Sermon
Aging in the Lord
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons,
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a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg.
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It's our hope that these sermons will draw you
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more into the life of following God, Father,
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Son and Holy Spirit. Please consider coming and
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joining with us each Sunday morning at 10 a .m.
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in the heart of Midtown Harrisburg. You can find
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us online at secondcitychurch .org and on Facebook,
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Instagram and YouTube. We hope you enjoy this
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sermon. God bless. Let me pray once more Lord.
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Thank you again for this passage. Thank you for
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the Psalms these This great hymn book this this
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book that gives voice to all of the great emotions
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of this life God this invitation That you give
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to us to bring all of our self to you all our
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raw self all of our real self all of our All
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the different dynamics of life that we go through
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to you. God, I pray that wherever we are right
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now, that you meet us through these words. Meet
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us in the different stages of our life. Meet
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us in the trials of our life. Meet us in the
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joy of our life. Be with us present in this,
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your word. Now we pray. Amen. All right. This
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past fall, I was with a friend from Richmond
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where we had lived before we moved here 10 years
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ago. This friend is one of those friends who's
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particularly good at asking questions that invite
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more questions or that invite a deeper conversation,
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which I will say is a skill that we should all
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be seeking to develop. It's a great gift when
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you're with somebody like that who really asks
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questions that make you think and can be fun,
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but also invite something deeper. And so this
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friend who I've now known for 15 years asked
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me, Peter, what signs have you seen in your body
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that you're getting older? And so I remember
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really clearly when I turned 28, actually I remember
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this because a couple of years before this, a
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friend of mine said, man, when I turned 28, my
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metabolism changed and I used to be able to eat
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everything. And this was me, right? from basically
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the time I was 14 till the time I was 28 I weighed
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145 pounds wet and 130 pounds sick, you know,
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and I could eat anything I could eat all day
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long and I turned 28 and I just was like I can't
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do that anymore. What what happened to my body?
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I just can't eat whatever I want Some of you
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have experienced this others if you you will
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hopefully if you make it there anyway that was
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not what came to my mind i was looking at my
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hands and my friend asked me this and i and i
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don't know if i had i think i had noticed them
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before but this was what i was doing and i saw
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this spot right there and this spot right there
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and right there and right here and right there
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uh some of you know those are called aging spots
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It's the clumping together of the melanin that
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gives color to your skin. It often is aggravated
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by being in the sun a lot, but it pretty much
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only happens when you put on a few years. Some
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of you have heard me talk about this one. So
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I was watching this fall in November I was watching
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this video of this physical therapist who counsels
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people who does sports and he what he does is
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he does he does these exams first of sort of
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range of motion things, you know, like these
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kinds of things and You know like muscle movements
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and what not and he gives people these exercises
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So they are their range can improve and their
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muscles with certain activities can improve and
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I'm watching this and I hear him say That He
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starts to see injury and significant decline
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in people when they turn 43. And so I'm bowling
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on January 4th this year with my family and with
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a few folk. And all we're doing is bowling. I
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mean, Mary was on a bowling league for like 50
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years, right? Or longer than that, a while. And
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we get done, and my knee has this sharp, acute
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pain. And my hip is just, I'm doing this kind
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of like, you know, leaving Trindle Bull. And
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here's the thing, I went to bed and it was still
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there in the morning. What is up with that? You
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know? Like, why? And then you know what? Actually,
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my hip, it pretty much hurt for about two months.
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My knee just got better like two months ago,
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five months after this happened. I don't remember
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falling over, nothing. I was doing this bowling.
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And I know, by the way, that was my 43rd birthday.
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And I know I'm not that old. I have been called
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names from the likes of Dottie Roden and Diane
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Koning and other of our senior saints. Names
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like Spring Chicken. and youngster. And I understand.
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That's fine. I don't take offense to any of that.
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I understand what the love from which it's offered.
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This song that we have before us this morning,
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it is definitely written in the waning years
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of David's life. He says there in verse nine,
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do not cast me off in the time of old age. forsake
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me not when my strength is spent." But I don't
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think he's, in saying that, I'll show you this.
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I don't think what he's doing is saying that
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the pains that we have in other stages of life,
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the different trials that we go through, the
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troubles that we go through physically, emotionally,
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mentally, socially are diminished. In fact, what
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he's doing is he's looking at his old life and
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he's saying, don't forsake me in my old age.
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And you know what? You haven't done it at these
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other times either. And so verse seven tells
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us things like this, that he's been a portent
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to many. It's been a sign of the hard things
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that are to come in the various seasons of life
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to many throughout his life. And yet God has
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been with him and he's been present with him
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through these challenges. So he can look back,
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verses five and six, tell us this, for you, O
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Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my
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youth. He's kind of, and then he goes back farther.
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Upon you have I leaned from before my birth.
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So David begins this Psalm primarily in these
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first few verses by asking God to not, you know,
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that he would not be put to shame. He asks that
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he would be saved. He asks God to be his rock,
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his refuge. He asked that a couple of times in
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this Psalm. He says also a rock and a fortress,
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something to defend, not just to protect, but
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also to defend against the onslaught of others.
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He asks for God's rescue from the hand of the
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wicked. And it says, and from a cruel man. Just
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people that are just cruel, mean, ornery. And
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what I want us to do a little bit today is to
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think together because I think this is actually
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what David is doing. He's coming to the near
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the end of his life and he is experiencing one
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of the hardships that age presents. But he's
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also giving, he's kind of thinking back on his
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life. about how he's been a portent to many,
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the sign of the difficult things of life, but
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also how God's been faithful in those things.
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He's thinking back through the challenges of
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aging. And I do want us to think a bit about
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the hardship of getting older, but also how just
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simply getting older from one stage to the next
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presents different challenges. He mentions here
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shame and a need for refuge and wickedness and
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cruelty. And one of the things I would suggest
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to you is that those dynamics are present pretty
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much in every stage of life. A degree of shame
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and a degree of cruelty, a need to take refuge
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in God. Getting older is not just something for
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the elderly. Getting older happens to each one
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of us in each stage. David, interestingly, goes
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back to birth. And did you notice he actually
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goes back before that? Verse six, upon you have
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I leaned from before my birth. You are he who
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took me from my mother's womb. He's looking at
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birth, but he's also actually going. back before.
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And I want us to think about this a little bit.
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There are challenges that face us even in the
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womb. You might not be terribly cognizant of
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those. Most of us have very few memories before
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the age of three or so. I was speaking though
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with a local psychologist who's become a friend
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about my own life, my own family upbringing.
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And you start to ask questions like, why am I
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like this and this and all these kinds of things.
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And we're talking about how we're so multifaceted.
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Us becoming us is such a strange and interesting
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subject. If you look actually at one of the meditation
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quotes, Dan Allender there at the bottom in his
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book, The Wounded Heart says, every person enjoys
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dignity and suffers depravity. The structures
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of personality is a result of the interaction
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of these two dynamics. And that can be said also
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actually in utero. How you were cared for the
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joy that parents might have embraced with you
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even when they just first learned of pregnancy
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That can have an effect on you even in the womb
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there. There's certain difficulties and challenges
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that take place I mean, of course, it's not hard
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for us to think of things like fetal alcohol
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syndrome, which certainly affects many but this
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wasn't the focus of my conversation with my friend.
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We were just talking about how everything that
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we're experiencing, even within the womb outside,
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how parents talk to each other, how they love
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each other, how they think of you with joy and
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gladness or the inverse of that affects us. Of
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course, any birth is a miracle, right? I mean,
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the weaving together of a child within a mother
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and the ways that children are cared for and
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fed. And it's an astounding miracle of miracles
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kind of thing. Wonder of wonders. How we are
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made such wonderfully and cared for in our wombs
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from our inception. But we also know how common
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it is to not make it out of the womb. I read
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that 15 % that's sort of a low number of pregnancies
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end in miscarriage. It's actually likely a lot
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higher than that because most of those happen
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in the first trimester. So many of them are not
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reported or unknown. And so many of us have experienced
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the pain and loss of a child in that way, which
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is to say to lean upon the Lord even in the womb
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is a necessary dynamic. To bear a child can be
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full of joy and also full of unbelievable hardship,
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overwhelming sadness. Sometimes a child is planned
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for, Often a child is the joy of their parents
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having waited a long time for that child. And
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yet often that's also not the case. Sometimes
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childbirth is met with the unrelenting scorn
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of others. How could you bear a child? How could
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you be a mother? And it's also actually in our
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own minds. How can I, what am I doing? You know,
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you leave. the hospital with that child and they
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just let you leave with it. What are they doing?
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I remember being astounded the first time that
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happened. It eased the second and third times.
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But sometimes children are born in the middle
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of a separation or a divorce. There are certain
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trials and troubles that are born even in infancy,
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even when just coming from your mother's womb.
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Leaning on the Lord is for the old and for the
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very, very young. And it goes on, of course,
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think with me, right, of the challenges and the
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joys of being a young child. You're full of interest.
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full of energy, sometimes to your own parents
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chagrin. You're learning to move, but also you
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have to learn to not stick your finger in the
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socket or not touch the oven when it's on. When
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I was in, I think it was third or fourth grade,
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I think I was nine or 10, around that. I was
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at a neighbor's house and we were playing and
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somehow we ended up upon a wasps nest. Yeah,
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you can imagine how that went. I remember more
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or less just being like covered in, you know,
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baking, the baking soda, baking soda afterwards.
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That's, this was stung me and it hurt like crazy,
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but actually what sort of hurt even more was
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that the very next day was my pictures for my
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baseball team. And I'm telling you, it looked
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like, you know, sometimes baseball players have
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a wad of chew in their mouth. I had the whole
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baseball like on my, in my cheek and it was just
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kinda like. I'm like, that's not what you want.
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That's a degree of shame for a kid who loves
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sports and you're 10 years old. We learn the
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scorn of others even at a young age and we learn
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to lean on the Lord in the unique ways that that
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age invites and the difficulties of those different
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stages. And of course, parenting those stages
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has its challenges. It's amazing how quickly
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parents, and I am speaking of myself in this
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regard, okay, but no doubt probably a lot of
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you will resonate. You go from having opinions
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about like parenting on everything when you have
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one child to then like having your second or
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your third and you're like, I actually don't
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know if I have an opinion about anything because
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I'm pretty sure I've failed at all of it right
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now. Which is to say we have learned how little
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we actually know, right? Because parenting can
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be actually a very humiliating thing. because
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it's such a deep trial. It's so much deeper than
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just a loss of sleep. Think with me a little
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bit about the puberty years. Those can be actually
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pretty exciting years. Your body's growing. There's
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a sense in which you're coming of age, growing
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into womanhood or manhood. And you're becoming,
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as Jess pointed out to us this week, I thought
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this was lovely, like a part of the great sisterhood.
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Part of the great brotherhood. There's something
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exciting about that You're getting stronger I
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remember looking in the mirror in the upstairs
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bathroom and flexing and thinking this is cool
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And yet our bodies don't feel like our own and
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we don't feel really comfortable in them We wonder
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to what people group, what friend group we belong
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to. Who are we? How do I exist outside of mom
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and dad and my siblings as myself? Because I
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know more and more that I'm a unique person and
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I don't know how that functions. So of course
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those years can be really socially deeply trying
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and really difficult friends can scorn you you
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can be made fun of You know for a little peach
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fuzz that starts to grow or if you just never
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end up having decent facial hair as some of us
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do Often in the teenage years you're introduced
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to things that can really harm you externally
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and internally sometimes you grab on to those
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because you know, they made you in in the social
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setting that you were in and And again, in those
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kinds of seasons, you learn to lean on the Lord
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through the troubles and the challenges. Of course,
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the end of the high school years, young adulthood
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has its huge challenges. What are you studying
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becomes a question that I used to lead college
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ministry. And I remember talking to people and
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they said, after the first week of being on campus,
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I just wanted to write out a card. that had like
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the four main questions. Where are you from?
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What are you studying? You know, what's your
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major? What are you going to do with it? Because
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it just gets so incessant that you just want
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to go, can you read this? Because you're not
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going to ask me anything else and I don't really
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want to talk to you. And they can be such fear
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inducing questions because so often you don't
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really know. I've heard it said that the years
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from 18 to 25 can be some of the most difficult
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years you experience. And I don't know that there
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are years that are not difficult to be frank.
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I think that's part of what David is even saying.
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But those years can be very trying. You're still,
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you're wondering, what do I do? Do I go to the
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trade school? Do I go work this job that's been
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offered to me? Do I go to this school? If I go
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to the school, what does this mean? Here, here,
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here. They're certainly very difficult. Where
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do you belong? Dating can be unbelievably hard.
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and unbelievably sorrowful. We learn again to
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lean on the Lord. We learn to lean on the Lord
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in our singleness. We learn to lean on the Lord
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in our dating or not, because some of us are
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not called to that kind of life. We learn to
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lean on the Lord in our sexual pain and our sexual
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sin and our sexual history. We learn to lean
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on the Lord in our new jobs or our lost jobs
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or our searching for jobs. or our heart emptying
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jobs, which many of us have at least from time
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to time. We learned to lean on the Lord with
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our roommates that won't do the dishes or that
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don't pay rent. Or as one of the roommates that
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I had once just ghosted us. And all of a sudden
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all of our rent went up because he just decided
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he didn't want to live with us anymore. And that
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was it. It was actually a pastor's kid in my
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own presbytery at the time. What's going on?
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We learned to lean on the Lord when we venture
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out from our mom and dad's house for the first
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time, or for the second time, or for the third
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time. We just moved down to the basement. We
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learned to lean on the Lord in our young marriages
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where we have no idea how our spouse ever made
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it out of the third grade, or how we thought
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that we were mature enough to say yes. We learn
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to lean on the Lord through divorces and through
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infidelity, through angry words thrown at you
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late at night, sometimes punches through doors,
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sometimes through forgiveness and healing. We
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learn to lean on the Lord when we are sitting
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with our children crying with them because they
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didn't make the basketball team because their
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friend Just said one of the meanest and cruelest
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things We learn to lean on the Lord when we're
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sitting with our teenager because We just said
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one of the meanest and cruelest things We learn
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to lean on the Lord when they move out when they
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head off to college or decide to take a job or
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to move states We learn to lean on the Lord when
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we outlive our children because of that car accident,
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because of that overdose. We learn to lean on
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the Lord when our parents start to show the signs
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of aging and not just skin spots. We learn to
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lean on the Lord when the diagnosis comes back
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and the cancer comes and the stroke happens,
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when the degenerative disease persists as they
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do. I'm heading back to Washington in two weeks.
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And I'm going to a friend's wedding. And you
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all heard me say this a few years ago. One of
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my mom's best friend, she died a few years ago
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and she had Alzheimer's for the last 12 years
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of her life. And her husband's one of my dad's
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best friends and he's getting remarried. And
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I mean, you wouldn't believe the hair loss at
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his wife's funeral. kind of like mangy hair loss
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and how skinny he was and how much he had loved
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his wife and cared for her through unbelievably
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difficult years. And when his youngest daughter
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was little, she's one of my younger, my youngest
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sister's best friend, they were over at our house
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and they riding bikes. They rode to the end of
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our gravel road. Because there's like a few houses
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that are on this gravel driveway and there's
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this little hill that goes down and little Chelsea
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Rode her bike down that hill and got hit with
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a car And it ran over her and she spent the next
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four months in the intensive care unit at Harborview
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in Seattle She's actually doing them remarkably.
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Well, but we know none of us knew if she's gonna
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live You learn to lean on the Lord in that Praise
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the Lord. She's doing well now. She's gonna walk
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her dad down the aisle Some of you have sold
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houses and they were the ones you raised your
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kids in. And the ones you hoped you would die
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in. And the ones you hoped your kids would buy
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the house next door to, right? Maybe it was also
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the house though that your husband got so angry
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in. Maybe it was the house that you dreamed of.
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Maybe it was the house that you came to fear.
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You've learned to lean on the Lord in the nursing
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home and the assisted living facility. Maybe
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you learned to lean on the Lord when your husband
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or your wife learned to change you and your diapers,
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help you go to the bathroom. We learn to lean
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on the Lord, what I'm saying, through every stage
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of life, because every stage of life has its
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unbelievable burdens and trials and hardships.
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And there is no stage that is exempt from this.
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I mean, this Psalm speaks of enemies multiple
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times, but think of verse 10, speaks of cruel
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man. All right, verse four, speaks of shame in
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verse one, speaks of accusers in verse 13, speaks
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of the wicked in verse four. And of course the
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list goes on, because that is this life. Verse
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10 and 11. For my enemies speak concerning me
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those who watch for my life consult together
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and say What actually maybe people say have said
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about you right like God's forsaken him that's
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forsaken her Pursue and seize him pursue and
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seize her There's none. There's none to deliver
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him hurt. There's nobody that really cares about
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you It seems as if at each stage of life, there
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are reasons that we can say that we have enemies
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and there are reasons why we hear these words,
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God's forsaken them. And sometimes actually,
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I would say often, it's actually our own selves,
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right? We're the accusers, we're the cruel men,
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cruel women. We are the ones who are saying these
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kinds of things to ourselves. Think about this
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Paul writing in Romans 7. He says this, so I
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find it to be a law that when I want to do right,
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evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the
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law of God in my inner being, but I see in my
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members another law waging war against the law
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in my mind and making me captive to the law of
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sin that dwells in my members, wretched man that
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I am. who will deliver me from this body of death."
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He says, I'm part of the very problem. And I
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bet you know that experience, because we can
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say that at just about every stage of our lives
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too. And yet, and this is the truth, okay, this
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is one of the great things that I think commends
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the scriptures to you. If you're not a Christian,
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if you're kind of exploring, or let me say this,
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if you are a Christian, I think one of the things
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that commends the Bible to us the most is how
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honest it is. David's never like, ah, things
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are just peachy keen all the time. Put on your
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rose -colored glasses. No, but for as much as
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he's willing to be always honest about the challenges
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of life, he also says, I have learned the faithfulness
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of God. He's learned the faithfulness of the
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Lord. Turn with me again to the inside cover
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of your bulletin. Michael Gorman in a phenomenal
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book called cruciformity says the sufferings
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of Paul are not interruptions to his mission,
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but are intrinsic to it Through them the message
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of Christ crucified is embodied David does not
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shirk away from it, but he says that through
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these trials. He's learned the faithfulness of
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God. He's learned to lean on the Lord So Paul
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after those words that I just read in Romans
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7 he says this Thanks be to God through Jesus
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Christ our Lord Not shrugging off the enemies
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and the accusers which are often ourselves Naming
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those but naming the faithfulness of God for
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us in Christ And so David says a little bit like
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this if you look down at verse 17, he says this
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read that whole section. Oh God, from my youth
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you've taught me and I still proclaim your wondrous
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deeds. So even in old age and gray hairs, oh
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God, do not forsake me until I proclaim your
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might to another generation, your power to all
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those to come. Your righteousness, oh God, reaches
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to the high heavens. You who have done great
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things with God, who's like you? You who have
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made me see many troubles and calamities will
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revive me again from the depths of the earth.
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You will bring me up again. You will increase
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my greatness and comfort me again. See, I've
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learned to lean on the Lord and He has not failed
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me. The trials and the troubles of David's life,
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they shape the context of his fidelity to God,
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but more than anything they show him God's fidelity,
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God's faithfulness to Him. And the same thing
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is true for you and for me. Various trials and
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the troubles that we go through in the various
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seasons of our life. All right, I wanna wrap
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this up, but I wanna encourage you with a few
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things first, okay? And then I'm gonna give a
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little historical ending, okay? I wanna encourage
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you with a few things. One, I wanna encourage
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you to embrace each season of life, okay? There
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are seasons that we go through where it is very
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easy to live into nostalgia. Ah, the glory days
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of being a dink, double income, no kids, or whatever.
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Oh man, I was the star football player. We've
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all heard about that guy. There are seasons of
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our life where it's so easy to say, back then,
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if only I was living then. There are also seasons
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of our life where all we want to do is look ahead,
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look to the next thing. How much of life seems
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to be lived towards retirement or something.
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I want to encourage you to embrace the season
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in which God has you. as much as you are able,
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embrace where God has you now. With its trials
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and tribulations, its troubles, the Lord is with
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you and He's teaching you something unique. He's
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giving you certain joys and certain difficulties.
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They are always there with you. And yet embrace
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where He has you now. Okay, that's one thing.
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I wanna encourage you in another way. And that
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is actually, in some ways I want you to look
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around. Like really literally, look around right
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now. Very few heads are turning, so I'm just
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gonna wait. Okay, just looking around a little
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bit. I want you to embrace, I want to encourage
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you to embrace the beauty of a multi -generational
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church. Sadly, it is true that many, many churches
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are divided up in all kinds of ways. Churches
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loved, we are the church that does rock and roll,
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we use the organ or whatever it is. We divide
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over all kinds of things. It's still the case
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that Sunday, morning is the most racially divided
-
hours. Absolutely true. One of the great ways
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that we divide is over age. You know, we're the
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young church. Look at all the programs we have
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for kids or, you know, we're older church, whatever.
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But we need one another and we need one another
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in each stage of our lives. I think there's a
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unique need in a way to see the next stage beyond
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you following Jesus. So, you know, people that
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may be my age, we need to see couples who have
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fought for their marriages, like put in work
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and done something, made something beautiful
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because it is unbelievably difficult at times.
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And you're holding onto Jesus through the challenges
-
that your marriage presents to itself. Teenagers,
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need to see young adults who have said, you know
-
what? I know the challenges of that stage and
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you can follow Jesus after it and you can do
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it with joy. I need to see the faithfulness of
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you empty nesters. I already, I feel like I'm
-
going to cry. I dread when my kids are going
-
to leave my house. I can't believe I'm talking
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about that right now. We need you, right? We
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need people that have gone through that stage
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and are holding fast to Jesus and Jesus has been
-
faithful to them. Our retirees need to see our
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elderly folk who are holding fast to Jesus in
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their older age, okay? Each one of us gives a
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gift to the other and we need one another. We
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need to embrace the beauty of this kind of life
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together. Okay. Sorry. I did not think I would
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stir up like that a little bit. Sorry. I'm going
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to go three, okay? I want to encourage you to
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learn to speak of and praise the Lord in the
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stage He's put you in, okay? I know this is kind
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of like the first one, like embrace where you
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are. But here's what, here, I want to, this is
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a little bit different because you senior saints,
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you who have been following Jesus a long time,
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I think you should be seeking to articulate the
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faith in a deeper and richer way, as David's
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able to do, than younger folk. Children, I want
-
you to be thinking about this. And sometimes
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I get to see this because we do interviews for
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community and stuff, but... I want you to learn,
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what does it mean for me to profess and speak
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about Jesus and praise Jesus as a nine -year
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-old or as an eight -year -old or as a 13 -year
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-old? You know what I mean? What does it mean
-
for me? I'm 43 and how do I speak about the Christian
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faith and how do I sink deep down more my feet
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and become more rooted in what God has taught
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me through the years? I want each of us to say,
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how can I embrace this reality of God with me
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now and how can I learn to articulate it to others?
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All right, let me end. In February, in the year
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155, there was an 86 year old man who was taken,
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actually he had supposedly spent, he knew people
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were coming for him and he had spent this time
-
in prayer. And he'd been praying for all these
-
churches and these people that he knew and old
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and young alike, it said actually. But he was
-
taken and he was marched. through his town and
-
to the stadium there. And he was actually put
-
to death by fire and by the sword. This man's
-
name is Polycarp. Some of you know his name.
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He was arrested because he wouldn't burn incense
-
to Caesar. Caesar was like a god. He could do
-
whatever he wanted. And the Christians, they
-
were called atheists because they only believed
-
in one true God and they denied all the pantheon
-
of gods. And so Christians were said, they had
-
to come and they had to declare Caesar's Lord.
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Caesar's Lord. But he would not do this. He had
-
learned over the years to lean on the Lord and
-
he was going to do so until the end. And so he
-
was arrested. He was brought to that stadium.
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And as he entered the stadium, the account of
-
his martyrdom says that a voice from heaven came
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down. At least people looked around. They had
-
no idea where this voice came from. He said,
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be strong, Polycarp. Be the man. And then it
-
goes on, and I want to read to you a little bit.
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When he was finally brought forward, there was
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a huge uproar when they heard that Polycarp had
-
been arrested. After he was brought forward,
-
the procounsel asked whether he was Polycarp.
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When he confessed that he was, the procounsel
-
tried to persuade him to recant saying, have
-
respect for your age. Come on, you don't need
-
to be a martyr at your old age. And all the other
-
things they usually say, swear by the genius
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of Caesar, turn away, say away with the atheists,
-
meaning the Christians. Polycarp looked solemnly
-
at the whole crowd of lawless heathen who were
-
in the stadium, motioned toward them with his
-
hand, then groaned as he looked toward heaven
-
and said, away with the atheists. But the procounsel
-
was insistent and said, swear the oath and I
-
will let you go. Revile Christ. Polycarp replied,
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86 years I've served him. From his womb, from
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his birth. 86 years I have served him and he
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has never wronged me. How can I have blasphemed
-
my King who saved me? It's not that Polycarp
-
had an easy life. We actually know he was born
-
into slavery. He was adopted as a young child
-
by a single woman who taught him the Scriptures.
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We also learned that he learned from the Apostle
-
John himself about the great love of God and
-
Christ. And that upbringing, that tutoring, that
-
mentoring from an older, wiser person changed
-
his life. What I'm saying is, may we, may all
-
of us fight the good fight, finish the race,
-
keep the faith. And when we are old and all of
-
our hairs are gray, when our body is failing,
-
would we also proclaim, He's never wronged me.
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Great is the faithfulness of the Lord. Let me
-
pray. Lord, so grateful for polycarp and for
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John. God, I'm thankful for Mary and Ross coming
-
to Sunday school this morning. Four generations
-
in a room, opening up the Bible. God, I'm thankful
-
for Linda, loving people that come for English
-
classes, little children. Got them thankful for
-
Peter who plays with Will and August and all
-
the others. Got them thankful for the names.
-
that surround us in this space. People who have
-
given time and money to build this sanctuary,
-
to love us. Generations later who they didn't
-
know. God, most of all we're thankful for your
-
love for us in Christ. The great love of God
-
for us. coming among us as one of us, dying,
-
rising, giving new life, giving us the sure promise
-
that the trials and tribulations of this life
-
are not the end of the story. But you will be
-
faithful and bring us through the resurrection,
-
new heavens, new earth, no more crying or tears
-
or pain, no more cruel men, no more accusers,
-
no more shame. They will be the old things that
-
have passed away and you will make all things
-
new. We love you, Lord. We thank you for your
-
great faithfulness in Jesus. In whose name we
-
pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to Second
-
City Sermons podcast. We hope this sermon has
-
encouraged you to worship God and to celebrate
-
the gospel of Jesus. Please consider subscribing
-
to this podcast and joining us in person each
-
Sunday at 10 a .m. You can find us online at
-
secondcitychurch .org and on Instagram, Facebook,
-
and YouTube. Thanks again for listening. God
-
bless.