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Just this week,
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I received a phone call from a man.
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Professing Christian for a long time.
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Even in the ministry.
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Living in all manner of immorality.
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Do you know what happened?
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A friend of his turned on
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Paul Washer's message -
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I think it's the same one
that was preached here:
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"Examine Yourself"
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Maybe the very same message.
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This man was laid bare,
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and he recognized,
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I don't measure up.
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And do you know what he fears now?
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Is being in the ministry,
having so much light,
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having this false profession for so long,
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living in this immorality.
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You know what he's afraid of now?
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That he's Esau.
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He's afraid he's committed
the unpardonable sin.
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He's afraid he's gone too far
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and there's no way back.
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Now, I'll tell you this -
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I'll tell you what I told him.
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I can't tell you that there is a way back.
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The truth is there is a line in Scripture
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that when men cross it,
there's no way back.
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There is a Hebrews 6 reality.
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There is a place men come to
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that there is no more repentance.
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He told me that his friends and counselors
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had sent him to the Word of God.
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That's good.
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To look at passages that
dealt with the cross.
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I told him that's good.
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But you see what he could tell me:
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"Well, I believe He went to the cross.
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I believe He died.
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I believe everything I'm reading.
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I just don't know if it's for me."
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I told him, "exactly."
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That is exactly the issue.
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I said, "What you need to do
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is you need to find that one verse..."
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that he can sink his faith into;
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that he can say, "That's for me."
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You see, that's where faith is.
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Saving faith isn't saying:
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"I believe Jesus was a
true historical figure."
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It's not saying, "I believe
Jesus went to the cross."
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It's got to be personalized.
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There's got to be something
you can hang on
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that you know is for you,
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because you know what the
devil's going to do to him?
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The devil's already doing it to him.
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He's there whispering in his ear:
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"After what you've done,
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there's no hope for you.
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You are Esau."
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He just keeps hearing that in his ear
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over and over and over.
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You know how you answer that?
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You answer that with the kind of promise
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that resists the devil;
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that the devil simply cannot answer.
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What do you tell him?
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I told him, "You may
have crossed that line."
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But I know this, that if he can find
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any promise in this book
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that he can lay his faith onto,
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he will not be disappointed.
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He will not be confounded.
He will not be cast away.
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Because that's what saving faith is.
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And you know as I was thinking
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after I got off the phone with him,
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I start thinking about,
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what sort of verses are they
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that a man in that condition might find?
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I mean, if he was going through Scripture,
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what might be one verse?
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I'll tell you one that jumped out at me.
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And sometimes they can be obscure verses,
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and sometimes you may think
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that they're not even dealing with
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the very thing that you
take it in faith to mean.
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But if you take it in faith to mean it;
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if you take it in faith
that you're trusting
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the God behind these things...
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I mean, we could just look at that -
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the broadness of some of God's promises.
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I mean, you know what?
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You think about how in Isaiah 53,
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how by His stripes we're healed.
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Does it blow anybody away that Matthew
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basically in Matthew 9 says
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He's healing the people,
thus fulfilling that?
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You're like wait a second,
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I thought that was spiritual
healing back there.
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And Jesus is physically healing.
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We might just talk about the broadness
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of some of God's promises.
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But I got to thinking about this.
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Jesus Himself says,
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"If somebody strikes you on one cheek,
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turn to him the other also."
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If a man could just find hope there.
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I've struck Him in the cheek
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by my actions,
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but He is such a God
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who sends His Son
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who is the radiance of the glory of God,
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and He is the kind that teaches us
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that if we're struck, turn the other also.
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I mean, if He's teaching that to us,
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is He not also a God who takes many blows,
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many dishonorings and yet is still willing
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to turn the other cheek?
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Or, how about this?
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In Joel 2, God says,
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"Yet even now..." Those three words
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could be something that somebody's faith
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could cling to.
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"Yet even now..."
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Wait, what's that?
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"Yet even now, declares the Lord,
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return to Me with all your heart."
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You know when you say that -
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"yet even now" -
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it's after people have done a lot of bad.
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Yet even now after all you've done,
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"if anyone will turn to Me
with all their heart
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with fasting, with weeping, with mourning,
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rend your hearts and not your garments,
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return to the Lord your God,
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for He is gracious and merciful..."
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How about these three words?
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"...slow to anger."
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I mean if a man's faith can get into that.
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God is slow to anger.
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I can put my weight on that promise,
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because I've provoked Him for a long time,
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but He's slow to anger.
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Oh, certainly the God of Scripture
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in all of His infinite mercies,
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certainly I could not
wear out His kindness
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just in these years I've done this.
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Certainly God is greater than that.
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Those words, "yet even now."
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Or how about this?
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God's kindness is meant
to lead to repentance.
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Because one of the things I told him,
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I told him one of the things that tells me
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God is not done with you,
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is He led you to that Paul Washer sermon.
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And He convicted you.
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And you came clean!
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He confessed.
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He confessed to his wife.
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He confessed to his church.
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That is a kindness.
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And what would you say?
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God's kindnesses are not meant
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to lead him to repentance?
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You see, that isn't the indication
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in my estimation of somebody
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that God is done with.
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Or how about this?
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To Sardis - Oh, when I preached
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about those seven churches in Asia Minor,
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Sardis jumped out at me.
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"You have a name
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that you are alive,
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but you are dead."
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This is a church.
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You talk about people exposed to light.
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But, you're dead.
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What did He say? No hope?
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You've crossed the line?
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He doesn't.
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He says, "Wake up."
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You see if our faith can just
grab words like that:
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"Wake up."
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Of course, there's these words.
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John 6:37
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Our Lord says,
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"Whoever comes to Me,
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I will never cast out."
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Whoever!
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It doesn't matter what
you say you've done.
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If you go to Christ,
He won't cast you out.
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Period.
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It's amazing when I come across people
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who are struggling with
the unpardonable sin
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and I bring up this text,
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immediately, "Yeah, but..."
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Look, if you want to find every reason
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not to believe a text,
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that's classic unbeliever.
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And you will perish.
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See, the only hope is
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that our faith can find a place to stay.
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This except was taken
from the full sermon:
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"People of Promise"