Memorial Service for Rush Smith

Sovereign Grace Family Church

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01:29

We have come here today as a community, a family, and friends to remember Rush Hampton Smith and celebrate the reality that his faith has become sight.

01:50

On behalf of his family, I want to express the deepest of thanks for the overwhelming support that has been shown to them since this ordeal began.

02:05

So many of you have contributed blood, platelets, food, and words of comfort, and your loving kindness has meant a great deal.

02:19

I also want to thank North Jacksonville Baptist Church for welcoming us into their building.

02:26

Your generosity is a blessing.

02:31

Two weeks ago, none of us could have imagined that we would be here today.

02:37

And even as Rush lay in the hospital, we all held out the deepest of hopes that he would come back to us.

02:50

But in the providence of Almighty God, there was another plan for Rush.

02:57

And while the grief we share in this moment is real and painful, it is not to be compared to the glory which Rush is now experiencing in the presence of his Savior.

03:14

Just shortly after Rush passed, Mike and Deborah made their way back to the waiting room.

03:25

Mike and I were standing there, and we were just sort of quiet in the moment.

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And Mike reached into his pocket, and he pulled out Rush's glasses.

03:43

He'd been holding them in his pocket in hopes that he would be able to hand them to him when he woke up, so that he'd be able to see clearly when his eyes opened.

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And when he showed me the glasses, I wept for my friend.

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But I was also comforted in the realization that Rush does not need glasses anymore.

04:16

He can see clearly the face of his Savior.

04:24

The Bible never tells us that it is wrong to grieve.

04:29

As I said just a little while ago at the graveside, all of the faithful saints of Scripture experienced times of grief.

04:39

And I believe that it is true, as it has rightly been said, that the only way to take grief out of death would be to take love out of life.

04:50

We hurt because we love.

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But the Bible does tell us something about grief.

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It tells us that we are not to grieve as those who have no hope.

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As believers in Jesus Christ, we grieve our momentary loss, but we also celebrate the wonderful gain which our loved one has received.

05:19

And we are reminded to find our respite in the word of the Lord, which is our comfort in times of distress.

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So as I open the service today, I would like to read.

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And as I read the Scripture today, I'm going to be reading from Rush's Bible.

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This is a Bible that was gifted to him by his parents.

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It is his King James Bible.

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And I'm going to begin by reading his favorite passage of Scripture from the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 3.

05:51

If you have your Bible and you'd like to open it, we're going to read Ecclesiastes, chapter 3.

05:57

Verses 1 to 8.

06:07

To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven.

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A time to be born and a time to die.

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A time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted.

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A time to kill and a time to heal.

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A time to break down and a time to build up.

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A time to weep and a time to laugh.

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A time to mourn and a time to dance.

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A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together.

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A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing.

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A time to get and a time to lose.

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A time to keep and a time to cast away.

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A time to rend and a time to sew.

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A time to keep silence and a time to speak.

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A time to love and a time to hate.

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A time of war and a time of peace.

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Today is a day where we experience a time to mourn.

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And it is ordained of God that we do so.

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But let us not mourn as those who have no hope.

07:10

Let us pray.

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Our Father and our God we thank you for the opportunity to be in this place today surrounded by so many who love this family so well and who have over the last few weeks loved them.

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And Father we know the pain is immense.

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And Lord we know that pain will not stop today.

07:34

But Lord we know that you are the God who tells us that you cause all things to work together for the good of those who love you and are called according to your purpose.

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And we believe that Rush was called according to your purpose.

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And his life was no mistake and his passing no accident.

07:55

For Lord you have ordained his days when there was not even one of them.

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So we trust you our sovereign God today.

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And Lord we pray your comfort.

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Your word tells us you are our refuge and our strength.

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A very present help in times of trouble.

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Lord may you be today the refuge that we know that you are.

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In Jesus name.

08:21

Amen.

08:26

Let us rise to worship.

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Peace like a river attendeth my way.

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When sorrows like sea billows roll.

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Whatever my lot thou hast taught me to say.

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It is well, it is well with my soul.

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It is well with my soul.

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It is well, it is well with my soul.

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Though Satan should profit, though trial should come.

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Let this last assurance control.

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That Christ has regarded my helpless estate.

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And has shed his own blood for my soul.

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It is well with my soul.

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It is well, it is well with my soul.

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My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought.

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My sin not in part but the whole.

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Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more.

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Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul.

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It is well with my soul.

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It is well, it is well with my soul.

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And Lord haste the day when my faith shall be sighed.

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The clouds be rolled back as a scroll.

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The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend.

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Even so, it is well with my soul.

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It is well with my soul.

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It is well, it is well with my soul.

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Eulogy means good word in Greek, so now you can count this as homework.

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Over the past several days I've heard so very many good words about Rush.

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And that's what we're going to do for the next few minutes, is we're going to share good words.

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One of his sisters wrote, he was a good fixer.

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When things weren't right, I remember him problem solving and working for solutions to help.

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It didn't matter if it was big or small.

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I thought that's a good word, fixer.

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Another person wrote, he always had a smile and a conversation for anyone.

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And he never met a single stranger.

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What a good word that is.

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Might I remind you that in the days to come, these good words will continue to help encourage the family.

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And if you have a good word, say it.

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Call them, encourage them with your good words.

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Send them a message.

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In fact, today after the service, they're going to go and we're going to have a meal at our church.

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And they're going to sit and anyone who wants to share a good word with them is welcome.

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The family wrote a beautiful tribute to Rush.

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And as I sat and read it, I said I couldn't write anything any more beautiful or anything better than what they have done.

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And so I want to read to you what the family has written as a tribute.

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Energetic and passionate, Rush Hampton Smith had a genuine love of life and a determined spirit.

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When told no one could learn to ride a unicycle in a day, he persevered to prove it wrong.

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He loved challenges.

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He loved to try new things, especially if it meant climbing high or jumping off of tall purchases.

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He demonstrated a caring spirit to friends and customers alike.

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Working at Fisherman's Dock, he plunged into learning everything about seafood and its preparation.

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At Chick-fil-A, he was a supportive team member committed to keeping orders filled with accuracy and speed.

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But his favorite recent employment opportunity was working with the family-owned Graston Custom Roofing.

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We're going to hear from Mike and Jesse here in just a few minutes.

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He found the work challenging, loved the camaraderie of doing a task as a team that involved great physical strength and endurance, and working in high temperatures at great heights.

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Rush passed away on Friday, June the 4th.

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He was 19 years old.

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He was surrounded by his family following a week-long fight for his life after injuries sustained in a car wreck.

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A native of Jacksonville, Florida, Rush was born on December 18, 2001 at home, surrounded by his family.

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He was a 2020 graduate from the Smith-Schema School, and he is survived by his loving parents, Mike and Debra.

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His buddy and grandmother, Virginia.

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His number one aunt, Michelle.

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His one and only uncle, Paul MacArthur.

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And nine beloved older siblings, Jennifer and husband Charles.

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Amanda and husband Troy.

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Thomas and wife Emily.

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William and wife Hannah.

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Gracie, Robert, Margaret, Charles, and Rosemary.

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He also leaves behind 26 nieces and nephews that he enjoyed having in his life.

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Caleb, Karis, Mercy, Titus, Julia, Micah, Isaac, Simeon, Selah, Reuben, Anna, Amy, Joanna, Levi, Debra, Gwendolyn, Patience, Liam, Elizabeth, Martha, Alexander, Katie, Jane, Susanna, John, and Justice.

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When I was reading this and I was thinking about the words, I couldn't help but to realize something.

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And many of you have read it and probably noted this same thing.

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Rush had nine siblings who were all there when he was born.

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And they were all there when he passed.

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Jennifer tells a funny story because she's the eldest sister.

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And she said that when Rush was a baby, he didn't really think that she was his sister.

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And this is four-year-old logic.

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He said, you're not my sister.

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You don't live here.

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Can't argue with logic like that.

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Took her some convincing, but she finally convinced, no, I'm not mom's friend.

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I am your sister.

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And these friends, best friends of yours, are actually your nieces and nephews.

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Rush not only had the benefit of siblings who he loved and who loved him, but he had a faithful mother and father who loved him dearly.

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I've known the Smiths for several years, but over the past few weeks, I've come to witness an amazing expression of faith in their life.

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And I'm thankful to call them friends.

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Even as his son lie in the hospital, I saw Mike ministering to other families who were hurting in the waiting room.

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He would go and he would pray with other families whose children were hurting, whose family had been injured.

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And I remember sitting in the room and I could hear him praying for somebody else just 10 feet away from me.

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As I sat and prayed for him.

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Mike and Deborah raised their children, all of their children, in the fear and admonition of the Lord.

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And that faith was present in that waiting room.

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Rush was given to them by God so that they in turn would give Rush back to him.

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And they did.

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They raised Rush to love the Lord and to love his word.

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They raised him in the church.

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They raised him in family devotions where he would sit on Deborah's lap, cuddled up and hearing the truth of God's word.

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So we ought to praise God for giving Rush godly parents who loved him enough to point him to Christ.

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And that leads me to the most important thing that anyone could ever know about Rush Smith.

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And that is that he loved the Lord.

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He made a confession of repentance and faith and was baptized in accordance with that confession on October the 4th, 2015.

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As he got older, there were times when he, like many of us, had questions about his faith.

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But God never let him wander away.

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And just recently he had the opportunity to work alongside some very godly men who encouraged him in his faith in Christ.

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And the family is so thankful to those men.

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For their love for their son.

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And for coming alongside of him and encouraging him in their faith.

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So this time I want to invite Mike and Jesse Graston, the employers.

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And they're both going to come and share a scripture and a few words about Rush.

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So, Mike Graston, this is my little brother, Jesse.

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And we had the, Mike and Deborah, we had the privilege of working alongside Rush for the past two months.

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And the story really began in early 2021.

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When one of my long-term employees, he decided to call it quits with me.

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Had been with me for seven years.

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And then shortly after that, another one left the company.

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And I had lost some previous ones due to COVID the year before.

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And so here I am, contractor in the city.

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A lot of jobs ahead of me.

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And my guys are leaving.

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So I start praying.

22:56

This is March, April.

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And I'm seeking the Lord.

23:00

Lord, you see my situation, you know I need help.

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And I had some big jobs lined up.

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One in Fleming Island was a massive job.

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And I just, we were short-handed.

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I had a few good men.

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And so Jesse tells me one day, he says, Mike, I've got this kid Rush.

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He's interested in joining the team.

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And so I said, did you give him a speech? Which is the speech we give all the new guys.

23:28

Are you sure you want to do this? And are you a little bit crazy? Because you have to be crazy to be a roofer in Jacksonville.

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So he tried to talk Rush out of it.

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And in this way, if we can talk you out of it, but you still want to jump on board, then you're going to be a good fit.

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And Rush was not afraid.

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He said, that doesn't scare me.

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So when I heard that, I said, let's bring him on.

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And when he came on board, it was the very first day.

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I knew right away he was going to be a great fit.

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And he was very humble, hard worker.

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He was fearless.

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Rush was the climbing, right? He loved to climb.

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He was everywhere.

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And I had to actually have a talk with him about that.

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But he provided some really good competition with the guys as well.

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Because the guys see this young Rush coming on board.

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And suddenly I'm watching and I'm going, this is great.

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I'm seeing my other guys kind of perk up their energy and their attendance.

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And one day we had this massive roof that we had to load.

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And I'm watching the guys.

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And we carry stacks of tile.

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So we start with one, which is appropriate.

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But then I'm watching them go to two stacks.

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And we're talking about a steep roof.

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And we're walking up and down.

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And then I look over and Rush has three.

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So the other guys start carrying three.

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And then I see Rush with four.

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And he was just unafraid.

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He was really strong.

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But again, I had to have another talk with him.

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Rush, we don't need to go any more than four.

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But it was at that time I said to myself, he's a keeper.

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And I went to him and I said, Rush, I'm giving you a raise.

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It's been a week, but I'm giving you a raise.

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And I want you to stick around.

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And he looked at me with this shock.

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He was kind of surprised.

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And he said, thank you.

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And then it was a week later that he got his paycheck with the raise.

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And we were on the roof.

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And he goes, I'll never forget it.

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He said, can I talk to you? I need to talk to you.

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And I kind of thought, okay, here comes the, I'm putting in my two weeks.

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I'm done.

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Because I get that a lot.

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But we got down and he goes, he said, I just want you to know, I've never felt more valued and appreciated with my hard work.

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The fact that you would honor me with the raise after the first week means a lot.

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So here I am looking at him and he told me, he said, this is an answer to prayer.

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He said, this is an answer to my prayer, this job.

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And the gratitude on his face and the fact that here was an answer to my prayer, standing in front of me.

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And he was saying I was an answer to his.

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And I told him that.

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I said, Rush, you're an answer to my prayer as well.

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And in that moment, we both enjoyed God enjoying us.

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It was really neat.

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And he was a special kid.

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And I thought to myself, he's going to be with this company for as long as I can keep him.

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And I was determined to keep him.

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So, you know, with Rush's help, we finished that job two weeks early.

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It was supposed to be a two-month job and we were done in six weeks.

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And I know Rush was a big part of that.

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And I can't tell you how much I admire him.

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You guys did a good job raising him.

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He was very respectful.

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He had this humility of there's nothing I won't do.

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You know, if you ask me to do it, I'm going to do it.

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And he did it well.

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He did it well.

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So the day of his accident was the happiest I have ever seen him.

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He's not a very loud guy.

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He's kind of quiet.

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But I love his smile.

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He had a great smile.

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And when he would get into a good mood, he would want to talk.

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He loved to talk when he was happy.

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So that day, he was just kind of overwhelmed with joy.

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You could see it on his face.

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And I knew it had something to do with his new car that he had just bought.

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But it was more than that.

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He was just beaming.

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And so he's following me around the job site, talking my ear off.

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And he was reading a text from his mom, from Debra.

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And it was just happy.

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He was on top of the world.

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And I had to kind of step back, and I looked at him.

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And I just enjoyed it.

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I just enjoyed his glow.

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Because he was glowing.

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He was beaming.

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He was on top of the world.

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He was talking about saving up for a house.

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And he was just in a good place.

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And I will forever remember that day and the way.

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I can be impatient at times.

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But for some reason that day, I spent time with him.

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And I know that was the Lord that did that.

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And I'm glad that I did.

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Because it was worth it.

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And that's how I will remember him.

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And so Mike and Debra, thank you for the time that I had with him.

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And I'll never forget him.

29:20

Shortly, and I'm going to close with this and turn it over to Jesse.

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But shortly after I got the news from Mike, it was hard.

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I was questioning.

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Why? You know, we all ask the questions.

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We kind of struggle.

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He's so young.

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And I've got six kids, five boys.

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And so this hit home.

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It was very close to home for me.

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But I was just seeking the Lord about trying to figure him out.

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And it was a few minutes later.

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My wife sends a text.

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And it was my five-year-old.

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And he was asking her a question.

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And he said, he said, Mama, who made God powerful? And how did he get powerful? And I felt the Lord right in that moment.

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And I stared at that question.

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And I thought that the answer gave me a lot of peace.

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Because it just started to wash over me.

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But the answer is no one made God powerful.

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He always was from the very beginning.

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The uncreated God is omniscient from the beginning.

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And so you can't help but kind of turn over.

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And I did in that moment all the questions.

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I turned them all over.

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And I said, you know, I am not going to argue with the uncreated God here.

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Who is omniscient and omnipotent.

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And I remembered a quote right at that time.

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That he permits in his wisdom what he can prevent in his power.

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And so I kind of just released it over to him.

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But I'll tell you, there are going to be a few other employees that I will remember.

31:24

Like Rush.

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And I think we would have grown to more than just an employer-employee relationship.

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He was becoming a friend.

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And we were very, we were going to be very close.

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And I'm going to miss him dearly.

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So I'm going to close with this verse and turn it over to Jesse.

31:45

This is a New King James.

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This is Galatians 2.20.

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I have been crucified with Christ.

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It is no longer I who live.

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But Christ lives in me.

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And the life which I now live in the flesh.

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I live by faith in the Son of God.

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Who loved me.

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And gave himself for me.

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Amen.

32:08

Good afternoon.

32:11

I didn't get to know Rush for as long as most of you.

32:20

But the amount of time that I was able to spend with him was pretty rich.

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You know, I didn't know much about him.

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You know, leading into the interview.

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But when I first sat down with him and he told me he was, he had nine older siblings.

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I knew that we were going to get along.

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Because I'm the youngest in my family too.

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And you know, as upon him starting work with me.

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Me and him started to exchange, you know, the stories of us kind of surviving older siblings.

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And you know, just the business that goes along with that.

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But also one day he got a flat tire.

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And I was at work and I just got my lunch.

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And he's like, Jesse, I got this flat tire.

33:05

And I was like, alright, I'll be over there.

33:07

I'll be over there.

33:08

And you know, I popped open his trunk.

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And I saw that he had his unicycle in there.

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And I said, oh man, we're going to be even better friends.

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Because I ride a unicycle.

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You know, I said, we can start a little sideshow.

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You know, go around town.

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Do birthdays or something.

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But you know, I just, he really, me and him just connected on a whole heart level from the beginning.

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Not just, you know, just work.

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But I had a heart for him.

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I believed that as soon as I met him, I could see in his eyes that he's searching.

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And the time that I got to spend with him, you know, I just, I prayed for him.

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You know, I didn't try and preach at him about different things.

33:53

But we would talk.

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And he's an observer.

33:56

And he would begin to ask me a lot of questions as the weeks went on.

34:02

And this one day, about a month ago, we were working together.

34:10

And he was just, we got paired up on this one section.

34:15

And it was just, you know when you know it's just the Lord.

34:19

And it's just, and I have to slow down.

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You know, not worry about, you know, just the task at hand.

34:27

But you just acknowledge that there's something bigger at work.

34:31

And he had just a lot of questions, you know, about my faith and my journey with God.

34:40

And the conversation got interrupted because the rain started to come down.

34:45

And we had to, we had to pack up for the day.

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But as we were getting ready to go into our cars to go home, I just knew God was just telling me, you need to speak with him.

34:58

You need to continue this conversation.

35:00

So I said, Rush, man, why don't you jump in my truck? Let's talk.

35:04

And he immediately got in and as the rain started to come down, he just started to open up to me about his life and some of his struggles.

35:20

And, you know, it was just, you know, the power of God in that place when I don't know him that long.

35:27

But, you know, he felt comfortable enough to open up to me.

35:30

And he had questions and he says, you know, Jesse, you know, for a while there, I started to doubt my faith.

35:41

And, you know, but I know that, you know, coming to this job, you know, was God, you know, to renew my faith again.

35:51

And, you know, as I ask a number of young guys that I try and speak into their lives, you know, when he's got questions, you know, well, Rush, what do you think the purpose and meaning of life is? You know, so easy when we have so many different issues and questions and confusion and we have all this list of stuff.

36:11

And we can solve a lot of that if we just zoom way out and just answer one big, big question.

36:17

What is that purpose and meaning of life? And to my astonishment, my amazement, he actually gave me the right answer.

36:24

And he said, that's to love the Lord God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul and all your strength.

36:33

And I knew that it was a seed that had been sown into his life through his parents and his family, that the truth had been in him and seed formed for a while.

36:44

And the enemy had tried to rob him of that, try to snatch that seed out.

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And he's like, Jesse, the only problem is I just I don't know how to do that.

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I said, you know, Rush, I struggle sometimes to know exactly how to do that.

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These days, I just try and keep it real simple.

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You know, there's this verse in Colossians that says, whatever you do, just do it unto the Lord with all your heart.

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You know, whether you're cutting fish, you're up on a roof, you're making a sandwich, you're running a business.

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You know, the point is to do it with God.

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Don't do life disconnected from him.

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You're loving him with all of our heart, doing everything unto the Lord heartily.

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You know, and from that day, from that moment, I saw in his eyes that seed take form of fruit and come alive in him.

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He says, oh, you know, just just everything.

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I'm at work, at home, you know, just going to keep it simple.

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And I prayed with him and he would just restart his walk.

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And he was crying, and I just know, I just know that he's in glory.

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He's in glory, you know, and I just have to ask myself, you know, daily, am I am I walking in in the greater purpose and meaning of life? You know, Jesus said that what Rush quoted, that was what Jesus said was the great commandment.

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The first and the great.

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He said, if you listen to my words and you do them, you teach others to do them, you'll be great in my kingdom.

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You know, that we can measure our life in so many different ways.

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And the world gives us lots of options how to what is success.

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But in God's eyes, it's just saying a weak, broken yes, like Rush did in my truck.

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He says, well, I don't know, but I want to and I'm just going to say yes to it.

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That's a highly successful person when he arrives before those gates in heaven.

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The Lord says, well done.

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You know, he didn't have a lot of time to be able to walk it out, but he postured his heart and he said yes.

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And so I have to remind myself each day because we're not guaranteed tomorrow.

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Am I saying yes today to that first and great commandment? I'll leave you with this.

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This is a scripture.

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It's Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, chapter 13.

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Verse 11.

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Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice, strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.

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Thank you.

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Let's rise to worship.

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Jesus, sleep on His gentle breast.

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I'm excited, sleep, sleep, my soul shall rest.

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In the presence of angels, the songs of glory over the Jasper sea.

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Safe in the arms of Jesus, safe on His gentle breast.

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There by His love forsaken, sweetly my soul shall rest.

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In the arms of Jesus, safe from corroding care.

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Safe from the world's temptations, sin cannot harm me there.

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Free from the plight of sorrow, free from my doubts and fears.

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Holy of Him, Lord Child, safe in the arms of Jesus.

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I want to invite you to remain standing as we open the Word of God together.

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In the 14th chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus is in the upper room with His disciples, and He says these words.

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Let not your heart be troubled.

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You believe in God, believe also in Me.

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In My Father's house are many mansions.

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If it were not so, I would have told you.

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I go to prepare a place for you.

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And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself.

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That where I am, there ye may be also.

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And whither I go, ye know, and the way ye know.

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Thomas saith unto Him, Lord, we know not whither Thou goest, and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto Him, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

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No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.

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Father in Heaven, as we hear from Your Word today, I pray that even now, Lord, that You would fill me with Your Holy Spirit.

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And Lord, use this time as an opportunity to remind us of the promises of Your Word.

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And Lord God, that Your people might be encouraged by this Word.

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And Lord, that those among us who are not yet believers, that they might hear it and follow the command of Christ, who said, You believe in God, believe also in Me.

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We pray all of this in Jesus' name and for His sake.

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Amen.

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Please be seated.

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The 14th chapter of the Gospel of John is a passage that I have read and preached many times.

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And as I sat late last night in my chair, asking God what He would want me to say today from His Word, it became more and more clear as the night went on that I not deviate from the norm.

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This passage is the passage of the day.

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It provides for us a reminder.

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It provides for us comfort.

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And it also provides to us a call.

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Jesus said to His disciples, Let not your hearts be troubled.

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And I got to thinking, if there is anything in the world that troubles the heart, it's the loss of a child.

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When a man loses his wife, he's called a widower.

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When a wife loses a husband, she's called a widow.

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When a child loses a parent, they're called an orphan.

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We don't have a good word for a parent who loses a child.

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It doesn't feel normal.

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It doesn't feel right.

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It feels like the order somehow got confused.

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This is the time the heart is troubled.

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Jesus said, Let not your hearts be troubled.

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And I want to say something about those words.

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If that were all that He said, it wouldn't be enough.

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Because a lot of people say that.

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A lot of people say, Let not your hearts be troubled.

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People say it on the news.

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People say it in the media.

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People say it on the talking heads as we get in our news feeds, on our devices.

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Let not your hearts be troubled.

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But by itself, that is just a sentiment.

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Sort of like, buck up.

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And that's not all Jesus gave.

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He said, Let not your hearts be troubled.

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You believe in God.

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Believe also in me.

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You see, what accompanied His sentiment was a word of power.

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In the Greek language, there's some confusion as to whether or not we have here an indicative or an imperative.

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The King James actually does it both.

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We get the indicative first.

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Ye believe in God.

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That's a statement of something that is.

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We have the imperative.

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Believe also in me.

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And I truly believe that though the Greek is a little obscure at that point, I think that the King James translators get it right.

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I do think that that's what Jesus is saying.

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He's looking at His men who certainly did believe in God.

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And He said, ye believe in God.

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Believe also in me.

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Might I say to you that there are many people in the world today who would say they believe in God, but they say something that's not enough.

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If you believe in God and you don't believe in Jesus, you are as lost as a goose.

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This passage tells us so.

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Jesus said, ye believe in God.

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Believe also in me.

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That's the call to faith.

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That's the call to trust.

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That's the call of Jesus Christ.

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That's His word to you today.

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Ye believe in God.

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Believe also in me.

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And then He goes on and He gives us the promise of faith.

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He says, in my Father's house are many mansions.

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If it were not so, I would have told you.

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This is Jesus' way of saying I'm not telling you a lie.

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I'm not giving you pie in the sky hope that's not real.

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Jesus said, if it were not so, I would have told you.

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One of my favorite books outside of scripture and it's actually not a religious book, but it's a book called Animal Farm by George Orwell.

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Now George Orwell was not a Christian.

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In fact, George Orwell had an antipathy for religious folks.

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And in his book Animal Farm, which is about animals who take over the farm.

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It's an allegory about the animals rising up.

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It's about workers' rights and the rise of communism in Russia.

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And it's a lot of backstory to the book.

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But the point of the book, at one point in the book, there's a raven that would fly overhead and the raven would tell all the animals that work hard, work hard because when you die there's sugar candy mountain waiting for you.

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Work hard because there's sugar candy mountain waiting for you.

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And see that was Orwell's view of clergy.

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He saw the clergy as liars.

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He saw them as charlatans who promised something that wasn't true.

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But let me tell you who was wrong.

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George Orwell was wrong.

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Because Jesus said if it were not so, I would have told you.

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Jesus said, I'm not lying to you.

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In my father's house and if it were not so, I would have told you.

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That's the promise from the Lord Jesus Christ himself and you can know it's true because he cannot tell a lie.

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Jesus Christ is God in the flesh and he cannot tell a lie.

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So we see the call to faith.

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Ye believe in God, believe also in me.

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We see the promise of faith which is in my father's house or many rooms and if it were not so, I would have told you.

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But then we come to the object of faith.

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And might I say the object of faith is the most important part of faith because if you put your faith in the wrong thing, moreover if you put your faith in the wrong person, your faith will not stand at judgment.

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See many people like John 14 1-3 Let not your hearts be troubled.

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Ye believe in God, believe also in me.

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My father's house or many mansions if it were not so, I would have told you and they stop right there.

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But guess what? The verses don't stop.

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The verses go on.

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Jesus said, You know the way to where I am going and Thomas said unto him, Lord, we do not know where you're going.

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How can we know the way? I love Thomas.

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Just for a moment, let me just say people call him doubting Thomas.

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I say it's so unfair.

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Yes, he doubted.

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But when have you not doubted? When have you not struggled? When have you not had a moment where your faith was weak? Let me tell you something about Thomas.

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When Jesus was waiting to go and raise Lazarus from the dead, Thomas said, Let us go with him that we may die with him.

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See, Thomas was willing to die with Jesus on that day.

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So let's not give Thomas too hard a time.

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But Thomas did have a question in the upper room when Jesus said, You know the way to where I'm going.

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Thomas said, Lord, we know not where you're going.

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How can we know the way? And Jesus said, I am the way.

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And the truth and the life and no one cometh unto the Father but by me.

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Let me tell you something.

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This is the one thing that our world today finds so unpalatable and that is that Jesus Christ is the only way.

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Few people want to hear verse 6, but the world needs to hear John 14, 6.

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Jesus does make a promise, but the promise is not to everyone.

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The promise is only for those who repent of their sin and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Why? Why is it an exclusive claim? I'll lay it out as simple as I can because every one of us is a sinner.

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The Bible says that sin is breaking God's law and every one of us has broken God's law.

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If I walked around the room today and I said, have you ever told a lie? You would have to say yes.

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If I say, have you ever looked with lust? You'd have to say yes.

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If I say, have you ever stolen anything? You would have to say yes and therefore you will stand before God guilty of your sins and if you stand without the Lord Jesus Christ, you will stand without a Savior.

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But if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, repent and trust in Him, though your sins be as scarlet, they will be washed whiter than snow.

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Though they be as crimson, they will be as wool.

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The Bible calls it the great transaction.

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God made Him who knew no sin to become sin for us that we could become the righteousness of God in Him.

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Understand this.

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Funeral services are for the living.

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Rush is with Jesus.

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This is for y'all.

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So if you feel like I'm preaching hard, you're welcome.

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It's what you need.

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It's what I need.

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Because let me tell you something.

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More than anything else in this world that I could tell you today, more than any accolades we could give about Rush's life would be to remind you that he loved Jesus and that's the only reason he's in glory.

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It's not because he was a good young man.

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It wasn't because he was a good worker.

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It wasn't because he was a good person.

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It was because the Lord God Almighty set His affection upon him before the foundation of the world.

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He drew him to himself and he gave him the gift of faith and the gift of regeneration and by that gift of regeneration he came to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and that is the only reason any man, woman or child will ever see the kingdom.

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So I ask you today.

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Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you repented of your sin and trusted in Him? Young people, the book of James tells us this life is a vapor and days like today remind us how quickly that vapor can go.

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But we do not pass from life to death.

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We pass from life to life if we are in Christ.

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I'll leave you with this thought.

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I want you to imagine if you will.

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I want you to imagine a rope.

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A rope that goes forever.

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I know such a rope doesn't exist but we all have imaginations.

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Imagine a rope that goes maybe over a cliff or into a hole and it just goes on and on and on and on forever.

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And you're holding the end of it.

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Imagine that rope being in your hand.

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That rope represents this life and what goes forever is what's after this life.

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Now your bit of rope might be this long because you might have a long life or like Rush you might have a short life but what really matters is what's past what you're holding in your hands because that's what is going to last forever.

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Are you prepared for forever? If you're not let me say this to you.

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Jesus said this all the Father gives me will come to me and the one who comes to me I will never cast out.

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If you would but repent and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ he will not cast you out but he will receive you and he will love you and remember this you might be thinking to yourself I'm a great sinner you will never be a greater sinner than Jesus is a Savior.

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Let's pray.

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Father I thank you for the opportunity to preach your gospel today.

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I thank you for the reminder of the gospel that saves and I pray Lord that you would open hearts to believe that gospel.

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Lord forgive us forgive us for when we forget you fix our hope upon you Lord.

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In Jesus name Amen.

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Let us rise to worship.