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 today, April

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the 1st. It is Wednesday, and I am excited to

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talk about Isaiah 25 is where our text is today

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in our reading plan. If you're new here, like

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and subscribe, follow so you don't miss an episode.

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We are excited to jump in. I want to jump straight

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in today. So much good stuff in Isaiah 25 as

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we read a little bit. This is not a long chapter,

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just 12 short verses, and there's a lot packed

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into it, though. Just to give you a little understanding

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of where this sits in the context of the book

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of Isaiah. The book of Isaiah is a great book.

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It's kind of referred to as the little Bible

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or the small Bible. There's 66 chapters in Isaiah.

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I know I've talked about this before on the podcast,

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but just a little refresher. This first part

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is kind of the Old Testament pieces, and then

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it goes into like the New Testament pieces and

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some prophecy and some things. We see something

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happen here in chapter number 25 that is pretty

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awesome. So in chapter 24, we see God's judgment.

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fall. And after God's judgment falls, then we

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pick up chapter 25. If you want to go and read

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24 today, I won't be mad at you if you want to

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pick that up too. But in chapter 24, we see God's

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judgment come down. And then listen to how chapter

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25 begins. I want to read at verse number one,

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and I'm going to read verses one and two, and

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I want to stop and talk about it. Here it goes.

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Chapter 25 of Isaiah, verse number one. O Lord,

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you are my God. I will exalt you. I will praise

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your name. For you have done wonderful things,

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plans formed of old, faithful, and sure. For

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you have made the city a heap, the fortified

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city a ruin. The foreigner's palace is a city

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no more. It will never be rebuilt. I want to

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stop right there. Again, the first verse is just

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worship. It is just worship, and it shows us

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God had a plan the whole time. Nothing happens

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outside of God's sovereign plan. It's not that

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God's surprised by anything. He had a plan from

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the beginning. I love how it says that you've

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done wonderful things. Your plans formed from

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old. This was written about. Years ago, God has

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a plan and it's finally unfolding. We are watching

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God's plan unfold every single day in our life.

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I wonder if you were to see God's plan for your

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specific story, if you see that God wanted you

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to share your faith tomorrow, and wouldn't you...

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Want to share your faith tomorrow? You would

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want to do what he's planned for you. He's got

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good plans for you. It's plans to prosper you.

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It's good stuff. It's plans to bring you closer

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into a walk with him and a relationship with

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him. God's plans are unfolding right before our

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very eyes. Be a part of what God is doing every

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single moment of every day. This is a worship

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song. This is a worship text. He starts worshiping.

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I exalt you. You're awesome. You're amazing.

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Your plans, they can't be overthrown. They can't

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be thwarted. They are awesome and amazing. Then

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he goes into verse 2, and he says something kind

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of interesting in verse 2. From verses 2 to about

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verse 5, you see God's judgment on pride. He

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talks about a city specifically that is built

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without God. Okay, and here's what I will say

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to that. So it says, you know, you've... made

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the city a heap, fortified city a ruin. These

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great things that were once built, they are now

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in just rubble. Why? Because a city built, listen

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to this, this is a good one. I want you to prepare

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yourself. A city built without God typically,

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eventually becomes a sermon about God. Here's

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what I love. Anytime humans try to do something

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without the Lord, it will eventually point back

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to God. That's what happens. The Tower of Babel,

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they were trying their best to create a tower

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to the heavens, and God says no, and now it's

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a sermon about God. They tried to build something

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without God, and yet it became a sermon about

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Him. I think that sometimes we may misunderstand

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some things in the Scripture. Every single thing,

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you cannot do a thing without the presence of

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the Lord. If you try to, he will eventually be

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revealed. And typically, if you try to do something

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about God, it will become dust and rubble. That's

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what will happen. I want to read verse number

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three as well. It says this, therefore, strong

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peoples will glorify you. Cities of ruthless

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nations will fear you. You know, one of the things

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I realized about the Lord is he doesn't just

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defeat the enemies. He doesn't just defeat his

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enemy. He reveals himself to the enemy. And what

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happens? The enemy is afraid. They are fearful.

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God is wanting, he will get the glory. He will

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get the glory. He wants to reveal himself to

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the nations. And when he does, if you're not

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on the right side of that, you are afraid. You

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are terrified of how holy and powerful and awesome

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he is. I look back through the Old Testament

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at all these times when the nation of Israel

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would rise up against another nation. And whenever

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that other nation saw who God was, they were

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afraid. They didn't want the Israelites. to come

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in. Why? Because they were afraid of their God

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is who they were afraid of. Not the mass army

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or the warriors or anything. They were afraid

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of the Lord. He doesn't just defeat the enemy.

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He reveals himself to the enemy. Now I want you

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to think about, we're about to go into Easter

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Sunday. We've talked about Luke chapter 23 and

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24. Yesterday we looked at Luke 24 and how Jesus

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rose from the dead. The tomb is now empty. He

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is now out. He is alive and well and everything.

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Sin has been conquered. Death has been defeated.

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Now here's what happens. He's revealing himself

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to the enemy. And the enemy knows he's lost the

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battle. Imagine if you are the enemy and you

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are waking up. Imagine Satan waking up on the

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first day of the week and seeing this Jesus,

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the tomb empty and Jesus alive and well. And

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Satan knows I have been defeated forever. Why?

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Because he's been revealed who this God is. It's

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powerful and awesome. Now I want you to look

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down. with me to verse number eight. I just want

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to read verse number eight. Read the whole chapter

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today. It's really great, but I want to read

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verse number eight. It says this, He will swallow

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up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe

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away tears from all faces, and the reproach of

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his people he will take away from all the earth,

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for the Lord has spoken. You know, as I look

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at this text, I want to give you a little outline

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for it so you kind of understand, maybe as you're

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reading it, give you a little better insight.

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It begins with this. worship of God's plan. He

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is in control. There is nothing that surprises

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him. Then it goes into God's judgment on some

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pride. Then we look and see his salvation for

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the humble. If you read verse number 4, it talks

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about how God saves the humble. And whenever

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you humble yourself, you submit yourself, and

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you'll be rescued by this God. And then we look

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into verse number 6, a couple of verses later,

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and we find this God's kingdom is celebrated.

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When God's kingdom is celebrated, it's this great

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feast that is coming. Jesus is the host of this

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great feast. I'm going to tell you something

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in just a minute when we get to the end of this.

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Then after that, we read verse number 8, and

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we see in verses 7 and 8, God has a final victory.

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There is a final victory coming, and death will

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be swallowed up. And listen, you may say, well,

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where else does it say that? In 1 Corinthians

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15, over in verse number 54, it says that death

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has been swallowed up in victory. Why? Because

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the king came in, and he wasn't second place.

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He won. He won the battle against sin and death.

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Death has been swallowed up. Death wasn't even

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just defeated. It was devoured by God. That's

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how powerful this text is. So we see his final

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victory. Then we look and we see in the next

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couple of verses, verse 9, God's people rejoice.

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Of course they rejoice. Who's not going to rejoice

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for what the Lord has been doing? And then we'll

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see at the very last of this text, God's enemies

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finally defeated. This is a wonderful chapter,

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and I hope and pray you read it today with this

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fresh understanding and this zeal and this passion

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and this joy, because I don't know about you,

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I'm a child of the king, and I win. I win because

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he fought the battle for me. I win because he

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gave me this grace that I didn't deserve. That's

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why I win this battle. It's amazing and awesome

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to see. Isaiah 25 only makes full sense in the

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person of Jesus. That's how it makes sense. He's

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the one who removes the veil. He's the one who

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defeated death. He's the one who hosts the dinner.

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He's the one who fulfills this great plan of

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God. It's him that has fulfilled all of it. And

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here's the deal. That Jesus is the one who saved

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me. And if you've put your faith and trust in

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him and you've surrendered to his lordship, you've

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got that same Jesus. the one that fulfilled this

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chapter. I want you to think about, sometimes

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we mess up in our Christian walk because we think,

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okay, he's great, he's powerful, he's awesome.

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He swallowed up death. The thing most everyone

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is afraid of, he swallowed it, he devoured it.

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You can see it in Isaiah 25. You can go into

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1 Corinthians 15 and find it again. Death has

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been swallowed up in victory. Who is victory?

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It's Jesus. We have so much victory in Jesus.

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I look throughout the scriptures and I see in

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Romans, I'm not just a conqueror. I'm more than

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a conqueror through him who loves me. Nothing

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can separate me from the love of Christ. Absolutely

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nothing. There's no demon. There's no power.

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There's no money. There's no influence. Death

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can't separate me from Jesus. How is that so?

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Because death lost. Death got swallowed up in

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victory. I love Isaiah. 25. I want to encourage

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you in this. Pray a little bit extra today. Here's

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what I found out. Somebody told me that I was

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a little bit crazy when I came to the Scripture.

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I was explaining something to my family the other

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day, and as they asked me a question about Scripture,

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I got kind of on the edge of my seat, and I started,

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my posture changed, and I started sharing something

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in the Scripture, and they all were kind of laughing

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at me. They said, you get so excited about this.

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I'm like, we win. This is the greatest thing

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in the world. We have victory because death was

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swallowed up in victory. And that victory is

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Jesus. And I listen, I talk to Jesus every day.

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I do. You may think that sounds crazy. It does

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sound crazy. It is crazy. But it's the fact that

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I have this hope. God's plan the whole time was

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to send his son Jesus to pay the price for our

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sin, the judgment that fell on him, not on me.

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And now I get to celebrate. And all that pride

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and arrogance and all that got crumbled. It crumbles

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at the very feet of the Lord. He's going to reveal

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himself to the enemy, and the enemy loses. And

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we get to celebrate the humble, accept Christ

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and his salvation. We say, I know. know I can't

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get there on my own. I know I can't get to God

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on my own because of these faults that I have,

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but I trust in Jesus. And then we celebrate with

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this great feast together. And then we get to

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see victory win over and over and over again.

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As we see death loses, Jesus wins. And then we

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see, we get to rejoice. Not only do we have a

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feast and we celebrate, we get to rejoice. And

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then we get to watch as the enemy loses the final.

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battle. I hope Isaiah 25 gets you halfway as

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fired up today as it is for me. I'm excited about

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this weekend. I cannot wait to share with you

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some of the things the Lord is showing me as

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we read through our reading plan this week. Come

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Sunday, get ready to worship the Lord in a powerful

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way. But here's the deal. You don't have to wait

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till Sunday to worship him. You can worship him

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today. Read the word, let him reveal to you who

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he is, and try your best not to worship after

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you see his glory.