the original text.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, it's a particular syntactical construction where the definite
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  Speaker 1: article is repeated and the adjective is emphasized. It's called
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  Speaker 1: a restrictive attributive in this syntactical statement. You are the Christ,
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  Speaker 1: the Son of God, the Living One. You see, they
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  Speaker 1: were at Caesarea Philippi, and if you travel there even today,
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  Speaker 1: you can look up On the hillside and see the caves.
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  Speaker 1: Where idolaters worshipped. You can even see images of Pan.
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  Speaker 1: The idol. Caesarea Philippi. Unlike the God Pan. You are
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  Speaker 1: the son of the living God. Peter never stood taller.
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  Speaker 1: My God. Jesus moved him to the front of the
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  Speaker 1: class when he said, blessed are you, Simon Peter. Heaven
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  Speaker 1: has revealed this to you. It hasn't come from some
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  Speaker 1: human source. And I'll say to you that you are Peter, Petras,
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  Speaker 1: the rock. And upon this rock-like statement, I will build
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  Speaker 1: my church. What a moment for Peter. Well, he must
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  Speaker 1: have felt great. Finally, the right answer. And Jesus commends
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  Speaker 1: him without any reservation. After a few more words regarding
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  Speaker 1: the church and their authority, Jesus now moves into greater detail.
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  Speaker 1: Look for yourself. Verse 21. From then on. It's a
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  Speaker 1: turning point. From then on, Jesus began to tell his
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  Speaker 1: disciples plainly. Now watch how he went about it. He
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  Speaker 1: didn't just immediately say, I'm going to be crucified. He
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  Speaker 1: began by saying, it's necessary for me to go to Jerusalem.
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  Speaker 1: That wasn't a shock. They'd been there before. It was
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  Speaker 1: the religious center of the country, still is. We're going
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  Speaker 1: to go back to Jerusalem, fine. And while there, it
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  Speaker 1: is necessary that I must suffer many terrible things at
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  Speaker 1: the hands of the authorities. They've seen him suffer before.
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  Speaker 1: They have no idea what he's referring to here, not fully.
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  Speaker 1: And then he adds, and they will kill me. That's
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  Speaker 1: all they heard. Everything stopped there. If you've ever heard
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  Speaker 1: shocking information, you know how it blocks out everything afterwards.
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  Speaker 1: You don't really hear what is said beyond the shocking statement.
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  Speaker 1: I don't believe they even heard what he said regarding
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  Speaker 1: his being raised from the dead. Peter certainly didn't. He
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  Speaker 1: pulled him aside. Remember how the story reads? He brought
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  Speaker 1: him to the side and he began to reprimand him.
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  Speaker 1: That's a hard one for me to get past. Can
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  Speaker 1: you imagine anyone reprimanding who claims to be a follower
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus? Reprimanding Messiah? Well, maybe the valedictorian of the
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  Speaker 1: class has a right to take a little unfair advantage here.
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  Speaker 1: And he says, no. No, that will never happen to you.
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  Speaker 1: You got that wrong. You're the one that's going to conquer.
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  Speaker 1: You're going to overthrow Rome. You're going to be leading
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  Speaker 1: us into a kingdom and you will reign and we
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  Speaker 1: will reign with you. You're not going to die. You're God.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus doesn't give that statement five seconds before he is
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  Speaker 1: back on it. Stop. Silence. Silence. Get behind me, Satan.
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  Speaker 1: You know, when you read those words from this passage,
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  Speaker 1: if you really read them for what they're meant to say,
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  Speaker 1: it'll put a chill up your back. You've never said
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  Speaker 1: that to anyone, no matter who the enemy is. Most likely.
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  Speaker 1: But you see, he was mouthing the script of the adversaries.
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  Speaker 1: Peter was. And Jesus calls it for what it was.
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  Speaker 1: You sound like the enemy. You're a trap. You're dangerous.
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  Speaker 1: Step aside. Go to the back of the class. He
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  Speaker 1: may have scored high marks on Jesus' identity But when
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  Speaker 1: it came to his obsession, he missed it by a mile.
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  Speaker 1: I am going to die. You see, the death of
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  Speaker 1: the Savior is not a defeat. It's a victory. It's
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  Speaker 1: a victory over sin. It's a victory over death. It's
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  Speaker 1: a victory over the grave. And equally important, it's a
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  Speaker 1: victory over Satan. Satan loses his fangs at the cross.
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  Speaker 1: Don't tell me I'm not going to die. That's the
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  Speaker 1: whole purpose of my coming. While Peter is thinking you
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  Speaker 1: cannot die, Jesus is answering, I must die. I think
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  Speaker 1: at that moment there was silence. Silence. Not only Peter,
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  Speaker 1: I think his lips are now sealed for once. He
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  Speaker 1: stays quiet, red-faced. He has been summarily rebuked and appropriately so.
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  Speaker 1: Still not understanding it, he backs away. And before we
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  Speaker 1: go further, Let me give you the first of three
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  Speaker 1: principles I want to leave with you from the verses
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  Speaker 1: now that follow. This one and the ones that follow.
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  Speaker 1: Please hear them well. They are as relevant now as
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  Speaker 1: they would have been back then. We must never think
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  Speaker 1: that because a death is shockingly unexpected It is therefore unacceptable. Again,
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  Speaker 1: we must never think that because a death is shockingly unexpected,
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  Speaker 1: it is therefore unacceptable. Accept a warning here. May I
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  Speaker 1: give it to you? Take away the word Stop linking
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  Speaker 1: it with death. No one dies prematurely. If we are
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  Speaker 1: going to look at life as God has planned life,
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  Speaker 1: we must look at death as God has planned death. Otherwise,
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  Speaker 1: God is not quite sovereign. Just almost. Which is heresy.
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  Speaker 1: Let me verify this by having you remember. If you
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  Speaker 1: choose not to turn, I'll read it for you. Listen
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  Speaker 1: to the words of Psalm 139, 16. Understand the context.
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  Speaker 1: David writes the psalm. when he gets to verse 13
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  Speaker 1: in the Psalm and down through verse 17, he enters
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  Speaker 1: into the most secret and sacred and sensitive of all places,
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  Speaker 1: the womb of the mother. And he looks at his
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  Speaker 1: own embryo and fetus and ours as well. And he
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  Speaker 1: writes this, referring to God, your eyes have seen My
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  Speaker 1: unformed substance. In the womb, we are still being formed.
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  Speaker 1: So still while being formed, your eyes see me and
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  Speaker 1: see all who have not yet been born. You have
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  Speaker 1: seen my unformed substance and in your book were all
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  Speaker 1: written the days that were ordained for me. Our days
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  Speaker 1: are ordained for us. You hear that and you think,
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  Speaker 1: I don't like that. Well, I don't care. It doesn't
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  Speaker 1: matter what you like or what I like. He says
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  Speaker 1: it and it's true. You believe the day of your
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  Speaker 1: birth was marked out by God for a reason and
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  Speaker 1: a purpose? You better believe it. So it is with
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  Speaker 1: the day of your death. Not one second before, not
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  Speaker 1: one second late. It's in the book, ordained for you.
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  Speaker 1: That will take away you who are overly worried about dying.
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  Speaker 1: And I meet them more and more, unfortunately. Here's a
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  Speaker 1: verse that says this. It's in the book. Our days
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  Speaker 1: are ordained for us. Teach that to your children. Cultivate
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  Speaker 1: a little theology on their part so that they understand
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  Speaker 1: what God's plan is. Our days are ordained for us.
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  Speaker 1: Let me read also Ecclesiastes 3, 1 and 2. There
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  Speaker 1: is an appointed time for everything, a time for every
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  Speaker 1: event under heaven. A time to give birth and a
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  Speaker 1: time to die. You know what's interesting is that Peter
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  Speaker 1: as a youngster and the other disciples as youngsters were
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  Speaker 1: involved in the Jewish synagogue of their of their community,
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  Speaker 1: each one of them Jewish boys that they were. And
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  Speaker 1: both the Psalms, Psalm 139, as well as Ecclesiastes, the
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  Speaker 1: writings of Solomon, Ecclesiastes 3, 1 and 2, both of
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  Speaker 1: them were taught, no doubt, by the rabbi. They heard
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  Speaker 1: these things. But when it came to Jesus, it didn't
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  Speaker 1: seem to fit. You're not supposed to die. He's supposed
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  Speaker 1: to live and live forever. But wait. Without death, his death,
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  Speaker 1: we cannot live forever. The life that he lived qualified
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  Speaker 1: him for the death that he died. And the death
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  Speaker 1: that he died qualifies us for the life he lived.
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  Speaker 1: it's all in the plan you say well it's beyond
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  Speaker 1: me welcome to the club of course it's beyond all
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  Speaker 1: of us you can never get your head around all
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  Speaker 1: of this but that's where your heart plays a major
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  Speaker 1: part In accepting this, Peter has a ways to go
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  Speaker 1: with his heart. Self-willed man that he was, as all
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  Speaker 1: of us are, he had this to learn. So do
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  Speaker 1: not see a death as unacceptable just because it's shockingly unexpected.
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  Speaker 1: This will help you When that time comes and you
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  Speaker 1: lose one that means so much to you. And they're
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  Speaker 1: younger than you. Maybe even your own child. Or your
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  Speaker 1: beloved parent. Whom you've loved all your life. When it's time,
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  Speaker 1: it's time. And Jesus is saying to Peter, that's my time.
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  Speaker 1: I must go to the cross. Our lives are in
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  Speaker 1: God's hands. This is a good time to emphasize this.
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  Speaker 1: I will say what I've said before from this pulpit
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  Speaker 1: so many times. He is the master. We are the servant.
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  Speaker 1: He is the potter. We are the clay. Just don't
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  Speaker 1: get those confused. He is the leader. We are the follower.
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  Speaker 1: He is God. We are not. Accept that. Embrace that.
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  Speaker 1: Teach that. Remember that at those moments when you cannot
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  Speaker 1: explain why to yourself or anyone else. Understand that Our
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  Speaker 1: times are in his hands. His times are not in
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  Speaker 1: our hands. You will not read this in any popular magazine.
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  Speaker 1: You'll not hear it in the evening news from any reporter.
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  Speaker 1: You will not see it written in any newspaper, any periodical,
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  Speaker 1: any form of media, because we live in a day
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  Speaker 1: when we are the ones who are the most important.
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  Speaker 1: It's a me as a mage. Not so. Our God
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  Speaker 1: and our God alone is the one who determines when
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  Speaker 1: we are conceived, when we are born, and therefore when
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  Speaker 1: we die. He is in charge of all the above.
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  Speaker 1: So the Lord has made that clear and I believe
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  Speaker 1: by now the disciples are all just as quiet as
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  Speaker 1: they can be as they sit and stare somewhat embarrassed
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  Speaker 1: for Peter and thankful that they aren't the ones that
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  Speaker 1: he said that to. It's a good time to bring
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  Speaker 1: up the second principle that I want to leave with you.
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: We must stop thinking that the Lord should alter his
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: plan to fit our preference. He doesn't do that, does he?
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: That's not the way it works. For a moment, pause
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: and think back. I'll arbitrarily pick five years. Go back
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: five years from today. Would you ever have imagined these
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: five years would have been like they are, like they
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: have been? Not a person in this room could say that.
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: It wasn't according to our preference. We would have preferred
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: not to have had a pandemic. I couldn't even spell
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: it two years ago, and suddenly it was upon us.
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: We got back from Israel. It was 2020. We were
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: working on that the other day, Cynthia and I. It
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: was March of 2020, and the first time I heard,
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: as it was addressed to me, you're quarantined. I'd been
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: told to get in my chair as a little boy,
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: and that was another kind of quarantine, but this isn't
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: like that. Here I am an adult. You get alone
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: and you stay alone. Why? There's a pandemic. It wasn't
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: my preference. How many things were canceled, changed, altered? Nothing
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: in your job is the same. because of the pandemic.
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: Changes everything. That's just one thing. Our preference is not
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: what's important. We must stop thinking that the Lord should
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: alter his plan to fit our preference. You see, again,
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: it isn't about us. There is one thing I would
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: love to get across to every child and every teenager.
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: It would be that principle. Stop thinking that your preference
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: is the plan. Start thinking you're the one that alters
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: the course. Your course is to fit his plan. As
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: Johnny Erickson Tada altered her life from when she was
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: a teenager and took that dive in the Chesapeake Bay,
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: and from that moment on, paralysis became normal. her lifetime companion.
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: She's altered her plans, her preferences for God's plan. That's
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: an extreme example. It's in little ways and in other
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: ways I could get into, but you see the point.
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: Now Jesus goes further. He uses this silence among the
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: disciples as a teaching moment. Sometimes we must do that
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: when we're rearing children. When things get quiet or when
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: something has happened that has silenced them, it's a good
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: moment to teach. And that's what Jesus does here beginning
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: at verse 23. Or I should say 24. Look for yourself.
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: These are powerful words. None of them come naturally. Jesus
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: says to these disciples who have been following him for
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: three years, he says to them, if any of you
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: wants to be my follower, if you're serious about walking
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: with me, following as I lead, here are three things
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: that must occur. These are not nice options. It isn't
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: a multiple choice where you can pick two out of three.
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: All three are essential. First, you must turn from your
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: selfish desires I pause because that's a blow to our ego.
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: Unless you were unusual, you were reared by selfish parents
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: who were reared by your selfish grandparents and you became
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: a selfish parent teaching your children, watch out for yourself.
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: Did they really learn humility from you or did they
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: learn selfishness? I remember when my son graduated, just an
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: aside here, when my older son, oldest son graduated from
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: high school, I promised him we would ride the rapids
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: of the Rogue River up in Oregon. We lived in
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: California at the time, so he and a buddy of
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: his and I took off for Oregon, and we wound
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: up on the Rogue River, and we were standing about
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: waist deep in water, and the guide who was gonna
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: lead us in this trip in these rubber rafts was
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: beginning to describe how the Rapids would be and what
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: we should do there were about six or eight of
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: us in the group. He was carefully pointing out this
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: and pointing out that. And while he was doing that,
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: I was eyeing the newest vinyl canoe that we'd be
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: riding on. I was looking out for us. And so
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: I wasn't paying a lot of attention to the guide.
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: And so I said to Kurt, Kurt, come here. See
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: that canoe over there on the left, far over there
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: on the left? Move over there. He said, why? I said,
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: just move over there. I'm watching out for you, son.
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: Just go over there and get in that canoe. And
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: so he did. And I said, I'll be in the
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: one next to you. That was the one next best.
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: And your friend, he's going to be in this one.
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: And I had it all planned. I was training him
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: in selfishness. Doing a pretty good job. And I thought
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: about it that night. And it bothered me. So much
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: of my life has been watching out for me, my kids.
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: Teaching them to, you know, take care of yourself. I
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: learned it from my dad, who said the same thing.
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: And I know that you need to be responsible in life.
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: I understand that. Don't write me. I understand that that's
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: part of taking care, watching out, Looking both ways, being careful,
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: driving carefully, whatever. But the main thing is you take
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: care of you. Why? Because you are the most important.
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: That's why when the meal is served and the meat
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: is passed, look for the best piece. That's it right there. Oh,
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: wait a minute. It's mine. Not that piece. So I decided,
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: you know, a little later on, Or a little earlier,
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: I thought about, I could maybe teach our children in
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: an unusual moment to really be unselfish. So I said
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: to Kurt when he was younger, I said, hey, Kurt,
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: your sister is younger than you. Why don't you pass
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: the chicken to her first? He goes, why? Like, what's
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: the matter with you? And I said, just be a
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: nice older brother. He goes, okay, here, Carissa, take a
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: piece of chicken. I said, no, you don't have to
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: lecture her. Just hold the platter out and let her choose.
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: And she's loving it. She goes, oh, let's see here.
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: So she said, I'll take the head. And he goes, Carissa,
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: mother doesn't cook the head. She said, okay, I'll take
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: the foot. He said, mother doesn't cook the foot. Take
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: a piece of chicken. He's losing right now and she's
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: enjoying it. She said, okay, I'll just take the belly button.
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: I'll never forget that. He said, the best I could
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: do is the breast. Here, take it. It's all about us.
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: What we want. Don't look at me like that. It's
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: all about us. We want that extra edge. But this says,
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: got to set that aside. And then he says, you
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: must take up your own cross. I'm following the one
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: that is set out for me. And you know, he
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: doesn't identify what your cross is. You know why? Because
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: I think it's different for every one of us. May
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: include what we've set our heart on, being willing to
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: give that up. Something that could easily become an idol
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: to us. Take first place. Something that would really make
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: us feel better, regardless of what it does to others.
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: Whatever the cross, you have to determine that, but it
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: must be taken up. And then having done those two things,
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: turning from your selfish ways, taking up your cross, you
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: now follow him. Meaning, you do as he leads you.
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: By the way, are you doing that? Are you laying
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: your plans with that in mind? We sing, wherever he leads,
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: I'll go. Will you? Wherever? Take my life and let
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: it be consecrated, Lord, to thee. Take my silver and
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: my gold, not a mite would I withhold. Really? Really?
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: You generous with what you have? Brings up the third
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: principle that I want to mention It is impossible to
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: be a close follower of Jesus without sacrificial self-denial. If
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: that doesn't say that, I don't know what it's saying.
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: May I give you the three principles one more time?
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: Then I want to read you something. We must never
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: think that because a death is shockingly unexpected, it's therefore unacceptable. Second,
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: we must stop thinking that the Lord should alter his
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: plan for our preference. Third, it is impossible to be
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: a close follower of Jesus without sacrificial self-denial. By the way,
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: do you notice after he says this, he leaves it
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: with them. He didn't force anything. This all must come
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: from Our souls. Which is why he adds at the end.
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: If you hang on to your stuff. You're going to
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: lose what life is all about. Let it go. Let
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: it go. Years ago. A very good friend of mine.
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: Gave me a paperback. copy of the Valley of Vision,
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: which is a series of Puritan prayers and devotions, one
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: page after another, a collection of them. I lived in
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: that book for the longest time, wore it out actually,
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: binding came apart, pages were dog-eared and Finally, I bought
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: a nice leather copy, but I find myself still going
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: back to the old paperback. I've got markings in it, statements, confessions, acknowledgements, dates.
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: I want to read to you a part of one
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: of my favorites. I want to read it slowly and
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: carefully and then I'm through. But I want you to
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: hear every word, each one of you. I don't know
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: who needs to hear what. Probably we all need to
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: hear every bit of it. I can't read it enough.
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: And even at this age in my life, I need
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: this now more than ever. This prayer includes, and I quote,
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: I am deeply convinced of the evil and misery of
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: a sinful state. of the vanity of creatures, but also
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: of the sufficiency of Christ. When thou wouldest guide me,
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: I control myself. When thou wouldest be sovereign, I rule myself.
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: When thou wouldest take care of me, I suffice myself.
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: When I should depend on thy providings, I supply myself.
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: When I should submit to thy providence, I follow my will.
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: When I should study, love, honor, trust thee, I serve myself.
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: I fault and correct thy laws to suit myself. Instead
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: of thee, I look to man's approbation. And I am
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: by nature an idolater. Lord, it is my chief design
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: to bring my heart back to thee. Convince me that
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: I cannot be my own God or make myself happy,
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: nor my own Christ to restore my own joy, nor
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: my own spirit to teach, guide, and rule me. Help
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: me to see that grace does this by providential affliction.
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: Great line. For when my credit is God, thou dost
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: cast me lower. When riches are my idol, thou dost
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: wing them away. When pleasure is my all, thou dost
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: turn it into bitterness. Take away my roving eye, curious ear,
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: greedy appetite, lustful heart. Show me that none of these
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: things can heal a wounded conscience or support a tottering
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: frame or uphold a departing spirit. Then take me to
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: the cross and leave me there. Those words sound like
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: foolishness to those of you without the Savior. I mean,
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: how impossible can you get? None of it's impossible. It
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: just cuts cross grain against our will, our way, our plan.
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: Our preference. Our immaturity. If you're here without Christ, forget
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: all of that that I just read. You can't come
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: anywhere near that. That's possible only when the Spirit of
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: God is at work within your heart. and changing you
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: and altering you and bringing you to the place where
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: the cross will take you and give you a sense
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: of pleasure in surrender. If you want... To be able
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: to enter into a life like that, you must come
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: first to the cross. Place yourself beneath the cross. Accept
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: the one who died on the cross. And make him
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: your reason for existence. Your savior. Otherwise, these are just words.
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: Please take them seriously. Christian friend, take them seriously. From
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: this day on, start thinking like this. Please. You would
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: have people so drawn to the Savior, you wouldn't know
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: what to do. They would not have seen such humility.
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: Doing what is right, loving mercy, and walking humbly with
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: your God. How do you do that? They will really
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: want to know. Please. For the sake of Christ. Give
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: up your will, take up your cross, follow him. Please.
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: Dear Father, I ask that you will drill this into
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: us in such a way that we can't forget it.
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: Not that we won't, it's that we can't. Forget it.
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: May it come to our minds when our heads drop
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: into our pillows tonight. May we review much of this
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: as we drive our cars, fix our meals, linger at
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: the table following those meals. May we begin to realize
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: You meant what you said. That it is a possible
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: way to live saying no to ourself and yes to you.
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: We sing to God be the glory. It's another thing
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: to live that. Help us to put our songs into
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: our lives. And may we, as a result, become different people,
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: true disciples who follow Jesus. In his name I pray.
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: Everyone said, Amen.
• 57:50
  Speaker 2: The preceding message, Jesus' Magnificent Obsession, was copyrighted in 2022
• 57:56
  Speaker 2: and 2023, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2023
• 58:01
  Speaker 2: by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide.
• 58:06
  Speaker 2: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.