Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / The life story of Jacob - Powerful Sermon- Minister Max Lucado
Transcript
- 0:21Speaker 1: Well, Fred Snodgrass led an extraordinary life. He played professional
- 0:26Speaker 1: baseball for eight and for nine years. He succeeded as
- 0:30Speaker 1: a rancher. He succeeded as a banker. He was an
- 0:34Speaker 1: exemplary family man, model citizen. He even served for a
- 0:39Speaker 1: time as mayor of Oxnard, California. Yet when he passed
- 0:45Speaker 1: away in 1974, His obituary headline did not highlight his achievements. Rather,
- 0:55Speaker 1: the New York Times heralded his most famous failure. The
- 1:01Speaker 1: headline said, Fred Snodgrass, 86, dead, ballplayer who dropped 1912 fly.
- 1:10Speaker 1: It's true, he dropped a fly.
- 1:13Speaker 2: He dropped the ball.
- 1:16Speaker 1: Short infield pop-up in the last game of the 1912
- 1:19Speaker 1: World Series. Had he caught the ball, the then-called New
- 1:25Speaker 1: York Giants would have won the title. But Snodgrass took
- 1:28Speaker 1: his eye off the ball. They fell to the grass.
- 1:32Speaker 1: His error led to two runs, a lost game, and
- 1:36Speaker 1: a mistake that would follow him the rest.
- 1:39Speaker 2: Of his life. We've done the same.
- 1:44Speaker 1: Our errors have occurred not on a baseball diamond but
- 1:49Speaker 1: in you want to fill in the blank a marriage
- 1:56Speaker 1: a business in our youth in our parenting but we
- 2:01Speaker 1: didn't let a ball fall but we let a spouse
- 2:03Speaker 1: down we let our guard down we let our debt
- 2:06Speaker 1: get out of control We live not with the memory
- 2:10Speaker 1: of a lost baseball game, but with the reality of
- 2:14Speaker 1: an illegitimate child or a family that is divided or
- 2:18Speaker 1: a broken heart or an angry brother by the name
- 2:22Speaker 1: of Esau. If you're just tuning in or logging in
- 2:29Speaker 1: to follow the Jacob story, you need to know that
- 2:31Speaker 1: Jacob was one of two sons born to Isaac and Rebecca.
- 2:36Speaker 2: They were twin brothers.
- 2:40Speaker 1: Jacob was born after Esau, but only by a matter
- 2:44Speaker 1: of seconds. In fact, he came out on the heels
- 2:50Speaker 1: of Esau and he came to have the name Jacob,
- 2:55Speaker 1: which in Hebrew literally means heel holder. He had his
- 2:59Speaker 1: hand on his brother's heel as if to say, oh no,
- 3:02Speaker 1: I want to be in first. He resented the second place.
- 3:09Speaker 1: that he served in the family. He considered himself the
- 3:13Speaker 1: brighter of the two. He was, in his mind, better
- 3:17Speaker 1: equipped to inherit his father's place, his patriarch of the family.
- 3:24Speaker 1: So he took matters into his own hands. Early in
- 3:28Speaker 1: the story of Jacob, he catches his brother Esau with
- 3:32Speaker 1: the hungry in a flippant mood and he convinced Esau
- 3:37Speaker 1: to sell him the birthright or firstborn status for a
- 3:41Speaker 1: bowl of stew. And then he hoodwinked his father Isaac
- 3:46Speaker 1: by dressing up in clothing as near blind dad thought
- 3:50Speaker 1: he was Esau and he blessed Esau and gave a
- 3:54Speaker 1: blessing that could not be revoked. Jacob achieved what he wanted,
- 3:59Speaker 1: but boy did he burn bridges to get it. When
- 4:03Speaker 1: we last left Esau, the older brother, he was muttering
- 4:07Speaker 1: about Jacob, not for nothing that he was named Jacob
- 4:11Speaker 1: the heel. Twice now he's tricked me. First he took
- 4:15Speaker 1: my birthright and now he's taken my blessing. Esau seethed
- 4:19Speaker 1: in anger against Jacob because of the blessing his father
- 4:23Speaker 1: had given him. He brooded the time for mourning. My
- 4:27Speaker 1: father's death is close and then I'll kill my brother.
- 4:33Speaker 1: Jacob sibling rivalry Jacob got wind of Esau's anger and
- 4:40Speaker 1: he hightailed it to the high country to hide out
- 4:43Speaker 1: while Esau cooled down one side of a girl by
- 4:48Speaker 1: the name of Rachel turned that short-term trip into a
- 4:51Speaker 1: long-term trip and by the time Jacob comes back home
- 4:55Speaker 1: 20 years two decades have passed what had happened to
- 5:02Speaker 1: Esau's hatred in the intervening time. Had it metastasized into
- 5:08Speaker 1: hostility or maybe the years had cooled the fire. Jacob
- 5:12Speaker 1: did not know. What he did know is this. God
- 5:16Speaker 1: told him to return to the land of your father
- 5:21Speaker 1: and grandfather and to your relatives there and I will
- 5:26Speaker 1: be with you. So he returned to Canaan. But in
- 5:31Speaker 1: order to return to Canaan, he had to pass through
- 5:34Speaker 1: the land of Esau. There was no way he could
- 5:37Speaker 1: return to Canaan and not receive the forgiveness of the
- 5:41Speaker 1: brother he had tricked. In order to move forward into
- 5:46Speaker 1: God's promise, he had to come face to face with
- 5:51Speaker 1: his past.
- 5:54Speaker 2: No more hiding. No more running.
- 5:57Speaker 1: Jacob might have been happy to suppress the past, to
- 6:00Speaker 1: sidestep the encounter, but not God. Meeting Esau was a
- 6:05Speaker 1: spiritual necessity. It was time for Jacob to make peace
- 6:10Speaker 1: with his past. Is it time for you to do
- 6:14Speaker 1: the same? Our past has a way of finding us,
- 6:20Speaker 1: doesn't it? I recall one evening that my past found me.
- 6:27Speaker 1: Dillon and I were living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,
- 6:31Speaker 1: when I began writing books. A couple of books came
- 6:33Speaker 1: out while we were still in South America. When I
- 6:36Speaker 1: was home on furlough, I received an invitation, I assume
- 6:40Speaker 1: because of the books, to speak at a very popular
- 6:43Speaker 1: Bible conference. I'd never spoken at an event like that.
- 6:48Speaker 1: I thought that was a pretty cool thing. So I
- 6:51Speaker 1: got this invitation. They paid my expenses. They flew me
- 6:54Speaker 1: to a large city in the Midwest. I worked on
- 7:00Speaker 1: my sermon. I stayed up late the night before practicing
- 7:04Speaker 1: it in the mirror. And the next day I got
- 7:06Speaker 1: up and if I tell you, I was, I just,
- 7:09Speaker 1: I was on fire. I was impressed with myself. What
- 7:16Speaker 1: a messenger of God I was. I wanted to take
- 7:20Speaker 1: notes on my own message. My arrogance was only increased
- 7:27Speaker 1: by the long line of people that wanted to shake
- 7:29Speaker 1: my hand after the message. They just wanted to stand
- 7:33Speaker 1: where I stood, to breathe in my spirituality, to inhale
- 7:40Speaker 1: my aura, to shake my hand, to kiss my ring.
- 7:48Speaker 1: After a few minutes of hearing everyone sing my praises,
- 7:52Speaker 1: I was so confident that they were correct. And God
- 7:58Speaker 1: was so willing to take me down a peg or two.
- 8:05Speaker 1: One fellow in the line introduced himself as a friend
- 8:09Speaker 1: from my college days. He called it, Max, I'm from
- 8:14Speaker 1: your BC days, before Christ. I couldn't place him. I said,
- 8:21Speaker 1: help me, I don't remember you. He said, yeah, because
- 8:24Speaker 1: you were drunk most of the time. I looked around
- 8:28Speaker 1: and all those people were listening to him. We had
- 8:32Speaker 1: our share of Coors, didn't we, Max? I kind of
- 8:35Speaker 1: ducked my head and these people were gathering around to
- 8:38Speaker 1: hear this story. I wanted to hurry him along, but
- 8:43Speaker 1: he wasn't about.
- 8:46Speaker 2: To continue talking.
- 8:47Speaker 1: Walking down the path until he had told everybody what
- 8:50Speaker 1: I did.
- 8:51Speaker 2: I recall those nights in West Texas, he said.
- 8:54Speaker 1: We'd drink a little, drink a lot, play some pool,
- 8:58Speaker 1: pick a few fights, flirt with the girls.
- 9:01Speaker 2: Speaking of girls, do you remember? I said, stop it,
- 9:04Speaker 2: stop it, stop it.
- 9:10Speaker 1: I kept trying to change the subject and he kept
- 9:12Speaker 1: bringing it back up, reminding me and informing everyone around
- 9:17Speaker 1: me that this super saint who spoke was in reality
- 9:21Speaker 1: just a sinner saved by God's grace. I needed and
- 9:27Speaker 1: I received the reminder. God will not move us into
- 9:32Speaker 1: tomorrow's blessing until he has helped us deal with yesterday's failures.
- 9:40Speaker 1: God will not lead us into tomorrow's blessings until he
- 9:46Speaker 1: has helped us deal With yesterday's failures. Now you might
- 9:50Speaker 1: be happy to never deal with yesterday. You might be
- 9:56Speaker 1: content to leave it buried under sentiments.
- 10:00Speaker 2: Or denial.
- 10:01Speaker 1: But God, he's going to bring it up. He wants
- 10:05Speaker 1: to bring it to the surface. He wants to forgive it.
- 10:09Speaker 1: He wants to heal it. Does your autobiography contain a
- 10:13Speaker 1: dark chapter? An embarrassing choice? A sordid story? Did you
- 10:20Speaker 1: know the story of Moses did? He had blood on
- 10:23Speaker 1: his hands from murdering an Egyptian. The story of Abraham did.
- 10:28Speaker 1: Did you know that he once lied about his wife
- 10:32Speaker 1: passing her off as his sister in order to save
- 10:36Speaker 1: his own neck? What about the prophet Elijah? He had
- 10:41Speaker 1: enough faith to call down fire one day. But then
- 10:46Speaker 1: he was so afraid, he hid out in a cave
- 10:49Speaker 1: the next. Did you know the story of Queen Esther?
- 10:53Speaker 1: She took a courageous stand, but not before she didn't.
- 10:57Speaker 1: She kept her identity a secret from the king. Am
- 11:02Speaker 1: I talking to anyone who has stains on their past?
- 11:06Speaker 1: Peter did. On the night Christ needed him the most,
- 11:10Speaker 1: the apostle cursed the name of Jesus. The apostle Paul
- 11:16Speaker 1: had skeletons in his closet. Yes, the apostle whose words
- 11:20Speaker 1: we study, cherish, and memorize. He himself confessed, I persecuted
- 11:26Speaker 1: the people who followed the way of Jesus. And some
- 11:31Speaker 1: of them were even killed. I arrested men and women
- 11:36Speaker 1: and I put them in jail.
- 11:38Speaker 3: So Paul.
- 11:41Speaker 1: Said, was a murderer. Peter was a betrayer. Elijah was
- 11:45Speaker 1: a coward. Esther kept her faith a secret. Moses had
- 11:48Speaker 1: blood on his hands. Abraham was a bald-faced liar. And you, well,
- 11:54Speaker 1: if you have a checkered past, welcome to the society
- 11:59Speaker 1: of tilted halos. God's not put off by your ugly chapter,
- 12:04Speaker 1: my friend.
- 12:06Speaker 2: He's not.
- 12:07Speaker 1: And with his help, you can soon say what the
- 12:10Speaker 1: apostle Paul said, But one thing I do, forgetting what
- 12:13Speaker 1: lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I
- 12:18Speaker 1: press on toward the goal for the prize of the
- 12:21Speaker 1: upward call in Christ Jesus. God will move us into
- 12:27Speaker 1: our blessings by releasing us from our past. He did
- 12:33Speaker 1: this with Jacob. Jacob pleaded with God. He said, please
- 12:38Speaker 1: save me from my brother Esau. Remember, Jacob is now
- 12:41Speaker 1: right across the river into Jacob's territory. I am afraid
- 12:47Speaker 1: he will come and kill all of us, even the
- 12:52Speaker 1: mothers with children. So Jacob's prayer was desperate. And God
- 12:57Speaker 1: responded with an immediate answer. He met Jacob in the
- 13:02Speaker 1: river Jabbok. We talked about this last week. And he
- 13:05Speaker 1: wrestled with Jacob all night long. And toward the end
- 13:11Speaker 1: of the wrestling match, he touched Jacob on the hip
- 13:15Speaker 1: and left Jacob with a limp, put his hip out
- 13:18Speaker 1: of joint. I believe that a Jabbok is a required
- 13:23Speaker 1: stopover for anybody who would seek God. There are those
- 13:28Speaker 1: times in which we have to wrestle with God and
- 13:32Speaker 1: we walk out of Jabbok, not with our strut, but
- 13:35Speaker 1: with a limp. This happened to Moses. He spent 40
- 13:39Speaker 1: years tending sheep. This happened to Peter. His betrayal left
- 13:43Speaker 1: him with a beard full of tears and a night
- 13:46Speaker 1: full of remorse. Yes, God turned Saul into the apostle Paul,
- 13:51Speaker 1: but only after he had knocked Saul off his high
- 13:53Speaker 1: horse and left him sightless for three days. Moses in
- 13:58Speaker 1: the wilderness, Peter with his tears, Saul sightless and alone,
- 14:01Speaker 1: and Jacob exhausted after a.
- 14:04Speaker 2: Night in Jabbok.
- 14:05Speaker 1: And you? Maybe you're ready to move forward. Maybe you're
- 14:13Speaker 1: ready to invite God to help you deal with your past.
- 14:17Speaker 1: If so, just meet him. Tell him what you did.
- 14:21Speaker 1: Agree with him that it's not right. If you're ashamed,
- 14:24Speaker 1: confess your shame. If you're sorry, tell him you're sorry.
- 14:27Speaker 1: If you're angry, tell him you're angry. Wrestle with him.
- 14:31Speaker 1: Talk to him.
- 14:33Speaker 2: Meet him in Jabbok. It's time to let God move.
- 14:36Speaker 1: You into your future, into your next chapter. I know,
- 14:42Speaker 1: I know, I know I'm talking to somebody who still
- 14:45Speaker 1: defines their life by some stupid choices you'd do over.
- 14:49Speaker 2: In a different way if you had the chance.
- 14:52Speaker 1: Listen, here's the promise that God wants to speak over
- 14:55Speaker 1: your life. Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a
- 14:58Speaker 1: new person. The old life is gone. A new life
- 15:03Speaker 1: has begun. It's time for you to walk into your
- 15:06Speaker 1: new life and receive the great grace that God speaks
- 15:10Speaker 1: over your old life. Now, Jacob modeled this to a
- 15:16Speaker 1: certain degree. Old Jacob, he could be hot one day
- 15:20Speaker 1: and cold the next. As he came out of Jabbok,
- 15:23Speaker 1: he's tottering on his good hip and he's limping from
- 15:25Speaker 1: the wounded one. But he comes out of Jabbok with
- 15:30Speaker 1: a new name. He's no longer Jacob. He's now Israel.
- 15:36Speaker 2: Israel.
- 15:37Speaker 1: Yeah, the old scoundrel gets the name that's the most
- 15:41Speaker 1: commonly used name for the nation of Israel. And the
- 15:45Speaker 1: name Israel means God fights.
- 15:49Speaker 2: God fights. What a great name.
- 15:52Speaker 1: Every time he introduced himself, he bore witness to the
- 15:55Speaker 1: goodness of God. Hi there, my name is God fights.
- 16:00Speaker 1: His email address was godfights at Israel.com. Whenever he got
- 16:06Speaker 1: called to dinner, hey, God fights, come in, it's time
- 16:08Speaker 1: to eat.
- 16:10Speaker 2: Even the name.
- 16:11Speaker 1: Was a testimony, not to the power or strength of Jacob,
- 16:15Speaker 1: but to the goodness of God.
- 16:17Speaker 2: Don't we need this reminder?
- 16:20Speaker 1: Don't we need to know that God fights for us,
- 16:24Speaker 1: that he pulls for us?
- 16:27Speaker 2: The servant of Elisha did.
- 16:29Speaker 1: Let me just lead us quickly down the timeline about
- 16:32Speaker 1: five and a half centuries ago. Hear the angst in
- 16:35Speaker 1: the voice of the servant of Elisha. When the servant
- 16:38Speaker 1: of the man of God got up and went out
- 16:40Speaker 1: early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots
- 16:44Speaker 1: had surrounded the city.
- 16:46Speaker 2: Oh no, my Lord, what shall we do? The servant asked.
- 16:50Speaker 1: He was rightfully concerned because the prophet Elisha and his
- 16:56Speaker 1: servant were number one on the most wanted list of
- 17:00Speaker 1: the king of Syria, and they had come to kill
- 17:04Speaker 1: Elisha and the servant. Their chance of survival equated your
- 17:10Speaker 1: chance of swimming the Atlantic. But when Elisha responded, he
- 17:15Speaker 1: was not afraid.
- 17:18Speaker 2: The servant was.
- 17:18Speaker 1: The servant was pale, but Elisha was pumped. You'd think
- 17:22Speaker 1: the cavalry rode up, and in a sense it did.
- 17:26Speaker 1: Don't be afraid, the prophet answered. Those who are with
- 17:30Speaker 1: us are more than those who are with them.
- 17:33Speaker 2: Now look at this. There's two here.
- 17:35Speaker 1: There's a whole circle of the infantry surrounding them.
- 17:39Speaker 2: And Elisha says, no, there's more with us than with them.
- 17:44Speaker 2: Don't be afraid.
- 17:46Speaker 1: And Elisha prayed, open his eyes, Lord, so that he
- 17:50Speaker 1: may see. Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes and
- 17:53Speaker 1: he looked and.
- 17:54Speaker 2: He saw the hills full of horses.
- 17:57Speaker 1: And chariots of fire all around Elisha. The servant was enabled,
- 18:05Speaker 1: empowered with the ability to see the unseen. And when
- 18:09Speaker 1: he saw the unseen, he saw that there were far
- 18:11Speaker 1: more angels and servants of God protecting him than there
- 18:16Speaker 1: were enemies protecting Who wanted to kill him. Oh that
- 18:20Speaker 1: God would open your eyes. And mine today.
- 18:24Speaker 2: And that we could see. All the forces that God
- 18:27Speaker 2: has working. For our good. When the servant thought. He
- 18:32Speaker 2: was alone.
- 18:33Speaker 3: He was wrong.
- 18:35Speaker 2: When you think you are alone.
- 18:38Speaker 1: You are wrong. Nehemiah discovered this. He said our God
- 18:46Speaker 1: will fight for us. Boy, isn't it great to have
- 18:49Speaker 1: a God who will fight for you? Not just keep
- 18:52Speaker 1: you company, but who will lead the way. Lay claim
- 18:56Speaker 1: to this great and powerful promise today. You aren't alone
- 19:01Speaker 1: in your struggles. You aren't alone with dealing with your past.
- 19:06Speaker 1: You have a God who fights for you. So Jacob
- 19:09Speaker 1: had a new name. He also had a new walk.
- 19:12Speaker 1: He limped because of his bad hip. He used to swagger.
- 19:19Speaker 1: He used to strut, but now he limped.
- 19:23Speaker 2: The new Israel walked with a hitch. See what God
- 19:26Speaker 2: was doing?
- 19:27Speaker 1: He was removing from Jacob any dependence upon Jacob. The
- 19:34Speaker 1: only possibility of deliverance now depended upon God. And so
- 19:41Speaker 1: the day came when Esau and Jacob saw each other again.
- 19:46Speaker 2: The next day after the Jabbok encounter.
- 19:49Speaker 1: And the God-struck patriarch limped back to his camp. Esau
- 19:55Speaker 1: was coming and with him, how many? 400 men. A
- 20:01Speaker 1: militia was thundering across the prairie in the direction of Jacob. Now,
- 20:08Speaker 1: the next few actions leave us wondering, is this the
- 20:12Speaker 1: old Jacob or is this the new Israel? Here's the
- 20:16Speaker 1: old Jacob. He sent his family out first. Not only that,
- 20:23Speaker 1: he divided his children among their four mothers. He had
- 20:28Speaker 1: four women with whom he had had children and he
- 20:31Speaker 1: placed them in a sequence. First, Bilhah and Zilpah, those
- 20:34Speaker 1: were the handmaidens. Next, Leah, the wife he didn't want.
- 20:38Speaker 1: And finally, Rachel with their son Joseph, the wife he
- 20:43Speaker 1: did want. That was a Jacob decision. But then there
- 20:47Speaker 1: was an Israel decision. He crossed over before them and
- 20:53Speaker 1: bowed himself to the ground seven times until he came
- 20:57Speaker 1: near to his brother. He could see Esau in the distance.
- 21:02Speaker 1: Esau still big, still brawny, still with the red beard.
- 21:09Speaker 1: A bow and a quiver slung across his back. And
- 21:12Speaker 1: the eyes of the two brothers meet for the first
- 21:15Speaker 1: time in 20 years. Now Jacob would have rushed out
- 21:23Speaker 1: to fight Esau. But now Israel, who has a limp,
- 21:27Speaker 1: who can't fight, has no choice but to trust. And
- 21:32Speaker 1: he prostrated himself seven times as he walked in the
- 21:36Speaker 1: direction of of his big brother, like a vassal before
- 21:40Speaker 1: a royal in an ancient court. A few steps and
- 21:44Speaker 1: then head and nose to the ground. A few steps
- 21:47Speaker 1: and then face to the ground. A few more steps
- 21:50Speaker 1: and then face to the ground seven times. And then
- 21:55Speaker 1: all of a sudden, Esau ran to meet him and
- 21:58Speaker 1: embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him.
- 22:03Speaker 2: And they wept.
- 22:07Speaker 1: They wept with relief. They wept with forgiveness. They wept
- 22:13Speaker 1: at the possibility of a new start. Esau wept because
- 22:17Speaker 1: his brother was home. Israel wept because he'd come face
- 22:21Speaker 1: to face with his past only to find that his
- 22:24Speaker 1: past held no power over his life. God had gone
- 22:29Speaker 1: ahead of him and God had kept the promise he
- 22:33Speaker 1: had made to Jacob 20 years earlier back at Bethel.
- 22:36Speaker 1: He said, I am with you and will keep you
- 22:39Speaker 1: wherever you go. And I will bring you back to
- 22:43Speaker 1: this land. God had paved the path to Canaan. God
- 22:48Speaker 1: had paved the path to Canaan. And friend, God paves
- 22:53Speaker 1: the paths of his kids.
- 22:57Speaker 2: He goes ahead of us.
- 22:58Speaker 1: Remember the female disciples who went to the tomb of
- 23:01Speaker 1: Christ on Easter Sunday morning? They went wondering who's going
- 23:04Speaker 1: to roll the rock away and they got there and
- 23:06Speaker 1: the rock was already gone. God had gone ahead of them.
- 23:09Speaker 1: Do you remember the story of Peter in the Jerusalem prison?
- 23:16Speaker 1: When he was released from the jail, he reached the
- 23:18Speaker 1: outer gate wondering how he was going to get out.
- 23:20Speaker 1: And when he reached that gate, it opened by itself.
- 23:23Speaker 1: God had gone ahead of him. God is going ahead
- 23:29Speaker 1: of you. Someone hearing my voice is dreading tomorrow. Or
- 23:34Speaker 1: you're dreading next week. Or you're dreading next month. You
- 23:37Speaker 1: have a deadline. You have an angry boss. You have
- 23:40Speaker 1: an encounter with somebody that could turn ugly. And you're
- 23:44Speaker 1: worried about, I mean, it's all you can do to
- 23:46Speaker 1: listen to this brilliant sermon.
- 23:51Speaker 2: Because you're worried, you're anxious.
- 23:53Speaker 1: God's saying to you right now, I am as much
- 23:57Speaker 1: in tomorrow as I am in today. He is not
- 24:00Speaker 1: bound by what binds us. He is not restricted by time.
- 24:06Speaker 1: He is not governed by a calendar or a clock.
- 24:10Speaker 1: He can work in your future. He can work in
- 24:14Speaker 1: your past so you can have peace in your present.
- 24:19Speaker 1: Would you please release that fear to him? And what
- 24:24Speaker 1: God said to the children of Israel under the leadership
- 24:28Speaker 1: of Moses, God says to you, be strong and courageous.
- 24:33Speaker 1: Do not be afraid. Do not be terrified. For the Lord,
- 24:38Speaker 1: your God, goes with you. He will never leave you.
- 24:42Speaker 1: He will never forsake you. Your God can help you,
- 24:47Speaker 1: my friends. Your God will guide you. Lay claim to
- 24:52Speaker 1: these promises. One more before we wrap up from Isaiah
- 24:55Speaker 1: chapter 43. Forget the former things. Forget the former things.
- 25:03Speaker 1: Do not dwell on the past. See, I'm doing a
- 25:07Speaker 1: new thing. Now it springs up. Do you not perceive it?
- 25:13Speaker 1: I am making a way in the wilderness and streams.
- 25:19Speaker 2: In the wasteland.
- 25:21Speaker 1: Do not dwell in the past. You're not a sum
- 25:23Speaker 1: total of your mistakes. You're not defined by the choices
- 25:28Speaker 1: you made yesterday. A year ago or a decade ago.
- 25:32Speaker 1: Your heavenly father has washed you. In the blood of Christ.
- 25:36Speaker 1: You're a brand new creature. I love the story that
- 25:41Speaker 1: James Cardinal Sin. The Archbishop of Manila. Told. He described
- 25:48Speaker 1: a woman who attended his services. She regularly asked to
- 25:52Speaker 1: speak with him so she could share a message she
- 25:56Speaker 1: had for him from God, but he resisted.
- 25:59Speaker 2: Still, she insisted.
- 26:01Speaker 1: Finally, he said, we Catholics have strict rules concerning visions
- 26:07Speaker 1: and messages from God. I need to test your authenticity.
- 26:12Speaker 1: I want you to go back and ask God about
- 26:14Speaker 1: a particular sin that that I recently confessed to him
- 26:19Speaker 1: in private. If you ask God and he gives you
- 26:22Speaker 1: the answer, I'll know your vision is genuine. The next
- 26:27Speaker 1: week she returned. The priest asked her, well, did you
- 26:33Speaker 1: ask God about my sin?
- 26:34Speaker 2: She said, I did.
- 26:36Speaker 1: And God answered, yes. What did God tell you? And
- 26:42Speaker 1: she said, God said, I don't remember. The Bible says
- 26:49Speaker 1: that God takes our sins and he casts them as
- 26:51Speaker 1: far as the east is from the west. He doesn't
- 26:54Speaker 1: keep a list of our sins. And if he doesn't,
- 26:59Speaker 1: we shouldn't either.
- 27:01Speaker 2: Right?
- 27:03Speaker 1: Heavenly Father, we pray that we can, like Jacob, trust
- 27:07Speaker 1: you to lead us into our Canaan. That we can
- 27:12Speaker 1: trust you to help us face our Esau. That we
- 27:16Speaker 1: can rely upon you to give us a new chapter.
- 27:19Speaker 1: And we will walk forward in faith. And not be
- 27:23Speaker 1: controlled by fear. Through Christ we pray. And all the
- 27:30Speaker 1: church said.
- 27:56Speaker 4: You don't have to be new.
- 28:01Speaker 3: You don't have to stay close. As long as you're
- 28:09Speaker 3: somewhere out there, that's enough for me.
- 28:14Speaker 4: I don't need to hold you near me.
- 28:21Speaker 3: Don't need promises to keep.
- 28:24Speaker 5: Just the thought that you are breathing Somewhere in this
- 28:28Speaker 5: world I see Even if I'm not beside you Even
- 28:35Speaker 5: if you never know There's a quiet kind of comfort
- 28:40Speaker 5: Just in knowing you still glow.
- 28:46Speaker 3: I don't need forever I just need you to exist.
- 28:56Speaker 6: You don't have to stay with me.
- 29:00Speaker 5: You don't have to feel the same.
- 29:03Speaker 6: Just as long as you're still out there.
- 29:07Speaker 5: Calling softly through my days.
- 29:10Speaker 6: You don't have to look my way. You don't have
- 29:14Speaker 6: to be my home.
- 29:17Speaker 5: It's enough to know you're living in a world I'm
- 29:22Speaker 5: not alone.
- 29:27Speaker 3: I won't chase you through the distance.
- 29:30Speaker 5: I won't disturb your chosen life. I'll just keep you
- 29:34Speaker 5: in my silence like a star that shines at night.
- 29:40Speaker 3: Through the dark and through the blue.
- 29:48Speaker 4: I still think of you You don't have to be
- 29:57Speaker 4: my home.
- 29:58Speaker 6: It's enough to know you're living in a world.
- 30:03Speaker 1: I'm not alone.
- 30:34Speaker 3: I don't need to be your light.
- 30:37Speaker 5: I don't need to cross your mind All I need is.
- 30:41Speaker 3: Just the truth That you're somewhere Still alive.
- 30:49Speaker 6: You don't have to stay with me You don't have
- 30:53Speaker 6: to feel the same Just as long as you're still
- 30:59Speaker 6: out there Calling softly through my days You don't have
- 31:04Speaker 6: to look my way You don't have to be my.
- 31:09Speaker 5: Home It's enough to know you're living
- 31:16Speaker 3: In a world I'm not alone.