Jeff Gelineau – Beyond the Book – Class 4 – Hills and Valleys

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We all have hills and valleys in
our life.

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I wanted to find a picture that
was 3D, but I couldn’t project

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it.
But you know, not only is there

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ups and downs, there’s obviously
twists and turns and you have

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high points, you have low
points, you have days, weeks,

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months, years that are low or or
high, times when your faith is

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strong, times when it struggles,
times when we succumb to our

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weaknesses and times when we
stand strong.

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Now some of us are are better, a
little more mature, more

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developed, stronger.
Maybe you have them less

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frequently.
Some of us can tell the time of

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day by how we’re feeling.
Experiencing ups and downs is is

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part of life and and it’s
relatively healthy.

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When the swings become severe
and debilitating, that’s when

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you are out of balance.
The goal is to reduce the

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severity and the frequency of
the times that you feel lost and

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disconnected when you feel
separated from God and at odds

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with your brothers and sisters
spiritually depressed.

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I want to stop there and just do
a quick aside because I said,

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you know, you feel at odds with
your brothers and sisters and

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that’s, it’s been a common
recurrence.

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And the, and the comments that
you’ve been bringing up and you

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know, oftentimes the things that
set us off are, are the stupid

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people that we fellowship with,
right?

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And I want to remind us that
that’s on purpose.

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Those stupid people are called
Christ’s brethren.

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He, he died for them and he and
he put them in your ecclesia on

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purpose because he wants you to
learn from that.

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He wants you to grow from that.
We we grow through painful

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experiences, not through easy
experiences.

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A helpful suggestion is I have
found to learn what your

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triggers are.
You might be familiar with the

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concept of triggers when it
comes to your your sins.

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You know things that trigger
you, anything that leads to

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unhealthy behavior and try you
try to try to be prepared for

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those.
I would frequently come home

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after a day’s work and be mean
and unkind and impatient and the

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genius I lived with would found,
found that she would greet me

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with a hug and a kiss and a
little plate of crackers and

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cheese and poof, all the hangry
is gone.

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It’s just amazing how that
worked, right?

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We’ve got you’ve got different
triggers.

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Every one of us has different
triggers and and it requires you

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some introspection, some
self-assessment to try to look

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at what’s happening in your life
when your faith starts to wean,

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what specifically is going on,
what kind of what kind of things

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are happening.
A very common trigger stress, a

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lot of us react to that.
Anxiety and boredom are also

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really ranked high as far as
triggers.

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There’s physical triggers as
well.

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Certain locations, people, even
even some foods sometimes can

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can trigger some bad reactions.
Learning what it is that set you

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down a path that leads to your
faith challenges is a helpful

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step in trying to reduce them.
And a trigger might be a person

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might be a brother and sister in
your meeting.

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For me, my triggers are boredom
and and then loneliness.

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For you, it’s probably something
different.

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We’re familiar with the, the
rise and the fall of faith, the

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the, the UPS, the downs, the and
the company, company often the

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accompanying rise and fall of
our righteous behavior.

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We’ve all experienced peaks
great times where we just felt

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fulfilled and and connected
where everything was going, you

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know, just the way it should go
and everything in and everything

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feels very close to God and and
close and in harmony with what

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you understand the the Bible to
be teaching.

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Maybe a Thursday at Bible school
is a real, you know, by that

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time you’re really feeling good
about it.

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We’ve also probably all
experienced the opposite times

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when we we didn’t feel like we
were even Christian at all times

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when we questioned how well
we’re living up to the high

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calling.
Maybe a Thursday at Bible

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school.
Abraham is, as you can tell, one

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of my favorite examples and he
had hills and valleys as well.

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We’ve already discussed the the
thing that I think it must have

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been a very big high for him
when God brought him outside and

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said look toward heaven and
Number the Stars.

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If able to number them, so shall
your offspring be and he

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believed the Lord and accounted
to him as righteousness.

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Talk about a peak that would
have been a you know, amazing

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time.
Some some of my and yours too.

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Probably your some of your best
times are kind of when you’re

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out out in the wilderness, you
know, and you look up and you

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see all the stars or, or just
something great happens.

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You you find yourself in a
prayer that really just

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connects.
The prayer really just brings

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you close to God and you’re you.
Maybe you’re at the ocean or

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you’re on a mountain.
Here’s Abraham all alone out in

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the cold, you know, feeling the,
the night around him and he

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didn’t even question it.
He, he totally believed he was

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on a high.
He was very, very close to God.

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Abraham also had loaves.
Abraham had Egypt.

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When you look at the life of
Abraham, it’s it’s obvious James

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refers to Abraham as a friend of
God.

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You know that his life is
recorded for us as an example of

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faith.
And Abraham chose to follow God.

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He dedicated his life to the
service of that God.

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And yet Abraham had his points
of weakness.

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If you look at the Genesis
chapter 12, you see the Lord has

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said to Abraham, go from your
country and your kindred to your

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father’s health, to the land
that I will show you.

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Now I’m making you a great
nation.

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I will bless you and make your
name great.

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So you’ll be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you

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and curse those who curse you.
So Abraham went as the Lord had

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told him and Lord went with
Abraham, Abraham 75 years old

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and took Sarah’s wife and lodge
brother’s son, all their

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possessions, the people they had
acquired in here and they set

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out to go land of Canaan.
When they came to land of

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Canaan, another of the the great
acts of faith.

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I think of Abraham’s life this
this going he must have been

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really strong when they packed
up and they pulled out of town.

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You know that big that feeling
when you’re heading out in your

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big road trip and you’ve got
everything all ready.

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Even though he lived in a well
developed, civilized city, he

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follows God’s calling and he
leaves not knowing where he’s

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even going.
So just trusting that God would

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provide for him and his family
in this strange land was was

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going to show him.
And in the land of Canaan they

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came and Abraham passed through
the land to the place of

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Shechem, to the mount of Mora,
oak of Mora.

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And at that that time that
Canaanites were in the land.

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So he first comes to Shechem and
God reaffirms his promise to

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Abraham once he gets there and
clearly tells him that this is

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the land that’s promised to his
seed.

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Verse 7, the Lord appeared to
Abraham and said to your

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offspring, I will give this
land.

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So he built there and altar the
Lord who had appeared to him.

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He’s still feeling really good.
They’ve they’ve mustered their

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strength, their energy, they’ve,
they’ve left, they’ve gone out,

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they’ve come to the place.
God has brought them to the

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place and God tells him this is
the place I’m going to give you

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and we build an offer there and
we are we off offer sacrifice to

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the Lord.
But the Canaanite was in the

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land, so we headed South.
God speaks to you and tells you

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that this is the land is going
to be in your family forever.

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Isn’t this the land?
This is the land.

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Abraham doesn’t really feel like
he can stay.

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The Canaanites were in the land
and he didn’t.

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He didn’t feel up to it.
His faith started to feel the

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stress of that challenge and he
continues S into the area area

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of Bethel.
From there he moved to the Hill

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Country in the east of Bethel
and pitched his tent with Bethel

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in the West and AI on the east.
And there he built an altar Lord

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and called upon the Lord.
And that, I think, would have

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been a different sacrifice that
would have been maybe a little

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bit more pleading, a little bit
more, you know, here I am, you

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know, be with me, help me.
Do you think he’s definitely

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still feeling strong, feeling
good?

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But how life works is either
when you start to feel good, you

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try to feel strong.
If I feel like things are going

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well, there’s something that
comes up to challenge you, to

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maybe stretch you, to help you
grow a little further or maybe

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to cause you to fall.
And Abraham journeyed on, still

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going towards the Negeb, and
there was a famine, the land.

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So everyone went down to Egypt
to sojourn there for the famine

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was severe.
Now that’s a tough, tough

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challenge, a famine in the land.
He continues to go further and

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further South Down into Egypt.
I think it’s a challenging time

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right now for the whole family.
Abraham’s faith seems like it’s

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not up to the challenge.
God had told him.

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God had promised him twice now
he was going to be a great

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nation.
He was going to give this 75

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year old man a child and he
promised to him the land that

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you can see around you, I’m
going to give to you and to the

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seed after you.
God surely didn’t bring Abraham

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all the way out there in the
desert to die of starvation.

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So Abraham had an opportunity to
show his faith in God’s

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promises, to show his faith in
God’s Word, to know that God has

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brought us here.
He’s not going to let us die.

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Instead, he goes down.
He goes down to Egypt.

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Never, never a sign of spiritual
strength.

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In scriptural terms, Egypt is
always a descent into sin, a

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descent into worldliness, and
almost always involves going

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down a lowering of your
standards, a lowering of your

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morals.
It’s a bad choice to a tough

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problem.
There often seems to be

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disadvantages of taking the
easier path in life.

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Give some thought to that next
time a choice comes up.

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The harder path is by definition
harder, but it brings with it

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less complications.
It brings with it less pressure

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to lower your standards, to
change your morals, and often

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appears, I think that God plans
it that way.

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God, God is trying to test us.
He’s trying to try us to, to

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prove us, to stretch our faith.
He wants us to choose the path

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of faith.
He often wants us to choose the

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harder choice.
Choosing the easy path brings

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with it many complications.
So it seems to it seems there

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seems to be problems that spring
up in your life when you try to

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find your own solution to your
problems.

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When you follow God’s path, some
sometimes problems go away.

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But when you make your own
decisions, things can get more

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complicated.
Almost immediately in Abraham’s

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life, things start to get worse.
That’s a telltale sign.

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When he was about to enter
Egypt, he said to his wife

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Sarah, I know that you are a
beautiful woman in appearance.

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And when the Egyptians see you,
they will say this is his wife.

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Then they will kill me, but they
will let you live.

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Say you are my sister.
That may go well with me because

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of you, that my life may be
spared for your sake.

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Note to self, whenever you have
to ask your family to lie for

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you, you’re probably going down
a bad Rd.

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When Abraham entered Egypt, the
Egyptians saw that the woman was

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very beautiful and when the
Princess of Pharaoh saw her,

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they praised her to Pharaoh and
the woman was taken into

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Pharaoh’s house.
He realizes now that he’s put

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his life in even more imminent
danger due to Sarah’s beauty.

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And I think again, if his faith
was strong, he should have acted

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upon that.
You got to realize that he’s

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already heading down a wrong
road.

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One of my favorite sayings that
I made-up is it’s it’s hard to

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follow traffic laws when you’re
going the wrong way down a one

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way street, right?
You’ve got to pull AU turn even

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though it’s illegal.
So Abraham’s heading the wrong

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way down a Rd. and he’s got to
make a change.

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Once concessions are made to
your easy choice, once

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concessions are made to your
worldly self-interest, further

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00:14:49,200 –> 00:14:54,200
demands are sure to come.
Making further concessions

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00:14:54,200 –> 00:14:58,000
inevitable.
Making further demands to come.

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And it’s really hard to sort out
problems when you’re in the

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00:15:01,800 –> 00:15:06,520
middle of the problem.
So in envision situations where

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problems might arise, look, look
forward.

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I love Dave’s point this morning
about, you know, being

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intentional.
It’s one thing I’m just terrible

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at, you know, but, but be
intentional.

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Look, look forward, plan ahead.
What’s what’s going to happen?

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What situation could arise in my
marriage or, or in my ecclesia

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or in my work or in my
community?

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Trust your faith in God’s
ability to save you and don’t

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put yourself in harm’s way.
Don’t put yourself in a position

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that’s going to cause you to
have to make concessions to to

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righteousness.
Sarah is overpoweringly

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attractive to Pharaoh.
Jewish history says that Sarah,

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Esther and Bathsheba were the
three most beautiful women ever

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00:15:47,720 –> 00:15:51,160
to live.
And Sarah’s 65 years old and

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she’s the most one of the most
beautiful women.

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So Abraham shifts the danger
over to Sarah and panic and and

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trouble.
You don’t make good decisions.

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And how Abraham’s conscience
must have racked him every time

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Pharaoh gave him a gift.
I think he would have felt more

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like Sarah’s pimp than Sarah’s
husband.

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But God protected Sarah, God
protected Abraham, and God

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plagued Pharaoh, and for her
sake.

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He dealt well with Abraham.
And he had sheep and oxen and

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male donkeys and male servants
and female servants and female

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00:16:30,440 –> 00:16:34,000
donkeys and camels.
But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh

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in his house with great plagues
because of Sarah Abrams wife.

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So Pharaoh called, Abraham said,
what is this you’ve done to me?

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Why’d you not tell me she was
your wife?

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Why’d you say she’s my sister?
So I took her from my wife.

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Here’s your sister, take her go.
And Pharaoh gave men orders

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concerning him, and they sent
him away with his wife and all

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that he had.
Pharaoh figures it out.

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Pharaoh’s the one that acts
righteously in this case.

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Pharaoh sends Abraham back to
the land that God had promised

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him, and Abraham goes up out of
Egypt.

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Verse 1.
Abraham went up from Egypt, he

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and his wife and all that he had
and a lot with him into the

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Negeb.
And Abraham was very rich in

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livestock, in silver and gold.
That’s often the result of going

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down into Egypt.
That’s often the result when you

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make those choices, when you
follow those fleshly intentions,

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00:17:31,880 –> 00:17:34,040
right?
That’s what drives us in.

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That’s what draws us into Egypt.
A better job, a higher salary, a

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better standard of living.
We convinced yourself that we’re

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doing it for our family.
You know, the kids will be able

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to go to a better school, my
wife won’t have to work.

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And it’s the family that usually
suffers the most because of that

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00:17:51,360 –> 00:17:55,240
decision.
Few were able to leave once they

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get there.
Abraham had to literally be

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driven from the land under
guarded escort, and he journeyed

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on from the Negeb as far as
Bethel, to the place where his

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tent had been at the beginning
between Bethel and AI, to the

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place where he had made an altar
at the 1st.

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And there Abraham called upon
the name of the Lord, and he’s

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out and he’s back up.
He’s working his way back up.

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He saved himself from a terrible
situation, and he starts fresh

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00:18:24,520 –> 00:18:27,000
again.
Confession of failure,

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00:18:27,000 –> 00:18:30,680
thankfulness for forgiveness.
Faith is like a muscle.

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00:18:30,680 –> 00:18:33,920
It’s been stretched, it’s been
broken down, it’ll be built back

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00:18:33,920 –> 00:18:37,600
stronger.
We don’t want to do that.

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00:18:38,240 –> 00:18:39,600
We don’t want to go through that
pain.

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00:18:39,600 –> 00:18:43,040
But but God does it to us.
We have to learn how to take

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00:18:43,040 –> 00:18:46,400
advantage of that.
Abraham experienced the

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00:18:46,400 –> 00:18:50,400
spiritual highs of God, you
know, giving him these promises

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00:18:50,880 –> 00:18:54,480
and the spiritual lows of him
giving his wife to Pharaoh in

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00:18:54,480 –> 00:18:58,760
order to save his own skin.
Now he finds himself back in the

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00:18:58,760 –> 00:19:01,720
promised land and calling upon
the name of the Lord again.

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00:19:04,800 –> 00:19:09,080
But lest you think he learned
from that experience, several

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00:19:09,080 –> 00:19:11,880
years later he finds himself
telling the same lies again.

290
00:19:12,960 –> 00:19:16,400
She’s my sister Leather.
Rinse, repeat.

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00:19:17,440 –> 00:19:20,680
Like all of us, Abraham had
moments where his faith was

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00:19:20,680 –> 00:19:23,400
weak.
He had problems learning the

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00:19:23,400 –> 00:19:26,440
lesson we’ve been trying to be
taught, and he confronted the

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00:19:26,440 –> 00:19:30,960
same mistake more than once.
But he dedicated his life to

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00:19:30,960 –> 00:19:33,480
serving God.
He knew that God would justify

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00:19:33,480 –> 00:19:35,400
him regardless of his
imperfections.

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00:19:35,520 –> 00:19:40,160
He believed in a God of mercy.
Paul speaks to this in Romans 6

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00:19:40,160 –> 00:19:43,960
and 7, that that tension that
exists in our lives, the tension

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00:19:43,960 –> 00:19:46,640
that exists when we choose a
life of service to God.

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00:19:46,640 –> 00:19:49,200
And yet occasionally we find our
faith wavering.

301
00:19:52,000 –> 00:19:55,880
Life is this continual pattern
of of ups and down, of highs and

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00:19:55,880 –> 00:19:59,240
lows, times when you feel strong
and able to tackle the biggest

303
00:19:59,240 –> 00:20:02,400
problems and times when you trip
and fall over the smallest

304
00:20:02,400 –> 00:20:04,760
little issue.
It’s a process.

305
00:20:04,960 –> 00:20:08,400
It’s called conversion.
It’s called transformation.

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00:20:09,200 –> 00:20:13,160
It always begins with knowledge.
You have to know God in order to

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00:20:13,160 –> 00:20:15,120
trust Him.
But if you just stay in that

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00:20:15,120 –> 00:20:18,080
knowledge gathering mode your
whole life and you don’t use

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00:20:18,080 –> 00:20:21,040
that knowledge to build a
relationship with God, then you

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00:20:21,040 –> 00:20:24,880
have no hope.
You have to be converted.

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00:20:25,240 –> 00:20:29,000
You have to be transformed.
That knowledge has to bring you

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00:20:29,000 –> 00:20:32,560
to a relationship with God.
It’s our relationship with God

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00:20:32,560 –> 00:20:34,480
that saves us, not our knowledge
of God.

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00:20:35,720 –> 00:20:38,480
God is very concerned that you
have an active and growing

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00:20:38,480 –> 00:20:42,680
knowledge about who He is.
How else can a healthy

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00:20:42,680 –> 00:20:45,120
relationship be built?
You can’t have a relationship

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00:20:45,120 –> 00:20:47,120
unless you know who the person
is.

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00:20:48,360 –> 00:20:51,240
But God is most concerned that
you trust Him.

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00:20:54,000 –> 00:20:56,880
What good is all that knowledge
of God if you don’t develop

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00:20:56,880 –> 00:20:59,760
relationship with Him and learn
to love Him and learn to trust

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00:20:59,760 –> 00:21:02,880
Him?
Now this conversion is ongoing.

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00:21:02,880 –> 00:21:05,160
It didn’t happen the day you got
baptized.

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00:21:05,160 –> 00:21:08,440
It didn’t happen a year after.
It takes a lifetime.

324
00:21:08,920 –> 00:21:12,560
And this relationship also grows
during that whole lifetime

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00:21:12,560 –> 00:21:15,560
because you feed it with more
knowledge of about who God is

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00:21:15,560 –> 00:21:18,800
and what He stands for.
You also feed it by experiences

327
00:21:19,040 –> 00:21:21,920
that you share with God, times
when He’s been there for them

328
00:21:22,040 –> 00:21:26,880
for you, time when you felt Him
effectively.

329
00:21:26,880 –> 00:21:30,560
You grow your trust in God by
hearing how He has dealt with

330
00:21:30,560 –> 00:21:35,680
those in the past through the
Bible and by seeing how He deals

331
00:21:35,680 –> 00:21:41,080
with you today.
You won’t be saved if your faith

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00:21:41,080 –> 00:21:44,200
is still based solely on the
knowledge you get from the

333
00:21:44,200 –> 00:21:46,040
Bible.
That knowledge has to bring you

334
00:21:46,040 –> 00:21:49,160
to a trusting relationship with
God in order for you to be

335
00:21:49,160 –> 00:21:51,960
saved.
You have to have things you

336
00:21:51,960 –> 00:21:54,560
understand correctly.
But the faith that’s described

337
00:21:54,560 –> 00:21:59,040
in the Bible is based in a trust
in God rather than ourselves,

338
00:21:59,240 –> 00:22:05,040
and a faithfulness to God by
being humbly faithful to him and

339
00:22:05,040 –> 00:22:09,600
to those around us.
But then life happens.

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00:22:10,640 –> 00:22:13,600
Then you hit one of those
incredible lows in your life

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00:22:15,360 –> 00:22:17,680
where you fall and you can’t
seem to get back up.

342
00:22:20,200 –> 00:22:24,080
We’re challenged by something we
read or something we hear or or

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00:22:24,080 –> 00:22:28,880
we think something that just
makes us question what we were

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00:22:28,880 –> 00:22:31,520
convinced was right.
Each time we deal with something

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00:22:31,520 –> 00:22:34,520
outside of our familiar patterns
of thought, it’s good.

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00:22:35,200 –> 00:22:37,520
It helps us to grow.
It helps us to change.

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00:22:37,880 –> 00:22:40,400
Life is a series of challenges
to your faith.

348
00:22:40,920 –> 00:22:44,920
That’s if your faith is
preoccupied with with with

349
00:22:44,920 –> 00:22:46,920
correct thinking.
You’re, you’re going to see

350
00:22:46,920 –> 00:22:50,560
things and hear things and read
things, blogs and articles and

351
00:22:50,640 –> 00:22:55,200
posts and memes and songs and
movies and cartoons and shows

352
00:22:55,960 –> 00:22:59,480
and most importantly,
conversations that that make you

353
00:22:59,480 –> 00:23:05,440
question what you once thought
you were certain about is a is a

354
00:23:06,240 –> 00:23:09,800
terrible comic.
And I hope you don’t ever watch

355
00:23:09,800 –> 00:23:13,440
them.
Gervais, Ricky Gervais.

356
00:23:13,880 –> 00:23:18,400
And he said he was, he said he’s
a renowned atheist and he was in

357
00:23:18,400 –> 00:23:23,440
an interview and the, he said,
you know, the interview said,

358
00:23:23,440 –> 00:23:27,120
how can you not believe in God?
And he said there’s a roughly

359
00:23:27,120 –> 00:23:31,040
5000 gods on the, on the planet
that are worshipped and you

360
00:23:31,040 –> 00:23:35,640
don’t believe in 4999 of them.
I don’t believe in one more.

361
00:23:39,000 –> 00:23:42,440
And it struck me, it really hit
me because when I think of, you

362
00:23:42,440 –> 00:23:45,760
know, Vishnu or or Buddha or
whatever, I kind of snicker

363
00:23:45,760 –> 00:23:47,760
inside my, my head.
And you’re like, oh, they’re not

364
00:23:47,760 –> 00:23:49,440
real gods.
That’s just a fake idol.

365
00:23:49,560 –> 00:23:52,840
You know, there’s only one God.
And then to have someone say,

366
00:23:53,000 –> 00:23:55,640
well, I only believe in, you
know, one more than you don’t

367
00:23:55,640 –> 00:24:02,320
believe in it just it struck me
and my faith was strong and I

368
00:24:02,320 –> 00:24:05,080
was clear sighted.
And I said, yeah, well, you

369
00:24:05,080 –> 00:24:09,680
know, that’s a, that’s a point.
But I am out of all the things I

370
00:24:09,680 –> 00:24:13,080
doubt, out of all the things I
question, I never questioned

371
00:24:13,080 –> 00:24:15,640
God.
God’s just rock solid.

372
00:24:15,640 –> 00:24:19,400
He’s, he’s clear in my sight.
And I and I thank him for that.

373
00:24:19,840 –> 00:24:22,320
If I didn’t have that, what
would I have?

374
00:24:27,470 –> 00:24:30,270
Life can, can step in.
Just, you know, you’re literally

375
00:24:30,270 –> 00:24:34,710
watching a, you know, 32nd clip
on YouTube because you can’t

376
00:24:34,710 –> 00:24:38,070
fall asleep and someone says
something on the clip and you

377
00:24:38,070 –> 00:24:42,320
can it can make you spin and you
find yourself in a valley and

378
00:24:42,320 –> 00:24:43,720
yesterday you were just on a
hill.

379
00:24:46,040 –> 00:24:48,680
This is a fundamental part, I
think of our walk in Christ.

380
00:24:50,200 –> 00:24:53,320
I feel like we should have been
told this in the beginning.

381
00:24:54,080 –> 00:24:59,320
You know that expected.
Don’t be surprised by it.

382
00:25:00,080 –> 00:25:02,280
There’s going to be UPS, there’s
going to be downs.

383
00:25:04,360 –> 00:25:08,200
I think it’d be a good idea to
start telling young people what

384
00:25:08,200 –> 00:25:09,840
to expect.
I don’t want to scare them off.

385
00:25:09,840 –> 00:25:12,720
But, you know, I think we may
want to consider the answers we

386
00:25:12,720 –> 00:25:15,920
give our young people when they
ask those tough questions,

387
00:25:17,960 –> 00:25:22,480
questions that their base of
knowledge is not able to answer.

388
00:25:23,840 –> 00:25:28,640
When they ask us things like why
does God allow so much injustice

389
00:25:28,640 –> 00:25:32,360
and suffering in the world?
Why does God appear so violent

390
00:25:32,360 –> 00:25:33,800
and vengeful in the Old
Testament?

391
00:25:35,200 –> 00:25:37,520
If Christianity is true, then
why do Christians treat each

392
00:25:37,520 –> 00:25:42,560
other so badly?
You may have heard questions

393
00:25:42,560 –> 00:25:44,960
like that before in the past.
Some of the tough questions, and

394
00:25:45,320 –> 00:25:47,600
I’m sure you can think of others
that you’ve heard of.

395
00:25:48,040 –> 00:25:52,880
And for many, the gut reaction
is to jump to the defense of the

396
00:25:52,880 –> 00:25:57,720
Bible and give them some
workable answer, pieced together

397
00:25:57,720 –> 00:26:00,040
from some important concepts in
the Bible.

398
00:26:02,040 –> 00:26:06,280
And maybe it might just be
better to be honest and just

399
00:26:06,280 –> 00:26:09,160
tell him, I don’t know, you
know, I’m struggled with that

400
00:26:09,160 –> 00:26:10,920
too.
I’m trying to figure that out

401
00:26:10,920 –> 00:26:14,680
myself.
I know two things, that God is

402
00:26:14,680 –> 00:26:19,200
all powerful and that God loves
me and he’s going to, he’s going

403
00:26:19,200 –> 00:26:21,720
to carry me through this.
And, and if it’s something I

404
00:26:21,720 –> 00:26:23,240
need to understand, he’ll help
me understand it.

405
00:26:23,240 –> 00:26:25,200
If it’s something I don’t need
to understand, it’s above me or

406
00:26:25,200 –> 00:26:30,120
bigger than me.
I don’t need to understand it to

407
00:26:30,120 –> 00:26:32,360
share with them that it really
is.

408
00:26:32,640 –> 00:26:38,320
There really are hard questions
out there, and it’s OK for you

409
00:26:38,320 –> 00:26:42,720
to struggle with them.
But God is good.

410
00:26:44,800 –> 00:26:49,280
God is good.
He knows way more than we’re

411
00:26:49,280 –> 00:26:51,240
ever going to come close to
knowing.

412
00:26:53,760 –> 00:26:55,920
His understanding is way beyond
ours.

413
00:26:57,400 –> 00:27:02,120
I love God and I trust that what
He’s doing in my life is best.

414
00:27:06,920 –> 00:27:09,760
I may not always fully
understand why he’s doing it,

415
00:27:11,400 –> 00:27:19,640
but I trust him.
Another another interesting side

416
00:27:19,640 –> 00:27:21,240
thought.
I’m sorry I don’t like side

417
00:27:21,240 –> 00:27:23,640
thoughts in a talk, but
sometimes they just come up.

418
00:27:25,440 –> 00:27:27,880
One of the tricky parts about
belonging to an organized

419
00:27:27,880 –> 00:27:32,560
religion.
We’re able to quantify and

420
00:27:32,560 –> 00:27:35,400
classify someone’s academic
knowledge.

421
00:27:37,640 –> 00:27:41,440
We can judge someone based on
what they understand.

422
00:27:43,000 –> 00:27:48,800
It’s not as easy to see how good
the relationship with God is.

423
00:27:50,800 –> 00:27:54,440
So from the very start we have
this, relate this, this problem

424
00:27:54,440 –> 00:27:55,720
in our relationship with each
other.

425
00:27:55,920 –> 00:27:59,000
When someone wants to join our
ecclesia, we ask them a bunch of

426
00:27:59,400 –> 00:28:05,200
academic questions because it’s
easy to judge and classify

427
00:28:05,200 –> 00:28:10,760
someone’s understanding.
But before I got baptized, you

428
00:28:10,760 –> 00:28:13,960
know, I had to list the names of
the of the kings of Israel.

429
00:28:14,480 –> 00:28:16,920
I don’t know why.
And I can’t remember them now.

430
00:28:17,640 –> 00:28:20,400
I remember.
I remember that my CYC teacher

431
00:28:20,400 –> 00:28:24,200
taught me one of those anagrams,
you know, to help me remember

432
00:28:24,200 –> 00:28:27,640
it, like O EE IOH or something.
I forget what it was.

433
00:28:27,640 –> 00:28:29,600
Othneil E Hood.
Yeah.

434
00:28:29,680 –> 00:28:33,160
Yeah, a lot of good it did me
right here.

435
00:28:33,160 –> 00:28:34,400
I am not, you know, I’m
forgetting it.

436
00:28:35,240 –> 00:28:37,760
They wanted to know if I had
memorized these verses.

437
00:28:37,760 –> 00:28:40,440
They couldn’t.
They couldn’t really find out

438
00:28:40,680 –> 00:28:42,760
how strong my relationship was
with God.

439
00:28:44,240 –> 00:28:49,160
They just wanted to know, you
know what I knew we you can’t do

440
00:28:49,160 –> 00:28:55,720
an examination of someone’s
trust and yet trust is the most

441
00:28:55,720 –> 00:28:59,240
important part.
So I think I’m not saying

442
00:28:59,240 –> 00:29:02,920
abandoned the examination, the
interview, we call it now

443
00:29:02,920 –> 00:29:08,520
because it’s more PCI.
But let’s let’s be sure to talk

444
00:29:08,520 –> 00:29:12,520
about the rest.
Baptism isn’t the goal.

445
00:29:13,360 –> 00:29:16,800
Baptism is the door you go
through to begin the walk.

446
00:29:17,200 –> 00:29:21,320
And it’s that walk of a lifelong
of trans life filled of

447
00:29:21,320 –> 00:29:23,560
transformation and change and
growth.

448
00:29:23,760 –> 00:29:27,520
That’s the goal.
And let’s be sure to tell them

449
00:29:27,520 –> 00:29:31,800
that, you know, we’re going to
have this interview with you and

450
00:29:31,800 –> 00:29:35,080
we want you to get baptized
because we want you to begin

451
00:29:35,080 –> 00:29:40,000
this process of transformation,
this process of change.

452
00:29:42,000 –> 00:29:45,320
That academic appeal kind of
continues through our entire

453
00:29:45,320 –> 00:29:50,160
experience at church.
So let’s just play with this

454
00:29:50,200 –> 00:29:53,920
photo for a minute here.
Imagine being a father of a

455
00:29:53,920 –> 00:29:59,200
beautiful young daughter and
this man comes to you and he

456
00:29:59,200 –> 00:30:02,000
tells you he wants permission to
marry your daughter.

457
00:30:03,680 –> 00:30:06,400
And you look him in the eyes and
you say, how does she like his

458
00:30:06,400 –> 00:30:08,560
eggs?
How does she like her eggs?

459
00:30:11,440 –> 00:30:16,880
What size are her shoes?
Is she good at parallel parking?

460
00:30:19,360 –> 00:30:22,080
Does she have a favorite number,
and if So, what is that number?

461
00:30:25,400 –> 00:30:28,680
Give me the names of all 5
schools that she attended as a

462
00:30:28,680 –> 00:30:31,040
child, in order, spelled
correctly, memorized.

463
00:30:32,760 –> 00:30:37,040
Of course you wouldn’t do that.
Of course you wouldn’t.

464
00:30:37,840 –> 00:30:43,960
You’d say, do you love her?
You’d say, are you going to take

465
00:30:43,960 –> 00:30:48,480
care of her?
You’d say, what are you going to

466
00:30:48,480 –> 00:30:55,600
do to make her happy?
You’d say, how are you going to

467
00:30:55,600 –> 00:30:59,600
serve her spiritual and her
emotional needs?

468
00:31:02,960 –> 00:31:07,080
And you know what?
You’d have to trust his answers

469
00:31:10,920 –> 00:31:12,760
when it’s your child that you’re
giving away.

470
00:31:12,960 –> 00:31:16,280
You don’t care if the boy has a
good academic understanding of

471
00:31:16,280 –> 00:31:18,960
your daughter.
You want to know about His

472
00:31:18,960 –> 00:31:23,720
relationship with her.
We need to be more concerned

473
00:31:23,720 –> 00:31:26,760
about how our brothers and
sisters are doing and building a

474
00:31:26,760 –> 00:31:30,600
relationship with God then we
are counting their attendance at

475
00:31:30,600 –> 00:31:35,320
Sunday School.
But that’s the rub, isn’t it?

476
00:31:35,320 –> 00:31:38,400
Right, We can’t.
It’s hard.

477
00:31:38,720 –> 00:31:41,120
One really great way to build a
relationship with God is to

478
00:31:41,120 –> 00:31:42,840
study His Bible and learn more
about Him.

479
00:31:43,000 –> 00:31:45,280
So attending at Sunday
attendance at Sunday School is

480
00:31:45,280 –> 00:31:47,360
important.
But you can’t have a

481
00:31:47,360 –> 00:31:49,120
relationship with God without
getting to know Him.

482
00:31:50,240 –> 00:31:53,720
You don’t need a PhD in order to
go on your first date.

483
00:31:55,240 –> 00:31:58,560
You need to start having a
relationship with God in Christ

484
00:31:58,800 –> 00:32:02,080
at whatever point you are with
whatever knowledge you have.

485
00:32:04,200 –> 00:32:07,160
If you feel you’re lacking in a
certain area, then turn to the

486
00:32:07,160 –> 00:32:10,400
scriptures For more information
on on who God is and how he

487
00:32:10,400 –> 00:32:14,760
thinks.
So jump back to my example of

488
00:32:14,760 –> 00:32:17,120
the the young suitor asking for
the hand in marriage.

489
00:32:17,560 –> 00:32:22,320
Wouldn’t you really question
that boy’s grasp of reality if

490
00:32:23,040 –> 00:32:26,360
he won’t ask the girl to marry
him because he hasn’t fully

491
00:32:26,360 –> 00:32:29,920
memorized the correct number of
the names of every one of the

492
00:32:30,160 –> 00:32:32,520
school she went to before age
18?

493
00:32:33,680 –> 00:32:37,080
You know, how can you put a ring
on my daughter’s finger while

494
00:32:37,080 –> 00:32:39,800
I’m still working on that middle
school is, was it Nobel?

495
00:32:39,800 –> 00:32:44,920
Was it Nobel or NOBLE?
You’re not going to marry my

496
00:32:44,920 –> 00:32:45,720
daughter?
Really.

497
00:32:48,440 –> 00:32:52,840
God wants us to be in a
relationship with him, and that

498
00:32:52,840 –> 00:32:56,120
relationship involves a lifetime
of learning about God’s

499
00:32:56,120 –> 00:32:58,080
character.
And do you think you might

500
00:32:58,080 –> 00:33:01,320
possibly change during your next
lifetime?

501
00:33:01,520 –> 00:33:07,000
Yeah, you’re gonna who you who
you are 30 years from now is so

502
00:33:07,000 –> 00:33:09,560
different than who you were 30
years ago.

503
00:33:14,680 –> 00:33:19,440
But that learning has to serve
the purpose of us building a

504
00:33:19,440 –> 00:33:23,600
relationship.
When we have classes, when we

505
00:33:23,600 –> 00:33:27,760
teach, you know, any kind of
Sunday school, we have to focus

506
00:33:27,760 –> 00:33:31,360
on how does this Bible teach us
about who God is and how we can

507
00:33:31,360 –> 00:33:33,120
build a better relationship with
him.

508
00:33:34,840 –> 00:33:38,200
Learning about God’s character
because we want to be more like

509
00:33:38,200 –> 00:33:42,480
him.
I love how God is described as

510
00:33:43,000 –> 00:33:47,040
characters kind and merciful and
loving and patient and

511
00:33:47,040 –> 00:33:55,190
long-suffering.
Why would we ever find ourselves

512
00:33:55,190 –> 00:33:58,310
in a position where all we
really want to do is is read and

513
00:33:58,310 –> 00:34:01,870
learn about God and not actually
take the step of starting a

514
00:34:01,870 –> 00:34:05,670
relationship with Him, Learning
to love Him and trust Him.

515
00:34:09,750 –> 00:34:15,230
Learning puffs up, trusting
breaks down.

516
00:34:17,030 –> 00:34:19,920
That’s the road, right?
It doesn’t always happen and

517
00:34:19,920 –> 00:34:22,280
definitely shouldn’t happen, but
one of the temptations for

518
00:34:22,280 –> 00:34:26,639
humans is to take in knowledge
and let it build in them a sense

519
00:34:26,639 –> 00:34:30,280
of intelligence and power and
superiority.

520
00:34:32,360 –> 00:34:35,480
It was that way for the lawyers
and the Pharisees, and it’s that

521
00:34:35,480 –> 00:34:38,880
way for us today.
You can continue to learn more

522
00:34:38,880 –> 00:34:43,040
and more, and it empowers you.
You rise in stature among other

523
00:34:43,040 –> 00:34:44,840
students.
You feel like you really are

524
00:34:44,840 –> 00:34:51,639
something learning puffs up.
Trusting in God is the opposite.

525
00:34:52,760 –> 00:34:55,360
Trusting in God requires you
acknowledge you really don’t

526
00:34:55,360 –> 00:34:58,800
know the answer.
You really can’t solve your own

527
00:34:58,800 –> 00:35:01,800
problems.
These these tough words like

528
00:35:01,800 –> 00:35:08,800
submitting and surrendering and
giving yourself over to God.

529
00:35:09,640 –> 00:35:12,520
Trusting breaks you down.
Like we were talking about

530
00:35:12,520 –> 00:35:15,720
yesterday.
We said certainty and pride are

531
00:35:15,720 –> 00:35:20,120
connected and doubt and humility
are connected.

532
00:35:20,840 –> 00:35:25,480
And when you trust to God, you,
you, you, you’re humble and, and

533
00:35:25,480 –> 00:35:28,000
it breaks you down.
It’s, it’s, it’s the way to

534
00:35:28,000 –> 00:35:32,240
God’s heart, but it’s humbling.
It’s the way to really come to

535
00:35:32,240 –> 00:35:35,040
know God and more important, to
be known by God.

536
00:35:35,440 –> 00:35:38,360
And it’s much more about
surrendering than conquering.

537
00:35:40,160 –> 00:35:43,640
It’s much more about admitting
your weaknesses than exhibiting

538
00:35:43,640 –> 00:35:48,160
your strength.
It’s much more about being

539
00:35:48,680 –> 00:35:54,360
honest than being correct.
Look at this first.

540
00:35:55,600 –> 00:35:58,080
Now concerning food offered
titles.

541
00:35:58,440 –> 00:36:00,560
We know that all of us possess
knowledge.

542
00:36:00,920 –> 00:36:04,280
This knowledge puffs up, but
love builds up.

543
00:36:05,320 –> 00:36:07,960
If anyone imagines he knows
something, he does not yet know

544
00:36:07,960 –> 00:36:10,960
as he ought to know.
But if anyone loves God, he’s

545
00:36:10,960 –> 00:36:15,800
known by God.
I love the way it says that if

546
00:36:15,800 –> 00:36:17,880
anyone imagines that he knows
something.

547
00:36:18,880 –> 00:36:21,000
It’s like, you know, you think
you know something.

548
00:36:21,000 –> 00:36:24,280
You imagine you know something,
but you don’t really know yet,

549
00:36:24,360 –> 00:36:30,200
as you ought to know.
We can’t understand, but we can

550
00:36:30,200 –> 00:36:36,160
love.
That’s the danger to forever

551
00:36:36,160 –> 00:36:39,480
learning and and not coming to a
relationship of trust, a

552
00:36:40,120 –> 00:36:47,600
relationship of love.
It’s a very tempting thing to

553
00:36:47,600 –> 00:36:51,440
want to learn more and more.
On the other side, it’s very

554
00:36:51,440 –> 00:36:58,240
hard for us to submit to God,
submit our will to God’s will,

555
00:36:58,240 –> 00:37:02,800
to give up your priorities, your
agenda, your schedule, your

556
00:37:02,800 –> 00:37:09,960
goals and take on His.
It’s hard to trust Him even more

557
00:37:10,760 –> 00:37:12,080
when you don’t understand what
he’s doing.

558
00:37:16,680 –> 00:37:22,800
I have a last set of questions
for you because tomorrow I

559
00:37:22,800 –> 00:37:30,880
decided to give you the day off.
So if you have any comments or

560
00:37:30,880 –> 00:37:34,720
suggestions, criticisms, that’s
fine too.

561
00:37:34,720 –> 00:37:41,160
I’ll forward those to John.
Any, any anything you want to

562
00:37:41,160 –> 00:37:43,440
share at all.
This is your your last chance.

563
00:37:43,440 –> 00:37:54,850
I appreciate that.
Got it.

564
00:37:58,490 –> 00:38:00,250
We all experience hills and
valleys.

565
00:38:00,490 –> 00:38:03,570
We all have high points and low
points in our walk and faith.

566
00:38:04,810 –> 00:38:07,970
Come to trust God when it
doesn’t make sense to you.

567
00:38:09,850 –> 00:38:11,770
Start with small things.
That’s the best way.

568
00:38:11,930 –> 00:38:14,890
Start with the small things and
develop that sense of trust.

569
00:38:15,410 –> 00:38:19,000
So you’ll be ready if big things
ever do come.

570
00:38:20,120 –> 00:38:23,560
Grow your trust in God by
reading the Bible and hearing

571
00:38:23,560 –> 00:38:26,760
how He has dealt with those in
the past and by being observant

572
00:38:27,360 –> 00:38:30,360
and looking around you and
seeing how He deals with others

573
00:38:30,360 –> 00:38:32,720
today and how He deals with you
today.

574
00:38:33,560 –> 00:38:36,880
Let’s not read the Bible hoping
that somehow the act of doing so

575
00:38:36,880 –> 00:38:40,880
will have some power to save us.
That was the problem in the Jews

576
00:38:40,880 –> 00:38:44,720
day, in Jesus’s day, the problem
with the Jews, he said you

577
00:38:44,720 –> 00:38:47,560
search the Scripture because you
think that in them you have

578
00:38:47,560 –> 00:38:50,600
eternal life and it’s they that
bear witness about me.

579
00:38:51,320 –> 00:38:55,840
The whole point of the Bible is
telling you about me, yet you

580
00:38:55,840 –> 00:39:02,960
refuse to come to me.
If I were to rewrite that verse,

581
00:39:03,720 –> 00:39:06,440
I would say, you know, you
search the Scripture because you

582
00:39:06,440 –> 00:39:09,360
think it bears witness of me,
but you think of Scripture

583
00:39:10,200 –> 00:39:11,520
because you think and then you
have eternal life.

584
00:39:11,680 –> 00:39:14,280
It bear witness of me and you
refuse to come to me because

585
00:39:14,280 –> 00:39:16,480
you’re too busy searching the
Scripture because you think and

586
00:39:16,480 –> 00:39:19,120
then you have eternal life, but
it’s talking about me.

587
00:39:20,960 –> 00:39:27,600
Come to Jesus, concentrate on
making your time with the Bible

588
00:39:27,720 –> 00:39:30,400
focused on what you can learn to
help you improve your

589
00:39:30,400 –> 00:39:35,040
relationship with God to help
you better understand Jesus.

590
00:39:37,240 –> 00:39:40,920
Well, that’s the only reason
really behind reading the Bible,

591
00:39:42,240 –> 00:39:48,640
for us to know God, for us to
trust Him, trust him during the

592
00:39:48,640 –> 00:39:51,240
good times and during the bad
times.

593
00:39:55,120 –> 00:40:00,720
You don’t need to focus on doing
something great, some big life

594
00:40:00,720 –> 00:40:05,880
changing, amazing deed.
You just need to focus on doing

595
00:40:05,880 –> 00:40:11,240
something good.
Something useful.

596
00:40:12,440 –> 00:40:13,480
We’ll talk about that tomorrow.