Episode Transcript
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Excuse me, let's turn in our
bibles and turn your attention to psalm eighty
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this morning, Psalm eight zero.
The Psalms are one way in which God
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gives us words to express our hearts, and they are words that are good,
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they're true, these are models for
us to grow in and learn,
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and in that God also is teaching
us about himself. He tells us who
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he is, he points us,
I'm not just to truths about to him,
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but a piety, a way of
living in life that is according to
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him and according to his will.
So let's give our attention to that now.
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And Psalm Eighty, give ear,
O Shepherd of Israel, you who
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lead Joseph like a flock, you
who are enthroned upon the Cherubeam, shine
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forth before Ephrian and Benjamin and Manassa. Stir up your might and come to
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save us, restore us, Oh
God, let your face shine that we
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may be saved. Oh Lord,
God of hosts, how long will you
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be angry with your people's prayers?
You have fed them with the bread of
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tears and given them tears to drink
in full measure. You make us an
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object of contention for our neighbors and
our enemies laugh among themselves. Restore us,
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Oh God of hosts, let your
face shine that we may be saved.
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You brought a vine out of Egypt. You drove out the nations and
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planted it. You cleared the ground
for it. It took deep root and
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filled the land. The mountains were
covered with its shade, the mighty cedars
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with its branches. It's sent out
its branches to the sea and it shoots
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to the river. Why, then, have you broken down its walls,
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so that all who pass along the
way pluckets, flute fruit, the bore
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from the forest ravages it, and
all that move in the field feed on
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it. Turn Again, Oh God
of hosts, look down from heaven and
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see and have regard for this vine, the stock that your right hand planted
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for the sun, whom you made
strong for yourself. They have burned it
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with fire, they have cut it
down. May they perish at the rebuke
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of your face. But let your
hand be on the man of your right
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hand, the son of man,
whom you have made strong for yourself.
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Then we shall not turn back from
you. Give us life and we will
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call upon your name. Restore US. Oh Lord, God of hosts,
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let your face shine that we may
be saved. An let your face shine
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that we may be saved, let
your face shine that we may be restored,
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let your face shine that we might
be healed. And in a sense
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of judgment, the Psalm declares that
they may perish, the enemies of God
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may perish at the rebuke of your
face. When God's face shines on us,
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when he turns towards us in favor, things go well. We are
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under his protection, his power,
we are under his salvation, and when
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he turns his face away, things
go badly. We find ourselves alone,
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we find ourselves desperate, we find
ourselves under judgment, and this reminds us
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that all the world turns, all
of our experiences in life turn on this
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thing, whether God is directed for
us or against us. It's why many
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people add God's name to their their
missions. They say God is for us
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or God is against you, and
if that's true, then it's worth paying
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attention to, and if it's not, it's blasphemy. But in the sense
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of those words, we all come
to understand the true of the psalm,
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that the shining of God's face on
us is a good thing, it's a
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blessed thing, it's it's everything.
And so the question I want to ask
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you this morning and encourage you to
answer by this Psalm, is do you
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know your shepherd? This one in
verse one, this person, Scott,
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our God in Verse One, is
called Oh, shepherd of Israel, you
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who lead Joseph like a flock.
This shepherd is not only like a pastoral
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shepherd, a shepherd of a small
or even a large flock of sheep,
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but the imagery of a shepherd is
often used in the Bible to describe the
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role of a King, David,
for example, a shepherd over a sheep,
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over his sheep, eventually became a
shepherd over a nation, and that's
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who God is, shepherd of Israel, of a people, of a body,
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of a political entity, of a
kingdom. He is a king and
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he shepherd's this flock. Do you
know him? Do you follow him as
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he is? Before Our Lord was
crucified outside of Jerusalem, he was received
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into into Jerusalem the people waving palm
branches and calling out Hosanna, blessed is
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he who comes in the name of
the Lord. Blessed is the coming of
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our Father David. Hosanna in the
highest at these words that they spoke were
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most certainly true, but many did
not understand what they were saying. They
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did not understand that the kingdom would
come through the cross that they would crucify
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him on. In just a few
days later, Mark Records that event in
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Chapter Eleven of his Gospel, and
just a few verses before that, in
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chapter ten, something similar happens.
James and John Asked to sit on the
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right and left hand of Jesus when
he enters into his glory, which is
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what the people in Jerusalem were expecting
in that moment. You know what Jesus
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says to James and John as they
asked this request to sit on the right
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and the left hand? He says, you do not know what you were
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asking. And what they didn't know
was the same thing. The people calling
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Jesus a proclaiming Jesus as he came
into Jerusalem didn't realize that the kingdom would
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come through the cross, that the
salvation, the brokenness, the turning of
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God's face to shine upon his people
would come through the sacrifice of his own
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son. They spoke true words,
but they didn't know what they were saying.
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And we are all here this morning, presumably to we're ship Jesus to
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lift up his name, to proclaim
his name, to seek his grace and
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his wisdom his will. But do
we understand what we are saying? Do
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We know our shepherd? Do we
know who he really is? Let's turn
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our attention now, in particular to
these words in psalm eighty and consider who
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god is, our shepherd and our
leader in Christ. First, as I
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mentioned in verse one, we're told
that he is our shepherd, he is
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our king, and we hear more
than that. We hear that he is
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he has authority. There is a
call to be led and then hit the
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his authority is mentioned at the second
half of verse one. You who are
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enthroned on the upon the Cherubeam shine
forth, those of you who have been
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with us in our evening services,
know what this is talking about. And
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Ezekiel, God has this in Ezekiel, in the book of Ezekiel, we
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read of this vision that the Lord's
Prophet has, of the Lord enthroned on
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these invisible, spiritual mighty creatures with
wings and eyes and faces, these creatures
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which surround the throne of God and
revelation. They cry out holy, Holy,
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Holy, is the Lord, these
mighty magnificent creatures. He is not
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subject to them, but he sits
upon them as his throne. He is
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enthroned upon them, he is enthroned
above them. This reminds us that God
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is the Creator and the ruler of
not only this world that we see,
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but also the world that we don't
see, the spiritual world with all of
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its creatures that God has made.
The scripture doesn't tell us tons about this,
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but it tells us one thing very
clearly, that God is enthroned above
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it all, and that's the one
who is our shepherd, that's the one
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who has loved us before. Efre
him and Benjamin and Manassa, stir up
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your might and come to save us. So not only do we know that
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God has authority and power to lead
us, but he is also powerful to
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do what he wants. The one
that we call on, the shepherd that
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we seek, is able to act. Sometimes we go to people in the
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in our lives and ask for help
and they're not really able to help us.
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Whether you're looking for a bathroom at
a place where it's closed, or
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you're looking for counsel for someone who
doesn't know what they're talking about, or
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any number of things. There's often
frustrations right in seeking resources where they aren't.
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But when we go to God,
when we go to this God,
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this one who reveals himself in this
way, we are never at a loss
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because he's never at a loss.
Stir up your might to come to save
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us. Before Jesus is crucifixion.
The people seem to understand this power of
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God. They saw in Jesus the
powerful promises of God and his healings,
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in his the work that he did
and is conquering over death itself and in
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the resurrection of Lazarus, is command
over the spiritual realms as he casts demons
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out of people. They saw this
power and that's a good start, and
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we should recognize it too. When
we go to the Lord and say is
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in for we say in verse three, restore us, Oh God, let
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your a face shine upon us that
we may be saved. We should know
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in our heart of hearts that we
are going to one who is capable of
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doing those things. This is one
thing is true about our shepherd. Another
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is that he desires to restore our
fellowship with him. We interact, we
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relate, we live our lives in
relationship with God, not as peers or
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as equals or partners, but as
sinners who have been saved by him,
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people who are forever in death to
his mercy, who forever owe him our
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obedience and our love. Is people
who have been rescued out of a terrible
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pit of destruction and brought into new
life with him. We are people who
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have been saved. That's our relationship
with him. God is powerful, not
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like a like a gumball machine.
You know, you put in the quarter
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and outcomes the candy. He's not
powerful like that. He is powerful as
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one who gives things to people that
don't deserve them, who gives gifts to
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people who have not earned them.
We see the brokenness of that relationship in
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the following verses, versus for in
six, and then some after that as
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well. The Lord God of hosts, how long will you be angry with
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your people's prayers? You've fed them
the bread of tears, given them tears
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to drink and full verse five.
In verse six, we read that the
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world will shame them, enemies laugh
among themselves at the people of God.
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In verses twelve and thirteen, we
read that their walls are broken down,
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their defenseless. You know like.
Imagine a mighty a city that its walls
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have fallen down, it's people are
destroyed and people just kind of walk past,
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you know, like we do it
ancient ruins. We say wow,
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how somebody wants to live there.
Look at that unprotected, uncared for,
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Walk Right in. In fact,
it's so bad. In verse thirteen,
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when God's judgment comes upon his people, we read the boar from the forest
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ravages it and all that move in
the field feed on it. It's like
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it's returning back into wilderness instead of
a city that has been developed and built
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and and resources constructed to build this
place for God and man to dwell in,
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it's just falling down into the ground. It's because of that, it's
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because of that sin that we have
this refrain in verse four and verse seven,
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and then invert at the in verse
nineteen as well verse fourteen. Look
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down from heaven, look down from
this place in which you are enthroned,
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and have mercy upon us. God
is the shepherd of sheep that are sick.
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God is the shepherd of people that
are broken, that are in need
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of healing. And you think of
your life and the things that you need
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right now. Are you seeking help
from them in the Lord, in your
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sins and the things that you've done? Do you seek his forgiveness or do
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you just try to work harder?
If you're just trying to work harder,
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you're not seeing everything in the light
of his face. You're not seeing that
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you need a restoration with him.
If you feel your body breaking down,
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if you feel your body falling apart, are you looking to him for?
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Yes, healing in this life,
but even better, the resurrection of the
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body and the life to come,
a final, permanent state where things are
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no longer falling apart? Do you
look to him from that? Do you
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look to him for your hope?
When you think about the the the brokenness
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of relationships in our lives and our
families and our churches and and other kinds
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of things, are we? Are
We seeking His grace? Are we looking
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to him for restoration of those things, for the communion of the saints?
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When we think about enemies against God's
people, are we? Are we simply
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looking at them at this horizontal level, or do we see them in the
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light of his face? Do we
seek God's justice to be done, God's
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judgment to be done, God's guarding
and protecting to be done, or do
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we try to handle all of these
things on our own? The fact that
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we need these things from God,
and I want to emphasize this point,
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is not just because we're creatures and
he's the creator, but it's also because
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we are broken creatures in need of
a savior. We must go to him,
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we must seek him in His grace
and ask that, by His grace,
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his face would shine upon us.
A lot of people in this life
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want to relate to God apart from
their brokenness. If I could put it
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this way, sometimes we think of
God as kind of like dessert. He's
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a really nice thing to have in
our lives, but not really necessary and
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maybe even better if I can do
it by myself, if I can say
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no thanks to dessert, then I
know I've eaten more healthy or something like
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that. But if I get dessert, well then it's a little extra sweet
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and Nice. All right. It's
like we think of God is kind of
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this plus right, this this extra
benefit to our lives. We could do
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it without them, but it sure
be nice to have him in another way,
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to in some ways, it seems
like that's what the people were wanting
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in Jerusalem. That's what James and
John Wanted. That's what many of us
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want. We want to kind of
do things on our own. But then
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if, boy if, we could
get God on our side, get this
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extra boost, this extra plus.
This doesn't, this understanding does not really
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account for brokenness, not really.
It's not. It doesn't really account for
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our deep brokenness in ourselves and the
deep separation that is between us and God.
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We don't need God's favor just because
our circumstances are hard or we need
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a little bit of his help,
but because at the very deepest parts of
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us, our hearts, our minds, our wills, are broken and sinful.
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We need something deep and penetrating and
perfecting and cleansing in us, and
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that's something only God can do,
and without it we end up in these
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same conditions that are described here,
broken, falling apart and returning to the
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dust, to the wilderness. And
so that's why our hearts and our prayers,
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as we know our shepherd, as
he truly is, as to we
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should be calling out, shine your
face on us that we might be saved,
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not shine your face on us that
we might do a little better,
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or shine your face on us that
might have a little pump up in our
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morality or a little better experience in
our worship, but shine on us so
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that we might be saved, saved
from death, saved from destruction, saved
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from ruin. We need our shepherd, and the way we need him is
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in His grace. We need him
to turn to us, not looking at
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our sins and punishing us for them, because that's what we are, were
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sinful. We need him to look
to us and to send and to forgive
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our sins and draw US unto himself. We Need God, as our king,
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to be favorable to us. But
how can we, how can he
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be favorable to us, unless our
sins have been forgiven? Because our good
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deeds can't bring us back in.
Our good deeds can't save us. So,
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as we think of the grace of
God, particularly from this passage,
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they're two things that are helpful to
notice and I think for our own lives.
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It's the same way we can think
about God and His grace to us
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in the past, his steady promises, his sure hand, his wondrous works,
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and that gives us confidence for the
future that he will continue to be
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those things as the God who never
changes and whose love is steadfast. As
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we look to the past, we
see that particularly expressed in verses eight through
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eleven. You brought a vine out
of Egypt. You drove out the nations
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and plants of that you cleared the
ground for it, it took root and
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it filled the land. This is
a wonderful picture of what we have in
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the exodus. I hope you all
know, though, that the those stories,
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that history of God's rescuing his people
out of bondage and out of slavery.
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Right, with ten plagues and a
mighty hand and an outstretched arm,
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he vanquished Egypt. He made it
known both to the people and to the
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Egyptians that he alone is God and
he brought them out of that place and
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he cleared away the Canaanites and established
them in the promised land. And here
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that is described in a familiar picture
of transplanting a plant. Perhaps some of
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you, hope, may hopefully all
of you, have done this at some
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point. Right, you've taken a
plant out of one place, right,
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you've dug it up out of the
ground. You done you and then you
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go to another place and you clear
the ground and you dig a new hole
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and you put it in and you
water it and you pray and you hope
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that you're the process. What will
on the print? Plant will grow.
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That's the process. That's how that's
the image God uses here of his people,
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of Israel. He takes them like
a vine out of Egypt, he
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clears the ground in Canaan and he
plants them in. But notice what happens
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to God's plant. You know,
we might say, boy, I sure
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hope it lives. Right, when
we transplant a plant, we might say,
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well, I hope it gets really
strong. Listen to what God's plant,
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his people, does in verse ten. This is no ordinary vine.
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It says it well, verse nine, end of Narsina says it took root
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and it filled the land. The
mountains were covered with its shade. Can
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you imagine looking out that, the
image here, looking out on the Catalina's
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and seeing a giant vine covering them, shading them like the clouds do,
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even the mighty cedars, with its
branches? It sends out its branches to
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the sea, it shoots to the
river. This is no ordinary vine.
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This is the vine of God.
Right when God sets his hand to do
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his work, when he establishes his
people, he can take it from the
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smallest thing. Jesus uses the example
of a mustard seed. Takes a mustard
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seed and can grow it into a
giant tree. We find other similar images
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used here in scripture. Remember the
Abraham was one man called out of the
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Caldis, called out, who is
not able to have children, nor was
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his wife, and God said,
out of you, I will make you
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a people as numerous as the stars
in the heavens. And he did.
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He filled them, he filled the
world and even now the name of Jesus
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Christ is confessed all over the globe. Amazing, amazing, the Work of
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God. This is what we think
about God's work in the past as we
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pray in the present for hopes in
the future. We look to him in
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the things that he has to done. We remember, we remember, we
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remember. As we pray to him, we're not praying just throwing stuff up
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into the air hoping something sticks.
We are praying to the one who has
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been loving us for thousands and thousands
of years, and the promises of those
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to come are confessed here as well. Not only do we have the prayer
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to turn again, Oh God of
hosts, look down from heaven and see
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have regard verse for fourteen, for
this vine, the stock that you have
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planted, and for the son whom
you have made strong for yourself. Who
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is this son that is suddenly declared
in verse fourteen? Well, at one
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level it's Israel, it's Joseph,
it's this one that God has been leading.
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But this people, this nation,
points to a very particular son,
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one who would be born out of
Israel and Hood Woo, who would be
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made strong for God, even strong
as God himself. You know who I'm
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talking about right when I'm talking about
our savior, we're talking about Jesus,
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the son of God, born of
Man, made strong to fulfill the law
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where we did not, to conquer
sin and death so that we could live.
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This son is talked about even more
when we are reminded that he will
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give us life. In Verse Eighteen, when this son is comes, when
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he is made strong, when he
does his work that he is set out
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to do, something happens to the
people in this giant vine like way?
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In Verse Eighteen, it says here's
future look hopes. Right then, we
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shall not turn back from you.
Give us life, and we will call
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upon your name. This is our
hope, our hope is that Jesus,
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the son of God, will come
and will be strong for man in a
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way that we never were, and
he will do what man failed to do.
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He will change those hearts defiled by
sin, broken by sin, causing
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misery in this world, in such
a way that we will now have life,
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and that life is wonderfully described as
that which calls upon God's name.
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We seek him in his gracious relationship
to us, so that we might continue
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to be in a relationship with him, continue to praise him, continue to
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call upon the name of our shepherd. Through this man, this son of
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man, the son of Israel,
son of David, son of Abraham,
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God himself would save his people,
and he did and he gave us life.
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When they sung this psalm, when
they prayed to this prayer, they
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were looking to something future, a
future hope. We look on these things
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even as in the past, if
we had sure things to hold with them
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and the exodus about the promises and
grace of God, how much more do
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we have now that this strong one
has come, this son of God has
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come and has rescued us from our
brokenness? God has turned his face on
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us. John tells us that when
Jesus came into the world, it was
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like light coming into the world,
light shining in the darkness, which the
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darkness has not overcome. Jesus isn't
a plus, he's not a feather in
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our crown, a little bit of
extra glory from Man. He is our
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very life and he is our life
after death, our life out of death,
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other life from death, and he
does that by dying for us.
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That's why Jesus says to his disciples, that's why Jesus says to James and
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John, he must drink the cup
of Wrath, he must die, he
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must go into Jerusalem and to be
crucified outside of Jerusalem, so that he
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might remove forever the death and Sin
and evil that is in the garden,
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so that the walls might be built
up, so that the vine might be
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established and we might have life with
him forever. This is why the cross
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was necessary. Without it, the
rebuilding, the shining and all the rest
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would be just a temporary fix,
because the problem, as I've said,
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is from within, not from only
without. If you have a problem on
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the inside, if you have a
problem in your garden and you just make
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nice new walls, it doesn't fix
the problem. Jesus came in and fixed
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the vine by uniting us to himself, and that's why this solution, this
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rebuilding, this shining of God's grace, is a permanent solution. By suffering
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and dying for the sheep and rising
victorious over that death, our shepherd secured
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life for us. That's who your
shepherd is. Do you know him?
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The Real Jesus, the real son
of God? Is He just a bonus
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in your life, a nice thing
to have? If so, you may
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not be following the real Jesus,
but just a figment of your imagination,
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of a promise of the culture,
an empty one. But if you recognize
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that, apart from him, you
are like this vine and that without him
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you are lost. But in him, when the face of God in it,
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when the glory of God, in
the face of Jesus Christ, shines
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upon us, it's like the sun
shining on a plant. It gives it
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life. He gives us life and
it allows us to say with hearts that
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understand Hosanna, blessed is he who
comes in the name of the Lord.
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Blessed is the coming of the Kingdom
of our Father David. Hosanna in the
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highest. When God gives us life, we can call upon his name.
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Let's do that, and even now
let's pray and ask for God to give
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us these things. Our Father and
