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What we're talking about today 
is, is responding to this 

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question, what do we really owe 
past and future generations? 

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Because we do owe past and 
future generations something. 

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The reality is we are part of a 
very, very, very long story. 

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A story, in fact, that's 
infinitely wrong long I heard 

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years ago someone say that 
history, another way of saying 

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history is his story, his story 
being God's story and and God's 

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story. 
The story that that we are in is

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going to go on forever and ever 
and ever. 

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And we're part of that story. 
But we didn't start the story, 

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not even the human part of the 
story. 

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The human part of the story 
still alone began thousands and 

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thousands of years ago and will 
continue for years after us many

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years infinitely into the future
because God's Kingdom will have 

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no end and we didn't start it. 
So we if we think of of the 

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story not as a book, but it's a 
journey that God is taking 

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humans on this long journey 
that's going somewhere that will

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that will eventually arrive at 
God's Kingdom. 

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And then beyond that, we don't 
even know have any real idea, 

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but we've started, we've been 
traveling this road, humanity, 

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people of faith for thousands of
years. 

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We started well into the 
journey. 

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Our lives began well into the 
journey. 

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And and that's because of the 
people that came before us. 

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And, and our hope is, is that 
future generations will carry 

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the story on, will continue the 
journey after us and be further 

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down the road than we ever have 
the opportunity to get. 

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But what do we owe them? 
What do we owe the past? 

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And what do we owe the future? 
Oddly enough, I think a good way

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of looking at this question and 
thinking about it is to remember

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this, that Sarah and Abraham 
died. 

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They died. 
They were main characters in the

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story. 
They they were, they were given 

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a promise specifically to them. 
You're going to have a child, 

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the two of you together in your 
old age. 

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It'll be your biological baby. 
And you will become the parents 

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of a great nation and all 
nations of the world will be 

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blessed through you. 
And then they died. 

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And at the point where they 
died, they had one son, one 

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child of that promise, Isaac. 
They called him laughter, 'cause

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it was so ridiculous that they 
had this baby when they were so 

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old and they just couldn't help 
but laugh. 

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And then they died. 
They had no real estate. 

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The only real estate they owned 
that they were able to leave to 

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Isaac was their burial plot, 
their tomb. 

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They were in this land that God 
had promised him, but that land 

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still belonged to other people. 
They had no politicians on their

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side. 
They had no nation making laws 

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that would benefit them or 
protect their rights or 

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privileges or or anything like 
that. 

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They didn't have any. 
It was Isaac out there now with 

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his wife and Sarah, and Abraham 
died. 

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What's the point? 
Why? 

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Why does that matter? 
I think one of the reasons it 

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matters is this, that Sarah and 
Abraham dying help us remember 

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that our part in this story, 
we're in a story that's been 

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going on for a very long. 
It's a long time. 

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It's a long story. 
It's been going on for a long 

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time. 
And each of us plays a very 

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small part. 
Abraham and Sarah, as big as 

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their part was, they still died 
and the story went on. 

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The journey continued. 
It had been going on for 

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thousands of years before they 
lived, and would go on for 

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thousands and thousands of years
after they died. 

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And the same is true for us. 
The story was going on a long 

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time before any of us do our 
first breath and it will go on a

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long time after we've passed. 
And that should comfort us that 

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this story is so big and so 
grand. 

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And ultimately it doesn't depend
on us, not in the sense that we 

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we can't wreck it. 
We can't wreck it. 

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There's a lot of of of fear for 
the future right now. 

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And I think a lot of that I was 
saying neurological this morning

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at at least one of the other 
churches when I meant to say 

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neurotic. 
But you know, that's, you know, 

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either way, not, not a you know,
I think the fear is at some 

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levels neurotic and at times 
pathological. 

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We get afraid for the future. 
Oh my goodness, we got global 

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warming and everyone's going to 
die. 

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We got artificial intelligence 
and the machines are going to 

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rise up and everyone's going to 
die. 

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And we've got genetic 
engineering and designer babies 

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coming and and they're going to 
wreck everyone. 

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And it's all off on the politics
is terrible and the wars are 

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terrible and our government 
leaders and all of these large 

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corporations run and everything,
and it's all going to be awful. 

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And it's I yeah, I got news for 
you. 

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Human beings are not the ones 
writing this story. 

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And human beings can't wreck the
story. 

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We can do awful things along the
way. 

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There's no doubt about that. 
Human beings have been doing 

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awful things since human beings 
have been around. 

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But we can't wreck the story. 
You and I certainly can't. 

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We don't have that kind of 
power. 

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We don't have that kind of 
influence. 

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We play a small part in a very 
large story. 

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Now, one of the problems with 
that, though, any good truth, 

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and I think that's a good truth,
the devil can twist. 

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And one of the ways Devil the 
devil can twist that is to say 

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that it doesn't really matter. 
What we do makes no difference. 

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Life itself is meaningless. 
We're all here by accident. 

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This universe isn't going 
anywhere. 

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Except one day it'll all 
collapse in on itself and and 

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we'll just be a collection of 
atoms scattered throughout the 

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universe. 
Nothing that we do will endure. 

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Nothing that we do will remain. 
It all comes to nothing. 

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It's all pointless. 
There's a philosophy that comes 

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out of that mindset, A 
philosophy called nihilism or 

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nihilism, depending on how you 
pronounce it, either 

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pronunciation is correct. 
And no matter how you pronounce 

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it, it it, it, it can leave 
people really messed up, people 

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that really buy into this, that 
it's we're all just an accident.

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It's all going nowhere and it's 
all meaningless. 

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They, they wake up in the 
morning and there's kind of one 

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of three things that that drives
them. 

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One is it's all meaningless. 
Eat, drink, and be merry, for 

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tomorrow we die. 
Let's seek pleasure or it's all 

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meaningless. 
Ravage, pillage, plunder, maim. 

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Because it's all meaningless and
tomorrow we die. 

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Doesn't matter what I do. 
And the third option is why get 

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up at all? 
I'll just lie in bed and play 

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video games because tomorrow we 
die and it doesn't matter. 

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It doesn't matter. 
Nihilism is on the rise, 

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particularly among younger 
generations. 

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The sense of pointlessness, one 
of the beautiful things we have 

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in the faith that we have 
received is a legacy from those 

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who have gone before us, is a 
blunt and simple refutation of 

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nihilism. 
There is a point. 

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Life has meaning. 
No matter how small a part we 

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have to play, we have a part to 
play, and every part is 

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important and every part has 
meaning. 

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It was a lot of notes in the 
song that Anne just played and 

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that we attempted to sing. 
I didn't do too well either, 

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John. 
A lot of notes. 

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Any one of those notes, if you 
take it out, you can still have 

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the song. 
Doesn't change the fact that 

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every single one of those notes 
has meaning and purpose in the 

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composition. 
You can take out any one of the 

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words and still have the song, 
but each one of those words has 

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meaning and purpose in the 
composition. 

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We had a dramatic example of 
that at Rock Springs this 

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morning. 
We use recorded music there 

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every once in a while. 
I don't know why, but every once

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in a while it's, it's got 
something to do with how the 

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tracks are set up in the lyric 
videos that I create and I 

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there's kind of a left and a 
right track and for whatever 

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reason, every once in a while it
doesn't play one side of that. 

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And so we only got half the 
lyrics, and it would be blank, 

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blank, blank, blank, blank, 
blank, blank, blank, blank. 

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It's like the song was still 
there, but losing bits of it 

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matters. 
Every single one of us has a 

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part to play, a role to play 
that is meaningful and part of 

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God's grand and magnificent 
purpose. 

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Life isn't meaningless. 
Life isn't meaningless even with

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a small part. 
And we owe a debt to the past 

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and those who went before us. 
We stand on their shoulders. 

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We started from a place that is 
miles and miles and miles down 

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the road from where Adam and Eve
started, from where Noah 

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started, from where Abraham and 
Sarah started, from where Isaac 

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started. 
We're miles down the road from 

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there as we're going toward this
final destination of God's 

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Kingdom. 
And we owe a debt to the people 

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that have gone before us because
we didn't just pop into 

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existence on our own. 
We are where we are with the 

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faith that we have because of 
the people that went before us, 

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that lived faithfully following 
God like Sarah and Abraham, not 

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perfectly, but faithfully who 
who had hope in the promise that

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God put before them. 
Not perfect hope, their hope 

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lapsed at times, but they held 
on to it and who loved as best 

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they could the people around 
them. 

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Again, not perfectly, not 
perfectly, but they loved. 

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And they passed that on to 
Isaac, who passed it on to his 

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kids, who passed it on to their 
kids, and eventually it was 

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passed on to us. 
We owe a debt to those who came 

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before. 
Without them, we would not be 

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here today. 
And we have a responsibility to 

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the future, to those who will 
come after us. 

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There was a thought theology 
that that became popular in the 

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Western world, particularly it 
started, I think in Europe and 

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England, and then became really 
popular in the United States 

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around 200 years ago or so. 
And, and it was a theology 

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focused on the end times. 
If you've read the Left Behind 

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series, it was kind of the apex 
of that theology. 

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Jesus is coming back, taking 
people away from earth, his 

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faithful people. 
And you better be ready because 

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it's happening soon and all of 
the signs are out there, all of 

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the prophecies, all this one's 
fulfilled. 

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That one's fulfilled. 
Jesus is coming back soon, going

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to take all his faithful people 
away. 

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Jesus is coming back not to take
us away, but to join us here. 

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And one of the problems that 
develop out of the theology that

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Jesus is coming back probably 
really, really soon in our 

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lifetime and and going to take 
us all away is that it kind of 

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leads us thinking we don't have 
any great responsibility for the

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future. 
Jesus might come back before 

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this sermon's over. 
You're like, oh, we got to go 

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home early. 
It'll be our real home in the 

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Kingdom. 
That'll be awesome. 

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There's also a possibility that 
Jesus won't come back for 

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another thousand years or more, 
in which case we're leaving a 

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world to our children and our 
grandchildren and our great 

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grandchildren. 
And we have a responsibility for

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the condition of that world, for
the condition of the 

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environment, for the condition 
of the political systems, for 

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the state of the culture, for 
the amount of violence, for, for

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the the relative proportions of 
justice and injustice for the 

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weakest and most vulnerable 
people in the world. 

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We have a responsibility for 
that now, just like the devil 

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can twist, we have a smart, 
small, only a small part to play

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into. 
Your lives are meaningless. 

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The devil can take this risk, 
these responsibilities. 

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We have the debt to the past and
what we owe to the future and 

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twist those into something 
destructive. 

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That debt to the past can be 
twisted into, oh, there's a 

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truck. 
Wait, wait, wait. 

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I'm not sure if it made it all 
the way back, but there we go. 

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We have it. 
We have We owe something to the 

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past. 
But it gets twisted when we 

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think we honor the past by 
trying to preserve it whole, 

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intact and unchanged in the 
present and into the future. 

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We owe something to the past, 
but we have to honor the past 

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without trying to rigidly 
preserve it or repeat it. 

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I used to have to say a lot. 
Back when I started pastoring in

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the early 90s, I had to say this
a lot. 

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I don't say it much anymore 
because I think folks get it. 

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I think you get it. 
The 1950s and 60s are never 

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coming back. 
The culture, the politics, and 

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00:13:46,920 --> 00:13:50,200
the way church was done in the 
1950s and it's never coming 

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back, never going to happen 
again. 

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00:13:52,680 --> 00:13:57,000
God does not do reruns. 
We're going forward into the 

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future, not backward into the 
past. 

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We honor the past, but not 
trying to make the present or 

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00:14:03,200 --> 00:14:05,400
the future just like the past. 
Great. 

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00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:11,360
A great snapshot of this kind of
problem was the worship wars 

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00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:13,600
that happened back during the 
80s and 90s. 

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00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:15,320
Were you all? 
Were you ever part of the 

236
00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:17,200
worship wars? 
Was that ever a thing? 

237
00:14:18,840 --> 00:14:19,760
No, it's OK. 
Yeah. 

238
00:14:19,760 --> 00:14:21,680
Yeah. 
I was in a few churches that it 

239
00:14:21,680 --> 00:14:25,000
was like, well, are we going to 
have contemporary praise and 

240
00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:28,720
worship, OK, or traditional 
music and we just sing out of 

241
00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:30,400
the hymns. 
Was in a church. 

242
00:14:30,520 --> 00:14:34,120
We put a drum kit in the 
sanctuary and Oh my goodness, 

243
00:14:34,400 --> 00:14:38,720
how could it be church with 
drums in the sanctuary and and 

244
00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:41,880
people got all crazy. 
We've got these hymnals. 

245
00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:45,600
We must sing the hymns. 
These hymns were good enough for

246
00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:47,280
our parents and our 
grandparents. 

247
00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:50,520
They should be good enough for 
us and our grandkids and our 

248
00:14:50,520 --> 00:14:52,840
children. 
The wonderful old hymns of the 

249
00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:54,560
faith. 
They are wonderful old hymns of 

250
00:14:54,560 --> 00:14:59,680
the faith, but every hymn in 
every hymnal was once a new 

251
00:14:59,680 --> 00:15:04,320
song. 
And one way we can claim to be 

252
00:15:04,320 --> 00:15:07,840
honoring the past is to say 
we're only going to sing the old

253
00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:09,920
hymns of the past. 
I've heard that in the Methodist

254
00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:12,600
Church, Charles Wesley wrote 
lots and lots and lots of hymns.

255
00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:16,760
And like, this is our heritage. 
We must preserve our heritage. 

256
00:15:16,760 --> 00:15:19,360
We need to sing the hymns of 
Charles Wesley. 

257
00:15:19,920 --> 00:15:23,080
You know, another way to 
preserve the heritage of Charles

258
00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:27,240
Wesley is to write new songs 
like Charles Wesley did. 

259
00:15:30,640 --> 00:15:34,560
I think that the old hymns and 
the new songs have their 

260
00:15:34,640 --> 00:15:36,720
strengths and their weaknesses 
both. 

261
00:15:37,400 --> 00:15:41,960
But trying to preserve, to keep 
everything like it was in the 

262
00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:45,480
50s and 60s is not honoring the 
past. 

263
00:15:45,480 --> 00:15:51,200
It's calcifying it to honor 
those who brought us here and 

264
00:15:51,200 --> 00:15:54,720
continue their faithfulness and 
their hope and their love into 

265
00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:56,960
the future. 
Those are the things that honor 

266
00:15:56,960 --> 00:16:01,440
the past, not trying to preserve
the past at some random point in

267
00:16:01,440 --> 00:16:03,800
history. 
Honor the past without 

268
00:16:03,800 --> 00:16:06,960
religionally preserving it. 
And we owe future generations. 

269
00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:12,640
We do owe future generations 
not, not a neurotic fear about 

270
00:16:12,640 --> 00:16:15,680
the future that we pass on to 
them of how awful everything is 

271
00:16:15,680 --> 00:16:18,600
going to be and trying to figure
we can't wreck the future, we 

272
00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:22,080
can't fix the future. 
We are not that big, we are not 

273
00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:23,760
that strong, we are not that 
powerful. 

274
00:16:25,760 --> 00:16:28,600
But what we can do for the 
futures is carry on a legacy of 

275
00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:34,000
faith, a legacy of faith. 
Isaac got that from Abraham and 

276
00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:37,680
Sarah. 
Isaac was grew up hearing the 

277
00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:39,640
stories. 
Do you realize I can't, you 

278
00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:41,400
know, my family. 
If, if you have a family that 

279
00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:44,320
loves to tell the same stories 
over and over again, there's a, 

280
00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:47,760
there's a, a tree in the 
backyard that you cannot be in 

281
00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:49,520
the back. 
If you come to visit my house, 

282
00:16:49,520 --> 00:16:53,360
my parents house and stand in 
the backyard, you will not be 

283
00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:56,160
back there for more than 10 
minutes without my dad telling 

284
00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:57,920
you a story about the tree in 
the backyard. 

285
00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:02,920
I know we tell it by heart and 
the family over and over and 

286
00:17:02,920 --> 00:17:06,480
over again. 
You don't think Isaac heard 1000

287
00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:08,760
times? 
Do you know how old are you are?

288
00:17:08,760 --> 00:17:11,800
We were when you were born. 
Do you know Isaac? 

289
00:17:11,920 --> 00:17:14,359
It was impossible over and over 
and over again. 

290
00:17:14,359 --> 00:17:18,440
He would have heard that story, 
passing on the faithfulness of 

291
00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:20,200
God. 
Do you know what God did? 

292
00:17:20,319 --> 00:17:23,359
You're a miracle, Isaac. 
You're a miracle from God. 

293
00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:26,599
You're an answer to a promise. 
God promised something. 

294
00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:29,160
Everyone thought it was 
impossible going to confess, 

295
00:17:29,160 --> 00:17:32,400
Isaac, your mom and I, your dad 
and I thought it was impossible 

296
00:17:32,400 --> 00:17:39,040
to, but here you are. 
He grew up with that faith 

297
00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:44,360
passed on to him, the 
faithfulness of God that kept 

298
00:17:44,520 --> 00:17:47,320
the ancestor, his ancestors 
alive in the ark, the 

299
00:17:47,320 --> 00:17:52,280
faithfulness of God and the 
mercy of God when he didn't 

300
00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:55,080
destroy Adam and Eve after they 
sinned in the garden. 

301
00:17:55,400 --> 00:18:01,040
All of these stories over his 
whole life he heard growing up a

302
00:18:01,040 --> 00:18:03,920
legacy of faith. 
This is what we owe to future 

303
00:18:03,920 --> 00:18:09,400
generations living in faith and 
sharing those stories with them.

304
00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:12,280
Not sure. 
The stories of the Bible, to be 

305
00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:15,440
sure. 
The faith stories of the church 

306
00:18:15,440 --> 00:18:17,600
that has gone before us, to be 
sure. 

307
00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:21,960
And our faith stories we share 
to our children who God called 

308
00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:23,560
us to do this. 
God said to do that. 

309
00:18:23,560 --> 00:18:26,680
We thought this couldn't, but 
God did this in our lives. 

310
00:18:26,680 --> 00:18:29,720
God did this in our community. 
God did this in our church. 

311
00:18:29,920 --> 00:18:32,440
We can you. 
You can depend on God. 

312
00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:37,200
We know you can because God has 
been faithful to us over and 

313
00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:40,760
over and over again. 
We owe it to our children to 

314
00:18:40,760 --> 00:18:44,840
pass on a legacy of faith 
following where God leads. 

315
00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:48,560
Isaac grew up hearing another 
story. 

316
00:18:48,560 --> 00:18:51,400
You know what, Isaac? 
We were living up in her on a 

317
00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:54,240
year miles from here. 
God said go. 

318
00:18:54,240 --> 00:18:56,400
We said where? 
God said, I'll tell you when you

319
00:18:56,400 --> 00:18:58,640
get there. 
And we went and look where God 

320
00:18:58,640 --> 00:19:02,240
has brought us. 
Look where God the dad, Mom, we 

321
00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:06,240
don't own any land, yes, but one
day it'll all be ours. 

322
00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:09,480
All be our children's, your 
children's. 

323
00:19:09,600 --> 00:19:12,520
How do you know? 
Because God is faithful. 

324
00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:17,560
God is faithful. 
This is the legacy that we owe 

325
00:19:17,560 --> 00:19:21,760
our children, living by faith 
and helping live them live by 

326
00:19:21,760 --> 00:19:23,960
faith as well. 
And we owe them a legacy of 

327
00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:27,680
hope. 
Nihilism says there is no hope 

328
00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:33,960
for the future. 
Other philosophies, whether it's

329
00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:37,600
capitalism or socialism or 
communism, say there's hope for 

330
00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:39,880
the future. 
If we get the right people in 

331
00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:43,400
charge and they can enforce 
their will, then we have hope 

332
00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:45,400
for the future. 
But we got to keep the wrong 

333
00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:49,320
people out of power. 
The hope is in us. 

334
00:19:49,840 --> 00:19:55,760
The hope that we have, that we 
pass on to our children, our 

335
00:19:55,760 --> 00:19:59,360
grandchildren, is that our hope 
is in God, that if we live 

336
00:19:59,360 --> 00:20:03,120
faithfully, God will do what God
has promised he will do. 

337
00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:06,080
And one day God will wipe away 
where there's a lot of pain, 

338
00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:07,920
there's a lot of suffering, 
there's a lot of heartache. 

339
00:20:08,040 --> 00:20:10,000
One day God will wipe away every
tear. 

340
00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:11,720
One day God will right every 
wrong. 

341
00:20:11,880 --> 00:20:15,160
One day, all of the folks that 
our world is keeping down on the

342
00:20:15,160 --> 00:20:18,280
bottom, God's going to lift 
those people up and give the 

343
00:20:18,280 --> 00:20:21,840
poorest of the poor person 
greater honor than we give to 

344
00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:25,920
presidents and business leaders 
and emperors and Queens and 

345
00:20:25,920 --> 00:20:29,440
kings. 
They will be honored. 

346
00:20:30,120 --> 00:20:33,480
They will be lifted up, and our 
God will do that. 

347
00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:37,120
How do you know God will do it? 
Because God keeps his promises. 

348
00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:39,960
And that's what God has 
promised. 

349
00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:43,920
And that is our hope. 
And what do we do in the 

350
00:20:43,920 --> 00:20:49,040
meantime? 
We leave a legacy of love while 

351
00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:52,480
we wait, while we live in faith,
while we hope in the future that

352
00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:56,240
God has promised. 
We love those folks around us 

353
00:20:57,560 --> 00:21:00,680
and share with them the love 
that God has shared with us. 

354
00:21:00,680 --> 00:21:04,400
The love that God showed Abraham
and Sarah, the love that God 

355
00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:09,240
showed Noah and his family, the 
Gov that God showed Adam and Eve

356
00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:13,240
and even Cain. 
Preserving their lives, 

357
00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:18,560
following the great sins that 
they committed, caring for them 

358
00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:22,360
and giving them a promise, a 
future, and a hope. 

359
00:21:26,320 --> 00:21:31,280
And the love itself is the 
ultimate act of faith and the 

360
00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:36,200
ultimate act of hope that I'm 
going to love, I'm going to 

361
00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:37,920
sacrifice. 
I'm going to lay down, I'm going

362
00:21:37,920 --> 00:21:40,720
to be patient, going to be kind,
going to be compassionate. 

363
00:21:40,720 --> 00:21:42,480
I'm not going to keep a record 
of wrongs. 

364
00:21:42,720 --> 00:21:45,920
I'm not going to. 
I'm going to bear whatever the 

365
00:21:45,920 --> 00:21:51,280
world throws at us, believe and 
hope and endure and love. 

366
00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:56,560
And that's how people will know 
that God loves them if we love 

367
00:21:56,560 --> 00:22:02,000
them first, Well, not first, but
if we love them too, if we love 

368
00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:06,400
them too. 
Now I've preached, I don't know 

369
00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:08,120
how many minutes so far. 
Enough. 

370
00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:10,880
That's what you're saying. 
I know, I know. 

371
00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:12,560
How long have you preached? 
Got enough? 

372
00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:18,560
I got a song I want to play and 
I've got a lyric video. 

373
00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:21,840
So we can and we, I might, I'm 
going to go to the back and make

374
00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:23,280
sure the volume is up back 
there. 

375
00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:28,720
This is not, this is, I'm about 
to utter a sentence that 20 

376
00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:31,600
years ago would have been 
totally meaningless and 

377
00:22:31,600 --> 00:22:35,040
ridiculous to me. 
And that is some of the best 

378
00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:39,560
Christian music in the world 
right now is being written by 

379
00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:42,560
Jelly Roll. 
I don't know if you know who 

380
00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:46,200
Jelly Roll is. 
I don't know. 

381
00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:49,360
I, I, I've been you. 
I'm pretty sure his mom didn't 

382
00:22:49,360 --> 00:22:50,920
name him. 
I've been saying this morning 

383
00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:52,760
his mom didn't name him Jelly 
Roll. 

384
00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:55,080
And then I found out his mom 
gave him the nickname Jelly 

385
00:22:55,080 --> 00:22:56,360
Roll. 
I still don't know what his real

386
00:22:56,360 --> 00:22:57,960
name is. 
I don't know whether he goes 

387
00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:03,320
with his friends by Jelly or Mr.
Roll, But he he's lived a rough 

388
00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:08,680
life and he's come to faith and 
he's an extraordinarily talented

389
00:23:08,680 --> 00:23:12,600
singer-songwriter. 
And he's written a song called 

390
00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:15,080
My Cross that I'm going to play 
for us. 

391
00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:20,520
And I think that he 
artistically, and in about two 

392
00:23:20,520 --> 00:23:24,080
minutes and 15 seconds, can say 
everything I've been trying to 

393
00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:27,640
say in the past 25 minutes here.
So let's listen to this 

394
00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:40,120
together. 
Your blood is my blood, him 

395
00:23:40,120 --> 00:23:44,680
poison runs deep. 
Knowing your minds is the hell 

396
00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:49,640
out of because hurt is a 
sickness and trauma is too. 

397
00:23:50,280 --> 00:23:53,600
And I'd rather die than to pass 
it to you. 

398
00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:56,080
Because that's my cross to 
carry. 

399
00:23:56,440 --> 00:24:02,000
My's cross to heal my pain to 
bury, not yours to feel. 

400
00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:08,400
I pray every day I can love you 
enough so my cross to carry 

401
00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:22,000
won't be yours to pick up. 
I hope to God you don't get my 

402
00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:27,000
addictions, don't deal with my 
demons, make my decisions. 

403
00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:32,240
Yeah, I hope the apple falls far
from the tree And the sins of 

404
00:24:32,240 --> 00:24:36,480
the Father stop right here with 
me, 'cause that's my cross to 

405
00:24:36,480 --> 00:24:40,560
carry. 
My cross to heal my pain to 

406
00:24:40,600 --> 00:24:46,480
bury, not yours to feel. 
I pray everyday I can love you 

407
00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:51,120
enough. 
So my cross to carry won't be 

408
00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:57,000
yours to pick up, Won't be yours
to pass down. 

409
00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:03,480
And when you make mistakes on 
your own, I hope that you know 

410
00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:06,560
you'll never go through it 
alone. 

411
00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:14,240
So that's my cross to carry, my 
scars to heal, my pain to bury, 

412
00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:17,920
and not yours to feel happy 
everyday. 

413
00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:24,080
I can love you enough. 
So my cross to carry won't be 

414
00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:32,720
yours to pick up, won't be yours
to pick up, won't be yours to 

415
00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:45,960
pick up. 
We can't fix the world. 

416
00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:56,040
We can't wreck it either. 
We can't leave our children a 

417
00:25:56,040 --> 00:25:59,680
perfect culture, a perfect 
politics, a perfect society. 

418
00:26:01,440 --> 00:26:05,520
But what we need to do is to 
deal with our own stuff. 

419
00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:13,400
Deal with our own stuff so that 
our children can start from our 

420
00:26:13,400 --> 00:26:19,120
shoulders rather than under our 
feet, so that we can launch them

421
00:26:19,120 --> 00:26:25,320
ahead rather than leading them 
to be stuck in the past. 

422
00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:30,800
This is what we can do. 
This is the cross that we have 

423
00:26:30,800 --> 00:26:36,600
to bear and to carry so that we 
can leave them a legacy of 

424
00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:40,320
faith, trusting in God, 
obediently hearing God, and 

425
00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:44,120
following where God leads with 
the hope that God will keep His 

426
00:26:44,120 --> 00:26:47,840
promises and loving people along
the way as best they can. 

427
00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:50,560
And they're going to make their 
mistakes and they're going to 

428
00:26:50,560 --> 00:26:55,960
have their pain, but if we can 
deal with our stuff, then 

429
00:26:55,960 --> 00:26:57,480
they'll have less stuff to deal 
with. 

430
00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:01,960
And that's the hope that we 
have. 

431
00:27:02,840 --> 00:27:06,960
We play a small role and the 
grand, great big story of God. 

432
00:27:07,080 --> 00:27:10,240
We play a pretty big role in the
people that are in our lives 

433
00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:14,720
around us. 
And to pass them, pass on to 

434
00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:18,680
them the faith, hope and love of
Jesus Christ is the 

435
00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:21,960
responsibility we have in Jesus 
name, Amen. 

436
00:27:22,440 --> 00:27:22,840
Amen.