Sermon
Prophecy & the Power of God’s Guidance | Isaiah 7:1-25
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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You're listening to the Bible Guys, a podcast where a
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couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in
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practical ways.
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Hey, everybody, welcome to the Bible Guys.
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Today is Thursday, all right, and we are thrilled that
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you're here today.
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Everybody's second favorite day. That begins to tea.
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Oh wow, that was the thing that was rough, you.
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Think, Hey, actually I'd like Thursdays better than Tuesdays.
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I do.
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Okay, Well, there's the difference between the tourists.
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You like Tuesdays better.
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Yeah, because Thursday is not Friday.
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Yeah, well, Thursdays leading up to Friday.
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I know.
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So it's it's more exciting than Tuesday.
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But Tuesday you're not in Monday anymore. Dude, It's so
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much better.
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This is a this is.
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A anyways, let's.
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Go very subjective conversation for certain So, hey, speaking of
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our subjective opinion, Yes, today is one of your favorite
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segments called would you rather yes?
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Would you rather yes?
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And this is very subjective as well. Yes, So, Chris,
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would you rather relive your childhood with the knowledge you
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have now or relive your childhood without any recollection of
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the present? What you just go back and relive your
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real live, go back and relive your childhood? What kind
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of options without any of the advantage of having lived? Now?
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What kind of option is that?
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It's It's like, hey, would you rather go back and
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do something extremely cool with a bunch of really great
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knowledge or would you rather go back and I have
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exactly the same outcome with no control and no knowledge whatsoever?
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Okay, obviously I want to have knowledge.
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Okay, all right, Well that was just the question. Hey,
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I'm okay, you're.
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Christ on Thursday. What kind of questions?
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Okay, okay, of course you want to have the knowledge?
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Would you rather do I'd rather have a knowledge too, Yeah, okay,
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Well hey for number two?
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Number two?
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Yeah? Oh you want me to do it?
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Yeah? Go ahead.
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Would you rather be forced to listen to the Barney
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theme song for twenty four hours straight or someone slurp
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soup for twenty four hours straight?
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Oh, there's no question for me. I've already listened to
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the Barney's theme song for twenty four hours straight. Yeah,
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most of my daughter's childhood, so I can handle that,
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you can hear that.
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But slurping of soup.
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I'm the opposite. I would totally choose slurping the soup.
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What yeah, because the Barney theme song is a brain worm.
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It's an earworm. Oh, it gets stuck in your head.
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You'll be thinking of it for weeks after that twenty
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four hour window, whereas you won't.
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Be thinking, great big hug and it gets can you
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see you?
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Okay? You see? Would you rather have to use let's go,
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Would you rather have to use shrimp flavored toothpaste or
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deodorant that smells like cheese?
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Oh my goodness, now I respect this question like this,
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I respect it. I don't like it, I respect it.
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What would I rather do?
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I think I'd have to put up with the shrimp
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flavored toothpaste because.
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It's it's here and then it's gone.
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Right, it doesn't know it's there for everybody else? What
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is there? Everybody else is gonna smell it?
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No, because it doesn't say that you can't wash your
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mouth out with lestren afterwards.
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Oh, it doesn't say that you're right.
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But the U.
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But the deorderan that smells like cheese, it'd be hard
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to get rid of that.
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Dude, I would choose the cheese. I would because I
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hate shrimp right.
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Now, Oh, you're just anti shrimp.
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I haven't always been a shrimp hater, but I am
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right now because the last time I had it, I
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got terrible sick. Remember that was like two years ago.
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I know, I can't. I can't even be around the
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smell of it right now. It turns my stomach.
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It's literally two years later.
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Yeah, yeah, it was a year later. It was last year.
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Come on, it was this time last year.
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I got sick in the Dominican Republic on shrimp.
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Yeah, well you should learn something from it, Chris.
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I've eaten shrimp three three times since then.
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Okay, not me, not me. I just can't get past it.
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Yeah.
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My least favorite thing in the world is to be
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sick to my stomach. Yeah, I got you. Would you
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rather have a free subscription to Netflix or free pizza
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supply for the rest of your life? I think both
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of these are supposed to be for the rest of
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your life, I would assume. So, yeah, that's a no brainer.
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That's uh, yeah, you're going to say pizza pizza. It's
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a better value, right, it's it's a better value. Yeah,
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because how much is Netflix.
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I don't really care about Netflix. I don't care.
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Oh I see, I see, so it's all about what
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you're getting there.
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Yeah, I really care a lot about people.
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Okay, that's hilarious.
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Would you rather always have a mullet haircut or a
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ponytail haircut? Ponytail like a biker kind of a ponytail. Yeah,
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especially now you're getting a little bit of gray in
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your hair. That's kind of cool looking.
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Well, I think ponytails are more acceptable than mullets. You
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think so, I mean, yeah, mullets are like when you
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see somebody of the mullet, you're like, there's a mullet.
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Phone, take out your phone and filmed, because a holy cow, that's.
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A mull that's an actual mullet, right, But ponytails are like, oh,
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he's still wearing.
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A pony Did you see that guy at the NFL
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Combine with that incredible mullet? No, well it made them,
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It made like ESPN the mullet itself, not not his performance.
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He had great, great performance, but that was a mullet.
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Man talking about it gets people's attention. Are you talking
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about the thing that I went to the No? No, no, no,
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the NFL combine this week, this last week, oh.
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This past week? Oh yeah yeah yeah, wow, No, I
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didn't see that.
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College kid had this amazing mullet. It does get people's attention. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
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I think I did say tail. I was gonna say
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mullet really yeah, yeah, yeah. Man, we've been opposite on
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all these days. Yeah, well you've been wrong. You know
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you're allowed to be wrong, Chris.
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Yeah, exactly, that's so funny. Wow.
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By the way, would you rather there is no wrong answer, Jeff,
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because it's would you rather you right?
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Right?
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Subjective? You preference preference you?
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Okay, all right, so wrong.
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By the way, speaking of preferences, I.
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Very much prefer the Book of Isaiah over chronicles or
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Michael that we've been in and I'm really glad we're back,
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okay in the in the Book of Isaiah.
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Well, so you remember there's all these prophets, yeah, that
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are going on. So Micah is during this time. We
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just read about Obed coming and it's correct. It's dead
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O dead? Was it O dead?
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Yes?
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Was it O dead?
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Did I read it wrong? You did?
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Oh dead? You're right?
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By the way, I thought you said Obed twice.
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I did.
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I thought about saying, Jeff, was yesterday? It was yesterday?
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But I thought this perverse satisfaction me being wrong.
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No, no, no, in fact, the opposite is true. Didn't
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say anything. But now when you said today, I'm like,
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I got.
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You can't let it go in three times, three strikes,
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you're out.
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Three strikes, you're out.
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That's a strong position we're taking dead. Oh dead, yes, yeah.
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But anyways, Micah Odeaed, you've got all these guys that
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have clustered together in this this this era, and Isaiah
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being you know, God used him to write just a
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huge prophetic book of so many things. Isaiah's kind of
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the crown jewel of all of these prophets at the time.
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So we're going to kind of inter secked through Isaiah
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quite a bit, I think, as we continue to tell
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the stories of Israel. But it says here in Isaiah
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chapter eight, then the Lord said to me, make a
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large signboard and clearly.
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Write who appointment we're supposed to be in Isaiah seven. Today.
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Oh I'm reading the wrong one. Well, man, I wanted
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to read Isaiah eight. Okay, okay, well this is for
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a has then, yes, this is a message to a
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has I totally. I'm super excited about tomorrow. So listen, people,
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I don't want to I don't want to get away,
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but he's going to use this. He's going to draw
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a sign board.
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Great job promoting tomorrow.
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Yeah, he's going to write a sign board. Okay, it's
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going to be tomorrow, but I can't tell you he's
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gonna write on it today. So in Isaiah seven, it
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says when a Has, son of Jotham and grandson of Issiah,
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was King of Judah, king resident of Syria, and peak
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the son of Remaliah, the King of Israel, set out
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to attack Jerusalem. However, they were unable to carry out
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their plan. The news had come to the royal court
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of Judah Siria's allied with Israel against us. So the
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hearts of the king and people trembled with fear, like
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trees shaking in a storm. Then the Lord said, Isaiah,
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take your son Sheerjaeshab.
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What wow.
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I don't think I ever remember that you nailed it,
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though I know, but I didn't. I didn't realize is saya?
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What were you thinking?
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Sheb yep?
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Okay, and go out and meet King AHAs you will
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find him at the end of the aqueduct that feeds
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water into the upper pool, near the road leading to
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the field where cloth is washed. Tell him to stop worrying.
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Tell him he doesn't need to fear the fierce anger
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of those two burned out embers, King Resin of Syria
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and Picas, son of Roamalaiah. Yes, the kings of Syria
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and Israel plotting against him, saying we will attack Judah
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and capture for ourselves, and then we will install the
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son of Tabil as Judas king. But this is what
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the sovereign Lord says. This invasion will never happen. It
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will never take place, for Syria is no stronger than
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its capital, Damascus, and Damascus is no stronger than its
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king Resin. As for Israel, within sixty five years, it'll
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be crushed and completely destroyed. Israel is no stronger than
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its capital Samaria, and Samaria is no strong Then it's
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King Peka, son of Ramalaiah. Unless your faith is firm
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and cannot make you stand firm. Later, the Lord sent
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this message to King AHAs. Ask the Lord your God
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for a sign of confirmation. A has make it as
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difficult as you want, as high as heaven or as
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deep as the place of the dead. But the king refused. No,
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he said, I will not test the Lord like that.
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Then Isaiah said, listen, listen, well, you royal family, David.
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Isn't it enough to exhaust human patience, Must you exhaust
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the patience of my God as well? All right, then
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the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look, the
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Virgin will conceive a child. She will give birth to
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a son, and will call him Emmanuel, which means God
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is with us. By the time this child is old,
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not to choose what is right and reject what is wrong,
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he'll be eating yogurt and honey. For before the child
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is that old, the lands of the two kings you
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fear so much will both be deserted. Then the Lord
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will bring things on you, your nation and your family,
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unlike anything since Israel broke away from Judah. He will
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bring the king of Assiri upon you. In that day,
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the Lord will whistle for the army of southern Egypt
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and for the army of Assyria, and they will swarm
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around you like flies and bees. And they will come
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in vast hordes and settle in the fertile fields, fertile areas,
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and also in the desolate valleys and caves and thorny places.
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In that day, the Lord will hire a razor from
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beyond the Euphrates River the King of Assyria, and use
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it to shave off everything your land, your crops, and
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your people. In that day, a farm will be fortunate
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to have a cow and two sheep or goats left. Nevertheless,
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there will be enough milk for everyone. Because so few
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people will be left in the land, they will eat
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their fill of yogurt and honey. In that day, the
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lush vineyards, now worth one thousand pieces of silver, will
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become patches of briars and thorns. The entire land will
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become a vast expanse of briars and thorns, and a
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hunting ground overrun by wildlife. No one will go to
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the fertile hillsides where the gardens once grew, for briars
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and thorns will cover them. Cattle, sheep and goats will
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graze there. Oo, boy, talk about a production. Yeah, He's
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gonna send a razor. Isn't that the descriptions that God gives.
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I'm gonna whistle for the army of Southern Egypt, Reggan.
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They're going to come in like flies and bees around you,
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and then I'm going to send you a razor from
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a series just gonna shave your land, take everything from you.
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That's pretty pretty tough.
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Yeah, it is.
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I was reading the footnote where it said the virgin
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will conceive a child and he will give birth to
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a son.
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He would be the name of Emmanuel, which is God
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with us.
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So this footnote that says the virgin is translated from
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a Hebrew word used for an unmarried woman who is
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old enough to be married, one who is sexually mature
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see Genesis twenty four, Actus chapter twobs or Psalm sixty eight,
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Proverbs thirty song Solomon chapter one. Some have compared this
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young woman to Isaiah's young wife and newborn son in
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Isaiah chapter eight. This is not likely because she had
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already had a child, sheer Jasob, and her second child
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was not named Emmanuel. Some believe that Isaiah's first wife
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may have died and that so this is his second wife,
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who's more likely. That the prophecy had a double fulfillment,
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And then it just goes on to talk about that
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a young woman from the house of AHAs who was
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not married would marry and have a son before three
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years passed, one year for pregnancy and two years for
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the child. Old enough to talk, the two invading kings
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would be destroyed. And then number two Matthew one twenty
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three quotes Isaiah seven fourteen to show further fulfillment of
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this prophecy, and a virgin named Mary conceived in bor
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son Emmanuel, which is the Christ.
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So this happens sometimes. It happens in Isaiah, happens in
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a couple of the other prophetic books, Daniel, it happens
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in Revelation. Where there are two meanings to a prophecy.
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Is the early prophecy, right, the direct thing that's being
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talked about. Then there's also this secondary prophecy about the
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end times or about the Messiah or something. So there's two.
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So in this one when it talks about the virgin,
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first off is talking about a young woman that is
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not yet married. And what he's trying to say is
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this is a three year window. She's not yet married,
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she's gonna get probably get married, but certainly get pregnant.
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She's gonna have a baby, so she currently is a virgin.
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Then she's gonna have a baby that's gonna take about
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almost a year, and then that baby is going to
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be able to communicate and sit up and eat yogurt
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and all those kinds of things. It's about a three
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year window. That's what Isaiah is trying to say. Within
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three years, God's gonna whistle for Egypt to come up
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and wipe you out. God's gonna bring the razor of
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a Syria in a shavir land. You are going to
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be overwhelmed within the next three years, which we know
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happens in Ah has his life. So that virgin is
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not talking about a virgin birth. It's talking about a
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young woman who's currently a virgin, will get pregnant, have
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a baby, that baby will be able to communicate. That's
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probably two years or so and those so you got
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about a three year window. But then also it's quoted
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later as in Matthew chapter one, also saying that this
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was a prophetic thing that eventually there'd be a virgin
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birth in it with the Messiah as well. And that's
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the name Emmanuel, which means God with us.
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Right, which is cool.
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Yeah, it's really neat.
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Yeah.
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So sometimes it's confusing when you read a story like
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that and you realize there's two meanings to the same passage,
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But the Bible does that fairly regularly. The Hebrew language
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lends itself to having multiple meanings to the same statement.
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It's why there were so many rabbis. It's why there's
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more written about the writings of God by the rabbis
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than there are the writings of God. Right is they
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all have There's so many ways to play with the
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meanings of words in Hebrew. It's it's it's confusing to
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us who speak English because our words are a little
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bit simpler, like we say love and we meet for
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all kinds of stuff, whereas like in those those Middle
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Eastern languages, they have lots of words. Greek has what
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six language, six words, seven words for love. There's there's
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all these these things for the Israelites. Their Hebrew words,
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the beginning and the ending of a word kind of
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gives a hint as to what it means. Right names
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have very specific prophetic meanings all these things. So think
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about it this way. In David's writings, David says, those
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that love God with all their heart, he will give
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them the desires of their heart. And rabbis understand it
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to mean two things. You love out of all your heart,
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and He will give you what you want. And you
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love God with all your heart, and he'll give you
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the right wants, right right, So he gives you the want,
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he gives you the desire of your heart, and then
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he gives you that desire. So he gave you the desire,
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and then he gives you what you desire. Right right,
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is what that means. That happens a lot in the Bible,
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that there's two meanings to the same statement. And it
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would then translate well for us to understand. This sometimes
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happens with prophecies as well. So he's prophesying in the
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future Jesus, and at the same time, you've got about
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three years and you can get wiped out. Right, it's
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pretty neat. It's a neat thing. It's hard for English
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speakers to understand, but it's it's a pretty amazing, amazing thing.
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And then boy talking about total destruction.
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So yeah, yeah, that's that's great.
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And and so once again a has is uh uh hello, Chris, Yeah, sorry,
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I was actually I was actually I actually got confused.
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Remember how you were talking about chapter eight tomorrow. Yes,
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I started to talk about chapter eight. Oh, you were
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jumping like I was like, wait a minute, that's not
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that's not this week. So so I was gonna have
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to say. Is so a has once again gets this
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uh word from the Lord, and I wonder why he
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actually said I.
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Will not test God like that. Yeah, isn't that interesting?
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Like I wonder if he's saying like, I'm not gonna
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I'm not even gonna play in your God games, or
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or I wonder if he was actually saying like, I'm
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not even touching that with a ten foot poll because
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I don't.
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Want to think about God. I don't want to.
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I don't want to get near God because I know
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it's going to be bad for me because I recognize
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that I've not been good. Like is there is there
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an acknowledgement you think of his wicked ways.
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I think God God has given him an opportunity needed
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to prove, to prove that God exists. I think God
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God doesn't want because yesterday, you know, God says, well,
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at the very beginning of this of this chapter, God says, listen,
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I'm not going to let them wipe you out right
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now right, I'm going to protect you. Don't worry about it.
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It's a weak kingdom, right, Damascus can't win because King
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Resin is so weak, right, and Israel can't win because
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Pica is so weak, right, They're they're only as strong
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as the Kings, and the kings are weak. Don't worry
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about it. I'm going to protect you. And then he says,
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I think God is trying to develop a relationship with
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a Has. That's what I think is happening. This is
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almost like a Solomon moment. You tell me what you
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want and I'll give it to you. And I'm wondering
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if that's not what's happening here. Just on the surface,
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as I read, there might be some theological thing happening
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here that I don't understand, But on the surface, it
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seems like God's saying, what do I need to do
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to prove to you that I'm real? What do I
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need to prove to do to prove to you that
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you do not have to worship the gods of Bail
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and all these other Canaanite gods we have to prove
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And I think a Has is just so hardhearted that
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he couldn't give a rip about the God of the
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universe or the God of Israel. He's already sacrificed his
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sons to Bail, right, so he's pretty in. He's pretty
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committed to this bail worship thing, and he doesn't want
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to play God's games, so he's not I'm not going
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to test the Lord like that. I'm not interested. I
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think it's like I don't want God to prove himself
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to me. I don't care. And that's when God goes
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all right, I'm going to shave you. I'm going to
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shave you, bald. I'm going to shame you like you've
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never been shamed. I'm going to overwhelm you with flies
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and locusts, you know, out of Egypt, talking about Egypt
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coming in and swarming them. It's just he literally kind
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of resurrects the plagues of Egypt and shaves him bald,
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and being shaved bald was a shame, right, that's what
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you do to a slave kind of thing. And it
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seems like it really just it was your it was
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your last chance. A has okay, three years from now
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it's done.
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Yeah, well, i'll tell you what it's It's not just
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like you said a couple of times ago. Would you
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say there's a lot of bad news. Yeah, there's a
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lot of bad news coming for as.
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It's gonna be rough. He's got a rough ride ahead
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of him. I also think the reason why it's three
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years is because it takes a long time in those
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days to assemble an army, build the supply lines all
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the way from Egypt to Jerusalem, all the way from
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Damascus down to Jerusalem. Right, it takes a long time
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to move hundreds of thousands of soldiers. It's not like
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we just put them on jets and fly them over there.
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But you think about it. Even in some of the
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wars that we've seen in our lifetime, it takes months. Hey,
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we're going to invade your country. And then it still
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took us three, four, five, six months to move all
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the equipment in place. And we've got jets, and they've
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got a walk, right, and so they've got to assemble
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the armies. And so I think it wasn't a done deal.
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God wasn't saying this will happen. God's saying, because you
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chose not to play right, I gave you an opportunity
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to find out if I'm real. Because you didn't, it's
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going to take three years to put it together. This
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was not already in the making. This is a result
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of the fact that he rejected his opportunity. That's why
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I think this was a legitimate opportunity for him to
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find out God was real now, because it's going to
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take a long time to assemble those two armies and
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send them down to wipe them out.
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Well, that's great, yeah, okay, that is our time together,
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so we will hopefully see you tomorrow on the Bible
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Gush