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So if you have a Bible, we're going to be in the gospel of Luke looking at this.

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We had left off last time where Jesus had sent his disciples out, and they went everywhere.

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It says in verse 6, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.

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And that seems to have an effect, right?

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Either good or bad.

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I don't know about you, but times when you share the gospel with people and they snarl like a pit bull at you,

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or they many times weep and are overwhelmed with the truth of the gospel.

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And really everything in between.

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Now, what's interesting is Jesus did not just take a seat and kick back when he sent out the disciples and his apostles.

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But in Matthew chapter 11, it says, now it came to pass when Jesus,

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finished commanding his 12 disciples that he departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities.

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You know, I've noticed something in the Christian life.

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It's, we're not entitled to any R&R.

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Right?

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It's those times when we, now, don't misunderstand me, there are times that we need to take a break and be refreshed and all that.

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but to think that you deserve some R&R, I don't know that that's biblical.

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We see David, right, when he thinks he needs to just kick back and not go out when the kings go to war.

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And he kicks back in his cruising around.

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He's restless.

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He's on the top of his house checking things out.

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He's the king so he can kind of see down into bathrooms where women are bathing.

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And we know it was, it has.

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hamstrung him, right? It beat him up. It beat his family up, thinking he was okay with kicking

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back. And I don't think the Lord calls us to kick back, because when you kick back, you get your

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butt kicked. Spiritually speaking. And so Jesus, he just, he joins him. He goes out. And it's getting

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so, it's such a movement that it actually starts to shake.

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the halls of government. Imagine that. Our halls of government have been shaken the last little

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bit, haven't they? Whether it's a National Guard in Portland or all of this administration

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showing up at Charlie Kirk's funeral and proclaiming the gospel, absolutely incredible.

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I mean, I went back and listened to Marco Rubio. The man has a future as an evangelist.

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you know so if secretary of state or whatever he is doesn't work out

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you know rubio's got a great future proclaiming the name of the lord jesus

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because he nailed it and so and this is what happens here

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and we're just going to read three verses this morning out of out of luke nine and it's

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we're going to start in chapter nine verse seven and it says now herod the tetrarch heard

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of all that was done by him and he was perplexed because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead,

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John the Baptist, that is, and by some that Elijah had appeared and by others that one of the old prophets had risen again.

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Herod said, John, I have beheaded, but who is this of whom I hear such things?

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And so he sought to see him. Let's pray. Lord, thank you. Thank you that we.

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we are a people, Lord, who are in great need, Lord.

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And just as we look at this man's life, Lord,

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and even our own lives,

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and looking back and remembering what you've forgiven us of, Lord,

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and it's absolutely overwhelming,

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the grace and the mercy of Almighty God,

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but also as equally as it is overwhelming, Lord.

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it's terrifying that we would stand before you in judgment and justly so and yet you see fit to give us an

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opportunity to come to know you and the power of your resurrection Lord and the the expectation of

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your imminent return and Lord I just pray that today as your people we would live in that place

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of expectancy Lord and urgency and Lord that you would speak to our hearts as we as we look at a few

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verses from your word this morning to just to be encouraged to live another week and walk day in

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and day out with our God and not be ashamed of the king of kings and the Lord of Lord. So may we have

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your name on our lips, Lord. May we be quick to give an answer for those who ask of the hope that

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lies within us and that you would empower us by your spirit to do so. And we pray it in Jesus'

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name. Amen. Amen. So he, it, it,

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The news traveled to the administration of Herod Antipus.

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And R.C. Sproles says this about these three verses.

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He said, this brief interlude that Luke inserted here before his account of the feeding of the

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5,000 calls attention to a significant moment in Jewish history.

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It was so significant that it was recorded not only by the New Testament,

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Testament, but also in the writings of the Jewish historian Josephus, with respect to the death of

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John the Baptist under the order orders of Herod the Tetra. This account comes to us from the

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superintendents and inspiration of God the Holy Spirit and bears the full mark of divine truth and

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authority, which I urge you to receive as such. And so I thought that was quite interesting that

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that Josephus actually

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because really this is one of the most

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grisling

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events that we read about

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in the New Testament is the

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imprisonment in the

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killing of John the Baptist

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and this guy

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he had an issue with John

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and John it's interesting

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John wasn't doing a bunch of miracles

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right he was just

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proclaiming right

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the kingdom of heaven is at hand

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repent, right, repent. You who are guilty. Is anyone in here today not guilty? We're all guilty,

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right? We've all been found guilty in comparison to the word and the law of the God of heaven.

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So this Herod, no doubt, is convicted by the preaching of John that says he was a tetrarch,

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and that in the Roman Empire was a governor of one of the four divisions.

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of a country or province there in the Roman Empire.

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Herod the Great's kingdom was divided into four parts

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after creating the Herodian tetarchy.

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Herod Archilus and had Judea and Samaria and Adyumia,

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and Herod Antipus, that's who we're reading about here,

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received Galilee and Peria.

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And Philip was given the North Eastern territories,

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and Herod's sister Salome was granted the remaining holdings.

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And so they had been given power from Herod the Great.

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You guys remember who he was, right?

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He's the dude that had all the babies killed in Jerusalem.

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Just a murderous dog.

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And so, you know, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

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We inherit sin from our parents.

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It's all our parents' fault, right?

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And so it is amazing how many people, they, to this day, you know, they're in their 30s and 40s.

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It's those old mom and dad's fault.

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They didn't give me that ice cream going when I wanted it.

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That's why I'm this way.

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No, you're that way because you want to be that way, right?

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So repent and come to Jesus and things will be better.

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Now, so this power is divvied up between the offspring of Herod the Great.

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And it's interesting.

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Lord Acton said this, and I think the first time I heard it was from Chuck Colson,

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but power tends to corrupt.

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And absolute power corrupts absolutely, right?

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And that's so true.

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When people come into power and they don't know how to handle it,

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It just pride enters in.

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I remember hearing the story of Edia Mean, we were in Uganda.

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And Ediamin was a high-ranking officer in Uganda.

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But he ascended to become king or president of Uganda.

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And it's interesting, Uganda was just flourishing.

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The Indian people had come, and industry was just booming in Uganda at that time.

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I think it was Churchill that said,

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Uganda is the pearl of Africa, just an incredible, where we were, they got like 50 to 60 inches

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of rain a year. You could throw seeds on the ground and things grow there. It's right on the equator.

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It was brilliant. But Amin went crazy. And he just started killing people. Anyone who would disagree with

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him. He gave the Indian people like nine months, you get out of my country, I'm killing you.

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He just started killing people. It's a, it's, I'm, I.

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I know I preach it and I say all that the depravity of men is just depraved.

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I know that's, I know how profound that sounds, but it's really true.

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And so this power that was given to these guys, obviously it had gone to his head.

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And we don't read it in Luke, but we're going to turn to, so if you have a Bible, turn to Matthew chapter 4.

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14 is where we're going to look and we kind of get the account of what Herod does with John the Baptist.

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And I'm just going to read through it the 12 verses there in Matthew chapter 14.

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And it says, and at the time Herod the Tetrarch heard the report about Jesus and said to his servants, this is John the Baptist.

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He has risen from the dead and therefore these powers are at work in him.

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For Herod had laid hold of John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of

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Herodius, his brother Philip's wife. Well, that's interesting. Because John had said to him,

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it's not lawful for you to have her. And although he wanted to put him to death, he feared the multitude

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because they counted him as a prophet. But when Herod's birthday was celebrated, the daughter of

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Herodius danced before them and pleased Herod. Therefore, he promised with an oath to give her whatever

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she might ask. And so she, having been prompted by her mother, said, give me John the Baptist's head on a

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platter. And the king was sorry, nevertheless, because of the oaths, and because of those who sat with him,

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he commanded it to be given to her. And so he sent and had John beheaded in prison. And his head was

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brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. And then his disciples came,

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and took away the body and buried it and went and told Jesus.

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And so pretty graphic.

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We hear of others being killed, but not quite as gruesomely as this, right?

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In the whole Charlie Kirk saga, they likened his death to that of Stephen, right?

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When they stone Stephen for giving one of the greatest Bible studies probably in the New Testament,

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He goes from Abraham all the way through.

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And an incredible study of the Word of God, and it cost him his life.

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And it's interesting that those who follow Jesus seem to be okay with that.

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And so here we have this king having a really hard time with this guy calling him out on his sin.

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Yeah, people don't like to be called out on their sin.

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I don't even like to be called out of my sin, and I got lots of it.

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But it's necessary, and then what do you do with that?

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See, you're faced with a decision when you're called out for what you do,

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and it says here that Herod was perplexed in verse 7.

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Perplexed.

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Now, I was thinking that that was fear, but when I looked at it in the Greek, it says,

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listen to this, being perplexed, one who,

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goes through the whole list of possible ways and finds no way out, right, and finds no way out.

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How can I cover my sin?

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Well, you can't and get away with it, right?

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Or in this case, he was wanting to shut John the Baptist up when John told him, hey, it's not lawful for you to have your sister, your husband's wife, your sister's, your husband's sisters, how's that, my brothers, they're, yeah,

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one of them women.

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It was his brother Philip's wife that he coerced to leaving.

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And that's adultery.

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That's just gross, right?

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That's wicked.

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The Bible condemns it.

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Scripture condemns it.

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You don't do that.

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And so he goes, okay, well, I'm going to shut this guy up.

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Luke 320.

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We read it when we went through that.

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that he shut John up in prison, like you can shut the word of God up by putting somebody in prison.

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Or you can shut up a movement of young people in America by assassinating somebody.

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Right?

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It's not going to happen.

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In fact, just the opposite happens.

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Have you seen that?

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Have you noticed that?

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Right?

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It's like trying to put a fire out with a five-gallon bucket full of gasoline.

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Right?

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It doesn't work.

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And especially, right, when it comes to the Word of God.

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Because the Word of God grows, Acts 1920 tells us,

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so the Word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.

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Right?

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The Word of the Lord goes right through prison bars.

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Right?

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It can't be shut up.

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And that's what he's trying to do.

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He shut John up in prison.

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And the Word of God is it can't be harnessed, right?

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because it grows.

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And secondly, it runs swiftly.

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Second Thessalonians 3 1 says,

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finally, brethren,

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pray for us that the word of the Lord may run swiftly

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and be glorified just as it is with you.

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Is the word of the Lord a glory to you?

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Do you chew on it on a daily basis?

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Because if you don't, you're missing out, right?

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You're spiritually starving, you're spiritually anemic if you're not reading the word of God on a daily basis.

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Now, some of you might be pointing a finger at me right now saying,

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well, Scotty, we heard about you not reading your word for a couple days.

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Sinner?

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What are you doing talking to us about this?

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Just because, because I'm a sinner too, and I know it don't work.

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And it was all my wife's fault.

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I told you that, right?

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Is that stinking milk cow?

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I told, I come in the bathroom, I says, I haven't read my Bible in two days because I've been milking your cow.

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But it runs swiftly and is glorified.

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You can't contain or you can't keep the word of God in.

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It's going to go out and it's going to do its business, right?

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And it doesn't come back void, right?

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The word of the Lord goes out.

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It will not return to him void.

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It changes your life.

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It comes and goes as it pleases.

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It's powerful and it's sharper than a two-edged sword.

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That might ring a bell to some of you, right?

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That's Hebrews 412.

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It's alive.

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It's active.

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It's sharp.

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It's piercing.

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It's dividing.

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It's discerning.

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The Word of God.

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I just want to go, oh!

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right now.

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That's my Jimmy Swagger

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impersonation.

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Maybe I should choose somebody else.

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Right?

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And it cannot be broken.

237
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The Word of God cannot be broken.

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John 1035, read it and weep.

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That's what it says.

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The scriptures cannot be broken.

241
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And this has,

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Herod has gone to great lengths to cover his sin.

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He's bit off more than he can chew.

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It started with John, and now he's seeing this Jesus,

245
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and no wonder he is perplexed.

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Because this guy's not only speaking the Word of God,

247
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that he's raising the dead, he's healing the lame and the blind.

248
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Proverbs 2813 says,

249
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He who covers his sin will not prosper,

250
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But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.

251
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You want mercy?

252
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That's what I want.

253
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I need mercy.

254
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Right?

255
00:18:48,560 --> 00:18:52,700
I get all hoity tooty sometimes and I see things people do and I think, justice.

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Man, I want justice.

257
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I want justice for everybody but me.

258
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Because me, I want mercy.

259
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Because I know what justice would be.

260
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And if you look at that clearly, right, we don't want total justice for our enemies, right?

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Some of them, like I think it was Abraham Lincoln when a mother came to petition the president for her son who had committed a capital crime.

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And she asked President Lincoln to pardon him.

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he says ma'am i can't do that i wish i could because he does need a little bit of killing

264
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right he does need a little bit of killing i think we all deserve a little bit of killing

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but that ultimate justice that would ascend us into the abyss and separated from god

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00:19:58,860 --> 00:20:03,700
forever i don't think that we're even our worst enemy we should desire that for

267
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Proverbs 1221 says,

268
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Be sure of this, the wicked will not go unpunished.

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They're not going to go unpunished.

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We see people doing all kinds of wild things in the world.

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And sometimes it appears that they're getting away with it.

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They're getting away with nothing.

273
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Right?

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Because the Bible says that everything in our life,

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and that's in that Hebrew's passage in chapter four,

276
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Right. Everything in our life is open, open and naked before the one to whom we must give an account.

277
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And this Herod is obviously ignorant of that.

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Now, it's interesting. He didn't want to kill John because he feared the people, right?

279
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He wanted to maintain a popularity.

280
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But it didn't seem to be the case with Herodius.

281
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She wanted to kill him.

282
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Does this couple remind you of a couple in the Old Testament?

283
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Just saying, right?

284
00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:11,440
Jezzie and Ahab.

285
00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:14,380
Jezebel and Ahad.

286
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That very wicked woman who wanted the head,

287
00:21:18,820 --> 00:21:21,620
she wanted to kill Elijah so bad she could taste it.

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And she was so murderous that when her husband was pouting one evening,

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she asked him, what are you pouting for?

290
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He goes, I went to that Naboth and asked him to sell me his vineyard, and he wouldn't sell it to me next door.

291
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He'd go great with our little piece of property we got here.

292
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She goes, well, I can fix that.

293
00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:47,160
So she goes and hasn't killed.

294
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There.

295
00:21:49,640 --> 00:21:49,820
Right?

296
00:21:52,340 --> 00:21:53,960
There's nothing worse than a wicked woman.

297
00:21:56,390 --> 00:22:00,760
I mean, wicked men are bad, but wicked women take the cake.

298
00:22:08,620 --> 00:22:13,240
And it's interesting, those two parallel each other so nicely, right?

299
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Because she wanted to kill Elijah, and the scripture tells us that John the Baptist

300
00:22:18,700 --> 00:22:21,240
came in the spirit and the power of Elijah.

301
00:22:22,760 --> 00:22:30,740
So here's this woman, this Herodias, with the same murderous spirit is what Jezebel

302
00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:31,060
was.

303
00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:38,500
Solomon was right when he said there's nothing new under the sun, right?

304
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Nothing new at all under the sun.

305
00:22:43,399 --> 00:22:49,420
So he is confused and perplexed about this Jesus.

306
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And it said in verse 8 and some, and by some, Elijah had appeared in others that one of the old

307
00:22:58,660 --> 00:23:00,580
prophets had risen from the dead.

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00:23:00,820 --> 00:23:10,760
they knew this was of God, right? The people did. The people that heard of it and no doubt Herod

309
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being perplexed, they knew that it was something that just not normal. That's kind of like what we've

310
00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:22,260
seen going on in this country in just the last few weeks since the murder of Charlie Kirk.

311
00:23:23,500 --> 00:23:27,620
Right? It's like, it's like the side, you know, you got to choose sides. What side you're on?

312
00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:30,560
Some of are going, couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

313
00:23:30,620 --> 00:23:31,940
guy, right?

314
00:23:36,760 --> 00:23:37,340
Others are

315
00:23:37,840 --> 00:23:39,540
are grieved and motivated.

316
00:23:40,320 --> 00:23:43,220
Some have picked up Bibles that haven't picked up a Bible in years.

317
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Some people show up at church.

318
00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:51,080
Whatever it takes, right?

319
00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:00,540
And he's confused by these miracles because obviously John

320
00:24:00,780 --> 00:24:07,920
didn't do things like this guy and no doubt sending his apostles out, it was just compounded.

321
00:24:08,060 --> 00:24:11,660
And it was in his face. He couldn't deny it.

322
00:24:13,040 --> 00:24:17,180
Wersby says, Herod's conscience was no doubt convicting him.

323
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And he was wondering if perhaps God sent John back to judge him.

324
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Herod kept trying to see Jesus.

325
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But Jesus, unlike some modern religious celebrities, did not make it a point to go out of his way to mingle with us.

326
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high and mighty. Jesus called the evil king of fox and was not intimidated by his threats.

327
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When Herod and Jesus did finally meet, the king hoped to see miracles, but the son of God

328
00:24:44,860 --> 00:24:54,340
did nothing and said nothing to him. Evil king Herod, by mocking and clothing him with a

329
00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:58,380
purple robe and showing contempt for Jesus had silenced the voice.

330
00:25:00,539 --> 00:25:01,300
of God.

331
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It is a horrific and fearful thing

332
00:25:08,900 --> 00:25:10,480
for us to get into that place.

333
00:25:11,100 --> 00:25:14,260
And I know I can be here so fast

334
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that it just horrifies me.

335
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It scares me to death

336
00:25:19,060 --> 00:25:20,680
that I could harden my heart like that.

337
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And yet I know I can't.

338
00:25:22,420 --> 00:25:23,060
And so can you.

339
00:25:24,220 --> 00:25:25,260
And the fear of the Lord,

340
00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:27,100
the Bible says, is the beginning of wisdom.

341
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And we have to stay.

342
00:25:28,420 --> 00:25:34,540
in that place of fearing him and bowing our knee and walking humbly before our God,

343
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especially in these days because iniquity is abounding.

344
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And Jesus said, he made a proclamation.

345
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He said in the last days that the love of many will grow cold because iniquity abounds.

346
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And as we see it abounding, you guys, it is hard not to get embittered.

347
00:25:54,640 --> 00:25:54,760
Right?

348
00:25:54,820 --> 00:25:57,520
it's hard not to want justice.

349
00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:02,460
But I think the Lord would have us.

350
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No, you stay humble.

351
00:26:04,980 --> 00:26:06,240
You keep your hands like this.

352
00:26:07,360 --> 00:26:10,080
You keep your hands lifted up and surrendered to your God

353
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in these days in which we live.

354
00:26:13,340 --> 00:26:16,540
Because it's going to be way too easy to go the other way

355
00:26:17,560 --> 00:26:21,180
and to harden our hearts and not hear him.

356
00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:24,060
Do you imagine?

357
00:26:26,740 --> 00:26:33,680
Jesus standing before Herod and him just bouncing questions off the forehead of the king of glory.

358
00:26:34,180 --> 00:26:35,520
And the Lord never said one word.

359
00:26:38,840 --> 00:26:39,720
He'd gone too far.

360
00:26:41,740 --> 00:26:42,400
He had gone way.

361
00:26:42,540 --> 00:26:43,360
He'd gone too far.

362
00:26:44,740 --> 00:26:46,060
People ask, can you go too far?

363
00:26:46,560 --> 00:26:47,020
Yes, you can.

364
00:26:48,460 --> 00:26:49,400
You can go too far.

365
00:26:54,000 --> 00:27:02,140
And it's like the Lord, he's so faithful to whisper and whisper and whisper and then sometimes get a little louder.

366
00:27:03,020 --> 00:27:06,520
And we just turn a deaf ear and we turn a deaf ear and we turn a deaf ear.

367
00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:08,760
And pretty soon says the Lord goes, you want it?

368
00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:10,360
You got it.

369
00:27:12,220 --> 00:27:13,340
You want it, you got it.

370
00:27:14,940 --> 00:27:15,840
You don't want to hear me.

371
00:27:16,380 --> 00:27:21,200
All the times I've called out to you, all the times I've whispered in your ear saying, turn to me.

372
00:27:21,500 --> 00:27:22,300
Don't do this.

373
00:27:25,180 --> 00:27:27,400
you want it you got it

374
00:27:32,610 --> 00:27:32,780
it

375
00:27:33,799 --> 00:27:34,940
it's interesting

376
00:27:35,140 --> 00:27:36,640
though herod was guilty

377
00:27:36,860 --> 00:27:38,000
he didn't seem to

378
00:27:38,540 --> 00:27:39,080
feel guilty

379
00:27:42,500 --> 00:27:44,920
many people believe that if you don't feel guilty

380
00:27:45,060 --> 00:27:46,100
then you aren't guilty

381
00:27:46,660 --> 00:27:47,120
wrong

382
00:27:50,899 --> 00:27:52,340
now usually when you

383
00:27:52,380 --> 00:28:03,560
feel guilty, it's because you are guilty, right? But I think he was possibly, and I don't know,

384
00:28:04,060 --> 00:28:11,940
I can't say that Herod's in hell right now. It appears, right, from the surface that he was at

385
00:28:11,980 --> 00:28:18,780
the point of no return, that he couldn't turn back, even if he wanted to. We see that through

386
00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:22,300
the book of Revelation when we read about the earth dwellers.

387
00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:28,980
right? The earth dwellers, it's as though they cannot. They cannot repent. All they can do is they can

388
00:28:29,160 --> 00:28:35,840
see what God is doing and then they begin to gnaw on their own tongues, right? As a way of

389
00:28:36,140 --> 00:28:42,320
pacification. That's the only thing they can get close to pacifying themselves because they've rejected

390
00:28:42,860 --> 00:28:49,180
and they've hardened their heart against the God of heaven. And it's very specific there in the

391
00:28:49,260 --> 00:28:52,000
book of the Revelation. And I don't want to go there.

392
00:28:53,560 --> 00:28:56,860
Now it talks about these people in Romans chapter one.

393
00:28:57,740 --> 00:28:58,240
If you have a Bible,

394
00:28:58,280 --> 00:28:59,500
you turn there real quick,

395
00:28:59,960 --> 00:29:01,940
you might want to underline some of these things

396
00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:06,160
because obviously Herod and Herodius,

397
00:29:07,260 --> 00:29:10,000
right, they swung for the fence, right?

398
00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:12,080
Their sin was murder,

399
00:29:13,100 --> 00:29:14,820
sexual perversion, adultery.

400
00:29:15,320 --> 00:29:18,240
He got his jollies off on this girl doing a dance,

401
00:29:18,980 --> 00:29:20,400
and because of his lust,

402
00:29:20,620 --> 00:29:23,900
He promised her up to half of his kingdom, right?

403
00:29:24,100 --> 00:29:26,919
The guy was, he was gonzo.

404
00:29:31,840 --> 00:29:35,260
As perverse as you can possibly get and still stay alive

405
00:29:35,320 --> 00:29:38,160
and then wanting to the head of John the Baptist.

406
00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:42,260
So in Romans chapter one, Paul writes, and it says,

407
00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:44,880
And just as they, who are these?

408
00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:49,680
These who harden their heart and rejected the Lord.

409
00:29:50,520 --> 00:29:53,160
and they did not see fit to acknowledge God.

410
00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:56,960
God gave them over to a depraved mind,

411
00:29:57,540 --> 00:29:59,420
to do what should not be done.

412
00:30:00,240 --> 00:30:03,100
They were filled with every kind of unrighteousness

413
00:30:03,220 --> 00:30:05,660
and wickedness and covetousness, malice.

414
00:30:06,300 --> 00:30:13,080
They were rife with envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility.

415
00:30:13,740 --> 00:30:14,660
They are gossips.

416
00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:16,420
Well, that's one we don't hear about.

417
00:30:16,940 --> 00:30:18,480
It's just got to be talking about somebody.

418
00:30:19,340 --> 00:30:21,100
You know, you need to nip that in the bud.

419
00:30:23,040 --> 00:30:26,100
The way you talk about people, they're just like you.

420
00:30:27,560 --> 00:30:30,440
So when you're talking bad about them, who are you incriminating?

421
00:30:31,240 --> 00:30:31,840
Yourself.

422
00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:40,340
Slanders, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of all sorts of evil,

423
00:30:41,040 --> 00:30:42,980
disobedience to parents, kids, listen.

424
00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:47,660
Senseless, covenant breakers, heartless, ruthless.

425
00:30:48,900 --> 00:30:56,000
Although they fully know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die,

426
00:30:57,060 --> 00:31:02,140
they not only do them, but also approve of those who practice them.

427
00:31:05,880 --> 00:31:06,940
This is a giving over.

428
00:31:07,780 --> 00:31:08,380
You want it?

429
00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:10,100
You got it.

430
00:31:12,740 --> 00:31:13,700
And God will do that.

431
00:31:15,760 --> 00:31:17,800
Unless we humble ourselves.

432
00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:30,040
right he's so he's so drawn to those who would humble themselves and say oh god forgive me

433
00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:38,460
paul says of these people in first timothy chapter four verse two speaking lives in hypocrisy

434
00:31:39,120 --> 00:31:46,160
having their own conscience seared with a hot iron i don't know if you've ever dehorned cattle that way

435
00:31:46,060 --> 00:31:48,140
but that's how you stop the bleeding.

436
00:31:48,590 --> 00:31:49,460
You just sear it.

437
00:31:54,820 --> 00:31:56,660
Imagine having your conscience seared.

438
00:31:57,100 --> 00:31:59,100
It doesn't bother you, right?

439
00:31:59,360 --> 00:32:01,240
The things you laugh at, the things you desire.

440
00:32:08,740 --> 00:32:11,080
So this dude and his wife were guilty.

441
00:32:13,580 --> 00:32:15,860
Though they didn't appear to feel guilty,

442
00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:18,780
so the feelings of guilt are subjective, right?

443
00:32:19,180 --> 00:32:24,560
Guilt itself is objective because you can not feel guilty and be guilty.

444
00:32:27,020 --> 00:32:30,080
And so they were guilty.

445
00:32:31,180 --> 00:32:32,020
You and I were guilty.

446
00:32:34,100 --> 00:32:37,520
Some of us of these things that these two were guilty of.

447
00:32:42,420 --> 00:32:45,860
But so too with forgiveness.

448
00:32:46,940 --> 00:32:53,600
forgiveness. Forgiveness is objective. Now, you can not feel forgiven and be forgiven. You ever had that

449
00:32:53,820 --> 00:33:03,780
happen? Right? Yeah, Lord, I look back. That's not always good, but sometimes it is. Right? We have to,

450
00:33:04,240 --> 00:33:10,540
we have to kind of sift through that with the word. I look back and learn from those things that I have

451
00:33:10,660 --> 00:33:15,820
done that were just so wicked and I don't want to go there again. Right? I want to recoil.

452
00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:16,300
from that.

453
00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:21,040
Sometimes we call it the good old days.

454
00:33:23,060 --> 00:33:28,880
And I still think about, God, how could you have forgiven me for that, the way I treated

455
00:33:28,920 --> 00:33:29,500
that person?

456
00:33:33,760 --> 00:33:34,520
And yet, he's willing.

457
00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:38,360
Because, like I said, it's objective.

458
00:33:39,420 --> 00:33:44,920
It's how you feel about it is irrelevant or beside the point, according to 1st John

459
00:33:45,020 --> 00:33:45,620
1, 1,9, right?

460
00:33:48,120 --> 00:33:54,520
if we confess our sins he is faithful in just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all

461
00:33:54,700 --> 00:34:01,140
unrighteousness it's god doing all the work all we have to do is that god i sinned i sin against

462
00:34:02,280 --> 00:34:11,080
you please forgive me that's all this required if it's with a sincere heart and who knows that but

463
00:34:12,460 --> 00:34:15,600
you you're the only one that knows that you know if you're being sincere you know if you're being

464
00:34:15,679 --> 00:34:21,480
sincere with the Lord? Why is that we try to hide things from God? I still don't get this.

465
00:34:23,600 --> 00:34:29,879
You're trying to hide things from the Lord? When you're in your car going your own way or in the

466
00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:36,740
dark or out of town, Pastor Gordon used to tell us the people, the men, especially in the city

467
00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:43,879
of Idaho Falls, their faith has a 50-mile radius. Once they get outside of 50 miles, anything goes.

468
00:34:49,240 --> 00:34:51,399
that's true that's true among Christians

469
00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:56,760
like God's not 60 miles out there

470
00:35:03,660 --> 00:35:05,580
listen the only remedy

471
00:35:07,040 --> 00:35:10,360
for this this guiltiness that we see in these people

472
00:35:10,980 --> 00:35:13,040
who seemingly heart has hardened their heart

473
00:35:13,980 --> 00:35:19,200
but I totally believe that if they would have had a face to face with Jesus

474
00:35:20,240 --> 00:35:25,040
and Herod instead of wanting to see Jesus do a miracle would have bowed his knee

475
00:35:25,420 --> 00:35:28,520
and say, oh Lord God, forgive me a wicked man.

476
00:35:29,340 --> 00:35:32,000
I think God would have forgiven for cutting John's head off?

477
00:35:32,660 --> 00:35:34,240
Absolutely. John's got it made.

478
00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:36,840
He's in the presence of the Almighty.

479
00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:39,800
Right? He was gathered to his people.

480
00:35:43,700 --> 00:35:50,540
the weight was upon Herod, not on John, because he was a truth teller.

481
00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:55,000
He told him the truth, and he let the chips fall where they may.

482
00:35:55,580 --> 00:35:58,840
Oh, the church would be that way, that we would be that way.

483
00:36:05,140 --> 00:36:09,800
Because when we seek forgiveness, you guys, it is.

484
00:36:09,820 --> 00:36:13,100
is the place where God shines with his mercy and grace.

485
00:36:14,940 --> 00:36:16,520
And he loves to show mercy.

486
00:36:18,860 --> 00:36:21,860
The problem is, is we don't beg for it enough.

487
00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:25,540
We don't beg.

488
00:36:25,880 --> 00:36:26,600
I'm not a beggar.

489
00:36:27,300 --> 00:36:27,860
Yes, you are.

490
00:36:29,280 --> 00:36:30,040
We're all beggars.

491
00:36:31,260 --> 00:36:32,020
Every one of us.

492
00:36:34,460 --> 00:36:37,660
Begging God for his mercy on our lives when we know,

493
00:36:38,200 --> 00:36:39,440
really in our heart of hearts,

494
00:36:39,580 --> 00:36:43,600
we know what the just punishment would be for each one of us.

495
00:36:45,080 --> 00:36:52,700
But when people refuse to seek forgiveness, they forfeit, listen this, they forfeit eternal life.

496
00:36:53,840 --> 00:36:55,620
When they refuse to seek forgiveness.

497
00:36:56,750 --> 00:36:58,880
And that's just not from God, right?

498
00:36:58,970 --> 00:37:02,120
A lot of times it's hard to seek forgiveness from each other.

499
00:37:04,040 --> 00:37:04,820
Why do we do that?

500
00:37:05,440 --> 00:37:09,520
We just stiffen up like a board, and we will not.

501
00:37:09,600 --> 00:37:22,620
turn. I'm going to hang on to this because they're wrong. Not me. No, you are. Right? Because you're called

502
00:37:22,680 --> 00:37:29,900
to love your enemies. Called to keep really short accounts. Pray for those who spitefully use you.

503
00:37:30,660 --> 00:37:34,320
Right? Don't look for an opportunity to slash their tires.

504
00:37:42,700 --> 00:37:43,940
Jesus told the Pharisees

505
00:37:44,200 --> 00:37:46,600
Listen, you guys, go and learn what this means.

506
00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:49,200
I desire mercy and not sacrifice.

507
00:37:50,480 --> 00:37:51,000
Be merciful.

508
00:37:52,800 --> 00:37:56,220
I was just talking to a grandparent this morning.

509
00:37:57,740 --> 00:37:58,640
Yeah, you show mercy.

510
00:37:59,660 --> 00:38:01,020
Our grandkids are sinners.

511
00:38:03,090 --> 00:38:04,280
I don't pray, justice.

512
00:38:04,320 --> 00:38:05,420
on my grandkids?

513
00:38:09,480 --> 00:38:13,720
I pray for them to humble themselves before the Lord Jesus and walk with him.

514
00:38:14,380 --> 00:38:18,500
They might have to do that many times a day, just like their old grandpa.

515
00:38:23,340 --> 00:38:26,460
I desire mercy and not sacrifice.

516
00:38:27,540 --> 00:38:30,600
God can show mercy to those who humble themselves.

517
00:38:38,220 --> 00:38:43,920
Yes, I believe that if Herod and Herodius would have bowed the knee before Jesus,

518
00:38:45,900 --> 00:38:47,120
he would have granted them forgiveness.

519
00:38:50,140 --> 00:38:55,640
And I don't know about you, but that is an incredible freedom, right?

520
00:38:56,520 --> 00:39:00,640
I mean, the first time I prayed and asked Jesus to forgive me was with the Baptist prayer,

521
00:39:00,660 --> 00:39:05,080
preacher in a little prayer room off to the side. This old man got down on his knees with a

522
00:39:05,160 --> 00:39:13,740
nine-year-old boy. And he led me in a sinner's prayer. And I remember the ride home, my parents,

523
00:39:14,100 --> 00:39:18,020
we were going through hell. You know, my parents were going through divorce and my mom was

524
00:39:18,300 --> 00:39:24,600
struggling and dating and we were subject to all kinds of stuff. And I remember driving home

525
00:39:24,660 --> 00:39:30,099
with my grandparents sitting in the back seat and I felt like a feather. Right. It was like all

526
00:39:30,160 --> 00:39:33,180
that weight had just been lifted off of this nine-year-old boy.

527
00:39:36,280 --> 00:39:40,940
And I don't know how wicked I was at nine, right? I was a lot worse at 23.

528
00:39:46,020 --> 00:39:53,740
But I was forgiven. I had been set free from the guilt. Now, the feelings would come and go.

529
00:39:54,540 --> 00:39:59,740
But the fact is, is I cried out to Jesus. And he lifted my sin off of me.

530
00:40:01,720 --> 00:40:02,820
Jesus says you don't want to die

531
00:40:03,820 --> 00:40:05,080
being weighted down with your sin

532
00:40:07,140 --> 00:40:08,420
you don't want to die in your sin

533
00:40:09,800 --> 00:40:10,940
no you want to get it off of you

534
00:40:12,320 --> 00:40:14,940
maybe you just need to come to Jesus and just confess it today

535
00:40:15,580 --> 00:40:16,380
Lord I just been

536
00:40:17,460 --> 00:40:19,160
and I'm talking to Christians here too

537
00:40:19,260 --> 00:40:20,700
not just people who aren't saved

538
00:40:21,620 --> 00:40:23,520
Lord I've just been chippy

539
00:40:23,780 --> 00:40:26,860
I've been bitter I've been anxious I've been whatever it is

540
00:40:27,660 --> 00:40:29,740
just would you lift it off of me

541
00:40:31,440 --> 00:40:35,660
That's what Jesus is talking about when he says his yoke is easy and his burden is light.

542
00:40:42,480 --> 00:40:49,180
I think the New Testament calls and thanks be to God for his indescribable gift of forgiveness.

543
00:40:53,660 --> 00:40:56,720
What a precious, precious gift you and I have.

544
00:40:57,360 --> 00:40:58,420
Would you all stand with me, please?

545
00:40:59,780 --> 00:41:00,260
let's pray

546
00:41:01,500 --> 00:41:01,740
Father

547
00:41:06,440 --> 00:41:07,860
we're so thankful for this mercy

548
00:41:08,060 --> 00:41:09,520
you've extended to us your people

549
00:41:11,000 --> 00:41:12,120
Lord and maybe some today

550
00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:14,320
they just need to come up for prayer

551
00:41:14,600 --> 00:41:15,520
just to be encouraged

552
00:41:17,200 --> 00:41:18,280
maybe just to confess

553
00:41:18,900 --> 00:41:20,180
your word tells us to confess

554
00:41:20,280 --> 00:41:21,400
your faults one to another

555
00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:24,800
Lord and when we can identify with one another

556
00:41:24,920 --> 00:41:26,400
we're not alone in this battle

557
00:41:26,640 --> 00:41:27,460
we're not alone

558
00:41:28,100 --> 00:41:29,620
in our sinfulness, Lord.

559
00:41:31,300 --> 00:41:37,920
We're rubbing shoulders and we lift our hands and praise you as collectively as a body of Christ

560
00:41:38,080 --> 00:41:41,040
that's been forgiven by, for all kinds of things.

561
00:41:43,760 --> 00:41:44,800
None of us have arrived.

562
00:41:47,380 --> 00:41:50,060
And none of us will arrive, Lord, until we're with you.

563
00:41:51,060 --> 00:41:55,500
And we're separated from this flesh, Lord, this.

564
00:41:57,380 --> 00:42:00,260
this body of death that Paul talked about.

565
00:42:00,800 --> 00:42:01,660
Who can deliver us?

566
00:42:02,100 --> 00:42:02,600
Jesus can.

567
00:42:03,900 --> 00:42:04,960
And so, Lord, we love you.

568
00:42:05,060 --> 00:42:07,440
We pray that you'd go before us, Lord.

569
00:42:07,500 --> 00:42:15,500
And I pray that we'd have a message, Lord, to share with the people that we encounter throughout the week.

570
00:42:16,780 --> 00:42:18,140
Lord, that you're so good.

571
00:42:19,280 --> 00:42:21,720
No matter what we've done, you're willing to forgive us.

572
00:42:23,320 --> 00:42:25,420
And there's so many examples in your word, Lord,

573
00:42:25,480 --> 00:42:26,980
that reminds us of that.

574
00:42:29,240 --> 00:42:30,700
How sweet it is to be forgiven.

575
00:42:31,620 --> 00:42:34,700
Thank you, Lord, for washing us and hearing us.

576
00:42:35,360 --> 00:42:37,600
And I just pray for those right now that need that, Lord,

577
00:42:37,720 --> 00:42:40,320
that you would just give them courage to come up

578
00:42:40,400 --> 00:42:41,740
and be with the prayer team.

579
00:42:41,820 --> 00:42:43,740
If the prayer team would come up now, that would be great.

580
00:42:44,920 --> 00:42:49,340
And they could just encourage those hearts that need to know,

581
00:42:50,440 --> 00:42:51,820
they need to know that they're forgiven.

582
00:42:54,860 --> 00:42:55,380
And so, Father,

583
00:42:55,420 --> 00:42:57,220
this, give you this week.

584
00:42:57,320 --> 00:42:58,700
Pray that you go before us.

585
00:42:59,660 --> 00:43:01,220
Give us a hunger for your word, Lord,

586
00:43:01,320 --> 00:43:04,220
that we would write it truly on the pages of our heart.

587
00:43:05,380 --> 00:43:06,940
Lord, and that we would see ourselves,

588
00:43:07,840 --> 00:43:09,400
Lord, right in the middle of it,

589
00:43:09,960 --> 00:43:12,560
just knowing that you're doing a work in each and every one of our lives.

590
00:43:12,600 --> 00:43:13,280
We're in process.

591
00:43:14,020 --> 00:43:14,500
We're growing.

592
00:43:14,760 --> 00:43:15,660
We're being sanctified.

593
00:43:16,360 --> 00:43:17,260
We're being saved.

594
00:43:17,940 --> 00:43:21,080
We're being renewed day by day as we walk with you.

595
00:43:21,960 --> 00:43:22,760
In Jesus' name.

596
00:43:23,660 --> 00:43:23,840
Amen.

597
00:43:24,360 --> 00:43:24,820
Let's worship.

598
00:43:54,400 --> 00:43:54,440
you know,