WEBVTT

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Could you describe a time in your life

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in which the Lord disciplined you?

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And you look back on that time

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with utter thankfulness for the fruit

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it yielded in your life?

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Mack: Well, the one thing 
that comes to my mind

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is what I kind of alluded to earlier.

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In about 1990,

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the church we were in had a split -

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a big division -

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and I was so discouraged in it.

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I was one of the pastors.

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And I was so discouraged 
in that experience

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that I withdrew.

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I did not take a stand 
of confronting people

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in a right way, in a loving way,

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but still confronting.

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I didn't know what to do.

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I was afraid.

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I had the fear of man,

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so I didn't respond right.

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And it caused me to 
move in discouragement.

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And I didn't realize at the time -

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I honestly didn't -

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but I think for ten years,

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the Lord kind of let that 
wilderness experience -

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I wasn't pastoring.

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We weren't even settled really.

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I worked.

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We had twins come along in 1992.

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And it was a very difficult time,

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because I couldn't 
get any clear direction.

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What does God want of me?

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And it was a refining time

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of loving discipline.

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And I don't fully know 
why it took ten years.

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Maybe it wasn't even ten years,

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but that was a time I was 
truly disciplined by the Lord.

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Discipline is loving correction

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to make us more fruitful.

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It's not punishment, right?

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So, I learned huge lessons

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in retrospect that I should have done this

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as a pastor.

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If I would have done this,

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I would have protected 
those believers more.

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If I had been courageous to say,

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"Brother, I disagree,

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and what you're doing is wrong

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because it's affecting others

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and you're being selfish in this."

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Saying things like that 
when I should have,

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but I didn't have the courage to,

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I learned so much through that

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as a discipline from the Lord.

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And it's borne fruit in my life

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to take a stand when I need to;

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to see truth is on trial here,

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and people are going 
to be affected by this

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if I don't respond in love,

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but still respond,

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so I've got to.

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And that was a big hard discipline,

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but that's the biggest one I can remember

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in my own life.

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Now, for the present,

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discipline is not joyful.

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It's grievous.

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It's hard to go through it.

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But, it's John 15 -

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He disciplines and prunes us

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because we are bearing fruit.

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Then we'll bear more fruit.

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James: So after that season of ten years,

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is that when you ended up back in Denton

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and the church started up again?

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Mack: Well, not the same church,

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but yes, we moved back to Denton in 1998.

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So it wasn't a full ten years,

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but it seemed like an eternity almost.

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So we came back because

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what came to me clearly was

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it was like God had shown me in my heart,

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I left where I was

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out of discouragement without direction

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to go to something positive

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and clear and specific.

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And so, it's always wrong

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to make decisions and choices

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out of discouragement.

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You'll almost always make a mistake.

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It's like marrying on the rebound

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four months later,

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and you realize,

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oh man, what did I do?

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You know people who do that.

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So we came back to Denton in 1998.

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(Incomplete thought)

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I truly had matured

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I honestly feel like.

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And I had been preaching since 1975,

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and now it was '98.

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I honestly believe I was now

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prepared enough to truly preach

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and help somebody.

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I mean, I don't know how to 
say it any more than that.

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My spirit had matured.

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God had developed patience in me.

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He had given me a pastor's heart.

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He let me learn how to view issues

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in a right and wrong way.

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How to give answers about assurance 
of salvation when somebody comes.

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How to help them analyze it.

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He gave me a pastor's heart.

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But if I hadn't been through 
what I'd gone through

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in those years in the 1990's,

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I wouldn't have been near as equipped.

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So I praise God now for the fruit of it.

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I wouldn't want to go through it again.

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It's like open heart surgery.

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Praise God for that surgery!

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Lord, may it never be again.

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But when you can have it,

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you've got to have it to save your life.

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You're thankful for it

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and you're thankful for the surgeon.