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In Christ alone, my hope is found.

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He is my light, my strength, my soul.

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This cornerstone, This solid ground.

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Here in the power of Christ, I'll stand.

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Every secret, every shame, every fear, every pain.

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Living inside the dark, that's just who we are.

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We are children of the dead.

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And the theme was twists and turns.

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Following Jesus changes the game.

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So it's kind of game themed.

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I'm sure you've seen some of the decorations if you weren't here.

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I'd love to help it out, but...

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And basically followed Peter's path of following Jesus.

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And then a couple things after Jesus' resurrection that Peter did.

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And the focus was really on Peter's path and Peter's journey.

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And so the key verse was Psalms 25-4, which is,

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Teach me your ways, Lord, show me your paths.

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I'm glad I can remember that.

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And it's all focused on God has a journey in mind for us.

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And there are going to be twists and turns and things that changes that we may not see coming.

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Or we may not want, but they're going to be there and they're going to be what God wants for us.

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And so day one, who are the kids going to remember what we talked about on day one?

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That was a long time ago.

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We've run into a lot since then.

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Day one we talked about Peter being called to follow Jesus initially.

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They go out to fish.

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They don't catch anything.

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Jesus sends them back out into deep water and they catch so much that their nets are breaking.

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And then Peter says, go away from me, teacher.

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I'm a sinner.

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And Jesus says, actually, you come with me.

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And then from that point, at that moment, Peter had no idea where he would be in three years.

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I can guarantee you that.

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I'm sure he had no idea he'd be thrown in jail later for teaching about Jesus after he died

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and came back to life.

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He was just, I'm going to follow this teacher and see what's up.

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Day two, do the kids remember day two's lesson?

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Arianna?

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No, that's day three.

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Day two, last chance, Jason?

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Day two was when Jesus walked on water.

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Jesus walks on water and Peter walks out to him.

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And then he gets scared and insults the ground.

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That's right.

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Day two is Peter walks on water.

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Day three, like Arianna said, is Peter dies, Jesus three times.

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Day four, does anybody remember day four?

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Is it, day four is when they gave the Cupid baby another water.

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Was that day five?

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That was part of day four.

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Yeah, that was part of day four.

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Kind of the overarching, yeah, I guess that was one of the big points of it.

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In the book, it has it listed as Peter speaks boldly about Jesus and he's arrested.

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But yeah, the miracle is a pretty big deal too.

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And then day five is Peter and Cornelius.

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Cornelius sees a vision where he's told to send men for Peter and Peter sees a vision

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where he's told to go with the men and then Peter preaches to Cornelius and all his family

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about accepting and teaching to everyone, not just the Jewish people.

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So there are a lot of great, amazing lessons and stories throughout that VBS.

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And I really enjoyed that it followed Peter.

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Most of them are understandably a lot about Jesus's life.

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But we kind of get to see that a little more focused on Peter throughout this VBS.

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And I think that's a lot of fun, a lot of great things for the kids to learn there.

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And I think it was really inspiring for a lot of us.

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A lot of the kids were impressing us left and right with their knowledge

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and things that they were taking in.

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Alicia, is there?

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I didn't assign them specifically, but we can do the song next.

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Okay.

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We have a tree for you.

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Kids have a song prepared that we're going to perform.

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They've got some motions as well to go with it.

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Children to the front please.

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Right out across the front.

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Good, buddy.

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Excuse me.


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I'm Brian.

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I don't care.

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Come on.

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Show it off.

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Hands to yourself.

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He's like resource.

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Yeah.

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You need to hand yourself to him.

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You need to all of them.

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Are you brothers?

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I think that's brilliant.

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Let's give yourself.

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�장otine

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Make you lose

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Ready, set, here we go

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Jesus will let us know what we need to do

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Twist and turns

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Twist and turns

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If all we need to do is twist and turn

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If all we need to do is twist and turn

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Twist and turn

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Alright, right down there

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Thank you

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He can fail, but still find a place

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He can slip, but still run away

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He can still run away

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As we can fall and get back up

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All we have, a God we can trust

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Jesus walked on the water

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He came home and went away

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He came home and went away

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He came home and went away

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He came home and went away

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He tries, tries to save the world

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He tries, tries to save the world

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And the promise he made

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Do not fear, for I am with you

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Do not fear, for I am with you

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Please do not be afraid

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Do not fear

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If I could have the men in the house

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rise to stand with me, we're going to pray to bless the offering

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Father in heaven, as we give up our

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tithes and offerings today, we recognize

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that you have been at work since long

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before we were born. You wrote a plan

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for our lives and for those who went before us

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and for those who will come after us

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Lord, we know that we're headed for that time

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when Jesus comes again

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We ask you Lord to bless these tithes and offerings

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and use them as you see fit. Bless us as we earn

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Bless us as we save

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Bless us as we go, bless us as we pray

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as we study, as we work

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We ask you Lord that you help us to provide

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for our families, help us to provide

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for the ministry, help us to provide

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the gospel to a lost and dying world

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We pray all these things in Jesus name

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Amen

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All right little wonders, gas kids, glasses, walk slowly

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off you go, have fun

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Letting go of every single dream

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I lace one down with that of your feet

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Every moment of my wandering

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Never changing to what you see

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I'm trying to win this war, I confess

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My hands are weary, I need your grace

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Mighty warrior, king of the fire

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No matter what I think, you're by my side

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When you don't move the mountains, I'm needing you to move

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When you don't part the waters, I wish I could walk

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When you don't give me answers as I cry out to you

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I will trust, I will trust, I will trust in you

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Truth is you know what tomorrow will bring

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There's not a day ahead you have no idea

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So it all things be my life and breath

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I want what you want Lord and nothing less

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When you don't move the mountains, I'm needing you to move

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When you don't part the waters, I wish I could walk

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When you don't give me answers as I cry out to you

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I will trust, I will trust, I will trust in you

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I will trust in you

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You are my strength and confidence, you are my standing hand

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You are my fire foundation, for I've always had a stand

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Your leaves don't always have roots, your plans are always good

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There's not a place where I go, you've not already started

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When you don't move the mountains, I'm needing you to move

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When you don't part the waters, I wish I could walk

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When you don't give me answers as I cry out to you

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I will trust, I will trust, I will trust in you

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I will trust in you

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I will trust in you

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I'm gonna try to save you

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Alright, the sermon title is the apothagmatic, apothagmatic, you'll put the word up on the

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screen in a minute, the apothagmatic history of God.

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Okay, and you're gonna go, I don't know what that word means.

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And guess what?

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I didn't know it either.

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I had to look it up.

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Okay, we were all in the same boat to start with and we'll all wind up in the same boat

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by the time we're done.

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So it's apothagmatic.

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And word may even say it's spelled incorrectly.

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And we're looking at Psalm 78.

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So the very first thing we need to do if we're gonna look at Psalm 78 is read Psalm 78.

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So maybe a little hoot, holler, give me an amen as we say Psalm 78.

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Thank you.

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From this moment on, what I am reading to you will be God's word.

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If you have a slightly different translation, that's okay.

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We're even gonna talk about that before we're through.

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But this is what it says in the New American Standard Version, at least if I read it correctly.

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Psalm 78.

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And I'm gonna kind of just do a little breaking down because I read the whole thing, I'm not

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gonna do a ton of breaking down.

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So Psalm 78 starts like this.

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It says, listen, O my people, to my instruction, incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

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I will open my mouth in a parable.

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I will utter dark sayings of old, which we have heard and known and our fathers have

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told us.

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We will not conceal them from their children, but tell to the generation to come the praises

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of the Lord and his strength and his wondrous works that he has done.

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For he established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded

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our fathers that they should teach them to their children, that the generation to come

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might know even the children yet to be born, that they may arise and tell them to their

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children, that they should put their confidence in God and not forget the works of God, but

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keep his commandments and not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation,

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a generation that did not prepare its heart and whose spirit was not faithful to God.

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The sons of Ephraim were archers equipped with bows, yet they turned their back in the

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day of battle.

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So we'll stop there for one second just to make sure we're getting the up to 9a really.

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Basically all of that, I hope you got the idea, is about telling the people that you

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know and the next generation the teachings of God.

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So of course the psalmist is talking about what had been written by that point in time

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and the complete word of God, so we have access to the New Testament that he would not have

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had, but he's basically saying God has commanded us to hear the words that he is saying to

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us, to see the world for what it is, and to realize that he is showing us, telling us

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something, and then to deliver that something that he is showing us, telling us to the people

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around us and to the next generation.

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And even in there you can see some hints already toward how people did not do that.

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Now let's just be kind of simple about this for a moment.

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I am a father of a bunch of kids, praise the Lord, and I have some grandkids, and I would

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say to them to follow the Lord better than I have.

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So I think you could say this to your children one day, follow the Lord better than you have.

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And your children will one day say to their children, follow the Lord better than I have.

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But it's definitely true that we can look at the histories, and he's kind of given some

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very brief synopsis here of what that was like, and how God taught them and said do

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not conceal these things, teach them to your children so that your children can teach their

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children and even those who have yet to be born in a really long time.

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Notice in verse 2 he said, I will open my mouth in a parable and I will utter dark sayings

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of old.

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So you might recognize that as used about Jesus in the New Testament.

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Jesus opened his mouth in parables.

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He told people stories that would help people to understand the deeper teachings of God

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if they were open to it, but also they might go, ah, you know, that's no big deal really.

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They could blow it off if they wanted to, right?

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And people did that, and some people then got offended by the parables and some people

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didn't, and they were like, well, tell me more, help me understand that, and they learned

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even more.

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And then this psalm was quoted in talking about Jesus, but notice the second half of

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it says, I will utter dark sayings of old.

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And it's a little difficult to translate into the English from the original Hebrew, so in

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your Bible it might even be a little different, say if you have a King James or something

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like that, it may have translated slightly differently, but basically what it's saying

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is the things that people never knew back then.

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So Jesus was going to use parables and sayings to teach the truth of something that you would

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not otherwise get.

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So in your day, there is something for you that you wouldn't get about how God created

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the universe, about how God set things up, about how God responds to the way people act,

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what God is likely to do in our day is contained in the scriptures, but you might have to listen

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to God to understand them more deeply.

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That's part of what we do when we say reaching new heights in Jesus.

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We're working together to go beyond the outer shell to get to a deeper understanding of

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what is there.

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That's part of what the church is for, right?

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So we all work together to do that.

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It's not just me up here preaching.

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If it wasn't for you, I couldn't do what I do.

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It's not possible.

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So the bottom line is we all work together to go deeper, and Jesus would utter the parables

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with his mouth and the teachings of old, and you see that like he says, well, you know,

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it says, I know you know it says this, but now pay attention to this.

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And the new thing that he taught was not new at all.

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It was already there.

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Like when he talks about adultery, how lusting in your heart after a woman is the same as

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committing adultery already, right?

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So you're sinning against God if you lust after a woman in your heart, as if you were

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committing adultery.

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That was already contained in the command.

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All he did was unpack it.

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He didn't add to it something new.

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Even the love your neighbor as yourself, which would actually be called a new command, it

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was new because the Jewish leaders were not teaching it.

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They weren't teaching them and they certainly weren't modeling it, right?

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And so he says, this new command I give you.

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But this really wasn't a new command.

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It was new to them because they weren't getting it from any other Jewish teacher at the time.

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But is it contained in God's word?

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Because you realize the second half of all of the Ten Commandments is all about loving

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your neighbor as yourself, right?

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And so it was already there.

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So the psalmist is saying here in 78, these teachings, we have to go deeper and understand

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these teachings at the best we possibly can so we can deliver them to people in our generation

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and to our children so they can deliver them to your great, great, great grandchildren.

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After you're gone, you've got some work to do to digest and refine and deliver this information

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so that they can deliver them.

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It's great to think, oh, my kids, when they grow up, they'll honor God.

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I hope they will.

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It's even great to think, oh, my grandkids.

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And I've seen some gifting in my kids that I don't have.

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And that's awesome.

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And then I've seen gifting in my grandkids that I don't have and my kids don't have.

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And that's awesome.

293
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But what about my grandkids' kids?

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If they only digest the Bible at 17%, then how much can they really teach the next generation?

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Less than 17%.

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You can't teach them anything unless you teach them to learn on their own, in which case

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they will learn it.

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And they might get to 34%, which wouldn't be great.

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The bottom line is we're called by God here in Psalm 78 as the psalmist is really recognizing

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what the Bible says that we are supposed to teach.

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And the end result of that would be that the generations that come, hopefully our generation

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and then the ones that come, would not be like the generations before who were stubborn

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and rebellious and they did not prepare their hearts and their spirits were not faithful

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to God.

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And then he ends with this thought, the sons of Ephraim.

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Now this is what's called an analogy.

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The sons of Ephraim were not necessarily actually like this, but he's saying, understand, this

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is the way it was.

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They were as archers equipped with bows that turned their back on the day of battle.

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And so if you're a follower of God and you do not do what the psalmist is teaching us

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to do, learn what it is that we need to know about God and deliver it to our generation

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and the next generation so they can deliver it to the next one and so on.

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If you don't do that, you're as an archer who is armed with a bow but does not come

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into the conflict.

315
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They run away instead.

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So the archers are typically back here and the battle is typically up there, so they

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shouldn't have to worry about running.

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But if they think there's any chance that the main battle might be overrun, they have

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two choices.

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They can fire faster, shoot more arrows, right?

321
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Do more work.

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And if the enemy comes close to them, put their bow on their back and draw their dagger

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or their short sword and fight.

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That's one choice.

325
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And the other choice is, oh, they might be overrun.

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We're going to run away and live to fight another day.

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And God says, if you run away and live to fight another day, you are a coward.

328
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You are useless.

329
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You are worthless in the kingdom of God.

330
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That's basically what he's saying.

331
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He's saying, you don't want to be like that.

332
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You don't want to be an archer who turned his back in the day of battle.

333
00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:15,000
Now we're on verse 10.

334
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They did not keep the covenant of God.

335
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This sounds bad.

336
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They did not keep means they didn't retain it.

337
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They didn't keep it in its fullness.

338
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And they refused to walk in his law.

339
00:22:24,080 --> 00:22:29,520
And they forgot his deeds and his miracles that he had shown them.

340
00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:36,000
He wrought wonders before their fathers in the land of Egypt in the field of Zoan.

341
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So notice that we're up at this point.

342
00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:39,560
And he said, what did he say?

343
00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:40,640
We will tell.

344
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This is what God's people do.

345
00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:44,280
We will digest it and we will deliver it.

346
00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:45,280
That's what we'll do.

347
00:22:45,280 --> 00:22:48,160
And then what did he say of those who were like those people from Ephraim?

348
00:22:48,160 --> 00:22:50,880
He said they forgot their job.

349
00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:52,160
They didn't do it.

350
00:22:52,160 --> 00:22:54,840
They forgot his deeds, his miracles that he had shown them.

351
00:22:54,840 --> 00:22:56,000
He wrought wonders.

352
00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:59,720
And they forgot all of those things.

353
00:22:59,720 --> 00:23:01,040
What did they forget?

354
00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:04,960
He wrought wonders before their fathers in the land of Egypt in the field of Zoan.

355
00:23:04,960 --> 00:23:07,480
That's the northern capital of Egypt, if anyone cares.

356
00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:10,440
He divided the sea and caused them to pass through.

357
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And he made the waters stand up like a heap.

358
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Then he led them with the cloud by day and all the night with a light of fire.

359
00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:21,400
He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them abundant drink like the ocean depths.

360
00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:26,320
He brought forth streams also from the rock and caused waters to run down like rivers.

361
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See, they saw God do those amazing things.

362
00:23:29,880 --> 00:23:32,800
Yet when they came to the promised land, does anybody remember how that went?

363
00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:36,160
Twelve spies, 10 of them came back and said, oh, it's a really rich land, but these people

364
00:23:36,160 --> 00:23:37,160
are just too big.

365
00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:38,160
We can't handle it.

366
00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:41,520
After all that God had done, that was their response to God.

367
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Instead of saying to their children, listen, our God is great.

368
00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:45,440
Our God is powerful.

369
00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:46,600
Our God is amazing.

370
00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:47,600
Our God has done miracles.

371
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Let me tell you the miracles.

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As Ariana was growing up, and it's a little less so now, she just recently turned 10,

373
00:23:53,120 --> 00:23:58,160
a little less so, but still to this day she'll ask me, tell me a family story.

374
00:23:58,160 --> 00:24:00,640
She says, tell me a family story.

375
00:24:00,640 --> 00:24:05,560
And you should be telling your family stories to your kids or to the younger generations,

376
00:24:05,560 --> 00:24:06,760
whether they're your family or not.

377
00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:09,360
The next generation is your responsibility, even if it's not your blood, right?

378
00:24:09,360 --> 00:24:11,440
And so you should be telling those stories.

379
00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:15,520
But let's check for a second, who is the star?

380
00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:19,680
We tell about the great feats of our youth, the amazing things that we did, right?

381
00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:24,760
So we say things like, we remember the day when Tony and Michael both hit home runs playing

382
00:24:24,760 --> 00:24:26,020
softball.

383
00:24:26,020 --> 00:24:29,180
But who is the feature of the story, right?

384
00:24:29,180 --> 00:24:32,640
We've got to tell our kids it's all God, right?

385
00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:34,040
God may be able.

386
00:24:34,040 --> 00:24:35,520
God made me able then.

387
00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:36,520
God makes me able now.

388
00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:39,000
We've got to talk about what God is doing.

389
00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:43,000
And yet we look at our superstars on the football field and our superstars on the movie.

390
00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:46,000
And when superstar influencers on social media.

391
00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:50,520
But the truth is, if they don't give glory to God, they have no place in your eyesight

392
00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:52,520
or in your ears.

393
00:24:52,520 --> 00:24:56,840
They have no place because your job is to receive the miracles, the teachings, the understanding

394
00:24:56,840 --> 00:25:01,440
of who God is and deliver it to the next generation, to the people around you and to the next generation,

395
00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:03,160
the kids and grandkids to come.

396
00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:06,920
Because otherwise, who has delivered what is ours to deliver?

397
00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:09,640
And then who will deliver it five generations down the road?

398
00:25:09,640 --> 00:25:12,520
And I can answer that question for you before we're through.

399
00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:19,080
But if you don't do your job, you will be missing out on promoting, speaking about,

400
00:25:19,080 --> 00:25:21,680
teaching the great miracles of God as they did.

401
00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:23,040
And you see what they did.

402
00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:26,920
Their entire generation failed to promote it to the next generation.

403
00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:28,960
And what happened to them?

404
00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:30,900
They died in the wilderness.

405
00:25:30,900 --> 00:25:33,040
They never went into the promised land.

406
00:25:33,040 --> 00:25:34,080
They didn't make it in.

407
00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:37,040
Every one of their faces went down in the sand.

408
00:25:37,040 --> 00:25:41,760
That's a scary consequence for not being truthful about the miracles in the history of God.

409
00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:47,640
Verse 17 says, and we're going on, yet they still continue to sin against Him.

410
00:25:47,640 --> 00:25:51,320
So all those miraculous things that God did and still they continue to sin against Him.

411
00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:53,480
To rebel against the most high in the desert.

412
00:25:53,480 --> 00:25:58,480
And in their heart, they put God to the test by asking food according to their desire.

413
00:25:58,480 --> 00:26:00,560
So God was taking care of them in every way.

414
00:26:00,560 --> 00:26:02,000
And then they started complaining against God.

415
00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:03,000
They said, it's not good enough.

416
00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:05,200
It's not good enough.

417
00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:06,360
Then they spoke against God.

418
00:26:06,360 --> 00:26:08,720
They said, can God prepare a table in the wilderness?

419
00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:09,800
See, He's too weak.

420
00:26:09,800 --> 00:26:11,360
He can't prepare a table in the wilderness.

421
00:26:11,360 --> 00:26:13,480
That was their taunt, if you will, toward God.

422
00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:16,600
You think there's anybody taunting toward God in this world today?

423
00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:20,360
You think it's because they've forgotten the character of God, the things that God has

424
00:26:20,360 --> 00:26:21,360
done?

425
00:26:21,360 --> 00:26:22,360
Absolutely that's the case.

426
00:26:22,360 --> 00:26:27,720
Verse 20, behold, He struck the rocks so that waters gushed out and streams were overflowing.

427
00:26:27,720 --> 00:26:29,700
Can He give bread also?

428
00:26:29,700 --> 00:26:32,200
Will He provide meat for His people?

429
00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:38,560
So taunting God, thinking about what God can't do or won't do rather than what God can do

430
00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:39,560
and will do.

431
00:26:39,560 --> 00:26:40,800
That was their mindset.

432
00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:44,560
So the psalmist is saying, they wound up in rebellion.

433
00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:48,840
They weren't teaching the mysteries to the generation and they wound up in rebellion

434
00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:50,400
instead, taunting God.

435
00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:51,400
Can God do it?

436
00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:52,400
Yes, God can do it.

437
00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:55,640
Verse 21, therefore the Lord heard and was full of wrath.

438
00:26:55,640 --> 00:26:58,640
Let's see what God's response is to their taunting God.

439
00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:00,320
He heard and was full of wrath.

440
00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:01,960
Wrath means violent opposition.

441
00:27:01,960 --> 00:27:04,080
It does not mean anger in this case.

442
00:27:04,080 --> 00:27:06,680
There are some cases where it does, but it does not in this case.

443
00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:08,000
It means violent opposition.

444
00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:12,360
God was full of violent opposition and a fire was kindled against Jacob.

445
00:27:12,360 --> 00:27:17,840
Jacob would be renamed Israel and Israel would be the founding man of the entire nation of

446
00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:20,360
Israel to this day.

447
00:27:20,360 --> 00:27:21,360
That has not stopped.

448
00:27:21,360 --> 00:27:22,360
Okay?

449
00:27:22,360 --> 00:27:27,440
And it says, and a fire was kindled against Jacob and anger also mounted against Israel.

450
00:27:27,440 --> 00:27:29,920
Now there is the anger, right?

451
00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:33,960
Because they did not believe in God and did not trust in His salvation.

452
00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:39,520
So because they did not believe in God and trust in His salvation, they made God wrathful.

453
00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:42,280
He would destroy them in the wilderness.

454
00:27:42,280 --> 00:27:46,920
And because they did not believe in God and trust in His salvation, He took His blessings

455
00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:47,920
away from them.

456
00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:49,640
They would not go into the promised land.

457
00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:53,720
23, yet He commanded the clouds above.

458
00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:56,920
So now we're going to talk about God doing amazing things despite their rebellion.

459
00:27:56,920 --> 00:28:00,240
Yet He commanded the clouds above and opened the doors of heaven.

460
00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:05,040
And He rained down manna upon them to eat and gave them food from heaven.

461
00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:06,440
Man did eat the bread of angels.

462
00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:07,840
It doesn't mean that's what angels eat.

463
00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:10,280
It just means it came from heaven and that's where it came from.

464
00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:12,520
He sent them food in abundance.

465
00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:17,360
He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens and by His power He directed the south wind.

466
00:28:17,360 --> 00:28:20,840
When He rained meat upon them like dust, He caused the wind to blow and the birds fell

467
00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:24,640
down, they sat in a camp and they took them and they ate them.

468
00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:29,880
When He rained meat upon them like dust, even winged fowl like the sand of the seas, then

469
00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:33,280
He let them fall in the midst of their camp, round about their dwellings.

470
00:28:33,280 --> 00:28:38,960
So they ate and were well filled and their desire He gave to them.

471
00:28:38,960 --> 00:28:42,880
Before they had satisfied their desire, while their food was in their mouths, the anger

472
00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:48,920
of God rose against them and killed some of their stoutest ones and subdued the choice

473
00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:51,320
men of Israel.

474
00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:56,920
So God's providing for them despite the fact that they're not trusting in Him, not believing

475
00:28:56,920 --> 00:28:57,920
like they should.

476
00:28:57,920 --> 00:28:58,960
He provides for them.

477
00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:04,000
So be careful because God will provide for you, give you what you need, even if you're

478
00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:05,840
not faithful and obedient.

479
00:29:05,840 --> 00:29:07,720
And you might start thinking, well, God's given me what I need.

480
00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:08,720
I got what I need.

481
00:29:08,720 --> 00:29:09,720
I'm fine.

482
00:29:09,720 --> 00:29:11,360
I'm all good.

483
00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:17,440
Only for God to deliver in wrath a worse provision, if you will.

484
00:29:17,440 --> 00:29:20,920
In 32 it says, in spite of all this, they still sinned.

485
00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:21,920
In spite of what?

486
00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:22,920
Again, let's be clear.

487
00:29:22,920 --> 00:29:27,720
The fact that He provided for them when they were disobedient and then He's punishing them

488
00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:31,800
in wrath because they were disobedient, didn't believe, and He's already provided for them

489
00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:35,400
in food and everything else, so now punishment comes in.

490
00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:40,240
In spite of all this, they still sinned and did not believe in His wonderful works.

491
00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:45,800
So He brought their days to an end in futility and their years in sudden terror.

492
00:29:45,800 --> 00:29:50,160
And the ultimate outcome, as we talked about last week, was death.

493
00:29:50,160 --> 00:29:51,560
34.

494
00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:55,640
When He kindled them, then they sought Him.

495
00:29:55,640 --> 00:29:56,640
I'm sorry.

496
00:29:56,640 --> 00:29:57,640
When He killed them.

497
00:29:57,640 --> 00:29:59,760
When He killed them, then they sought Him.

498
00:29:59,760 --> 00:30:02,080
And they returned and searched diligently for God.

499
00:30:02,080 --> 00:30:07,400
So in other words, as some decided, went down, they're done, right?

500
00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:10,440
Somebody else said, oh, they got what they deserved.

501
00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:12,280
But I'm not going to get what they deserved.

502
00:30:12,280 --> 00:30:13,920
And they repented and turned to God.

503
00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:17,800
So when He killed some of them, then some of them sought Him, the ones that remained.

504
00:30:17,800 --> 00:30:20,100
And they returned and they searched diligently for God.

505
00:30:20,100 --> 00:30:26,900
And they remembered that God was their rock and the Most High God, their Redeemer.

506
00:30:26,900 --> 00:30:33,960
So does God have to kill in order for us to repent and follow Him?

507
00:30:33,960 --> 00:30:35,840
That's what that mathematical equation led us to.

508
00:30:35,840 --> 00:30:40,020
The final conclusion was somebody around you, somebody close to you, has to die in their

509
00:30:40,020 --> 00:30:43,560
sin in order for you to figure out you don't want to go the way they go and repent and

510
00:30:43,560 --> 00:30:44,560
turn to God.

511
00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:45,560
Is that true?

512
00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:46,560
It's not.

513
00:30:46,560 --> 00:30:48,520
But that's how it played out in their circumstances.

514
00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:52,920
It is possible for no one around you to die, for everyone around you to repent, because

515
00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:55,840
repentance is available to everyone.

516
00:30:55,840 --> 00:31:00,520
Remember in verse 36, but they deceived Him with their mouth and lied to Him with their

517
00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:01,520
tongue.

518
00:31:01,520 --> 00:31:05,800
So after they saw people die from it, saw people suffer and die from God's wrath, then

519
00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:09,640
they repented, turned to God, and remembered that He was their rock, the Most High God,

520
00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:10,640
their Redeemer.

521
00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:14,480
But then later, they deceived Him with their mouth and lied to Him with their tongue, for

522
00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:19,280
their heart was not steadfast toward Him, nor were they faithful in His covenant.

523
00:31:19,280 --> 00:31:20,880
So again, they deceived God.

524
00:31:20,880 --> 00:31:25,800
And then in 38 it says, but He, being compassionate, forgave their iniquity and did not destroy

525
00:31:25,800 --> 00:31:26,800
them.

526
00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:30,160
And often He restrained His anger and did not arouse all His wrath.

527
00:31:30,160 --> 00:31:34,840
Thus He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and does not return.

528
00:31:34,840 --> 00:31:40,040
So God was gentle to remember they repented and turned to Him, then they deceived Him

529
00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:41,480
with their lips, and then He was still gentle.

530
00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:44,240
And I submit to you that the church is in that place today.

531
00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:48,080
That the church in the United States of America, the church the world over, is filled, not

532
00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:49,560
filled to the brim, right?

533
00:31:49,560 --> 00:31:53,560
Not everybody, but filled with deceivers, filled with people who have repented and turned

534
00:31:53,560 --> 00:31:56,000
to God and are yet living in sin.

535
00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:58,080
So that's the exact place where we are.

536
00:31:58,080 --> 00:32:03,000
And God, in His grace and in His love, has forgiven their iniquity and does not destroy

537
00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:04,000
them.

538
00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:09,240
He's restraining His anger against the church, and He does not arouse all of His wrath because

539
00:32:09,240 --> 00:32:11,960
He remembers that we are but flesh.

540
00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:15,040
Then we're in verse 40.

541
00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:20,840
This is after God realizes they are but flesh, and He has not poured out His full wrath upon

542
00:32:20,840 --> 00:32:21,840
them.

543
00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:25,320
They rebelled against Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert.

544
00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:29,160
And again and again they tempted God and pained the Holy One of Israel.

545
00:32:29,160 --> 00:32:33,960
They did not remember His power the day when He redeemed them from the adversary.

546
00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:37,440
That's a really touching verse right there if you'll stop and think about it for a second.

547
00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:44,920
Has the church, has God's people forgotten the day that God redeemed us from the adversary?

548
00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:51,200
Well, when He performed His signs in Egypt and His marvels in the field of Zohan, has

549
00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:56,160
God's people forgotten the signs that God performed in Egypt, the ten plagues and so

550
00:32:56,160 --> 00:32:58,480
much more?

551
00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:01,240
They turned their rivers to blood and their streams they could not drink.

552
00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:05,280
He sent among them swarms of flies which devoured them and frogs which destroyed them.

553
00:33:05,280 --> 00:33:08,800
He gave also their crops to the grasshopper and the product of their labor to the locust.

554
00:33:08,800 --> 00:33:12,600
He destroyed their vines with hailstones and their sycamore trees with frost.

555
00:33:12,600 --> 00:33:16,600
He gave over their cattle also to the hailstones and their herds, the bolts of lightning.

556
00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:22,120
He sent upon them His burning anger, fury and indignation and trouble, a band of destroying

557
00:33:22,120 --> 00:33:24,560
angels.

558
00:33:24,560 --> 00:33:26,920
He leveled a path for His anger.

559
00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:31,520
He did not spare their soul from death but gave over their life to the plague and smote

560
00:33:31,520 --> 00:33:37,120
all the firstborn in Egypt and first issue of their virility in the tents of Ham.

561
00:33:37,120 --> 00:33:42,360
But He led forth His own people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock

562
00:33:42,360 --> 00:33:45,280
and He led them safely so that they did not fear.

563
00:33:45,280 --> 00:33:49,360
But the sea engulfed their enemies.

564
00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:54,320
So He brought them to His holy land, to His hill, to this hill country which His right

565
00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:55,320
hand had gained.

566
00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:59,680
He also drove out the nations before them and He apportioned them for an inheritance

567
00:33:59,680 --> 00:34:05,760
by measure, by measurement and made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.

568
00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:11,840
So God did all of that after God's people were back and forth and back and forth and

569
00:34:11,840 --> 00:34:16,000
their righteousness back and forth and believing back and forth and testifying back and forth

570
00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:18,040
and delivering the truth of His miracles.

571
00:34:18,040 --> 00:34:19,880
And yet God did all of that.

572
00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:25,240
In verse 56 it says, Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God and did

573
00:34:25,240 --> 00:34:31,400
not keep His testimonies, but turned back and acted treacherously like their fathers.

574
00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:35,960
They turned aside like a treacherous bow, for they provoked Him with their high places

575
00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:39,280
and aroused His jealousy with their graven images.

576
00:34:39,280 --> 00:34:46,000
When God heard, He was filled with wrath and greatly abhorred Israel.

577
00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:50,040
So that He abandoned the dwelling place at Shiloh, that's where the tabernacle was first

578
00:34:50,040 --> 00:34:53,840
settled where the first worship of God was taking place in the promised land, the tent

579
00:34:53,840 --> 00:34:55,400
which He had pitched among men.

580
00:34:55,400 --> 00:35:01,160
And He gave up His strength to captivity and His glory into the hand of the adversary.

581
00:35:01,160 --> 00:35:05,880
He also delivered His people to the sword and was filled with wrath at His inheritance.

582
00:35:05,880 --> 00:35:10,280
There devoured His young men and His virgins had no wedding songs.

583
00:35:10,280 --> 00:35:16,320
His priests fell by the sword and His widows could not weep.

584
00:35:16,320 --> 00:35:21,320
So God now allows those who were back and forth and back and forth that He showed grace

585
00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:22,980
beyond measure.

586
00:35:22,980 --> 00:35:26,920
He did so much for them after they failed to believe in Him, trust Him and deliver His

587
00:35:26,920 --> 00:35:28,500
message to the world.

588
00:35:28,500 --> 00:35:32,080
And now finally He allows them to suffer in the worst ways.

589
00:35:32,080 --> 00:35:38,840
Then the Lord awoke as if from sleep, like a warrior overcome by wine.

590
00:35:38,840 --> 00:35:40,120
Now has God ever slept?

591
00:35:40,120 --> 00:35:41,120
No.

592
00:35:41,120 --> 00:35:42,680
Has God ever been overcome by wine?

593
00:35:42,680 --> 00:35:43,680
No.

594
00:35:43,680 --> 00:35:44,680
That's not what it means.

595
00:35:44,680 --> 00:35:49,120
What it means is after He allowed His people to suffer all that wrath because of what they

596
00:35:49,120 --> 00:35:54,320
didn't do, because of the evils that they perpetrated, after He did all of that, now

597
00:35:54,320 --> 00:35:56,280
He's coming on the scene and He's going to fix everything.

598
00:35:56,280 --> 00:35:59,240
And it says He drove His adversaries backwards.

599
00:35:59,240 --> 00:36:01,640
He put on them an everlasting reproach.

600
00:36:01,640 --> 00:36:05,520
He also rejected the tent of Joseph and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.

601
00:36:05,520 --> 00:36:09,920
So those are two really big names in Israel and they would no longer be on top.

602
00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:12,380
They would no longer be recognized as powerful.

603
00:36:12,380 --> 00:36:15,260
They would no longer be recognized as God's chosen people.

604
00:36:15,260 --> 00:36:17,040
But He chose the tribe of Judah.

605
00:36:17,040 --> 00:36:18,640
That's the tribe of David.

606
00:36:18,640 --> 00:36:20,660
Mount Zion, which He loved.

607
00:36:20,660 --> 00:36:28,520
So Judah had Jerusalem and Jerusalem had Jesus, David's descendant.

608
00:36:28,520 --> 00:36:30,080
And so God will solve all the problems.

609
00:36:30,080 --> 00:36:31,120
We're almost there.

610
00:36:31,120 --> 00:36:37,160
And He built His sanctuary like the heights, like the earth which He founded forever.

611
00:36:37,160 --> 00:36:42,400
He also chose David, His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds, from the care of

612
00:36:42,400 --> 00:36:48,240
the ewes with suckling lambs He brought him to shepherd Jacob His people and Israel His

613
00:36:48,240 --> 00:36:49,380
inheritance.

614
00:36:49,380 --> 00:36:54,640
So He shepherded them according to the integrity of His heart, which was a heart after God's

615
00:36:54,640 --> 00:36:55,960
own heart.

616
00:36:55,960 --> 00:36:59,960
He shepherded them according to the integrity of His heart and guided them with His skillful

617
00:36:59,960 --> 00:37:01,040
hands.

618
00:37:01,040 --> 00:37:05,320
And therefore, you could say David received the promise that he would have an heir who

619
00:37:05,320 --> 00:37:09,880
would sit on the throne forever, and that heir is Jesus.

620
00:37:09,880 --> 00:37:13,960
So there's kind of like three main things I want you to see in here.

621
00:37:13,960 --> 00:37:19,200
Don't forget the title, the Apothecmatic History of God.

622
00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:24,480
So first of all, this psalm makes it very clear that the psalmist understood that the

623
00:37:24,480 --> 00:37:30,520
history is to be told for learning God's story.

624
00:37:30,520 --> 00:37:37,760
If you are a person of God, if you are a follower of God, don't ever again talk about how smart

625
00:37:37,760 --> 00:37:43,000
you are, how capable you are, how strong you are, how fast you are, how you were able,

626
00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:46,200
how you figured it out, how you got past a hurdle.

627
00:37:46,200 --> 00:37:52,280
Don't do it unless you bring God into it because you can literally do nothing without God.

628
00:37:52,280 --> 00:37:57,520
People are looking for people to look up to, and if they look up to you, they better see

629
00:37:57,520 --> 00:38:02,400
a follower of Jesus, or maybe you aren't one.

630
00:38:02,400 --> 00:38:05,920
History is to be told for learning God's story.

631
00:38:05,920 --> 00:38:11,680
There are two famous men, probably a thousand famous men, who have commented on this topic.

632
00:38:11,680 --> 00:38:13,400
And the first one is a man named Hengstenberg.

633
00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:17,120
You don't need to remember his name, just know that he was a German theologian back in

634
00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:20,520
the early 1800s, and like he's super red, and you go to college, you read his stuff,

635
00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:21,840
you can barely understand it.

636
00:38:21,840 --> 00:38:23,360
Well, let's distill one point of it.

637
00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:28,520
He said, let so whoever reads understand, which call upon us to penetrate through the

638
00:38:28,520 --> 00:38:30,320
shell to the kernel.

639
00:38:30,320 --> 00:38:34,920
You go to the story of God, the history of God, you look at it, and you go, yeah, okay.

640
00:38:34,920 --> 00:38:40,160
So Samson, what brought him down?

641
00:38:40,160 --> 00:38:42,080
What really brought Samson down?

642
00:38:42,080 --> 00:38:43,320
Kind of.

643
00:38:43,320 --> 00:38:45,980
Yeah, he was tricked, he was deceived, right?

644
00:38:45,980 --> 00:38:47,520
But was he really deceived?

645
00:38:47,520 --> 00:38:53,680
I mean, she cut his hair with his head on her lap, and the men rushed in and captured

646
00:38:53,680 --> 00:38:55,400
him, and he lost his strength.

647
00:38:55,400 --> 00:38:57,640
Was that the first time they brushed in?

648
00:38:57,640 --> 00:39:00,360
It was the third time they brushed in.

649
00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:02,080
What really brought Samson down?

650
00:39:02,080 --> 00:39:03,080
Well, a lecherousness, right?

651
00:39:03,080 --> 00:39:04,080
He was after a woman.

652
00:39:04,080 --> 00:39:12,840
It was lust, lust and money and pride, and it was the bad things about being a man, right?

653
00:39:12,840 --> 00:39:15,000
The bad things of being a man brought Samson down.

654
00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:19,280
What really brought him down, instead of trusting God and remaining in his Nazarite vows, one

655
00:39:19,280 --> 00:39:20,280
after another, he put them away.

656
00:39:20,280 --> 00:39:21,280
He getting his hair cut was the last Nazarite vows.

657
00:39:21,280 --> 00:39:22,280
It wasn't even the first one that he broke.

658
00:39:22,280 --> 00:39:23,280
It was his last one that he broke, right?

659
00:39:23,280 --> 00:39:24,280
So what really brought Samson down?

660
00:39:24,280 --> 00:39:25,280
Well, that's what brought Samson down.

661
00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:32,120
He forgot who he was and the Lord, and he went after the things of this earth.

662
00:39:32,120 --> 00:39:35,440
And so I got to understand when I read that story something more than I shouldn't get

663
00:39:35,440 --> 00:39:37,120
my hair cut.

664
00:39:37,120 --> 00:39:41,000
I got to understand when I read that story something more than I should be strong.

665
00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:44,000
I got to understand something more when I read that story than I shouldn't hook up with

666
00:39:44,000 --> 00:39:46,000
a harlot, right?

667
00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:49,920
There's more to that story than just he hooked up with a harlot.

668
00:39:49,920 --> 00:39:51,080
He let her deceive him.

669
00:39:51,080 --> 00:39:54,080
She cut his hair, but God was faithful to get it back to him in the end.

670
00:39:54,080 --> 00:39:55,920
He killed all the leaders of the Philistines.

671
00:39:55,920 --> 00:39:57,640
There's more to that story.

672
00:39:57,640 --> 00:40:02,360
And so when you read the stories of God, you don't stop at reading the stories of God.

673
00:40:02,360 --> 00:40:05,040
You listen to the Holy Spirit of God and you dig deeper.

674
00:40:05,040 --> 00:40:08,760
And the next time you read the story, if you didn't get it last time, you digest it again.

675
00:40:08,760 --> 00:40:11,800
And if you did get it last time, what do you do?

676
00:40:11,800 --> 00:40:12,800
Dig deeper.

677
00:40:12,800 --> 00:40:14,400
Read it again and go deeper more.

678
00:40:14,400 --> 00:40:16,200
How does this apply to my circumstance?

679
00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:17,200
What am I supposed to do?

680
00:40:17,200 --> 00:40:18,200
What do I need to repent of today?

681
00:40:18,200 --> 00:40:19,680
How do I need to turn to Christ?

682
00:40:19,680 --> 00:40:26,600
What do I look like as a human being honoring the story of my God as displayed in history?

683
00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:35,640
This history of God is to be told for learning God's story and retold and retold and retold.

684
00:40:35,640 --> 00:40:39,520
You may fancy yourself like some characters in the Bible.

685
00:40:39,520 --> 00:40:44,360
Aaron stood up and shared about vacation Bible school that he really liked that it followed

686
00:40:44,360 --> 00:40:45,360
the story of Peter.

687
00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:46,360
I really liked that too.

688
00:40:46,360 --> 00:40:47,360
You know why?

689
00:40:47,360 --> 00:40:49,280
Because Peter was a butt head and so am I.

690
00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:50,280
That's what I like.

691
00:40:50,280 --> 00:40:53,600
He was a butt head before he came to Christ, before he truly turned his life over to Christ

692
00:40:53,600 --> 00:40:56,360
and went so far as to be crucified.

693
00:40:56,360 --> 00:41:00,080
And on the way as they marched to be crucified, they say to him, we're going to crucify you

694
00:41:00,080 --> 00:41:01,080
like Jesus.

695
00:41:01,080 --> 00:41:02,080
You want to be like Jesus?

696
00:41:02,080 --> 00:41:03,080
We'll give it to you.

697
00:41:03,080 --> 00:41:04,080
We're going to crucify like Jesus.

698
00:41:04,080 --> 00:41:06,680
He says, oh no, I am not worthy to be crucified like my Lord.

699
00:41:06,680 --> 00:41:08,000
So they crucified him upside down.

700
00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:09,760
Now that's not in the Bible, that's church history.

701
00:41:09,760 --> 00:41:13,080
But the bottom line is history is the story of God.

702
00:41:13,080 --> 00:41:15,300
It's not just what's written in the Bible.

703
00:41:15,300 --> 00:41:17,080
What happened in World War II?

704
00:41:17,080 --> 00:41:18,380
What was God doing?

705
00:41:18,380 --> 00:41:19,380
What happened in Korea?

706
00:41:19,380 --> 00:41:20,460
What was God doing?

707
00:41:20,460 --> 00:41:25,120
What happened when the United States elected Franklin Delano Roosevelt when in our day,

708
00:41:25,120 --> 00:41:27,560
no way he gets in office?

709
00:41:27,560 --> 00:41:30,480
How did our country change from then to now?

710
00:41:30,480 --> 00:41:32,240
What has God been doing?

711
00:41:32,240 --> 00:41:36,960
Literally the history, I didn't say the Bible, although that's certainly true.

712
00:41:36,960 --> 00:41:42,640
But history is to be told for learning God's story.

713
00:41:42,640 --> 00:41:47,160
A poetic man once said that history is his story.

714
00:41:47,160 --> 00:41:48,640
I don't know if that's where it originates.

715
00:41:48,640 --> 00:41:50,680
I'm pretty sure it's not where it originates at.

716
00:41:50,680 --> 00:41:54,760
But the bottom line is the history should be told for learning God's story.

717
00:41:54,760 --> 00:41:59,240
Can you tell the history of how God put this church here on this property?

718
00:41:59,240 --> 00:42:01,880
How much of it can you get?

719
00:42:01,880 --> 00:42:05,880
Because if you don't know it, you might want to get it because God did miraculous things

720
00:42:05,880 --> 00:42:12,400
in that that happened time after time again, providing in incredible ways through his power

721
00:42:12,400 --> 00:42:13,400
that you can't deny.

722
00:42:13,400 --> 00:42:16,000
It's like that we didn't have it, then all of a sudden you got it.

723
00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:17,000
It's there.

724
00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:18,000
What?

725
00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:19,000
That doesn't make any sense.

726
00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:20,000
Miraculous healings, right?

727
00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:21,000
Call the family in.

728
00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:22,000
Okay, the church starts praying.

729
00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:25,000
Okay, well, she's getting better.

730
00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:27,100
She may live after all.

731
00:42:27,100 --> 00:42:30,520
Time and again, historic events of God has intervened.

732
00:42:30,520 --> 00:42:36,960
Judy Bolton, who died from cancer, was miraculously, miraculously, no question about it, miraculously

733
00:42:36,960 --> 00:42:39,360
with the doctor saying, I can't understand this.

734
00:42:39,360 --> 00:42:41,080
This can't possibly be true.

735
00:42:41,080 --> 00:42:43,800
We just while we were in there, we took a look around to see how much more there is

736
00:42:43,800 --> 00:42:45,080
no more cancer.

737
00:42:45,080 --> 00:42:46,580
It's all gone.

738
00:42:46,580 --> 00:42:50,240
That was one of the two times she was miraculously healed from cancer and she would eventually

739
00:42:50,240 --> 00:42:52,840
die from cancer and not be miraculously healed.

740
00:42:52,840 --> 00:42:55,960
But in that she prayed for no pain, died or sleep and she had no pain.

741
00:42:55,960 --> 00:42:59,440
The nurses kept saying, you sure you don't need pain medicine?

742
00:42:59,440 --> 00:43:03,720
Even sores on her feet, like literal holes in her legs.

743
00:43:03,720 --> 00:43:04,720
That hurts.

744
00:43:04,720 --> 00:43:05,720
They're like, you gotta have pain.

745
00:43:05,720 --> 00:43:06,720
She's like, I don't have any pain.

746
00:43:06,720 --> 00:43:08,360
I haven't had any pain for days.

747
00:43:08,360 --> 00:43:11,000
They kept trying to give her more pain because she didn't need any, because she didn't have

748
00:43:11,000 --> 00:43:12,000
any pain.

749
00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:14,400
And then eventually she had a ventilator, couldn't keep her awake.

750
00:43:14,400 --> 00:43:15,400
She went to sleep.

751
00:43:15,400 --> 00:43:16,400
They took her off the ventilator.

752
00:43:16,400 --> 00:43:17,760
She went to the Lord.

753
00:43:17,760 --> 00:43:18,760
That's a miracle.

754
00:43:18,760 --> 00:43:22,000
A third one that we can count in just, and she would tell you if she was here, the miracles

755
00:43:22,000 --> 00:43:24,960
that she saw in her life before she ever got saved.

756
00:43:24,960 --> 00:43:30,280
The history that is going on in our day must be told for learning God's story.

757
00:43:30,280 --> 00:43:34,880
In order for that to be true, the people that are living it must be about Jesus.

758
00:43:34,880 --> 00:43:39,920
You've got to tell your kids when something goes right, why God made it go right this

759
00:43:39,920 --> 00:43:40,920
time.

760
00:43:40,920 --> 00:43:44,400
And when something goes wrong, you gotta be able to tell them why God allowed it to go

761
00:43:44,400 --> 00:43:45,400
wrong this time.

762
00:43:45,400 --> 00:43:49,560
And the only way you're gonna be able to do that is if you're daily walking with the Lord

763
00:43:49,560 --> 00:43:50,560
and you can hear His voice.

764
00:43:50,560 --> 00:43:54,940
And the only way you're gonna do that is if you spend more time in Jesus than you spend

765
00:43:54,940 --> 00:43:57,040
in the world.

766
00:43:57,040 --> 00:44:01,560
The history must be told for learning God's story.

767
00:44:01,560 --> 00:44:03,680
The other man that I would quote is a man named Novalis.

768
00:44:03,680 --> 00:44:07,800
Now, Novalis, that's his kind of nickname because he's got this really long name that's

769
00:44:07,800 --> 00:44:10,560
like 11 syllables that I can't even pronounce.

770
00:44:10,560 --> 00:44:13,800
But all the writers always put him down as Novalis because that was his nickname in that

771
00:44:13,800 --> 00:44:14,800
day.

772
00:44:14,800 --> 00:44:19,080
And he was actually what's called a romantic poet.

773
00:44:19,080 --> 00:44:21,280
So he saw the world through romantic eyes.

774
00:44:21,280 --> 00:44:22,560
Now, he was a professing Christian.

775
00:44:22,560 --> 00:44:25,680
He kind of tended toward Catholicism, but I don't hold that against him.

776
00:44:25,680 --> 00:44:27,640
He was a professing Christian and he said this.

777
00:44:27,640 --> 00:44:32,400
He says, the highest view which can be taken of history is that in which its events are

778
00:44:32,400 --> 00:44:37,720
regarded as parables of God addressed to men.

779
00:44:37,720 --> 00:44:40,520
The Jewish people believe prophecy is like this.

780
00:44:40,520 --> 00:44:41,800
Here's a prophecy.

781
00:44:41,800 --> 00:44:43,640
Here is the prophecy fulfilled.

782
00:44:43,640 --> 00:44:44,640
Let's see if it'll get fulfilled again.

783
00:44:44,640 --> 00:44:45,640
Let's see if it gets fulfilled again.

784
00:44:45,640 --> 00:44:51,000
And they have prophecies that are fulfilled again and again and again.

785
00:44:51,000 --> 00:44:54,360
What makes you think that the events of your life that you're living, and I know that your

786
00:44:54,360 --> 00:44:56,520
life is not really about you, right?

787
00:44:56,520 --> 00:44:58,480
You're just the main character physically speaking.

788
00:44:58,480 --> 00:45:00,680
The real main character is a God, right?

789
00:45:00,680 --> 00:45:01,680
Is God himself.

790
00:45:01,680 --> 00:45:05,760
And so, but what if the events that you're going through, the actual things that you're

791
00:45:05,760 --> 00:45:12,320
happening in your life are parables for you to teach the next generation about the God

792
00:45:12,320 --> 00:45:14,640
that is at work in you.

793
00:45:14,640 --> 00:45:18,200
And you should be telling the people around you and children and anybody who will listen,

794
00:45:18,200 --> 00:45:21,280
the people you work with, whatever, you say, well, now this happened.

795
00:45:21,280 --> 00:45:22,280
What do you think?

796
00:45:22,280 --> 00:45:23,280
We have the inspirational moment.

797
00:45:23,280 --> 00:45:25,760
We talk about, well, I saw this and God told me to pay attention to that.

798
00:45:25,760 --> 00:45:28,680
And a lot of times we'll have like three, four people speak up and that's great.

799
00:45:28,680 --> 00:45:32,680
But it ought to be, we all have seven to 10 of those every single week.

800
00:45:32,680 --> 00:45:36,280
And you should get a book and write them down because someday you might have grandchildren

801
00:45:36,280 --> 00:45:37,280
or your grandchildren might have grandchildren.

802
00:45:37,280 --> 00:45:38,280
You might still be around.

803
00:45:38,280 --> 00:45:41,280
You might have to deliver the gospel to somebody who needs to deliver the gospel to somebody

804
00:45:41,280 --> 00:45:42,280
who needs to deliver the gospel.

805
00:45:42,280 --> 00:45:46,040
That's the only person in their generation willing to be persecuted for the cross of

806
00:45:46,040 --> 00:45:47,040
Christ.

807
00:45:47,040 --> 00:45:50,160
You might have work to do.

808
00:45:50,160 --> 00:45:54,000
And the stories of your life are the parables to tell them.

809
00:45:54,000 --> 00:45:56,440
You say, well, there was a farmer who went out to sow a seed.

810
00:45:56,440 --> 00:45:57,860
Yeah, everybody knows that one.

811
00:45:57,860 --> 00:46:01,000
But how about when you got out of bed and didn't feel like doing what you were supposed

812
00:46:01,000 --> 00:46:02,000
to do, but God said, let's go.

813
00:46:02,000 --> 00:46:04,400
And then you started doing it and God empowered it.

814
00:46:04,400 --> 00:46:06,200
What does that teach you?

815
00:46:06,200 --> 00:46:08,200
When you got up on Sunday morning, you didn't want to go to work worship.

816
00:46:08,200 --> 00:46:09,200
You didn't feel like it.

817
00:46:09,200 --> 00:46:11,920
But after the second song, you're going like, all that's gone.

818
00:46:11,920 --> 00:46:13,240
What does that teach you?

819
00:46:13,240 --> 00:46:16,240
Where are the parables that come out of your life?

820
00:46:16,240 --> 00:46:18,840
I'm going to be completely blunt with you.

821
00:46:18,840 --> 00:46:22,520
I am tired of hearing people say, what do you know about God?

822
00:46:22,520 --> 00:46:25,520
And all they can do is quote the Bible.

823
00:46:25,520 --> 00:46:30,520
People who don't even know Jesus can know that about God.

824
00:46:30,520 --> 00:46:33,440
What do you know about God?

825
00:46:33,440 --> 00:46:37,680
The story of your life, the history of your life, the things that you are doing, the history

826
00:46:37,680 --> 00:46:39,760
of your life is not something to look back and long for.

827
00:46:39,760 --> 00:46:41,720
It's not something to look back and regret at.

828
00:46:41,720 --> 00:46:46,520
It is something to digest, to give you the message, to deliver to those who need it.

829
00:46:46,520 --> 00:46:51,520
Because the history is to be told for learning God's story.

830
00:46:51,520 --> 00:46:56,440
The truth is, if you can't share the parables of your life with a lost and dying generation,

831
00:46:56,440 --> 00:47:02,560
then you're no more like, you're no more better than Ephraim with a bow who runs from battle.

832
00:47:02,560 --> 00:47:04,280
I didn't say it.

833
00:47:04,280 --> 00:47:07,360
The psalmist wrote it.

834
00:47:07,360 --> 00:47:09,520
Are you or are you not in the fight?

835
00:47:09,520 --> 00:47:12,200
You say, yeah, sometimes it's so hard, man, it's so hard.

836
00:47:12,200 --> 00:47:13,200
I'm in the fight.

837
00:47:13,200 --> 00:47:14,200
I'm fighting.

838
00:47:14,200 --> 00:47:17,480
If you're fighting to be in the fight, you ain't in the fight.

839
00:47:17,480 --> 00:47:21,240
The fight is we are supposed to be delivering the message about God to this generation and

840
00:47:21,240 --> 00:47:22,840
the generation to come.

841
00:47:22,840 --> 00:47:28,000
History is to be told for learning God's story.

842
00:47:28,000 --> 00:47:32,560
So often, this is the second point we see in here, that people reflect on history as

843
00:47:32,560 --> 00:47:38,560
if those who suffered God's wrath were due that wrath rather than for learning how God

844
00:47:38,560 --> 00:47:40,760
delivers.

845
00:47:40,760 --> 00:47:41,760
Why did Samson lose?

846
00:47:41,760 --> 00:47:45,440
Well, because he was a bad guy, because he was an idiot, right?

847
00:47:45,440 --> 00:47:50,160
Who would be so stupid to lay his head down there a third time and give her the real last

848
00:47:50,160 --> 00:47:53,560
Nazarite bow as the reason that he might lose his strength, which is kind of dumb anyway,

849
00:47:53,560 --> 00:47:54,560
because God gave him the strength.

850
00:47:54,560 --> 00:47:58,720
He gave him the strength because he was God's man, not because he was a Nazarite specifically,

851
00:47:58,720 --> 00:48:01,680
but the point is he was willing to tempt God, willing to mock God.

852
00:48:01,680 --> 00:48:02,680
Who would do that?

853
00:48:02,680 --> 00:48:04,480
Who was dumb enough to do that a third time?

854
00:48:04,480 --> 00:48:07,880
And we look at that and we go, I'll never be like that.

855
00:48:07,880 --> 00:48:11,160
I'll learn my lesson and just not be like him.

856
00:48:11,160 --> 00:48:17,120
And then the truth is years later, we're exactly like him because we misdiagnosed the story.

857
00:48:17,120 --> 00:48:20,520
We looked at him and said, we don't want to be like that because we don't want that

858
00:48:20,520 --> 00:48:21,520
result.

859
00:48:21,520 --> 00:48:25,040
You ever hear anybody go to the doctor and they got cancer?

860
00:48:25,040 --> 00:48:26,320
What's the first thing?

861
00:48:26,320 --> 00:48:27,320
I'll tell you right now.

862
00:48:27,320 --> 00:48:30,640
What's the first thing that goes through most people's minds other than, I'm sorry that's

863
00:48:30,640 --> 00:48:31,640
happening.

864
00:48:31,640 --> 00:48:32,640
I'll pray for you those basic things, right?

865
00:48:32,640 --> 00:48:33,640
What is it?

866
00:48:33,640 --> 00:48:37,600
Make sure you got, make sure it's real.

867
00:48:37,600 --> 00:48:38,600
Right?

868
00:48:38,600 --> 00:48:41,520
And then did they smoke?

869
00:48:41,520 --> 00:48:42,520
Did they work with asbestos?

870
00:48:42,520 --> 00:48:43,520
Right?

871
00:48:43,520 --> 00:48:44,520
Where is the carcinogen?

872
00:48:44,520 --> 00:48:47,520
Where is the thing that caused them to get cancer?

873
00:48:47,520 --> 00:48:48,520
Right?

874
00:48:48,520 --> 00:48:51,560
Because doctors know lots of things that causes people to get cancer.

875
00:48:51,560 --> 00:48:52,560
Right?

876
00:48:52,560 --> 00:48:57,840
And so if they smoke for, if they're 60 and they smoke for 50 years of their life and

877
00:48:57,840 --> 00:49:02,880
they have cancer, then, yeah, that's how it works.

878
00:49:02,880 --> 00:49:03,880
Right?

879
00:49:03,880 --> 00:49:04,880
Well, guess what?

880
00:49:04,880 --> 00:49:07,800
Lots of people who don't smoke get cancer.

881
00:49:07,800 --> 00:49:09,920
Lots of people who don't work with asbestos get cancer.

882
00:49:09,920 --> 00:49:12,600
Lots of people who don't work in coal mines get cancer.

883
00:49:12,600 --> 00:49:14,320
Lots of people who don't work in factories get cancer.

884
00:49:14,320 --> 00:49:19,800
You can go down the list and you can go every single reason a person might ever get cancer

885
00:49:19,800 --> 00:49:22,920
and get to the bottom and there's no reason that person might have cancer and they still

886
00:49:22,920 --> 00:49:23,920
have cancer.

887
00:49:23,920 --> 00:49:25,640
And you'd give that person some mercy, wouldn't you?

888
00:49:25,640 --> 00:49:28,120
You'd be like, oh, that's really a shame that they have cancer.

889
00:49:28,120 --> 00:49:31,200
It's terrible that they have cancer because they didn't do anything to deserve it.

890
00:49:31,200 --> 00:49:32,200
What?

891
00:49:32,200 --> 00:49:34,520
Nobody deserves cancer.

892
00:49:34,520 --> 00:49:39,600
Not in Christ, not as a believer, not if you recognize who the Lord is.

893
00:49:39,600 --> 00:49:43,520
History tells us that people get it if they do things to get it, but that does not make

894
00:49:43,520 --> 00:49:45,960
us not going to get it.

895
00:49:45,960 --> 00:49:48,480
That's not how that works.

896
00:49:48,480 --> 00:49:52,840
So you might get it and you might go, well, I don't deserve it.

897
00:49:52,840 --> 00:49:54,120
I don't want it.

898
00:49:54,120 --> 00:49:58,160
I feel bad on my back sore every day and I, my back shouldn't be sore.

899
00:49:58,160 --> 00:50:01,200
I didn't do anything to cause my back to be sore.

900
00:50:01,200 --> 00:50:03,360
Yes, you did.

901
00:50:03,360 --> 00:50:05,280
You lived in your body.

902
00:50:05,280 --> 00:50:06,560
That's your house.

903
00:50:06,560 --> 00:50:10,400
And somehow or other, we're all not taking care of the body the way that we should.

904
00:50:10,400 --> 00:50:14,680
We need to recognize as we reflect on history, instead of saying, oh yeah, they suffered

905
00:50:14,680 --> 00:50:18,800
God's wrath because they were due God's wrath and I'm going to try to avoid that.

906
00:50:18,800 --> 00:50:21,920
We should learn how God, what?

907
00:50:21,920 --> 00:50:24,320
Delivers people from his own wrath.

908
00:50:24,320 --> 00:50:26,200
That's what we're supposed to learn.

909
00:50:26,200 --> 00:50:30,560
Time and again, they were rebellious and time and again, he brought them out.

910
00:50:30,560 --> 00:50:34,840
He holds the more blessed, the more accountable.

911
00:50:34,840 --> 00:50:39,000
If God has blessed you and given you greatly, and I'm going to say to you that it's probably

912
00:50:39,000 --> 00:50:42,160
true that if you're here today, God has blessed you and given you greatly.

913
00:50:42,160 --> 00:50:43,600
But you decide for yourself.

914
00:50:43,600 --> 00:50:46,400
It's not my place to say, but it feels that way.

915
00:50:46,400 --> 00:50:49,160
We're living in a country where you can hear the gospel preached anytime you want.

916
00:50:49,160 --> 00:50:52,000
Now you may not have, but you can.

917
00:50:52,000 --> 00:50:55,320
But you can own your own Bible for a buck and a quarter.

918
00:50:55,320 --> 00:50:58,040
You may not own a Bible, but you can.

919
00:50:58,040 --> 00:50:59,480
The blessings are delivered.

920
00:50:59,480 --> 00:51:04,960
And so realize God holds more accountable those who are more blessed.

921
00:51:04,960 --> 00:51:08,520
Who was the holiest man in Moses today?

922
00:51:08,520 --> 00:51:13,000
Who was the guy that nobody can hold a candle to?

923
00:51:13,000 --> 00:51:14,360
Moses.

924
00:51:14,360 --> 00:51:18,400
And coming out of Egypt from the moment he came out of Egypt to the moment that he didn't

925
00:51:18,400 --> 00:51:19,800
go into the promised land.

926
00:51:19,800 --> 00:51:23,720
Can you count the number of times that Moses sinned in the snort of Moses?

927
00:51:23,720 --> 00:51:25,520
I can't.

928
00:51:25,520 --> 00:51:26,960
No.

929
00:51:26,960 --> 00:51:28,600
Once.

930
00:51:28,600 --> 00:51:29,720
One time.

931
00:51:29,720 --> 00:51:31,120
There's one.

932
00:51:31,120 --> 00:51:33,680
One sin listed in the entire story of Moses.

933
00:51:33,680 --> 00:51:36,560
Yes, it is.

934
00:51:36,560 --> 00:51:39,680
He struck the rock instead of talking to the rock.

935
00:51:39,680 --> 00:51:43,600
And he said, must I give you again?

936
00:51:43,600 --> 00:51:46,920
Not God will give you water on this rock.

937
00:51:46,920 --> 00:51:51,120
So we his pride, his arrogance, but one.

938
00:51:51,120 --> 00:51:53,480
How many times have the other people sinned?

939
00:51:53,480 --> 00:51:55,240
Oh gosh.

940
00:51:55,240 --> 00:51:57,760
Probably every day they were alive.

941
00:51:57,760 --> 00:51:58,760
Great.

942
00:51:58,760 --> 00:52:00,000
How many times have I sinned?

943
00:52:00,000 --> 00:52:02,640
Yeah, probably just about every day I've been alive.

944
00:52:02,640 --> 00:52:03,920
I'm not like Moses.

945
00:52:03,920 --> 00:52:07,440
Moses had one sin from the time he brought them out of Egypt, from the time when the

946
00:52:07,440 --> 00:52:15,040
promise land because of that God literally it says in the Hebrew spoke him dead.

947
00:52:15,040 --> 00:52:20,600
For those who are more blessed, a higher level of accountability is required.

948
00:52:20,600 --> 00:52:23,000
You can have the Holy Spirit of God in you.

949
00:52:23,000 --> 00:52:26,000
You can be saved and walk with Christ every waking moment.

950
00:52:26,000 --> 00:52:28,000
And simply you can be with him while you sleep.

951
00:52:28,000 --> 00:52:29,000
He doesn't leave you.

952
00:52:29,000 --> 00:52:33,160
You see, you can have something that nobody else ever had.

953
00:52:33,160 --> 00:52:38,200
That's why Paul said now, now that it's been revealed is for every man to repent.

954
00:52:38,200 --> 00:52:41,560
You think there wasn't anybody who went to heaven before that moment before Jesus was

955
00:52:41,560 --> 00:52:42,560
crucified?

956
00:52:42,560 --> 00:52:44,160
No, they were all like, well, I'm doing the best I can.

957
00:52:44,160 --> 00:52:45,760
I believe in God for whatever way he's going to make.

958
00:52:45,760 --> 00:52:46,760
I'm just going to do the best I can.

959
00:52:46,760 --> 00:52:48,060
They had sin.

960
00:52:48,060 --> 00:52:50,720
How many times in the Bible can you count sin in Jacob's life?

961
00:52:50,720 --> 00:52:52,320
You know what Jacob means?

962
00:52:52,320 --> 00:52:54,760
The word Jacob means deceiver.

963
00:52:54,760 --> 00:52:58,040
Throughout his story, he seemed deceiving, deceiving, deceiving, deceiving.

964
00:52:58,040 --> 00:53:03,160
And then he would be named Israel, become the father of all God's people.

965
00:53:03,160 --> 00:53:05,000
God is a gracious God.

966
00:53:05,000 --> 00:53:06,000
He wants to give.

967
00:53:06,000 --> 00:53:07,920
He wants to bring you out.

968
00:53:07,920 --> 00:53:12,960
But once he does that, the expectation is raised.

969
00:53:12,960 --> 00:53:18,640
God holds accountable more the blessed Ananias and Sapphira in the New Testament.

970
00:53:18,640 --> 00:53:20,280
For all we know, they were saved.

971
00:53:20,280 --> 00:53:21,460
They professed to be saved.

972
00:53:21,460 --> 00:53:23,120
Nobody ever said they weren't.

973
00:53:23,120 --> 00:53:25,520
But they saw Barnabas sell a property and give all the money in.

974
00:53:25,520 --> 00:53:26,520
Right.

975
00:53:26,520 --> 00:53:27,960
And he said, here's all the money.

976
00:53:27,960 --> 00:53:28,960
Take care of the church.

977
00:53:28,960 --> 00:53:29,960
Take care of the poor here.

978
00:53:29,960 --> 00:53:31,440
And they all and Barmas kind of got the kudos.

979
00:53:31,440 --> 00:53:32,440
Oh, that's wonderful.

980
00:53:32,440 --> 00:53:33,440
You're a great guy, Barmas.

981
00:53:33,440 --> 00:53:34,440
You're the best.

982
00:53:34,440 --> 00:53:35,440
Name the encourager.

983
00:53:35,440 --> 00:53:36,440
Right.

984
00:53:36,440 --> 00:53:37,760
They're like, well, let's sell our property.

985
00:53:37,760 --> 00:53:40,480
And they sold their property and they kept back some of the money.

986
00:53:40,480 --> 00:53:43,360
They didn't give it all into the treasury, but they said they did.

987
00:53:43,360 --> 00:53:46,920
They let everybody believe they gave all the money in the treasury.

988
00:53:46,920 --> 00:53:49,600
And God struck them dead.

989
00:53:49,600 --> 00:53:50,600
One at a time.

990
00:53:50,600 --> 00:53:51,980
He struck them dead.

991
00:53:51,980 --> 00:53:57,680
Because once you're saved in Christ, there is a higher level of accountability.

992
00:53:57,680 --> 00:54:00,320
The blessed are held more accountable.

993
00:54:00,320 --> 00:54:05,360
So when you look back in history and you see people sin, and they kind of make it through,

994
00:54:05,360 --> 00:54:07,080
God gives them grace and it's OK.

995
00:54:07,080 --> 00:54:09,720
Don't you ever say, well, he did it.

996
00:54:09,720 --> 00:54:10,720
I can do it too.

997
00:54:10,720 --> 00:54:11,720
God will take care of me.

998
00:54:11,720 --> 00:54:12,720
Don't do that.

999
00:54:12,720 --> 00:54:13,920
Because you are saved in Christ.

1000
00:54:13,920 --> 00:54:16,160
You have the Holy Spirit, if indeed you are.

1001
00:54:16,160 --> 00:54:20,760
And you have a higher level of responsibility to God who cleanses your soul, who regenerates

1002
00:54:20,760 --> 00:54:25,280
you, who seals you for the day of his next appearing.

1003
00:54:25,280 --> 00:54:31,340
God holds more accountable those who are more blessed.

1004
00:54:31,340 --> 00:54:37,320
He surrenders the fool to folly and he supplants the chosen with another when the chosen looks

1005
00:54:37,320 --> 00:54:40,360
down on his provision.

1006
00:54:40,360 --> 00:54:41,360
Understand that?

1007
00:54:41,360 --> 00:54:46,020
So if you're stupid enough to anger God, to cause the wrath of God to come upon you after

1008
00:54:46,020 --> 00:54:49,680
you've been called, God will move you out of the way.

1009
00:54:49,680 --> 00:54:52,920
Now he may kill you, but probably not.

1010
00:54:52,920 --> 00:54:56,640
There'll just be a break in your relationship with him that persists for the rest of your

1011
00:54:56,640 --> 00:54:57,640
life.

1012
00:54:57,640 --> 00:55:02,200
You'll take your whole family with you, like the jailer who repented and they all brought

1013
00:55:02,200 --> 00:55:05,200
them all in and they all accepted Christ and they all got back.

1014
00:55:05,200 --> 00:55:10,840
You take your whole family with you and then you fall because your folly is that you value

1015
00:55:10,840 --> 00:55:12,840
the things of this life more than you value God.

1016
00:55:12,840 --> 00:55:13,840
It mightn't be your family that you value, right?

1017
00:55:13,840 --> 00:55:14,840
It could be the money.

1018
00:55:14,840 --> 00:55:15,840
You'll do well.

1019
00:55:15,840 --> 00:55:16,840
You'll get promoted, promoted, promoted.

1020
00:55:16,840 --> 00:55:17,840
You're doing so well because you're working.

1021
00:55:17,840 --> 00:55:20,240
You're doing it as if you're doing it as you got.

1022
00:55:20,240 --> 00:55:22,480
And then you start thinking about the money one day.

1023
00:55:22,480 --> 00:55:23,480
Start thinking about retirement.

1024
00:55:23,480 --> 00:55:28,520
Start thinking about a boat or an RV or a better things for yourself or for your family.

1025
00:55:28,520 --> 00:55:29,520
Start thinking about it, right?

1026
00:55:29,520 --> 00:55:30,520
Everything's going to be okay.

1027
00:55:30,520 --> 00:55:31,520
I'm going to make sure everybody's going to be okay.

1028
00:55:31,520 --> 00:55:32,520
It's all going to be good.

1029
00:55:32,520 --> 00:55:33,520
I need more money.

1030
00:55:33,520 --> 00:55:34,520
I need more money.

1031
00:55:34,520 --> 00:55:35,520
I need more money.

1032
00:55:35,520 --> 00:55:36,520
Make sure it's all going to be good.

1033
00:55:36,520 --> 00:55:37,520
And where is God in that?

1034
00:55:37,520 --> 00:55:38,520
He's nowhere.

1035
00:55:38,520 --> 00:55:40,560
And then the next thing you know, this person's drifting and that person's drifting and you

1036
00:55:40,560 --> 00:55:43,840
were thinking you were the anchor and frankly they were thinking you were the anchor and

1037
00:55:43,840 --> 00:55:45,080
now you're not anymore.

1038
00:55:45,080 --> 00:55:47,160
And it can fall apart.

1039
00:55:47,160 --> 00:55:52,200
God surrenders the fool to his folly and he supplants the chosen with another when the

1040
00:55:52,200 --> 00:55:57,480
chosen looks down on God's provision.

1041
00:55:57,480 --> 00:55:59,760
Are you serving the living God?

1042
00:55:59,760 --> 00:56:04,720
Because if you are and in serving the living God, you delve into folly.

1043
00:56:04,720 --> 00:56:07,640
You let other things be more important or you start thinking about the things of this

1044
00:56:07,640 --> 00:56:09,280
earth like they were in the wilderness.

1045
00:56:09,280 --> 00:56:11,080
They were brought out from God with miraculous intervention.

1046
00:56:11,080 --> 00:56:15,320
They're in the wilderness then and then they start like, well, we don't like this manna

1047
00:56:15,320 --> 00:56:16,720
that rains down from the sky.

1048
00:56:16,720 --> 00:56:17,720
It's kind of plain.

1049
00:56:17,720 --> 00:56:20,360
Can't we get some meat?

1050
00:56:20,360 --> 00:56:22,000
So God made a wind blow.

1051
00:56:22,000 --> 00:56:24,720
The foul dropped in their midst is all to solve this example, right?

1052
00:56:24,720 --> 00:56:25,720
That's his example.

1053
00:56:25,720 --> 00:56:27,160
The foul dropped in there.

1054
00:56:27,160 --> 00:56:29,520
They start eating it while the meat was still in their mouths.

1055
00:56:29,520 --> 00:56:35,280
The strongest amongst them begin to die.

1056
00:56:35,280 --> 00:56:38,800
God surrenders the fool to his folly and supplants the chosen.

1057
00:56:38,800 --> 00:56:42,240
Israel, Jacob would be the chosen people of God.

1058
00:56:42,240 --> 00:56:46,280
Israel's descendants, Joseph, Ephraim, the chosen people of God will all come out of

1059
00:56:46,280 --> 00:56:47,280
there.

1060
00:56:47,280 --> 00:56:52,200
But then there was a man, David, and he switched all of that over to David and said, a descendant

1061
00:56:52,200 --> 00:56:53,200
of yours.

1062
00:56:53,200 --> 00:56:56,920
Did you know that there are women in Jesus's ancestry?

1063
00:56:56,920 --> 00:57:00,480
It's not even only a patriarchal ancestry.

1064
00:57:00,480 --> 00:57:05,960
They can trace their lineage back to Abraham, but it won't do them squat good because Christ

1065
00:57:05,960 --> 00:57:07,240
is the one who saves.

1066
00:57:07,240 --> 00:57:08,840
Christ is the leader of the people.

1067
00:57:08,840 --> 00:57:10,320
Christ is the head of the church.

1068
00:57:10,320 --> 00:57:13,080
Christ is the one who decides who goes to heaven and who doesn't.

1069
00:57:13,080 --> 00:57:15,240
Christ is the only way.

1070
00:57:15,240 --> 00:57:17,760
And he came out of the descendants of David.

1071
00:57:17,760 --> 00:57:20,520
And you can find Ruth in there who was a mobile.

1072
00:57:20,520 --> 00:57:22,480
It's not even a Jew.

1073
00:57:22,480 --> 00:57:23,480
And she was brought in.

1074
00:57:23,480 --> 00:57:26,880
She supplanted God's chosen people.

1075
00:57:26,880 --> 00:57:31,440
And the church is the same way we supplant the chosen people of God.

1076
00:57:31,440 --> 00:57:35,560
Now I understand the chosen people of God can be included.

1077
00:57:35,560 --> 00:57:37,360
I'll come back to that.

1078
00:57:37,360 --> 00:57:40,880
He after handing out blessings, he does not sleep or ignore.

1079
00:57:40,880 --> 00:57:43,440
God is not just letting you do whatever the heck you want, whatever you want, letting

1080
00:57:43,440 --> 00:57:45,760
you suffer, letting you do well, whatever.

1081
00:57:45,760 --> 00:57:47,280
God does not sleep or ignore.

1082
00:57:47,280 --> 00:57:54,280
He is present until and if the blessed show a desire more for the things of this earth

1083
00:57:54,280 --> 00:57:55,720
than they do for God.

1084
00:57:55,720 --> 00:57:59,680
If you're stupid enough to do that, then you won't be able to find him anywhere in your

1085
00:57:59,680 --> 00:58:01,440
life.

1086
00:58:01,440 --> 00:58:04,840
Even if he sealed your heart and saved you for eternity, if you choose the things of

1087
00:58:04,840 --> 00:58:09,720
this world over God, you might look for him and never find him because he's not going

1088
00:58:09,720 --> 00:58:10,720
to be part of that.

1089
00:58:10,720 --> 00:58:14,920
And he calls out every generation, out of every generation, he calls out worshipers

1090
00:58:14,920 --> 00:58:16,280
in spirit and truth.

1091
00:58:16,280 --> 00:58:21,000
Since Adam and Eve, every generation, he calls out worshipers in spirit and truth that can

1092
00:58:21,000 --> 00:58:30,640
stay the course because they have tasted and seen and known the supreme value of the Lord.

1093
00:58:30,640 --> 00:58:35,440
People reflect on history as if those who suffered God's wrath were do that wrath.

1094
00:58:35,440 --> 00:58:38,680
The reality is we were all do that wrath.

1095
00:58:38,680 --> 00:58:44,660
But we should reflect on history to learn how God delivers.

1096
00:58:44,660 --> 00:58:47,760
That brings us to our conclusion.

1097
00:58:47,760 --> 00:58:55,320
We must not look into the rich history of God's people and repeat the mistakes we see

1098
00:58:55,320 --> 00:58:57,120
happening there.

1099
00:58:57,120 --> 00:59:04,580
God has called the church to be this very thing, the replacement people of God.

1100
00:59:04,580 --> 00:59:16,440
We can reasonably expect that he can keep us, that he can fill us with his eternal character,

1101
00:59:16,440 --> 00:59:22,280
or he can remove us just the same as he removed the chosen fallen people before us.

1102
00:59:22,280 --> 00:59:27,960
The church is the replacement for those from history who failed to desire God more, love

1103
00:59:27,960 --> 00:59:33,680
God more, keep God's ways more, while at the same time desiring God's provision above

1104
00:59:33,680 --> 00:59:38,280
all things.

1105
00:59:38,280 --> 00:59:44,160
But the truth is they got to the point where any provision would do as long as it could

1106
00:59:44,160 --> 00:59:50,040
be attributed to God, and then eventually they didn't even care if it could be attributed

1107
00:59:50,040 --> 00:59:54,080
to God anymore just as long as they were provided for.

1108
00:59:54,080 --> 00:59:57,360
In case you think I'm just pulling this out of left field, it's clear that the psalmist

1109
00:59:57,360 --> 00:59:59,520
didn't quite say that last thing that I said.

1110
00:59:59,520 --> 01:00:02,680
I want to read briefly to you from Romans 11.

1111
01:00:02,680 --> 01:00:07,040
This is our last scripture for the day.

1112
01:00:07,040 --> 01:00:09,200
Some of you are going, oh, I kind of know what he's about to read.

1113
01:00:09,200 --> 01:00:12,680
Others of you are going, boy, I should read my Bible more and I would know what he's about

1114
01:00:12,680 --> 01:00:13,680
to read.

1115
01:00:13,680 --> 01:00:16,040
Romans 11 says this, beginning in verse 15.

1116
01:00:16,040 --> 01:00:22,680
He says, for if their rejection, that's Israel as the people of God, if their rejection be

1117
01:00:22,680 --> 01:00:28,680
the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

1118
01:00:28,680 --> 01:00:32,920
And if the first piece of dough be holy and the lump is also, and if the root be holy

1119
01:00:32,920 --> 01:00:39,440
the branches are also, but if some of the branches were broken off and you being a wild

1120
01:00:39,440 --> 01:00:43,440
olive were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the

1121
01:00:43,440 --> 01:00:47,400
olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches.

1122
01:00:47,400 --> 01:00:51,680
But if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the

1123
01:00:51,680 --> 01:00:53,340
root supports you.

1124
01:00:53,340 --> 01:00:56,320
You will say then, branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.

1125
01:00:56,320 --> 01:00:57,400
Quite right.

1126
01:00:57,400 --> 01:01:01,280
They were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith.

1127
01:01:01,280 --> 01:01:06,320
Do not be conceited but fear, for if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will

1128
01:01:06,320 --> 01:01:07,720
he spare you.

1129
01:01:07,720 --> 01:01:13,680
Behold then the kindness and severity of God to those who fell severity, but to you, God's

1130
01:01:13,680 --> 01:01:14,680
kindness.

1131
01:01:14,680 --> 01:01:18,840
If you continue in his kindness, otherwise you also will be cut off.

1132
01:01:18,840 --> 01:01:21,040
You can stop right there.

1133
01:01:21,040 --> 01:01:23,080
It says enough, doesn't it?

1134
01:01:23,080 --> 01:01:25,280
The apothecmatic history of God.

1135
01:01:25,280 --> 01:01:36,480
So the word apothecmatic means short, powerful saying or formulation, like a plan or a book,

1136
01:01:36,480 --> 01:01:37,680
right?

1137
01:01:37,680 --> 01:01:41,560
So this is the apothecmatic history of God.

1138
01:01:41,560 --> 01:01:46,760
And the truth is, you only know what your life is like, what you've witnessed with your

1139
01:01:46,760 --> 01:01:52,720
eyes and your living testimony, what you can talk about that you know is true.

1140
01:01:52,720 --> 01:01:56,040
That is the apothecmatic history of God for you.

1141
01:01:56,040 --> 01:01:57,920
And you say, but that's so much.

1142
01:01:57,920 --> 01:02:00,440
You say, no, this Bible from end to end would be so much.

1143
01:02:00,440 --> 01:02:06,160
So there's about, depending on your translation, there's between 725,000 and 800,000 words

1144
01:02:06,160 --> 01:02:07,600
in this Bible.

1145
01:02:07,600 --> 01:02:13,880
That sounds like a lot, but of those, almost 2% of those words are God or Lord.

1146
01:02:13,880 --> 01:02:16,400
So that cuts it down a little bit.

1147
01:02:16,400 --> 01:02:20,160
It's not 800,000 different words.

1148
01:02:20,160 --> 01:02:22,520
It's not.

1149
01:02:22,520 --> 01:02:26,440
Nobody has done the statistic to know, or at least I couldn't find it to know exactly

1150
01:02:26,440 --> 01:02:28,800
how many different words there are exactly.

1151
01:02:28,800 --> 01:02:31,720
It depends on the translation, obviously.

1152
01:02:31,720 --> 01:02:38,000
The bottom line is, this is definitely an apothecmatic presentation of the truth about

1153
01:02:38,000 --> 01:02:39,960
God.

1154
01:02:39,960 --> 01:02:42,060
And your life is apothecmatic.

1155
01:02:42,060 --> 01:02:44,960
All you have to remember is what happened to you.

1156
01:02:44,960 --> 01:02:47,800
Now it'd be nice if you could also remember some of what happened to your parents.

1157
01:02:47,800 --> 01:02:51,240
If your parents have a great testimony, remember their story.

1158
01:02:51,240 --> 01:02:56,400
If they walked against God and realized it and turned to God, remember their story.

1159
01:02:56,400 --> 01:03:00,400
If they loved God and He loved them back and were taking care of bless you, then remember

1160
01:03:00,400 --> 01:03:04,000
their story and deliver it to your kids and your kids' kids and say, you know, when I

1161
01:03:04,000 --> 01:03:08,120
was younger, I heard these stories of what God had amazingly done in my parents' life,

1162
01:03:08,120 --> 01:03:10,640
but I didn't really listen and I didn't really follow the way I should.

1163
01:03:10,640 --> 01:03:11,800
And then I repent and I turn back.

1164
01:03:11,800 --> 01:03:13,580
Don't make the mistake that I made.

1165
01:03:13,580 --> 01:03:15,160
Tell the apothecmatic history.

1166
01:03:15,160 --> 01:03:16,440
You say, no, it's not short.

1167
01:03:16,440 --> 01:03:17,800
It is short.

1168
01:03:17,800 --> 01:03:20,740
Pithy means essential, short, and powerful.

1169
01:03:20,740 --> 01:03:22,760
The Bible is a condensed version of everything.

1170
01:03:22,760 --> 01:03:27,000
Now how many, if you actually wanted to write down every detail that happened in the life

1171
01:03:27,000 --> 01:03:30,720
of Moses, it would take books upon books to write that down.

1172
01:03:30,720 --> 01:03:32,600
It even says that in the New Testament about the life of Jesus.

1173
01:03:32,600 --> 01:03:35,960
If you want to write down everything that was about Jesus, it would take books upon

1174
01:03:35,960 --> 01:03:37,760
books to write down everything that He did.

1175
01:03:37,760 --> 01:03:40,960
If you want to write down everything that happened in your life, it would take books

1176
01:03:40,960 --> 01:03:44,760
upon books and then it would take me years upon years to pry it out of you.

1177
01:03:44,760 --> 01:03:46,160
And the truth is, I probably can't.

1178
01:03:46,160 --> 01:03:47,160
Why?

1179
01:03:47,160 --> 01:03:51,080
Because we're off on ourselves so full of so much crap that we can't remember what God

1180
01:03:51,080 --> 01:03:59,440
is doing in us so that we can deliver it to everybody else as they need it.

1181
01:03:59,440 --> 01:04:03,520
The translation of the Bible doesn't matter as long as it's a translation.

1182
01:04:03,520 --> 01:04:07,120
But what does matter is what it means.

1183
01:04:07,120 --> 01:04:14,160
And we must learn it, share it with our children and our generation, striving to live up to

1184
01:04:14,160 --> 01:04:20,200
what we learn, chiefly giving God His proper place in sovereignty.

1185
01:04:20,200 --> 01:04:23,920
His ways are the only ways we want.

1186
01:04:23,920 --> 01:04:32,280
And you learn those ways by taking a long look at the apothecmatic history of God.

1187
01:04:32,280 --> 01:04:36,680
What did God deliver us, Genesis, through Revelation?

1188
01:04:36,680 --> 01:04:38,600
And what do you know of it?

1189
01:04:38,600 --> 01:04:40,880
And how do you apply it?

1190
01:04:40,880 --> 01:04:43,180
And then what has God done in your life?

1191
01:04:43,180 --> 01:04:47,480
And you say, well, God has not been good to me in my life.

1192
01:04:47,480 --> 01:04:50,040
Life is not good to people in general.

1193
01:04:50,040 --> 01:04:53,260
Suffering is a normal state of being.

1194
01:04:53,260 --> 01:04:55,520
God sent His only Son to die on the cross for you.

1195
01:04:55,520 --> 01:05:00,000
And if you'll have Him as Lord and Savior, you'll have abundant life even in the midst

1196
01:05:00,000 --> 01:05:02,520
of that suffering.

1197
01:05:02,520 --> 01:05:03,760
Miracles do happen.

1198
01:05:03,760 --> 01:05:05,320
I could give you a long list.

1199
01:05:05,320 --> 01:05:08,760
We could have a sermon of just me standing up here listing out miracles that we have

1200
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seen and there would be people in this house go, yep, I saw that one.

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Yep, I saw that one.

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Yes, I remember that.

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Right?

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And then we could pass the microphone around and you could list off five or seven or ten

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as long as you knew in advance because it's not like you're telling them all the time,

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right?

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And if so, why not?

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Because that's the apothecmatic history of God.

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You're supposed to be telling them all the time.

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You say, well, I've only got one the day I got saved.

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If that's the only miracle you've ever seen, then you should be telling that miracle all

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the time.

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And if you've never seen that miracle, so you can't say that there are any, then you

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need to get saved today.

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You need to recognize that God has orchestrated the events of your life and the parameters

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of your life, where you live, where you will be, and required you to be in this room at

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this moment so that you can recognize that you have sinned and therefore are separated

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from God so you can believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross of your sins and commit

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your life to him and live for him from this day forward, being born again instantaneously

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because God promises whosoever call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

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And there I just gave you an apothecmatic history of what it means to be saved in 30

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seconds.

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Can you do that?

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Yes, you can.

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Go do it literally always everywhere and win the world to Jesus because you are the replacement

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people of God.

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Unless you should delve into the folly of wanting the comforts of this life more than

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his presence, and then he'll replace you too.

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I'm asking you today to commit yourself to following the Lord.

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I'm not saying that he'll replace you and you'll lose your salvation.

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You could do this.

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You could say, well, I'm saved.

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I know I'm saved.

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I'm just going to live however I want.

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And I know I'm saved.

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As long as you keep knowing that you're saved, you'll probably still be saved.

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It's all good unless you're just fundamentally wrong.

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And if you feel like doing that and living like that, you might be fundamentally wrong.

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You might not be saved.

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And I would recommend it if you could just do that.

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All things are permissible.

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But as Paul also pointed out, not all things are profitable.

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I suggest you follow the Lord and begin to deliver the apothecmatic history of God to

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everyone around you and to your kids in the Sunday school classes and in the church and

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to your spouse.

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And if your parents aren't saved, then give it to your parents.

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And if a new child is born, start brushing up and getting ready to deliver all those

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same stories over again.

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Because if you're waiting for me to do it, I'm going to do one a year.

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I'm going to do one a week for a year and get 52 in this year.

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But you should get in a minimum of 365 because you're you every day.

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The apothecmatic history of God, that is what it means when it's the Great Permission.

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Go and teach them all things I have commanded you.

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That's what it means when it says, we proclaim what we have seen and heard that you also

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may have fellowship with us and our fellowships with God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ.

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What can you proclaim the apothecmatic history of God?

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Lord help us.

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Ask the praise team to come forward and lead us in a closing hymn.

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If you're here today and either you're willing to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior

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for the first time ever, then you come and you respond and you make that public and say,

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yes, that's me.

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I'm doing that today.

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It doesn't matter what people think.

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I already thought you were saved.

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That doesn't matter.

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You're getting saved for the first time ever today.

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If you made a public professional faith this last seven days and you've not told the church

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yet about the decision you've made, this is your opportunity to say, I'm willing to

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do Jesus starting now.

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If you say, I'm a Father, Lord Jesus Christ, but I have not been sharing the apothecmatic

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history of God.

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I haven't been telling people what I know about God.

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I haven't been telling people what the Bible says about God.

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I'm not doing that.

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And you repent today and say, no, I'm going to do that going forward.

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Then you make that publicly known and say, that's me.

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You can do that right here.

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You're saying, yes, I will share.

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Whatever it might be, it's on your heart, this is your opportunity to respond.

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We're going offline.

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Those of you who are online, leave a comment, send a message, whatever, if you've made some

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kind of decision today.

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We're going to do some business here in the hall with the Lord.

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As we sing this song, would you stand with us and respond?

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If the Lord is leading, respond.

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This is our final song.

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This is your opportunity to come and say, yes, that's me.

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I need to live for God starting today.

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Or yes, that's me.

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I know I need to be sharing.

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Whatever else it might be.

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I surrender to Him, I believe.

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I will have a love and trust in Him, His presence daily.

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I surrender.

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I will have a love and trust in Him, His presence daily.

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I surrender to Him, His presence daily.

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I surrender to Him, His presence daily.

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I surrender to Him, His presence daily.

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my soul long after me. It's the very first contemporary worship song I've heard. Now there's lots, right? They call it amazing

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graces, considered contemporary worship, even though it's much, much older, right? I didn't even think of it that way. I'm not

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sure I've even heard it before that time. The point is, I remember that. And then I remember Amalia and Alicia, and I, in our

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little sitting room, off of Michigan, and they had given us a book, the church had given us a book, and it had that song in it. I

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think it was actually East Litter that gave the book, and we were sitting there singing that song. Amalia was like two and a half,

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three years old, like Zoe's age, and Alicia was about four years older than her. We were singing that song for the first time

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grade, and we were praising God. And the Spirit was there, and we were reminded that day after day after day, then, reminded,

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day after day, we should be longing for God, but want more God, more God's story to tell. It's not a burden to tell God's story.

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Delivet it, right? It's not a burden to live it, it's not a burden to tell it. And so, praise God, we had the opportunity to

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deliver the apothecmatic history of God. So, you're going to need to start keeping some journal. Oh, journal, spiritual discipline.

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Why do we journal? Well, there's an example with that, because then you can tell the story, right? You're going to need to read your

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Bible, why don't you read our Bible, so we can know what it says, so we can tell the story, right? God is good. It all works

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together. We are His people, because He's chosen us for Himself. Do not fall into the poly of looking at those who've gone before

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and saying, I'm not going to do what they did. That's not enough. You're going to go look at those who went before and see what they

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did, and think about how God delivers. God delivers, and we are a people of His deliverance. That's what we do.