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December 4 - Isaiah 57 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends. Sean here it is the 4th of
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  December You have pressed on play and hello, great to have
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  your company as we begin another week reading through the book of
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  Isaiah together in the midst of the madness of the end of year
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  activities. I hope you are doing well in
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  them. Last week we began the final
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  section of the book of Isaiah and this week we continue
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  through that section. This is the time when Isaiah is
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  writing to God's people who have returned back to their land in
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  Israel. They have been exiled far, far
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  away and they have finally returned.
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  But you know, just waltz on into your old homeland and be awesome
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  and perfect. Pick up just where things left
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  off, only much better. No, you go back.
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  There are people living there. There are all sorts of
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  activities happening that you need to work out.
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  What does it look like to be God's people again in the
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  relative freedom of being back in your space.
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  And so these chapters really try and help them work out how to do
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  this. And the chapter we'll read today
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  really helps them understand that when you come back, you've
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  still got to worship God. You can't get sucked into the
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  Pagan worship of the people who may be living in that space.
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  So stay true to God. So that is what we were going to
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  hear today. God helping shape this nation
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  after they have returned from exile to their homeland.
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  So join me, friends, as we read together.
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  Isaiah, chapter 57. Good people pass away the godly
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  often die before their time, but no one seems to care or wonder
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  why. No one seems to understand that
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  God is protecting them from the evil to come.
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  For those who follow godly paths will rest in peace when they
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  die. But you come here, you witches,
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  children, you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes.
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  Whom do you mock, making faces and sticking out your tongues?
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  You children of sinners and liars.
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  You worship your idols with great passion.
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  Beneath the oaks and under every green tree.
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  You sacrificed your children down in the valleys.
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  Among the jagged rocks in the cliffs, your gods are the smooth
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  stones. In the valleys you worship them
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  with liquid offerings and grain offerings.
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  They not. I are your inheritance.
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  Do you think all this makes me happy?
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  You have committed adultery on every high mountain there.
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  You have worshipped idols and have been unfaithful to me.
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  You have put Pagan symbols on your doorposts and behind your
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  doors. You have left me and climbed
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  into bed with these detestable gods.
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  You have committed yourselves to them.
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  You love to look at their naked bodies.
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  You have gone to Malek with olive oil and many perfumes,
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  sending your agents far and wide even to the world of the dead.
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  You grew weary in your search, but you never gave up desire,
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  gave you renewed strength, and you did not grow weary.
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  Are you afraid of these idols? Do they terrify you?
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  Is that why you have lied to me and forgotten me in my words?
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  Is it because of my long silence that you no longer fear me?
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  Now I will expose your so-called good deeds.
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  None of them will help you. Let's see if your idols can save
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  you when you cry to them for help.
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  Why? A puff of wind can knock them
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  down. If you just breathe on them,
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  they fall over. But whoever trusts in me will
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  inherit the land and possess my holy mountain.
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  God says, rebuild the road. Clear away the rocks and stones
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  so my people can return from captivity.
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  The high and lofty One who lives in eternity.
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  The Holy One says this. I live in the high and holy
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  place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble.
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  I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the
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  courage of those with repentant hearts.
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  For I will not fight against you forever.
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  I will not always be angry. If I were, all people would pass
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  away. All the souls I have made.
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  I was angry, so I punished these greedy people.
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  I withdrew from them, but they kept going on their own stubborn
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  way. I've seen what they do, but I
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  will heal them anyway. I will lead them.
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  I will comfort those who mourn, bringing words of praise to
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  their lips. May they have abundant peace
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  both near and far, says the Lord who heals them.
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  But those who still reject me are like the restless sea, which
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  is never still but continually churns up mud and dirt.
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  There is no peace for the wicked, says My God.
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  Sometimes it feels like we have just messed up too badly to come
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  into your awesome holy presence. Lord feels like you would just
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  not want to see us knowing the corruption in our hearts and the
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  failures of our actions. But here we read that even
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  though your people mess up and turn away from you, your desire
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  is to forgive and to draw us back to you, to heal us, to
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  comfort us, and to put once again words of praise on our
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  lips. And so we return to you, broken
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  and incomplete. And in Jesus we find completion.
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  In Your grace, we find words of praise to you on our lips.
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  And so we praise you, and we hold you in the highest possible
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  place that we can reach. We put you on that loftiest
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  pedestal that we can, and we acknowledge you above all
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  others, our mighty saving God. We pray all these things in that
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  saving name of Jesus. Amen.