Episode Transcript
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Of your able. Please remain standing
and let's hear God's Word From Isaiah,
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Chapter Sixty one. Here we give
attention to one of those Prophet bards that
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we just sung of Isaiah. Here
for telling of Jesus Isaiah Sixty one,
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verses one through three. The spirit
of the Lord Jehovah is upon me,
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because Jehovah has anointed me to bring
good news to the poor. He has
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sent me to bind up the broken
hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives
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and the opening of the prison to
those who are bound, to proclaim the
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year of Jehovah's Favor and the day
of vengeance of our God, to comfort
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all who mourn, to grant to
those who mourn in Zion, to give
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them a beautiful head dress instead of
ashes, the oil of gladness, instead
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of mourning, the garment of praise, instead of a faint spirit, that
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they may be called Oaks of Righteousness, the planting of Jehovah, the He
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may be glorified. You may be
seated. This morning we finish a brief
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series of sermons I've called the Christmas
life. In these sermons, I've tried
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to show the significance of Jesus's birth. In connection with themes that we usually
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associate with Christmas, we've considered humility, miracles, gifts and joy. This
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morning we consider hope, hope.
Hope is a funny thing to finish with,
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because in life, hope is often
what we start with. Hope is
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the thing that gets us going,
especially when we know that the going is
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going to be tough. I once
heard a bit of advice that suggested before
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you go to bed, you should
try to think of one thing you're looking
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forward to the next day. Hope
has a way of putting our minds at
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ease and preparing us for whatever lie
as ahead. But it's not always easy
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to find something to look forward to, even the next day. Sometimes we
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dread the next day. It's also
not easy to find something to look forward
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to, especially when yesterday's wishes and
hopes didn't come true. That happens a
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lot. Some people even find themselves
in situations where bad days feel like bad
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lives, like the people mentioned here
in Isaiah Sixty one one through three.
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Poor people, afflicted people, brokenhearted
people, prisoners, mourners, and that's
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why Isaiah Sixty one is so important
and Isaiah Sixty one. God offers hope
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to the hope less. Hope is
important because of hopelessness, and hopelessness exists
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because there are these gaps in our
lives. Hopelessness exists it's what we feel
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because of these gaps, these gaps
between what we have and what we want,
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between who we are and who we
know we ought to be. Hope
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in some ways bridges that gap.
It helps us feel like there's a way
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to get to that other thing,
a bridge between who we are and who
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we want to be. But without
that bridge there, all you have is
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a gap, all you have is
hopelessness. You know that feeling, don't
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you? That feeling of wanting so
badly to have something but not really believing
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you'll ever get it. It's been
said that a harsh reality is better than
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a false hope, and there's some
truth to that. The message that we
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ultimately want to hear is that there's
a real bridge, there's a real way
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to bridge that gap, to have
someone tell you to wish upon a star
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and just believe hard enough. Ultimately, it's not very hopeful and we know
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it. We'd rather face the reality
as it is and and recognize the vanities
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for what they are, but that
doesn't make us feel any better. Those
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gaps, those gaps in our lives
between who we are and who we ought
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to be, between what we have
and what we so desperately want. Without
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a bridge there, what we have
is hopelessness. Consider a few examples.
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Consider the poor person Isaiah mentions first. Now there's all kinds of poor people.
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This could be translated afflicted, for
example, but think about it just
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in terms of money, affliction in
terms of not having things. Financial advisors
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tell us that having an emergency fund
with six months of saved income is an
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essential thing for a financially stable household, but to the person who feels trapped
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in poverty, that goal feels unobtainable, hopeless. With not enough hours at
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work, wage garnishment, increasing debt, medical bills and all the rest,
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that gap just grows and grows and
even when you feel like you make some
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progress, you have a lot of
doubt and with no obvious way to reach
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the other side, it's easy for
people in this situation to feel hopeless.
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The gap is just too big and
many even give up trying. Or consider
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the example of prison, the the
prisoner, the one in captivity. So
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many things you could think of.
Let's think of a biblical example. Imagine
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yourself as Joseph. What kind of
hope do you think you would have if
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you were being held in a prison
based on the false accusations of a powerful
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and wealthy person? Do you think
you'd have a lot of hope about getting
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out, especially when you're a foreigner
and a slave, probably without any rights?
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Joseph was there two years. How
long do you think you would hold
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on to hope in a situation like
that? A week, a month,
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half a year, a year?
At what point would you taste the same
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food yet again and think this is
going to be it for me? It's
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that gap, you see what I
mean, that gap between freedom and captivity,
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between wealth and poverty, between godliness
and disobedience. You may not be
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poor or in prison, but you
know the feeling of that dreadful gap.
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Maybe it's a relationship that's been broken
with no obvious way to fix it.
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Maybe it's a sin that has its
claws dug so deeply in your soul that
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you just know it's going to kill
you. Maybe the gap is hopelessness itself,
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that depression, that terrible empty darkness
in which we often lose ourselves.
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There are little things that we experience
in life which are are nice enough,
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little things that we look forward to, the coffee break at work, a
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phone call from a friend, a
particular part of the drive home, but
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the gaps between who we are and
who we want to be, between what
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we have and what we ought want, these gaps are often too large for
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these little things to spam. You
can't cross a canyon with paving stones,
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even thousands of them. You need
a bridge so strong and so large that
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no gap is left and every step
is secured. That's what hope is,
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isn't it? It's knowing that getting
to the other side is possible. That's
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what hope is. It bridges that
gap and it allows us to move forward
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through the darkness, through our suffering, through our captivity, through our poverty.
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Well, because we know that internally
and we have this a desperate need
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for it, we seek for it
and we seek for it often, but
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we often seek for it at all
the wrong places. One of the most
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commonplaces look. People look for hope
is, of course, in money.
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Why do we look for it in
money? Well, because money so obviously
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allows us to obtain things. You're
hungry, you buy bread, you eat,
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you see there is hope in money. You are needing a break,
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so you take a vacation. There's
all kinds of things that money seems to
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solve, and yet there's never enough
of it, it never goes far enough,
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it's not permanent, and the Bible
points out so often the foolishness of
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trusting in this particular hope, even
though we so often go after it.
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Paul Tells Timothy to charge those who
are rich in this present age to not
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be haughty nor set their hopes on
the uncertainty of riches. He says watch
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out too, rich people. He
says watch out, because there is not
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certainty here. Don't set your hopes
on it. Don't allow money to be
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that thing that bridges that gap,
because it'll vanish away right out from underneath
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you. Job Knew that right job, had all kinds of wealth and possessions
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and all the things that he could
want, and just a moment's time it
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was gone. God even warns us
in the pages of the Bible that money
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can often lead away from the things
that we desire, the good things anyway.
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Like the rich man who asks Jesus
to Inherit Eternal Life in mark ten
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and, after hearing Jesus's answer,
left disheartened and sorrowful because of his great
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possessions, his money took him in
a wrong place. It sent him,
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in a sense, to his death. This is when Jesus said to his
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disciples how difficult it will be for
those who have wealth to enter into the
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Kingdom of God. Psalm Sixty one
ten reminds us how thinking of money as
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our best hope often leads to other
evils. Put No trust in Dick in
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extortion. Set No vain hopes on
robbery. If riches increase, set not
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your heart on them. So you
see why this is important to mention,
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not only because we generally do this
and we do this a lot, but
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especially when we are poor, when
we're suffering these kind of difficulties. Often
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than the answer that we are given
is, well, don't be poor,
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well, don't be poor, work
harder, work faster, be more productive,
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gain the wealth. But we all
know that this expectation of wealth perishes.
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It vanishes out from underneath of our
underneath our feet. Proverbs Eleven says,
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eleven seven says, when the wicked
dies, his hope will perish and
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the expectation of wealth perishes too.
But it's not just money might. There
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are all kinds of other things that
we put our our hopes in. Some
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seek hope in political power, but
Psalm one hundred and forty six three says
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put not your trust in princes,
in a son of man in whom there
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is no salvation, or if not
political power, than military power. But
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Isaiah thirty one one says woe to
those who go down to Egypt for help
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and rely on horses, who trust
in chariots because they are many and in
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horsemen because they are very strong,
but do not look to the holy one
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of Israel or consult Jehovah. Here
we get begin to beget the other part
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of the Bible's message, that there
is a real hope to be offered.
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It's just we often go for it
in the wrong places. We go after
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money, we go after connections or
knowing people, or we go after power
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of some sort, military or otherwise. We trust in the things that we
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have to get us places, to
do things for us, and yet fail
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to look to the God who made
all these things, the God who is
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in control of them. Much of
the entire book of ECCLESIASTES is devoted to
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cataloging the false hopes of mankind.
The preacher in that book looks everywhere in
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the world, a world full of
vanity, and he tries to find meaning.
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He tries to find reasons for hope. He looks for it an education
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and entertainment, in relationships, in
children, but in every case he finds
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nothing but an empty wind. Another
another promise unfulfilled, a hope. It
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was nothing more than a wish.
So there are these gaps in our lives
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and there are bridges, but there
are bridges that are nothing more than our
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imaginations, nothing more than empty winds, empty promises, false hopes. Some
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of these bridges that we trust in
are as light as the wind, empty
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promises found in our minds and in
glossy magazines, bridges which vanish into the
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air and fail us even on the
first step. And yet we continue dreaming
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them up, thinking about them,
planning for them, desiring for them.
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But we are wasting our time and
we are losing our faith in what is
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truly offered by God. There are
things in this world that can help us,
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but only in a secondary way and
only as they are part of something
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much larger, something that God has
given and while we are wasting on our
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to our time on these things,
putting our fit our hopes and things that
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should never be hoped in, know
that God is offering you a hope that
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is more solid than the biggest,
most expansive bridge that you could find in
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this world. In Isaiah Sixty one, one, POW three, and throughout
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all the pages of scripture, God
offers a hope that spans the distance,
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hope that is secured by the giant
rivets of his providence, perfectly placed,
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each one engineered according to his eternal
will, a bridge that leaves no gap
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between sorrow and gladness, between captivity
and freedom, between poverty and wealth,
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between death and life. And this
bridge, this bridge, is Jesus.
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It's the one who's spoken of here
in Isaiah Sixty one, when he says
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the spirit of the Lord Jehovah is
upon me, because Jehovah has anointed me
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to bring good news to the poor. Isaiah here writes prophetically, not about
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himself, but about one who is
to come, a prophet who is to
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come. Indeed, Isaiah himself brings
good news to the poor. He does
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it right here as he gives us
this prophecy. But the one who's coming,
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the one who's prophesied here and Isaiah
Sixty one, doesn't only bring good
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news, he effects good news.
He causes it to happen, he makes
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it happen, he makes the news, you might say, he doesn't just
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tell it. There is one who's
coming, who is anointed by God,
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anointed by the spirit. We make
a distinction in theology between and an external
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call and an internal call. An
external call is one that I make every
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Sunday, is that call that proclaims
to you the Gospel and says believe.
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But there is an internal call,
which I'm not capable of, but which
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God is. And when God makes
that call and he says to a heart
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believe, and he does it effectively, he can do it in a way
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that changes it. He makes the
news, he brings about freedom. God
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did this at the beginning of the
world when he created the world. He
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said let there be light, and
there was light. It was effective.
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There was an a power in that
speaking, that spirit that was hovering over
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the waters, that empty void,
that darkness, brought about these things of
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God. And in the same way, this same spirit, when God decides
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to act, he makes it happen, and that's what happens. That's what
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happens when this one, this one
who has been anointed by God to bring
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good news to the poor, when
he comes into the world, he affects
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certain things, he makes things happen, and that is what makes our hope
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secure. Jesus tells us that this
prophecy is about himself. We read to
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you where this happens, in Luke
chapter four, and notice not only Jesus
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saying that this prophecy belongs to him, but also know the role, notice
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the role of the spirit as well. So, Luke Chapter Four, I'm
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going to read it verse fourteen.
This is right after Jesus is temptation in
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the Wilderness. We read in Verse
Fourteen Jesus returned in the power of the
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Spirit to Galilee and a report about
him went out through all the surrounding country
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and he taught in their synagogues,
being glorified by all, and he came
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to Nazareth, where he had been
brought up, and, as was his
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custom, he went to the synagogue
on the Sabbath Day and he stood up
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to read, and the scroll of
the Prophet Isaiah was given to him.
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He unrolled the scroll and found the
place where it was written. The spirit
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of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to proclaim good
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news to the poor. He has
sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
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and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are
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oppressed, to proclaim the year of
the Lord's favor. And he rolled up
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the scroll and gave it back to
the attendant and sat down and the eyes
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of all in the synagogue were fixed
on him and he began to say to
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them to day, this scripture has
been fulfilled in your hearing. And all
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spoke well of him and marveled at
his grow the gracious words that were coming
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from his mouth. And they said, is not this Joseph's son? And
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he said to them, doubtless you
will quote me with this proverb. Physician,
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heal yourself. What have we what
have heard? Sorry, what we
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have heard, you did at Copernham
do here in your hometown as well.
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And he said, truly, I
say to you, no prophet is acceptable
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in his hometown. He goes on
from there to describe the rejection of various
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prophets. We read and then in
verse twenty nine of the when they hurt
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a verse twenty eight, when they
heard that these things in the synagogue,
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they were all filled with wrath and
they rose up and drove him out of
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the town and brought him to the
brow of the hill on which their town
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was built, so that they could
throw him down the cliff, the passing
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through their midst, he went away. We see several things in this passage.
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We see, first of all,
Jesus telling us that this prophecy is
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about him. He goes into the
synagogue, he opens this passage and Isaiah
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that we just read. Jesus reads
it to the people and he says today
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this has been fulfilled in your hearing. They seem generally favorable at first,
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until they kind of get what he's
saying and they start asking questions. This
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is not this Joseph's son. This
is always the way it is with Jesus.
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This great news of him is proclaimed, this hope that spans the gap,
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and people say, Jesus, a
carpenter, Joseph Son, the guy
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who died on the cross, and
where is he, by the way?
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This great hope of yours, this
great one who brings you peace with God,
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this great one who secures your eternal
life. I don't see eternal life.
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I see you dying, I see
you suffering, I see you in
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captivity, I see you in poverty. Same thing happened to Jesus when he
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was alive. In fact, it's
so enraged them that they wanted to kill
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him, and indeed they eventually did. It's hard sometimes to believe that Jesus
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is the hope that we are seeking, and yet it's true. We know
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it's true because he was anointed by
the spirit. We know it from his
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signs, we know it from his
works, we know it from his resurrection
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from the dead, and we also
know it from his birth. Of what
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man has angels come declaring the shepherds
in the Field News, good news,
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joyful news to you. One has
been born. What man has had a
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star born over his manger that Wise
Men following from afar would come and worship?
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What man has been born of a
virgin? What man has died on
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a cross for the forgiveness of our
sins? What man has been born,
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I'm sorry, as has been raised
from the dead and been lifted up to
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the right hand of God, the
Father, Almighty what man has sent out
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the spirit of God to fill up
doubters and confused people and ungodly people that
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they might become preachers and fishers of
men? Only one, the God man,
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Jesus Christ. This is why Jesus
is a sure hope to us,
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and it's why rejecting him means certain
death. It why it's why rejecting him
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means the opposite of all the things
that are promised here in Isaiah Sixty one.
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If these things sound good to you, know that if you turn away
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from Jesus, the only thing that
spans those gaps, then all you have
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is hopelessness. You will remain in
your poverty, you will remain in your
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captivity, you will not find favor, but you will find vengeance for rejecting
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the word of the Lord. But
to those who do hope in Jesus,
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in this great gift that has been
given you, have all of these things
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considered the description in verse three,
and let your hearts be glad to grant
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to those who mourn enzyme, to
give them a beautiful head dress instead of
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ashes, the oil of gladness instead
of mourning, the garment of praise instead
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of a faint spirit that they may
be called Oaks of Righteousness, the planting
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of Jehovah that he may be glorified. Go back to that picture of job.
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Imagine what it is to be to
have your family taken away, your
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wealth, all of the things which
often bring us hope. Job was in
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a difficult spot. He cried,
he wailed, he tore his clothes,
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he put ashes on himself. He
was not a happy man. He struggled
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and people came to him and accused
him of all kinds of wrongdoing and attacked
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him and his soul and all of
that. Job struggled. He struggled,
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but God promises to those who trust
in him, to job and to you,
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that instead of those ashes, instead
of a faint spirit, he'll lift
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you up, dress you, put
oil on you, make you shine and
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be happy. And this is the
hope that we have in the one who
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not only proclaims these things, as
Jesus did, but accomplishes them on the
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cross. The New Testament describes in
all kinds of ways the effects that this
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has on our lives. In Hebrews
six, nineteen and twenty, hope,
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this hope we have, is described
as an anchor for our soul. The
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fact that Jesus has gone in and
offered himself in his body as a sacrifice
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for sins means that we don't have
to fear the vengeance of the Lord and
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we know only his favor. Or
consider God's word in First Peter one.
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Three. Blessed be the God and
father of our Lord. Jesus Christ,
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according to his great mercy, has
caused us to be born again, to
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a living hope through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead. Not a
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false hope, not a dead hope, not a pretend hope, not a
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wish, a living hope in the
resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's why it's
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living. He doesn't just mean living
and in kind of abstract way and a
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sort of metaphorical way, though I
think he's kind of doing a play on
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words there. He means living as
in real and he means living as in
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Jesus Christ, a hope that is
to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled
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and unfading, kept in heaven for
you who, by God's power, are
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being guarded through faith for a salvation
ready to be revealed at the last time.
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Do you see why, as Christians, we have a secure hope.
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Why? This bridge, with these
giant Rivets of God's Providence made in Jesus
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Christ, is secure? Because it
is welded together by God Almighty himself.
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We are being guarded and kept in
that hope by God himself. Did you
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hear Peter's words? WHO, by
God's power, are being guarded through faith.
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Now that's hard to see sometimes.
We often suffer, we face,
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as Peter will go on to say, fiery trials of various kinds. But
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that's why we believe, that's why
we keep walking, because of who God
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is and what he has promised.
I'll finish with these words again from Peter.
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It's the next verse in this that
is, in this hope of Jesus.
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You rejoice, though now, for
a little while if necessary, you
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have been grieved by various trials,
so that the tested genuineness of your faith,
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more precious than gold that perishes though
it is tested by fire, may
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be found to result in the praise
and glory and honor at the revelation of
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Jesus Christ. Though you have not
seen him, you love him, though
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you do not now see him,
you believe in him and rejoice with joy
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that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith,
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the salvation of your souls. When
we speak of false hopes, of dreams
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that don't come true, we're talking
about the unobtainable, aren't we? That's
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when hopelessness sets in, because the
things that we want, the people that
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we want to be, it's unobtainable. What does God say here about the
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salvation of your souls, about riches, of the kingdom, of the glory,
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of the Kingdom of God and his
glory, that inheritance that's imperishable,
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undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven
for you? What does he say about
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those riches, about that freedom,
about that gladness and rejoicing, about the
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salvation of your souls? He says
it is obtainable, that you are obtaining
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the outcome of your faith, the
salvation of your souls, because you walk
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in Jesus, because you are strengthened
in him. So, Christians, when
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all the wrapping paper and trees and
Candy and Christmas hopes are gone and a
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New Year begins, whatever trials may
come along, whatever sufferings God might bring,
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know that you are walking in faith, that is secure and that when
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you walk in Jesus, you are
obtaining and will obtain this outcome, the
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salvation of your souls. And so
say, as the PSALMIST says in Psalm
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forty two five to his soul,
hope in God. Why are you cast
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down on my soul and why are
you in turmoil within me? Hope in
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God, for I shall again praise
him, my salvation and my God.
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Let us pray
