"When Your Hopeless, Rejoice" RESCUE RADIO with Marjorie Cole

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I have an emergency. What is your location?

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'Cause there's a war for your soul. Yes, indeed.

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Yes, indeed, Lord God, there is a war for our soul and that

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war goes on. And Lord God, in many ways. And so help

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us, Lord, to understand and discern that you are with us, Lord.

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You have walked with us. You are, you've been with

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us and gone before us. And we declare that your kingdom come, your will

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be done on earth, in and through us, your vessels,

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as it's being done and declared in heaven. We are also your kingdom.

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And so we thank you, Jesus, for dying on the cross for us. We thank

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you for that marvelous, amazing demonstration of your

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love and selflessness to give your life

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that we might live. And I thank you, Lord God, for forgiving us for sinning,

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um, for not holding it against us. I thank you, Lord God, for giving us

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power and authority to trample on the serpent and

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the scorpions that were trampling on us. I thank you, Lord, for giving us freedom

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and, from fear and the power to forgive. I thank you for

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that power, giving us authority to release

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people from our judgment and turn the judgments over to you. I also thank

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you, Lord God, that you are faithful to complete the work you have begun in

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all of us. You have not abandoned us. You've not let us be

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on our own in this snake pit. So I thank you, Lord, for giving us

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now encouragement and for the promise that no weapon formed against

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us will prosper, that no word said, deed done, no action taken,

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no situations, no things that the enemy would try to do to

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rise up against us or set us up in opposition to ourselves

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or each other, that no occasion of division would prevail

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amongst your church, among your people, among your body, among your kingdom,

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Father God, and that you have promised that those weapons

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would not prevail. And so we ask that you would remove all the enemy's

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strategies, Father, against our individual lives, these strategies

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to bring division and separation, isolation,

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sadness, confusion, and that we'd walk in the fullness of the promises to

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which you you have made for us. In Jesus' name,

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amen. Amen. So you know what we're going to be talking about today?

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Yes. You already looked at the notes. Oh dear. Yeah.

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So looking around, we're look— we're going to talk about what are

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you looking forward to? Well, you know, that's, that seems

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like a, a basic question. What are you looking forward to? Well, I'm looking

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forward to going on vacation. I'm looking forward to You know,

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having summer break. I'm looking forward to getting a new job.

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I'm looking forward to getting married, having a baby. Um, all these things that

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we're looking— Retirement. Oh yeah, that's a big one. I forgot about that one.

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Are you retired yet? No. Uh, no, I have one less full-time job

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than I used to. Okay. So people are in the, in the processes of their

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life. They're in different states, stages, or states,

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whatever conditions moving forward in that process.

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You know, things change, which you look forward to as an infant, as a child.

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Maybe those things change as you get to be a teenager. I can't wait to

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get get out of the house, you know, and then you move on. Can't wait

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to get a job. Can't wait to finish college. Can't wait. Can't wait. And so

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we're always looking forward, moving, moving, moving beyond where we are now, not really

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enjoying where we are now because we're always looking forward to something else.

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Yeah. Well, Jesus said, you know, a day at a time,

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basically one day at a time, enjoy today because,

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you know, tomorrow may not come for us and we

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have to realize that fact that make every day— every

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day is a gift. That's why it's called the present.

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The present. Oh, sweet. Good. Remember that now.

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You're in the present. You have a present from the Lord. But this is— yeah,

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but life is something to look forward to, you know. And sometimes

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we— there's dread. Yeah, there's— we dread, you know. Life is

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hard. Like, oh, I'm so excited I get to go to the dentist today and

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have a root canal. Okay, don't do that. No, but don't do those.

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But You know, sometimes things we look forward with dread

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instead of joy and hope and expectations. And that really drains

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us of the energy, strength, grace, anointing, uh,

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and the possibility. Because in everything we go for, with every opportunity,

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there is an opportunity to either prevail or be discouraged.

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And so many of us, you know, we mumble and murmur and say, well,

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life is hard. Life is too hard. A big one

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is life's not fair. Well, it's not. There's basically

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justice in the world is nonexistent,

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virtually nonexistent. Yeah. And there's a lot of

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things that we look forward to that end up being a disappointment because,

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you know, we were expecting, anticipating something in

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our minds, in our hearts, something we've been built up to believe. And it

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didn't turn out that way. Well, the people were looking for a Messiah in Jesus'

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day. They thought it was going to be a, or some big general that was

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going to overthrow the Romans. And, uh, you know, they wouldn't be

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oppressed anymore as an occupied territory. So they didn't

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expect the Messiah to come like he came. And then of

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course dying on a cross, it's like, whoa, that was not what we were counting

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on. That was disappointing for their anticipation.

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Right. And so life gets to be that, a kind

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of a comedy of errors and struggles and Um,

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exhausting. I think life for a lot of people is super exhausting because they're always

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trying to be good, accomplish something, make people happy,

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um, get to the next goal. And so we're always trying,

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striving, and we become very tired and exhausted. Let's talk

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about that a little bit. I hear so much about people, you know,

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I encourage people sometimes, you know, they're doing,

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they're doing something well and they say, I'm trying.

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Can we talk about that for just a little bit? Trying.

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My little thing is trying is dying because trying exhausts you.

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And when you're trying to do something like go to sleep at night or trying

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to, you're putting in a lot of effort. That's, you know,

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you're not sailing, you're not flying, you're striving.

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And that becomes exhausting and that becomes discouraging and that becomes

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draining. And then what you were accomplishing isn't sweet

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anymore. It's just like, because we don't know how to abide, we don't know how

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to be, we're doing instead of being. And this makes all the difference between

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being, doing, and trying. And I think people in

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this world were thrust into an expectation

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and the need for survival. I mean, everything out there is out there

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to basically destroy you, kill you some one way or another. Yeah,

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someone texted me the other day and I hadn't talked to them for a while

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and they said, well, you know, I'm really— what are you up to?

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I said, and they said, well, I'm trying to follow Jesus.

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And I said, you are. Don't talk about trying,

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just do it. Just do it. Don't try to do it, just do it.

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I think that trying to follow Jesus, for example, would be like,

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what does that look like? What does my pastor expect that to look like?

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How do I be perfect? And I think we have this

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idea that following Jesus, trying to follow Jesus, is like some sort of,

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divine protection that we accomplish through our own self-effort

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and self-control. It's not, it's about abiding. And when you abide

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in Jesus Christ, life gets messy. It isn't always perfect.

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It looks like sometimes defeat. Like, look at the examples in

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the Bible. Every one of them, they were struggling, striving, you know,

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and keep, they kept on going because they had a joy. They had a peace.

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They had an anticipation of something that was to come. And so looking

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forward to what is to come, not the, The defeat,

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the danger, the strategy, things falling apart.

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But people who are in this battle,

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some say, well, I don't think it's worth it. Is it worth it? Why am

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I even here? I mean, a lot of people are in pain.

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Pain is very distracting, very draining,

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and very defeating. And for physical,

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emotional, relational pain, people who are alone,

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misunderstood, abandoned, isolated,

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you know, they're attacked. And so

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after a while, people question that. The demon puts this thought

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in your mind. Is it even worth it? Am I worth it?

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Is life worth it? What am I doing here? And it's people that,

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as you're describing there, that have lost hope. They have no hope.

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Now, hope is, sometimes we think of hope, well, I hope things

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work out okay. And, uh,

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but the— an expectation of something good is

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basically what it is. True hope is the

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expectation of something good from God. Well, true hope

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is stable, but, but a lot of people have hope in this.

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They may have hope in their, in their good health, and what happens if

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their health goes away? Well, they have hope in a relationship.

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What happens if that relationship breaks up? So,

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uh, well, I think we have hope in these things that this something,

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whatever it is that we're hoping in, will make us happy. 2 of my

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favorite verses in Proverbs 13 talk about that very

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thing. Uh, verse 13:12 of Proverbs says,

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hope deferred makes the heart sick. So what are you looking forward

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to? Hope deferred, when hope is postponed,

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delayed, lost, um, dies. Like so

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many of our dreams, so many of our grand ideas, so many of our young

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hopes and plans for the future seem to be

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deferred. They go a different way. We don't get the job we wanted. We somehow,

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something goes wrong and hope deferred makes the heart sick. But when

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the desire comes, it is life to the soul.

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It is a tree of life to this. So when it comes,

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now the desire, when it comes now, The problem is a lot of our

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desires are not linked up with what God desires.

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God desires the very, very best for us, to make us complete,

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fulfill our destiny. And yet that journey,

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that road to that destination may

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be quite filled with things that look hopeless,

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defeated, pain, attack. But when you're

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following Jesus, whatever is on that road, Um, is only

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temporary. The hope deferred is only temporary because God has got a plan for our

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life that's brilliant and lovely and

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fulfilling. And sometimes we get faked out. You know, we're on the road with Jesus,

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right? And, and things get so crazy and

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things that just don't seem to make any sense, right? And,

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and we think, okay, what did I do wrong? That's what we think.

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What did I— yeah, yeah. Or What's God up to?

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Is God good? Does God care? Does God care? Is he there?

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Yeah. In Proverbs 13:19, it says, a desire accomplished

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is sweet to the soul. So that is a true human desire

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to accomplish things and to want things to be done well,

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completed. You know, and I think a lot of people are more task-oriented

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than people-oriented because people are never done. But tasks

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you can finish. I finished this, I wrapped this up.

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I froze 40 bags of corn and they're in my freezer. The task accomplished is

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sweet to the soul. But if you just are with people all the

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time, it's never done. There's this and that, and then you're fine for a minute,

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and then there's another thing that goes wrong. And then we go back and forth.

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And so what are we looking forward to? Where is our hope? Well, I believe

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the most powerful, wonderful scripture in the

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Bible that really sets us up, kind of teases us

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in a way, kind of gives us just a tiny hint or a

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taste of what that would be, is in 1 Corinthians in chapter

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2. We're talking about, Paul is talking about,

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that our faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power

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of God. And then he goes on to say, but as it

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is written, Eye has not seen nor ear

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heard, neither has entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared

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for those who love him. You know, God, what God wants to do in us

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is exceedingly abundantly above and beyond all that we can ask, think, or imagine.

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But we have this problem of really limiting

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God and cutting off hope because we're afraid

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to hope. If I get, if I hope, then I might get disappointed.

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So I'm not going to have any hope or expectation, or I'm not going to

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say anything positive, or I'm not going to project into the future a I'm not

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going to declare a good thing because it might not happen. So the devil uses

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this, I'm afraid I'll be disappointed, to keep our mouths shut and we don't declare

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what we're expecting in the future in the kingdom of God. And then what

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we do is we grumble. You know, we just grumble and complain and say,

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well, there's nothing good that's ever going to happen. You know, who will show

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us any good? There's a scripture in there that talks about that.

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So we can just think, okay, this is— it is what it is. I'm just

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kind of— I hate that verse. Don't even ever say that, guys. Get that phrase

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out of your vocabulary. That's a stupid answer to

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anything because all you're doing is reaffirming,

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reagreeing with, reconfirming that the thing that's going on

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is okay. It's okay. It is. Do you like what it

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is? No. But are you confirming and permitting it to continue and go around again?

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Yes, it is what it is. You've just given the devil another,

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uh, go ahead to make this thing go around.

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Go around. There you go. So, but in Isaiah 64,

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he says, um, He's talking in chapter 64,

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verses 1. I'm going to read 1 through 4. This is

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our God. This is what we're hoping. Our hope is in God.

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It's not in us. It's not in our system or our society or politics.

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It's in God. Oh, that you, God, would rend the

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heavens! Exclamation point. That you would come down,

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that the mountains might shake at your presence as

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the fire burns brushwood, as the fire causes water to boil,

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to make your name known to your adversaries, that the nations

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may tremble at your presence. Isn't this kind of what we're hoping for?

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That God will come down and settle these, these things. When you

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did awesome things for which we did not look, you came down. The mountains shook

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at your presence. For since the beginning of the world, men have

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not heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen

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any God besides you. This is what kind of what Paul is referring back to.

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Eye has not seen, ear has not heard. Proceed. Nor has the eye seen

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any God besides you that acts for him who waits

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for him. Yeah. You meet him who rejoices

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and does righteousness. You remember, we remember you in

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all your— he says, who remembers you in all your ways. So remembering

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God in his ways, remembering that God is powerful, almighty,

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the God of hope, the God of life, the God of, you know, he's the

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one who started this. He's the God of faithfulness. He's faithful to complete the work

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he's begun. And so Now, what is this going to look like? What is this

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eye not seeing, ear not hearing thing? What's this

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kingdom going to look like? Um, I think that's, that's kind

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of where we need to go to. Uh, he says in Isaiah

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65:17, next chapter, he says, um,

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he says, behold, he says, I create, I behold,

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I create new heavens and a new earth and

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the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. What are the former

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things? Well, the things you're dealing with right now, Sadness, grief,

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disappointment, futility, striving, exhaustion,

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sickness, being rejected,

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feeling like a failure. The former things shall

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not be remembered or come to mind, but be glad and rejoice forever

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in what I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem

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as a rejoicing and her people as a joy. I will rejoice

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in Jerusalem and joy in my people. The voice

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of weeping shall no longer be heard, nor the voice of crying. Yeah,

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let's jump ahead here to that, just basically a parallel

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passage all the way up here into Revelation 21.

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He said, and now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the

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first heaven, the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.

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Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem,

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coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride

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adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, behold,

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the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with

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them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be

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with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their

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eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow,

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nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things

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are passed away. Then he who sat on the throne said,

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behold, I make all things new.

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Yes, Isaiah also elaborates on what John is saying there.

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He says in verse 20 of Isaiah 65,

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no more shall an infant from there live

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but a few days, nor an old man who has not

17:36.796 --> 17:40.745
fulfilled his days. For the child shall die 100 years

17:40.809 --> 17:44.678
old, but the sinner being 100 years old shall not— shall

17:45.178 --> 17:49.013
be accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them. They shall

17:49.513 --> 17:52.850
plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build and another

17:52.867 --> 17:56.640
inhabit. They shall not plant and another eat. For as the days of the

17:56.704 --> 18:00.140
trees, so shall be the days of my people. And my elect shall long

18:00.317 --> 18:03.913
enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain,

18:04.347 --> 18:08.088
nor bring forth children for trouble. For they shall be the descendants

18:08.120 --> 18:10.577
of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them.

18:11.476 --> 18:14.848
And it shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer,

18:14.864 --> 18:18.299
and while they are still speaking, I will hear. The wolf will lay and

18:18.379 --> 18:21.956
the lamb will feed together. The lion will eat straw like the

18:22.069 --> 18:25.373
ox. Now what is this? Where is this place?

18:25.518 --> 18:28.598
When is this coming? I mean, this sounds like paradise. It sounds like heaven.

18:28.662 --> 18:32.079
It sounds like what I've been looking for. It sounds like the world I'm looking

18:32.175 --> 18:35.320
for that I don't have here now. Everything here is, you know,

18:35.945 --> 18:39.475
everybody's fighting one against another and it's just

18:39.975 --> 18:43.309
not like, there's no safety. There's no love. There's no justice.

18:43.806 --> 18:47.014
But here I'm going to long enjoy the fruit of my

18:47.514 --> 18:50.478
labors. Somebody else isn't going to come and take my house from me or take

18:50.542 --> 18:54.135
my field from me. The hail is not going to destroy my crop. Things are

18:54.167 --> 18:57.503
going to be the way they should be, the way God wants. The loved ones

18:58.003 --> 19:01.593
are not going to die. Yeah, exactly. And the lions are going to eat grass

19:02.411 --> 19:05.634
and they're not going to eat the rabbits or

19:05.714 --> 19:08.361
the lambs. Yeah. So it's like, okay,

19:08.505 --> 19:11.264
everybody is going to live in peace. And so when we talk now,

19:11.328 --> 19:15.340
let's go back to what Jesus said. In the Beatitudes. That was Matthew chapter

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5 and Luke chapter 6. And they're kind

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of parallel and they're kind of the same, but they're kind of a little different.

19:22.566 --> 19:27.014
And to kind of bring this kind of full scale full around, he says in

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Matthew chapter 5, he said, blessed are the poor in

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spirit. Now Luke parallels that

19:34.207 --> 19:36.953
by saying, blessed are you poor. So he,

19:37.981 --> 19:41.867
he, Luke is talking a little bit more practical. The poor, you're poor,

19:42.156 --> 19:44.692
poor in spirit and poor are two different things,

19:45.189 --> 19:48.572
but they're both, both very important things. God is saying, if you're

19:49.072 --> 19:52.229
poor in spirit, you feel inadequate. You realize

19:52.261 --> 19:55.099
your need. You realize your need for God.

19:55.933 --> 19:59.445
He says, for both of them, blessed are you poor. Blessed are you

19:59.461 --> 20:03.214
poor in spirit. Luke chapter 6. He says,

20:03.310 --> 20:06.052
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So they're going to both. And then he

20:06.552 --> 20:10.109
says, Luke, hunger, those who hunger now shall be filled. And Luke, Matthew says,

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Those who mourn shall be comforted. So hungering, being empty,

20:16.230 --> 20:19.790
literally hungry, they will be filled. There's not going to be hungry

20:20.290 --> 20:22.850
people. There's not going to be not enough. There's not going to be people who

20:23.350 --> 20:26.090
are starving to death. There are not going to be famines. There's not going to

20:26.590 --> 20:30.870
be manipulation of food sources. There's going to be none of that because you'll

20:31.370 --> 20:35.010
be filled. You'll be happy. You'll be satisfied. There won't be emptiness.

20:35.290 --> 20:39.433
And he said, blessed are those who mourn. So you're in a place of mourning,

20:39.785 --> 20:43.120
right? Grieving over the loss of a loved one or a loss,

20:43.312 --> 20:46.935
a dream that died. But he says, what can you expect?

20:47.640 --> 20:51.038
What can you hope for? What can you look forward to

20:51.311 --> 20:55.062
if you're in a place of mourning today? You can look forward to

20:55.094 --> 20:58.460
God comforting you. Comforts the comfortless. Yes. And, or,

20:58.637 --> 21:02.244
you know, Luke says it like this, blessed are those who weep

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now, for they shall laugh. So, Merriment, joy,

21:06.255 --> 21:09.788
excitement. Do you ever laugh anymore? Do you ever

21:10.157 --> 21:13.498
get excited about anything besides just at a

21:13.787 --> 21:17.802
funny movie or something? Do we ever, you know, our souls, we believe

21:18.302 --> 21:21.416
it or not, we don't check it out much, but I think we're, we walk

21:21.916 --> 21:25.351
in a place of sorrow, mourning, and grief, heaviness, spirit of

21:25.851 --> 21:29.800
heaviness, and that steals the joy. So to get back the joy,

21:29.912 --> 21:33.317
the fountain of joy, which is our strength, we have to focus on,

21:33.847 --> 21:37.235
this. What does God say? What is my

21:37.735 --> 21:40.831
future? What am I looking forward to? I am looking forward to being with Jesus.

21:40.991 --> 21:44.989
I am looking forward to Jesus coming back. I am looking forward to Jesus setting

21:45.102 --> 21:48.682
things correct, right. I am looking forward to thy kingdom coming

21:48.939 --> 21:52.936
and peace and justice ruling on the earth. It's, uh, in 2 Timothy

21:52.968 --> 21:56.404
chapter 4, verses 6 through 8, it talks about the return of

21:56.904 --> 22:00.578
Jesus, and he's coming for those who love have loved

22:01.078 --> 22:04.430
his appearing. Yeah, look for him. Love his appearing. And another

22:04.930 --> 22:08.106
place, I think it's in Hebrews chapter 9,

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he says, to those who eagerly— verses 27

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and 28— to those who eagerly wait for him, he will appear

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a second time. This is our hope. This is what we look— yes,

22:19.340 --> 22:22.935
dreading his coming. Yeah, because, okay, oh man, he comes and there

22:23.048 --> 22:26.529
goes my plans, you know. Uh, but looking

22:26.657 --> 22:30.198
forward to his appearing. And that's something that's

22:30.278 --> 22:33.836
real. It's sure. It's— we're getting closer and closer every day.

22:34.348 --> 22:36.960
Yes. And Jesus— and going back to Matthew, Matthew says,

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blessed are those— Jesus said through Matthew, blessed are

22:40.617 --> 22:43.065
the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. And this makes me think of,

22:43.482 --> 22:46.430
you know, the people who are meek. They're usually the ones walked on, stepped on,

22:46.543 --> 22:50.532
pushed aside, taken advantage of. Meek. They don't, they don't stand up for

22:51.032 --> 22:54.881
their rights. They don't make a big They just let it happen. They're like

22:55.381 --> 22:59.299
the road that people walk over. And he said, they are

22:59.799 --> 23:03.702
going to be the ones that are going to inherit the earth. Not the

23:04.202 --> 23:07.590
oppressors. Yeah. They're going to inherit from their oppressors. So this

23:08.090 --> 23:11.703
is something to look forward to, the justice. And truly you say,

23:11.735 --> 23:14.965
well, I don't believe it. I don't believe this can really happen. We're too far

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gone. This is, there's, this is, this, the system is so rotten, so corrupt,

23:18.323 --> 23:20.840
so set up that There's no way to change it. You know what?

23:21.449 --> 23:25.055
God could change this in a minute, in less than a minute. You know,

23:25.071 --> 23:28.179
when I'm thinking about the story and, um, I think

23:28.679 --> 23:31.529
it was the Assyrians were threatening Hezekiah, maybe it was.

23:32.346 --> 23:35.935
And the Assyrians boastfully came in proudly,

23:36.031 --> 23:38.131
you know, so we're going to do this and this and this. And God said,

23:39.172 --> 23:42.393
through Isaiah, he says, here's what you want to tell the king. I'm going to

23:42.893 --> 23:46.117
take care of this. Those Assyrians, you won't even find. Find them.

23:46.699 --> 23:51.401
And so they had their big army amassed sitting outside of Jerusalem

23:51.481 --> 23:55.384
trying to, you know, wait to anticipate to destroy the king and Jerusalem, the city.

23:55.936 --> 24:00.824
And that night, that very night, one angel

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went and killed 185,000

24:04.848 --> 24:08.173
soldiers. There you go. That was taken care of.

24:08.222 --> 24:12.042
And listen, that happened fast. Yeah. So yeah. So God

24:12.058 --> 24:15.538
is in control of— you think this thing is going to go on and on.

24:15.923 --> 24:19.131
It will go on and on until it has accomplished

24:19.631 --> 24:23.286
what God has for it to accomplish. And that is giving us an

24:23.446 --> 24:26.959
opportunity to get right with God, to find the Lord, to settle in,

24:27.311 --> 24:30.888
to walk out our salvation with fear and trembling and

24:30.920 --> 24:34.289
see what God will do because God is not finished with this yet.

24:34.609 --> 24:38.347
Looking forward to what? You know, we can say, oh, the mark of the beast,

24:38.363 --> 24:42.020
the end of the world. No, no, no. That is just the transferring of this

24:42.149 --> 24:45.903
kingdom into the kingdom of the millennium,

24:45.983 --> 24:49.095
the true kingdom of God where the lion and the lamb will

24:49.208 --> 24:52.785
lie down together. It's like the final labor pains before the birth

24:52.882 --> 24:56.556
of the new kingdom. Yeah, and we're in it right now and people

24:56.588 --> 25:00.326
just want to deny it, ignore it, do something that— And he said

25:00.502 --> 25:04.192
in verse 6, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

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for they shall be filled. We long to see righteousness,

25:07.560 --> 25:10.734
truth, and justice, and so forth. He says, we're going to see that.

25:10.846 --> 25:14.357
We read about it. There's going to be no more death, no more injustice,

25:14.389 --> 25:17.659
no more pain. There's going to be— you know, one of

25:18.159 --> 25:20.770
the things that people cry out for is justice.

25:21.908 --> 25:25.595
And we just see why everything seems to be— because we're like

25:25.611 --> 25:29.458
God, because God is a God of justice. And there

25:29.523 --> 25:32.955
will be justice one day. And there will be mercy.

25:33.453 --> 25:35.940
You know, sometimes people say, well, I want justice. Well,

25:36.100 --> 25:39.823
basically what we need is mercy. Well, getting justice is— you're not

25:40.323 --> 25:43.225
going to get justice by holding grudges. You're not going to get justice by staying

25:43.338 --> 25:46.948
mad. You're not going to get justice by thinking you're right

25:47.013 --> 25:50.399
and, and just stiffening your neck. You're not

25:50.899 --> 25:53.656
going to get justice by, uh, your ways of,

25:53.993 --> 25:57.572
it's, you know, of complaining or getting even or

25:57.604 --> 26:01.596
whatever. Justice for you will come when you forgive

26:01.708 --> 26:05.042
that person and let God be the judge. You are no longer the judge.

26:05.090 --> 26:08.344
When you forgive, you release them. You release the, um, the right and

26:08.844 --> 26:12.576
privilege to judge that other person. You turn that privilege over to God. You let

26:12.608 --> 26:15.990
God judge that person and you go free because you don't have to

26:16.490 --> 26:20.189
now figure out how to make this justice happen. Matthew 5:7,

26:20.302 --> 26:23.812
blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. And a merciful

26:23.828 --> 26:27.246
person has to have a lot of faith, don't they? Because at the time

26:27.278 --> 26:30.026
they're having mercy, they're being probably beaten up. Yeah.

26:31.119 --> 26:34.493
You show mercy to those that hurt you. And, you know,

26:34.654 --> 26:38.109
those who have mercy, show mercy, will get mercy. It's like the law of

26:38.609 --> 26:42.302
reciprocity. You sow wickedness, you reap wickedness. You sow mercy,

26:42.367 --> 26:45.645
you get mercy. You sow loving peace, you get peace.

26:46.304 --> 26:50.240
Maybe not at this moment, but in your heart you'll get the peace and

26:50.740 --> 26:54.112
the peace will past— the passive understanding will take over,

26:54.513 --> 26:58.849
and you won't be irritated and upset and so easily manipulated

26:59.349 --> 27:02.222
by the bitter wickedness of other people. Matthew 5:8,

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blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Those who have

27:06.301 --> 27:10.011
a pure heart means there's one thing you want, you want God. So we can

27:10.511 --> 27:13.882
look forward to seeing God. You look forward to him. You, you want to be

27:14.910 --> 27:18.603
living totally for him, expecting He's

27:19.103 --> 27:22.020
your Savior. Yeah, preparing for that. So, and blessed are the peacemakers. Yes,

27:22.373 --> 27:25.711
they shall be called the sons of God. So we've got— we can obtain mercy,

27:26.128 --> 27:28.871
we're going to see God, we're going to be called the sons of God,

27:29.256 --> 27:33.011
you know, we're going to be filled, we're going to be satisfied,

27:33.043 --> 27:36.636
comforted, um, we're going to be acknowledged

27:37.136 --> 27:40.583
by God. And part of the peacemakers is not just, just,

27:40.728 --> 27:43.150
you know, giving a speech for world peace.

27:43.776 --> 27:47.262
It's a matter of helping people be reconciled to God.

27:47.310 --> 27:51.181
That's right. That people that aren't getting along with God, that are hostile

27:51.681 --> 27:55.984
toward God, will receive him and bless him and receive

27:56.484 --> 28:00.304
him as Savior. Then they will have the peace of God that passes all understanding.

28:00.401 --> 28:03.854
That's right, because that's— and then if you have that peace of

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God that passes all understanding, it will keep your heart and

28:07.564 --> 28:11.162
mind from anxiety. He'll keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed

28:11.662 --> 28:15.891
upon you. Um, and be thankful in everything. And his peace will keep

28:16.391 --> 28:19.657
you from those anxious, fearful moments where, where the devil would

28:20.157 --> 28:24.287
like to swallow you up with worry and fear. We can't, that's, that's energy.

28:24.544 --> 28:27.940
And that's attention to something that I don't think we are called to do it.

28:28.004 --> 28:31.305
God doesn't say, pay attention to fear. He says, follow me. He says,

28:31.369 --> 28:34.942
fear not. And so this demon of fear that tries

28:34.958 --> 28:38.275
to overtake us to steal our peace, peace of mind,

28:38.355 --> 28:42.173
our peace in our conversations. That thing has got to be cast out

28:42.253 --> 28:46.329
and we have to follow the truth. In Matthew chapter 5,

28:46.506 --> 28:50.791
verses 10 through 12, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness'

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sake. Not because we're not getting in trouble because we're doing a bunch

28:55.448 --> 28:58.640
of stupid stuff. We're doing— getting in trouble because we're doing right stuff.

28:59.362 --> 29:03.375
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. He says, blessed are you when

29:03.875 --> 29:07.194
they revile you and persecute you. Wow, this is blessing.

29:07.611 --> 29:11.477
This is what happens. Say all kinds of evil against you falsely

29:11.977 --> 29:15.360
for my sake. That's going to happen, folks. That's going to happen to

29:15.408 --> 29:17.943
you as you live for the Lord. However,

29:18.617 --> 29:21.713
in that, when that's happening, he's— well, here's what Jesus says,

29:22.306 --> 29:26.446
verse 12, Matthew 5: Rejoice and be exceedingly

29:26.638 --> 29:30.761
glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they

29:30.793 --> 29:34.307
persecuted the prophets who were before you. So when you're being persecuted

29:34.339 --> 29:38.075
for righteousness' sake, you're in good company. You're in

29:38.107 --> 29:41.617
the same— He says rejoice and leap for joy in Luke. Yeah, you're kind

29:42.117 --> 29:45.705
of in the same line as the prophets, the ones, the true prophets that brought

29:46.205 --> 29:48.671
the word of God. It says, for indeed your reward is great in heaven.

29:49.232 --> 29:53.127
What is that reward, do you suppose? That reward might be the peace

29:53.255 --> 29:56.814
of God, the satisfaction of knowing you've done the will

29:56.878 --> 30:00.677
of God, that your conscience isn't bothering you because you're following

30:00.789 --> 30:04.685
Jesus. And you're not perfect. This doesn't mean we finally attain perfection.

30:05.182 --> 30:08.427
Our perfection has come through Jesus Christ, He is our righteousness.

30:08.556 --> 30:12.039
We are not our righteousness. Being right doesn't make you righteous. And so

30:12.539 --> 30:15.152
our perfection comes from following Jesus.

30:16.267 --> 30:19.834
In 2 Timothy chapter 4, verses 6 through

30:19.850 --> 30:22.798
8, he says— Paul says,

30:22.911 --> 30:26.549
for I'm ready to be poured out. I'm already being poured

30:27.049 --> 30:30.317
out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at

30:30.495 --> 30:34.199
hand. I have fought the good fight. I have finished

30:34.332 --> 30:36.869
the race. I have kept the faith.

30:38.025 --> 30:41.446
Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness,

30:41.622 --> 30:45.332
which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that

30:45.832 --> 30:49.876
day, and not to me only, but to all who have loved his

30:50.229 --> 30:53.071
appearing. Amen. Amen. That's it. That's it.

30:53.264 --> 30:56.267
We're going there, people. We're going there. You're on your way there.

30:56.813 --> 31:00.506
Your way may look and feel a little bumpy right now. If you want

31:01.006 --> 31:04.404
to smooth out the road a little bit, Start reading the Word. Read the

31:04.436 --> 31:07.947
Word and let it comfort your heart. Let it meditate

31:08.524 --> 31:11.746
and settle your mind. Read the Word of God. You say,

31:11.810 --> 31:15.561
I don't get the Word. I don't understand. Then ask the Holy Spirit to help

31:16.061 --> 31:19.328
you understand. Read the Word of God. And this will begin to give us

31:19.344 --> 31:23.801
more clarity on what's going on. So Father, we thank you. We are looking

31:23.913 --> 31:26.558
forward. Lord, this is good. You're with us.

31:27.183 --> 31:30.870
You're faithful. You're keeping us. We're seeing how you're answering prayers, how you're

31:31.370 --> 31:33.819
going before us, coming behind us. You're walking alongside of us.

31:34.557 --> 31:38.117
You send the angels to protect us, that you're with us. We thank you for

31:38.165 --> 31:42.157
that. And that, but we're looking forward to this part of the journey

31:42.270 --> 31:46.359
being completed and you being able

31:46.859 --> 31:50.576
to bring forth your true reward and revelation of your love,

31:51.313 --> 31:55.049
your beautiful promises of eye has not seen nor ear

31:55.097 --> 31:57.503
heard, neither has entered into the heart of man, the things that God has prepared

31:58.003 --> 32:00.870
for those who love him. We are looking forward to that, Jesus. May everyone's heart

32:01.370 --> 32:05.358
today be in be rejoicing, filled with your joy, and take what's

32:05.858 --> 32:09.525
going on in their life as an opportunity to joy and rejoice

32:10.025 --> 32:12.938
in you. Amen. Amen. Well,

32:13.355 --> 32:16.737
we've got a lot to look forward to, and in the meantime, we've got a

32:17.237 --> 32:20.888
lot of battles to— battles to fight. It's also— he said it's a

32:20.904 --> 32:24.510
good fight, and Jesus— we were

32:25.010 --> 32:28.597
assured of victory because Jesus has already won. And there's just— there should be

32:29.097 --> 32:32.765
encouragement wherever you are today. You're not defeated. Yeah, we've got

32:33.265 --> 32:36.922
some skirmishes going on, but it's okay. Jesus has given us wisdom and grace.

32:37.404 --> 32:40.967
We have victory. He said he gives us power over

32:41.467 --> 32:44.979
serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by

32:45.043 --> 32:49.377
any means hurt you. So Spiritual Warfare and

32:49.877 --> 32:53.325
How Deliverance Can Change Your Life— is, is that a book that you wrote?

32:53.951 --> 32:56.856
It is a book I wrote. Yes. Well, God wrote the book. I just put

32:57.356 --> 33:01.155
it on the paper. Um, yes, spiritually, if you don't understand the battle

33:01.655 --> 33:05.166
and you don't understand the rules of the war, you'll be sure and soon beat

33:05.666 --> 33:10.348
up by this, this war. So we encourage you, it's spiritual warfare,

33:11.102 --> 33:14.551
which is really the paradigm we're living in right now and how deliverance,

33:15.289 --> 33:18.546
dealing with the demonic spirits, the strongholds inside of us and inside of others,

33:19.043 --> 33:21.466
how that can change your life and make it,

33:21.867 --> 33:25.160
change it from mediocre to mighty. And so again,

33:25.418 --> 33:29.285
you can find that on Amazon or liferecovery.com.

33:30.656 --> 33:33.722
And so we encourage you today to be blessed and know that

33:33.803 --> 33:37.031
you are victorious in Jesus Christ and turn your eyes towards

33:37.531 --> 33:38.048
heaven. Amen.

34:03.081 --> 34:06.543
Rescue Radio, 'cause there's a war for your soul.