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Paul | Episode 13

April 24, 2018

28:30

Max Lucado: Unshakable Hope

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Paul | Episode 13

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(Max Lucado) They don't build things like they used to.
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Cathedrals, castles, and monuments
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still standing centuries after they were constructed,
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or buildings like this one.
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Cracks and creaks reveal the years,
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yet it still remains.
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From the cathedrals of Rome to the Alamo near my own home,
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there's something special about a building
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that stands the test of time.
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Wars could not destroy them, storms could not devastate them.
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You might even say they're unshakable.
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Hi, I'm Max Lucado, and I wonder,
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what kind of life are you building?
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We live in a shaky world.
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Promises break and stock markets crash
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and relationships crumble.
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These pillars of our faith will be tested.
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Want to be unshakable in a shaky world?
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You can build your life on the enduring promises of God.
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You have a problem, God has a promise,
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and these promises stand the test of time,
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and they weather life's biggest storms.
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Today we're going to explore some of these great
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and precious promises found in God's Word.
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And when the world rages around you,
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you can stand with unshakable hope.
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Unshakable
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(female announcer) We are building our lives on the promises of God.
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Because his word is unbreakable, our hope is unshakable.
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We do not stand on the problems of life
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or the pain in life.
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We stand on the great and precious promises of God.
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This is "Unshakable Hope."
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There is a hope-filled promise in Philippians 4:19 that says,
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"God will meet all your needs."
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If ever there was an uninvited guest at our life's party,
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it would be worry.
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It doesn't have a single positive thing to offer anyone,
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and yet it quietly unlocks the door to our hearts and minds
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and slips in unannounced.
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Then it stealthily settles into a place of comfort
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and makes plans to stay for the long haul.
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When politely asked to leave, it nonchalantly declines.
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Then it resumes its relentless routine
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of casting a dark shadow of fear in the heart
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and light-blocking shade on our outlook.
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Under the weight of worry's spell,
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we feel and see things that haven't even happened yet
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and maybe never will.
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You can see it happening all around you
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if you look close enough.
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A traveler stands in the security airport line
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and removes her bracelet.
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She's already placed her shoes in a rubberized bin
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and liquids in the plastic bag
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and removed the boarding pass from her purse,
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and she wonders about the fungus on the floor.
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Will she miss her flight?
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Will the flight make it on time?
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Will it make it at all?
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She hates the thought but permits it anyway.
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Any day now her luck is going to run out.
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Meanwhile, there's a fellow sitting on the back row
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of an English as a second language class.
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He'd prefer the front row, but by the time he caught
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the city bus and endured the evening traffic,
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the best seats were taken.
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His hands still smelled of diner dishwater,
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where worry worked since 6 a.m. this morning.
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Within 12 hours he'll be at the sink again,
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but for now he does his best to make sense
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of verbs and adverbs and nouns.
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Everyone else seems to get it. He doesn't.
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He never diagrammed a sentence in Spanish.
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How will he ever do it in English?
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Yet with no English, how will he ever do more
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than wash plates?
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Worry has more questions than answers,
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work than energy, and thinks often about giving up.
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I know how these two feel.
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Worry has woven its way into my home as well.
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On a recent morning, I woke at 4:30 a.m.,
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struggling with a message.
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It needed to be finished by 5 p.m.
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I pulled the pillow over my head and tried in vain to return
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to the blissful netherworld of sleep
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that knows nothing of deadlines or completion dates,
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but it was too late.
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The starter's pistol had fired.
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An Olympic squad of synapses was racing in my brain,
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stirring a wake of adrenaline.
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So, worry climbed out of bed and dressed
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and slipped out of the house into the silent streets
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and drove to the office.
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And worry unlocked the door, turned on the computer,
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and stared at the passage on the monitor.
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But then I smiled.
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There on the screen was some very clear direction.
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Matthew 6:25 yielded some precious words
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that Jesus spoke about worrying.
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"So I tell you, don't worry about everyday life,
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whether you have enough."
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Worry doesn't work.
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A better way is right in front of us.
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The passage in Matthew continues,
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"Look at the birds.
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"They don't need to plant or harvest or put food in barns
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"because your heavenly Father feeds them.
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"And you are far more valuable to him than they are.
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"Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
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Of course not."
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Jesus doesn't condemn legitimate concern for responsibility,
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but rather the continuous mind-set
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that dismisses God's presence.
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Destructive anxiety subtracts God from the future,
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faces uncertainties with no faith,
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tallies up the challenges of the day
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without entering God into the equation.
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Worry is the dark room where negatives become glossy prints.
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My friend saw an example of perpetual uneasiness
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in his 6-year-old daughter.
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In her hurry to dress for school,
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she tied her shoe laces in a knot,
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and she plopped down at the base of the stairs
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and fixated her thoughts on the tangled mess.
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The school bus was coming and the minutes were ticking
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and she gave no thought to the fact
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that her father was standing nearby,
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willing to help upon request.
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Her little hands began to shake, and tears began to drop.
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Finally, in an expression of total frustration,
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she dropped her forehead to her knees and sobbed.
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Why didn't she request her father's help to start with?
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We could all ask the same of ourselves.
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Next time you're quaking from anxiety,
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take a look at this unshakable promise found
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in Philippians 4:19, which says, "God will meet all your needs."
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Imitate the mother of Jesus at the wedding in Cana.
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The wedding reception was out of wine,
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a huge social no-no in the days of Jesus.
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Mary could've blamed the host for poor planning
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or the guests for over-drinking, but she didn't catastrophize,
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no therapy sessions or counseling.
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Instead, she presented the problem to Jesus,
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and he turned the water into wine, problem solved.
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When you have a problem, what's your first response?
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Panic, outcry, worry?
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Who's got time for that?
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Quickly assess the problem, take it to Jesus,
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and let him do his work.
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Become a worry slapper,
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treat frets like you do mosquitoes.
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Do you procrastinate when a bloodsucking bug
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lands on your skin, thinking,
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"I'll take care of it in a moment"?
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Of course you don't.
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You'd give the critter the slap it deserves.
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Be equally decisive with anxiety.
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The moment a concern surfaces, deal with it, don't dwell on it.
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Head worries off before they get the best of you.
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Don't waste an hour worrying what your boss thinks, ask her.
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Before you diagnose that mole as cancer,
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have it examined.
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Instead of assuming you'll never get out of debt,
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consult an expert.
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Be a doer, not a stewer.
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Where can you find the strength to kick worry out the door
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and make room for the peace that's promised?
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By claiming and trusting in the precious promise
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of Philippians 4:19.
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God will meet all your needs, and that means all of them.
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If ever there was a place where worrying
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might not just be prevalent but even overpowering,
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it would be prison.
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Imagine what goes through the mind of a man in chains
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pondering his fate.
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Will he be subjected to torture?
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Will he ever see his wife and children again?
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Will he become sick
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and waste away from malnutrition?
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Will he be forgotten and left here to die
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or sentenced to death in a public display
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to teach others a lesson?
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So many dark thoughts could enter into
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an incarcerated man's heart, but not if that man was Paul.
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He chose another path.
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Now, Paul had reason to worry. He was impoverished.
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The very reason we have the letter called Philippians
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is because a church took pity on his poverty.
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He had no health.
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His tired body carried the marks of whippings,
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shipwrecks and diseases.
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He spoke of a thorn in the flesh
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and complained of frailty in his eyes.
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His money was gone, his health was failing,
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and what's worse, his life work was in jeopardy.
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The Galatians were defecting,
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the Corinthian church was squabbling,
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the Ephesian church was struggling,
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the Romans needed encouraging.
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It was a tough time for Paul, purse empty, health fleeting,
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churches battling.
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And in the midst of it all, he ended up in jail.
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What a lousy time to be arrested.
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The apostle didn't even have good timing.
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Can you envision Paul in prison?
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The rap of old age hangs from his shoulders.
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His chin sags like a worn cloth.
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The Roman chain rests at his feet like a tired dog.
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Paul is at the end of the line, a long line.
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But give him half the chance,
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and he'll tell you the story of stories.
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He will tilt his large head to the side
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and smile a wry smile.
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He'll speak of the light that left him blind
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and the voice that left him speechless.
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"Saul, Saul," Jesus had spoken.
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And just as Abraham was called to walk by faith,
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just as Moses was called to deliver the slaves,
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now Saul was called to do both.
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In about the same time Nero was born in Rome,
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Saul became Paul and was born again in Damascus.
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For the next three decades, neither Paul nor the world
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would be the same.
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Tireless, focused, unfailingly faithful,
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he criss-crossed the eastern world,
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stitching tents and preaching Christ
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and planting churches.
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He was angular, forceful, brilliant, and unbudging.
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And because he wouldn't budge, the church feared him
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before they loved him, and he slept in more jails than hotels.
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But that was okay with Paul.
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Suffering was tolerable
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because he had the one thing that mattered.
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He had the Lord.
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He the sinner had met Christ the Savior,
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and the sinner was never to be silenced.
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Put him in a synagogue, and he'd preach.
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Put him in a boat, and he'd witness.
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Put him in a jail, and he'd write.
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Here's a curious question, had you been a Roman citizen
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in 61 or 62 AD and someone gave you the choice,
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would you rather be the Emperor Nero
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or the Apostle Paul?
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Lounging in the palace or locked away in prison?
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Which would you have chosen?
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Ask Paul the question, he'd be quick to answer.
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"My purse may be empty," he'd say,
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"but my Father's is not."
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Paul embraced the very words he wrote in Philippians 4:19,
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"God will meet all your needs."
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That's the promise. That was the discovery of Paul.
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That is the hope of the believer.
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Some of you are much like Paul in prison,
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only your prison isn't made of walls,
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it's made of circumstances.
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But look at you, there's still a twinkle in your eye
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and a song on your lips.
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You've learned well.
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Like Paul, you too have maintained a joyful heart.
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Rather than being paralyzed with the worry of what may come,
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you're moving forward in faith with your confidence in Christ.
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Others of us could learn a little more.
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Instead of focusing on what's wrong in our lives,
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we could turn our eyes to what's right.
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Rather than using our voice to complain,
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we could use it to sing.
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And rather than living in fear, we could live in faith.
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We needn't give any room in our lives to worry.
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We have a promise that God will meet all of our needs.
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No matter what chains are holding you back today
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or what prison bars are blocking your progress
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and stealing away your freedom, I encourage you
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to remember God's promise and then make it your own.
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I will trust God to meet my needs.
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Unshakable
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(male announcer) We're living in volatile times.
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It's almost as if the ground is shifting
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and crumbling beneath our feet.
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Many in the world have resigned themselves
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to living with ever-rising levels of fear and uncertainty,
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but this should not be so for God's people.
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That's the reassuring message that comes through powerfully
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in Mac Lucado's new series, "Unshakable Hope:
00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:13.150
Building Our Lives on the Promises of God."
00:13:13.160 --> 00:13:16.290
(Max Lucado) Every virtue we see in Christ, we see in our inheritance.
00:13:17.000 --> 00:13:21.190
(announcer) In each of these 14 soul-strengthening episodes,
00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:24.240
one of America's most trusted teachers takes you
00:13:24.250 --> 00:13:27.060
to God's eternal word and leads you
00:13:27.070 --> 00:13:29.150
to the most solid ground of all: his unfailing promises.
00:13:29.160 --> 00:13:34.000
For a short time, receive your personal set
00:13:34.010 --> 00:13:36.040
of all 14 episodes of "Unshakable Hope"
00:13:36.050 --> 00:13:39.000
on DVD as our special thank you for your gift of $25 or more
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in support of the outreaches of TBN.
00:13:43.260 --> 00:13:46.140
And if you're able to share a gift of $50 or more,
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we'll add a special bonus: "Hope,"
00:13:49.210 --> 00:13:52.210
Max Lucado's beautiful hardcover gift-book
00:13:52.220 --> 00:13:55.230
of inspirational thoughts and images.
00:13:55.240 --> 00:13:58.150
Take a moment now to call 800-486-9101,
00:13:58.160 --> 00:14:02.270
or go securely online to tbn.org/HOPE
00:14:02.280 --> 00:14:07.160
to share a gift and request these resources today.
00:14:07.170 --> 00:14:11.030
That's 800-486-9101.
00:14:11.040 --> 00:14:14.130
Call or click now and start standing on unshakable ground.
00:14:14.140 --> 00:14:18.270
Unshakable
00:14:20.050 --> 00:14:23.050
God is a good God,
00:14:26.090 --> 00:14:28.020
but in order for him to be a good God,
00:14:28.030 --> 00:14:30.120
he also must be a just God.
00:14:30.130 --> 00:14:33.220
So, one of the promises found in Acts 17:31 is this,
00:14:33.230 --> 00:14:38.200
"For God has set a day when he will judge the world."
00:14:38.210 --> 00:14:43.000
In the predawn hours of December 14, 2012,
00:14:43.010 --> 00:14:46.230
Daniel Barton awoke early
00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:48.190
and reveled in the sight of the sunrise.
00:14:48.200 --> 00:14:52.030
Through a silhouette of the bare trees,
00:14:52.040 --> 00:14:54.050
the dark sky outside their Newtown, Connecticut, home
00:14:54.060 --> 00:14:56.240
turned red-orange.
00:14:56.250 --> 00:14:58.070
Christmas tree lights reflected on the window
00:14:58.080 --> 00:15:00.180
dotted the sunrise.
00:15:00.190 --> 00:15:02.120
"Isn't that beautiful?"
00:15:02.130 --> 00:15:03.290
Seven-year-old Daniel asked his father,
00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:06.120
who captured the moment in a photo
00:15:06.130 --> 00:15:08.140
before walking his son to the school bus.
00:15:08.150 --> 00:15:11.100
Daniel was 1 of 20 children and 6 adults shot to death
00:15:11.110 --> 00:15:15.070
at Sandy Hook Elementary School later that morning.
00:15:15.080 --> 00:15:18.200
Mark, Daniel's father, has reflected on that final morning
00:15:18.210 --> 00:15:22.100
more times than he can count.
00:15:22.110 --> 00:15:24.070
He remembers how Daniel took a moment
00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:26.000
to hug his sister Natalie
00:15:26.010 --> 00:15:27.230
and see her off to the school bus.
00:15:27.240 --> 00:15:29.230
They played "Jingle Bells" on the piano.
00:15:29.240 --> 00:15:32.200
Later, Daniel ran down the stairs,
00:15:32.210 --> 00:15:34.150
his toothbrush still in his mouth,
00:15:34.160 --> 00:15:36.180
to hug and kiss his mother before she left for work.
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On most mornings, when Barton walked Daniel to the school bus,
00:15:40.130 --> 00:15:44.260
his son insisted on a quick game of tag.
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"Do we have to play tag today?"
00:15:48.100 --> 00:15:50.020
Barton asked Daniel that morning.
00:15:50.030 --> 00:15:51.240
"Can we just hold hands today?"
00:15:51.250 --> 00:15:54.070
"And so we did," he said. "We just held hands."
00:15:54.080 --> 00:15:58.070
David had no way of knowing the rage
00:15:58.080 --> 00:16:00.030
that was about to erupt.
00:16:00.040 --> 00:16:02.090
A deranged gunman was lying in wait for the opportunity
00:16:02.100 --> 00:16:05.240
to slaughter innocent people.
00:16:05.250 --> 00:16:08.000
Sandy Hook wasn't the first massacre in American history,
00:16:08.010 --> 00:16:11.100
but it seemed the cruelest.
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And these weren't adults, they were children.
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This wasn't a war, it was a quiet neighborhood.
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These weren't gangsters, they were elementary-aged kids
00:16:18.040 --> 00:16:21.140
at an elementary school on a holiday morning.
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The kids didn't deserve death,
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their parents don't deserve such grief,
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and we've received an all too common reminder:
00:16:29.070 --> 00:16:32.170
life isn't fair.
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When did you learn those words?
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It's not fair.
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What deed exposed you to the imbalanced scales of life?
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Did a car wreck leave your mother a widow,
00:16:43.090 --> 00:16:46.010
a disease leave your body disfigured?
00:16:46.020 --> 00:16:49.020
Did friends forget you, a teacher ignore you,
00:16:49.030 --> 00:16:51.200
an adult abuse you?
00:16:51.210 --> 00:16:54.050
When did you discover the injustice of life?
00:16:54.060 --> 00:16:57.250
When did you first pray the prayer
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of the prophet Jeremiah,
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"Why does the way of the wicked prosper?"
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There are so many questions that are easy to ask
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and hard to answer.
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Why do drug peddlers get rich, sex offenders get off,
00:17:08.130 --> 00:17:12.060
charlatans get elected, murderers get out,
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cheaters get by, scoundrels get in?
00:17:14.160 --> 00:17:17.090
How long will injustice flourish?
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God's answer is direct.
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Not long.
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Take confidence in knowing that justice will be served,
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maybe not in our preferred time,
00:17:28.140 --> 00:17:31.070
but in God's perfect time.
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He is not sitting idly by, he's not twiddling his thumbs.
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Every flip of the calendar brings us closer
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to the day in which he will judge all evil.
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The Apostle Paul assures us in the book of Acts chapter 17
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and verse 31, "God has set a day when he will judge the world."
00:17:48.200 --> 00:17:54.110
Now, to set means to single out.
00:17:54.120 --> 00:17:57.280
A judgment day has been chosen.
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The hour is marked, and moment is reserved.
00:18:00.150 --> 00:18:03.290
Judgment is not a possibility, it is a stark reality.
00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:08.150
Now, judgment day is an unpopular term.
00:18:08.160 --> 00:18:11.200
We dislike the image of a great hour of reckoning,
00:18:11.210 --> 00:18:14.220
which is ironic.
00:18:14.230 --> 00:18:16.190
We distain judgment, but we value justice.
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Yet the second is impossible without the first.
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One can't have justice without judgment.
00:18:22.270 --> 00:18:26.180
For that reason, the judgment seat shares equal status
00:18:26.190 --> 00:18:31.010
with the king's throne as the two symbols
00:18:31.020 --> 00:18:34.010
of the great day.
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Matthew 25:31 tells us that on the day Jesus returns,
00:18:35.280 --> 00:18:40.000
he will sit on his glorious throne.
00:18:40.010 --> 00:18:43.070
All of the people of all nations
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will bow low before his authority.
00:18:44.260 --> 00:18:46.240
Every person will acknowledge the king
00:18:46.250 --> 00:18:49.100
and his one-king kingdom.
00:18:49.110 --> 00:18:51.150
Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:10,
00:18:51.160 --> 00:18:54.130
"We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
00:18:54.140 --> 00:18:57.170
"so that each of us may receive what is due us
00:18:57.180 --> 00:19:00.160
for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad."
00:19:00.170 --> 00:19:04.160
So, justice will prevail.
00:19:04.170 --> 00:19:06.230
Now, this promise may not matter to you.
00:19:06.240 --> 00:19:09.120
For some people, life feels fair and just.
00:19:09.130 --> 00:19:12.060
If that describes you, count your blessings.
00:19:12.070 --> 00:19:15.180
There are others, however,
00:19:15.190 --> 00:19:17.100
who fight a daily battle with anger.
00:19:17.110 --> 00:19:20.280
They've been robbed.
00:19:20.290 --> 00:19:22.190
Evil people have pilfered days with their loved ones,
00:19:22.200 --> 00:19:25.200
disease has sapped health from their body.
00:19:25.210 --> 00:19:28.090
They believe that justice must be served.
00:19:28.100 --> 00:19:32.040
The Bible says,
00:19:32.050 --> 00:19:33.220
"For God has set a day when he will judge the world."
00:19:33.230 --> 00:19:38.030
Can I encourage you to stand on that promise?
00:19:38.040 --> 00:19:41.220
Place all the injustices of life before Christ.
00:19:41.230 --> 00:19:46.090
Place them in the shadow of the cross
00:19:46.100 --> 00:19:49.020
and be reminded God understands injustice,
00:19:49.030 --> 00:19:53.040
and he will right all wrongs and heal all wounds.
00:19:53.050 --> 00:19:55.230
And he has prepared a place where life will finally
00:19:55.240 --> 00:19:58.160
and forever be just.
00:19:58.170 --> 00:20:01.180
For as he promised, God has set a day
00:20:01.190 --> 00:20:04.270
when he will judge the world.
00:20:04.280 --> 00:20:08.070
00:20:08.080 --> 00:20:14.140
We laud the Apostle Paul for his ability to be content
00:20:14.150 --> 00:20:17.190
in all circumstances.
00:20:17.200 --> 00:20:19.050
I think it's because he had the ability
00:20:19.060 --> 00:20:20.280
to look beyond the present and focus on the future.
00:20:20.290 --> 00:20:24.100
While he might be poor,
00:20:24.110 --> 00:20:25.270
the riches of heaven awaited him.
00:20:25.280 --> 00:20:27.230
While he might be captive in a dungy prison cell,
00:20:27.240 --> 00:20:30.120
he'd soon be free walking the glorious streets of heaven.
00:20:30.130 --> 00:20:34.030
Paul was sure of his future,
00:20:34.040 --> 00:20:35.250
and that changed his perspective on the present.
00:20:35.260 --> 00:20:39.010
He had faith in God and that in God's perfect time
00:20:39.020 --> 00:20:42.120
justice would be served.
00:20:42.130 --> 00:20:44.090
The Greek word for judgment seat is bema.
00:20:44.100 --> 00:20:47.150
The terms denotes a court in session,
00:20:47.160 --> 00:20:50.050
a place where the judge is present
00:20:50.060 --> 00:20:52.120
and the verdicts are declared.
00:20:52.130 --> 00:20:54.190
From his throne, Jesus will forever balance
00:20:54.200 --> 00:20:57.130
the scales of fairness, and he will do so
00:20:57.140 --> 00:21:00.120
through three declarations.
00:21:00.130 --> 00:21:02.180
First, he will publicly pardon his people.
00:21:02.190 --> 00:21:06.120
When the Apostle Paul said,
00:21:06.130 --> 00:21:07.240
"We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,"
00:21:07.250 --> 00:21:11.090
he meant everyone.
00:21:11.100 --> 00:21:12.190
According to Romans 2:16,
00:21:12.200 --> 00:21:14.170
"This will be the day when God judges people's secrets
00:21:14.180 --> 00:21:17.200
through Jesus Christ."
00:21:17.210 --> 00:21:19.120
Why will Christ expose every deed of the Christian heart?
00:21:19.130 --> 00:21:23.240
For the sake of justice.
00:21:23.250 --> 00:21:25.250
He must declare each sin forgiven.
00:21:25.260 --> 00:21:30.000
God filters his verdict through Jesus.
00:21:30.010 --> 00:21:32.200
Believers won't stand before the bench alone.
00:21:32.210 --> 00:21:34.290
Jesus will be at our side.
00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:37.010
As the sin is disclosed, so is the forgiveness.
00:21:37.020 --> 00:21:41.120
On and on the reading will go until every sin
00:21:41.130 --> 00:21:44.140
of every believer is proclaimed and pardoned.
00:21:44.150 --> 00:21:47.210
God's justice demands a detailed accounting.
00:21:47.220 --> 00:21:50.180
He will not permit the hint of injustice in his new kingdom.
00:21:50.190 --> 00:21:54.180
Every citizen will know that every sin
00:21:54.190 --> 00:21:56.250
has been surfaced and pardoned.
00:21:56.260 --> 00:21:59.030
Heaven can't be heaven with secrets or buried pasts,
00:21:59.040 --> 00:22:03.010
but you won't be embarrassed.
00:22:03.020 --> 00:22:04.150
To the contrary, you'll be stunned,
00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:06.120
your awe will grow as the list of forgiven sins lengthens.
00:22:06.130 --> 00:22:10.260
The results will be a heaven draped in justice.
00:22:10.270 --> 00:22:14.060
No saint will look upon another with suspicion.
00:22:14.070 --> 00:22:16.150
No saint will look into his or her past with guilt.
00:22:16.160 --> 00:22:19.150
All will be disclosed, all will be forgiven.
00:22:19.160 --> 00:22:22.100
The public display of forgiven sins
00:22:22.110 --> 00:22:24.140
will prompt eternal gratitude to our Savior.
00:22:24.150 --> 00:22:27.100
But wait, that's not all.
00:22:27.110 --> 00:22:29.250
There's even more good news for God's people.
00:22:29.260 --> 00:22:32.090
The second declaration is that he will applaud
00:22:32.100 --> 00:22:35.190
the service of his saints.
00:22:35.200 --> 00:22:37.180
Paul tells us he will bring to light
00:22:37.190 --> 00:22:39.270
what is hidden in darkness,
00:22:39.280 --> 00:22:41.210
and he will expose the motives of the heart.
00:22:41.220 --> 00:22:44.030
At that time, each will receive their praise from God.
00:22:44.040 --> 00:22:48.170
God will walk you through your life day by day,
00:22:48.180 --> 00:22:51.180
moment by moment, as if a video replays your biography.
00:22:51.190 --> 00:22:55.200
And he will issue commendation after commendation.
00:22:55.210 --> 00:22:59.210
You gave up your seat on the bus, well done.
00:22:59.220 --> 00:23:02.080
You greeted the new student in your school, fine job.
00:23:02.090 --> 00:23:05.190
You forgave your brother, encouraged your neighbor,
00:23:05.200 --> 00:23:08.050
stayed awake in Max's message, I'm so proud of you.
00:23:08.060 --> 00:23:11.260
God records and rewards your goodness.
00:23:11.270 --> 00:23:15.110
It's only fair that he do so.
00:23:15.120 --> 00:23:18.110
And since God is a just God,
00:23:18.120 --> 00:23:20.160
he will declare the pardon of his people,
00:23:20.170 --> 00:23:23.150
applaud the service of his servants.
00:23:23.160 --> 00:23:26.030
As a general places a medal on his shoulders,
00:23:26.040 --> 00:23:29.030
God places a robe on his.
00:23:29.040 --> 00:23:31.230
But for those who would fight against God,
00:23:31.240 --> 00:23:34.140
the third declaration now applies.
00:23:34.150 --> 00:23:37.100
He will honor the wishes of the wicked.
00:23:37.110 --> 00:23:40.200
The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 1:21 and 23
00:23:40.210 --> 00:23:44.140
that some people will stand before God
00:23:44.150 --> 00:23:46.130
who didn't treat him like God, refusing to worship him,
00:23:46.140 --> 00:23:50.060
and they trade the glory of God who holds the whole world
00:23:50.070 --> 00:23:53.260
in his hands for cheap figurines
00:23:53.270 --> 00:23:55.270
you can buy at any roadside stand.
00:23:55.280 --> 00:23:58.200
A just God must honor the wishes of God rejecters.
00:23:58.210 --> 00:24:03.240
Even our judicial system, fragile as it may be,
00:24:03.250 --> 00:24:06.270
forces no defense on the accused.
00:24:06.280 --> 00:24:09.280
The defendant is offered an advocate,
00:24:09.290 --> 00:24:12.040
but if he chooses to stand before the judge alone,
00:24:12.050 --> 00:24:15.020
the system permits it.
00:24:15.030 --> 00:24:16.220
So does God.
00:24:16.230 --> 00:24:18.080
He offers his Son as an advocate.
00:24:18.090 --> 00:24:21.030
Jesus will stand in judgment at the side of every person
00:24:21.040 --> 00:24:24.140
except those who refuse him.
00:24:24.150 --> 00:24:26.250
And when their deeds are read,
00:24:26.260 --> 00:24:28.130
heaven's tribunal will hear nothing but silence.
00:24:28.140 --> 00:24:30.270
You denied my presence, silence.
00:24:30.280 --> 00:24:34.030
You abused my children, silence.
00:24:34.040 --> 00:24:37.010
You slandered my name, silence.
00:24:37.020 --> 00:24:40.110
You ignored my Word, silence.
00:24:40.120 --> 00:24:42.290
You rejected my Son, silence.
00:24:43.000 --> 00:24:46.070
What response can be given?
00:24:46.080 --> 00:24:47.290
What defense can be offered?
00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:49.200
God is right, God is just.
00:24:49.210 --> 00:24:52.020
No one in heaven or hell will accuse
00:24:52.030 --> 00:24:54.210
the judge of injustice when he announces,
00:24:54.220 --> 00:24:58.110
"Depart from me, you who are cursed,
00:24:58.120 --> 00:25:01.020
into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels."
00:25:01.030 --> 00:25:05.040
Indeed, justice will prevail.
00:25:05.050 --> 00:25:08.050
Paul was very clear, a day is coming
00:25:08.060 --> 00:25:11.100
when scores will be settled.
00:25:11.110 --> 00:25:13.160
Let this covenant abate the anger you feel
00:25:13.170 --> 00:25:17.110
at the hurting world.
00:25:17.120 --> 00:25:19.190
Devastations have bloodied every generation.
00:25:19.200 --> 00:25:23.030
Does our globe have one square mile of unstained soil?
00:25:23.040 --> 00:25:27.130
The Hutu slaughtered 800.000 Tutsis.
00:25:27.140 --> 00:25:30.180
Hitler exterminated 6 million Jews and gypsies.
00:25:30.190 --> 00:25:33.240
American bombs devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
00:25:33.250 --> 00:25:37.210
Japanese tortured American soldiers.
00:25:37.220 --> 00:25:40.030
Suicide bombs in Baghdad, mass murders at Sandy Hook.
00:25:40.040 --> 00:25:44.090
It's not right, it's not just, it's not fair, it's just not.
00:25:44.100 --> 00:25:49.170
And when you wonder if the unrepentant wicked
00:25:49.180 --> 00:25:52.100
will go unpunished or injustices will go unaddressed,
00:25:52.110 --> 00:25:56.010
let this promise gratify your desire for justice.
00:25:56.020 --> 00:26:00.080
God will have the final word.
00:26:00.090 --> 00:26:02.180
He has prepared a place where life will be finally
00:26:02.190 --> 00:26:05.210
and forever fair.
00:26:05.220 --> 00:26:07.190
You can be sure of this.
00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:09.150
God gives you this promise,
00:26:09.160 --> 00:26:11.030
"For God has set a day when he will judge the world."
00:26:11.040 --> 00:26:14.140
Now, make your own promise, "I will respect God's justice
00:26:14.150 --> 00:26:18.110
and I will delight in God's grace."
00:26:18.120 --> 00:26:21.280
What's shaking in your world?
00:26:24.050 --> 00:26:26.280
Your finances, your family, your faith?
00:26:26.290 --> 00:26:30.040
It's easy to lose hope when the storms of life come.
00:26:30.050 --> 00:26:33.260
But there is one thing in life we can stand on
00:26:33.270 --> 00:26:36.110
when everything else around us is shaken.
00:26:36.120 --> 00:26:39.100
We can build our lives on the promises of God.
00:26:39.110 --> 00:26:42.180
Why?
00:26:42.190 --> 00:26:43.290
God's Word is sure, and what he says happens.
00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:47.060
God will not, indeed he cannot break his promises.
00:26:47.070 --> 00:26:51.020
His covenants won't collapse.
00:26:51.030 --> 00:26:53.000
His word is his bond, and his bond won't break.
00:26:53.010 --> 00:26:55.210
What he says will happen.
00:26:55.220 --> 00:26:58.000
Won't you say it with me?
00:26:58.010 --> 00:26:59.270
We are building our lives on the promises of God.
00:26:59.280 --> 00:27:03.180
Because his word is unbreakable, our hope is unshakable.
00:27:03.190 --> 00:27:07.140
We do not stand on the problems of life
00:27:07.150 --> 00:27:09.210
or the pain in life,
00:27:09.220 --> 00:27:11.080
we stand on the great and precious promises of God.
00:27:11.090 --> 00:27:15.280
Unshakable
00:27:15.290 --> 00:27:18.290
(announcer) Many in the world have resigned themselves
00:27:30.090 --> 00:27:32.140
to living with ever-rising levels of fear and uncertainty,
00:27:32.150 --> 00:27:36.190
but this should not be so for God's people.
00:27:36.200 --> 00:27:39.230
That's the reassuring message that comes through powerfully
00:27:39.240 --> 00:27:43.130
in Mac Lucado's new series, "Unshakable Hope:
00:27:43.140 --> 00:27:47.170
Building Our Lives on the Promises of God."
00:27:47.180 --> 00:27:50.090
For a short time, receive your personal set
00:27:50.100 --> 00:27:52.130
of all 14 episodes of "Unshakable Hope"
00:27:52.140 --> 00:27:55.090
on DVD as our special thank you for your gift of $25 or more
00:27:55.100 --> 00:28:00.060
in support of the outreaches of TBN.
00:28:00.070 --> 00:28:02.250
And if you're able to share a gift of $50 or more,
00:28:02.260 --> 00:28:06.010
we'll add a special bonus: "Hope,"
00:28:06.020 --> 00:28:09.020
Max Lucado's beautiful hardcover gift-book
00:28:09.030 --> 00:28:12.040
of inspirational thoughts and images.
00:28:12.050 --> 00:28:14.260
Take a moment now to call 800-486-9101,
00:28:14.270 --> 00:28:19.060
or go securely online to tbn.org/HOPE
00:28:19.070 --> 00:28:23.250
to share a gift and request these resources today.
00:28:23.260 --> 00:28:27.260

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Paul | Episode 13

Paul | Episode 13

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Paul | Episode 13

Paul | Episode 13

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