Walk Through Esther Part 4

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The Prophet Jeremiah Part 5

The Prophet Jeremiah Part 5

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All right, let's Let me put this here We will pray and then we will get started
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Lord Jesus again as we open your word We ask that through your Holy Spirit that we may rightly understand what you have revealed there
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So that we may have comfort and assurance and confidence in the forgiveness of sins and our great salvation
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Won for us by our Savior our Redeemer our sanctifier and our Lord We also ask that through the
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Holy Spirit that would you you would continue to strengthen us to mortify our sinful flesh and its
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Passions and to bear fruit in keeping with repentance and produce in us the fruit of the Spirit of love joy peace patience kindness gentleness
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Self -control we ask this in Jesus name. Amen Okay, so I am looking in the chat to see if there any questions that arose as a result of the
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Of the sermon and just a reminder for everybody and that is is that we are a question asking congregation we do not trust pastor
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Roseboro just because pastor Roseboro says something pastor Roseboro's only right if what he says agrees with the
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Word of God and If something I've said in the sermon or in the Sunday school Brings up a question that you would like answered.
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I assure you we will not do the touch not God's anointed thing Instead we will properly address the question
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And if I don't know the answer and you actually stumped the pastor then I have homework to do that's just how this goes
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You know Homework's a good thing. All right, so Yes Okay Sure.
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So, all right, so one of our adult catechumens Ashley She is a question in regard to the one of the primary differences between the historic liturgy and some of the modern liturgies
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And you'll note that I am I'm going to use a word That seems like I'm misusing it.
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So when we talk about the historic liturgy, basically Yeah, basically, yeah
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Yeah based. Yeah, we are recording So basically every church has a liturgy and a liturgy is basically an order of service
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It's the things that you do in Particular order and every church kind of falls into some kind of traditions as it relates to their liturgies so if you attend big box megachurch here in Grand Forks in town then the service is going to begin with 30 to 35
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Minutes in a dark room of the praise band people on their feet you know
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Offering a sacrifice of praise. All right, and I was I Gotta admit
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I've always struggled with that beginning for any kind of a church service because here's the deal We if you've been in those services, you know how this goes
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You got the lady in the front that kind of on the edge crazy lady that you don't really want to talk about and maybe
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You think she might have nine cats Okay, she's she's standing at the front of the service with her hands way up in the air and she's swaying back and forth
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And you you're not comfortable with the situation. And so maybe by song two you've got your hands up here
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But it's it's the super holy people who are like totally surrendered and all this kind of stuff And the reality is is that you feel like you're being manipulated and you probably or I?
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Would note that there have been studies that have shown that the same You know brain chemistry that is released during a dark room praise and worship service is the exact same
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Brain chemistry that's released at a really good secular rock concert. All right, I'll be
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Yeah, you know or at the casino, right? But you know, I you know, I remember oh man,
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I'm dating myself now I I saw you two at the Los Angeles Coliseum and That was the rattle and hum tour and it was just Spectacular and at the time
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I saved up like every penny I could so that I was sitting on you know I'd like row 50 so I could still kind of see but that was the best
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Oh that concert just went on and on and on forever and there were times just in the middle of it it was just complete goosebumps best concert ever and You know what?
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There's no functional difference between that and what goes on in a praise and worship service in a big -box
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Church So what's the big primary difference then between the historic liturgy and I'm gonna use that that phrase historic liturgy and And then modern liturgies today in many evangelical churches and the big difference is
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That the assumption is very different primary assumption you go to church in today's evangelicalism for the purpose of beginning by you offering a sacrifice of praise to God You are there to serve
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God and God is kind of sitting up on In heaven on the sidelines with his arms crossed and if you surrender enough
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And maybe if the atmosphere gets charged enough with the Holy Spirit then, you know, like the
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Pillsbury Doughboy He'll he'll he'll touch you and give you goosebumps, right? We call them goosebumps, right?
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You know, the Holy Spirit touches you and go like, you know, yeah, right and then and so the big
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Dwayne said not to do that again Okay, right, but here's the thing
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Based on the historic liturgy. That's all backwards And so in in the modern liturgies, you're there to serve
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God. You're there to offer your sacrifice of praise you're there to bring your tithes and your offerings and you're gonna get information on how if you apply yourself if you use your free will and you obey these things and your life will
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Get better and everything's really is geared on law the historic liturgy Assumes something totally different and that is is that The primary mover in the the divine service in the historic liturgy is
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Christ not you and This is why Everybody has a role.
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There is no audience in the historic liturgy Everybody is a participant and Christ is there to serve you
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So it begins then with the Invocation the words in the name of the Father and the
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Son and the Holy Spirit and notice the pastor doesn't say these words We begin in the name of the
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Father Son and Holy Spirit. We begin nothing Christ begins So we just say in the name of the
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Father Son and the Holy Spirit and Christ promises We're two or more gathered in his name. He is present
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So we recognize that Jesus is present and he's here to serve us So, how do we begin then?
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Well, we we got to deal with that sin thing All right So first assumption you have spent the entire week
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Tempted by the devil the world your own sinful flesh and any other
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Ridiculous things that have come along and you have not emerged for them those temptations unscathed
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None of you came walking on water to get to the church You've all been bruised bullied beaten and defeated by the unholy
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Trinity and Christ's number one thing is to assure you of the forgiveness of your sins and So you confess and then you hear the absolution and I always have to point this out
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You know If you've never heard an absolution before it can be a little jarring and the reason why it's jarring is to sit there and go did the pastor just say
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I Forgive you all of your sins. Who does he think he is? I mean does he only
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God can forgive sins and a good Lutheran pastor will sit there and go exactly
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Well, then why did you use I because Jesus told me to okay and so in in the gospel of John chapter 20
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Jesus says to the Apostles and he gives to the church. He says the sins you forgive will have already been forgiven
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It's a perfect tense verb, which means that if you put it on a timeline you confess your sin Jesus is up in heaven and he says
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I forgive you then pastor Roseboro says I forgive you All right, he said at first I just get to say it for him
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I always like to use the analogy and you know in courtrooms. So when you go to court, all right
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Let's say let's say I decided that I was gonna Really see how fast my truck could go, you know
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You know and so I I was driving out on highway one and I got it up to 107 right until Right, you know at 107 you're not just getting a ticket at this point
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You're gonna you're gonna actually spend a little bit of time in jail So this is a hypothetical issue those of you thinking.
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Oh, no pastor Roseboro's been in jail. No, he hasn't But but if I were put in jail, right
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I would have to stand before the judge and maybe because you know I'm such a nefarious character when
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I stood before the judge. I have handcuffs on right? So there I am in handcuffs and how do you plead?
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Not not guilty, sir Say it in the form of a question, right?
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Not guilty and and the judge is looking at my rap sheet and going, you know Roseboro This is the first time you've ever done anything like this.
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Tell you what I'm going to make a decision I'm gonna drop the charges. All right, and he says
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I'm gonna drop the charges. I'm Releasing you right? Will the judge get down off the bench and come and undo my handcuffs and let me go
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No, okay, who gets to do that? The bailiff right the police officer in the courtroom.
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So the bailiff comes up to me. He takes his keys He says I'm releasing you. All right, is he right?
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Is he releasing me? Oh, yeah, he is But is he doing that on his own recognizance?
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No, the judge dropped the charges. I'm free to go. So when the bailiff comes and says
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I'm releasing you He's doing the work of the judge same thing with an absolution
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So because the text says the sins you forgive will have already been forgiven
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Christ the judge has slapped the gavel down and he said not guilty You are forgiven my job.
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I'm the bailiff. I get to unloose the the handcuffs or open up the cell
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But I'm doing that on his authority. He's the one who said it first. Does that make sense? so, you know first order of business is
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You know Christ is there to forgive you and assure you of the forgiveness of your sins
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And when somebody gives you a gift like that, how do we respond? Thank you and praise so we immediately go into the
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Kyrie and Then what do we hear? We hear the Word of God. We hear
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God's Word. We hear the Old Testament reading We hear the Epistle text we hear the gospel and one of the one of the most telling things
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I've ever heard people say and I hear it with some frequency is that people who attend our services for the very first time either in person or an online ethic having spent time in And some of the churches that call themselves churches today that I've had people literally say they hear more
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Bible in one service in one service at Kongsvinger than they do over months or a year in a different congregation and That's crazy to me.
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That's just crazy You know and always and again people will thank me for my sermons and it's like listen I'm just totally ripping off the scriptures.
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You think Mark Driscoll was a plagiarist? Come on. Listen to Rose, bro Man, all he ever does is read those scriptures, right?
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All right, but at least I'm honest about it It's not my work All right, so you hear the
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Word of God and then we respond in thanks and praise So note that the there's no there's no time in the historic liturgy where God basically says
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All right, let's get you you need to perform here Get busy offer me that sacrifice of praise
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For what? Well, cuz I'm God, okay No, instead every time we respond in praise and in worship in the context
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God has moved first. And so what happens is is that the historic liturgy one of the reasons why
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I personally believe it is a superior Vehicle for conveying the faith is because of that aspect it actually works very well in long gospel and a right understanding of who's doing the doing and it gives a context for our responses rather than you know
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I just need to sway my hands in the air and say seven words eleven times and really mean it
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You know that instead when I say thank you Lord I actually have something to thank him for does that make sense?
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So and unfortunately much of today's modern liturgies really really do not make the proper distinction between law and gospel and at its fundamental level
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It reinforces a concept of salvation or self -righteousness by works and even though it doesn't say it
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It's more conducive to that And so the the early church fathers They actually had a concept that they've they've written about a very famous Latin phrase and the
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Reformers picked it up again At the time of the Reformation and the phrase is Lex Arendi Lex Credendi Lex meaning law
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So the law of prayer is the law of belief and it's this interesting thing what you pray what you sing what you do is going to impact what you believe and It really fundamentally works out that way.
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So and I remember years ago I had a lady come up to me after a service and she goes, you know pastor
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Rose I just figured that it's out. What'd you figure out? You assume that we're all Christians here Yeah That's kind of the other that's the other funky thing
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So in these other liturgies these modern liturgies, not only are you required to perform for God?
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But even the way they speak they always assume that the person who is there is a potential believer
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Or really isn't a believer and it's a very subtle Difference but it's one that really begins to erode any confidence you have that I can be forgiven
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You know or that I am saved and and and these are these are very subtle differences
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But the the historic liturgy assumes you is a Christian Yes, Marilyn Right, okay
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So so now the the the question comes up and and so the question was why do we use old -school?
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terminology for these sections of the liturgy answer because every discipline requires you to have a vocabulary and Changing the names of these things doesn't even make any sense
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I would note that you cannot even order a coffee at Starbucks without learning a different language Okay, okay
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So I'm just saying Okay, you know I so the idea then here is is that rather than saying?
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Okay, we're not we're no longer gonna call it the intro. We're gonna call it the I don't know what
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I don't know What we would call it So the idea then is is that we just keep the terminology and then you're gonna have to make your pastor explain to you what?
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that means Yeah, it's but my job. Okay, just so you know
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I Was gonna remind people this is a slave shackle Okay, my job.
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I am the slave of the congregation. I am NOT here to rule and to reign I am here to serve Full stop so my job is to teach and if you need to know something.
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It's my job to teach you so Yeah, what was?
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Yeah, yeah, I actually so on our on the tongues of anger Lutheran Church website if you go into the
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Not the sermon section, but the Bible teaching section. I did an entire series on The liturgy pull it apart piece by piece and Explain what all the pieces are and why they and why they exist in you know the function that they serve so you can actually
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Find that on the website, but I don't know if I ever went into like the actual
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Intro it is the Latin for this. I don't think I've ever done that so I Might have some work to do
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I have to go back and rework some of my terminology Yeah, what was that after Esther?
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Yeah? And we'll get there, so we have a special request for You have no faith in me
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None whatsoever Okay, now hang on a second I'm gonna. I'm gonna take a look at questions in the chat box real quick.
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I know there are some comments. There was a conversation in there about Digital cobbler and somebody gave a very very funny response that digitals are out of season right now.
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That was really funny Louise that I I'm actually impressed I'm sort of kind of jealous.
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I didn't say that anyway, okay? All right, let's see here
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Kells family Kells and Rick glad that you're able to join us Yes, we are recording, and then that's a great.
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Okay. Let's see if there is No, heaven in heaven. How did the devil sin correction if there's no sin in heaven?
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How did the how did that work, okay? so the the old you're dealing with what's called the the philosophical conundrum known as the
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Odyssey if God created everything is good, and I would note that even in the book of Genesis after God created everything he said of it all it is
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Tov my own Not not just good like really really good really good Where does then evil come from and so the idea then is is that and this is where if we're gonna have a discussion?
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about free will You have to put it into its proper context so human beings born after the fall do not have free will as it relates to God they have a bound will but prior to the fall
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This is going to include the devil as well as Adam and Eve prior to the rebellion against God They had the ability of their own volition to obey
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God's commands, and we learned that That the the tree of the knowledge of good of in evil that God had given basically one command to Adam and Eve and that was
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Don't eat from that tree Because the day you eat of it. You will surely die and Adam said stop calling me surely so Thank You Elizabeth Yeah That's right.
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Yeah, you know the movie sir. That's right. He picked the wrong day to stop sniffing glue. That's right, so But the idea then is is that we learned from one of the minor prophets that that was an actual covenant that God was in with Adam and Eve and That Adam and Eve broke that covenant, and they did so of their own volition so the way to think of it
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Then is is that? there are legitimate consequences to disobeying a good
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God and God then turns them over to the opposite of what is good so if if God is good
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And we kind of exemplify good maybe in a in like a list of the fruit of the Spirit love joy peace patience kindness
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Self -control gentleness right things like this all right evil would be the exact opposite of that And that's the and that's the intended consequence of abandoning and disobeying
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God so rather than joy you have just anxiety right grief
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Rather than self -control you have no control at all and so the idea then when we talk about evil we see it in Scripture as the natural consequence of disobeying
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God and In some ways evil is a punishment for the disobedience against God You know so that that's really in and the ever -increasing
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Magnitude of it is when God basically takes his hands off and lets the thing run its course
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So you know so the idea then is is that sin and evil do not have their origin in God?
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Sin ultimately has its initial origin in Satan and then it for humanity sin has its origin in Adam and Eve but not in God and So you'll note then that the
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Christian gospel teaches us that not only did Christ die for all of our sins in the punishment that we deserve
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But that Christ is saving us through death
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Which means that we all better become accustomed to suffering? Because Christ isn't saving us from our suffering.
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He's not saving us from death He's not saving us from the from our bodies getting old and breaking down or anything like that He's saving us through it
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So Yeah, that's why I always keep pointing out to you guys Just look at me do the comparative work week after week after we take a look at photos from me three years ago
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Look at me now and go Yeah It's getting worse, okay, you know, but if I can note that you know when
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I'm in the pulpit I can see you guys It's worse for you, too. So, you know The only exception are the youth but don't worry once you hit like 24
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Everything starts to come apart. So, you know All right. Let's see here
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Carmen talks about feral cats. Okay All right, I did make a mention of the cat lady, okay,
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I think you're in the clear Carmen. All right, let's see here Did you do to?
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Rachel says Jeff got pulled over in Minnesota for speeding a few Sundays ago. Well, hopefully that'll teach him
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Up the true story here My wife for years went without getting a ticket
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Not a single ticket. And of course, I I have a few to my name
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But what ended up happening was this hilarious? Okay, we were on a family vacation and we were driving through,
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Utah and Josh was an infant at the time and he was he was in the backseat in his car seat and Barb was driving she was doing a stint and here's the funny things
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My wife always volunteers one one family driving trips to drive for me for a little bit so I can get some rest
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I can't she drives like a bat out of hell. All right, and and all right
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There was one time we were in Arkansas and I was in the backseat and no kidding
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She was ripping around all the curves that were in the road My head got smashed up against the side of the truck and and then
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I I'm trying to sleep Oh, you can't sleep. No, I can't you know, so here's what happened
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We're in Utah and we and I'm trying to get some rest and all of a sudden whoo No joke, no joke.
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I sit there and go Because my wife's
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Continual mantra was I have a perfect driving record. You don't okay, so I'm sitting there going justice you know
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Can't defeat the long arm of the law and the police officer comes up and goes license and registration and She hands him over and he looks in the backseat and sees
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Joshua in the car seat and goes Oh, I see that you have your toddler in a car seat. Yes, sir.
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We obey the law regarding that sir Okay, and the cop said here's your license and registration.
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I'm gonna let you go. Good job. Keep at it I Notice I'm doing group therapy right now
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The best part of this though was decades later when we got a we got a ticket in the mail
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It was in my name because the car was registered in my name and my wife takes a look at and she goes
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I know what This is it's a ticket. You got a ticket. Didn't you you ran a red light? I'm all
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I Don't know she and she's she's kind of digging on me, right? She opens the thing up It's a photo of her
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To this day she says she was framed but I will say this no low no longer a perfect drive it record.
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Yay Oh There is a
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God in heaven above yes, all right Best 200 bucks
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I ever paid. All right Sorry All right, let's see here, all right the most important subject in the
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Bible was authority, but I was Brushed it aside because he was a pastor Okay So someone one person says my former pastor once began a sermon by saying the most important subject in the
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Bible was authority Boy, I got to tell you when somebody starts a sermon like that with a statement like that We got a big problem big problem.
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And so you're gonna know that Christ makes it clear in the Gospels I pointed this out in a recent video
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That as Jesus is getting ready to go to the cross He's going to go to the cross he says to his disciples
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We're going to Jerusalem the chief priests are gonna hand me over to the Gentiles. They're gonna crucify me and on the third day
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I'm gonna rise. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah Then the mother of the Zebedee boys comes up and says
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Jesus do for me whatever I ask what are you asking when you come into your kingdom let let my sons one sit on your right and the other on your left and Jesus literally says to her you don't know what you're talking
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But you don't know what you're asking for and I always like to point out that The guys who got to be on Jesus's right and his left
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Those are the two thieves while Christ was on the cross All right, and Jesus pulls the disciples aside and has to have a little conversation with him
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He says that the the Gentiles lord it over you not so with you
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Right the greatest among you will be the servant of all The greatest among you will be the servant of all pastors do not rule or reign.
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They do not cast vision They are slaves of the congregation Full stop and if he thinks he's more than that you need to have a chat with your pastor
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All right now granted. I'm I was put placed into an office, but I will tell you
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I used to have power I know what powers like I was a CEO in the corporate world and Power in the corporate world kind of goes something like this
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I'm looking at your performance and I expect you to get your numbers up If you don't get your numbers up and you don't start playing well with the other teammates
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Then we're going to invite you to play on somebody else's team, which is a polite way of saying we're gonna sack you
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Right. I had power like that those kinds of meetings by the way in the corporate world
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They have a phrase that they go by the term is to come to Jesus meetings I wasn't a pastor when
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I was a CEO I had come to Jesus meetings with people and boy they either towed the line or they found another place to work
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That's power At the power to cut someone's pay to give them an increase give them more responsibility take away responsibility.
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That's power When I became a pastor, holy smokes Okay, I was placed into this office and I was given a
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Bible a pitcher of water a glass You know a bottle of wine and some bread What am
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I supposed to do with this? Okay, I got nothing I got seriously I might as well be naked in the pulpit now that would not be blessing anybody
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But the whole point is is that when it comes to power? I haven't got any and You know what?
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This is a good thing Now I have to obey Christ and I have to fulfill the duties of the office and there's where it gets interesting
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The pastoral office has duties that are outlined by Scripture So I have to actually do those things
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All right, and that's not me sitting there going. I insist that I do it my way. Uh -uh. No Uh, I don't want to do this my way
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Okay, cuz I have to explain all this to Jesus at the end All right, and I don't want to have that kind of come to Jesus meeting with Jesus himself
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Okay, so there are duties of the office. I have to fulfill and dispense those duties
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I cannot depart from them and on top of it all ordained pastors.
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They have ordination vows and What I find really alarming is that among the churches that still have ordination vows guys don't take them seriously
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At all They break them and nobody cares. I Mean that would be like breaking your wedding vow and nobody care, you know
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That's it's that serious So as a servant then I serve within an office that has duties and it's not me insisting on doing those duties
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Christ is insisting that I serve by dispensing those duties. Does that make sense?
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Yep. All right. All right. Let's see here
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Yeah, all right, all right, let's go ahead and do a little bit of work in Esther because we're getting close to wrapping
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Esther up Now if you remember last week, oh boy Things did not go so well for Haman okay, the guy who was able to make a 50 cubit high gallows overnight ended up hanging on it and the the the real interesting thing was
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Again, I still crack up that he was coming to see the king for the purpose of getting the king's permission to hang
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Mordecai on the gallows that he had made and He shows up just as the king had finished reading the chronicles of the great deeds that have been done in his kingdom and decides he wants to honor
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Mordecai and you know and Still is so so rich that Haman got to come up with the way in which the
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Mordecai was to be honored But now that now that Haman is dead We've noted last week that the king's edict as it relates to killing the
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Jews Cannot be undone according to the laws of the Medes and Persians That type of edict that has the signet ring on it cannot be revoked
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So now we've got to find a way for these people to not perish and so this is where an actual conversation
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Can and really biblically should take place as it relates to self -defense
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Now we recognize The commandment you shall not murder
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You shall not murder Which begs the question is all killing murder?
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No, it is not and there are those who with who reside within the visible church
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Who do not make this distinction and they should They absolutely should so We have a few veterans here
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The military exists for the purpose of what what what?
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Defense yeah or or offense in a just war Yeah Make the other guy die for his country as Patton famously said right your job is not to die for your country your job is
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To make the other guy die for his country, you know great line, right? Right But all of that being said
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We do make a distinction between what are considered just and unjust wars. We have to make that distinction
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So when the Nazis invaded Poland Was that just? No, no
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Nazis invaded Poland. No way Okay, when the Japanese bomb
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Pearl Harbor was that just No When the Nazis rolled into France and took
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Belgium and the Netherlands Nope, not just that is an unjust war and Then we make a distinction along these lines and that is is that when such a war takes place
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Christians must conscientiously object to participating in them and Here's the thing
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You sit there and go well if I conscientiously object to this because it's an unjust war
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They're gonna put me in front of a firing squad Yeah, so what what's your point? Yeah Was he drafted into the military he volunteered for the military and then became a conscientious objector
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Then he volunteered to be on the sub and then he became a conscientious objector after volunteering
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Yes What was his? Okay, were we at war at the time
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Cold War. Yeah Yeah, I When I was born we were in the
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Cold War, you know nothing. Okay. All right that that seems a little bit
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How do they say a day late a dollar short, you know, that doesn't sound like it it can hold water But at least at that time it was accepted.
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Okay. All right, so all right Yeah All right
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So that being the case then, all right, so the military so we would then make a distinction
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We would argue that the Nazis they were Waging an unjust war and the soldiers that participated in that unjust war were actually then the mechanism by which
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Hitler committed mass murder That's true That's absolutely true. And so here with this this edict that we have of Haman's that King Ahasuerus put out
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Ahasuerus has sanctioned murder. He's sanctioned murder and Because he can't undo that The only thing he can sanction that that is going to kind of begin to undo it is self -defense and You're gonna know that this story isn't over yet because the story is going to end with a lot of people dead a lot of people dead and That's one of the horrific consequences of our sin is
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That sometimes the only way out of a situation is a bad Way, and so I would know when it comes to self -defense
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Sometimes it is necessary In order to save a life you have to take one and this is not done
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Lightly it is done knowing that this is a terrible tragic thing And then you have to stay measured within it
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And so, you know So if you haven't figured out I'm I'm absolutely a believer that that here in the
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United States You have a right to defend yourself and the Second Amendment gives you a right to bear arms
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Not just possess them but to bear them So if you are if you are like in North Dakota, we have constitutional carry and you're carrying a firearm
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I'm gonna say this you have the responsibility to learn how to handle that firearm properly to learn the right rules of safety and not only that to be properly trained on when and not to discharge that firearm
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Because there's there are every now and then stories that come up of somebody who
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Discharges a firearm in self -defense and somebody gets hurt that shouldn't have It does happen you know, but I will say this that politically there are people who
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Really lose their minds when a responsible citizen who knows what he's doing Dispenses his firearm and it ends up saving people's lives and he does so rightly
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But I will note that that that is something that will end up scarring a person You know,
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I remember years ago not that many years ago watching a news story about a police officer a highway patrolman
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I think it was in New Mexico he had pulled a fellow over for a traffic stop and the fellow was a was a felon and he got the better of the of the state trooper and had him on the side of the road and was about to execute him and a citizen stopped and who had a concealed carry license and he discharged his weapon and killed the fellow who was about to execute the officer and When he was on the television doing some interviews
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He couldn't talk about the event without having Without shaking and really being upset it was it still haunted him
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You know weeks later that he had taken the life of another human being even though justifiably so It's this is one of these things that you recognize that in the world that we're brought that we're in sometimes the only way out is to do something terrible and It's not a sin to defend yourself or take another life in self -defense legitimate self -defense
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It is a sin to murder but understand that when we do so It's it's gonna leave an impression.
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It'll probably be something you think about for the rest of your life. So let's read
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Esther So on that day King Ahasuerus gave to Queen Esther the house of Haman the enemy of the
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Jews Mordecai came before the king For Esther had told what he was to her and the king took off his signet ring
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Which he had taken from Haman gave it to Mordecai and Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman Then Esther spoke again to the king she fell at his feet and wept and pleaded with him to avert the evil plan of Haman the
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Agagite and The plot that he had devised against the Jews when the king held out the golden scepter to Esther Esther rose and stood before the king and she said if it pleased the king
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And if I have found favor in his sight Then if the thing seems right before the king I am and I am pleasing in his eyes
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Let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman the Agagite the son of Hamadatha Which he wrote to the destroy the
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Jews who are in all the provinces of the king for how can I bear to see the? Calamity that is coming on my people or how can
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I bear to see the destruction of my kindred? Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the
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Jew behold I have given Esther the house of Haman and they have hanged him on the gallows because he intended to lay hands on the
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Jews But you may write as you please with regard to the Jews in the name of the king and seal it with the king's ring
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For an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king's ring cannot be revoked The king's scribes were summoned at that time in the third month, which is the month of Sivan On the 23rd day an edict was written according to all that Mordecai Commanded concerning the
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Jews to the satraps the governors the officials of the provinces from India to Ethiopia 127 provinces to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language and also to the
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Jews in their script In their language and he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus And he sealed it with the king's signet ring and then he sent the letters by mounted couriers riding on swift horses that were used in the king's service bred from the royal stud
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Saying that the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to gather and to defend their lives to destroy
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To kill and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them children and women
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Included and to plunder their goods now, you're gonna note something here This little detail is not a throwaway detail
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Not only they have the right to defend themselves But they also have the right to take the property of those who they killed but you're gonna see that the
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Jews did not do that they would not break the commandment thou shall not steal and So in self -defense self -defense doesn't give you the right then to steal somebody else's property that doesn't belong to you
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And so they defend themselves in a very measured way, even though the king gave them Authority if they wanted to plunder the people who attacked them if they overcame them
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So on one day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus on the 13th day of the 12th month
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Which is the month of Adar a copy of what was written was to be issued as a decree in every province being publicly
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Displayed to all peoples and the Jews were to be ready on that day to take vengeance on their enemies
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So the couriers mounted on their swift horses that were used in the king's service rode out hurriedly
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Urged by the king's command and the decree was issued at in Susa the Citadel then
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Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal robes of Blue and white with a great golden crown and a robe of fine linen and purple and the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced the
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Jews had lot had light and gladness and joy and honor and In every province in every city wherever the king's command and his edict reached
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There was gladness and joy among the Jews a feast and a holiday and many from the peoples of the country
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Declared themselves Jews for fear of the Jews had fallen on them. I think James Prash was among that group, but sorry
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So Now in the 12th month Which is the month of Adar on the 13th day of the same?
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When the king's command and edict were about to be carried out on that very day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain
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The mastery over them the reverse occurred The Jews gained mastery over those who hated them
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The Jews gathered in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands and those who sought their harm
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No one could stand against them for the fear of them had fallen on all the people's all the officials of the
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Provinces and the satraps and the governors and the royal agents also helped the Jews for the fear of Mordecai had fallen on them
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For Mordecai was great in the king's house and his fame spread throughout all the provinces for the man
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Mordecai grew more and more powerful the Jews struck all their enemies with the sword killing and destroying them and Did as they pleased to those who hated them in Susa the citadel itself the
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Jews killed and destroyed 500 men and also killed and this is
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These are not Hebrew names. These are these are Persian names Parshon Adatha Dalfon ah patha poratha
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Adalia Aradatha Parmashat Parmashta Arasai Aradai and Vizatha and the ten sons of Haman the sons of Hamadatha the enemies of the
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Jews But they laid no hand on the plunder. So note the sons of Haman all of them died that day
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And here's the important bit the Jews laid no hand on the plunder Not at all.
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They defended themselves and They refused to break the commandment.
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You shall not steal. They were not guilty of murder what they did they did in self -defense and what
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I find interesting is that When we discuss the topic of self -defense biblically, this is not a text that often comes up, but it should because it is one of the clearest instances of Believers in the one true
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God in a very measured way Defending themselves even with lethal force and Then not taking advantage of the situation but doing so and this is and you'll know they're not condemned here by God In fact, this becomes the means by which
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God saves their bacon say well Sorry, you can't say bacon because they're they're kosher. So I'm Sorry But you get the idea right?
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Yeah that saves their lives by them defending themselves. All right So that very day the number of those killed in Susa the
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Citadel was reported to the king and the king said to Queen Esther In Susa the Citadel the Jews have killed and destroyed 500 men and also 10 sons of Haman What then have they done in the rest of the king's provinces now?
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What is your wish it shall be granted to you? And what further is your request it shall be fulfilled and Esther said if it pleased the king let the
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Jews who are in Susa Be allowed to tomorrow also to do according to this day's edict and let the ten sons of Haman be hanged on the gallows since they're already dead,
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I guess we're just gonna hang their their bodies up as a kind of a Warning sign to those who would take up their cause
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So the king commanded this to be done a decree was issued in Susa The ten sons of Haman were hanged
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The Jews who were in Susa gathered also on the 14th day of the month of Adar and they killed 300 men in Susa But they laid no hands on the plunder now the rest of the
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Jews who were in the king's provinces also gathered to defend their lives and They got relief from their enemies and they killed 75 ,000 of Those who hated them and note what the text says
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They gathered to defend their lives They are not censored or censured by Scripture They are specifically held up as having defended their own lives and They got relief
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Notice the passive from their enemies and they killed 75 ,000 of them the got relief infers that God is the one who gave them relief
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God is the one who gave them victory. God is the one who assisted them in their self -defense
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But they laid no hands on the plunder. This is the third time. We've seen that refrain They did not make themselves wealthy at all on this although they had
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The right to if they wanted by the king, but not by God so this was on the 13th day of the month of Adar and on the 14th day they rested and Made that a day of feasting and gladness but the
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Jews who were in Susa they gathered on the 13th day and on the 14th and Rested on the 15th day making that a day of feasting and gladness
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Therefore the Jews of the villages who live in the rural towns hold the 14th day of the month of Adar as a day for Gladness and feasting as a holiday and as a day on which they sent gifts of food to one another
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So they they celebrated their victory and this becomes then what's known as the feast of Purim In so Jews still celebrate this to this day
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Mordecai recorded these things sent letters to all the Jews who were in the provinces of King Ahasuerus both near and far
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Obliging them to keep the 14th day of the month of Adar and also the 15th day of the same year by year as The days on which the
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Jews got relief from their enemies and as the month that had been Turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday
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That they should make them days of feasting and gladness days for sending gifts of food
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To one another and gifts of the poor now a little bit of a note in all told 75 ,000
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Men were killed How many Exiles were there initially of the
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Jews that survived The time of Jeremiah and Nebuchadnezzar Less than 5 ,000 less than 5 ,000 now, this is probably several decades later
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But the total number of Jews Was far less than the number of men who lost their lives
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Clearly a miraculous event So the Jews accepted what they had started to do and what
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Mordecai had written to them For Haman the Agagite the son of Hamadathah the enemy of the Jews had plotted against the
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Jews to destroy them and it cast the Pur that those are lots to crush and to destroy them
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But when it came before the king he gave orders in writing that his evil plan that he had devised against the
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Jews should return On his own head and that he and his son should be hanged on the gallows Now a little bit of a note and that is is that this is a theme that you see in Scripture if we look like something like Psalm 35
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Watch this theme Contend. Oh Yahweh with those who contend with me
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Fight against those who fight against me take up take hold of shield and buckler and rise for my help
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Draw the spear and the javelin against my pursuers Say to my soul
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I am your salvation Let them be put to shame and dishonor who seek after my life
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Let them be turned back and disappointed who devise evil against me Let them be like chaff before the wind with the angel of Yahweh driving them away
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Let their way be dark and slippery with the angel of Yahweh pursuing them for without cause
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They hid their net for me Without cause they dug a pit for my life
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Let destruction come upon him when he does not know it and let the net that he hid ensnare him
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Let him fall into it to his destruction Then my soul will rejoice in Yahweh exalting in his salvation
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All my bones shall say Oh Yahweh who is like you delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him
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The poor and the needy from him who robs him malicious Witnesses rise up and they ask of me things that I do not know
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They repay me evil. They repay me evil for good and my soul is bereft
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But I when they were sick, I wore sackcloth. I afflicted myself with fasting
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I prayed with head bowed on my chest I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother as one who laments his mother
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I bowed down in mourning, but at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered they gathered together against me wretches whom
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I did not know tore at me without Ceasing like profane mockers at a feast they gnash at me with their teeth
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How long Oh Lord will you look on rescue me from their destruction my precious life from the
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Lions I will thank you in the great congregation and the mighty throng I will praise you let not those who rejoice over me who are wrongfully my foes and Let not those wink the eye who hate me without cause for they do not speak peace
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But against those who are quiet in the land, they devise words of deceit. They open wide their mouths against me
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They say aha. Aha. Our eyes have seen it You have seen
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Oh Yahweh be not silent Oh Lord be not far from me awake and rouse yourself for my vindication for my cause my
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God and my Lord Vindicate me Oh Lord my God according to your righteousness and let them not rejoice over me
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Let them not say in their hearts. Aha our hearts desire. Let them not say we have swallowed him up Let them be put to shame and disappointment altogether who rejoice at my calamity
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Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor who magnify themselves against me. Let those who delight in my righteousness
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Shout for joy and be glad and say evermore great is Yahweh who delivered who delights in the welfare of his servant
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Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness and of your praise all the day long So you get this idea here.
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This is this is a major theme in Scripture And so if you find yourself in a situation, you know where you are suffering in Ways that you shouldn't be suffering your evil your good has been returned to you with evil and people are plotting against you pray
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Psalm 35 Pray that that those who contend against you that the evil that they have devised against you would spring back on their own heads
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That's kind of what we see going on here So they call these days Purim purred therefore because of what was written in this letter and of what had they had faced in this
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Matter and of what happened to them the Jews firmly obligated themselves and their offspring and all who joined them that without fail
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They would keep these two days according to what was written at the time appointed every year And that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation in every clan province city and that these days of Purim Should never fall into disuse among the
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Jews nor should the commemoration these days cease among their descendants Then Queen Esther the daughter of Abba Hale and Mordecai the
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Jew gave full written authority Confirming this letter about Purim letters were sent to all the
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Jews to the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus in the words of peace and truth that these days of Purim should be observed at their
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Appointed seasons as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther obligated them and as they had obligated
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Themselves and their offspring with regard to their fasts and their lamenting the command of Esther confirmed these practices of Purim And it was recorded in writing
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King Ahasuerus imposed tax on the land and on the coastlands of the sea and all the acts of his power and might in the full account of the honor of Mordecai To which the king advanced him are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia?
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for Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Ahasuerus and he was great among the
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Jews and popular with the multitude of his Brothers for he sought the welfare of his people and he spoke peace to all his people
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There was a man in the land of Uz. Oh, that's it that there that's the end All right,
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Uz is worth where Job begins all right, let me check any kind of like final questions on the topic here and Okay, let's see my church is the one lady often praying tongues in the service everyone would fall silent
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Wow by the way Kel's family speaking in tongues without interpreters forbidden by scripture and they're not really speaking tongues.
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It's gibberish. So Matthew asked what's a bound will a bound will means you don't have freedom
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So because of sin when it comes to God, we do not have the ability to choose God Our will is bound
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The the only thing we will do is not choose God so God has to choose us God has to regenerate us
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God has to give us a new will and So that's it's that's the simple answer for now, but we can talk about it in a future study
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I was a part of a church for years where you needed to be louder clap more shout more raise your hands serve the
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Lord more attend every time the doors were open and They were open a lot if or you weren't serious about God they also had early morning prayer
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I felt burnout being there for all these things going to my full -time job and sometimes services were late night all night prayer sometimes and I was struggling with some of the effects of the sleep deprivation mentally and Physically when
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I attended less for the sake of my health and sanity, I would hear about how you're not doing enough from the pulpit
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Yeah, that's a cult I'm sorry, yeah Wow Yeah, you'll know we don't take attendance here at Kong's finger
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And if you show up for the Bible studies great if you don't that's great These are opportunities not the obligations.
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Wow, that's terrible. All right Yes, what
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So You attended a church where nobody was allowed to leave until the Holy Spirit said it was okay to leave
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I'm sitting going. Come on. Holy Spirit. I got to get to work in like five minutes, you know whoa That is that ain't the
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Holy Spirit that's a controlling spirit, holy smokes, okay
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I Do like this comment Stephen said that Barb says that she was framed and pastor framed the photo you bet
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I did. All right All right,
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I apologize but I'm going to have to log off at this point and Lord willing we will see you all next time and again save up your questions and in you know