Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / The Jews Forgotten or Set Aside │ Msg 2644

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The Jews Forgotten or Set Aside │ Msg 2644 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: May we turn together to the 11th chapter of the
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  Speaker 1: letter to the Romans. In doing so, you will find
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  Speaker 1: in your worship folder the outline for the morning message.
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  Speaker 1: You may want to use it as you follow along.
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  Speaker 1: Place it here in your Bible as we close this
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  Speaker 1: section for a time of offering and then open it again.
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  Speaker 1: Out of respect and in honor of God's written word,
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  Speaker 1: except for our orchestra, I would like to ask all
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  Speaker 1: of us to stand for the reading of the scriptures, please.
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  Speaker 1: Romans 11, verses 1 through 14. I say then, God
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  Speaker 1: has not rejected his people, has he? May it never be.
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  Speaker 1: For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham,
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  Speaker 1: of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his
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  Speaker 1: people whom he foreknew. Or did you not know what
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  Speaker 1: the scripture says in that passage about Elijah? How he
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  Speaker 1: pleads with God against Israel? Lord, they have killed your prophets.
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  Speaker 1: They have torn down your altars and I alone am left.
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  Speaker 1: And they're seeking my life. But what is the divine
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  Speaker 1: response to him? I have kept for myself 7,000 men.
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  Speaker 1: Who have not bowed the knee to bail. In the
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  Speaker 1: same way then. There has also come to be. At
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  Speaker 1: the present time. A remnant. According to God's gracious choice.
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  Speaker 1: But if it is by grace. It is no longer
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  Speaker 1: on the basis of works. Otherwise. Grace is no longer grace.
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  Speaker 1: What then? What Israel is seeking. It is not obtained. But.
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  Speaker 1: Those who were chosen obtained it and the rest were hardened.
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  Speaker 1: Just as it is written, God gave them a spirit
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  Speaker 1: of stupor, eyes to see not and ears to hear not.
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  Speaker 1: Down to this very day. And David says, let their
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  Speaker 1: table become a snare and a trap and a stumbling
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  Speaker 1: block and a retribution to them. Let their eyes be
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  Speaker 1: darkened and to see not and bend their backs forever.
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  Speaker 1: I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall,
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  Speaker 1: did they? May it never be. But by their transgression,
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  Speaker 1: salvation has come to the Gentiles to make them jealous. Now,
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  Speaker 1: if their transgression is riches for the world and their
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  Speaker 1: failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will
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  Speaker 1: their fulfillment be? But I'm speaking to you who are
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  Speaker 1: Gentiles in as much then as I am an apostle
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  Speaker 1: of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry. If somehow I might
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  Speaker 1: move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them.
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  Speaker 1: May our God honor his word and the preaching of
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  Speaker 1: it this day. You may be seated. Find your hymnal
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  Speaker 1: again and look at number 139, which we just sang.
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  Speaker 1: Don't know whether you realize it or not, but we
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  Speaker 1: often sing prayers. And this is a statement of a
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  Speaker 1: prayer sent to our Heavenly Father in gratitude for all
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  Speaker 1: his faithfulness. The things he has done for us and
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  Speaker 1: sometimes through us and often in spite of us. Leave
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  Speaker 1: your hymnal open and let it be a guide for
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  Speaker 1: us as we pray this morning. Following this time of
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  Speaker 1: prayer in which you will participate, I want to announce
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  Speaker 1: that we will be receiving an offering. These are monies
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  Speaker 1: given by God's people to sustain the work of God's ministry.
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  Speaker 1: God has through the centuries sustained his work through the
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  Speaker 1: generosity and faithfulness of his people. We come to our
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  Speaker 1: God empty handed. All of us come the same way.
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  Speaker 1: We trust his son as Savior who has paid the
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  Speaker 1: complete penalty for our sins, and we enter into a
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  Speaker 1: relationship with him at that point, which includes generous giving.
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  Speaker 1: Because we have done that, we as a body of
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  Speaker 1: believers find generosity a joyful thing. Thank you, may I
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  Speaker 1: say today, to all of you who have caused this
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  Speaker 1: ministry to grow and even flourish. You have been faithful.
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  Speaker 1: Because God is faithful. Oh God our help in ages past.
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  Speaker 1: Our hope. For years to come. Be thou our guide.
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  Speaker 1: While life shall last. And our eternal home. Before the
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  Speaker 1: hills in order stood. Her earth received her frame. From
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  Speaker 1: everlasting thou art God. To endless years. The same. Every
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  Speaker 1: dawn we're reminded of your faithfulness, Father. Every evening twilight.
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  Speaker 1: We look back on a day. Where you have directed
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  Speaker 1: the affairs of our lives. Thank you for adding the
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  Speaker 1: color of great music, lovely instruments, vocal chords to our bodies.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for helping us sing our worship to you.
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  Speaker 1: Great is the Lord and worthy of praise. And Father, uh,
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  Speaker 1: Sitting in every seat is a series of stories. Behind
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  Speaker 1: every face is a heartache. Every heart has its own grief.
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  Speaker 1: Meet the need, Lord, as only you can. And remind
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  Speaker 1: us that you are not a distant, peeved deity. To
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  Speaker 1: be our judge. You're a friend of sinners. Jesus lover
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  Speaker 1: of our souls. And so it's a great delight. To
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  Speaker 1: just pour out our gifts to you. First we want
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  Speaker 1: you to know. We put ourselves in these offering plates.
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  Speaker 1: And then whatever we have is yours. Gladly. In the
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  Speaker 1: name of our great savior Jesus. Everyone said amen. Have
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  Speaker 1: you ever spent an evening with truly remarkable people? By
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  Speaker 1: that I mean people whose lives are making a significant
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  Speaker 1: difference for the cause of Christ and his kingdom. That
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  Speaker 1: was Cynthia's and my privilege last Tuesday evening. We were
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  Speaker 1: with the Wycliffe Bible Translators at their headquarters in Orlando, Florida.
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  Speaker 1: A room full of people whose lives reflected seasoned years
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  Speaker 1: doing tedious and arduous work among the Bible-less people of
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  Speaker 1: the world. As I was speaking briefly, and the best
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  Speaker 1: part of the evening was being with them, believe me,
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  Speaker 1: I shared with them that they could sit for a
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  Speaker 1: portrait of Hebrews 11.38. People of whom the world is
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  Speaker 1: not worthy. Let me tell you how it works. Their
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  Speaker 1: goal is to put the Bible in the language of
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  Speaker 1: Bible-less people. And language-less people. So a family will find
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  Speaker 1: their way down a long river and a long boat.
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  Speaker 1: And step off on the shore of a jungle area,
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  Speaker 1: not knowing the people, not knowing the culture, not having
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  Speaker 1: experienced the diet or the climate or the sociological moors
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  Speaker 1: or whatever of these people who are not expecting them.
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  Speaker 1: And there they spend their lives. Their hope is to
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  Speaker 1: decipher the clicks and the whistles and the sounds and
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  Speaker 1: the grunts and the unintelligible type of sounds that form
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  Speaker 1: into words that the tribe uses to communicate with each other.
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  Speaker 1: None of this has ever been put into writing. And
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  Speaker 1: so through training and prayer and the good work of Wycliffe,
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  Speaker 1: they have the ability to put those sounds on paper
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  Speaker 1: and to form from all of that an alphabet And
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  Speaker 1: then from the alphabet, the beginning of a sentence structure, vocabulary,
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  Speaker 1: syntactical phrases, and all that goes into putting language into
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  Speaker 1: a meaningful form. Understanding, of course, that none of these people,
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  Speaker 1: not one of them is able to read or write.
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  Speaker 1: So the task includes then to communicate to them in
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  Speaker 1: their language what has been put on paper so that
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  Speaker 1: the people might learn to read. And then begins the
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  Speaker 1: process from Matthew through Revelation of putting the New Testament
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  Speaker 1: in the hands of the people. What stories they tell.
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  Speaker 1: For some of them, it's taken 20 or more years.
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  Speaker 1: to work through that process, just imagine. We met one
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  Speaker 1: couple who had spent 46 years doing that. 46 years.
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  Speaker 1: The good news is they bring back with them these
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  Speaker 1: rather primitive photos and video clips of the people who
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  Speaker 1: now can read and some of them even write. And
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  Speaker 1: they're holding Their own book. With a big smile. Not
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  Speaker 1: always a lot of teeth. But big smiles. And markings
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  Speaker 1: on their face. And feathers in their hair. And all
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  Speaker 1: sorts of different looks. As they are saying with their gestures.
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  Speaker 1: This is my book. This is my savior. Oh. It's
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  Speaker 1: just overwhelming to think about. How remarkable it is to
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  Speaker 1: commit oneself to that as a life task. Now punch
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  Speaker 1: the rewind and go all the way back, not only
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  Speaker 1: scores of years, but hundreds of years, even centuries, a millennia,
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  Speaker 1: to another remarkable people. These are people also attached to
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  Speaker 1: the Bible. Thanks to them, we have a Bible. They
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  Speaker 1: can trace their roots all the way back to one
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  Speaker 1: man named Abraham. And through Abraham's loins and Sarah came Isaac,
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  Speaker 1: and through Isaac, the people of the Jews. The writings
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  Speaker 1: have become some of the finest writings in all the
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  Speaker 1: world in holy literature, the scriptures, the great prophecies of
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  Speaker 1: the prophets, the great songs of the psalmists. Magnificent proverbs
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  Speaker 1: that to this day have a ring of relevance that
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  Speaker 1: is timeless. And from them came the Galilean Jew through
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  Speaker 1: Mary and a bewildered husband named Joseph who had nothing
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  Speaker 1: to do with the conception as they deposited onto this
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  Speaker 1: planet God in flesh. The Jews. The Jews. Messiah. But
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  Speaker 1: that's where the tragedy begins. The real tragedy is that
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  Speaker 1: he came into his own things, but his own ones
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  Speaker 1: didn't receive him. Amazing. Those prophets had spoke of him
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  Speaker 1: and the psalmists had sung of him. The words had
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  Speaker 1: been written and the people could gather those words and
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  Speaker 1: understand them. And they passed the traditions from one generation
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  Speaker 1: to the next. But when Messiah came, they with the
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  Speaker 1: Romans nailed him to a cross. He will not rule
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  Speaker 1: over us. What is interesting from that era to this.
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  Speaker 1: And for as long as the Lord may tarry before
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  Speaker 1: he establishes his kingdom on this earth. The Jews are
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  Speaker 1: missing in the church. Oh, not completely, but that's the
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  Speaker 1: exception to find them here. That's the amazing part. The
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  Speaker 1: exception is that the Jews are present. If I were
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  Speaker 1: to ask you to lift your hands, I doubt there
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  Speaker 1: would be more than two, three dozen of you with
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  Speaker 1: hands up saying, I have Jewish roots. The vast majority
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  Speaker 1: of us are Gentiles. We can't look back to some
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  Speaker 1: origination some spiritual father we go back far enough we're
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  Speaker 1: in pagan city we got no spiritual roots we have
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  Speaker 1: nothing to brag about we have been grafted in this
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  Speaker 1: tree but the Jews where are they oh there's a
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  Speaker 1: magnificent future awaiting them but now right now has God
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  Speaker 1: cast him off forever These remarkable people that have lived
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  Speaker 1: through one Holocaust after another, resilient and victorious in battle,
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  Speaker 1: but they're not here. Paul, being a Jew, is very
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  Speaker 1: concerned that the Jews who read his letter to the
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  Speaker 1: Romans understand they have not been set aside forever. That
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  Speaker 1: the blindness that has come over them is not a
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  Speaker 1: permanent blindness. That there is a future. Chapter 9, he
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  Speaker 1: tells them you were chosen as he looks back. Chapter 10,
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  Speaker 1: he tells them you have rejected the message of the Messiah.
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  Speaker 1: He looks at the present. Now chapter 11, he looks
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  Speaker 1: yet future saying, but it's not forever. The future is
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  Speaker 1: bright for you. God will keep his promises to you.
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  Speaker 1: That's where we find ourselves. John Stott writes this. Paul
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  Speaker 1: now addresses the implications of Israel's disobedience. In doing so,
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  Speaker 1: he asked two questions to both of which he immediately
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  Speaker 1: responds with the same indignant response. Question one, verse one.
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  Speaker 1: I asked then, did God reject his people? Answer, by
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  Speaker 1: no means. Question two. Again, I ask, verse 11. Did
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  Speaker 1: they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all.
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  Speaker 1: The chapter, at least the first 14 verses, revolve around
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  Speaker 1: those two questions and the same answer. And he has
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  Speaker 1: it right when he says, the rejection of the Jews
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  Speaker 1: was neither total nor final. That is the theme of
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  Speaker 1: this chapter. So if you are Jewish, and if you
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  Speaker 1: are still saying no to the Messiah, I want you
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  Speaker 1: to know there is hope for you. You may not
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  Speaker 1: feel a part of the family of God. You are
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  Speaker 1: not a part without faith in your Messiah, but now
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  Speaker 1: is not forever. And you have not been set aside forever,
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  Speaker 1: nor have your relatives. Now, with all of that in mind,
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  Speaker 1: let's do a little analysis, okay? Let's understand the issue.
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  Speaker 1: First is the issue of identification. Verse 1, I say then,
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  Speaker 1: God has not rejected his people, has he? Identifying the
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  Speaker 1: people we understand now to be the Jews, the nation Israel.
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  Speaker 1: That is the largest of the group, but within the
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  Speaker 1: large group there is a small group of Messianic Jews,
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  Speaker 1: believing Jews, converted to Christianity. Look at verse 5. In
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  Speaker 1: the same way then there has also come to be
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  Speaker 1: at the present time a remnant according to God's gracious choice.
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  Speaker 1: Not only are we among the remnant, the Gentiles who
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  Speaker 1: have been brought in by God's grace and favor, but
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  Speaker 1: the Jews who have believed, those who have followed Christ.
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  Speaker 1: To the surprise of a number of people, there are
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  Speaker 1: pockets of converted Jews all over the world, even in Jerusalem,
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  Speaker 1: a number of them. But compared to the majority, it
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  Speaker 1: is small. In some places, tiny. But the identification issue
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  Speaker 1: has to do with Israel. We understand that. That's what
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  Speaker 1: he's talking about. Now the issue of rejection. The question appears,
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  Speaker 1: God has not rejected his people, has he? Verse 11,
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  Speaker 1: they did not stumble so as to fall, meaning permanently,
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  Speaker 1: did they? There is a temporary period of rejection. Paraphrased altogether,
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  Speaker 1: it might read, God has not totally and permanently wiped
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  Speaker 1: out the nation Israel, has he? He isn't finished with
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  Speaker 1: her forever, is he? Paul's desire is to prove his point. Now,
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  Speaker 1: we see the question. It's in verse 1. He has
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  Speaker 1: not rejected his people, has he? Its answer is no.
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  Speaker 1: Now Paul begins saying, In verse, the end of verse
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  Speaker 1: 1 down through verse 10 to give us four reasons,
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  Speaker 1: four pieces of evidence to prove that the Jews are
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  Speaker 1: not set aside forever and that there is no issue
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  Speaker 1: related to the building of a remnant. There still will
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  Speaker 1: be those who believe, but they always will be in
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  Speaker 1: the minority. The first evidence, the first reason is Paul himself.
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  Speaker 1: End of verse 1. I too am an Israelite, a
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  Speaker 1: descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. If God
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  Speaker 1: were finished with all the Jews when they rejected him
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  Speaker 1: at the cross, Paul would not have been born again.
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  Speaker 1: But God has not rejected all. It's an interesting thing
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  Speaker 1: to think about Paul's testimonies You might mark your Bible,
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  Speaker 1: 1 Timothy 1, verses 12 to 15, 16, the story
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  Speaker 1: of Paul's life. It's a remarkable story of a man
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  Speaker 1: who was moving in the opposite direction against Christianity, persecuting Jews,
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  Speaker 1: and on his way to the ancient city of Damascus,
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  Speaker 1: he is struck blind, knocked from the beast on which
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  Speaker 1: he was riding, and there, on the side of the road,
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  Speaker 1: he is born again. as he trusts in Jesus Christ,
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  Speaker 1: who confronts him with himself, the message. Paul is wonderfully rescued.
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  Speaker 1: And the man who once worked against the things of
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  Speaker 1: Christ is now, in a matter of really years, a
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  Speaker 1: few years, moving toward the things of Christ and helping
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  Speaker 1: others receive him. He once rejected him, but now he's
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  Speaker 1: been rescued. I don't know if you saw the movie Castaway.
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  Speaker 1: But several years ago, Tom Hanks played the major role,
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  Speaker 1: really the only role, that any of us remember in
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  Speaker 1: the movie, as he is a FedEx agent who is
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  Speaker 1: flying over the Pacific Ocean to make a delivery in
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  Speaker 1: this massive 747, and it hits a storm and it crashes.
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  Speaker 1: It's a fictional story, but we all are on the
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  Speaker 1: edge of our seat wondering who will survive. Only one survives,
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  Speaker 1: and he's washed ashore on a little uninhabited island. And
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  Speaker 1: there he learns to survive for a number of years.
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  Speaker 1: And the only one he talks to is a little
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  Speaker 1: soccer ball. And I'm thinking as I'm watching this, I,
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  Speaker 1: a fairly intelligent adult, well, that's sometimes questionable. A man
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  Speaker 1: is talking to a soccer ball and I am interested
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  Speaker 1: in the monologue. Why? What is it about that? Well,
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  Speaker 1: we all want to know what happens to this guy.
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  Speaker 1: He's cast away. Through a series of events, he builds
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  Speaker 1: a raft and finally makes his way out. By the way,
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  Speaker 1: back at the ranch, they all think he's dead. The
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  Speaker 1: woman he was going to marry has already married someone
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  Speaker 1: else and she's already started their family. And he's not
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  Speaker 1: completely out of her mind, but they've had a memorial service.
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  Speaker 1: He's gone. He's lost. Lost at sea. What they don't know,
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  Speaker 1: when he walks back on the scene, he had been rescued.
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  Speaker 1: Paul's story is the same. Lost forever. You would think
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  Speaker 1: so if you studied this story up till about 31,
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  Speaker 1: 32 A.D. along in there. And then he's changed. Christ
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  Speaker 1: comes into his life. And he returns. And of all things,
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  Speaker 1: he comes back to the very people who once funded
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  Speaker 1: his mission to put down Christians. And he presents to
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  Speaker 1: them the gospel. How good is that? Now, that is
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  Speaker 1: a story worth your attention. And that's the story of
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  Speaker 1: Paul's life. That's why he says, if God had rejected
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  Speaker 1: all the Jews, then what am I doing? The point is,
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  Speaker 1: he hasn't. By the way, that's a personal reason he mentioned.
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  Speaker 1: Here's a theological reason. Verse 2. God has not rejected
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  Speaker 1: his people whom he foreknew. See the word foreknew? We've
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  Speaker 1: seen that before. Back in chapter 9, chapter 8. Go
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  Speaker 1: back to chapter 8. I'm going to show you a
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  Speaker 1: verse I feel sorry for. Romans 8, 29. Everybody knows
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  Speaker 1: Romans 8, 28, but you've got only a handful that
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  Speaker 1: can quote verse 29, and it goes right along with
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  Speaker 1: verse 28. 28, we could all say from memory, we
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  Speaker 1: know that all things work together for good of them
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  Speaker 1: that love God, them who are called according to his purpose.
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  Speaker 1: What's 29? Let's see. And here it goes right along
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  Speaker 1: with it. For those whom he foreknew, there's our word.
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  Speaker 1: He also predestined to become conformed to the image of
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  Speaker 1: his son. Verse 30. And those whom he predestined, he called.
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  Speaker 1: And those whom he called, he justified. And those whom
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  Speaker 1: he justified, he also glorified. These are links in the
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  Speaker 1: chain of salvation. Please notice foreknowledge. Notice then the predestining
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  Speaker 1: of those he has called. The calling of them, the justifying,
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  Speaker 1: the glorifying. Paul says God has chosen people. Back in
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  Speaker 1: Romans 11 verse 2. God has not rejected the people
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  Speaker 1: whom he foreknew. If he chose them, they're still his chosen.
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  Speaker 1: Even though they don't choose to follow him in return.
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  Speaker 1: God doesn't change because we change toward him. That's a
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  Speaker 1: very common misunderstanding. God's heart is still for the Jews.
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  Speaker 1: He still sees them as a chosen people, but they
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  Speaker 1: have been temporarily set aside. Now that brings up a
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  Speaker 1: biblical reason, which is Elijah. The story of Elijah. One
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  Speaker 1: of the great stories in the Old Testament. 1 Kings
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  Speaker 1: chapter 18, chapter 19. You'll see what he says here.
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  Speaker 1: Do you not know what the scripture says in the
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  Speaker 1: passage about Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel. Now,
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: Truth be told, some of you don't know the story
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: of Elijah. Elijah was a prophet who stood against Ahab
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: and his wicked wife, Jezebel. And he said, there'll be
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: no rain for three and a half years. And there
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: wasn't rain for three and a half years. And Jezebel
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: and Ahab hated Elijah for that, as did all the
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: prophets of Baal. Finally, there was a showdown. And they
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: built this huge altar and the prophets of Baal said
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: that they would prove that their God was the real God.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: But he wasn't. They couldn't get him to answer. They
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: couldn't get him to respond. And Elijah goes, he may
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: be asleep. Yell louder. He has a little fun with them,
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: you know. So they're yelling louder and they start to
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: cut themselves and all that goes with it. Nothing changes.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: Elijah steps up and by the power of God, this
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: altar is consumed with fire. And along with that, he
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: kills so many of the prophets of Baal. that Ahab
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: and Jezebel cannot stand it. So they put a hit
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: man on Elijah and they say, my son down your history. Well,
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: Elijah gets his shorts and a wad and decides I
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: cannot stand this kind of pressure. And so he runs
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: and gets away and goes under a juniper tree and
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: he cries out, Oh Lord, I can't stand it. I'm
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: all alone. You ever been like that? It's called a
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: pity party. And you're feeling sorry for yourself, and you
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: think God is gone, and nothing has worked well, and
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: all you've done is what's right, and the result is this.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: It isn't fair. It isn't right. Where are you, God?
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: I'm all alone. Now, that's where we are in this passage.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: Look at verse 2. How he pleads with God against Israel. Lord,
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: he's quoting now from 1 Kings 19. Verse 10, and
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: he says the same thing in verse 14, identical words. Lord,
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: they have killed your prophets, they have torn down your altars,
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: I'm the only one left. You ever felt like that? Lord,
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: I'm the only one left. There's nobody else. It isn't fair.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: That's Elijah. And it's a wonderful thing about the Lord.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: He never once says... I am so ashamed of you.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: Get out. He doesn't do that. He says, what are
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: you doing here, Elijah? How come you're doing this? And
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: so Elijah crawls into a cave, says the same thing again.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: And the Lord says, what are you doing in there?
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: Come here, Elijah. Listen to me. And what does he
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: tell him? Verse four. What is the divine response to Elijah?
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: I have kept for myself 7,000 men. Who have not
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: bowed the knee to Baal. Isn't that great? You say
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: you're all alone. Maybe you feel all alone. But Elijah,
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: I got 7,000 waiting in the wings. I got my
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: men that aren't worshiping Baal. You just don't know about them. See,
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: that's the way it is, folks. That's why pity parties happen.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: When we start thinking we're all alone, we start thinking
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: we're getting mistreated. We start thinking I'm the only one
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: around going through stuff like we forget why the Lord's
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: at work. He's got his people. He's got thousands of people.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: Elijah goes, man, this is great. I didn't realize. No,
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: he doesn't just jump out of it, but he does
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: get refreshed. You know how God brings along a friend
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: named Elisha, different man. And Elijah and Elisha. make great
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: music together. But that's just one of 7,000. Here's the point.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: God has a chosen remnant. Just because God isn't working
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: in the majority doesn't mean God is not at work.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: It's very, very important for all of you to realize,
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: all of us to realize, I mean this, that God
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: prefers to work through a remnant. God likes it when
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: the odds are against us. Why? Only God can do
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: the impossible. I love it when we can't explain it.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: I got a friend who had cancer of the tongue
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: and he was a resident here in Dallas with to
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: a fine clinic. They took the x-ray. They said to him,
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: they took the MRI, the whole thing. They said, it's
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: a malignancy and we're going to have to take your tongue.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: He says, I'm going to go to another source. And
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: they said, okay. He said, I want the x-rays. They
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: gave him the x-rays and the whole thing under his arm.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: And Billy called me up. I was ministering up in
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: New England at the time. And he said to me, Chuck,
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: I'm calling two or three of my friends saying, pray
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: for me. Pray that God will heal me. He says,
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: I have a malignancy on my tongue. I've got it
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: right here in the x-ray. So he went up to
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: Mayo's and he was checked out by the oncology department
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: there at Mayo. They took another picture and they looked
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: at that picture and there's nothing there. And they said,
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: let's see the x-rays again. They said, these are not
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: your x-rays. He said, is that my name? I haven't
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: changed my name. I don't know how to change x-rays.
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: Is that the hospital where I was in? Is that
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: the doctor? Yeah, that's my x-ray. But there's nothing here.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: I love it. It's impossible. That's the whole point. That's
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: how God works. But we are so enamored of the majority.
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: We love it when we've got more on our side. Why?
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: Because we'll be triumphant. No. Didn't work for David and Goliath.
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: When will we ever learn? When will you learn? Remember Elijah.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: Verse 5. In the same way then. Here's the analogy.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: There has also come to be at the present time
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: a remnant. According to God's gracious choice. Now when Paul
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: mentions gracious choice. He just has to take a moment
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: to go into grace. And I love that about him.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: So not necessarily in context, he adds, if it is
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works. Otherwise,
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: grace is no longer grace. Signed, Yogi Berra. Sounds just
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: like something Yogi Berra would write, doesn't it? It's obvious.
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: If it's based on works, then it can't be based
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: on grace. If it's grace, then works has nothing to
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: do with it. Trust God. And the implication is you
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: Jews who are working so hard to be righteous and
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: you're giving up and you're disciplining yourself and you're following
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: all the traditions and you're sweating through every minute of
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: the prayer time and you're doing it daily. Stop. It
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: is based on grace, not works. Remember Elijah, who could
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: do nothing. And the Lord said, I've got all of
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: these plans. Invisible though they are to you, I'm at work.
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: By the way, I love the line out of Proverbs.
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: his enemies to be at peace with him. Proverbs 16, 7.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: When your ways please the Lord, he works against your enemies.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: Remember that. So we've got a personal reason. We've got
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: a theological reason. We've got a biblical reason. And we've
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: got the nature of discipline. That's another reason. In verses
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: 7 through 10, he talks about this time of discipline
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: that the Jews are under. What then? What Israel is seeking,
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it,
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: and the rest were hardened. Just as it is written,
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: now he quotes from Isaiah 29, an eloquent passage of scripture.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes to see not,
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: ears to hear not, down to this very day. Then
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: he quotes from Psalm 69, calling here simply, David says...
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: Let their table become a snare and a trap and
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: a stumbling block and a retribution to them. Let their
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: eyes be darkened to see not and bend their backs forever.
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: The whole point is they're under discipline. And the whole purpose,
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: the nature of discipline is temporary. No one disciplines for
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: on a permanent basis. You discipline for a period of
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: time for a particular reason. And then you back off
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: from the discipline. Same way with the Jews. So we
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: have here no distinction. I love that fact. There is
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: no distinction now between Jew and Gentile. Everett Harrison writes this,
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: there is no difference when it comes to the need
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: for Christ and the availability of his salvation. The source
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: of their spiritual life is found in the same Lord
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: whose blessings are bestowed upon them without partiality. Now, All
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: of this brings us to this grand 11th verse. This
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: is where you and I, Gentiles, come into the picture.
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: What's the reason? What's the purpose for the discipline? Why
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: would the Lord or how would the Lord use this
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: temporary setting aside of Israel for the benefit of others?
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: Look closely. There are two reasons given. I say then
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: they did not stumble so as to fall permanently, did they?
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: May it never be. Watch closely. But by their transgression,
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: that's the Jews transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles.
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: How good is that? They had been set aside. And
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: as a result, remember out of Acts 15, when the
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: whole thing switched around and the gospel began to be
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: presented to the Gentiles and the Gentiles believed it, that's
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: where our forefathers came in. Because the Jews have been
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: set aside the gospel, then turned to the Gentiles. And
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: you and I, so undeserving, so irresponsible, so lacking in
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: any spiritual roots, have been brought into this family of
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: God based on faith in Christ. Magnificent. And there's one
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: other reason that will almost make you smile. Look at
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: the end of verse 11. Their transgression, by their transgression,
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: salvation has come to the Gentiles to make them jealous,
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: meaning the Jews. Don't you love that? To make the
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: Jews jealous. Look at verse 14. If somehow I might
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them.
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: You ever thought about that? One of the great roles
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: we have to play in life is the living out
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: of the Christian life, which is so enriching, life-changing, transforming, exciting,
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: and fulfilling that the Jew looks in from the outside
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: and is jealous for what he's missing. You living like that?
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: Do your Jewish neighbors see a life in you that
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: is so different that they think, I'm missing, and they're
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: not even Jews. I thought, how do I illustrate this?
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: What do I do to make this even clearer? I
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: thought about a restaurant. A restaurant here in Dallas, okay? Now,
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to name the restaurant. I named a
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: restaurant one time, and I kind of put it down,
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: and the owner of the restaurant was in our congregation.
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: And so... I'm not going to name any restaurant. You
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: take the restaurant of your choice, one of the real
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: nice ones, or maybe one that has a wide, wide,
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: broad menu. You can get everything from, you know, grilled
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: cheese sandwiches and hamburgers all the way up to prime rib,
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: real thick prime rib. Okay, so you show up with
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: your party of six or seven, and you sit down
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: at the table, and you guys don't have much money,
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: and we're all thinking, well, we're going to either get
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: grilled cheese sandwiches, maybe a bowl of fries for everybody
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: to eat from, and some are going to get hamburgers.
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: And right next to us is a table of 12, 13,
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: 14 Jewish folks. And they've all ordered prime rib. That's
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: a thick prime rib. Maybe I should do this. They've
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: all ordered big, great, big, juicy prime ribs, okay? So
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: everything walks along pretty well. You've got the menu in
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: your hand trying to decide. You keep looking over there
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: at this great meal they just got served. All of
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: a sudden, they stand up. The host at the table
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: talks to the owner and says, look, I'll pay for
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: the meal, but nobody wants to eat this. This isn't
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: really what we wanted. And then they walk out. Well,
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: here sit 12 plates of prime rib. And here you sit,
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: hungry as a moose, thinking, oh, wow. And the owner
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: comes over and says, say, there's nobody else in the restaurant.
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: We're virtually closed. If you don't mind eating with some
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: of the busboys and a couple of waiters, In fact,
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: I may sit down and join you. You can have
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: the prime rib. Is anybody going to? No, I'm going
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: to stay with grilled cheese sandwiches. We all go, whoa.
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: We jump over there. We sit down at a place
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: that wasn't even set for us. And we start digging. Now,
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: in the meantime, these Jewish friends who were on their
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: way to their home think, what kind of fools are we?
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: That would have been good. So they turn around and
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: come back. Restaurant's closed. So they look in the window.
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: That is called jealousy. That's it. They're eating our meal.
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: And look how good it is. And we could have
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: had it. The good news that in God's plan, I'm
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: going to make this illustration walk on all fours. As
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: God has planted, he lets them in the side door saying,
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: you want back in? Come in, but you're going to
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: eat the meal I fixed. And you're going to accept
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: it as I put it together. Or you're not going
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: to have anything. And that's where the Jews are today.
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: They're looking in our windows, salivating if we are truly
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: living the life that was meant to be lived. Are you?
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: It's terribly important that you understand the value of thinking
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: positively toward the Jews. One of the worst things you
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: can cultivate, and if your parents fell into this trap,
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: one of the best things you can break is the
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: prejudice against the Jews. Don't ever go there. Don't ever
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: go there. God still has a future for them. They
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: may have missed the prime rib for now, but not forever.
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: Keep reading. Look at this. Verse 12. If their transgression
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: is riches for the world and their failure is riches
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: for us, the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be?
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: I'm speaking to you who are Gentiles and as much
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: than as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: my ministry. If somehow I might move to jealousy my
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: fellow countrymen and save some of them. You think he
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: wasn't zealous for the salvation of the Jews? But go
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: back to the fulfillment there. I love this. So helpful.
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: How much more will be their fulfillment? What is the
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: future of the Jews? When this blindness is lifted, when
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: this temporary time of being set aside ends, what do
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: they have to look forward to? Listen to the list.
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: The Jews once again will be in their land under
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: their own flag, exalting the Messiah, who will be reigning
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus Christ
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: will be enthroned as the leader of the world in
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: the city of Jerusalem, guiding the affairs of the world.
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: There will be a perfect righteousness sustained on this earth.
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: There will be perfect environment for a thousand uninterrupted years.
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: The removal of the curses. The desert will blossom as
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: a rose. No pollution, no corruption, even in governments. No
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: ecological or sociological problems. The knowledge of the Lord will
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. There
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: will be unending peace. Satan and his demons will be
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: bound along with all of his evil hosts and enemies.
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: That absolute fulfillment of God's promises to Israel will take place.
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: All of that yet future. Why? God promised. He promised
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: it and he calls it here simply their fulfillment. That's
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: what they have to look forward to. Now, the application.
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: This is so good. Number one, let me say something
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: to you that is unlike man. Unlike mankind, unlike human beings...
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: God does his best work through a remnant. Unlike us,
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: God prefers the odds against him. He loves it when
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: the situation is impossible. Sometime I'm convinced he lets things
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: go on until they become impossible for us to resolve them.
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: And that's when he steps in. And often when he
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: steps in, he does the most remarkable things. And you think, oh,
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: why did I ever think I could have stepped in
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: and done something better than that? You may be in
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: a holding pattern right now. You may not be in
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: a very productive period of time in your life. You
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: may feel shelved, not unlike Elijah all alone. Let me
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: remind you that God doesn't need a majority. We prefer masses.
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: We prefer larger numbers because we think more is better.
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: Rarely is more better. When it's God at work, he
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: loves the odds against him. Unlike humanity, God does his
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: best work through a remnant. Here's the second. Unlike the world,
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: God keeps his promises. He will keep his promises to
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: the Jews and he will keep his promises to you.
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: To me. Ours is a dishonest generation. Precious few can
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: be trusted. Even when treaties are signed. Promises made. The
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: Lord told Israel, you'll have your land. I'll rule over you.
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: There will be peace and prosperity and you will have
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: my presence. I promise you. When my mother, several years
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: before her death, would come up against folks that were
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: going through difficult times, she formed the habit of writing
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: out what she called promise books. Little handwritten verses of
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: scripture that she put together in little notebooks and she
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: would give them to people going through grief or going
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: through discouragement or a loss of a child or a
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: broken marriage or someone suffering from a depression. She said,
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: She would always say when she gave him the little notebook, remember,
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: God keeps his promises. Time magazine came out as if
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: this is a good quote. Time magazine came out with
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: the statement that in the Bible, there are 7,464 promises.
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: I don't know why I remember that, but I remember
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: reading that. Whether or not they're right, there are thousands
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: of promises in the Bible and not all of them
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: are for you or for me, but many of them are.
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: Could you quote five of them? This last week, did
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: you lean on one or two of them? Books full
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: of them. When we were rearing our children, we had
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: to always guard against, unless we really meant it, saying
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: two words. We promise. Because when we said the P word,
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: their little ears perked up like Dobermans. And they said,
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: you promised. You know, the parents' favorite line is, well, maybe.
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: Or we hope so. Or someday. Or yeah, that'll be interesting.
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: Or that might be nice. We have a thousand of
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: those lines. But when we said, we promise. I mean,
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: they would wake us up. You've gone to sleep and
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: you promised. You promised. God can be counted on. He promises.
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  Speaker 1: Let me tell you one of his greatest promises. Those
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  Speaker 1: who believe in him will never regret it. Those who
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  Speaker 1: trust him can take it all the way to death
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  Speaker 1: and beyond. Because God says, if you take my son
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  Speaker 1: as your savior, you're in and you'll never be out.
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  Speaker 1: You're one of mine. I promise. I close on that
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  Speaker 1: note because I realize that there are still some of
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  Speaker 1: you who hear this message regularly. but you've not yet
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  Speaker 1: given Christ your life. This is the moment for you.
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  Speaker 1: Prayer room is open for you. Soul care people are
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  Speaker 1: trained to help work with you, to talk with you,
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  Speaker 1: to lead you each step of the way so that
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  Speaker 1: you can very intelligently and quietly and privately come to
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  Speaker 1: terms with salvation, which is a once for all decision
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  Speaker 1: you make based on the promise of God. May we
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  Speaker 1: bow together. Wherever you may find yourself today, the good
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  Speaker 1: news is that God is there. And God is at work.
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  Speaker 1: As difficult as your situation may be, it is not
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  Speaker 1: impossible to him. That word is not in his vocabulary.
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  Speaker 1: He is working things out according to his will, which
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  Speaker 1: includes his timing. Our responsibility is to wait and trust him.
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  Speaker 1: If you aren't sure about your eternal salvation, today is
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  Speaker 1: the day to make sure. To take God at his word.
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  Speaker 1: To rely on him. To believe in his son. Father,
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  Speaker 1: thank you for the reminders that come from this ancient book.
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  Speaker 1: For the timely stories of Elijah and Paul and the
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  Speaker 1: changed lives. For the way you've always worked in a
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  Speaker 1: remnant and done your best work, though you yourself are invisible,
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  Speaker 1: your fingerprints are all over the pages of history. Thank
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  Speaker 1: you that that has not changed. Thank you for your
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  Speaker 1: work in our lives and for bringing us to such
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  Speaker 1: a place that we cannot see our way through. And
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  Speaker 1: that's when you do your best work. We count on
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  Speaker 1: you to keep your promises, not only to your chosen people,
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  Speaker 1: But to those of us who have been grafted in.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you in Jesus name. For the privilege of worshiping you.
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  Speaker 1: And may our worship. Change our thinking and our lives.
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  Speaker 1: That we might become for some. The sources of hope
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  Speaker 1: and the reason to go on. Even bringing them to jealousy.
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  Speaker 1: I ask it in the name of Jesus. Everyone said. Amen.
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  Speaker 1: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.