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Someone said, my religion is summed up in the

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first two words of the Lord's Prayer. I want

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you to just pause and think that statement through.

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If you can look up this moment and have a truth,

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be able to say, My Heavenly Father. My Father.

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And there's that glorious relationship between

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you and God. You're the richest person in the

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whole world. You may be the richest person materially

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living this hour. And if you only know God in

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the sense of your creator, then you're the poorest

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person living. You're bankrupt and not conscious

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of it. My religion is summed up in the first...

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Two words are the Lord's prayer. And most of

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us will find ourselves in full agreement. You

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know, this simple statement in itself constitutes

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a definite and a complete system of theology.

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And it's just like that. It fixes clearly and

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distinctly the nature and the character of God.

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It sums up the truth of being. It tells all that

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man needs to know about God, about himself, about

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his neighbor. Anything that is added to this

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can only be by way of commentary and is more

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likely than not to complicate, obscure the true

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meaning. of the text. So simple. I want you to

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know that this wonderful prayer that Jesus taught

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you and taught me, and may I remind you again,

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it is not the Lord's Prayer. The Lord's Prayer

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was the prayer that Jesus prayed to the Father.

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This prayer in the sixth chapter of Matthew is

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Our prayer, my prayer, the prayer that Jesus

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taught you and taught me to pray. It's so simple

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and yet so profound. It actually is the complete

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system of theology. It definitely, clearly, distinctly

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fixes the nature and the character of God is

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something more than spirit. God is more than

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Mother Nature. God is definitely a person with

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a definite personality. He's not just the unknown.

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Not just a figment of man's imagination. Now

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notice the simple, the clear -cut, the definite

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statement. Our Father. Now in this clause, Jesus

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lays down once and for all that relationship

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between God and man. And that relationship is

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the relationship between Father and Child. Maybe

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the reason that it's so easy for me to accept

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this relationship of father and child when it

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comes to my relationship to God is because I

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had such a wonderful relationship with my Papa.

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Our relationship was just so close and so wonderful.

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I knew that I was the apple of Papa's eye. Not

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because... People said so. It's because I knew

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there was that closeness. I could feel that love.

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Really, I can't remember a time in my life that

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my papa said, now, Catherine, I love you. I love

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you more than anything else in the whole world.

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I love you more than life itself. I cannot. Honestly,

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ever remember Papa ever saying to me, I love

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you. And yet, there was a relationship there

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that I knew that he loved me enough that he would

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give his life for me. I knew that. No one had

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to even tell me. that my papa loved me more than

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his own life. There was a fellowship. There was

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a communion there. There was a depth of love

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there. There did not have to be that constant

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assurance. It was something that was constant

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in itself. Never bearing. Never. Regardless of

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circumstances, regardless of condition, it was

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there, and I could stake my very life on it.

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And in this clause, Jesus lays down once and

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for all that relationship between God and man.

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that relationship of father and child. This cuts

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out any possibility that the deity should be

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relentless and cruel tyrant that is often pictured

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by theology. All theology can be so cruel. Theology

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can be without understanding. Theology can be

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hard. Theology as such can literally heal love.

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The letter killeth. Jesus himself said so. The

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letter of the word without the spirit killeth.

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It can take away any love. It can take away the

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warmness of the spirit. My father. There's no

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cruelty there. And Jesus says definitely that

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the relationship is that of parent and child,

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not an oriental despot. Dealing with slaves.

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But parent and child. Now we all know perfectly

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well that men and women, however short they may

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fall in their other respects, nearly always do

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the best they can for their children. I don't

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care who the parent might be. If that one is

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human at all. They will do without themselves.

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They'll sacrifice themselves. It's something

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in the nature of a parent. That's why how often

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a mother whose son may have committed a crime,

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murder, hated by the whole world, hated by humanity,

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and yet... With a clear eye, she'll walk into

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the presence of a judge, walk into the courtroom,

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face a jury, and say, My child is so good. My

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son never did a mean thing in his life. My son

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could not have committed this crime. He's so

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good. How many parents have sacrificed to give

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to their children? How many mothers have sacrificed

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that that child could have the best? How many

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fathers have sacrificed so that their son, their

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daughter, would not have to go through what they

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went through when they were young? trying to

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spare them the hardships and the suffering. Of

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course, cruel and wicked parents are to be found,

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but they are so exceptional as to sometimes even

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make a paragraph for the newspapers. But the

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vast majority of men and women are at their best

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in dealing with their children. And speaking

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of the same truth elsewhere, Jesus said, If you,

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who are so full of evil, nevertheless do your

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best for your children, how much more will God,

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who is altogether good, do for you? And so he

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begins. The prayer that he's teaching us to pray.

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By establishing the character of God as that

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of the perfect father dealing with his children.

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I have a perfect father. Now maybe Joe Kuman

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wasn't a perfect man. As a child I thought he

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was. To this very day I cannot think of one thing

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wrong that Papa did but... Perhaps there are

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folk in Concordia, Missouri, who could very quickly

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point out some of the flaws in Joe Kuman's life.

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Oh, sure, because he was human. I know that he

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wasn't a perfect man because he was a part of

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humanity. But in God, I have a perfect father.

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and as a perfect father, knowing that he is absolute

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perfection. I have no justification in questioning

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his dealing with me as a child. I may not always

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understand. I may not, and confidentially, I

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do not, I have not always understood. the way

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that my Heavenly Father has dealt with me. But

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here comes my faith in a perfect Father. Because

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He is perfect, I have no right to question His

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dealings with me. Oh, I tell you this is glorious.

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No wonder the man said, my religion is summed

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up in the first two words of the Lord's Prayer.

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When you really get down into those two words,

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you absolutely have a definite and complete system

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of theology. Now note something. This clause,

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which fixes the nature of God, at the same time

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fixes the nature of man. Because if man is the

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offspring of God, he must partake of the nature

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of God. And since the nature of the offspring

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is invariably similar to that of the parent.

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That's right. The nature of the... offspring

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is invariably similar to that of the parent.

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You give a child. You can see little things in

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the nature of your child. You know it's like

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its father or like its mother. It's a cosmic

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law that like begets. It's not possible for a

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rosebush to produce lilies or that a cow should

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give birth to a colt. The offspring is and must

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be of the same nature as the parents. And so,

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since God is divine in spirit, man must essentially

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be divine in spirit too. What? Ever the appearance

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may say to the contrary. We are, watch this now.

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We are a very part of God himself. I am not a

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God unto myself. You are not a God unto yourself.

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A man, a woman speaks in error when he says,

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I am a God unto myself. God said, let us make

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man in our image and after our own likeness.

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Let us, speaking to the Son of God, speaking

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to the Holy Spirit, the deity, let us make man

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in our own image and after our likeness. You

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and I were made in the image and the likeness

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of God. There are certain characteristics about

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each of us that are like unto the person of God.

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But not one of us is a God unto ourself. I pray

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the Holy Spirit shall make this very real and

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very plain to your heart and give you an understanding.

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Let us pause here for a moment and try to realize

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what a tremendous step forward we have taken

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in appreciating the teaching of Jesus on this

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point. Do you not see that at a single blow it

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swept away 99 % of all all the old theology about

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the avenging God. Don't you understand? There

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is such a thing as the wrath of God. Believe

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me. And His wrath is just as perfect as His love.

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Hell is just as real as heaven. There's no escaping

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the truth. You cannot just take the wrath of

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God and sweep it under the carpet and close your

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eyes to it. You can't. If you do, you might just

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as well destroy the Word of God because the Word

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of God teaches the wrath of God. You can't just

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take a penknife and just cut out the portion

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of the Word of God that you do not agree with

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or that you would rather not accept or face.

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You have to accept the Bible as a whole or not

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accept it at all. You have to accept the wrath

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of God if you're going to accept His love. You're

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going to have to accept hell as a fact. You're

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going to have to accept judgment as a fact if

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you're going to accept heaven. Because the Bible

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teaches both. The love, the wrath of God. Heaven

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and hell. It's like that. But remember, you do

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not have to fear the wrath of God. Neither do

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you have to fear the punishment of God. You do

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not have to fear hell. You do not have to fear

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judgment. If... There is that wonderful relationship

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between you and the great creator, you and God,

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the relationship of father and child. Mm -hmm.

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God exists. Eternal, all -powerful, the all -present

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God. But oh, that wonderful relationship. The

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loving heavenly father of those who have accepted

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his son in the forgiveness of their sins. That

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man, that woman who has confessed his sins. That

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individual who has come into the presence. of

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the Son of the Living God, the great advocate,

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the great mediator between God and man, Christ

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Jesus, the only one who can forgive sins, the

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great high priest, the only one who can forgive

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sins. And when that transaction takes place,

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When you have confessed your sins, accepting

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what Jesus did for you on the cross, then begins

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that relationship between you and God, you and

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the great creator. And you too can say, My Father.