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At this moment, we're going to have
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our sermon that's kind of based
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a bit around the catechism
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off of the 1689 London Confession.
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It is for our children and
for our young people,
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but we have heard a lot from our adults
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saying I think I
understand a lot of things
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through these sermons that
I've never understood before.
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Before we get there,
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again, I want to teach you.
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You're probably right now,
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if you were singing with all your heart
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right now - this song -
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you're reeling.
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Your head is so full
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and I hope your heart is
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that you're literally almost,
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wow, I don't know if I can take anymore.
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What is that?
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You could sing choruses,
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and there are some wonderful choruses -
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we're not against choruses -
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but you could sing some choruses
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that are out there
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for an hour and a half
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and they would not wear out your mind.
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Why? They're really not saying anything.
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My mother used to call it 7/11 music.
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You sing 7 words 11 times.
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And here, what were you doing?
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It was almost like when you're
reading Scripture, isn't it?
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I mean, it's like drinking
out of a fire hydrant.
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There's so much truth.
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Now, here's something
that I want you to see.
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We do live in a certain culture.
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And it's important to recognize that.
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At the same time, we must not succumb
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to our culture.
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At the risk of offending you,
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I want you to know we are
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something of a superficial
and frivolous people.
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And we like superficial
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and sometimes trivial things.
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But I think it's the
responsibility of the church
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to help us turn from that.
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It's not that we should always sing a song
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with this much in it.
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My mind can't handle it.
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And again, I do love many
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of the beautiful choruses
that are written today.
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We need to learn to sing them.
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But what I want you to see
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is that worship should be substantial.
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It is didactic.
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That means it is a means of teaching.
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The purpose of worship
according to Ephesians
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and Colossians - one of the purposes -
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is to teach or communicate truth.
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Do you see that?
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Well, there was a lot of truth here.
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And one last thing about worship.
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Isn't it amazing -
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and there's nothing wrong with instruments
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and beautiful music;
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I can really rejoice in that -
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but isn't it amazing
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that if we had come in here today
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with a lot of beautiful instruments,
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with a beautiful rhythm and sound
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and all sorts of things,
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maybe some of you would have been filled
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with a lot of emotion and passion.
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Now, there's not necessarily
anything wrong with that,
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but here's what I want you to recognize.
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We want emotion and we want passion,
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and it can come through instruments.
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That's fine.
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But first of all, I want
you to learn something.
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If the emotion and the passion
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does not come through
the magnificent truth
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that you're hearing,
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something's wrong.
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Now, I don't want to throw the baby out
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with the bathwater,
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and I don't want to reject
one in favor of the other,
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but I think we need to
mature in this, don't we.
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We truly do need to mature.
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Now, if any of you need something
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of what we call the family catechism,
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just raise your hand. Anybody?
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Okay, there's one back there.
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Could you take that over there for us?
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Here's a young man here
who also needs one.
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We've been studying a very
important question,
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and it is this:
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What is the chief end of man?
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Okay, listen to me all you
youngsters out there.
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What is the reason why you were made?
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That's very important.
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Why did God make you?
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Remember the story I told you?
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If you walk up and you see a man
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standing out on the sidewalk in the rain
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and you ask him,
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"Sir, why are you standing
here in the rain?"
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And he looks at you and says,
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"Well, it's because...
well, I work out here.
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I watch the traffic.
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I do things for the government."
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You'd go, "Okay, well, I
can understand then
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why you are standing
out here in the rain."
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But if you walk up to
that person and say,
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"Sir, why are you
standing in the rain?"
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And he says, "I don't know."
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You walk away thinking
that man's not very smart.
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Well, do you know if you
walk up to most people,
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even people who are very driven,
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they go to the university,
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they work at jobs very hard,
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but if you ask them, "why are you alive?"
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do you realize that most people would say,
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"I really don't know."
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Well, why are we alive?
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We are alive for the glory of God.
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Now, I want to explain just really quickly
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what we're talking about.
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It's this.
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We live for His purposes and for His joy;
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for His good pleasure.
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We live in a sense -
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now this sounds kind
of childish, but that's okay,
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we live to make Him happy.
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And you know what?
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When we do that, we're happy.
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Do you know why?
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Because He teaches us how to live
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in a way that glorifies Him,
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but it's also a way that brings
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the most pleasure to us.
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Now another thing that I want you to see
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is how can we develop this attitude
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of wanting to live for God?
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There's only one way.
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That is to know more about Him.
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Have you ever seen maybe
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a little boy or a little girl
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and you thought to yourself,
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man, I want to be their friend?
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But then you got to know them,
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and you thought to yourself,
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I don't want to be their friend.
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I mean, they're not very nice.
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They're very selfish. They're ugly.
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They're mean.
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And so you walk away from them.
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But then there's other little children,
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maybe a boy or a girl,
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and you walk up to them
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and you think I would
really like to know them.
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And then you get to know them
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and they're wonderful!
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And so you say to yourself,
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I would like to get to know them more.
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I would like to be with them more.
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And the more you know about them,
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the more you like them,
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the more you want to be with them,
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the more you want to do things with them.
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I know you've experienced this before.
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That's the same way.
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I know we use all these big words,
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but that's the same
thing we're talking about
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when we talk about God.
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You see, the more you know Him
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through His Word;
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the more you know Him
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through just walking with Him
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and seeing what He does,
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the more you'll want to be with Him
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if He's changed your heart.
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If He's changed your heart
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and you truly are a Christian,
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then the more you hear about Him,
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the more you want to be with Him
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and the more you want to serve Him.
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Now what are the proper ways;
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how should we live before God?
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Well, first of all, we've already studied
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that God deserves our love.
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We should love Him.
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And love has to do with emotions.
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Don't let anybody kid you.
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It has to do with just, oh, I love Him!
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You get up in the morning and you say,
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I love Him.
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But you need to understand
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that the emotions are not always there.
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Sometimes you get up in the morning
and your heart's kind of dull.
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But still, you can show your love for Him
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by doing what? By keeping
His commandments.
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By doing what He says.
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Some of you young guys out there,
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you boys, you're fighters.
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You like to fight.
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I know my two boys -
they just love to fight.
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Well, why don't you fight?
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Fight to love God.
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You get up in the morning and you say
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you know I really don't
feel like I love God,
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but I'm going to fight.
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I'm going to get into His Word.
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I'm going to study.
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I'm going to obey His commandments.
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I'm going to fight.
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Now, another thing is that
God deserves our respect.
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Listen, young children,
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you do not treat adults
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like you treat each other.
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You should respect each other,
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but when adults walk into the room,
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you do not talk to an adult
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like you would talk to
one of your little friends.
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You show them respect.
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One of the good things that you can do
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is when an adult walks in the room
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and you're playing with a friend of yours,
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you should stop playing
and look at that adult.
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And ask them maybe,
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how can I help you?
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It might even be good to stand up
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and say, "Sir, can I help you?"
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You want to treat adults
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and especially your parents with respect.
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But if that's the case,
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then how much more should you respect God
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and honor God.
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Do you see that?
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We don't tell jokes here about God.
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We don't giggle and laugh about God
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in an irreverent way.
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When we talk about God,
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we have a seriousness - a joy -
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but a seriousness, why?
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We're talking about the One
Who sent His Son to die for us!
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We must show Him respect. We must.
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So, we also reverence Him,
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but also we worship Him.
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You realize what I've
been telling your parents?
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He deserves our worship.
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We ought to worship Him.
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We ought to be worshiping all the time.
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And one of the reasons
why you have trouble
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worshiping on Sunday morning
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is because you don't worship
throughout the week.
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You don't need to be with
someone else to worship God.
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You just worship Him!
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Just worship Him.
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Okay, and then also He deserves
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our gratitude and our thanksgiving.
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Brother Shannon was moved in his heart
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because he was thinking about,
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my, look at what I deserve!
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I don't deserve anything good.
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I deserve to go to hell.
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I fail all the time.
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But look at what God's done for me!
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He's died for me.
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He sent His Son for me.
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Oh my, I must have gratitude.
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I must have thanksgiving.
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If God didn't give you any other blessing
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the rest of your life,
you should still worship Him
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because He's given us His Son.
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His Son!
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Now, it goes on, He deserves our trust.
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Our trust.
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(incomplete thought)
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Elijah, let's say I walk up to you
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and I say, "Elijah, if you mow my yard,
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I'm going to pay you ten dollars."
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And then you go, "Okay."
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But then you don't mow my yard.
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And I say, "Elijah, why
didn't you mow my yard?
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I promised to give you ten dollars."
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And you said, "Well, I really
didn't think I could trust you.
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I was thinking, well, I'll mow his yard,
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but he won't pay me ten dollars."
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Do you realize how
offensive that is to me?
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He's saying I'm a liar.
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He's saying that I'm not trustworthy.
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He's saying I won't do what I say.
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Do you see? That's offensive.
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That hurt me when he said that about me.
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He doesn't trust me.
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Alright, I want you to
look at faith that way.
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God says He will do these things.
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He says if you believe in His Son,
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He will give you eternal life.
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Do you see that? He will!
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He said you call upon
the name of the Lord,
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He will save you.
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The ones who trust in Him
will not be disappointed.
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You see, He's got all these promises,
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but when you don't believe it,
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what you're saying is: God's a liar.
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God doesn't tell the truth.
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I want to tell you something.
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I can stand here as an
older man with Joshua
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and so many other people
down through history
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and many of the adults here,
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and I can testify to you,
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not one word God has ever
spoken has ever failed.
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He's fulfilled every promise.
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How many parents here today
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can raise their hand and say
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God's Word has never failed me one time?
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Keep your hands up.
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Just the parents.
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Now children, you too, all the adults,
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I want you to raise your hands.
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Now children, look around.
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Look at all these people
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who have lived a long,
long, long, long time.
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And they say God has
never failed them one time.
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Now put your hands down.
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Do you see that?
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He's never failed, so
we ought to trust Him.
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And then, finally, to close this out.
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He deserves our obedience.
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Jesus talked one time about one son.
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His father came up to him and said,
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"son, do this."
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And he said, "I will do it."
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And then he walked away and didn't do it.
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But another son, he walked up to him
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and said, "son, do this,"
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and the son said,
"no, I'm not going to do it."
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But then the son was
convicted in his heart.
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He realized in his heart he was wrong
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and he went ahead and did it.
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You can talk, talk, talk, talk, talk.
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Listen to me, kids.
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You can talk, talk, talk, talk...
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The world is full of talkers.
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Even in Pilgrim's Progress
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which I hope you all will
read with your parents,
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there's Talkative.
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He just talks and talks and talks
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about how obedient he ought to be
-
and this and that,
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but he never obeys.
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Don't be that way.
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Remember what we read in James?
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Don't talk too much.
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Just obey His commandments.
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Alright. I hope this has
been a blessing to you.
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And I pray - I pray
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that you will come to believe in Jesus.
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And I beg you, children, I beg you,
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listen to me.
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If you're sitting there
and you're thinking
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I don't know if I'm saved,
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go to your parents.
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And parents if they come to you
and they don't have questions,
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come to me.
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Come to somebody here.
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Alright? Little children, listen to me.
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If you want to be saved, you can be saved.
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You can.
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Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and you'll be saved.
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And little children, realize this,
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this is the most important thing.
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There's nothing more important.
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There's nothing more important
-
than believing in Jesus.
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There's not.
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Alright, let me pray.
-
Father, I pray for everyone
who's heard this,
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oh God, that by the Spirit of God,
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they would be converted;
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that their sins would be made known
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and they would see everything clearly
-
as it truly is
-
and that they would trust in Christ;
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that they would seek the Lord
-
until You let them find You, Lord.
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Lord, I praise You that no one
comes to You and is cast out;
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that no one truly seeks
You that will not find You.
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Oh Father, bless this service.
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Bless Your people.
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In Jesus' name, Amen.
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Please visit our website
-
at heartcrymissionary.com.
-
There you will find information
-
about the ministry, our purpose,
-
beliefs, and methodologies,
-
and extensive information
-
about the missionaries we
are privileged to serve.