WEBVTT

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Chapter 34, verse 3. We'll read through the verse

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and then we'll pray. We'll get started. O magnify

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the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together.

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Let's pray. God, we thank you for being good

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to us, dear Lord. We thank you that we have air

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on this hot day. I thank you for the beautiful

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people that are in this church. I thank you for

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loving us. I thank you that you allow us to love

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each other, dear Lord. I thank you for the work

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that has went into this VBS this week. I thank

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you, God, just for all you do for us, dear Lord.

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We cannot praise you and glorify you enough.

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And I pray that in these few minutes, dear Lord,

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that these simple words that we have read would

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have an impact on our life, dear Lord, that we

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would... That we would focus on you and your

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goodness and your mercy and your grace and your

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love and your forgiveness, dear Lord. That your

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Holy Spirit would be among us, God. You know

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where we are in our lives today. You know what's

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going on. There are struggles and there are stresses

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and there are fears. Life is hard, dear Lord.

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There's sin in our life. It's just a lot of stuff,

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God. We need you to give us the strength and

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the power and the forgiveness and the grace to

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get through. So I pray, God, that everything

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that is said here today will be for your glory.

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And that it would uplift us, dear Lord. And we

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would praise your holy name. And I ask these

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things in Jesus' name. Amen. This verse is really

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quite beautiful. And it's simple enough, but

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really to understand what's going on, we have

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to... look at the context of the verse just a

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little bit now if you go and read in psalm 34

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in your bible it's likely you're going to see

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a superscription there that says that it's a

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psalm of david when he intended to be insane

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in front of abimelech or something along those

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lines now here's some homework for you this week

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if you want some homework go to first samuel

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chapter 19 and read those those three or four

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chapters around there and you'll begin to see

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what's going on and why david is writing these

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words that he is writing here now david was soon

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to become the king of israel but The big problem

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was that they already had a king, King Saul.

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And Saul, he really didn't start off on too good

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of a note from the get -go. And things really

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went downhill. And it was decided by God that

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Saul was no longer fit to be king. And he was

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going to be replaced by David. So you can understand

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why there was some tension there. And as Saul's

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mental health and spiritual health, I guess we

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could say, began to decline, he kind of was really

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going crazy. He had this hatred and this desire

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to kill David. Things really got pretty intense.

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Now, David, of course, God had blessed him. David

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had killed the giant Goliath. And David was phenomenal

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in his military battles. He had killed thousands.

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And Samuel, it even talks about that, the people

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talking about, Saul's killed his thousands, and

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David has killed tens of thousands. And things

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were very, very difficult between Saul and David.

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There was a lot of tension there. And Saul had

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a son by the name of Jonathan, and Jonathan and

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David were quite good friends. And as Saul was

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continuing to try to kill David, Jonathan said,

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Look, I don't know if my dad's going to kill

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you, but I'll find out if he is. And you hide

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out in a certain spot. I'll go see if he's going

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to kill you or not. And if I think your life

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is in danger, I'm going to come out here and

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I'm going to shoot some arrows. Some of you may

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have heard this story before. And I'm going to

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have an old boy out there and he's going to go

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get the arrows. And if the arrow is short, if

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I fire it short and I holler to the boy, come

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back. The arrow is closer this way. And you'll

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know it's safe. But he says, if I fire the arrow

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long and I tell the old boy to go out there a

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little bit further to get the arrow. then you'll

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know that it's not safe and you need to head

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out. And so David began to flee from Saul. And

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obviously this was difficult. You've got somebody

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that's trying to take your life, and here David

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is fleeing. And we see as the story unfolds,

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we see some other stories that maybe are referenced

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in the New Testament that you may recall. There's

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an instance. As David leaves and begins to flee,

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then he comes to the tabernacle, and the priest

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Abimelech is there. And David and his men are

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hungry, and there's nothing to eat. And Abimelech

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says, well, all we have is the showbread, the

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bread that's inside of the tabernacle. And that's

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not for normal people, but nonetheless, he gave

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it to David. And Jesus even references that story

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in the New Testament. Later on, David goes before

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another king in an area where David's life may

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be in danger because they know of David and his

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greatness, and they may very well kill him. They're

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afraid of him. And David pretends to be insane

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in this king's presence. And this is where the

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psalm brings us to. This is why this psalm was

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written. This is when this psalm was written.

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After David was fleeing and God had been good

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to David throughout David's life, not just in

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this instance, but in so many instances, we see

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that David's life is in jeopardy. We see that

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David sinned greatly. Now, don't misunderstand

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this. We see in the scripture that David is a

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man after God's own heart. But do not read into

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that that David was perfect. Because David was

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not perfect. And throughout some of these stories

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of David, there are some things that are sometimes

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questionable, that we're not quite sure about.

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But nonetheless, it makes the story of David

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that much more beautiful. That God continued

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to bless him, that God continued to deliver him,

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that God continued to lift him up, and God was

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going to use David to do something so magnificent

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that the very Messiah was going to come from

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the bloodline. of David. And so David knew what

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it was like to suffer. He knew what it was like

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to suffer in his sin. He knew what it was like

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for his life to be under attack. But he knew

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what it was like when God came to the rescue.

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He knew what it was like to receive forgiveness.

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He knew what it was like to receive deliverance.

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And he wrote this beautiful psalm after these

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events that we just saw. It's a beautiful psalm,

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and it's a certain style of psalm that sometimes

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that we see in the scriptures. It's called an

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acrostic. And the first letter of every verse

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of the psalm would have been the first letter

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of the Hebrew alphabet. The first letter of the

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Hebrew alphabet is Aleph, and the second letter

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is Beth. which is where we get our word alphabet

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from. And it's a way of saying that I've covered

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this topic from A to Z, so to speak. From beginning

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to end, I've covered this topic. What is the

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topic? It is the topic of praise. It is the topic

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of praising God and proclaiming His name. Some

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of your translations may say, I proclaim the

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Lord here. I give God the glory. I glorify God.

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I magnify His holy name. Would you magnify the

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name of the Lord with me? All of us together,

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would we look back and see the beautiful and

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wonderful and great things that God has done?

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And would we praise God together, David says.

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Now, we just read this whole, or recall this

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whole story of what went on with David, but what

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does that got to do with our VBS? Well, it's

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kind of a play on words. Our theme this year

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is... magnify you see magnifying glasses all

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around now certainly when we see the word magnifying

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this in this psalm it's not talking about david

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who's sitting there with a magnifying glass looking

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at god saying oh god i magnify you that's that's

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not what he's talking about here but for vbs

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with this verse it's a play on words it's it's

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it's david saying look I've recognized the greatness

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of God I have focused on. I have seen all the

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little things and the big things that God has

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done. And therefore, I will praise His holy name.

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And that's what our theme is in Bible school.

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And maybe that should be our theme in life. Maybe

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our stories are not so unlike David's. Maybe

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our stories are full of bad decisions and sins

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that we have committed. Maybe our stories are

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full of difficult times and people who are out

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to get us are just a variety of hardships that

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we face. Whatever our story may be, our stories

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are hard. They are hard and life is hard and

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life is difficult. But what we have to stop sometimes

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and do is realize that God is with us. That we

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serve a God who has created everything. This

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week we're going to celebrate the bigness of

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God. And we need to celebrate that every day

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in our lives. And as we look at the universe

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and we look at everything all around us and the

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complexity of our human body and the beauty of

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this world and all the things that we see, these

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things magnify God. They show us the power of

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God. And the most beautiful thing about God is,

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is He's big enough. to create all of these things,

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but he's not so big that he forgets about you

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and I. God knows your problems. He knows your

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struggles. He knows your sins. God doesn't want

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us to live in those things. He doesn't want us

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to live in our fear. He doesn't want us to live

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in our worry. He doesn't want us to live in our

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sin. He wants to give us freedom in Jesus Christ.

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So maybe this week, even if you're not a... a

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wee little tyke, and even if you're not going

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to be attending VBS, maybe today is a good time

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for you to reflect and think for just a moment

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about the goodness of God in your life. And maybe

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right offhand you think, there ain't no goodness.

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My life is bad. Well, think a little harder.

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There are probably more good things in your life

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than you realize. Even in the midst of difficulty,

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there may be more blessings in your life than

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you realize. And maybe we need to take the song

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to heart and count our blessings and name them

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one by one. And maybe when we really stop and

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begin to look at our life and push everything

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to the side, our sin and our stresses and our

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struggles and our worries, and we just begin

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to focus our hearts and our attention on God,

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and we turn the world off for just a moment,

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and we just focus on God and look at Him. Maybe

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then we begin to see his greatness. Maybe then

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we begin to experience his love. Maybe then we

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know that God has not forgotten us. God does

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care about us. God does love us. We can begin

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to reflect and think about all the things in

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our life. Yeah, there's bad days. But think about

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the goodness of God and the ways that he has

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been with you. And the ways that He has brought

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you right where you are right now. Sometimes

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we have to go through some really tough stuff

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to get to where God wants us to be. We don't

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like the journey, but we do appreciate the destination.

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And everything that God allows in our life is

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to cause us to draw closer to Him. And that's

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where our destination needs to be today. That

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we stop trying to seek and go after things of

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the world. But that we recognize the goodness

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and the grace of God. And that we seek just to

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set up camp with Him. So maybe there are things

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in your life today, maybe like that of David.

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Things that you need to reflect on. And you need

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to remember the goodness of God. And the result

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needs to be the same as the result in David's

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life. When David recognized the goodness of God

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and how God had been with him. David said, I'm

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going to magnify the Lord. Oh, magnify the Lord.

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Let us exalt his name together. Let us see the

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bigness of God, the grace of God, and the love

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of God, and all of the things that God has done.

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And let us praise God this morning. There's no

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greater thing that God has done for us today

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than sending Jesus Christ to die. on the cross

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for us we struggle we are full of sin we are

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full of wickedness we are full of stress we are

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full of worry and there is only one way that

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we obtain deliverance there is only one way that

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we obtain peace today and that is through jesus

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christ he died for you he was buried in a grave

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for you and god rose him from that grave so that

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your sins may be forgiven That is a God that

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is worthy of our praise today. So let us exalt

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God together. Let's pray. God, we come to you.

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We thank you for your good word. I pray, dear

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Lord, that we don't fail to realize your goodness

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just in creation and the things that you do,

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dear Lord, and the way that you put things into

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place in our life, dear Lord. Let us not... fail

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to see you working in this world. God, it may

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not always seem like it. It may not always seem

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like you're with us or it may not seem like you

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care, dear Lord, but you do. And you have not

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abandoned us. You have not forsaken us, dear

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Lord. You care for us and you love us and you

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are with us and you have done so many great things.

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So God, I pray that you help us not to fail to

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realize your goodness today. God, I pray that

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if there is one in here that does not know Jesus

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Christ, That maybe today, for the first time,

00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:47.460
they would repent. That right now, God, they

00:14:47.460 --> 00:14:50.600
would ask you to forgive them of their sinfulness.

00:14:51.559 --> 00:14:53.940
God, maybe they've seen some of the ways you've

00:14:53.940 --> 00:14:56.519
worked in their life, but maybe they've never

00:14:56.519 --> 00:15:00.299
really given their life to you, dear Lord. I

00:15:00.299 --> 00:15:03.019
pray that today that they would put their faith

00:15:03.019 --> 00:15:06.419
in Jesus Christ. Maybe there are some in here

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today, dear Lord, and they are yours. And maybe

00:15:09.379 --> 00:15:11.779
just the hustle and the bustle and just the busyness

00:15:11.779 --> 00:15:15.860
of life and stress and sin has caused us to lose

00:15:15.860 --> 00:15:19.360
sight of you, dear Lord. But I pray that you

00:15:19.360 --> 00:15:22.620
would reshift our focus, that we would recognize

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the grace that we have received through Jesus

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Christ, that we would recognize the ways in which

00:15:27.980 --> 00:15:31.580
you work and continue to bless us, and that today,

00:15:31.759 --> 00:15:36.580
dear Lord, we would magnify your holy name. that

00:15:36.580 --> 00:15:38.759
we would praise you, that we would proclaim you,

00:15:38.820 --> 00:15:42.320
that we would glorify you, dear Lord. And I pray

00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:45.720
that as a church body, as brothers and sisters

00:15:45.720 --> 00:15:47.740
in Christ, dear Lord, that we would exalt your

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name today, this week in VBS, and every day of

00:15:52.159 --> 00:15:55.159
our life, dear Lord. I pray that you would just

00:15:55.159 --> 00:15:57.720
bless these next few minutes. God, if you have

00:15:57.720 --> 00:16:00.460
spoken to anybody, I pray that they would respond

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to you, dear Lord. And I ask these things in

00:16:04.139 --> 00:16:05.850
Jesus' name. Amen.