Book of Esther - Part 9

Park Meadows Church

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Good morning, everyone. So turn with me if you would to Esther chapter 3 we're going verse by verse through the book of Esther and Sometimes that takes us on a nice rabbit trail out through one of the major Bible themes

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Maybe major doctrines of the Bible and then we make our way back to Esther and then find another major Bible theme and travel around the

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Bible looking at that and That is my favorite way to study the Bible and I think that it's a great way to teach as well because That's how

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God wrote it. The Lord wrote it verse by verse He didn't write it necessarily to be studied one little verse over here and one little verse over there

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But he wrote it as sentences and paragraphs and books and then one whole book put together

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So let's have a word of prayer and we'll get started We'll start with about Esther 3 and about verse 7

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Lord we thank you for Another day to come and meet together Fellowship and more importantly to worship you and as importantly to learn from you we ask that your spirit would be our teacher today and we pray that you would help us to to Learn some things both old that we need to be reminded of and you perhaps things we've not seen before and we ask it in Jesus name.

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Amen. Well, we'll review just a little bit we We're in this passage where?

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King Ahasuerus was duped by Haman Who he had raised up to be his right -hand man

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And he was duped by Haman to into passing a law that they would kill all of the

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Jews in the land And that's what this little section is about that. We're talking about here and The the whole book of Esther is a book about the providence of God and Destiny and how

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God has our whole lives orchestrated even the people we meet none of its by accident and our paths cross for a reason and We become friends and then we move on down the path together and all of that is

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Orchestrated and there is maybe no book in the Bible that demonstrates it better than this one because Mordecai and Esther were brought to the exact right place so that they lived in exactly the right place

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Geographically at exactly the right time For this major event to happen and the only way that they got to the place where they were if you remember

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We review a little bit what we've already studied about this is they got there through bad things happening Esther had lost both of her parents and And then the whole nation of Israel had been destroyed and taken into captivity

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All of these seemed like terrible things and they were bad things if you were living through them but the thing the point is that it was all part of God's purpose and It if it hadn't been for those bad things

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Then Mordecai and Esther would not be living in exactly the place They were supposed to be at exactly the right time

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So we can learn from that that when we as we go through life we can be assured that on this side of the garden we're going to go through a tribulation and trouble and trials and Sorrows and heartbreaks difficulties and all of these things and we have a real tendency to either think that God Messed up or think he just wasn't paying attention or maybe we think

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God Spun everything into existence and he sits up here like this and just watches to see how it turns out

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And if we're not careful we think that way because that is the mindset of the world and sadly enough

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It is the doctrine of the modern church is That that's how God Operates.

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In fact, he doesn't operate. He just watches and then reacts But that makes no sense when we study the character of God because the

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Bible teaches God is immutable. He cannot change He does he does not react to man

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God is the one who set the whole plan in place and there is only one plan So so many theologians write books about well

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There are an infinite number of plans God looked at them all figured out which one was the best and set that one in motion

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Then why listen if God is infinite and God is omniscient, which means he knows all things

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He knows the end from the beginning. Why would he have 15 million plans? He doesn't even plan.

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He doesn't plan like we do. He doesn't think like we do I remember brother Otis one of the favorite things I ever heard him say he said

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God doesn't have a brain brother David He doesn't think like you do. I Said praise

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God. I'm glad it doesn't think like I do but he says well, he doesn't think at all. He just knows

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Right Yeah So there's one plan and guess what?

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It's the perfect one And we look at different little parts of it and say we don't like it or it's bad or it's evil or why did this?

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Have to happen, but you see we we cannot see the whole picture like God does we don't see all we don't have all the information and So there is absolutely no reason that God would have put this plan in operation if it weren't the only and best plan so it is the best plan and God is all wise and all loving and good and So many people want to say well, how could

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God be a good God if he lets things like this happen? Well, it's because they don't know him very well I read all if they would talk if they would speak in that fashion

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And also the other problem that we have is like I said, you see one little bitty part of the whole and we don't like that little part and so Esther is a great book to study because it brings us back to the knowledge and wisdom and Understanding that God has one plan is the best plan and you cannot thwart it and you are part of it

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And he orchestrates it all and you're you're going to find yourself in the right place at the right time for his glory and so here they are so we come in as chapter 3 and we see that this law is passed and Haman came in and the words that he used to talk to the king.

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I Think are going to echo into this world again Because here's what he told him.

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Look at verse 8 verse 8. Look what he says to him He said to King Ahasuerus, there's a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among your people in All the provinces of your kingdom and their laws are diverse

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Now if you look the word diverse up in the Hebrew, it literally means perverted Their laws are perverted and different from all other people in the world neither keep they the

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King's laws Therefore it is not for the King's prophet to suffer them suffer them as an old

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English word It means allow them to live actually It's not for the King's prophet to even allow them to be here

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So they're dispersed among all the people. What does that mean? They're embedded like like a disease like a virus and they're dangerous and you need to kill that Virus is what he's telling the king and then he says their laws are diverse

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Which is Sean on the Hebrew it means perverted So if you let them live they're gonna pervert all of your people and then everybody will be perverted now

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That is the argument that Haman used now if you take you trace Haman's lineage back. He goes all the way back to Esau remember

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Esau and Isaac and They've been enemies from that day forth and it came down through the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years and now we find

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Haman who is an enemy of Israel he hates the Jews and he thinks that he has figured out a way to eliminate them as a race

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Now, let me ask you this if it says in Ephesians that we battle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers in Spiritual wickedness in high places then was

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Haman really the problem for Israel No Satan was doing this.

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That's where your battle is and the same is true today We don't need to get too awfully upset about what another person does to us because we battle not against flesh and blood and so Satan has inspired

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Haman who has given over to the devil anyway, and he's inspired him with these thoughts he did the same thing with Hitler in World War two and they killed eight million

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Jews and It's going to happen again in our future the future of the world and The same devil is going to come and inspire the mind of a man who the

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Bible calls the Antichrist and he's going to inspire him to hate Jews and hate Christians and I believe the spirit of Antichrist has been here since the days of the

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Apostle Paul working in that end But it will culminate in an in a personage

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He will be a person just like Jesus Christ was a person and the Bible says that Jesus was all of the fullness of the

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Godhead in a body and the Antichrist will be all of the fullness of Satan in a body

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Incarnate on this earth and you don't want to be his neighbor And he may well be here alive growing up being educated

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Getting ready to being prepared for his role right now. We don't know My guess would be that he is but the thing is his brain will be inspired with the same hatred

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Just like this and it'll be the same argument. Well these people now think of yourselves. This is you this is you

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That's going you're going to be spoken of this way they're like they're like insects and parasites that are dispersed among all the people and Their laws their ways of thinking are perverted and different than everybody else's and they're creating all the problems

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So it's not fitting for you to suffer them to live among your people.

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That's gonna be the same arguments I think I find that fascinating that that we see this coming about here

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So now and what we did last week We've read on down all the way through verse 15 and in this chapter and notice how the very last sentence a couple of sentences come out there in verse 15 and The post went out.

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In other words, the messengers went out and they gave this law They proclaim this law all over the land, which basically was the known world of that day

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Hasuris ruled over the entire known world And so as they went out and gave the law this new law to kill the

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Jews It says the decree was given in Shushan That's the place where the palace was and the king and Haman sat down to drink

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While they sent the messengers out and look what it says, but the city of Shushan was perplexed

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Even the people of his even his own people were perplexed by a law that would say kill a whole race

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They were perplexed now doesn't say they got anger and gonna try to stop it though, did it? Because what are they basically they're sheep.

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They just follow they just follow the next person People are the same way today. They don't think they're not leaders

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They haven't been trained to lead they've been trained to follow and they will follow and I said, well, this is strange

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But let's kill our neighbors because they're Jews or they're Christians. You see that same mindset is here

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So then from there we went into Matthew chapter 10 so I'd like you to turn there and we went took one of these little rabbit trails out to talk about this concept of The the mind the the argument really that Haman brought to the king is the same argument

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That's going to be brought against you and me Not that far in the future, I believe so Matthew chapter 10 verse 16.

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Let's start right about there and We noticed that Jesus is prophesying and talking about The future a little bit in this passage when he was still with us physically on the earth

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And he said behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves Be you therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves now we had to ask last time.

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Who is the word ye? Referring to we know primarily is talking to the Apostles, isn't he? But is there a secondary group?

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And we know that it must there must be or we wouldn't even study this if it can't make Application to other people other than the twelve because they're not on the earth anymore

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And so we asked that question So as you read down through this passage and some of this would be reviewed

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So I'm just gonna kind of try to make my way down to where we're supposed to be this morning But you notice in verse 17

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It starts saying to this to ever whoever this group is speaking to Jesus speaking to he says beware of men

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For they will deliver you up to councils and then it says and they will scourge you in their synagogues

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And if you look at those two words councils and synagogues in the Greek language

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You find that the word councils is Sanhedrin Or the same root word is that and we know that that is the

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Jewish leaders and the word Synagogue is where the all of the Jews met that you might call that the

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Jewish layman the normal people the normal Jews So in that passage, it tells us two groups of people that this other group is going to be brought in front of so you have the leadership of Israel and you have the

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Jewish people as well and then in verse 18, it says you should be brought before governors and kings

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So that gives a couple of other groups. Those are the Gentile leaders of the day and Then it says at the end of verse 18 for a testimony against the

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Gentiles Now the word Gentiles that means that's the layman or the regular people. So here you have four groups

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You got Jewish leaders and you have the Jewish people and you have the Gentile kings and governors and leaders and you have the

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Gentile people Now whoever this group is Jesus is warning in talking to he's saying they're gonna bring you before these four people

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They're gonna bring you before the Jewish leaders before the Jews before the Gentile leaders and before the Gentiles And I want to ask you something.

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It's interesting those four groups Include every human in the world every man woman boy and girl in the world except for one group.

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Can you name the group? Christians Christians, that's the only group that's left.

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Now. You have to remember that this side of the cross The church consists of Jewish believers and Gentile believers were because we're all saved the same way

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We're saved through the Covenant of Abraham By receiving Jesus Christ as our personal

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Lord and Savior and that's the only group that's left out of the other four groups So that must be the group that Jesus Christ is addressing when he says be ye

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Wise as serpents. He's talking to his church and a lot of theologians disagree with what

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I just said, but you know what? I'm not primarily predominantly preaching to theologians They've got their own ideas and theologians love to take their books and sieve the

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Bible through them I prefer to take the Bible first and then Take the theology books and eat them like you eat fish who knows how you eat fish

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Who can tell me how do you eat fish when you eat fish? I'm not talking about filleted fish I mean real fish

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Well, you eat the meat and you spit the bones out So that's what you do with theology books

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They're full of truth and they're full of lies the lies are the bones you just have to spit them out But let me tell you something when you're in your 20s like most men who go to seminary

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You don't know that you swallow the fish bones and all because those seminary professors seem so wise

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So all -knowing that you just believe everything they say and then all of a sudden once you believe that Then as you go to the scripture later as an adult mature adult thinking person

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You cannot escape the presuppositions. They already placed in your brain. And so you change the Bible to fit those that is dangerous

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Very very dangerous and you cannot do that So you have to come to a point in your life where you become mature enough as a

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Christian to say, okay I know what I believe I mean I know my box That I have God in and I know where it came from and all that and I'm gonna just set that aside for a moment

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And read the scripture just see what it says and I'm not gonna hold my Bible up against the box

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I'm gonna hold the box up against the Bible and when you get to the place where you can do that, you're free

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Your mind is open brother. Otis was I don't know. Let's see He was 86 when he went to be with the

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Lord. And so what would 12 minus that be? 74 or something like that when

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I met him and he had taught the Bible 50 years when I met him and He began to do something for me that I've always appreciated he began to eliminate words and phrases that I would say that I'd heard from other preachers that were not even in the

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Bible and He did that in his own life as well. He was on a constant track to eliminate bad words and phrases

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But the thing that I was amazed with about Otis back then and all throughout my relationship with him is here

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He was an elder Both in the Bible sense and the physical sense and that his mind was so open to truth

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That if you found something he had taught for 50 years and you could show sound

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Bible for why it's not exactly the way it is he would change it and Apologize to anyone.

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He had taught the other two and say, okay. He was not bound by any box of theology

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That was so refreshing to me that I could hardly get enough of brother Otis and And that's how we all should be but imagine an older gentleman who taught the

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Bible 50 years who had the ability to be that open -minded that you don't find that and So if that's true, we need to be careful about it.

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We just need to just like read Let me let me say this. This is this is I've now I've read this in theology books

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It had to be one of the things I agreed with And so I'm not the first person to think of this but think about it who did

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God write the Bible to Well, he wrote it to his people. I Mean, I understand it's a testimony to the world as well, but he really wrote it to his people

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But guess what? He not only wrote it to us. He wrote it to the little ones in in Charlotte's Sunday school class

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I walk by like to walk by when y 'all are finishing up and I'll look through the glass and watch them when they're praying See, I want to see who's got their eyes closed

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And I have to say that I was very proud of Tyler he looked like this

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And he was praying but anyway, they all were though they were all had their eyes closed and they were praying but You know

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He wrote it to them he wrote it to Matthew back here and to Ben and I will say this if you come up with a

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Theory or you won't may want to call it a doctrine as if you couldn't you put it right in there with the Doctrine of Salvation it's that true to you but really it may be a theory about what the

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Bible is teaching about an issue and Matthew back there couldn't read that and find it in his own

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Bible. You got a problem In other words, if it takes three PhDs to sit at a table and figure it out.

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It's probably not the truth You understand what I'm saying? It's too complex.

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Therefore. It's probably a lie. I Found that to be true again and again and again the doctrines of the

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Bible that are true and all true You know all the Bible is true, but I'm talking about the true Bible doctrines

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They are pure and they are beautiful in their simplicity and they're not difficult to prove and I know you're sitting there thing well, how how would

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Matthew or Tyler or Ben? Figure out the Doctrine of the Trinity if that's true you surely need a

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PhD. Well, let's see This is a rabbit trail, but you have to know that's what keeps me awake when

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I'm preaching It's a rabbit trails. So turn with me to first John chapter 5. I Mean you'd have to admit

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Try to keep your hand where we were there But first John chapter 5 you'd have to admit that that probably is one of the deepest

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Doctrines in the Bible so surely it takes five PhDs to write a book and explain to us how the

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Trinity works and In a child could not possibly take their Bible and just read through it verse by verse and find that doctrine.

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Well, let's see Let's see first John chapter 5 and Let's look at verse 7.

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There's a good place to start For there are three that bear record in heaven the

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Father and the Word with a capital W and the Holy Ghost and These three are one

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Wow Okay so I could a

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Ten -year -old child can find the Trinity in the Bible with one verse Not to mention if you go into John chapter 1 verses 1 through 3

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In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God Well, you may not understand how that can be but you just figured out that it is didn't you know?

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Maybe it takes three theologians at seminary to teach you how that can be but I've got news for you

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They don't know either because when you get to that part of their commentaries, they leave it out They don't talk about it very much

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Are they will go into? an explanation where they just use Huge adjectives and big words and say but in the end it's a mystery, you know things like that But the truth is you can a child can find the

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Trinity and if every major in I picked the hardest one, right? I did it on purpose

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But every true doctrine in the Bible a child can find it through reading it as plain

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I love what dr. Ryrie said one time He said the best way to interpret the

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Bible is not to interpret literally Otherwise, you might think Jesus was a door

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You know I'm saying because he says I'm the door. I'm the door. So he said don't interpret it. Literally He said in turn interpret it plainly

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Just like if you were picked up a newspaper and you were reading it in context It may have some allegories in it and it may have some literal parts in it

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But you don't have any trouble seeing where they are. Do you he said read the Bible that way and I like that now

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That's the end of the rabbit trail. So where were we Matthew? chapter 10 now

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So these scriptures Are teaching us here in this chapter now, you know, you may wonder

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Why did you bring all that up right here when when we're in this book of of Matthew chapter 10?

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It's because there are literally believe it or not You may find this hard to believe But there are literally theologians who will tell us that Matthew chapter 10 is

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Jewish literature. That's how they say. It's Jewish literature and They they say this is all written about the

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Jew for the Jew and the future of the Jew in the tribulation period and all That the Millennial Kingdom if they even believe in the

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Millennial Kingdom and they say therefore that's what this is Well, if that's true Why don't we just rip it out because we as the church today would not need it if it's not written in such a way

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That it benefits us doesn't speak to us and the truth is it does and it is written to us and we know that in fact, we just proved it because The four groups the

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Jewish leaders the Jews the Gentile leaders and Gentiles That's everybody in the world except one group and that's the group

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Jesus is speaking to when he says be ye wise as serpents the ye there is his church So that is the only group left out.

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It has to be the group he's speaking to so as we go down through here We find some interesting

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Warnings about the end times as Jesus looks forward in and what I'm saying is just as Satan inspired

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Haman To tell the leadership of the world of the entire world of his day that these people are like insects.

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They're like parasites There they have laws that are diverse and perverted

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They're not your laws and they're gonna affect the whole people It's not really going to be profitable for you to allow them to live

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That argument didn't come from Haman it came from Satan it reared its head again in almost the same words

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Thousands of years later through Adolf Hitler and it's going to happen again through the Antichrist and there it is.

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So in this chapter We see all this information where where it's warning us about the end time and who's it warning the group?

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He's talking to it's talking to the church. It says in verse 21 of chapter 10 brothers shall rise against brother

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And shall put brother to death in verse 22 You shall be hated of all men now that that group all

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Includes all four groups the Jewish leadership the Jews the Gentile leadership's the Gentiles all of those groups are going to hate you

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For my name's sake he says though. So so Jesus Christ will be glorified through all of this

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But he that endureth to the end shall be delivered shall be saved But when they persecute you in this city flee to another

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For verily I say to you you shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man become

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That tell that's a little bit of comforting word from the Lord is look this tribulation that I'm talking about That's worse than the world has ever had is not going to last that long

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About the time you could go from one city to the next in Israel. It will be over about three and a half years

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It will be over we know that from the Prophet Daniel in case you wonder where I'm getting the three and a half years from but Verse 24 the disciple is not above his master nor the servant above his

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Lord It is enough for the disciples that he be as his master and a servant as his

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Lord If they have called the master of the house be Elzebub How much more shall they call them of his household

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Beelzebub now, that's right where we ended But Beelzebub is Satan and Jesus is saying look

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Don't feel That you're going to be above me your master.

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You're not going to be above me you're my brothers and sisters and you're gonna be treated the same as me and If they called me the devil, they're gonna call you the devil

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Now, can you imagine you get to an age in the United States of America in Europe all over the world? Where there is a spirit who puts in the minds of the leaderships that collectively you go

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It's kind of interesting to go read in the book of Revelation There's a point in time where Satan sends demons and it says as frogs

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Into the minds of the leaders to cause them to want to go to war. It's in there and He's going to impregnate their minds with thoughts of hatred for Jews and for Christians worldwide all at one time

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In a day in a day of time and I know there's a spirit of Antichrist already that that is there and there's hatred for Christians and Jews already, but it will really really coalesce and So Jesus is telling us look there

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Satan is going to put in the minds of the leadership to call you Satan So that you will they will want to eliminate you if you're

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Satan They want to eliminate you to stop all the trouble of the world. You're gonna be the reason for the trouble

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You're gonna be the scapegoat The Jews have always been the scapegoat

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Well, you can study the history of Europe Anytime there's a problem. How did Hitler do what he did? He just said well, we got problems because the

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Jews the Jews control all the money. It's their fault We wouldn't be in this shape right now if it weren't for those filthy rich Jews So they just killed took their money took their businesses took their banks

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Because they were who they were Satan and that is going to be said of each of you in this room.

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Isn't that amazing? Verse 26 fear them not Jesus says therefore

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For there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed. In other words, there will be perfect justice in the end

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Satan I mean Hitler being the hottest part of hell maybe right next to the

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Antichrist They'll have you know punishment eternal punishment. That is the worst because pure justice will be meted out

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He says do not worry Don't fear them because there's nothing that they can do to you in secret that won't come out

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Someday in the future and be revealed to all of creation and it may be hid now and it may not be known

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But someday it's going to be shouted like from the rooftops what I tell you in darkness that speak in the light and what

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I what you hear in the ear that preachy upon the housetops and Fear not them that kill the body

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But are not able to kill the soul But rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell, so we don't need to fear the men

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That would do these things to us and our families. They cannot touch our spirit. They cannot touch our soul

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Where the Bible says That if that's the palm of the father's hand he has placed you in it and he's taken

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Jesus hand put it right on top John chapter 10 We're in the hands of Jesus and no man can pluck them out of my father's hand

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Jesus said so we don't need to fear Them all they can do is kill the body And he goes on and he says

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Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing and one of them shall not fall to the ground without the father knowing well

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You're way worth way more than a sparrow Isn't it funny how he taught that oh Good I'm I'm more important than a sparrow at least right well

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Listen you take the entire world a little bird somewhere over in Africa just falls on the ground today

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God Jesus knows right when it happens and observes it and cares about it That's that's the fact

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So he's not up there like this. Just wait and see what happens and reacting is he he's in country. He is

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He is touching everything and Keeping the power in it Without me you can do nothing.

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He said he's keeping all the molecules in place. He's continually working yes, he has finished his work, but he's also continually working and so Jesus is comforting us and he says the very hairs of your head are all numbered

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Fearing not therefore you're of more value than many sparrows

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Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men him will I confess also before my father which is in heaven now

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We've heard that verse so many times especially among Baptists and it's used to prove that we ought to do a public profession of faith

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And it doesn't even mean that I mean probably we ought to Make a problem. I mean, let's go look if you get born again, you're gonna tell people you got saved

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You can't not do it. I love that grammar. Forgive me Marianne you but you preach is good.

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You can't not do it So that's not what this is talking about, you know what this is really talking about this is talking about in the future when the

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Antichrist inspired by Satan inspires the minds of all the leadership to say well, they're scattered everywhere and They have laws different than your laws and they're perverted and they don't think like you do and it's not fitting or Profitable for you to suffer them and when he puts that in their minds to destroy you

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And me and they walk right up to your face and say are you a believer? Because there's a bus over there going to some nice showers with not water in it

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But gas and we're gonna take you there if you say yes, are you? That's what this is talking about Whosoever therefore shall confess me before me and him will

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I confess also before my father which is in heaven But whosoever shall deny me in that situation him will

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I also deny before my father in heaven? And that amazing You have to be prepared now

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I believe earlier in this passage Jesus said if they come in and those kind of leaders are in control of your city and they start

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To kill believers and Jewish people then you need to leave he said flee to the next city Did you remember that little passage we read there's other places where he says even go into the mountains

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So he expects he actually commanded us not to stand against them But to flee now if you don't have that information, you'll do the wrong thing probably wouldn't you?

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What would Arlen rather do was bowing there? Come get come get try to get my family It's all we may have who know 22 bullets, whatever

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You know and and we really some of us guys especially probably would think you know what?

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They're not gonna take my family my stuff Right wouldn't we would be our first thought and here in Texas, especially we're armed are we not?

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Some of us more than others, but thing is he said don't do that. It's not gonna work

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You need to flee to the next city in the next and the next and then he says just keep fleeing until I come and He said anyone who is still here when

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I come shall be saved in other words delivered from that it won't happen to you So that is his will But if you don't have that information, you'll do the wrong thing now.

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It's kind of interesting that If You don't successfully flee or you don't know to do that and you're a

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Christian and you just stay right where you are and hold Your fort so to speak They are going to come into your house and they are gonna look at you right in the face

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And they're gonna say are you do you believe in Jesus Christ? Are you to deny him? And so the information in verses 32 and 33 are for us to know in that time

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So we will not be allowed to act as if we don't know him just to save our family. Jesus will not allow that Now I believe he would allow us to do other things to to confuse the enemy

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I think in battle I think in war There are certain of the principles of God that are not laid aside, but they are different for times of war

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Such as thou shalt not kill. I Know it means thou shalt not murder, but the truth is in times of war that's laid aside and you do kill to protect your family

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Thou shalt not lie or false witness dude walks in my house your wife and kids back there

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He's got a shotgun and I'm not armed and I'm sitting there. I'm gonna say no, they're not here. They left me a month ago

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Haven't seen him because that's war and But you know what if he looks at me and says, you know what

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I'm gonna kill you if you're a Christian Do you believe in Jesus? I'm not allowed to ever say no not today

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You see the difference So this is laid out for us fairly clearly in the scriptures now

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Verse 34 think not that I am come to send peace on the earth. I Came not to send peace but a sword that's a different Jesus than the world worships, isn't it?

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for I am come to set man at variance against his father and the daughter against his mother and the daughter -in -law

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Against the mother -in -law and the man's foes shall be they of his own household He that loveth father and mother more than me is not worthy of me

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And he that loveth son and daughter more than me is not worthy of me and he that taketh not his cross and follow

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It after me is not worthy of me He that findeth his life shall lose it and he that looseth his life for my sake shall save it if you go to the

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Greek Bible and Reverse 39 it really opens the meaning a lot.

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It gives you more color of meaning there than the English does Literally what it says if you if you look at the word his where it says he that findeth his life

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You look at the word his in the Greek. It is the word autos and it means self

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So if you put the word self in the verse and read it it makes it just opens it up It says he that finds self lot self life shall lose it

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And he that loses self life shall find it He that loses

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Selfish living finds true living He that finds selfish lives living lives a death life

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In that amazing it Jesus is saying look if your predominant goal is to protect yourself and It's all for self

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You're not even living and you actually lose life. You don't have the abundant life that I'm telling you about If However, you lose the self life and you lay it aside you crucify the old man you crucify self

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And you live for the Lord Jesus then he says you find it you find life He that receiveth you receives me he said and he that receiveth me

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Receives him that sent me and we'll leave it there because that starts a new idea. So let's stand and have prayer together

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Lord, thank you so much for your word. Thank you for the clarity of it Thank you for how you wrote it plainly for both the children and the adults

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Here today and Lord, we just ask you to give us the wisdom that comes from your word at exactly the time

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We need it we know Lord that you taught us that if there ever comes a time of persecution where we have to Face even leadership among the

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Gentiles or the Jews We're asked questions You told us not to worry about it that your spirit would speak through us to them and glorify you

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And Lord, that's a wonderful thing. So help us to remember that even in the midst of tribulation things that glorify you occur and We should rejoice over that help us to see the big picture help us to see the whole of your plan

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And how perfect and beautiful it is. Thank you most of all for the focal point of that plan

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Which was the day on that cross when Jesus Christ said it is finished

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Lord, we ask you to go with us into this time of fellowship and bless the meal We're about to have together and we ask it in Jesus name.