Sermon
A Lesson From a Leach | Liberty at Home
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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Let's talk about leeches. Yes, I said leeches on this
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week's edition of Liberty at Home.
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Hello there, everyone. Pastor Adam Rivero here, and I'm
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back with our latest Liberty at Home episode here on Easton
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Community Access Television, a nonprofit community access
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provider with not just one, but count them four channels, public
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education, government and essentials.
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I bet you didn't know that, but here's something you may know.
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I'm the pastor of Liberty Baptist Church here in Easton
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and we remain Easton's newest congregation where you'll always
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be greeted with a smiling face and you'll always hear the word
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of God over the opinions of man. As we get to today's passage of
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Scripture, we're rapidly coming to the end of the book of
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Proverbs with only one more chapter remaining to study after
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today's episode. So let's get to it with one of
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the most intriguing and initially most perplexing verses
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in all of the Bible. We'll read Proverbs chapter 30
Proverbs 30 chapter mention
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beginning in verse #15 which says the horse Leech hath 2
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daughters crying. Give, give.
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There are three things that are never satisfied.
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Yay 4 things say not it is enough.
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The grave, the barren womb, the earth that is not filled with
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water, and the fire that sayeth not it is enough.
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The eye that mocketh at his father and despise it to obey
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his mother. The Ravens of the valley shall
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pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.
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When I was in college studying to be a pastor, I had a summer
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internship in a small town called Holden, MO, about an hour
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southeast of Kansas City. I'm not surprised you haven't
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heard of it, in fact, I'd be more surprised if you had.
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For this city dweller, living in a whole summer, a town of 2300
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was an eye opening experience, but one I deeply enjoyed.
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I love living a different kind of life than I've ever been able
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to live in suburbia. One example, the simple pleasure
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of getting to go to a church members farm and fish in his
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stock pond on a lazy summer day. Now look, I'm no angler, but I
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enjoyed wading into the water and catching a few fish over the
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course of several hours. One problem though, and it was a
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big one. The first time I got out of the
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pond I realized I also caught a few more things than fish.
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Blood sucking leeches that had grabbed hold of my skin.
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Needless to say, that day taught me why people wear waders when
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they fish. Now getting back to our text,
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I'm intrigued by the very first verse we just read that says the
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horse Leech hath 2 daughters crying.
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Give give. Now you may be wondering what on
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earth does this mean and why you might think this verse is
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obscure. I assure you that not only is it
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not obscure, but it's an incredibly relevant verse to us
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today. You can go online and look up
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the horse Leech. Go ahead, I'll wait.
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Did you find it? If you did, you'll see that this
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specific Leech is called the horse Leech because of its
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tendency to enter the noses of livestock.
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Now, the horse Leech has two suckers on it, which the Bible
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calls daughters, and it's these suckers that draw blood from the
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horse. Now, here's where it gets really
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interesting. The horse Leech can gorge itself
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up to two to three times its typical size.
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Once it's attached to the horse, however, the more it drinks, the
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more it wants. And the more it wants, the more
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it drinks. The end result?
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It's suckers can't hold anymore and the Leech falls off the
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horse. And then it ends up getting
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trampled by the horse and dies. In today's passage, we learned
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that an insatiable sinful appetite will only end up
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leading us to destruction. You know, I've counseled many
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people over the years dealing with sinful desires and habits,
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and almost all of them say the same thing.
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Pastor, I know when to stop. I'm in control.
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It's no big deal. Like the horse Leech, they keep
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wanting more. They cry out, give, give, but
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yet in the end, the very thing that they desire ends up being
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their downfall. These verses stand as a stark
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warning. Beware of sin.
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Don't coddle it, cultivate it, or cherish it.
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Be sure that while there is pleasure in sin for a season, as
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the Bible says, this same book also says be sure your sins will
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find you out. By the way, this isn't some kind
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of scare tactic from a vengeful God who doesn't want anyone to
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have any fun. Rather, it's a loving warning
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about the deceitful nature of sin.
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Just like the Leech can't control itself, and it's that
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very lack of self-control that leads to its downfall.
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In the exact same way, our fleshly nature will keep
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partaking in sin over and over and over again until the
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consequences are disastrous. So what do we do?
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Heed the Lord's warning and confess your sins to Him today.
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So leeches, while not great when you're fishing, are good for one
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thing, at being a vivid example of how sin can ruin a life.
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Well, it's time to close out this week's episode of Liberty
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at Home. But in the meantime, I want to
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remind you to come see us sometime soon at Liberty Baptist
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Church, 800 Washington St. in the O2375 part of Easton.
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We meet every Sunday morning at 11 AM, Sunday night at 5:00 PM
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and Wednesday night at 7:00 PM. Check us out and find all of our
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digital platforms at my libertybaptist.org.
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I'm Pastor Adam Rivera, signing off today from ecat and
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reminding you as always that where the Spirit of the Lord is,
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there's Liberty. See you next week right here on
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Liberty at Home.