IIW---STAR WARS #2 - HOPE RISES
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IIW---STAR WARS #2 - HOPE RISES
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IIW---STAR WARS #2 - HOPE RISES
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IIW---STAR WARS #2 - HOPE RISES
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IIW---STAR WARS #2 - HOPE RISES
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IIW---STAR WARS #2 - HOPE RISES
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>>Announcer: It has
stood the test of time.
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God's book, The Bible
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Still relevant in
today's complex world.
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It Is Written.
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Sharing messages of
hope around the world.
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The story begins sometime in the
ancient past. We don't know
exactly when - the Bible doesn't
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tell us exactly when - but in
the ancient past, the ancient
near past, the Bible, in Genesis
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chapter 1, tells the story,
tells the event of God creating
the heavens and the earth. And
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He created this earth in six day
and rested on the seventh day.
But during those six days He
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made a beautiful place where
there was perfect harmony. No
death, no dying, no pain, no
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sorrow. Perfect harmony between
everything. And on the earth He
created a garden. The garden was
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a special dwelling place for the
first human beings that He
created, Adam and Eve. And He
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looked around, and Adam names
all the animals, and as Adam
names the lion, He says, "You
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know, I made this lion just for
you, Adam." When Adam names the
great egret, He said, "You know,
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this great egret, I made this
just for you, Adam." And when he
walked next to the roses, He
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said, "Eve, I made these flowers
just for you. Everything in the
garden is for you. But there's
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one tree., Adam and Eve, I need
to be secure in knowing that you
will obey Me no matter what the
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circumstances..So, there's one
tree. Don't eat from it." One
day, Eve found herself
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wandering, and she ended up by
that tree that God said, "Don't
eat from it." And there at that
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tree, Satan who had been cast
out of heaven. disguised himself
as a serpent and began speaking
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to Eve. "You're going to reach a
plane higher than you've ever
reached if you eat from this
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tree. If you eat from this tree,
you will become like God
Himself." And in a moment of
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weakness, Eve takes from the
tree and she eats of it. And
then she brings it to Adam. And
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Adam faced with a choice..to
either trust God, that God would
come up with a plan, or he could
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manoeuvre and make his own way.
And so instead of trusting God,
Adam, not deceived by the
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serpent, makes his own choice,
to partake of the fruit in a
demonstration of his lack of
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trust in God. And in that
moment, the dominoes began to
fall. I can imagine for just a
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moment - and I'm speculating
just a bit - but I can imagine
for just a moment when Adam
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partook, all of a sudden,
everything changed. They knew it
had changed because the Bible
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says that they realized that
they were naked. Their eyes had
been opened. And in that very
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moment, everything changed. The
lion would no longer lay with
the lamb. The leopard would no
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longer be friends with the fawn.
Everything changed. Right in
that moment, the flowers began
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to wilt. The ferns began to
wilt. The trees began to die. In
that moment, everything changed.
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Adam and Eve made for themselves
coverings. It is a
demonstration, by the way, of
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the crisis that we face. Adam
and Eve made a choice to cover
themselves because they want to
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try to cover up what they've
done. Isn't that how we all work
today? We try to fix it and
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cover it up. Adam and Eve tried
to fix their own problem and
cover themselves. When God
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arrived on the scene, He began
looking for Adam and Eve; God,
Who communed with Adam and Eve
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one on one comes, can't find
them. "Where are you? Where are
you?" And Adam says, "But we
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were afraid. We heard You
walking and we were afraid." Why
would they be afraid of God? You
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see, because that's what Satan
wants to do. Because as soon as
we sin, we make a choice to not
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do what God wants us to do.
Satan brings guilt into our
life. And as soon as we
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experience guilt, we experience
fear, anxiety, pain; and this is
what Adam and Eve experience.
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And in that moment, God had to
teach Adam and Eve. God wasn't
caught by surprise.in the
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ancient past,God knew that this
might happen. Jesus, the Son,
made a decision that He would
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come and die in our place
because sin demands death. And
so God pointed forward to that
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even, so Adam and Eve, could
know." Out of great
disappointment, hope would rise.
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Jesus is described as the Lamb
27 times in the book of
Revelation. Revelation 13:8,
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Right in the centre of that is
the most important verse of the
entire chapter. It speaks of
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Jesus as the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. This is
what differentiates the
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religion of the Bible from other
pagan practices, those gods
demanded a sacrifice. The pagan
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gods demanded life. Here's the
difference, the God of the
Bible, Jesus, made the ultimate
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sacrifice because He didn't
demand someone else's life; He
gave His own life. Jesus gave
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His life. But here's the
question that many people ask,
why did Jesus have to die? Why
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did He have to give him life?
Romans 6:23 makes it clear:
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The demand of sin is death. But
the gift of God is eternal life.
Hebrews 9:22 tells us without
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the shedding of blood, there is
no remission of sin. In the
garden hope rose and was
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demonstrated to Adam and Eve,
blood is what covers and makes
clean. What a beautiful
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illustration. Why blood?
Leviticus says: Leviticus 17:11
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Blood is multifaceted in its
work. When our blood is healthy,
when we have good circulation,
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it delivers oxygen to all of our
cells. It carries nutrients to
where they need to go. And then
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it takes out the waste and
removes it out of the body. And
so God uses this illustration
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that blood cleanses, which
doesn't seem very logical,
because when you cut yourself
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and your blood runs and you get
it on your white shirt, it
stains. But the Bible says an
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amazing thing, that: Isaiah 1:18
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How is this possible? Because
blood cleanses. During the time
of the Old Testament, God had
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put in place a sacrificial
system that symbolically pointed
forward to Jesus as the Lamb of
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God who would take away the sins
of the world. Leviticus 5:5-6
recounts the essence of that
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system.
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Symbolically, in that moment,
you would be cleansed of your
sin. The lamb became the
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sacrifice. But here's the thing,
here is the critical piece we
miss. The innocent animals were
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to demonstrate to us and were a
foreshadowing of the arrival of
Jesus. If all of these animals
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pointed forward to the sacrifice
of Jesus, it wasn't the
sacrifice of the animal itself
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that was important, but it was
looking forward to the Son of
God coming and dying for our
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sins. Every lamb or sacrifice
pointed forward to the Lamb of
God. This is why John the
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Baptist, when he saw Jesus for
the first time, cried out, John
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1:29 You see, Jesus came. He
came to this earth for one
purpose and with one person in
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mind, and that was you and that
was me. Here's what the devil
wants: the devil want you to
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experience guilt in your life,
because if you experience guilt
it's going to bring you fear,
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anxiety, distress, and sickness.
And if he can keep you in fear
and anxiety and distress and
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sickness, it will prevent us
from doing the one thing that
will take all of those things
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away. Jesus invites us to pray
and come to Him and accept the
sacrifice that He has made on
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our behalf. Jesus can bear my
burdens." Jesus can handle my
guilt." The Lion of the tribe
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of Judah, the Lamb of God slain
from the foundation of the world
is the one who brings hope into
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our lives. Jesus is "The alpha
and the omega, the beginning and
the end," He sustains all
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things. We need to come to
realize that the Christ of
Revelation is the all-powerful
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Saviour. The Bible tells us that
Jesus wins and Satan loses Jesus
came 2000 years ago, and
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when He came 2000 years ago, He
came as a suffering servant to
die for our sins. We live in a
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world that does not like the
word sin. We don't like to talk
about sin. Because we live in a
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time where people say, "Hey
what's good for you is good for
you, what's good for me is good
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for me - hey - and that's how
we'll live." But we live in a
society that is ever-increasing
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and dispelling the issue of
personal accountability. We have
all kinds of excuses for
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why we do what we do, some us
will say "Well you know it's
just my genes," "my genes. I
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can't help myself." Or sometimes
we'll talk about the environment
that we live in and we say,
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"Well, but that's the way I was
brought up." But friends, when
we talk about this in the
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context of Jesus' sacrifice, we
have to understand, excuses
won't do. Excuses won't save us.
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We also live in a world where we
want to do things to make up for
our sins. We want to try and do
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enough good things to outweigh
the bad things. But good works
won't help us. There is only one
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thing that will save us, only
one hope for humanity and that
is Jesus Christ. How can you
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receive the hope that has risen
in these days? First, Jeremiah
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31:3 says: One of the hardest
things for most people to accept
is to accept the reality that
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God loves you. Some have grown
up in a home where there was a
father that was abusive or a
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mother that was abusive or a
mother and a father that
abandoned them. Maybe there's
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someone watching today who
doesn't even know who their mom
or dad is. God says, "I loved
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you with an everlasting love,"
which means God knew you before
you were even born, which means
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He loves you and He loves you
just the way you are. God says,
"Come to Me tonight as you are
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because I have loved you with an
everlasting love." Second,
friend, we must recognize that
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we can't save
ourselves. Romans 3:23 says:
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All of us have sinned. There's
not one of us that can say, "Oh,
I have walked a perfect life. I
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have not sinned." You see, we
need to come to the place where
we realize we cannot save
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ourselves. Third, believe that
Jesus can and will save you.
John 3:16, it says:
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Whoever includes you and
thankfully it includes me. Too
often we can't believe this, but
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the Bible says that God sent
Jesus, that whoever believes in
him should not perish but have
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everlasting life. And
the verse after this says:
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Isn't that beautiful? The Bible
is quite clear. God's not out to
get you; God wants to save you.
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Fourth, confess your sins to
Jesus and believe you are
forgiven. First John 1:9 makes
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this promise:
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Isn't that a beautiful thing?
Forgiveness means that we are
released or God has released us
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from the penalty that we are to
receive. But He goes beyond
that; the Bible says that He
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cleanses us as well. God doesn't
just want to forgive you; He
wants to cleanse you. Fifth,
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claim His gift of eternal life
and decide to serve Him forever.
Romans 10:9 simply says this:
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Jesus is calling you today and
He says to you, "I want you to
receive eternal life." He had
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just one thing on His mind when
He came to this earth and that
was you. Second Corinthians 5:21
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says:
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When Jesus died on the cross, He
did not die of the agony of
pain, although there was plenty
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of it. As the sins of the world
were poured upon Jesus that
Thursday night in the Garden of
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Gethsemane, something began to
happen. All the sins throughout
history were packaged up in one
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bundle and laid on Jesus.
Imagine the guilt, the anguish,
the anxiety, and the stress of
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every single person who's lived
throughout all of history being
placed on Jesus at once. Jesus
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didn't die because of His
physical pain; Jesus died
because of a broken heart. He
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bore the guilt of humanity.
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The beauty of the scriptures is
that it pictures Jesus as the
Lamb of God that taketh away the
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sins of the world. This entire
book has one storyline: Jesus
wins, Satan loses. If you want
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to summarize the story of this
Book, all 66 books, 39 in the
Old Testament, 27 in the New
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Testament, all 1200 chapters of
this Book have one testimony:
Jesus wins and Satan loses. So
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be on Jesus' side. I'll never
forget, I was teaching young
people, ages seven to nine, and
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we were having kind of a
Vacation Bible School situation,
and we had them all day long and
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one of the things we did is we
went to the pool. And I had a
bunch of teenagers that were
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helping me in the pool. The pool
had a rubberized brick that
would sink to the bottom of the
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pool so you could go and
retrieve it. The teenagers began
dropping and retrieving the
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brick in the deep end of the
pool. Now the seven- to
nine-year-olds see this, and of
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course, guess what? They want to
do it too. So we took these
young people, many of these
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children, we took them to a
shallower side, and that worked.
And then they weren't satisfied
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and they wanted to go to the
deep end, so we went to the deep
end. And here's the fascinating
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thing: what many of them would
do, they would dive down no
problem, they would pick up the
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brick, they'd get it, and they'd
push themselves off the bottom
of the pool. And they'd be
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kicking their little feet as
fast as they could, and several
of them would get almost to the
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top. They'd be about half a
metre from the top, and their
feet are kicking as fast as they
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can kick and they are not
moving. They're levitating in
the water. And we would let
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that go on for a moment or two
and then grab them and pull them
up out of the water. And in each
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and every case I would ask them
the same question, "Why didn't
you let go of the brick?" And
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they would answer "But I just
wanted to get to the top." You
see, they could not come to the
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conclusion that they could not
do it, and they were unwilling
to let it go. All they would
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have had to do was let it go and
they would have come right to
the top. Today Jesus calls upon
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you to let go.to let go and
collapse in His arms and say,
"Lord, give me the gift of
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salvation. I come with an open
heart. I come to the cross, I
come believing that Jesus is my
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Lamb. I kneel before the cross,
I confess my sin. He invites us
to encounter Him in a special
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way, to come to Him with all our
guilt and shame and say, "Save
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me Jesus." I regret
the hours I have wasted
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and the pleasures I have tasted
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that you were never in.
00:24:25.93\00:24:30.90
And I confess that
though your love is in me,
00:24:32.43\00:24:37.91
it doesn't always win me
00:24:38.44\00:24:42.04
when competing with my sin.
00:24:42.61\00:24:47.92
And I repent, making no excuses.
00:24:48.45\00:24:57.13
I repent no one else to blame.
00:24:57.36\00:25:05.03
And I return to
fall in love with Jesus.
00:25:05.47\00:25:14.44
I bow down on my
knees and I repent.
00:25:14.68\00:25:26.29
I lament the
idols I've accepted,
00:25:31.49\00:25:36.83
the commandments I've rejected
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to pursue my selfish end.
00:25:41.17\00:25:46.14
And I confess I
need you to revive me,
00:25:47.91\00:25:53.31
put selfishness behind me
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and take up my cross agian.
00:25:57.82\00:26:03.29
And I repent, making no excuses.
00:26:03.69\00:26:12.67
I repent no one else to blame.
00:26:13.17\00:26:21.81
And I return to
fall in love with Jesus.
00:26:22.08\00:26:29.92
I bow down on my knees...
00:26:30.25\00:26:35.62
And I return to
fall in love with Jesus.
00:26:36.29\00:26:48.64
I bow down on my
knees and I repent.
00:26:50.07\00:27:05.25
>>Chris: Heavenly Father, we are
so thankful for the gift of hope
in Jesus Christ. Today we give
00:27:18.43\00:27:24.74
our lives to Him. Give us
encouragement. We confess our
sins to You. Please, forgive us
00:27:24.84\00:27:33.18
of our sins, cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. We are so
thankful for this promise. We
00:27:33.28\00:27:38.55
pray in Jesus' name, amen.
00:27:38.65\00:27:42.39
My dear friends, the rising of
hope in this star wars battle
between good and evil is the
00:28:01.64\00:28:09.18
rise of Jesus Christ, the Lamb
of God Who takes away the sins
of the world. He wants to be in
00:28:09.28\00:28:15.16
a relationship with you. I want
to offer to you today The
Passion of the Messiah. This
00:28:15.26\00:28:20.83
gripping book talks about the
life, death, and resurrection of
Jesus. Here's the information
00:28:20.93\00:28:27.20
you need to
receive today's offer.
00:28:27.30\00:28:30.17
>>Chris: My dear friends, the
story of the Scriptures is
simple: Jesus wins, Satan loses.
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If you'd like to know more about
that story, I encourage you to
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go to our website,
itiswrittencanada.ca. You'll
find resources for your
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spiritual life and archives of
our program. I hope you enjoyed
today's program. Please join us
00:29:42.28\00:29:47.75
again next week. Until then,
remember, it is written: "Man
shall not live by bread alone,
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but by every word that
proceeds from the mouth of God."
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