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We've all been hurt. We all carry scars. We can all overcome these things and be

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healed through a relationship with Jesus Christ. Let's build that relationship

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together right here. Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton. Hey everybody

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welcome back to the sanctuary. It is so good to have you join us. Now this week

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we're going to jump right in and we're going to continue on in our discovery of

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the least popular books in the Bible. Now if it seems like we've gone through a

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lot in the past six months it's because we have. In fact to show you how much I

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have some numbers for you. We've covered seven of the least preached books in

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the Bible and many of the shortest books in the Bible. Specifically we have

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actually covered all five of the shortest books in the Bible and at this

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point seven of the ten shortest books in the Bible. So we're really just

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trucking on through and we still have so so much to uncover. Today we're going to

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begin looking at the book of Naum which is the eighth shortest book in the Bible.

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So for those of you who are following along go ahead start opening your

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Bible there because that's where we're going to be kicking off. Now of course we

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need to look at the background to set things up and get a better view of the

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picture that we're looking at here. Alright so there's there's no surprise

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here this book was written by Naum. Naum being Hebrew is typically pronounced

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either nae-um or nae-ham. This book was likely written during his prophetic

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ministry which was between the fall of Thebes around 663 and the fall of Nineveh

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about 612 BC. Now remember BC the numbers get smaller and AD where we're at now

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they get larger as time progresses. Now the original audience here were

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the people of Nineveh and Judah in the southern kingdom and it was to pronounce

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God's judgment on Assyria and bring comfort to Judah. Now Nineveh was the

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capital of the Assyrian Empire and we know this of course from our study of

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Jonah where they were warned of their impending demise if they didn't turn to

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God and repent because they were some pretty gnarly people they're pretty evil

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you know and looking at these dates what we can also see is that it takes place

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about a century after Jonah had gone through and Nineveh had repented. So I

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mean really you know in the sense of sequels this is a sequel to Jonah.

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Now in the time that passed Nineveh backslid into their previous state

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which you know was thriving in sin such as idolatry and violence as a world

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power you know they had again risen back you know gotten back to this point of

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being just absolutely brutal conquerors who destroyed sacked and pillaged as

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they pleased you know very much like what are you gonna do about it you know

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you and what army and as we're going to see you know God's going to use Nineveh

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to one make it clear that he's in control and two as an example to all

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rulers nations you know in the world back then and in the world we know today

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and those to come. Now for those following in their Bible those taking

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notes go ahead and join me now as we go into Naum chapter 1 verses 1 through 3

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the Bible says a prophecy concerning Nineveh the book of the vision of Naum

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the Elkushite the Lord is a jealous and a venging God the Lord takes vengeance

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and is filled with wrath the Lord takes vengeance on his foes and vents his wrath

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against his enemies the Lord is slow to anger but great in power the Lord will

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not leave the guilty unpunished his way is in the whirlwind and the storm and

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clouds are dust at his feet that's pretty intense imagery right there so

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Naum it was very similar to Jonah and that he was a prophet to Nineveh he came

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from Elkush which was a village believed to have been there in the southwest part

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of Judah now God had sent his message to Naum in the form of a vision all right

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and his message was to proclaim just how angry he had become with Nineveh he was

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he was downright pissed all right now God and God alone retains the right to

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be jealous and to be vengeful that's right jealous and vengeful now that may

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come as a surprise to you especially when I say those two words so if we go

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all the way back towards the beginning of the Bible to Exodus chapter 20 verses

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4 through 6 the Bible says you shall not make for yourself an image in the form

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of anything in heaven above or on earth beneath

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on the earth beneath or in the waters below try I lost my place there reading

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you shall not bow down to them or worship them for I the Lord your God am a

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jealous God punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and

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fourth generation of those who hate me but showing love to a thousand

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generations of those who love me and keep my commandments so since the

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beginning it's been made clear that God's reserved the right to be both

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jealous and vengeful and this is different from us as humans all right we

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tend to be jealous and take vengeance because of our own selfishness and our

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own petty desires we act from our own sin whereas God who is our Creator has

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every right to insist that we bear our allegiance to him and him alone and it's

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right for him to punish those who rebel he set the bar and defined what is right

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and what is wrong he wants us to follow what he has set forth because he knows

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what is best for us and that if we do what he has told us to do we will find

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true peace true justice and live properly as he has designed for us to you

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know parents if this is ringing a bell it should it set the example for how you

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know we our children should be raised and if you're afraid to punish your

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child or discipline them then you need to take a step back and make some

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changes you see when God is jealous and when God is vengeful it's truly

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different from us because there's no selfishness involved it all comes from

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his love and his desire to remove sin and bring back balance to all who

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believe we also see that God is slow to anger and don't we all know someone like

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this too that reserved person that doesn't lose their cool often but when

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they do Oh buddy you better look out God is the same in this respect he keeps his

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cool no matter how much we rebel and no matter how much we act a fool it's a

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slow process for him yet when he's had enough even the earth trembles beneath

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him now it's because of this a lot of people avoid going to God or even doubt

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him we see so much evil in the world corrupt leaders to hypocrites in the

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church that people start to wonder where God is or if he even exists and here's

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what so many of us fail to realize here's the key piece of it God is slow

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to anger because he is giving all of us his true believers Christians time time

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to do what great question I'm glad you asked that and I have an answer for you

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time to share his love and his truth with evildoers and non-believers time to

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mourn them so that they can repent and turn to him so while it seems like it's

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taking a long time to us we can all rest assured that they're not going to get

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eternity to do such there it's it's not going to be forever the clock is ticking

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the sand in the hourglass is running out and when it does his vengeance will be

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poured out on them at this point I'm certain there's at least one or two of

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you that are wondering why doesn't God just punish evil right away why don't

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you just get it done with well he could we know this however if he did none of

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us would be here not one of us at some point we have all sinned and we have all

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fallen short of the glory of God he gave us time in fact he gave our parents and

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our grandparents and everyone before us time so that we could turn to him and

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because of that we should all be thankful that he gives everyone time to

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turn to him continuing on and naum one verses 4 through 5 the Bible says he

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rebukes the sea and dries it up he makes all the rivers run dry

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Bashan and Carmel wither and the blossoms of Lebanon fade the mountains

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quick before him and the hills melt away the earth trembles at his presence the

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world and all who live in it now just a quick note here Bashan Bashan how

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there's a few ways to pronounce this and Carmel they were fertile areas that's

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all we really need to know about that part we're gonna keep on moving along

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here into verses 6 through 8 and the Bible says who can withstand this

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indignation who can endure his fierce anger his wrath is poured out like fire

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the rocks are shattered before him the Lord is good a refuge in times of

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trouble he cares for those who trust in him but with an overwhelming flood he

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will make an end of Nineveh he will pursue his foes into the realm of

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darkness all right the question here is really who can defy God and get away

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with it nobody no person no family no state no nation no government nobody

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nobody not one not even Satan who we know will be destroyed as it's been

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revealed in Revelation 20 verses 7 through 9 after all how do you avoid God

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we're talking about the creator of everything known and unknown you can't

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no matter how important celebrated or strong you are or anyone else becomes it

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simply cannot be done so because of this we know we need to repent and turn to

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Jesus because time is running out as Syria let's just face it got too big for

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its own britches Jonah had already gone down there told him hey what's up this

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is what's going on you need to make some changes or that's it finito the Lord's

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had enough and they did and narrowly avoided their sentence just a century

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earlier but unfortunately they're blinded by their own reflection in the

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mirror their ego got too big their own egos to realize that they were right

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back on track to meet their executioner see this right here this is why it's so

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important that we learn from the past you know this is what's wrong with

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council cancel excuse me cancel culture today a little tongue tied there you

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know everybody's so offended they want to tear down statues and monuments and

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everything because oh this is wrong and that was wrong you know they decided

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that if something is offensive in any way shape or form that it needs to just

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disappear needs to be swept under the rug and be made like it never happened

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the problem is things did happen the past happened someone is going to be

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offended no matter what so instead of playing make-believe and pretending that

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something never existed something never happened we need to go back and we need

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to acknowledge that yeah it happened we need to learn from it and then we need

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to apply the lessons learned to do our best to ensure that we don't make the

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same mistakes people we need to stop following the blind herd in the world

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and start following Jesus as people as states as nations we should all do well

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to learn from Nineveh and the Assyrians to repent to turn to God and to help

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one another to make sure that none of us backslide like they did but guess what

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we're not doing that we're not doing a good job of it right now at all we're

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failing and we see every day when we go out into the world we can't defy God we

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can't humble ourselves before him we can repent and we can follow him we can be

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obedient to him see those who don't believe in God on the other hand those

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who continue to rebel and disobey him his punishments real and his punishment

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it's like a hungry fire and it just consumes everything there's no way out

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they're trapped they put themselves into a corner that they can't get out of

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they've had the chance God has extended his hand to them and they've slapped it

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out of the way they're too prideful they're too consumed by their own sin

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that fire that they're being burned up now we know God will go to great lengths

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to protect and care for those who believe and follow him remember we just

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talked about this yet his enemies they don't stand a chance no chance

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ultimately it is up to us do you want a relationship with him to know his love

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his mercy his grace or would you rather fight against him and find yourself in

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hell to only know torment and pain make a choice it's yours to make are you for

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him or against him and as the Bible tells us he can't be Luke warm you can't

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just be in the middle because even that is a decision to be against him all

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right going back into naum here name one we're looking at verses 9 through 11 now

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the Bible says whatever they plot against the Lord he will bring to an end

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trouble will not come a second time they will be entangled among thorns and

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drunk from their wine they will be consumed like dry stubble from you

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Nineveh has one come forth who plots evil against the Lord and devises wicked

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plans see another way of reading in the first part of this is you know or when

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you're looking through and it says you know what do you it's basically asking

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what do you foes plot against God it's the same as saying what do you really

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think you're going to do you know and as for for those who plot evil against the

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Lord that part isn't clear however there are a few ideas that have been suggested

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by scholars the first being a sherban oh Paul who was the king of Assyria for

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really most of Naum's life and was directly responsible for bringing Assyria

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to the apex of its power brought him you know he's the one responsible directly

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for bringing them to the tippy top of where they got the second being

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Sinistri who was really the embodiment of what it means to rebel against God at

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that time you know he openly defied him and we can see more of that in second

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Kings chapter 18 verses 13 through 35 and the third being that there was no

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particular king instead it was really the entire Assyrian monarchy regardless

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it doesn't really matter because the point here the point of the matter is

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because of their rebellion against God all of Nineveh is going to be destroyed

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it's all going bye-bye good night Alice all right see we're in the home stretch

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here people we're gonna finish out this reading strong so pick back up Naum 1

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verses 12 through 15 so verses 12 through 15 the Bible says this is what

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the Lord says although they have allies and are numerous they will be destroyed

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and passed away although I have afflicted you Judah I will afflict you no

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more now I will break their yoke from your neck and tear your shackles away

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the Lord has given a command concerning you Nineveh you will have no descendants

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to bear your name I will destroy the images and idols that are in the temple

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of your gods I will prepare your grave for you are vile look they're on the

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mountains the feet of the one who brings good news who proclaims peace

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celebrate your festivals Judah and fulfill your vows no more will the

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wicked invade you they will be completely destroyed Wow there's some

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good news to be had there's some great news to be had here you know for Judah

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it was the fact that their occupiers were going to be taken out taken out as

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a matter of fact they were brought down and wiped out sign sealed delivered they

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were going to never have a chance to rise again I mean they were done they

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were so utterly just beaten that their ruins weren't even identified by

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archaeologists until about 1845 we're talking so battered and beat up Indiana

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Jones wouldn't have even bothered with them the same good news for the people

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of Judah applies to the world today those who rebel against God doing evil

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things against his people will eventually find themselves at the

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business end of God's jealousy and vengeance to defy and to oppose God

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there's just no chance done that's the message of hope that's being given to

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all believers for all time all these groups these leaders and I use that term

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leaders very loosely you know regimes governments and nations that try to take

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what they want with brute force and violence and cruelty and on and on their

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time is running out and they will be judged and they will be destroyed yet

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those who believe those who follow God will be protected they'll be protected

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see there are so many examples of these rises of power and power and falls

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throughout history even today regimes dynasties nation celebrities you know

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all these people who have been deemed to be of great importance you know they've

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they've all risen and they've crumbled you know even in the last few months

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we've seen powerful banks go under you know over the years we've seen actors

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athletes politicians and you know so on lose everything not just here but around

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the world as Christians we need to step back we need to put ourselves in check

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we need to exercise self-control yeah see we need to we need to get a hold of

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our emotions are real the men there's so much that's happening out there today

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people get fired up they get fired up they're pumped but not in a good way it

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doesn't matter what the issue is anymore everyone wants to pick up their torch

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and their pitchfork and start marching for their view on a cause in anger not

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love selfish anger they lose control they want vengeance they want justice

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they want to force their view on others but they can't even see their own sin

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they can't see how they're sitting and how they're going about it they want to

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point the finger but they don't want to examine themselves remember the Bible

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even talks about this you know the the the speck in the eye versus the plank

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Deuteronomy 32 verse 35 the Bible says it is mine to avenge I will repay and

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due time their foot will slip their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes

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upon them and in Matthew chapter 6 verses 14 through 15 the Bible says for

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if you forgive other people when they sin against you your heavenly father

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will also forgive you but if you do not forgive others their sins your father

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will not forgive your sins see vengeance getting even it comes naturally to us

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because of our human nature but it's rooted in selfish sin so for believers

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for those of us who follow Jesus vengeance it's always going to be best

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when we leave it in God's hands feeling a need for revenge is very very much like

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holding a grudge or in other words not forgiving other people

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unforgiveness God clearly tells us that if we expect for him to forgive us we

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must be willing to let go and love and forgive everyone else against human

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nature it's natural to want revenge to hold grudges to refuse to forgive however

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this is not only on Christian it is a rebellion against God Ephesians 4 verse

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32 the Bible says be kind and compassionate to one another forgiving

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each other just as in Christ God forgave you he's given us time he's given us

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love he has forgiven us and shown us that he will deal with those who want to

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do us harm who wish ill upon us he has shown us the way through Jesus Christ we

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need to stay focused on him in the storm that we are all in we need to stay

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focused on God we need to stay focused on Jesus we need to stay focused on the

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good news he has given us and sealed in blood when Jesus went to the cross and

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died for the sins of all mankind we need to be patient we need to be obedient we

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all need to be the light in others times of darkness we need to be the church we

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need to let the same love and hope Jesus has given to you and me shine for others

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to see in doing so you may well be that answer that God has sent to someone else's

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prayer in someone else's time of need that's all we have this week next week

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we're going to continue on and we're going to continue to explore Nahum and

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we're going to see that fall of Nineveh God bless y'all I want to thank you for

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joining us today if you have any questions prayer requests or would like

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to know more about our ministry you can find us on our website at be the light

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sanctuary org or on Facebook at be the light sanctuary we'll catch you next

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time God bless