392: Jeff Gelineau – Outside the Box

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Welcome to Good Christophian
Talks.

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Thank you for joining us this
week on this podcast.

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We select one talk a week to
help us get the Bible in our

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Daily News feed.
Each week we post a talk that we

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previewed from suggestions sent
in by listeners from around the

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world.
Then we record a short intro

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beforehand as a personalized
recommendation to you on why we

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are sharing the talk.
And now let’s talk more about

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this week’s talk.
Howdy.

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This week’s class is entitled
Outside the Box, given by

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brother Jeff Gillenaux from his
series Beyond the Book given at

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the 2025 Great Lakes
Christadelphian Bible School.

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One word to describe this class
and the series as a whole is

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reverent.
This is a very reverent class

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towards our God.
It’s not a talk where you’ll

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learn the most or you’ll put
lots of notes in your margin.

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It’s a talk that pushes the
boundary of your thinking,

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pushes you outside the box a
little.

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Now, the term outside the box is
not used in the context to

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suggest that we need anything
more or less than the Bible.

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But.
What Brother Jeff goes on to

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suggest is that given the nature
of our community, where we hold

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God’s one and only truth, where
we read at least three times a

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day and we study and mark God’s
Word constantly, the thought may

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arise that we possess the owner
manual to God.

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That we can be so dogmatic in
what we academically know about

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our Father that it causes
difficulties when he works

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outside how we initially thought
he worked.

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Brother Jeff’s main exhortation
is that when we enter those

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rough waters, it’s a loving
trust in God that will get us

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through the storm.
And towards the end, there’s a

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big call to action to really
expand our circle of compassion

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beyond our immediate friends and
family.

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I found that this class makes
for a really good discussion

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with others.
If there’s someone you know who

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also listens to the podcast,
give them a call or text and ask

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them what they thought about
this class.

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With that, here is brother Jeff
Jelineau outside the box.

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Thank you to the 18 people who
responded yesterday to my

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questions and comments.
I appreciate the all the input.

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Had a had a aha moment on my
own.

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I’ll share with you.
John came over to defend his

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fellow college students and and
said that, you know, it’s not

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necessarily higher education
that takes you away from God,

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but it’s the pride that often
follows knowledge that that

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makes it hard.
So that was an interesting

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point.
We kind of enjoyed that comment.

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And then someone else came up
and said that doubt and humility

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are connected.
And I and I, I put those two

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comments together and I have to
explore this a little bit

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further.
But there’s definitely a

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connection between certainty and
pride and doubt and humility.

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And I think that’s something for
us to spend a little time

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thinking about.
But not today.

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Today we’re going to head down a
different path.

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We’re going to talk about
outside the box.

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Now, Certainly outside the box
is a metaphor, unless your name

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is Jack.
And and we’re going to apply

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that in in a couple of different
ways.

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So you’re going to get a little
confused.

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It’s not that I’m I’m getting
confused, just that you’re

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getting a little confused.
We’re going to talk not just

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about thinking outside the box,
but about about seeing outside

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the box and about living outside
the box.

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And I want to start by looking
back to the good old days when

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we were young.
So for 17 of you doesn’t really

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apply, but for the rest of us
that applies.

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Might I say, I’ll go ahead and
say it.

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I feel like Ken Somerville when
I say this, but young, dumb and

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happy, That’s what Ken used to
say all the time.

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You, you may start out happy,
but the fact that we want to

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talk about is the more you
become aware of life’s

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complexities and life’s
injustices and life’s

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uncertainties and and hardships,
the harder it is to be happy as

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you get older.
That’s why we tend to look back

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on our youth with such fondness.
The 21 year old Jeff didn’t know

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as many things that I know about
now that haunt my brain when I

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can’t sleep at night.
Things were easier when you were

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young in so many ways, they were
easier when you were young.

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Things were more black and
white.

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You weren’t tormented by all the
subtle nuances of life.

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Maybe as you looked at a
situation, looked at a problem,

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looked at at something, you just
say, well, yeah, this is the

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answer.
You didn’t say, well, yeah, but

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there’s this and there’s this
and and you know, all those, all

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those things that make it hard.
So in that sense, I think young

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people are dumb.
They’re not, they’re not yet

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aware of, of life’s
complications, of all the, all

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the particles that make up the
whole, they, they think inside

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the box everything is very
clear.

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There’s right and there’s wrong.
And it’s always clear which one

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is which, or more importantly,
who was right, who was wrong.

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As you get older, you start to
be able to think a little bit

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outside that box and that’s
good, that’s healthy.

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I think it’s very important that
we we do that.

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We have to mature to get to that
point.

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The part they don’t tell you
though, is that it’s going to

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really ruin your day.
You know, it’s really going to

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when you start to, when you
start to see outside the box as

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well, you’re no longer entirely
consumed with your own being and

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you start to look at those
around you and you start to be

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concerned for those around you.
You start to worry for those

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around you.
The the welfare of others

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becomes your concern.
I just love how Paul describes

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his life.
He says, oh that’s what we’re

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talking about today.
Next slide, Paul describes his

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life.
Five times I received at the

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hands of the Jews.
The 40 lashes less, 1/3 times I

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was beaten with rods.
Once I was stoned.

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Three times I was shipwrecked a
day and a night I was adrift at

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sea on frequent journeys and
dangers from rivers, Dangers

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from robbers, danger from my own
people, danger from gentiles,

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danger in the city, danger in
the wilderness, danger at sea,

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danger from false brothers, and
toil and hardship through many a

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sleepless nights, and hunger and
thirst, often without food and

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cold and exposure.
I, I, I can’t think of 1 of

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those things that have happened
to me and he and he’s had, you

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know, all of them.
It sounds like it’s always makes

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me laugh when I read that
because it makes me think of one

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of those terrible Bible mission
presentations at Bible school,

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you know, become a Bible
missionary.

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Have terrible, uncomfortable
things happen to you in faraway

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countries.
You know, if they they come back

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like, you know, I was AI was a
Bible mission.

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And this is, you know, I got
some dysentery, you know, and

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it’s like, I don’t really want
to hear about this.

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But the point I’m making,
though, is Paul thought all of

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that was nothing compared to
that.

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Apart from all these other
things, there’s the daily

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pressure on me of my anxiety for
all the churches.

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Whipped five times, beaten 3
times, stoned once, shipwrecked

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not once, not twice, three
times.

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He needs a new travel agent, you
know, 24 hours adrift at the

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sea, dangers everywhere he went
in the city, in the country,

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enemies, friends, sleepless
nights, hunger, thirst, exposed

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to the cold.
But worse and all those things

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is the daily burden of my
concern for the ecclesias.

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The 21 year old Jeff had none of
that.

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The 61 year old Jeff lays awake
at night thinking about that

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sister and what we can do to fix
that, help that solve that.

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When you really become aware of
everyone around you, you start

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to see the pain.
Everybody hurts.

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It’s this, it’s this thing that
Kelly and I say all the time and

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and it’s just so true.
Like, you know, and you didn’t

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know it, you didn’t know it.
Everything was going really

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good.
And then the police arrest him

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and put him in jail.
And she tells you, yeah, it’s

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been going on for three years.
And it I didn’t he, you know,

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he, he told me if I told
anybody, he would beat me.

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And and I haven’t told anybody.
And and you just didn’t know the

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pain that she was in.
Everyone is struggling with

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something.
Those who are not aware of what

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others are carrying don’t feel
that same burden.

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You show up at church,
everyone’s dressed real nice.

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Everyone smiles.
You have a couple of nice

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visits.
You talk about the score of the

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game last night, you hear a good
talk.

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You go home.
You mow the lawn, you play some

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pickleball.
You enjoy another episode of

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Longmire and you crawl into bed
and it’s just lather, rinse,

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repeat.
It’s it’s the same way for

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someone who’s ignorant or or
makes the deliberate choice to

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overlook certain truths, certain
realities.

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But life is not simple.
Life is complicated and and it’s

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nuanced.
Things are never nice and clean.

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It’s not about right and wrong.
When you open your eyes a bit

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and you start looking outside
the box, you’re able to see

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things so differently.
And there’s a tension, I think,

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that naturally exists in our
walk in Christ.

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This tension exists because
human beings are complex and

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things are hardly ever black and
white.

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But we want to see things in
terms of either walking with God

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or not walking with God.
And the reality of the situation

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is much more confusing.
There are people in the world

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who have chosen not to walk with
God and yet do good things.

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And likewise, we’re probably all
too familiar with people like

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ourselves who choosing to live a
life of service to God and yet

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occasionally find ourselves not
even coming close to living up

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to that column.
I was getting the mail once and

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we have a community mailbox.
So I walk up the street and I

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get the mail and outcomes a
neighbor who I know to be

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Christian.
And she just says a few things

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to me and I pick up my mail and
I walk home thinking she’s such

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a better Christian than I am.
And that’s, that’s so it’s so

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disheartening and and troubling
and confusing when you’re

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brought up Christian elephant
and you know you have the truth

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and she doesn’t.
I have the truth.

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I was brought up in the truth.
The truth will make you free.

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And and she talks about these
things that are so far above my

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mind.
And I think there’s a there’s a

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law that exists in our bodies,
right?

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We commit our lives to serve the
Lord in our minds, but our

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bodies are prone to sin.
We dedicate our lives to walk

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with God, yet sometimes our
bodies don’t walk with us, even

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though our inward man and our
our fleshly members do not

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always walk in the same
direction.

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That doesn’t mean you have to
abandon your calling to serve

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the Lord.
Even though you feel like you’re

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not living up to what you should
be living up to, or that others

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are doing a better job than you,
it doesn’t mean you should give

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up.
It’s easy to see this principle

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working in your life, but it’s
it’s harder to extend that same

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understanding to those around
you because you fully understand

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the complexities that go into
each of your decisions.

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But we’re often not able to
extend that same kind of grace

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to other people’s conclusions.
None of us really knows what’s

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going on in the lives of those
around us.

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When you see them walking in the
meeting 11 minutes late and you

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think, oh man, you think you
know what’s going on.

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And that’s the problem.
We think we’re really good at

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reading people.
We look at a a few external

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indicators and we think we have
them all figured out, but we’re

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wrong every time.
I want to consider a letter that

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I have read from a brother, and
I want to see how well you are

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at judging his heart.
You’ve never met him, You’ve

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never seen him, but this is a
letter he wrote pouring, pouring

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00:14:20,640 –> 00:14:23,240
his heart out.
And let’s see how well you are

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00:14:23,240 –> 00:14:28,680
at judging his heart.
God, you’re my last chance.

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00:14:29,920 –> 00:14:31,920
I spent the night on my knees
before you.

220
00:14:32,600 –> 00:14:36,560
I’ve had my fill of trouble.
I’m written off as a lost cause.

221
00:14:36,560 –> 00:14:38,680
One more statistic, A hopeless
case.

222
00:14:39,160 –> 00:14:43,160
Abandoned is already dead.
One more body in a stack of

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00:14:43,160 –> 00:14:46,160
corpses, but not so much as a
gravestone.

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00:14:47,280 –> 00:14:49,240
You’ve dropped me into a
bottomless pit.

225
00:14:49,440 –> 00:14:53,560
I’m battered senseless by your
rage, relentlessly pounded by

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00:14:53,560 –> 00:14:57,120
your waves of anger.
You turn my friends against me.

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00:14:57,320 –> 00:14:59,720
I’m caught in a maze, and I
can’t find my way out.

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00:14:59,720 –> 00:15:03,520
Blinded by tears of pain and
frustration, I plead for help.

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00:15:04,160 –> 00:15:06,920
Are the dead Alive audience for
your miracles?

230
00:15:07,040 –> 00:15:09,320
Do ghosts ever join the choirs
that praise you?

231
00:15:09,560 –> 00:15:12,080
Does your love make any
difference in a graveyard?

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00:15:12,560 –> 00:15:15,080
Is your faithful presence
noticed in the corridors of

233
00:15:15,080 –> 00:15:17,040
hell?
Are your marvelous wonders ever

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00:15:17,040 –> 00:15:19,960
seen in the dark?
I’m standing my ground, God

235
00:15:19,960 –> 00:15:22,520
shouting for help.
Why, God, do you turn a deaf,

236
00:15:22,640 –> 00:15:25,840
deaf ear?
Why do you make yourself scarce?

237
00:15:26,560 –> 00:15:28,600
For as long as I can remember,
I’ve been hurting.

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00:15:29,040 –> 00:15:31,800
I’ve taken the worst you can
hand out, and I’ve had it.

239
00:15:32,560 –> 00:15:35,440
Your wildfire fire has blazed
through my life.

240
00:15:35,680 –> 00:15:38,720
I’m bleeding black and blue.
You’ve attacked me from every

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00:15:38,720 –> 00:15:41,560
side, raining down blows on me
until I’m nearly dead.

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00:15:42,280 –> 00:15:45,760
The only friend I have left is
Darkness.

243
00:15:48,760 –> 00:15:51,800
The only friend I have left is
Darkness.

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00:15:54,480 –> 00:16:02,080
I lied to you.
You know this, brother, That’s

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00:16:02,080 –> 00:16:08,760
Psalm 88.
Now, if I were to write a letter

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00:16:08,760 –> 00:16:12,480
like this to you, I don’t think
you would have asked me to come

247
00:16:12,480 –> 00:16:18,920
speak at your Bible school.
I imagined you would think I’m

248
00:16:18,920 –> 00:16:25,200
having a crisis of my faith.
If I gave an excitation like

249
00:16:25,200 –> 00:16:28,400
this, I’d be the subject of an
announcement in the next

250
00:16:28,480 –> 00:16:31,640
newsletter.
Please pray for Brother Jeff as

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00:16:31,640 –> 00:16:36,760
he struggles.
David was honestly struggling

252
00:16:36,760 –> 00:16:42,120
with his feelings about God.
It’s not wrong and it’s not

253
00:16:42,120 –> 00:16:45,680
unique to David.
It’s not unique in the life of a

254
00:16:45,680 –> 00:16:49,040
believer.
Now would you?

255
00:16:49,240 –> 00:16:51,280
Next time you see David, are you
going to tell him he needs to

256
00:16:51,280 –> 00:16:53,400
study the Bible more so he can
get over this?

257
00:16:53,880 –> 00:16:56,040
He needs to do the readings more
regularly.

258
00:16:56,440 –> 00:17:01,560
Go to a class, maybe listen to
some podcasts you can recommend.

259
00:17:03,200 –> 00:17:06,560
Would you really want him
teaching your Sunday school?

260
00:17:08,200 –> 00:17:10,839
Would you really want him
talking to the kids in your CYC?

261
00:17:10,880 –> 00:17:19,480
You see, feeling like God is far
away or or disinterested in you

262
00:17:19,839 –> 00:17:23,960
is part of our Bible.
No matter how offensive it may

263
00:17:23,960 –> 00:17:28,280
seem, it’s never been shamed or
or criticized by God.

264
00:17:30,440 –> 00:17:34,560
Acting unjustly towards others
or worshipping other gods?

265
00:17:34,560 –> 00:17:39,680
That gets criticized in almost
every chapter, but not honest.

266
00:17:39,680 –> 00:17:42,800
Talk about feeling abandoned by
God.

267
00:17:43,320 –> 00:17:46,880
These expressions of abandonment
aren’t evidence that something’s

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00:17:46,880 –> 00:17:50,360
wrong and needs to be fixed.
They signal not only what can

269
00:17:50,360 –> 00:17:54,360
happen in a life of faith, but
what does happen, frankly, what

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00:17:54,360 –> 00:17:59,720
we should expect to happen, what
we should be looking for and

271
00:17:59,720 –> 00:18:04,720
expecting and not not deluding
ourselves into thinking that

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00:18:04,720 –> 00:18:08,680
everything’s fine.
In my ecclesia in New England,

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00:18:09,000 –> 00:18:10,960
that was the one word I hated
the most.

274
00:18:11,720 –> 00:18:16,680
Fine because in New England they
give you one word answers.

275
00:18:17,400 –> 00:18:20,560
How are you fine?
How are things going?

276
00:18:20,840 –> 00:18:23,080
Fine.
How’s the family?

277
00:18:23,440 –> 00:18:26,960
Fine, then why does your
daughter have black and Blues on

278
00:18:27,360 –> 00:18:36,160
her left eye?
Psalm 88 just leaves you there

279
00:18:36,160 –> 00:18:39,960
at the end.
You notice that only friend I

280
00:18:39,960 –> 00:18:47,120
have left is darkness.
Have you ever felt that your

281
00:18:47,120 –> 00:18:53,200
life is just a deep pit of blah
where you’re all alone?

282
00:18:53,200 –> 00:18:54,600
That’s what that’s how David
felt.

283
00:18:55,160 –> 00:19:01,400
Those times where you thought
you knew what what you thought

284
00:19:01,400 –> 00:19:04,760
you could be certain of and
count on turns out to be not so

285
00:19:04,760 –> 00:19:08,280
certain at all.
We have to learn to embrace the

286
00:19:08,280 –> 00:19:11,120
fact that faith looks like this
sometimes.

287
00:19:11,800 –> 00:19:15,240
And you’re not alone.
You’ve got David in your camp.

288
00:19:16,360 –> 00:19:19,400
We all have thoughts like that.
That’s why that’s why Psalm 88

289
00:19:19,400 –> 00:19:22,400
is included in the Bible.
And just wait till you get to

290
00:19:22,400 –> 00:19:27,960
Psalm 89.
No matter how well we think we

291
00:19:27,960 –> 00:19:31,640
know what God’s next move is
going to be, things often don’t

292
00:19:31,640 –> 00:19:36,000
turn out that way.
David thought he felt certain

293
00:19:36,000 –> 00:19:39,560
about what God’s plan was, and
yet things turned out quite

294
00:19:39,560 –> 00:19:43,720
differently for him.
With his own son trying to kill

295
00:19:43,720 –> 00:19:47,160
him.
We shouldn’t be surprised when

296
00:19:47,160 –> 00:19:49,080
we find ourselves in a similar
spot.

297
00:19:49,320 –> 00:19:53,760
In fact, I’m starting to believe
that God doesn’t do anything the

298
00:19:53,760 –> 00:19:56,120
way that I think it should be
done.

299
00:19:57,440 –> 00:20:00,320
As I read through the the Bible,
especially the Old Testament,

300
00:20:00,440 –> 00:20:03,200
not one of those stories is the
way I would have written it.

301
00:20:05,960 –> 00:20:10,400
That’s part of the idea.
God isn’t beholden to to our

302
00:20:10,400 –> 00:20:13,200
thinking.
God doesn’t act according to our

303
00:20:13,200 –> 00:20:16,280
certainty even if we have a
Bible verse to back it up.

304
00:20:18,280 –> 00:20:21,320
It’s not about God acting in in
our time frame.

305
00:20:21,400 –> 00:20:25,640
We don’t control God even if we
read verses that make us think

306
00:20:25,640 –> 00:20:28,240
that God has to do things in a
certain way.

307
00:20:28,480 –> 00:20:32,480
God controls God.
You don’t control God.

308
00:20:33,200 –> 00:20:36,720
You have to trust God.
And David learned that trust

309
00:20:36,720 –> 00:20:39,280
grows best when things are
falling apart.

310
00:20:39,400 –> 00:20:41,080
He’s not the only one who got
that memo.

311
00:20:41,600 –> 00:20:44,680
Muscles grow when they’re being
stressed.

312
00:20:45,600 –> 00:20:48,240
Muscles don’t grow on the bark
lounger.

313
00:20:49,160 –> 00:20:51,760
They don’t grow on the come in
the comfortable seats.

314
00:20:52,560 –> 00:20:57,480
They grow when pain and soreness
happens.

315
00:21:00,160 –> 00:21:04,000
Trust God in the same way trust
in God.

316
00:21:04,000 –> 00:21:07,920
It is the same way it it grows
in times of stress.

317
00:21:09,160 –> 00:21:13,280
Your faith grows because it’s
stretched, because it’s worked,

318
00:21:13,440 –> 00:21:17,880
because it’s pushed, because
it’s bent and and torn, and it

319
00:21:17,880 –> 00:21:20,040
builds itself back together
stronger.

320
00:21:22,840 –> 00:21:27,880
If your faith in God makes zero
sense to you, and your reasons

321
00:21:27,880 –> 00:21:31,960
for trusting God have fallen off
a Cliff, you’ve got a friend and

322
00:21:31,960 –> 00:21:36,160
Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes looks at life

323
00:21:36,160 –> 00:21:39,880
through the eyes of humans, not
the godly perspective, and life

324
00:21:39,880 –> 00:21:42,760
plays out as one cruel joke
after another.

325
00:21:43,320 –> 00:21:48,080
And then you die.
It’s an unhappy business that

326
00:21:48,080 –> 00:21:50,440
God has given to the children of
men to be busy with.

327
00:21:51,160 –> 00:21:54,240
I’ve seen everything that’s done
under the sun and behold,

328
00:21:54,640 –> 00:21:57,960
everything is vanity and a
striving after wind.

329
00:21:58,320 –> 00:22:01,840
From a human standpoint, our
lives are full of unhappy

330
00:22:01,840 –> 00:22:06,480
business that God has given us,
and that is depressing.

331
00:22:08,120 –> 00:22:12,240
It’s a faith crisis at its best.
Everything is youth useless.

332
00:22:12,240 –> 00:22:14,240
It’s all it’s just a bunch of
nothing.

333
00:22:16,160 –> 00:22:18,840
The thing that drives the
preacher crazy is that you can

334
00:22:18,840 –> 00:22:21,680
spend years of your life
accomplishing great things, and

335
00:22:22,120 –> 00:22:24,520
when you die, it’s all
worthless.

336
00:22:26,240 –> 00:22:29,640
There’s no remembrance of former
things, nor would be any

337
00:22:29,640 –> 00:22:33,120
remnants of later things yet to
be among those who come after.

338
00:22:34,120 –> 00:22:41,680
I had a good friend who ran a a
huge nonprofit and, you know,

339
00:22:41,720 –> 00:22:47,200
these staff were bending down
and helping the the poorest in

340
00:22:47,200 –> 00:22:50,360
the, you know, be trod in the
the deaf, the blind.

341
00:22:50,360 –> 00:22:51,960
They were, they were doing great
work.

342
00:22:52,400 –> 00:22:56,160
And if you ask someone to donate
to pay their salary, it’d be

343
00:22:56,160 –> 00:23:01,080
like, but if you ask someone to
donate to buy a new building

344
00:23:01,160 –> 00:23:05,320
where we can put your name on
the wall, you’d get millions of

345
00:23:05,320 –> 00:23:10,600
dollars because you know, we
want our name to, to continue,

346
00:23:11,520 –> 00:23:14,120
right?
We don’t want all this work I’ve

347
00:23:14,120 –> 00:23:17,680
done to be useless.
We want all that money I’ve

348
00:23:17,680 –> 00:23:19,800
generated to to have some
meaning.

349
00:23:20,840 –> 00:23:24,000
And the preacher goes on for 12
chapters looking at the

350
00:23:24,000 –> 00:23:27,080
uselessness of her existence
through a human perspective.

351
00:23:27,160 –> 00:23:30,760
And when it comes to the end, he
isn’t criticized by God for his

352
00:23:30,760 –> 00:23:33,880
honesty.
He’s actually commended for

353
00:23:33,880 –> 00:23:35,880
talking about things that are
hard to hear.

354
00:23:36,800 –> 00:23:39,000
In the end, it says, the
preacher sought to find words of

355
00:23:39,000 –> 00:23:41,440
delight, and uprightly he wrote
words of truth.

356
00:23:42,560 –> 00:23:46,920
The words of the wise are like
goads and like nails firmly

357
00:23:46,920 –> 00:23:49,440
fixed.
Other collected sayings they’re

358
00:23:49,440 –> 00:23:54,360
given by the shepherd.
What I should have here is a

359
00:23:54,360 –> 00:23:58,240
gnarly, nasty slide of some
goads.

360
00:23:58,720 –> 00:24:01,880
You know that’s a weird word we
don’t connect with, but it’s not

361
00:24:01,880 –> 00:24:07,240
pretty and it’s painful.
Nails can come a little closer

362
00:24:07,240 –> 00:24:10,040
to to our minds, right?
Nails firmly fixed.

363
00:24:12,360 –> 00:24:14,720
He tried to say nice things, he
wanted to say nice things, but

364
00:24:14,720 –> 00:24:17,760
in the end he just had to speak
the truth and his words hurt.

365
00:24:17,760 –> 00:24:20,360
And they’re supposed to.
And I love the conclusion

366
00:24:20,360 –> 00:24:22,440
though, right?
Of making many books.

367
00:24:22,440 –> 00:24:26,000
There is no end and much study
is awareness of the flesh.

368
00:24:26,920 –> 00:24:28,600
The end of the matter.
All has been heard.

369
00:24:28,600 –> 00:24:30,640
Fear God and keep his
commandments.

370
00:24:31,160 –> 00:24:33,840
This is the whole duty of man.
He isn’t saying to stop reading

371
00:24:33,840 –> 00:24:36,160
books.
I think that what he is saying

372
00:24:36,160 –> 00:24:39,720
though is to stop obsessing on
studying and trying to work it

373
00:24:39,720 –> 00:24:42,040
all out in your head and have it
all make sense to you.

374
00:24:42,560 –> 00:24:46,120
It’s spiritually and emotionally
exhausting to try to understand

375
00:24:46,120 –> 00:24:49,320
enough for it to make sense,
because it doesn’t.

376
00:24:50,960 –> 00:24:54,800
It’s all nothing.
It’s all vanity.

377
00:24:57,520 –> 00:25:00,520
Just trust.
Just trust in God.

378
00:25:00,760 –> 00:25:03,520
Believe that God is good and he
has your best in mind.

379
00:25:04,040 –> 00:25:05,840
Fear God and keep his
commandments.

380
00:25:06,280 –> 00:25:09,680
Ecclesiastes doesn’t try to hide
the human point of view of the

381
00:25:09,680 –> 00:25:13,840
reality of it that life is.
It doesn’t.

382
00:25:14,680 –> 00:25:17,360
But it doesn’t let that that
human reality have the final

383
00:25:17,360 –> 00:25:19,520
word, right?
Yes, you’re right.

384
00:25:19,600 –> 00:25:21,680
Life doesn’t make any sense.
It really is vanity.

385
00:25:21,680 –> 00:25:24,720
Life really is useless.
But fear God anyway.

386
00:25:26,280 –> 00:25:33,520
But obey God anyway.
But trust God anyway, we tend to

387
00:25:33,520 –> 00:25:35,800
want to, I think we want to look
at in a scientific manner and

388
00:25:35,800 –> 00:25:39,760
say, well, you know, I’ve been
observing life, God’s creation

389
00:25:39,760 –> 00:25:43,840
and it doesn’t make any sense.
Therefore, and that’s not the

390
00:25:43,840 –> 00:25:47,560
connection we’re to make.
Yes, this doesn’t make sense and

391
00:25:47,560 –> 00:25:50,080
God has something better planned
for us.

392
00:25:52,120 –> 00:25:55,760
And I realize that’s, that’s
hard, hard to do.

393
00:25:55,760 –> 00:25:58,800
It’s hard to keep trusting in
God when you see no possible

394
00:25:58,800 –> 00:26:02,320
reason to around you.
That’s what faith is, though.

395
00:26:03,000 –> 00:26:07,840
Faith is continuing on.
When you don’t see why you can’t

396
00:26:07,840 –> 00:26:11,240
understand the reason, no matter
how deep your disillusion is.

397
00:26:12,600 –> 00:26:15,760
Move toward God instead of away
from God.

398
00:26:17,400 –> 00:26:20,400
When we reach that point where
things simply make no sense.

399
00:26:20,640 –> 00:26:23,680
When our thinking about God and
life no longer line up.

400
00:26:24,000 –> 00:26:25,800
When any sense of certainty is
gone.

401
00:26:25,840 –> 00:26:29,840
When we can find no reason to
trust God but we still do.

402
00:26:31,680 –> 00:26:36,760
That’s what trust is.
Ecclesiastes isn’t a story of a

403
00:26:36,760 –> 00:26:39,880
man who loses his faith.
Ecclesiastes is a story of what

404
00:26:39,880 –> 00:26:42,680
faith looks like when all you
thought you knew about God and

405
00:26:42,680 –> 00:26:47,640
how the world works is ripped
apart, when certainty just

406
00:26:47,640 –> 00:26:51,800
vanishes like a vapor and you
still trust God.

407
00:26:53,920 –> 00:26:57,000
Ecclesiastes never says you
don’t have to know what to

408
00:26:57,000 –> 00:27:02,160
believe, but it says trust God
even when you don’t know what to

409
00:27:02,160 –> 00:27:07,280
believe.
And then there’s Job.

410
00:27:10,760 –> 00:27:14,840
Job’s a great example of God not
acting like you would expect him

411
00:27:14,840 –> 00:27:19,160
to.
Now, it’s a basic biblical

412
00:27:19,160 –> 00:27:22,120
concept, right?
Actions have consequences.

413
00:27:22,720 –> 00:27:24,480
It’s all through the the Old
Testament.

414
00:27:24,600 –> 00:27:28,400
Proverbs 3 is a great example.
The Lord Lord’s curse is on the

415
00:27:28,400 –> 00:27:30,360
House of the wicked.
He blesses the dwelling of the

416
00:27:30,360 –> 00:27:37,240
righteous.
So if you didn’t read the first

417
00:27:37,240 –> 00:27:42,920
chapter of Job, then your
responses to Job would be the

418
00:27:42,920 –> 00:27:48,320
exact same as his friends did.
It’s perfectly normal biblical

419
00:27:48,320 –> 00:27:50,120
idea.
Actions have consequences, and

420
00:27:50,120 –> 00:27:53,720
based on the consequences you’re
currently facing, must be you’ve

421
00:27:53,720 –> 00:27:55,440
done some pretty terrible
actions.

422
00:27:57,200 –> 00:28:02,000
Something very wrong.
By the looks, by the external

423
00:28:02,120 –> 00:28:05,280
look of what’s going on in your
life, I can tell that

424
00:28:05,280 –> 00:28:06,920
something’s very wrong with your
life.

425
00:28:06,920 –> 00:28:08,800
You’re obviously doing something
very wrong.

426
00:28:10,640 –> 00:28:13,040
God wouldn’t just punish you for
no reason.

427
00:28:13,640 –> 00:28:18,920
And it goes on and on and on for
34 chapters.

428
00:28:20,200 –> 00:28:24,280
Why so much on that subject?
Why so many friends?

429
00:28:24,280 –> 00:28:30,560
With so many opinions and so
much to say, I think God really

430
00:28:30,560 –> 00:28:33,240
wants to drill into our heads
and make us come to grips with a

431
00:28:33,240 –> 00:28:37,200
very real idea.
What we think we know about God

432
00:28:37,840 –> 00:28:42,720
might not be so certain.
No matter how certain we think

433
00:28:42,720 –> 00:28:45,600
we are, we might not have it
right.

434
00:28:47,360 –> 00:28:50,440
One of my favorite phrases I’ve
just learned recently is the

435
00:28:50,440 –> 00:28:53,800
Bible isn’t an owner’s manual to
God.

436
00:28:55,960 –> 00:28:57,960
It’s not intended to be
something you can just open up

437
00:28:57,960 –> 00:28:59,960
and read and figure out.
Oh yeah, that’s what God is.

438
00:29:01,320 –> 00:29:07,720
God is beyond our mental reach,
and that’s what Job is told by

439
00:29:07,720 –> 00:29:09,520
God.
In the last four or five

440
00:29:09,520 –> 00:29:12,240
chapters.
God makes it clear that he and

441
00:29:12,240 –> 00:29:16,720
only he is the Creator and he,
and we’re in no position to

442
00:29:16,720 –> 00:29:20,440
question him.
Where were you when I laid the

443
00:29:20,440 –> 00:29:26,760
foundations of the earth?
Is it by your understanding that

444
00:29:26,760 –> 00:29:31,000
the hawk soars through the sky?
And then Job says his last

445
00:29:31,000 –> 00:29:33,560
words.
I know that you can do all

446
00:29:33,560 –> 00:29:36,120
things and that no purpose of
yours can be thwarted.

447
00:29:36,720 –> 00:29:40,680
Therefore I despise myself and I
repent in dust and ashes.

448
00:29:41,560 –> 00:29:46,320
It’s after this that God says
his final words as well and it’s

449
00:29:46,320 –> 00:29:48,240
a bit of surprise.
It was to me, right?

450
00:29:48,480 –> 00:29:51,880
Don’t forget God has done that
whole 5 chapter long section

451
00:29:51,880 –> 00:29:57,000
about don’t question me because
I’m God and now he says and Lord

452
00:29:57,000 –> 00:30:00,240
has spoken these words to Job.
The Lord said to LF as the team

453
00:30:00,360 –> 00:30:03,600
team and I my anger burns
against you and against your two

454
00:30:03,600 –> 00:30:05,040
friends for you have not spoken
to me.

455
00:30:05,040 –> 00:30:10,840
What is right as my servant Job
has Job is right, his friends

456
00:30:10,840 –> 00:30:15,560
are wrong.
I forget the percentage John

457
00:30:15,560 –> 00:30:18,640
Launchbury said it, but it’s
kind of like high eighties. 89%

458
00:30:18,640 –> 00:30:22,560
of Job is wrong.
Yeah, if you say, well, it’s in

459
00:30:22,560 –> 00:30:27,840
the Bible, it must be right, you
know, No, it’s not 89% of the of

460
00:30:27,840 –> 00:30:31,560
the what’s recorded and and Job
is guys who got it wrong.

461
00:30:34,800 –> 00:30:37,480
His friends are wrong.
Job’s friends were technically

462
00:30:37,480 –> 00:30:40,040
right if you’re going by the
book.

463
00:30:41,200 –> 00:30:44,400
But when you get beyond the
book, when you step outside the

464
00:30:44,400 –> 00:30:47,520
box and stop thinking inside the
box the way that everyone else

465
00:30:47,520 –> 00:30:51,760
would would think, you realize
they’re wrong.

466
00:30:52,960 –> 00:30:55,680
They had every reason to feel
certain about what they were

467
00:30:55,680 –> 00:30:57,480
saying.
They weren’t punking him.

468
00:30:57,480 –> 00:31:00,160
They weren’t being mean.
They didn’t say, hey, Job’s

469
00:31:00,160 –> 00:31:02,000
having a bad week, let’s go bash
on him.

470
00:31:02,120 –> 00:31:05,920
No, they these were these were
better friends than you’ve ever

471
00:31:05,920 –> 00:31:09,960
had.
They sat with him seven days.

472
00:31:10,680 –> 00:31:20,760
Just sat there for seven days.
But they’re wrong.

473
00:31:21,960 –> 00:31:24,000
Job and his friends were all
operating under the same

474
00:31:24,000 –> 00:31:27,720
assumption that God wants all
humans to know what God expects

475
00:31:27,720 –> 00:31:30,440
from us and the basic rules of
living right.

476
00:31:30,720 –> 00:31:32,320
And we should be able to
understand this.

477
00:31:32,800 –> 00:31:36,640
You know you’ve got bad sores.
Must be you said something

478
00:31:36,640 –> 00:31:41,000
wrong.
Job doesn’t deny this way of

479
00:31:41,000 –> 00:31:42,800
thinking.
That’s why Job is in such

480
00:31:42,800 –> 00:31:47,320
distress because he can’t square
his suffering with his biblical

481
00:31:47,320 –> 00:31:51,760
view of how God works.
This is this is my my paradigm.

482
00:31:51,760 –> 00:31:53,960
This is my understanding of how
God works.

483
00:31:53,960 –> 00:31:56,480
And yet I know I didn’t do
anything and yet this has

484
00:31:56,480 –> 00:32:02,960
happened to me.
So I think the message from Job

485
00:32:02,960 –> 00:32:07,920
that I want to get is let go of
this whole need to know

486
00:32:08,240 –> 00:32:12,840
mentality, let go of this whole
I need to figure this out kind

487
00:32:12,840 –> 00:32:18,400
of thinking and just trust in
God.

488
00:32:21,400 –> 00:32:25,320
I’m going to go so far as to say
let go of the expectation that

489
00:32:25,320 –> 00:32:29,120
you can’t.
You can even know the workings

490
00:32:29,120 –> 00:32:32,800
of God.
No matter how much we think we

491
00:32:32,800 –> 00:32:36,200
understand God, I don’t think we
do.

492
00:32:38,720 –> 00:32:42,400
When we find ourselves in Job
like moments, the way forward

493
00:32:42,560 –> 00:32:45,520
isn’t to expect God to give us
some additional information to

494
00:32:45,520 –> 00:32:48,200
make everything all click and
fall into place.

495
00:32:48,880 –> 00:32:50,880
The way forward is just to trust
in God.

496
00:32:52,800 –> 00:32:56,200
God exposes the limitations of
our thinking and job and and in

497
00:32:56,200 –> 00:33:00,200
Ecclesiastes and that should
help us to see the need for us

498
00:33:00,200 –> 00:33:04,680
to just let go of this need to
know and just trust in God

499
00:33:04,680 –> 00:33:09,680
anyways.
Trusting in God is often

500
00:33:10,360 –> 00:33:14,640
illogical.
Now for those logical people out

501
00:33:14,640 –> 00:33:16,920
there, going to hurt to say
that, but I think trusting in

502
00:33:16,920 –> 00:33:19,360
God is sometimes against all
reason.

503
00:33:20,400 –> 00:33:22,160
It doesn’t make sense.
And when you explained it to us,

504
00:33:22,360 –> 00:33:25,600
you know your buddy at work or
your golf buddy and they say

505
00:33:25,800 –> 00:33:27,400
that’s just crazy, what are you
thinking?

506
00:33:28,360 –> 00:33:30,000
I think that’s precisely the
point though.

507
00:33:30,200 –> 00:33:33,840
Trust doesn’t work because we
figured it all out in our mind.

508
00:33:35,640 –> 00:33:38,640
Trust works because at the end
of the day, we literally can’t

509
00:33:38,640 –> 00:33:42,480
figure it out.
Our little minds can’t grasp

510
00:33:42,640 –> 00:33:45,400
what’s going on.
We have to get outside of the

511
00:33:45,400 –> 00:33:47,560
box.
We have to look at things the

512
00:33:47,560 –> 00:33:51,840
way God looks at things.
Now, this life outside the box

513
00:33:52,160 –> 00:33:55,760
is very different than when you
remain cocooned in this warm,

514
00:33:55,760 –> 00:33:59,520
safe place, right?
It’s not neat and tidy outside

515
00:33:59,520 –> 00:34:01,920
the box.
So if you haven’t got outside

516
00:34:01,920 –> 00:34:05,000
the box yet, I’m going to warn
you, you know, put your galoshes

517
00:34:05,000 –> 00:34:10,560
on before you get out, OK?
It’s often not very comfortable

518
00:34:10,760 –> 00:34:14,639
outside the box.
You bump into reality and you

519
00:34:14,639 –> 00:34:17,120
get it all over your nice clean
dress.

520
00:34:20,000 –> 00:34:22,760
But I would contend if you
really want to grow spiritually,

521
00:34:23,000 –> 00:34:25,719
you have to be prepared to step
outside that box.

522
00:34:25,719 –> 00:34:29,120
You have to be willing to get
outside of your comfort zone.

523
00:34:29,120 –> 00:34:36,000
Do you know how to enlarge your
comfort zone?

524
00:34:39,960 –> 00:34:45,360
You stand at the edge.
If you stand at the in the

525
00:34:45,360 –> 00:34:48,320
center of your comfort zone is
never going to grow.

526
00:34:49,159 –> 00:34:53,600
You’ve got to be willing to
stand at the edge to reach out

527
00:34:53,800 –> 00:34:58,920
to people and the circumstances
and things that are beyond, just

528
00:34:58,920 –> 00:35:02,800
beyond, and bring them in.
And now your comfort zone

529
00:35:02,800 –> 00:35:06,280
enlarges, and you can again
stand at the edge.

530
00:35:08,400 –> 00:35:13,280
If you stay stay safely inside
your comfort zone, you’re not

531
00:35:13,280 –> 00:35:15,280
going to grow, and your comfort
zone is not going to grow.

532
00:35:16,880 –> 00:35:21,200
God is much, much larger than
any picture of him you’ve ever

533
00:35:21,200 –> 00:35:27,360
visualized.
The God you worship is much,

534
00:35:27,520 –> 00:35:30,440
much larger than the God that
you think you do.

535
00:35:36,120 –> 00:35:40,240
God loves you more than you can
understand.

536
00:35:43,800 –> 00:35:48,280
God wants more joy for you than
you’ve ever imagined.

537
00:35:49,840 –> 00:35:51,880
And God wants you to be like
Him.

538
00:35:52,600 –> 00:35:57,840
He wants you to be that way, to
be welcoming, to be open, to be

539
00:35:57,840 –> 00:36:01,520
inviting, to be caring, to be
accepting, to be loving.

540
00:36:02,760 –> 00:36:10,840
That’s all that He wants.
God doesn’t even know what

541
00:36:10,840 –> 00:36:14,200
you’re talking about.
When you focus on restricting.

542
00:36:17,280 –> 00:36:21,440
God’s not restricting God is
liberating.

543
00:36:22,120 –> 00:36:24,080
God’s not trying to keep people
in a box.

544
00:36:24,240 –> 00:36:28,120
God wants to set them free.
Why am I trying to put everybody

545
00:36:28,120 –> 00:36:30,720
in a box?
Why am I trying to classify the

546
00:36:30,720 –> 00:36:33,520
nerds and the geeks and the
weirdos and, and put everybody

547
00:36:33,520 –> 00:36:36,320
in these in these boxes and say,
you know, he’s a Shiite

548
00:36:36,320 –> 00:36:38,920
Christadelphian and this guy
over here is, you know, too

549
00:36:38,920 –> 00:36:41,040
liberal.
And this one here does this.

550
00:36:42,960 –> 00:36:47,240
God doesn’t do that.
Get outside that box.

551
00:36:47,240 –> 00:36:54,320
Think outside that box.
In the Bible, a Sinner is often

552
00:36:54,320 –> 00:37:00,720
cast in the role of an outcast.
These were groups of people that

553
00:37:00,720 –> 00:37:04,240
felt unacceptable.
They weren’t part of the crowd.

554
00:37:04,240 –> 00:37:07,800
They didn’t feel comfortable
around you.

555
00:37:08,640 –> 00:37:11,160
They were disgraceful and
shameful.

556
00:37:12,400 –> 00:37:24,480
And Jesus strategy was simple.
He sat beside him, he hugged

557
00:37:24,480 –> 00:37:29,840
him, he laughed with him, and he
literally broke bread with them.

558
00:37:32,800 –> 00:37:35,800
Over and over in the New
Testament, a simple statement

559
00:37:35,800 –> 00:37:37,640
about Jesus keeps coming up and
up and up.

560
00:37:39,720 –> 00:37:45,040
He had compassion on them.
Compassion isn’t just about

561
00:37:45,040 –> 00:37:48,480
feeling the pain of others, It’s
about bringing them toward

562
00:37:48,480 –> 00:37:51,160
yourself.
It’s about drawing close to

563
00:37:51,160 –> 00:37:56,040
them, befriending them, hugging
them, eating with them, sharing

564
00:37:56,040 –> 00:38:01,080
with them.
It’s not easy.

565
00:38:03,240 –> 00:38:05,120
Does that sound comfortable to
you?

566
00:38:05,400 –> 00:38:07,520
Is that inside your comfort
comfort zone?

567
00:38:08,520 –> 00:38:10,920
You see, society has cast them
out for a reason.

568
00:38:11,960 –> 00:38:14,360
People aren’t just randomly
selected to be rejected.

569
00:38:15,480 –> 00:38:18,120
Something about them makes them
hard to be around.

570
00:38:20,080 –> 00:38:23,760
You know, they, they got some
weird thing or they smell, you

571
00:38:23,760 –> 00:38:26,840
know, or they got that stupid
thing they’re always saying, you

572
00:38:26,840 –> 00:38:29,400
know, or, or they got this hobby
horse they want to talk about

573
00:38:29,400 –> 00:38:34,320
all the time.
They’re briskly, they’re hard,

574
00:38:34,560 –> 00:38:36,480
they’re noisy, they’re
uncomfortable.

575
00:38:38,400 –> 00:38:40,880
And if you’re thinking like
everyone else thinks in the box,

576
00:38:41,640 –> 00:38:43,480
you don’t want to spend any time
with them.

577
00:38:47,320 –> 00:38:49,120
And eventually they’ll probably
just stop coming to meeting

578
00:38:49,120 –> 00:38:50,640
after all, so you won’t have to
spend time with them.

579
00:38:56,200 –> 00:38:58,680
You have to think outside the
box to be loving to those

580
00:38:58,680 –> 00:39:04,000
outside.
If we love what God loves, then

581
00:39:04,000 –> 00:39:08,000
in compassion we’re going to
lower, enlarge our borders and

582
00:39:08,000 –> 00:39:11,320
love more people.
Margins get erased.

583
00:39:12,120 –> 00:39:17,640
Our circle grows.
I got some questions for you

584
00:39:17,640 –> 00:39:19,520
some.
I’d love to hear some of your

585
00:39:19,520 –> 00:39:23,480
thoughts.
It’s been super helpful for me

586
00:39:23,480 –> 00:39:28,680
and will be will continue to be.
So here’s five other questions

587
00:39:28,680 –> 00:39:35,520
for you to think about.
I’ll read it tonight in bed.

588
00:39:36,160 –> 00:39:38,200
And last night I had a little
cry and fell asleep.

589
00:39:40,200 –> 00:39:51,320
It was nice.
Kelly and I love to visit

590
00:39:51,320 –> 00:39:58,520
France.
We’ve been several times and

591
00:39:58,520 –> 00:40:02,600
when I tell that to Americans, a
lot of them will tell me that

592
00:40:02,760 –> 00:40:07,360
they visit France and they found
the French very rude and off

593
00:40:07,360 –> 00:40:13,240
putting.
For those of you who’ve been to

594
00:40:13,240 –> 00:40:18,080
France and been sitting in a
beautiful cafe having some foie

595
00:40:18,080 –> 00:40:21,680
gras, oh gosh, no.
Having, you know, just some

596
00:40:21,760 –> 00:40:30,680
lemonade, read that wine, right?
Have you ever seen an American

597
00:40:30,960 –> 00:40:34,160
in France?
I mean, even I don’t like them,

598
00:40:36,280 –> 00:40:40,760
and I’m one of them.
If you think that nothing is as

599
00:40:40,760 –> 00:40:44,760
good as it is in America, the
French people are going to be

600
00:40:44,760 –> 00:40:52,160
rude.
But if you love France and you

601
00:40:52,160 –> 00:40:58,240
find their culture so developed
and and intelligent and cultural

602
00:40:58,240 –> 00:41:04,520
and refined and better than
yours, and you look forward to

603
00:41:04,520 –> 00:41:08,160
talking to the people, you’re
going to find them very

604
00:41:08,160 –> 00:41:11,680
friendly.
Isn’t that strange?

605
00:41:17,320 –> 00:41:23,080
Meeting the world with love in
your heart will determine what

606
00:41:23,080 –> 00:41:31,120
you find in the world.
I knew a brother who worked 40

607
00:41:31,120 –> 00:41:36,880
years and never had anyone nice
that he worked with.

608
00:41:37,880 –> 00:41:41,400
Everybody was terrible.
He didn’t like them all and none

609
00:41:41,400 –> 00:41:44,880
of them liked him.
And I knew a brother who worked

610
00:41:44,880 –> 00:41:49,400
40 years and had the best people
he’d ever worked with, and they

611
00:41:49,400 –> 00:41:51,480
were all nice and they all liked
him.

612
00:41:53,600 –> 00:42:00,760
They worked at the same place.
Les Miserables says it the best

613
00:42:01,360 –> 00:42:04,760
to love another person is to see
the face of God.

614
00:42:05,760 –> 00:42:08,600
We all have a circle.
We all have this circle of

615
00:42:08,600 –> 00:42:11,880
compassion.
How far does your circle extend?

616
00:42:13,000 –> 00:42:17,520
Terrible people find only
themselves inside that circle.

617
00:42:19,000 –> 00:42:22,760
Many people find maybe their
immediate family members are in

618
00:42:22,760 –> 00:42:26,560
the circle.
A few have added some trusted

619
00:42:26,560 –> 00:42:31,520
longtime friends, but how
blessed we are to have members

620
00:42:31,520 –> 00:42:34,520
of our Clesia we can add to our
circle of compassion.

621
00:42:35,440 –> 00:42:39,120
That’s great.
How much further can you extend

622
00:42:39,120 –> 00:42:41,720
it?
How much further beyond that?

623
00:42:42,640 –> 00:42:44,360
It’s not going to feel
comfortable.

624
00:42:45,480 –> 00:42:51,120
It’s going to be darn right
scary and the committee in the

625
00:42:51,120 –> 00:43:00,240
center is not going to like it.
Can you bring in even more?

626
00:43:02,240 –> 00:43:06,400
Go out to the highways and the
hedges and compel people to come

627
00:43:06,400 –> 00:43:11,040
in that my house may be filled?
Sure, it’s easy to include your

628
00:43:11,040 –> 00:43:13,880
family, your friends, and even
some members of your ecclesia.

629
00:43:13,880 –> 00:43:16,720
But look what Jesus says.
When you give a dinner or a

630
00:43:16,720 –> 00:43:20,600
banquet, don’t invite your
friends or your brothers or your

631
00:43:20,600 –> 00:43:24,320
relatives or your rich
neighbors, lest they also invite

632
00:43:24,320 –> 00:43:30,400
you in return and you be repaid.
For many years, my brother and I

633
00:43:30,640 –> 00:43:34,840
would send each other Christmas
cards every year, and he would

634
00:43:34,840 –> 00:43:38,400
include $100 check in his and I
would include $100 check in

635
00:43:38,400 –> 00:43:43,320
mine.
And one year I called him and

636
00:43:43,320 –> 00:43:46,720
said, hey Mick, let’s do
$1,000,000 checks this year.

637
00:43:49,320 –> 00:43:52,880
And we realized how stupid it
was that we were doing.

638
00:43:53,480 –> 00:43:56,120
I was inviting him to my house
for dinner, and he was inviting

639
00:43:56,120 –> 00:43:58,080
me to his house for dinner.
I was inviting him to my house

640
00:43:58,080 –> 00:43:59,800
for dinner.
He was inviting me to his house

641
00:43:59,800 –> 00:44:07,160
for dinner.
Pretty boring, pretty boring.

642
00:44:09,720 –> 00:44:15,800
But when you give a feast,
invite the poor, the crippled,

643
00:44:16,120 –> 00:44:20,280
the lame, the blind, and you
will be blessed because they

644
00:44:20,280 –> 00:44:25,600
cannot repay you, for you will
be repaid at the resurrection of

645
00:44:25,600 –> 00:44:29,280
the just.
How about the ones that are on

646
00:44:29,280 –> 00:44:32,560
the margins?
How about the outcast, the ones

647
00:44:32,560 –> 00:44:36,000
you don’t feel connected to?
Reach outside the box.

648
00:44:36,320 –> 00:44:40,160
Go outside your comfort zone.
Bring in that person who isn’t

649
00:44:40,160 –> 00:44:43,280
feeling their worth and make
them feel wanted.

650
00:44:43,280 –> 00:44:45,840
Make them feel loved.
Make them feel needed.

651
00:44:45,960 –> 00:44:48,080
Make them feel like they’re a
part of something.

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00:44:49,280 –> 00:44:57,560
Make them feel God’s love.
I know it’s hard, but it’s

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00:44:57,560 –> 00:45:02,800
right, and you know it’s right.
I also know that you’re going to

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00:45:02,800 –> 00:45:05,360
succeed sometimes and you’re
going to fail sometimes.

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00:45:05,840 –> 00:45:09,240
That’s life.
It’s just the way things are.

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00:45:09,240 –> 00:45:13,360
There’s UPS and there’s downs
and there’s hills and there’s

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00:45:13,360 –> 00:45:15,400
valleys and that’s tomorrow’s
class.

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00:45:31,480 –> 00:45:33,560
Thank you for listening to the
Good Christadelphian Talks

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00:45:33,560 –> 00:45:36,160
podcast.
We hope this talk helped you in

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00:45:36,160 –> 00:45:37,680
your walk and brightened your
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If you would like to hear more,
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Thank you for listening.
God bless and talk to you next

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week.