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All right, we're gonna get this thing kicked off. We're gonna wrap up tonight.

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We haven't spent too much time in Hebrews chapter 11. Obviously we

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could have taken more time to look at some of these different folks that

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we've looked at, but this wasn't gonna be something that we were really

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gonna dig into too deep. This is just kind of a brief thing and so we are

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gonna skip a few folks tonight just for time's sake and just kind of hit some of

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the high points as we get ready to close up. But I appreciate y'all coming

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for the last couple of weeks. We have looked at Abel. We looked at what it

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means to give by faith. We looked at Enoch, talked about what it means to walk by

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faith. Noah, what it means to live by faith. We saw Abraham last week, four last,

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what it means to go by faith. And Sarah, waiting by faith. And we've seen a lot of

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other people that we've talked about. Some they were familiar with, the

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Free Burma Rangers and David Eubank, and kind of how he's doing his work by

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faith. We talked about George Mueller. Maybe some of you have researched him

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and read some more of his story. If you hadn't, that would be a good thing to do.

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Last week we talked about Hudson Taylor and the work that he did in China. It's

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kind of a more modern example of what it means to live by faith. So we've been

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looking at some of these in the scripture, but also some more modern examples of

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walking by faith as well. So we'll continue that same pattern tonight. We'll

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look at three examples of faith in Hebrews 11, then we'll talk about a

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more modern example. So let's pray and then we'll get started. God, we come to

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you tonight and I pray, dear Lord, that you would help us to be men and women of

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strong faith, dear Lord. And oftentimes we really don't know how strong our faith

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is until it's tested, but I pray that you would help our faith to be strong. I

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pray that we would have faith in you, that we would trust you, that we would

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walk by faith, that we would live by faith, dear Lord, in every aspect of our

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life. And God, even in our failures, that we would not let that drive us

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from you. But dear Lord, even then we would humble ourselves and come

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before you with faith, dear Lord, as we see so many that we look at in Hebrews 11.

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God, they weren't examples of perfection. They were examples of failures, but

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failures who were saved by faith, dear Lord. And that's who we are tonight.

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So I pray that your Holy Spirit would be with us and help us to grow and to learn

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something from your Word and these we talk about. In Jesus' name I pray it. Amen.

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All right, Hebrews 11, if you haven't already turned there and you want to, you

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can. Hebrews chapter 11, the first thing we're going to talk about tonight is

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suffering by faith. Now, I cut this section down to Moses really brief

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because we could talk a lot about Moses. There's a lot to talk about. And there's

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a lot in the book of Hebrews that it talks about Moses, just the fact that

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Moses' mother decided to hide him when all the other children were being killed.

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That was an act of faith as Moses, you know, held his hands up so the Red Sea

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would be parted and God's people could walk through on dry land. These are

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examples of faith in Moses' life. So there was certainly much faith in the

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life of Moses and it's covered here in Hebrews chapter 11. But for time's sake

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we're just taking one small part of the faith that's recognized for

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Moses here and that comes from verses 24 and 25. It says, by faith Moses, when he

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had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter and chose to

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suffer with the people of God rather to enjoy the short-lived pleasure of sin.

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Alright, so we see Moses had a choice here and the choice that Moses had was

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he could have lived in the palace of Pharaoh and he would have had a pretty

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luxurious life. Obviously Pharaoh was the wealthiest man in the land. He was raised

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by Pharaoh's daughter but Moses knew that he wasn't an Egyptian. He knew who he

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was. He knew he was an Israelite. He knew that his family was not this family of

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wealth but he knew that his family were a people of God. He knew his family were

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slaves at that time. And so Moses had a choice to make. Was he going to be one

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who lived for God and lived for God's people or was he going to be one who

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lived in Pharaoh's palace? And that's kind of the choice that really you and I

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have to make on some level. Now we're probably not choosing whether we're

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going to live in a palace but we do have that choice to make. Are we going to

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choose to live for God as God's people and to suffer as God's people often do?

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Are we going to choose to live by the ways of the world? Now, nowadays if you

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choose to live by the ways of the world it's likely that you're not going to

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get much opposition. In fact, you're probably going to be celebrated. If you

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go out and tell the world that you're a homosexual they're gonna have a parade

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for you and they're gonna clap for you and they're gonna have a party for you.

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If you go out and tell the world that you're a man and you're thinking

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about becoming a woman they're gonna celebrate that. The world celebrates that

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that is evil but oftentimes the world takes what the Bible calls good and

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calls it evil. And so we have a choice to make as to whether or not we're going to

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live by what the world says. If we live by what the world says and seek the

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wealth of the world and the acceptance of the world on some levels our life is

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going to be a lot easier because what we see oftentimes all throughout the

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scriptures all throughout church history not just in modern times is that it is

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not easy to be one who's going to stand up for the Lord. And oftentimes and we're

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gonna see some great examples of that at the end of this chapter oftentimes what

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we see is we see when we take that step for the Lord when we tell the world what

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you're doing is wrong what you're doing is sin. God does not approve of that. God's

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Word says that that is wrong. When we step up and we stand on the truth of

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God's Word we better be ready because the world is gonna attack us. There are

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plenty of places in the world that doing what we're doing tonight would get you

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killed and that happens all over the world. There are lots of Christians of

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brothers and sisters in Christ that are being tortured that are being that are

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being persecuted that are being killed for talking about the truth that we're

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talking about tonight and we need to realize that these things go on today.

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It's not like this thing happens occasionally every once in a while we

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don't hear about it much but it happens all the time that there are plenty of

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Christians who are suffering for the kingdom of God because they have made

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the same choice that Moses made. He had a choice. He could live by the world and

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wouldn't have really had much to worry about. He could have lived in the palace

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of Pharaoh and had every need he ever wanted met or every want he ever wanted.

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He could have had but instead he chose to go. He chose to leave and ultimately by

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faith he trusted God and by faith God used him to do great things but he had

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to make that decision. That decision that ultimately was going to lead to

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suffering. He was gonna have to leave everything he knew. He was gonna have to

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flee for his life. He was gonna have to head for the hills to escape for Pharaoh

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because once he made that choice that he was not gonna live for the world but

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that he was gonna follow God and be one of God's people. Once Moses made that

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choice he had to suffer the consequences of that. The consequences in the worldly

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sense. Now of course God blessed him. God used him in a mighty way but the world

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was still coming after him and that's the same for you and I today. We have to

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be ready. Then if we're gonna be a man or a woman of faith that we're gonna have

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to take a stand against what the world says sometimes. Even our friends and our

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family and it's very difficult to do to take that stand and say no this isn't

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right. This is what God calls sin and I'm not gonna celebrate it. I'm not gonna

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pretend like it's right and I'm gonna stand on the Word of God and I'm gonna

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speak the truth and I'm gonna speak the truth in love but I'm gonna speak the

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truth and that takes a lot of faith and sometimes when we have that kind of

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faith and live by that kind of faith it brings about suffering in our life and

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that's just one small little section here about Moses. Not much said about

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it here. This is just one of many things that it says establishes Moses as a man

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of faith and we need to be those who are established as men and women of faith

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who are ready to suffer for the kingdom of God. Alright the next thing we're

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going to talk about comes from verses 30 and 31 and that is being delivered by

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faith. 30 and 31 says this, by faith the walls of Jericho fell down after being

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encircled by the Israelites for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute

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received the spies in peace and didn't perish with those who disobeyed. Now this

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story comes way back from the book of Joshua. Maybe you've read it before. God's

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people finally make their way into the promised land and they go to Jericho and

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there's there's a city there there's walls surrounding the city there and God

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says alright I'm gonna hand this city over to you and here's what you have to

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do. You have to walk around the city for seven days and blow your horn and then

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on the seventh day walk around seven times and and then everybody's gonna

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holler real loud and then the walls gonna come tumbling down. Now that sounds

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pretty crazy. Now we read this story and we say man God is good but how many times

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may God call us to do something in our life that doesn't even sound nearly as

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crazy as that but we don't do what he calls us to do. Now we might like to tell

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ourselves if I would have been there I'd have been with those people and I would

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have done just what God said and maybe we would have. There were certainly some

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there who did. It appears that they all did and maybe we would have too or

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maybe we would have started talking to each other and said what in the world is

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Joshua talking about here? Why are we marching around this city? What's this

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got to do? Shouldn't we be like sharpening our swords and getting our

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shields ready? But nonetheless God told him to do something that seemed crazy

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and God's people did what he said and as a result the wall come tumbling down. Now

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why did the wall come tumbling down? Surely it must have been that in all

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those days of marching around the city and on that seventh day of marching

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seven times surely it must have loosened the ground up and the vibration from the

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sound of their voices must have weakened the wall and it come to the ground. That

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must be how it happened. No that's not how it happened. It happened because they

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had faith because they did what God said. As crazy as it may have sounded God said

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to do it they said God if this is what you're telling me to do I'm gonna do it

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and guess what happened? When they did what God called them to do when they

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walked by faith literally around the around the wall the wall came tumbling

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down. We see time and time again people healed in the scripture and what does it

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often say about them? That they are healed by their faith. Jesus will say your

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faith has made you well. It's not necessarily that when the woman touched

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the tassel of Jesus's robe that his robe had some kind of special power. It's

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that she had enough faith to know if I can get close to this guy there's healing

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in this guy not in his robe and she was healed not because his robe had special

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power but because she had faith. He could have took that robe off and sent it on

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the ground and there might have been a thousand other people that touched it

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and nothing happened to them. Why? Because if they didn't have faith they weren't

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gonna be healed because healing comes by faith. Deliverance comes by faith and so

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the walls come tumbling down and God's people go in and capture the city but

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some are spared and we see one listed here and that is Rahab and what does it

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say about Rahab? By faith Rahab the prostitute received the spies in peace

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and didn't perish with those who disobeyed. Now you may remember the story

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you may not but there were some spies who went into the land and they were

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checking things out and they were gonna get caught except Rahab hit them so that

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they wouldn't be caught so that they wouldn't be killed. Rahab hit them and

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as a result of that Rahab was spared because Rahab said look I've heard about

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you guys I've heard about your God would you spare me? And they did when they when

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it came down to it and they invaded the city Rahab was spared and why? Because

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she had faith. Now this is a this is a beautiful example because here's Rahab

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a foreigner a foreign people now God would come to save his people but even

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in the Old Testament it was never it was never only the Jewish people it was

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never only the people of Israel it was always those who would come and seek God

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and sometimes we see Gentiles that would have faith that would hear of God that

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would come and their faith would save them and that's what we see of Rahab

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she was delivered but what else do we see of Rahab? It's not like she was a

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upstanding wonderful righteous woman was she? She was a prostitute she was a

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prostitute that did evil sinful things but nonetheless she was delivered and

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how was she delivered? Hebrews tells us she was delivered by her faith. Now this

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is good news for you and I because you and I are not just good upstanding

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righteous people our our best acts before the Lord are as filthy rags

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Isaiah tells us the best things that we can do are pretty rotten we are pretty

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sinful even on our best days there's some things that we probably don't like

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about ourselves there's some things that go through our mind there's some things

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that we say and there's some things that we do that we just don't like and we

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know it's there we know it's not good and and sometimes even still we just

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repeat these things whatever it may be they're sin in our life but Rahab is a

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good example of what it means to trust God in faith and what's the result of

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that is that God saves even sinners even some of the worst of sinners that we

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could think of that's good news for you and I because we're some of the worst of

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sinners that we can think of but Rahab is a good example of what it means to

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live by faith here's something beautiful about Rahab if you want to turn to

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Matthew chapter 1 Matthew chapter 1 we see a genealogy here that's leading us

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to Jesus and Matthew chapter 1 in verse 5

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now you may remember the story from the book of Ruth if you've never read the

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book of Ruth it's a great book you may remember that Boaz married Ruth at the

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end of that story but what you may not realize is what we see here in verse 5

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Simon fathered Boaz by Rahab isn't that something isn't that something how God

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works all of these stories together and all of these characters together and

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right here in the genealogy of Jesus Christ we see two beautiful stories that

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of Ruth and Boaz and that of Rahab and all of that come to be because there was

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one sinful woman who heard about God and believed that God was God and feared the

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Lord enough to seek him and what was the result she was delivered by her faith

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and the same is true for you and I all right let's flip back to Hebrews chapter

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11 and the last section we're going to talk about is being approved by faith

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now we've talked about that some in the context of of Hebrews is that the Hebrew

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audience they were wanting to earn God's approval by going back to the old ways

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of sacrifices and doing things the author of Hebrews has been telling look

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don't don't do that and here's the point he says look all these people that we're

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reading about these people that you know from your history they were approved by

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their faith not because they offered sacrifices not because they lived by the

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letter of the law man there are some there are some bad dudes and and and

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chicks in this in this section you go back and you see these people and we

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remember them as heroes of faith but their life wasn't perfect you can find

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some some pretty major flaws in some of the lives of these that we see here in

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the scripture this is too long for me to put on the screen but if you want to

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turn to the end of Hebrews 11 the last little bit of it there starting in verse

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32 he begins to sum up a lot of other characters and he says look I don't have

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time to tell you of all these people now his audience would have known him and

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some of these names may seem familiar to you too and maybe you want to go back and

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and refresh yourself with their stories but he kind of breezes through some of

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these characters he says in verse 32 and what more can I say time is too short

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for me to tell about Gideon Barak Samson Jephthah okay those are names that you

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see in the book of judges if you go back and you read in judges you'll see these

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names and and some of these dudes were pretty good dudes but but they had their

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flaws to Gideon you make it say he doubted a little bit he kind of was

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hisentitary and and asked God to give him a sign and God gave him a sign and

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then he said well would you give me one more son and so even Gideon shows that

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maybe there was a little doubt there but yet he was a man that is remembered here

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by his faith we see Barak we see Samson if you read the story about Samson he

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seemed to be kind of like a bull in a china shop he was he was kind of

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hot-headed tough dude and and God used him God used him even though he was kind

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of foolish maybe maybe a good word and and hot-headed and and and on a rampage

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all the time God still used him to bring punishment to those Philistines and

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other enemies as a result of that they were looking to get rid of Samson and

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Samson had great strength and it came from the Lord because he was a

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Nazarite his hair was long and if he had been smart and smart enough to not be be

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so infatuated with women everything would have probably been okay for him but

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instead he gave in he listened to what Delilah said his hair got cut and as a

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result he lost his strength obviously didn't care enough about serving the

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Lord and remaining faithful to him and it cost Samson greatly because if you

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remember in that story that Samson is ultimately captured and it says that

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they gouged his eyes out now this is pretty serious they gouged his eyes out

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and you think well why in the world is this guy in in in the book of Hebrews as

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a hero of faith one who just kind of didn't really do right ultimately ended

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up being punished but at the end of Samson's life as he was in prison his

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hair began to grow back and it says that he called out to the Lord one more time

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he called out to the Lord one more time even in all that he had been through he

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had enough faith to call out to the Lord said God if you would give me my

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strength just once more God so that I can destroy these people that did this

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to me and God did just that Samson was able to be led into the into the big

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Coliseum arena whatever it was where they were he was placed in between two

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of the big pillars and God gave him that strength why because he had enough faith

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to ask God to deliver him and we need to remember that because there may be days

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that we are like Samson that we really have blown and we hadn't really done

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done done right by the Lord and it might get us into some trouble but we still

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even in the midst of our failures need to be men and women that have faith like

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Samson did to say God I am a sinner and God I don't deserve it and I'm in a bad

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shape but God would you please just have mercy on me would you please restore me

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once more and here we see in the story of Samson that God did that now in a way

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that's a sad story too and what happened to Samson but nonetheless he's remembered

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here because he had the faith to call out to the Lord Jephthah you may remember

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that story that's a tough one we won't go through it tonight but it's a it's

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one you should read if you've never read it David what about David well David

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he's pretty godly man king of Israel but boy he had some troubles didn't he one

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he committed adultery with Bathsheba and then he murdered her husband to cover

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it up okay this is not a good thing but yet we see here that David is remembered

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by his faith none of these people are remembered because they're perfect

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they're remembered because in the midst of their sinfulness they still called

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out to God and ultimately they they would seek him and ultimately they would

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follow him ultimately they would be saved by their faith in the midst of

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their failures and this is good news for you and I this is good news for the

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audience of of the book of Hebrews because some had turned and were turning

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and the author of Hebrews is pointing out this list of people who had failed

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in some pretty great ways and the author of Hebrews says but their faith

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ultimately saved them they were approved by their faith and so there

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should be some encouragement here not some license to sin oh well these

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people were able to look they're still celebrated so I'm just gonna be evil too

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if we believe that then we've missed the point these people were broken because

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of their of their sinfulness and yeah they made some failures had some

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failures but ultimately they trusted in God and that is why they were approved

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and then he goes on to say Samuel and the prophets who by faith conquered

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kingdoms administered justice obtained promises shut the mouths of lions

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quenched the raging fire escaped the edge of the sword gained strength after

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being weak became mighty in battle and put foreign armies to flight well that's

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a that's a pretty good list of stuff that's a good list for us to look at

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maybe we need some strength in some of these areas and how were these people

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able to do these things that they did they were able to do these things

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because of their faith now listen to this last section here to what it says

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about them in verse 35 women received their dead they were raised to life

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again some men were tortured not accepting release so that they might

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gain a better resurrection and others experienced mockings and scourges as

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well as bonds and imprisonment they were stoned they were sawed in two they died

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by the sword they wondered about in sheep skins and goat skins destitute

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afflicted and mistreated now that's pretty intense right there he goes

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through and he talks about all these people of faith and then what does he

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do and he says and people of faith suffer greatly sawed in two holy smokes

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that's pretty serious the author of Hebrews is talking about what we just

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talked about with Moses is that if we're going to be men and women of faith then

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we need to know that there are sometimes that we are going to have to suffer for

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the kingdom of God and so he's telling them you need to have your faith but you

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also need to know that if you are a man or a woman of faith that look life is

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going to be hard but you need to find encouragement and the ones who have come

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before you that you're not experiencing something that other brothers and

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sisters in Christ have ever experienced no there are those who have come before

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you and they have been able to overcome and so will you if you keep your faith

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and that may be important for us to remember these things one day could we

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ever imagine a day that we don't have God's Word to read could we ever imagine

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a day that we go through some of these things or see other Christians that we

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know people that we know go through these things maybe should that day ever

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come heaven forbid maybe we remember these scriptures and remember that there

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are people who have come before me and they suffer greatly and there were days

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that they probably wanted to give up and there are days that we probably want to

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give up but these that come before us are an encouragement to us because they

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kept the faith and God delivered them sometimes we see their deliverance in

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the scriptures sometimes like Samson look they die they come to faith God

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gives him the strength but he died in that rubble with all the other people but

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ultimately Samson is one who was delivered by his faith and ultimately you

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and I will be those who were delivered by our faith if we keep the faith listen

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to this next verse in verse 38 it says the world was not worthy of them it's

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not a beautiful thing the world was not worthy of them the very people that the

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world thinks are useless and are scums and are crazy people for worshiping God

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and reading his word what does the author of Hebrews say says look the

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world's not worthy of these people these people are too good for the world and so

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it is what the world values it's not what God values the world values fame

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and wealth and and all that stuff but what God values is what's right in here

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it's what's in our heart do we love God do we love other people what's our heart

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like do we have a caring heart loving heart do we have a heart that's fixed on

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evil that's what God's gonna see that's what God's gonna look at God wants us to

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have a heart that's a heart of faith a heart that trusts him so we want to be

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those that the world does not consider worthy but it doesn't matter if the

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world considers us worthy or not because we're not judged by the world we don't

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fear those who are able to destroy the body but we fear the one who is able to

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destroy the body and soul and so we don't care if we're worthy in the sight

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of the world we want to be worthy in the sight of God and if we want to be

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worthy in the sight of God and approved by God that comes by faith in Jesus

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Christ by trusting in Jesus Christ he continues on they wandered in deserts

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and on mountains hiding in caves and holes in the ground all these all these

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were approved through their faith but they did not receive what was promised

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since God had provided something better for us so that they would not be made

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perfect without us okay there was something better to come all these

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people were in the Old Testament they didn't see what was promised but it was

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coming it was coming they were gonna be made perfect through us they were

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ultimately going to be saved through Jesus Christ as we are going to be saved

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through Jesus Christ if we have faith in him and all of God's plan is going to

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come together for those of the past and those in the present and those in the

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future who have trusted in God so God had a bigger plan his promises were

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going to be fulfilled even if they couldn't see it in their lifetime even

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if the of the the audience of Hebrews couldn't see how God was working his

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plan out even if we don't see how God is working his plan out we know that God

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has better promises for us than what this world has to offer and therefore we

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want to be men and women of faith that are approved by our faith because we

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have trusted in Jesus Christ and are living for him so that wraps up our our

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our study through Hebrews chapter 11 we kind of hit some of the high points we

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hit them quickly but maybe there are some areas in here that are good for us

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maybe there are some things that helped us to grow but in light of talking about

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all the suffering tonight with with Moses and then some of these just

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horrible things that we see mentioned at the end of Hebrews chapter 11 our more

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modern-day example of a hero of faith we're going to talk about tonight is

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Richard Wormbrand has anybody ever heard of Richard Wormbrand no hands all right

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we got one some of you have you just forgot because I've mentioned him three

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or four times especially on Wednesday nights but you need to look this guy up

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he has a movie or a movie about him called a tortured for Christ you may

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want to look it up read it there are lots of YouTube videos you can find

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about Richard Wormbrand but he is a great example a modern-day example of

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suffering for Jesus Christ now Richard Wormbrand was a Romanian preacher

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priest and he was Lutheran and he he was all about doing the work of the Lord

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except there was one problem he lived in a communist area and the communists

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obviously are not Christian the communists want to kill Christians they

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want to kill any kind of religion they want to shut them up

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nonetheless Richard Wormbrand continued to do the work of God so much so that he

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was willing to suffer whatever it took and suffer he did he suffered greatly

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some of you may have heard of voice of the martyrs I think it used to be voice

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of the martyrs calm now it's persecuted or persecution calm just look up voice

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of the martyrs he kind of started that to bring awareness to other martyrs to

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brothers and sisters in Christ who have died and serving Christ anyway it's a

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great great resource where you can you can see a lot of these stories here it

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wrote several books but for 14 years he was in prison for sharing the gospel of

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Jesus Christ here's what he said one time it was strictly forbidden to preach

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to other prisoners it was understood that whoever was caught doing this

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received a severe beating a number of us decided to pay the price for the

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privilege of preaching so we accepted there the communists terms it was a deal

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we preached and they beat us we were happy preaching they were happy beating

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us so everyone was happy now we laugh at that but can you imagine being in prison

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year after year after year and being beaten day after day after day being

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shoved in a hole 12 foot in the ground not seeing the light of day not being

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able to move not being able to have communication with anybody else not

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hearing a sound even the guards when they would stick them down in those

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holes the guards would wear felt on their shoes so they wouldn't even hear

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them walking they were in darkness and they were in silence how many of us would

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last that long how many of us would say like Richard Wormbrand I'm gonna preach

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and they're gonna beat but I'm gonna keep preaching his story is phenomenal

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there are so many stories as you can only imagine from being 14 years in

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prison but this is a modern example of a man who lived by faith and how can we

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know our faith is real other than passing the test

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Richard Wormbrand had decided had a wife he had a child but he had decided that

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the kingdom of God was the most important thing now that takes a lot of

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faith to do that knowing what might happen knowing that you might be

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arrested and indeed he was and all the communists the communist ways if you

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read their ways and the things that they do it's pretty open or if you don't know

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anything about communism read Richard Wormbrand he'll tease some things that

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you're not gonna like but nonetheless he was in prison one of his stories that he

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told he was in a jail cell and he would pray however you couldn't pray he prayed

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every day and they beat him every day they would take him they would see him

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praying and they would drag him down the hall and they would hang him up and they

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would beat the bottoms of his feet and they would beat the bottoms of his feet

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and they would beat the bottoms of his feet until all of the skin was worn from

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the bottom of his feet and he would go back to his jail cell and he would pray

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the next day and they would see him praying and they would take him down the

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hall and they would beat the bottom of his feet so much so that he said you

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You cannot even imagine the pain that he felt.

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He said he could not even describe the pain that that was.

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But yet day after day, he would pray, day after day, they would beat the bottom of his

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feet, so much so all the skin was gone and there was nothing but bare bone on the bottom

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of his feet.

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And every day he would pray to God.

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And one day, one of the guards came in and he told Richard Wurmbrandt, he said, why are

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you praying?

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You're in prison.

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You get beaten every day.

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Your wife is in prison.

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Your child is an orphan now.

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Everything you have has been lost.

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Everybody you know is in horrible shape.

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You're being beaten every day.

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What in the world do you have left to pray for?

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And Richard Wurmbrandt looked at the guard and he said, I was praying for you.

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And there were even some of those guards during his stay in prison who gave their life to

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Jesus Christ because there was a man who for 14 years lived out what faith is.

423
00:34:10,280 --> 00:34:13,720
Boy, I'd love to think that I could do that.

424
00:34:13,720 --> 00:34:16,320
I don't know.

425
00:34:16,320 --> 00:34:17,920
Could I make it 14 seconds?

426
00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:20,600
Could I make it 14 minutes?

427
00:34:20,600 --> 00:34:26,160
Those of you who have kids and grandkids, could you do it knowing that your wife was

428
00:34:26,160 --> 00:34:27,840
going to be taken?

429
00:34:27,840 --> 00:34:30,680
Your child was going to be taken?

430
00:34:30,680 --> 00:34:34,800
When all you had to do and they say, did you know Jesus and will you tell about Jesus?

431
00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:39,280
You could just say no and they would have gone to the next house and they would have

432
00:34:39,280 --> 00:34:42,000
left you alone.

433
00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:44,400
But that's what faith is.

434
00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:46,000
Faith doesn't say no.

435
00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:49,200
I heard this story some years ago and I don't remember the details.

436
00:34:49,200 --> 00:34:50,820
I remember it somewhat.

437
00:34:50,820 --> 00:34:56,140
And I think this was a story of Richard Wurmbrandt, maybe someone who was in prison with him.

438
00:34:56,140 --> 00:35:02,160
And this guy was in prison and they were beaten mercifully like all the rest of them.

439
00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:07,920
And then they brought the man's son in and they told the man, if you don't deny Jesus,

440
00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:09,400
we're going to beat your son until he dies.

441
00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:11,520
We're going to kill him too.

442
00:35:11,520 --> 00:35:15,920
And the father was ready to denounce Jesus.

443
00:35:15,920 --> 00:35:18,380
He was ready to denounce his faith.

444
00:35:18,380 --> 00:35:24,120
And his son said, if you deny Jesus, you are no father to me.

445
00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:25,240
Whoa.

446
00:35:25,240 --> 00:35:26,960
What in the world?

447
00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:29,040
What kind of faith is that?

448
00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:32,000
That you have a father and a son and they're both in prison.

449
00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:35,040
The father had been there for some time and hadn't denied the faith.

450
00:35:35,040 --> 00:35:41,440
And even as he was ready to deny Jesus, the son stepped up with an unbelievable faith.

451
00:35:41,440 --> 00:35:44,080
Now these are examples of faith, y'all.

452
00:35:44,080 --> 00:35:45,720
This is serious faith.

453
00:35:45,720 --> 00:35:50,480
We don't, I don't think any of us know anything about what this is like, what this kind of

454
00:35:50,480 --> 00:35:52,520
suffering is like.

455
00:35:52,520 --> 00:35:54,440
But this is not just a one-off story.

456
00:35:54,440 --> 00:35:59,480
This is not the only guy in the last hundred years that's been beaten in this way for Christ.

457
00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:02,120
This goes on today in 2024.

458
00:36:02,120 --> 00:36:07,660
There are Richard Wormbrance in the world in prisons today who are being beaten mercifully

459
00:36:07,660 --> 00:36:18,560
because they say God is good, because they say Jesus loves you, because they say love

460
00:36:18,560 --> 00:36:24,360
your neighbor, love your enemy, take care of those who are in need.

461
00:36:24,360 --> 00:36:29,200
Now that doesn't sound like a message that deserves a beating, but it's threatening to

462
00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:30,680
our world.

463
00:36:30,680 --> 00:36:36,160
The message of the gospel of Jesus Christ is threatening to our world because our world

464
00:36:36,160 --> 00:36:38,800
says everything is right.

465
00:36:38,800 --> 00:36:41,360
You do what you want to do.

466
00:36:41,360 --> 00:36:47,200
But the gospel of Jesus Christ and the word of God says, your sinners who need to be saved

467
00:36:47,200 --> 00:36:52,520
of your sins, who need to repent and no longer live for yourself and for your sin, but live

468
00:36:52,520 --> 00:36:54,560
for Jesus.

469
00:36:54,560 --> 00:36:57,160
But our world doesn't want to do that.

470
00:36:57,160 --> 00:37:02,280
Our world is selfish and wants to live for itself, and maybe we do too sometimes.

471
00:37:02,280 --> 00:37:06,640
But we want to strive to be men and women of faith, that we realize that our relationship

472
00:37:06,640 --> 00:37:12,080
with God is the most important thing, that we strive to be like these examples that we

473
00:37:12,080 --> 00:37:17,800
see, that on those days that maybe we are tempted like the Hebrews here were, those

474
00:37:17,800 --> 00:37:22,760
days that we are tempted to turn from God, that we are tempted maybe to deny Jesus, and

475
00:37:22,760 --> 00:37:25,440
maybe you'd say today I'd never do it.

476
00:37:25,440 --> 00:37:28,080
We're not going to do it today sitting in the air conditioning with a bunch of food

477
00:37:28,080 --> 00:37:29,080
back there.

478
00:37:29,080 --> 00:37:31,400
We're supposed to lie up and cut up, have a good time.

479
00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:34,000
There's no threat of us denying Jesus tonight, I don't think.

480
00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:35,720
I hope not.

481
00:37:35,720 --> 00:37:39,600
But we don't know what the future holds, and so we need to pray that God would help us

482
00:37:39,600 --> 00:37:45,800
to be strengthened in our faith, that we would be men and women of faith just like these

483
00:37:45,800 --> 00:37:50,920
we see in Hebrews 11, just like these other more modern examples that we've seen, and

484
00:37:50,920 --> 00:37:53,640
what wonderful examples they are.

485
00:37:53,640 --> 00:37:59,880
One last thing that Richard Wormbrand said was this, a faith that can be destroyed by

486
00:37:59,880 --> 00:38:05,960
suffering is not faith, and how true that is.

487
00:38:05,960 --> 00:38:07,400
Do we really have faith?

488
00:38:07,400 --> 00:38:11,640
If we had to suffer greatly, would our faith crumble?

489
00:38:11,640 --> 00:38:16,040
If so, then maybe we don't really have faith at all.

490
00:38:16,040 --> 00:38:20,760
We want to be those who have faith, who grow in our faith, and who ask God to strengthen

491
00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:25,880
our faith, so that we will be those who are ready to serve God no matter what may come

492
00:38:25,880 --> 00:38:26,880
our way.

493
00:38:26,880 --> 00:38:27,880
Let's pray.

494
00:38:27,880 --> 00:38:30,040
God, we come to you, we thank you for your good word.

495
00:38:30,040 --> 00:38:32,800
We thank you for the ones that we looked at tonight.

496
00:38:32,800 --> 00:38:37,680
I pray, God, that you would help us to be like Moses, that we would be ready to give

497
00:38:37,680 --> 00:38:40,960
up the world to live for you, dear Lord.

498
00:38:40,960 --> 00:38:45,080
I pray that we would be like the ones who marched around Jericho, that whatever you

499
00:38:45,080 --> 00:38:50,240
call us to, no matter how weird it may sound, that we just do what you say, dear Lord, and

500
00:38:50,240 --> 00:38:51,600
let you take care of the rest.

501
00:38:51,600 --> 00:38:57,400
I pray that you'd help us to be like Rahab, to remember that even if we are sinners, that

502
00:38:57,400 --> 00:39:02,000
God, if we would just seek you, and fear you, and keep your commands, and have faith like

503
00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:07,360
she did, God, we could be a crucial part of your plan.

504
00:39:07,360 --> 00:39:13,280
Just as we see Rahab in the genealogy of Jesus, God, maybe there's things you're going to

505
00:39:13,280 --> 00:39:19,480
use us for that we might not understand or see for generations to come, but dear Lord,

506
00:39:19,480 --> 00:39:23,720
if we're men and women of faith, we could be used by you.

507
00:39:23,720 --> 00:39:28,920
God, we thank you for all these in the Bible that have suffered greatly.

508
00:39:28,920 --> 00:39:30,960
We thank you for people like Richard Wormbrand.

509
00:39:30,960 --> 00:39:37,200
God, I pray that you would be with our brothers and sisters in Christ tonight, those who are

510
00:39:37,200 --> 00:39:38,320
suffering tonight.

511
00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:44,200
God, we cannot even imagine it, and I pray that you would encourage them.

512
00:39:44,200 --> 00:39:46,800
I pray that you'd give them the strength.

513
00:39:46,800 --> 00:39:51,200
I pray that they would feel your presence, dear Lord, that they would just hang on, God,

514
00:39:51,200 --> 00:39:53,000
that they would not give up.

515
00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:57,120
God, I even pray for the ones who are persecuting them.

516
00:39:57,120 --> 00:40:02,320
I pray that through their perseverance, dear Lord, that they would even win some souls

517
00:40:02,320 --> 00:40:03,320
to Jesus Christ.

518
00:40:03,320 --> 00:40:06,000
God, I pray that you would change hearts in this world.

519
00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:10,400
I pray that you would strengthen our hearts, dear Lord, that you'd strengthen our faith.

520
00:40:10,400 --> 00:40:15,600
God, we want to say, and I hope we are, those who would stand up for you in any circumstance,

521
00:40:15,600 --> 00:40:18,240
but God, we just have to be ready.

522
00:40:18,240 --> 00:40:23,280
So help us just to keep growing in you and growing in you and growing in our faith so

523
00:40:23,280 --> 00:40:26,920
that when the time comes, if the time comes, that we're ready to stand for you, whether

524
00:40:26,920 --> 00:40:30,440
it's something simple or whether it's something extreme, dear Lord.

525
00:40:30,440 --> 00:40:34,820
It's scary to even think about these things, but I pray, God, that you help us to remember

526
00:40:34,820 --> 00:40:36,160
your word and to live by it.

527
00:40:36,160 --> 00:40:37,920
I thank you for the ones that's come.

528
00:40:37,920 --> 00:40:41,520
I pray that you just bless us from being part of this and getting to hear about all these

529
00:40:41,520 --> 00:40:43,760
great folks, and we thank you for being good to us.

530
00:40:43,760 --> 00:40:46,640
I thank you for the good food that we're going to snack on tonight.

531
00:40:46,640 --> 00:40:49,620
I pray that you'd bless it, bless our time together.

532
00:40:49,620 --> 00:40:52,360
Give us a good trip home and a good week.

533
00:40:52,360 --> 00:40:53,360
In Jesus' name, I pray it.

534
00:40:53,360 --> 00:41:08,360
Amen.