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Morning from me. 
If you've been here for the last

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five weeks then well done. 
We have got two more Sundays of 

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our series Living in the Shadows
and then it's Easter. 

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I say two more Sunday, as in 
this Sunday and next Sunday and 

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then we celebrate that death 
does not have the final word. 

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So if you have missed any of 
this series and you are 

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interested or this what I'm 
going to say this morning has 

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left lots of questions, then 
feel free to go back and listen 

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to the talks on a podcast 
platform of your choice. 

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They can be found via our 
website. 

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If you that would be easiest. 
As we finish this series, as we 

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kind of draw it to a close, my 
hope and my prayer is that we 

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don't stop talking about this 
stuff. 

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I want to be, I want us to be a 
church where difficult things 

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can be talked about, where we 
don't brush things under the 

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carpet, where taboo subjects of 
life and death can be spoken 

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about honestly, Where when you 
talk to people, talk to your 

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friends at work or at school or 
at college and you they're 

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having like they've got 
questions about real life tricky

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situations. 
Our first response is, oh, you 

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should come to church. 
We talk about all of that stuff 

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there. 
So just because we are coming to

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the end of the series doesn't 
mean we should stop talking 

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about it because as we've said 
throughout the last few weeks is

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that the more real we are, the 
closer to God we are. 

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Church shouldn't be the place 
where we avoid hard things, It 

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should be the place where we 
face them and we find hope. 

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So as I say over the last five 
weeks, it might be that you 

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actually have more questions now
than you did at the beginning, 

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and that's OK. 
My encouragement is to ask those

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questions, to take them to small
group and discuss it with the 

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guys that you sit around with in
small group, go for a walk 

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around Central Park, grab a 
coffee from Costa and wrestle 

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with the mysteries of life and 
death. 

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You know, and I think one of my 
most honest answers when I get 

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asked questions is simply I 
don't know. 

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And that's OK, because for me, 
if I could understand everything

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of the mysteries of God in my 
finite brain, then he really 

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wouldn't be a God worth 
worshipping and giving our lives

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up for. 
He wouldn't be the creator of 

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the universe if I could 
understand everything. 

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Throughout this series we have 
looked at 2 shadows. 

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The shadow of death that is 
talked about in Psalm 23 as we 

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walk through the valley of the 
shadow of death and the shadow 

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of God talked about in Psalm 91.
The shadow of the Almighty. 

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And our lives are lived under 
these two shadows. 

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Sometimes life feels full of 
hope and peace, and sometimes 

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life feels utterly crushing. 
That's what it means to be 

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human, to live under these two 
shadows of death and the shadow 

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of the Almighty. 
And so as disciples, as 

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followers of Jesus, we contend 
for the Kingdom now, praying for

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healing, living with hope, and 
facing suffering honestly. 

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And through it all, we trust in 
the character of God, who is 

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both perfectly just and 
endlessly loving. 

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Through this series, we have 
been hoping that we would reset 

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our operating systems, our 
theology, what we believe, our 

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imagination, what we think is 
possible, and our practice, how 

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we live. 
Because what we believe shapes 

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our imagination and what we 
imagine shapes how we live. 

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We all have a theology. 
You might not think that you do.

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You might not have ever called 
it that, but we all have. 

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We have under underpinning 
beliefs that affect what we 

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think is possible, which affect 
how we live. 

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You know, if you've grown up in 
and around church, then you may 

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well have heard the story. 
The story that sounds like God 

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created the world, humans ruined
it, and Jesus came so that we 

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could go to heaven when we die. 
And that story isn't entirely 

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wrong, but it is incomplete, 
because if the gospel was just 

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about saying a prayer so that we
know where we're going to go 

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when we die, then what are we 
supposed to do between now and 

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then? 
The New Testament is full of a 

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rich story, a much bigger story 
of the gospel of the Kingdom. 

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Jesus didn't simply come to 
prepare us to die, He came to 

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bring life. 
If you know the verse of that 

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John quotes Jesus as saying in 
John 10/10 he said this. 

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I have come that you might have 
life and life in all of its 

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fullness. 
The gospel isn't primarily about

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where you go when you die. 
It's about how you live now that

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has eternal implications. 
And yet Psalm 90 tells us to 

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teach us to number our days that
we may gain a heart of wisdom. 

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Why? 
Because remembering our 

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mortality helps us to live 
wisely. 

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So this morning I'm going to 
look at 2 questions and I'm 

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going to ask 2 questions and 
give some sort of an answer 

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which might be satisfying, it 
might not be. 

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You can make the court judge of 
that when you've heard what I've

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got to say. 2 questions that 
come up more than anything. 

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I have been asked them both in 
the last five weeks, but I've 

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also been asked them throughout 
life generally. 

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The first question is what 
happens to people who die who 

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don't follow Jesus? 
The second is when do we accept 

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that sickness is leading to 
death and when do we contend for

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healing? 
So that's kind of two questions 

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in one. 
So the first question, if you've

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got a Bible, you might want to 
grab it. 

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You might want to make notes. 
I'm going to refer to a few 

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different passages this morning.
And as Pip said, if you don't 

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have a Bible, we have some on 
the information table. 

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We'd love to give you 1 to give 
you 1 to give away if you know 

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someone that would like to read 
it. 

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So the first question, what 
happens to those who die who 

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don't follow Jesus? 
Such a big question, a question 

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that actually is often rooted in
pain. 

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People we love, people we worry 
about. 

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You know, it's very easy to give
theoretical answers until you're

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faced with a specific person or 
situation. 

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If you want a longer discussion 
on this, a guy called Stephen 

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Bartlett who has the podcast 
Diary of a CEOI think it's a 

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very famous podcast, but he 
recently interviewed a guy 

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called Wesley Hough just last 
week, and it's a 2 1/2 hour 

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interview and they discussed 
this very topic. 

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And Wesley Hough, he's an 
American, I think he's a 

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historian, theologian, and 
apologist, and he gives a 

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beautiful answer. 
So I'll let you look that up if 

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you want to, but it's a hard 
question. 

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What happens to people who die 
who don't follow Jesus? 

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Another way that people ask that
question, and I've been asked 

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this question more times than I 
can remember, particularly with 

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by teenagers. 
How can a loving God send some 

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send people to hell? 
A question that is asked often 

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by people. 
The first thing to say is that I

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don't believe that God sends 
anybody to hell. 

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Some of you have sat up and 
thought, do I need to find a new

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church? 
2 Peter 39 says this. 

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The Lord isn't really being slow
about His promise as some people

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think. 
No, He's being patient for your 

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sake. 
He does not want anyone to be 

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destroyed, but wants everybody 
to repent. 

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Another verse, John 316. 
You might know this, for God so 

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loved the world that he gave his
Son, so that everyone who 

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believes in him will not perish 
but have eternal life. 

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The Bible doesn't reveal a 
grumpy headmaster waiting to 

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catch people out. 
Or if you've read the book or 

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seen the film Matilda, God is 
not like the Trunchbull. 

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He's not waiting, anticipating, 
relishing the thought of sending

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us to the chokey. 
The Bible reveals the exact 

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opposite, that God is a loving 
father running towards us as his

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children, as we know from the 
story in Luke 15 of the prodigal

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son. 
So the real question isn't where

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does God send people when we 
die? 

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The real question is, who do you
want to be with for all 

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eternity? 
Eternity with God or without him

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in heaven? 
On the new earth? 

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Resurrected with God? 
God who is love, or what we 

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might choose to call hell? 
The exact opposite, where love 

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is not, where God is not. 
We can see throughout scripture 

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and from what we know of the 
character of God that he doesn't

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force relationship on anybody. 
Now if you're old enough to have

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watched the film Bruce Almighty,
I realise it is quite an old 

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film now, but the character that
Jim Carrey plays, Bruce is given

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God's powers and he can do 
anything except God says you 

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cannot make people love you. 
That is their free choice. 

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God says to us, He says to every
human being that has ever lived.

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He says to all of us who are all
made in his image, I love you, I

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want you, I am here for you. 
But love never removes choice. 

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We always get to choose. 
We get to decide whether we want

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to be with Him or not. 
And none of us no the private 

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conversations that happen 
between our friends and God, our

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family and God, those that we 
love and God, the secret 

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whispers of our loved ones and 
God at that moment of physical 

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death. 
We are not Privy to those 

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conversations. 
We're not Privy to what is said 

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in the quietness of our of their
hearts. 

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It's our choice, but it's also 
important to remember to hold 

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intention that the Bible does 
also talk about the reality of 

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judgement. 
The Bible tells us that God is 

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just, and that is also really 
important because justice 

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requires judgement. 
Without judgement, evil is never

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addressed. 
When we look out at the world, 

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we see the news headlines, war, 
violence, injustice on a global 

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scale, on a national scale, on a
personal and intimate scale. 

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We actually want God to deal 
with evil, don't we? 

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Well, I do, and I want to 
encounter the future that 

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Revelation promises, where there
is no more sickness, no more 

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mourning, no more pain, no more 
wars, no more death, no more 

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injustice. 
And for that world to exist, 

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evil must be dealt with. 
God will judge, and that is 

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really good news. 
And so we find ourselves living 

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in this tension yet again of 
God's love and his desire to be 

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with us always and the 
requirement of justice and 

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judgement. 
You know, if you look at Matthew

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25, there's a moment of Jesus 
recording, saying, telling a 

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story and saying, I never knew 
you. 

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Justice and judgement will 
happen. 

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But it's really important to 
think about who who the God is 

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that you love and you worship 
and you follow. 

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Do we trust his character? 
Because God's judgement is 

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firmly rooted in his character 
and he is love. 

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John tells us God is love and he
is also just. 

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So I suppose ultimately, 
especially for those of us 

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grieving loved ones, the real 
question becomes what do we 

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believe God is like? 
Who do we believe God is? 

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Do we trust the character of 
God? 

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Do we trust that he is love and 
he is just? 

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Dallas Willard, who's a 
theologian and pastor, said 

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this. 
If God can find any excuse to be

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with you forever, he will. 
And I love that because it 

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because it puts eternity, it 
puts the final outcome into the 

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hands of our gracious and loving
God. 

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Yes, sin is real. 
Yes, judgement is real. 

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Yes, our choices matter. 
But the final word rests in 

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God's heart, not ours, in his 
character, which is perfect 

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justice, perfect love, and 
perfect grace. 

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So if this question weighs heavy
on you, if you have asked it or 

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you are asking it, then I want 
to encourage you to plant your 

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feet firmly in the character of 
God. 

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We live under the shadow of 
death and the shadow of the 

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Almighty, and through it all we 
trust the character of God, who 

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is both perfectly just and 
endlessly loving. 

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The second question, when do we 
accept that sickness is leading 

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to death and when do we contend 
for healing? 

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This question can so often pull 
us into two extreme camps. 

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On one hand, you've got the camp
of low expectation. 

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We reduce our expectations of 
God so that we never have to 

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feel disappointed. 
So we pray for very little. 

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We expect nothing, and so we 
aren't disappointed. 

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But that isn't faith. 
That's also not the example that

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Jesus gives us and he is our 
model. 

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The opposite extreme is the 
hype. 

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Hype Christianity, you know, 
maybe the Word of Faith 

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movement. 
The exact opposite that says 

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healing always happens. 
You know, even if you're walking

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around with a broken leg, you're
still healed. 

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And if you're not, it's because 
of someone's lack of faith. 

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But this is also not reality. 
We know that, don't we? 

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We have prayed for many, many 
people. 

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Some people have been healed and
other people have not been 

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healed. 
Some of us have prayed 

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desperately for the healing of 
people that we love, and it 

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hasn't happened. 
One of my friends, John, he was 

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dying and he had complete faith 
that God was going to heal him 

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to the point that he had asked 
some of our friends that if he 

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died, he wanted them to go round
and pray for his body to be 

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resurrected, which they did. 
And he died and he wasn't 

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resurrected in that moment. 
That wasn't because of his lack 

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of faith, because he had so much
faith. 

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We live in the tension of the 
now and the not yet of the 

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Kingdom. 
Both these extremes ignore real 

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life. 
And what have we been saying? 

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That the more real we are, the 
closer to God we are. 

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We pray for healing because of 
the Kingdom of God. 

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You know when Jesus walked the 
earth, he said the Kingdom of 

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God is near. 
The Kingdom is of God is at 

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hand. 
If it's at hand, it means we can

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grasp it and we can pull it 
towards us. 

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The Kingdom means the place 
where what God wants happens, 

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happens where God wants, where 
God where what God wants 

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happens. 
And what does God want? 

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Well, we know from Revelation 21
he wants no more sickness, no 

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more death, no more pain. 
We want that future Kingdom. 

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We want it here now in full, 
don't we? 

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But it's not yet here in full. 
However, Easter tells us that it

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is here. 
It has already begun. 

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Jesus resurrection means that 
the Kingdom has begun. 

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It is here. 
In part, the resurrection of 

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Jesus means the Kingdom has been
inaugurated. 

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And so it's another tension, the
now and the not yet of his 

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Kingdom. 
So when we encounter sickness, 

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what do we do? 
How do we approach it? 

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Yes, we contend for healing. 
Jesus says go and heal the sick,

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cast out demons and raise the 
dead. 

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He's our model. 
That's what we do. 

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We contend for healing, to 
contend to fight for, to to 

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exert effort, to pray, to not be
passive, but to contend for 

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healing. 
Not because we believe in magic,

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but because we believe that the 
Kingdom is inaugurated. 

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Jesus's resurrection means the 
Kingdom is near, it's at hand, 

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and some of us will can tell 
stories of miracles that we've 

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seen happen, of people that have
been healed. 

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But don't ever lose sight of 
real life IRL. 

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We have also, many of us in this
room, seen heartbreaking losses.

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Both are real and so it's 
important to contend for healing

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and ask for wisdom. 
Sometimes we pray and contend. 

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Sometimes we recognise that 
somebody's body is failing. 

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They are nearing the end of 
their life on earth in this 

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moment and that is a wisdom 
call. 

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We don't always get it right. 
Sometimes it requires us 

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recognising that we have been 
formed by comfort. 

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You know, I said at the 
beginning of this series, we 

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worship comfort in our culture. 
We're formed by it. 

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We run a mile from suffering and
pain if at all possible. 

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We don't want anything to do 
with it and we will numb our 

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feelings to get rid of it, but 
we will all suffer. 

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Jesus says in this world you 
will have trouble. 

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But I have overcome the world, 
you know, I think praying for 

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healing is probably more 
accepted in the church, wider 

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church now than it was 20-30 
years ago. 

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I wonder if some of that is 
because we worship comfort. 

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We want to wave a magic wand 
that says we don't have to 

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suffer, we don't have to walk 
through the valley of the shadow

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of death. 
But yet, some of the most sacred

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moments of my life has been 
sitting with people preparing 

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for their death, praying, saying
goodbye, wondering what paradise

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will look like. 
I had one conversation with a 

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friend discussing what was going
to be available in on the feast 

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table that we were going to sit 
at with our Heavenly Father, 

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entrusting them to God. 
There is no formula for this. 

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It's only wisdom through prayer,
through the guidance of the Holy

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Spirit. 
But as we approach people, as we

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pray, as we work out whether 
we're contending for healing or 

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we're preparing to meet our 
Maker, the key question is, what

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are we actually trusting Jesus 
for? 

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Jesus didn't promise that every 
prayer would be answered the way

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00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:47,840
we wanted it. 
And I've just said, actually, 

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Jesus said that we would face 
trouble in this world. 

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You will face trouble. 
But take heart. 

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I have overcome the world. 
But Jesus also promised that he 

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loves us, that he is with us and
he will never leave us nor 

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forsake us, that death will not 
win and eternity is secure. 

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If you've read the story of John
the Baptist in Luke 7, it really

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helps I think understand this 
slightly. 

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John the Baptist is is in prison
and he sends his followers to 

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Jesus to ask him the question, 
are you really the Messiah? 

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Which might seem strange 
considering John was his cousin.

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They'd grown up together, he'd 
prepared the way. 

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Read a bit of the beginning of 
Mark and it'll make a bit more 

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sense. 
But John is facing death. 

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He's in prison. 
He's about to be executed. 

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And he wants to know if Jesus 
really is who he thought he was.

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00:22:48,800 --> 00:22:55,880
He wants confirmation, You know,
if Jesus really is the Messiah, 

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00:22:56,320 --> 00:22:57,760
then maybe he won't get 
executed. 

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Maybe he'll get freed from 
prison. 

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And Jesus's response to John's 
followers simply says the blind 

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see the lame walk. 
The good news is being preached.

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John's situation didn't change. 
He wasn't freed from prison. 

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He was still executed. 
But the signs that accompanied 

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00:23:17,800 --> 00:23:21,320
Jesus, the power and the 
proclamation were enough for 

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00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:27,560
John to know that the Kingdom 
had come, that Jesus was who he 

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00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:29,760
thought he was, and he could be 
trusted. 

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00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:36,680
It's the tension that the 
Christian life is lived out in. 

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When prayers are unanswered, we 
do well to hang on to the truth 

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that we worship the crucified 
God. 

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00:23:46,920 --> 00:23:51,200
Psalm 22 Jesus was dying on the 
cross, and he cried out, My God,

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my God, why have you forsaken 
me? 

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00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:57,640
There is no suffering that we 
experience that He does not 

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00:23:57,640 --> 00:24:03,000
understand. 
But the hope of the gospel is 

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that suffering is temporary, 
eternity is forever. 

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00:24:11,680 --> 00:24:15,480
We live under the shadow of 
death and the shadow of the 

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00:24:15,480 --> 00:24:19,040
Almighty. 
So we contend for the Kingdom to

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00:24:19,040 --> 00:24:22,880
come now, praying for healing, 
living with hope, and facing 

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00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:27,240
suffering honestly. 
And through it all, we trust the

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00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:32,560
character of God, who is both 
perfectly just and endlessly 

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loving. 
So I think the invitation to us 

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is to move from fists to open 
hands. 

345
00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:49,160
Open hands with our questions, 
with our grief, with our anger, 

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00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:57,400
with our unanswered prayers, and
simply to say, Jesus, we trust 

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00:24:57,400 --> 00:25:01,640
you. 
It's a choice. 

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He's not forcing it on any of 
us. 

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We live under the shadow of 
death and the shadow of the 

350
00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:16,400
Almighty. 
We contend for the Kingdom now, 

351
00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:19,480
praying for healing, living with
hope, and facing suffering 

352
00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:22,080
honestly. 
And through it all, we trust 

353
00:25:22,080 --> 00:25:26,120
that the character of God is 
both perfectly just and 

354
00:25:26,120 --> 00:25:30,680
endlessly loving. 
Why don't you stand if you're 

355
00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:33,560
able? 
We're just going to pray. 

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00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:41,160
The Spirit of God is here 
already and I we want to 

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00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:50,080
createspace for the Holy Spirit 
to meet with us intimately, 

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00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:56,040
personally answering the 
questions of our heart. 

359
00:26:01,760 --> 00:26:03,520
You might want to close your 
eyes if you want to. 

360
00:26:03,520 --> 00:26:06,080
It might be that you want to 
physically open your hands as a 

361
00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:09,680
posture of saying, I'm moving 
from clenched fist to open hands

362
00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:13,800
or Lord, will you fill me? 
And we simply say, come, Holy 

363
00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:20,960
Spirit, we bring to you our 
unanswered questions, our 

364
00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:24,920
unanswered prayers, our fears, 
our hopes. 

365
00:26:27,360 --> 00:26:35,040
Would you fill us with faith and
love, hope, wisdom? 

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00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:58,080
We say we trust you, Jesus. 
We're just going to wait in the 

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00:26:58,080 --> 00:27:04,160
silence space for you to have 
your own conversations with the 

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00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:04,680
Lord.