WEBVTT

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This is your daily reminder. God has not run

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out of mercy, not for you, not today. Welcome

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to the New Mercies Podcast. Welcome back to the

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New Mercies Podcast. Today's reading is in Isaiah

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chapter 40. It's February the 26th. 2026, which

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means something very special to me and my family.

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My baby brother is 40 years old today. So happy

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birthday, Joseph, if you are watching or listening.

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And if you are not, I hope that everyone that

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is watching sends it to you as a birthday gift.

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So that is to be said. I want to make sure that

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you know I know it is your birthday, you old

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man. Now on to the good stuff today. Isaiah chapter

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40. A little bit of a different episode today.

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I think, as I've been kind of praying about it

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and looking through it and seeing what was sticking

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out to me and what I want to share with you today,

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I'm going to look a little bit. Isaiah chapter

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40 is great. There's a verse in chapter 40 that

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you probably are familiar with. It's verse 31.

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Those who wait on the Lord. will renew their

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strength. They'll mount on wings of eagles. They'll

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run and not go weary. They'll walk and not grow

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faint. That is a very popular connected scripture

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to a lot of people. You may have seen that on

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a t -shirt or on a mug or whatever. That is a

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great verse of scripture, but I don't want to

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just zone in on that one today. I want to give

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you a little bit of background and not just on

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chapter 40. I want to go all the way through

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the whole book of Isaiah. I'm not going to teach

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on the whole book of Isaiah, but I do want to

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share with you a little bit of facts about it

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that may help us to understand the context in

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which we... read. Isaiah is known to be kind

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of a little mini Bible. What I mean by that,

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there's 66 chapters in the book of Isaiah. There's

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also, in case you didn't know, 66 books in the

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Bible. There's 66 books in the Bible, and there

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are 66 chapters in Isaiah. Here's what's kind

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of cool. The first 39 chapters of Isaiah mirror

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the 39 books of the Old Testament. He focuses

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on the attacks of Assyria. of his day. It was

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the present day to Isaiah talking about the Assyrians

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and how they were coming to attack and it was

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going to be really bad. Then beginning at chapter

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40, the last 27 chapters of Isaiah have a different

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tone. He no longer focuses on the Assyrians.

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He focuses in on Babylon. That really wasn't

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even a big threat when Isaiah was writing. And

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so there's a future feel to the last 27. chapters

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of this text. And I think it's very interesting

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and noteworthy for us to see that there's an

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old past and then there's a new future. There's

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something beautiful about the old that we can

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learn from and that we can deal with. And then

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there's something beautiful about the new that

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we can look into. The tone shifts from chapter

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39 to chapter 40. So it may... I may encourage

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you today, read chapter 39 and chapter 40. You

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may be able to pick up on it. You may have to

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go a couple chapters back and a couple chapters

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forward, but really cool how Isaiah is laid out

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that way. And by the way, the New Testament hadn't

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been written yet, right? God knew what he was

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doing when he was telling Isaiah what to write

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down and how to frame it. I think whenever we

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look at the text, we look at these last 27 chapters,

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and there's a lot of visions of Christ in it.

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So the first 39 chapters were a lot of what was

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going on, a lot of the doom, a lot of the gloom,

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a lot of the hardship, a lot of the brokenness,

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a lot of the miseries. Well, now it begins to

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shift, and we see visions of Christ. One of the

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things the Old Testament prophets did is they

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could see the coming of Christ to redeem. So

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the first time he came, his first advent, what

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we celebrate at Christmas and his 33 years of

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life, whenever he died and rose again. And then

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we see his coming to reign in the end, his second

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coming. You'll see a lot of that through the

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book of Isaiah. Just a cool thing, especially

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in the last 27 chapters as the tone shifts and

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it points more to Christ. Today in chapter 40,

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I know that's a lot of background and kind of

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understanding, but I want to make sure that we

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understand where we're going. Because for the

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last 27 chapters of Isaiah, it's really kind

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of broken up into nine chapters each in these

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sections. So there's chapters 40 through 48.

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That's nine chapters, right? They deal with Judah,

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the nation of Judah. And really what they're

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struggling with, what they're dealing with. But

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then in chapters... 49 through 57, that's the

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second set of nine chapters. It deals with Judah's

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Messiah, the one who would come. what he was

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going to look like, how he was going to be, the

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things about him that were important that they

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needed to know. And then in chapters 58 through

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66, that's the last nine chapters in the book

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of Isaiah, it talks about the kingdom that would

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come. So I know that's a lot of facts, and maybe

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if you're in Bible trivia, that could help you.

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I don't know. But one of the things to note is

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we are shifting in chapter 40 into the pictures

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of Christ. it's really awesome for us to see.

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I want to read just a couple of verses. There's

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a lot in chapter 40, so I want you to read it

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all today, but I want to focus in on just a couple

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of verses. Specifically, I'm going to read verses

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6, 7, 8, and 9. That's where I'm going to land.

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I also am going to reference one that happens

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a couple of chapters later, but I want to read

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these verses first. Verse number 6 says this,

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a voice says, cry, and I said, what shall I cry?

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All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like

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the flower of the field. The grass withers, the

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flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows

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on it. Surely the people are grass. The grass

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withers, the flower fades, but the word of our

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God will stand forever. Before I read verse 9,

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I want to share with you what stood out to me

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today in this text. You know, these verses, 6

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and 7 specifically, give this kind of feel that,

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okay, this has come and gone. Assyria was here,

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now they're not. Babylon will come, they'll be

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gone. Enemies will come and go. The things around

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our problems will come and go. Situations, circumstances

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will come and go. But there's something that

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lasts forever. And that something is the Word

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of God. And I love the term he says in this text.

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It says that in verse number 8, the Word of our

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God will stand forever. That word stand is a

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remarkable word. It is a literal word, a figurative

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word, a causative word. and an intensive word.

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It has a lot kind of wrapped up in it. And here's

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the best way I can explain it, which may point

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you back to Haggai 2. It may point you back to

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Hebrews 12. It may point you forward in just

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a minute. But one of the things that I know is

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that stuff's going to be shaken. There is a day

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coming where he will shake the heavens and the

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earth, and what remains is what cannot be shaken.

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This word stand has multiple understandings to

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it, but it basically means that this word will

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not be shaken. His word will last forever. His

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word is one of those eternal things. So here's

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what I'm going to encourage you with today. Put

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his word in your heart. Put his word in your

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mind. Put his word around your day and within

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your day and everywhere that you are. Put his

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word there. And I don't mean just to buy a t

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-shirt that has the text on it. I don't mean

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just to have your coffee mug say the scripture.

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That's great. That's all well and good. If that

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helps it put into your life, do it. I want to

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encourage you, though, to read his word. Spend

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the time in his word. Read it. Because here's

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the deal. The word that he gives will last forever.

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When you're reading the word, you're doing something

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eternal. Most of the time, here's the problem

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in the Christian life. We think we read the word

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and it's only for this day or it's only for this

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time or only for this season. Here's what I've

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learned. Whenever you study scripture, it is

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eternal. It is a ongoing, everlasting thing.

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It will last forever. His word will not fail.

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So anytime you share his word, you are sharing

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his word and it is going to last longer than

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your life. I have thought about in Hebrews 11,

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right, that great hall of faith. I've thought

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about the heroes of the faith that have gone

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before us, those who have written books and preached

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sermons and gone around the world and been on

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mission and all these people that we've looked

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up to, grandparents and parents and great -grandparents

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maybe, those that have shared the word and it

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has trickled down through us. You know, I'm a

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Christian. I'm a believer because someone led

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me to Christ. They showed me the way, the way

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through the word. That person that led me to

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Christ. Christ was my father. Someone led him

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to Christ and someone led them to Christ and

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someone led them and someone led and so on and

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so forth. And you can keep going back all the

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way to the book of Acts, all the way to Jesus.

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Here's what is amazing. That shows us the word

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is eternal. It keeps going past your life. Anybody

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you share the word with will outlive your life.

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When you share the word of God, it will stand.

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No matter how bad circumstances get, no matter

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how bad persecution gets, if you share the word,

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it will outlive you. It is amazing. Why we don't

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share the word more, I don't know. People come

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and go. Enemies come and go. Situations come

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and go. But the word of God lasts forever. So

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let's dive into the word. Let's put it into our

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hearts, into our lives, and let's live it out.

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Let's make it happen. Now we get into verse 9.

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I don't want to get into any more of that. Listen

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to verse number 9 today. Of Judah, behold your

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God. I absolutely love Scripture so much. The

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next verse starts out with, again, behold the

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Lord God comes with might. I love the term behold.

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There is something about it. It is a focus all

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of your attention and eyes. Let everything else

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go for a moment and just be attentive to this

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one incredible thing. All of your facilities,

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put them in this direction. He's saying, I want

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you to go up to a mountain and herald the good

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news. Herald the good news, by the way, is a

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sharing or a proclamation of good news. What

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is the gospel? The gospel is good news. I want

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to read one more thing to you today that I just

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couldn't help but share. It's not in our reading

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plan today, so I'm going a little outside the

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box. But in Isaiah chapter 52, down in verse

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number 7, listen to this verse. How beautiful

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upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings

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good news, who publishes peace, who brings good

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news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who

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says to Zion, your God reigns. How beautiful

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upon the mountains. Wait, what does he say here?

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He says, go up on a high mountain and proclaim.

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The good news. How beautiful are the feet of

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those. I know if you are a student of the word,

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you know there's another place in the book of

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Romans that he says that the feet of those who

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share the good news are beautiful. The feet of

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those who go and share the good news of the gospel

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are beautiful feet. I want to encourage you today.

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Have beautiful feet. I want to encourage you

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today to proclaim the good news. Why? Because

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the good news is the word of God and the word

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of God lasts forever. I love Isaiah 40. I hope

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and pray you keep diving into it today. Don't

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just take my word for it. Get in, see what the

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Lord has to say. As you keep reading all the

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way through, there's a couple more little sections

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in Isaiah 40. It begins with this, God is greater

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than all those things behind us, right? The enemy's

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behind us. The situation, circumstances are behind

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us. Those things fade away, but the word of God

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is good forever. God's greater than what's before

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us. This next section from verses 12 through

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26, says God's greater than what's before us.

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And then he ends the chapter with God's greater

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than what's within us. We have problems and issues

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within us. God's greater than those things too.

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Isaiah 40, a beautiful place to land today. Spend

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some time, spend some prayer, and let the word

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last forever in you.