Where can you find
hope for the hopeless?
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Opportunity for transformation?
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Peace amid life's storms?
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Only in God's free
gift of eternal life.
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From New York, join us
on the Pathway of Hope.
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We live in a
world that is consumed
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with the notion of success.
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People are paying their way
through seminars and classes
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and programs on how to succeed.
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Bookshelves at home, libraries,
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and the Internet are saturated
with how to be successful.
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DVDs and CDs and other gadgets.
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The principle is that
you absorb the information,
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apply it,
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and in a given period,
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you will begin your
journey on the road to success
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as a real estate agent,
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a multibillionaire
like Donald Trump
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or a software
tycoon like Bill Gates.
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The Bible on the
other hand, teaches us
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that in God's economy
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success is a direct
result of faithfulness to God.
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You can read the
Bible from cover to cover,
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and you will not
find one instance
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where God asks
us to be successful.
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Yes, we serve a faithful God.
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Great is His faithfulness.
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Listen now as Dr. A.J. Jewels
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leads us in a study entitled
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The blueprint for Success.
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I hear the sound
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Of a mighty rushing wind
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And it's closer now
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Than it's ever been
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Oh, Lord,
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I can almost hear the trumpet
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As Gabriel sounds the chords
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He sounds the chords
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And at the midnight cry
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we'll be going home
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And when Jesus steps out
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On a cloud to call his children
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I know the dead in Christ
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Then gonna rise
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To meet Him in the air
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And then those that remain
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Shall be quickly changed
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We shall be changed in a moment
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And at the midnight cry
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When Jesus comes again
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I look around me
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I see prophecies full filling
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And all the signs of the times
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They're appearing everywhere
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Everywhere I can
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almost hear the Father
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As he said "Son,
go get My children"
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Get my children
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And at the midnight cry
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The bride of Christ will rise.
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And when Jesus steps out
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On a cloud to call His children
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I know the dead in Christ
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They're gonna rise
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To meet Him in the air
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And then those
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that remain
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We shall be changed in a moment,
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in a moment
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And at the midnight cry
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When Jesus comes again.
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And then those
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that remain
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Shall be quickly changed
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We shall be changed in a moment
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And at the midnight cry
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When Jesus comes again
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At the midnight cry
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When Jesus comes again
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He comes
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Again
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Let us pray.
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Loving Lord, we
thank You for Your word,
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which guides us into the paths
of righteousness and success.
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We pray as we
study this word tonight,
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that those of us
who hear it will be
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in compliance with Your truce.
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Thank you for
being a God that loves us
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and cares so much about us.
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And thank You for the
truce that we receive.
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May we with obedience,
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learn to love You
and serve You better.
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In the name of
Jesus we pray, amen.
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The blueprint for success.
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Exodus 17:1-7 is
our focus tonight.
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First one says,
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"And all the congregation
of the children of Israel
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journeyed from the wilderness
of sin after their journeys,
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according to the commandment
of the Lord and pitched
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in Rephidim."
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Rephidim was
actually in the wilderness
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between Egypt and Sinai.
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It translates to resting places.
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It was one of those
places in the wilderness,
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that was enough of a
departure from the arid
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and acrid environment
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that made
traveling so difficult.
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And there was no water
for the people to drink.
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This is not the
first time that the Bible
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says that the
people are confronted
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by thirst in the wilderness.
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You remember
that just three days
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out of the wilderness,
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they came to the
bitter waters of Marah.
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They grumble and complained,
then God provided a miracle
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by transforming
its bitter waters
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into sweet water.
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And Moses
journal in Exodus 15:25.
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And the Bible says,
"And he tested them there."
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Verse 2 says,
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"Wherefore the people did
chide with Moses and said,
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'Give us water
that we may drink.'
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And Moses said unto
them, 'Why chide ye with me?
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Wherefore do
you tempt the Lord?'
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" Israel has been
brought back to a similar test,
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as they were
confronted with before.
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The water wasn't the test.
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Thirst wasn't the test.
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Water and thirst were
merely the means through
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which God examined
Israel's character.
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It appears that
there was no little
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or no progress in
their spiritual development.
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That development
focus specifically on faith.
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Their journey was
going to be difficult,
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they were going to
be many disappointments,
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they would often have
to confront discouragement.
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And the only way that they
can successfully accomplish
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God's purposes
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was through
obedience which works by faith.
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The third verse says,
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"And the people
thirsted there for water."
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The impact of the sun
and the arid environment,
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induced a state of dehydration.
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There was not just a
physical need for water,
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but also a physiological need.
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The loss of sodium
through perspiration,
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the exertion of your limbs.
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And the Bible
continues, and it says,
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"And the people
murmured against Moses and said,
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'Wherefore is this
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that thou has
brought us up out of Egypt,
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to kill us and our children
and our cattle with thirst?'
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" Now this is the
fourth recorded episode
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of grumbling in
the book of Exodus.
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The first time
the people grumbled
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when they were
trapped between the mountains,
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the open
wilderness, and the Red Sea.
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The second time they grumbled,
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they were three days
journey from the Red Sea,
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in the wilderness of Shure.
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And can find no water.
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The third time they grumbled
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was when they
were 45 days removed
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from the Red Sea.
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They hadn't camped in
the last retreat of Elim,
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where they had been refreshed
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with springs of
fresh water and the dates.
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The palms of
which provided shade
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from the relentless
rays of the desert sun.
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They must have anticipated
that God would provide for them
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in this manner, the
rest of the journey,
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but as they journeyed
further between Elim and Sinai
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in the wilderness of sin,
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hunger began to set in,
and they murmured again.
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So 17:4 says,
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"And Moses cried unto the Lord."
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Even a casual
reading of the Book of Exodus
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will reveal that these
words are a continually
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emerging theme within the book.
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It speaks to Moses' perception
that he is in over his head,
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that there is
nothing he can do adequately
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to resolve the situation.
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It speaks to human limitations,
and the inevitability
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that given the
right circumstances,
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in the right
place at the right time,
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we will succumb
to our limitation
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and seek if we are wise
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the counsel and direction
of one greater than ourselves.
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It was God who chose Moses.
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It was God who called him.
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It was God who appointed him.
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Yet Moses' life, though
it bode a impress of God,
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was punctuated
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by this very sobering reminder
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of how the believer is
to meet life's challenges.
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The Bible says, "He
cried unto the Lord saying,
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'What shall I do
unto this people?
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They be almost
ready to stone me.'
00:12:15.10\00:12:19.13
" Moses
apparently did not realize
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that he was not going to
die one moment before his time,
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no matter how
threatening the circumstances
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may have appeared to be,
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God's purposes need, no
neither haste nor delay.
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For any Christian
who is seeking to live
00:12:33.45\00:12:35.62
out God's
purposes in their life,
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this is critical.
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Job understood it well.
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He said it in Job 14:16.
00:12:40.66\00:12:42.79
"You number my steps.
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He asks,
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'Is there not an appointed
time to man upon the earth?'
00:12:46.16\00:12:49.30
" Job 7:1.
00:12:49.33\00:12:51.10
"Since his days are determined,
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the number of his
months is with you,
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and his limits you have set so
that he cannot pass," Job 14:5.
00:12:55.77\00:13:01.58
The absence of boldness in
the lives of many Christians
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result from a
humanistic se1f-preservation,
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where we convince ourselves
that our personal safety
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is wholly in our hands,
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rather than in the hands
of the God to whom we belong.
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But may I remind you
tonight, God orders our steps,
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and our times are in His hands.
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Amen.
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And this was not
the time to retreat.
00:13:25.90\00:13:29.64
This was not the time to
assume a posture of uncertainty.
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God intended for Moses to walk
boldly in his divine authority,
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and in his human
authority before the people.
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And so verse 5 says,
"And the Lord said unto Moses,
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'Go on before the people,
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and take with thee
of the elders of Israel,
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and thy rod,
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wherewith thou
smotest the river,
00:13:52.53\00:13:54.60
take in thine hand, and go.'
00:13:54.63\00:13:57.43
" In any crisis in
which one feels threatened,
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the greatest consolation
00:14:00.50\00:14:02.34
can be found in the
fact that God speaks to you.
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Isaiah says of the
faithful, "Then you will call,
00:14:05.81\00:14:08.48
and the Lord will answer.
00:14:08.51\00:14:10.01
You will cry, and he
will say, 'Here I am.'
00:14:10.05\00:14:14.48
" But understand this,
00:14:14.52\00:14:16.69
it was a crisis of
unexpected proportions.
00:14:16.72\00:14:20.86
Moses had never felt his life
00:14:20.89\00:14:23.86
threatened by his
own people before.
00:14:23.89\00:14:26.66
There was an air of hostility
that wreaked with evil.
00:14:26.70\00:14:30.83
And for the very first
time Moses, God's chosen,
00:14:30.87\00:14:34.94
began to mirror
the fear of the people.
00:14:34.97\00:14:39.77
It is in this type of crisis
when the end seems imminent,
00:14:39.81\00:14:44.65
when disaster is impending,
when it seems as if this is it,
00:14:44.68\00:14:48.65
that God reminds the faithful,
"That before they call,
00:14:48.68\00:14:51.02
I will answer.
00:14:51.05\00:14:52.39
And while they yet
speaking, I will hear."
00:14:52.42\00:14:55.02
God directs Moses.
00:14:55.06\00:14:56.99
He says, "Go ahead.
00:14:57.03\00:14:58.89
Go on in front of the people
00:14:58.93\00:15:01.10
and take some of
the elders with you."
00:15:01.13\00:15:03.50
Now the Hebrew verb there
is written with the Qal stem
00:15:03.53\00:15:06.74
in the imperative mood,
00:15:06.77\00:15:08.10
and has the limiting force
of the possessive prefix off.
00:15:08.14\00:15:13.11
It reads literally,
00:15:13.14\00:15:14.48
"You must take with you
00:15:14.51\00:15:15.88
from out of or
among the elders."
00:15:15.91\00:15:18.78
God understood that
not all of the elders
00:15:18.81\00:15:21.78
will have sufficient strength
of conviction and character
00:15:21.82\00:15:25.72
to withstand the
incessant fussing of the people.
00:15:25.75\00:15:29.62
God understood
00:15:29.66\00:15:30.99
that not all of the
elders would stand in faith
00:15:31.03\00:15:34.30
in the midst of crisis,
00:15:34.33\00:15:35.86
but that's some would
retreat rather into fear.
00:15:35.90\00:15:39.50
God understood that
except for faith in a crisis,
00:15:39.53\00:15:43.61
it is natural to
surrender psychologically
00:15:43.64\00:15:46.37
to the known,
00:15:46.41\00:15:47.74
rather than to
confidently engage
00:15:47.78\00:15:49.54
in the unknown.
00:15:49.58\00:15:52.55
So He instructs Moses,
00:15:52.58\00:15:56.58
"You must take with
you from out of the elders.
00:15:56.62\00:16:00.42
Take your staff in
your hand with which,
00:16:00.46\00:16:02.72
you struck the Nile and go."
00:16:02.76\00:16:04.13
Let me tell you
something, those of us
00:16:04.16\00:16:06.09
who must depend on
others to counsel us
00:16:06.13\00:16:08.23
and to pray with us,
00:16:08.26\00:16:09.60
we must be careful from
whom we seek our counsel.
00:16:09.63\00:16:12.97
Not everybody is prepared
to stand with you in a crisis.
00:16:13.00\00:16:17.07
Now let me suggest to you
that God's response to Moses
00:16:17.11\00:16:19.74
in this crisis
00:16:19.77\00:16:21.41
involves a reiteration
of at least three truths.
00:16:21.44\00:16:25.65
One, God called us,
00:16:25.68\00:16:28.32
and He will never
leave us nor forsake us.
00:16:28.35\00:16:31.85
When things seems to
go wrong in your life,
00:16:31.89\00:16:34.12
we are often tempted
00:16:34.16\00:16:35.62
to forget that God is sovereign,
00:16:35.66\00:16:38.53
that nothing happens in
this world or in our lives
00:16:38.56\00:16:42.13
that God hasn't
initiated or allowed.
00:16:42.16\00:16:47.24
Is our God a sovereign?
00:16:47.27\00:16:49.80
And has complete control?
00:16:49.84\00:16:51.81
Or He's not sovereign,
00:16:51.84\00:16:53.68
and He's at the mercy
of the terrorist raids
00:16:53.71\00:16:55.84
that the devil
makes on his people,
00:16:55.88\00:16:57.61
but you can't have it both ways.
00:16:57.65\00:16:59.98
It was God who tested
the children of Israel,
00:17:00.02\00:17:02.58
when He brought them to
the mouth of the Red Sea.
00:17:02.62\00:17:04.89
It was God who tested
the children of Israel
00:17:04.92\00:17:07.99
when they came to the
bitter waters of Marah
00:17:08.02\00:17:10.36
and thirsted in the wilderness.
00:17:10.39\00:17:11.83
It was God who tested
the children of Israel,
00:17:11.86\00:17:15.96
when they're
hungered and cried out
00:17:16.00\00:17:17.77
for the delicacies of Egypt.
00:17:17.80\00:17:19.40
And it is God again,
00:17:19.43\00:17:20.77
who has brought them back again,
00:17:20.80\00:17:22.20
with dry and parched lips,
00:17:22.24\00:17:23.81
to this moment of thirst
and testing in the wilderness.
00:17:23.84\00:17:30.05
There's something else.
00:17:30.08\00:17:32.28
Moses is human authority,
secondly, was divinely derived.
00:17:32.31\00:17:37.22
God instructed Moses to
take your rod in your hand
00:17:37.25\00:17:40.36
with which you
struck the Nile and go.
00:17:40.39\00:17:43.19
Curiously enough,
ladies and gentlemen,
00:17:43.22\00:17:45.36
the rod is called
both the rod of God
00:17:45.39\00:17:48.26
in Exodus 4:20, 17, and 9,
00:17:48.30\00:17:50.80
and Moses' rod in
Exodus 14:16 and 17.
00:17:50.83\00:17:55.44
The rods
symbolize the hand of God.
00:17:55.47\00:17:59.47
And Moses' hand
symbolized the human instrument
00:17:59.51\00:18:03.31
through which divine
authority was exercised.
00:18:03.35\00:18:06.75
When Moses used
the rod at the Nile,
00:18:06.78\00:18:09.48
the waters were turned to blood,
00:18:09.52\00:18:12.05
the fish died, the
waters became foul,
00:18:12.09\00:18:15.46
and Egyptians could
not drink from the rivers,
00:18:15.49\00:18:17.79
streams, springs,
pools, or reservoirs,
00:18:17.83\00:18:21.33
throughout all of
Egypt for seven days.
00:18:21.36\00:18:24.30
Now I wondered
00:18:24.33\00:18:25.97
why God told
Moses to take the rod
00:18:26.00\00:18:29.40
with which he struck the Nile,
00:18:29.44\00:18:31.31
as opposed to the rod
00:18:31.34\00:18:33.17
that he lifted over the Red Sea?
00:18:33.21\00:18:35.74
Why, in other words,
00:18:35.78\00:18:37.15
that God refers rod
00:18:37.18\00:18:38.91
in connection with the
Nile as opposed to the Red Sea.
00:18:38.95\00:18:42.95
You see, the Nile
involved direct confrontation.
00:18:42.98\00:18:46.86
The Nile involved God's
first punitive act toward Egypt.
00:18:46.89\00:18:51.79
The Nile was the
source of Egyptian life.
00:18:51.83\00:18:55.00
The impact of striking
the Nile was temporary.
00:18:55.03\00:19:00.14
While the Egyptian sorcerers
00:19:00.17\00:19:01.74
were able to
duplicate the miracle
00:19:01.77\00:19:03.91
of turning the Nile to blood,
00:19:03.94\00:19:05.27
they did not have the power
00:19:05.31\00:19:06.64
to turn the
blood back into water.
00:19:06.68\00:19:09.21
Let me tell you this, friends,
00:19:09.24\00:19:10.88
the Devil can break stuff
00:19:10.91\00:19:12.25
and make you feel
satisfied and gratified,
00:19:12.28\00:19:15.22
but he can't fix anything.
00:19:15.25\00:19:17.12
Amen.
00:19:17.15\00:19:18.75
He can mess your life up,
00:19:18.79\00:19:20.56
but he can never put
it back together again.
00:19:20.59\00:19:23.19
Only God can do that!
00:19:23.22\00:19:25.19
But Moses references
denial and not the Red Sea.
00:19:29.73\00:19:33.84
The Red Sea, on the other hand,
00:19:33.87\00:19:35.20
did not involve
direct confrontation.
00:19:35.24\00:19:38.37
The parting of the Red Sea
00:19:38.41\00:19:39.74
was initially
God's act of salvation
00:19:39.77\00:19:42.28
for the children of Israel.
00:19:42.31\00:19:44.35
The Red Sea was at
the border of Egypt
00:19:44.38\00:19:46.72
and the wilderness.
00:19:46.75\00:19:48.18
And it was a permanent barrier
00:19:48.22\00:19:50.15
between the children of
Israel and the enslavers.
00:19:50.19\00:19:53.32
I would suggest to
you that the Nile became
00:19:53.36\00:19:55.86
a critical point
of reference to Moses
00:19:55.89\00:19:58.23
because God needed for Moses
00:19:58.26\00:20:01.03
and the children of
Israel to understand
00:20:01.06\00:20:03.13
something critical
about the nature of His staff.
00:20:03.16\00:20:06.63
There was a strike as
using the context of the Nile
00:20:06.67\00:20:09.64
is the Hebrew
hiphil participle nakah.
00:20:09.67\00:20:12.84
It simply means to
strike, smite, beat, or scourge.
00:20:12.87\00:20:17.35
But this word is a hybrid.
00:20:17.38\00:20:19.31
It's a participle.
00:20:19.35\00:20:20.72
It has both the characteristics
00:20:20.75\00:20:22.68
and functions of a
verb and an adjective.
00:20:22.72\00:20:25.65
In Exodus 7:17, God said,
00:20:25.69\00:20:28.16
"I will strike the
water that is in the Nile,
00:20:28.19\00:20:30.99
with the staff
that is in My hand."
00:20:31.03\00:20:33.76
That is the verbal
aspect of this participle.
00:20:33.80\00:20:37.43
Now the adjective
modifies the noun.
00:20:37.47\00:20:40.04
It describes, specifies
and clarifies the noun.
00:20:40.07\00:20:43.17
The noun under consideration
here is the word staff.
00:20:43.20\00:20:46.84
The one strike,
00:20:46.88\00:20:48.74
functioning as
both verb and adjective
00:20:48.78\00:20:51.51
modifies the word staff
00:20:51.55\00:20:53.52
and literally
translates to striking staff.
00:20:53.55\00:20:57.42
Stay with me.
00:20:57.45\00:20:59.15
At the Red Sea,
00:20:59.19\00:21:00.86
seven chapters to
this verse removed.
00:21:00.89\00:21:04.39
God commanded Moses
00:21:04.43\00:21:06.03
to lift the staff over
the Red Sea and divide it.
00:21:06.06\00:21:11.10
Now it says God's staff
00:21:11.13\00:21:14.24
has both a striking function
00:21:14.27\00:21:16.81
and a lifting
and raising function.
00:21:16.84\00:21:20.38
In this moment of grave crisis,
00:21:20.41\00:21:23.08
when rebellion at
Rephidim seemed imminent,
00:21:23.11\00:21:26.85
and when the man of
God feared for his life,
00:21:26.88\00:21:30.49
God directs Moses
00:21:30.52\00:21:32.49
to pass on before the people
along with some of the elders,
00:21:32.52\00:21:37.43
and to take the striking staff
with which he struck the Nile.
00:21:37.46\00:21:41.83
And God said in
verse 6, "Behold,
00:21:41.86\00:21:44.30
I will stand before thee,
00:21:44.33\00:21:46.87
there upon the rock in Horeb,
and you shall strike the rock,
00:21:46.90\00:21:51.71
and water will come out of
it, that the people may drink."
00:21:51.74\00:21:56.68
Water,
00:21:56.71\00:21:58.35
for their thirst was only
really a temporary solution
00:21:58.38\00:22:02.22
to the chronic endemic problem
00:22:02.25\00:22:04.69
characterized by the
children of Israel's behavior
00:22:04.72\00:22:08.02
throughout their
wilderness sojourn.
00:22:08.06\00:22:09.76
In fact, the problem
00:22:09.79\00:22:12.43
from the divine
standpoint was so grave
00:22:12.46\00:22:14.96
and so far reaching its effects
00:22:15.00\00:22:17.90
and implications
that God directed Moses
00:22:17.93\00:22:21.04
to initiate a countermeasure
00:22:21.07\00:22:23.10
that would not only address
00:22:23.14\00:22:24.47
the problem at the
level of its symptom,
00:22:24.51\00:22:27.18
but also at its root.
00:22:27.21\00:22:29.11
If God did not act decisively,
00:22:29.14\00:22:32.25
take drastic measures now,
00:22:32.28\00:22:34.55
the children of Israel
00:22:34.58\00:22:35.95
would never be able to recover
00:22:35.98\00:22:37.52
from the momentary
tastes of illicit power.
00:22:37.55\00:22:40.66
They were on the
verge of sedition,
00:22:40.69\00:22:42.82
and apart from
divine intervention,
00:22:42.86\00:22:45.33
they would have
gained a momentum
00:22:45.36\00:22:47.30
that would have been pleasing
and satisfying initially,
00:22:47.33\00:22:50.70
but ultimately,
00:22:50.73\00:22:52.07
they would have sown the
wind and reap the whirlwind.
00:22:52.10\00:22:57.14
Notice if you will,
that God was testing Israel,
00:22:57.17\00:23:01.14
to see if they were with Him.
00:23:01.18\00:23:03.78
And Israel was testing God
to see if He were with them.
00:23:03.81\00:23:08.88
They wanted a God
that they could lead,
00:23:08.92\00:23:11.05
a God they can control,
00:23:11.09\00:23:12.79
a God who would
cater to the resistance
00:23:12.82\00:23:15.59
of the character
shaping experiences
00:23:15.62\00:23:18.03
out of which flown humility,
00:23:18.06\00:23:19.89
dependence, trust,
obedience, and faith.
00:23:19.93\00:23:22.90
Moses became the
object of the resistance,
00:23:22.93\00:23:27.14
and their resistance
turned into rebellion.
00:23:27.17\00:23:29.80
And at that point, Moses
00:23:29.84\00:23:32.17
realized that
if he didn't humble
00:23:32.21\00:23:34.21
himself before God, if
he didn't depend on God,
00:23:34.24\00:23:37.41
if he didn't trust
God, if he didn't obey God,
00:23:37.45\00:23:40.92
and if his faith
didn't anchor itself in God,
00:23:40.95\00:23:43.75
the people's faith never would.
00:23:43.79\00:23:46.22
There is no substitute
00:23:46.25\00:23:47.96
in the life of the
believer for faith.
00:23:47.99\00:23:50.49
Faith in Christ
00:23:50.53\00:23:51.89
does not require a
degree in theology.
00:23:51.93\00:23:54.60
So matter of fact, over
the years, the expression,
00:23:54.63\00:23:57.37
childlike faith has come
to epitomize the confidence
00:23:57.40\00:24:00.97
and abandon that
is pleasing to God.
00:24:01.00\00:24:03.81
For without faith, it is
impossible to please him.
00:24:03.84\00:24:07.91
Without faith,
opportunities pass unseen.
00:24:07.94\00:24:12.25
Without faith,
00:24:12.28\00:24:13.62
the glass
always seems half empty
00:24:13.65\00:24:16.45
and never half full.
00:24:16.48\00:24:18.09
Without faith,
doubt becomes amplified,
00:24:18.12\00:24:21.62
despair becomes gratified,
00:24:21.66\00:24:23.96
discouragement
becomes magnified.
00:24:23.99\00:24:26.43
Without faith, molehills looked,
00:24:26.46\00:24:29.03
molehills look like mountains.
00:24:29.06\00:24:31.70
Without faith, the
probable seems impossible.
00:24:31.73\00:24:35.30
Without faith, the
days look partly cloudy,
00:24:35.34\00:24:38.54
rather than partly sunny.
00:24:38.57\00:24:40.54
Without faith,
apprehension widens,
00:24:40.58\00:24:43.45
uncertainty
lengthens, and fear heightens.
00:24:43.48\00:24:46.65
Without faith, a
drizzle seems like a storm.
00:24:46.68\00:24:50.09
Without faith,
00:24:50.12\00:24:51.45
a difficult moment seems
like a lifetime of suffering.
00:24:51.49\00:24:54.56
Without faith,
00:24:54.59\00:24:55.92
a failure seems
like a death sentence.
00:24:55.96\00:24:58.26
Without faith,
00:24:58.29\00:24:59.63
we become spiritually
anaemic and live a pessimistic,
00:24:59.66\00:25:03.10
hopeless
existence that turns inward
00:25:03.13\00:25:06.63
and makes us powerless
00:25:06.67\00:25:08.44
in the face of
life's challenges.
00:25:08.47\00:25:10.64
They didn't understand
00:25:10.67\00:25:12.57
that living in God's
will necessarily involves
00:25:12.61\00:25:15.84
a painstaking
process of building faith,
00:25:15.88\00:25:20.08
that without faith,
00:25:20.12\00:25:21.88
you can't walk and
you can't even crawl.
00:25:21.92\00:25:25.22
Years later,
00:25:25.25\00:25:26.79
when Israel had
escaped the harsh
00:25:26.82\00:25:29.42
conditions of the wilderness,
00:25:29.46\00:25:31.29
long after God
had extricated them
00:25:31.33\00:25:33.40
and brought them
into the land of promise,
00:25:33.43\00:25:36.60
when they had failed to
grasp the essential preeminence
00:25:36.63\00:25:39.63
of faith in the
life of God's people,
00:25:39.67\00:25:41.90
they found themselves
enslaved by the Babylonians
00:25:41.94\00:25:45.17
and questioning whether
God was with them or not.
00:25:45.21\00:25:48.81
Responding with
unparalleled eloquence
00:25:48.84\00:25:51.11
and directing them
00:25:51.15\00:25:52.48
to the promise of
restoration and success,
00:25:52.51\00:25:55.02
Isaiah, The Prophet wrote,
00:25:55.05\00:25:56.69
"Why sayest thou, O Jacob,
00:25:56.72\00:25:58.95
speakest, O Israel, my
way is hid from the Lord,
00:25:58.99\00:26:02.72
and my judgment is
passed over from my god?
00:26:02.76\00:26:06.06
Has thou not
known, has thou not heard,
00:26:06.09\00:26:10.13
that the everlasting Lord,
00:26:10.17\00:26:11.50
the creator of
the ends of the earth,
00:26:11.53\00:26:13.20
fainteth not, neither is weary?
00:26:13.23\00:26:16.71
There is no
searching of His understanding.
00:26:16.74\00:26:19.54
He giveth power to the faint,
and then that have no might,
00:26:19.57\00:26:23.14
he increaseth their strength.
00:26:23.18\00:26:24.95
Even the youths
shall faint and be weary,
00:26:24.98\00:26:27.92
and the young men
shall utterly fail.
00:26:27.95\00:26:30.92
But they that wait upon the Lord
00:26:30.95\00:26:33.19
shall renew their strength.
00:26:33.22\00:26:34.96
They shall mount up
with the wings of eagles.
00:26:34.99\00:26:37.46
They shall run and not be weary.
00:26:37.49\00:26:39.79
They shall walk, and not faint."
00:26:39.83\00:26:44.23
Our God is a wonderful God.
00:26:44.27\00:26:47.27
He wants us to walk
in the path of obedience,
00:26:47.30\00:26:51.27
which leads to
the path of success.
00:26:51.31\00:26:55.14
Thank you for this
word tonight, Lord.
00:26:55.18\00:26:57.85
Bless it as it goes
forth to the ends of the world,
00:26:57.88\00:27:00.88
we pray in Jesus name.
00:27:00.92\00:27:03.22
Amen.
00:27:03.25\00:27:05.12
Thanks for
watching Pathway of Hope.
00:27:05.15\00:27:08.19
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00:27:08.22\00:27:10.49
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00:27:10.53\00:27:13.63
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00:27:13.66\00:27:20.10
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00:27:20.14\00:27:27.24
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00:27:27.28\00:27:30.45
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00:27:30.48\00:27:37.29
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00:27:37.32\00:27:41.02
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00:27:41.06\00:27:44.53
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00:27:55.24\00:27:57.11
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00:27:57.14\00:27:59.81