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All right, I'm, I'm going to be 
standing at the pulpit today 

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because most of the time when 
I'm preparing sermons, like like

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99.99% of the time over the law 
seems like a lot of years I've 

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been doing this now I get chunks
and phrases and sentences and 

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ideas, which I then put in an 
outline and then I can speak 

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from the outline without looking
at my notes. 

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Every once in a while it kind of
drops into my head or spirit or 

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heart like word for word. 
And when I went down to start 

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writing my outline the other 
day, everything just came out 

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and I thought, well, I'll just 
use it as an outline. 

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But I've tried and I can't. 
So I'm I am going to go out of 

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my normal pattern today and kind
of stick very close to a 

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manuscript for the preaching. 
So if you're wondering what's 

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going on with that, so am I. 
I have no idea why it happened 

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like this this week, but 
occasionally it happens like 

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this and I find it irritating. 
But God doesn't seem to care. 

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So first horror movie I ever 
saw, I was not supposed to see. 

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It's called Don't Be Afraid of 
the Dark. 

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It has stuck. 
Images of that have stuck in my 

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head since I was a little child.
I was probably about four, 5-6 

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years old, somewhere around 
there. 

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And it was, I had to look it up 
because I've had this memory in 

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my head for years and and I 
never actually checked it out to

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see whether I was remembering it
correctly, but I am. 

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I remember I checked on IMDb 
there it was a made for 

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television horror movie called 
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark that

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was first came out somewhere 
around 1973 or 4. 

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Somewhere around in there. 
My parents were watching it. 

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I was told to go to bed. 
I, of course said I want to 

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watch the movie and they said 
this movie is too scary for you.

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They were right. 
I snuck out of bed, the couch 

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that my parents sat on its back 
was to the doorway. 

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So I kind of snuck around the 
doorway and was watching the 

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movie. 
Right up until the little furry 

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men crawled out of the stair the
the door under the stairs and 

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began eating the children or 
doing whatever they were 

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supposed to be doing. 
At which point I decided my 

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parents were in fact smarter 
than I was and I went back to 

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bed. 
Did not sleep much that night 

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and I've had nightmares ever 
since. 

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But that phrase, don't be afraid
of the dark has had special 

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meaning for me ever since. 
I can kind of relate. 

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Then in in, you know, some ways 
that experience was trivial 

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compared to what Abram was about
to go through in his life. 

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And we see him entering into 
this period of darkness. 

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I preached on that some over the
past couple of years here. 

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But up to this point, we have 
seen Abram behaving for the most

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part in very faithful ways to 
God, trusting God in very 

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difficult circumstances. 
Family conflict with Lot over 

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territory, lots of sheep, lots 
of goats, lots of herds, lots of

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conflict because there's not 
enough arable ground to to to 

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graze the animals. 
And so Abram and an act of great

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faith and great humility and 
strong leadership gives Lot the 

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choice. 
Lot chooses the Jordan Valley, 

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the better land to grace his 
flocks on, and Abram takes the 

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less good land. 
And God says, don't worry Abram,

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it's all going to be yours one 
day. 

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Lot, partly because he chose 
that better land, found himself 

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in an even worse situation where
he was taken captive because 

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having chose to live near the 
city of Sodom, he inherited 

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Sodom's problems and Sodom had a
real big political problem. 

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They got conquered and Lot and 
his family got carried off as 

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prisoners of war. 
And Abram and a tremendous act 

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of faith raised his own private 
army, recruited some other local

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leaders to send some people 
along and went to war with the 

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king that had just defeated 5 
kingdoms united. 

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And Abram defeated them and 
rescued Lot and his family. 

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And had such faith in God that 
God was his provider. 

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God was his source and God was 
his hope that even when he 

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reached the point of being 
offered all of the loot, all of 

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the booty that he had captured 
in that war, he said, no, I 

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don't want any of the money. 
I didn't go to get rich. 

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And no one will ever say that 
you made me rich. 

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God is my provider. 
I just went to save my family. 

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Lot went to or Abram went to war
and he won and he refused to 

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profit from it, gave away all of
the money. 

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A tremendous act of faith, 
trusting that God was his 

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provider. 
God again renewed his promises 

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to Abram. 
Abram and all of this began when

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God went to him and his home 
country and said to him, already

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a man pretty well advanced in 
years. 

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I think he was somewhere around 
the age of 70 at the time. 

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Leave your country. 
Leave everything you've ever 

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known. 
Leave your family of origin. 

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Go to a place that I will show 
you. 

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You don't even know where you're
going when I'm going to tell you

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where you're going, Abram, till 
you get there. 

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When you get there, I'll let you
know. 

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And Abram left all that was 
familiar. 

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He left his country, he left his
land. 

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He left his family of origin. 
He took his wife. 

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He took his household, including
his nephew Lot, and he found 

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himself literally a stranger in 
a strange land. 

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When God said this is it, look 
around and over and over and 

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over again God renewed that 
promise. 

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And over and over and over 
again, Abram acted faithfully, 

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trusting in God. 
And then I don't know what 

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happened, but we can see the 
shift taking place here in 

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chapter 15. 
In Abram's mind, we're suddenly 

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where everything with the road 
before him, even though we 

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didn't know where he was going, 
the road before him seemed clear

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and bright and open. 
And now suddenly Abram seems to 

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be drifting Into Darkness and 
saying, God, what's going on 

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here? 
It's been years and I still 

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don't have a son. 
I still don't have an heir. 

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God do something and God says I 
will don't be afraid. 

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And Abram believed God. 
But we see now Abram making some

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decisions that show that his 
faith is wavering, that doubt is

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creeping in, that the what was 
once bright and beautiful and 

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clear before is now becoming 
dark and dreary. 

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The This is the nature of living
by faith. 

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It's a very human predicament, 
this dreadful challenge of 

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trusting God when we can't see. 
But it is the nature of living 

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by faith, following and obeying 
one we can't see, to a place 

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where we've never been. 
And the company, sometimes of 

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friends, sometimes of strangers,
and sometimes, it seems utterly 

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alone. 
Abram was entering what, 

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millennia later, Saint John of 
the Cross would describe as a 

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Dark Knight of the Soul. 
I want to get a cough drop. 

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Excuse me? 
This might be even shorter than 

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I expected. 
This dark night of the soul, 

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periods of testing that Saint 
John again, Saint John of the 

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Cross was not Saint John from 
the Gospels was a follower of 

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Jesus in the Middle Ages, and he
talked about periods of testing.

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One period was a testing of the 
senses. 

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When God will remove from 
followers, His faithful 

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followers will remove from them 
all external verification and 

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satisfaction that comes from 
following Him. 

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He used to love time and prayer.
Now time and prayer feels 

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meaningless. 
He used to love gathering and 

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worship with family and friends.
Now gathering and worship feels 

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like toil and drudgery and 
pointlessness. 

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You used to love doing acts of 
service in the community. 

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Now acts of service in the 
community feel like a duty that 

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produces no fruit and no good. 
And it's difficult as this dark 

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night of the senses is. 
What is even harder is the dark 

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night of the Spirit when God 
himself seems less and less 

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real, less and less present, and
at times totally absent and 

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completely unbelievable. 
I think Abram was entering into 

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that kind of period. 
And God reassured Abram. 

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He said you can trust me. 
I can, and I will keep my 

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promises to you. 
And this on a grand scale, is 

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what God says to us all through 
Abraham and through our fathers 

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and mothers of the faith 
throughout Scripture and 

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throughout church history. 
God certainly is faithful. 

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God certainly does keep his 
promises. 

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He can do it and he is able to 
it. 

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And the promise most grandly and
eloquently and potently 

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fulfilled is the promise, and 
was the promise of Jesus our 

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Savior, our Messiah, his life, 
death, and resurrection. 

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Jesus is the light of the world,
that light in the darkness which

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the darkness has not overcome. 
And yet we, even as we truly 

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profess and genuinely believe in
Jesus, often do not comprehend 

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this light and struggle to live 
this life of faith as we walk 

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through the darkness of this 
world. 

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Not always, not always. 
Sometimes the way of faith seems

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as bright and clear as a well 
worn path in the sunlit woods in

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the summertime. 
But at other times the path 

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disappears in the weeds, the fog
and the night, and we find 

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ourselves in the darkness, 
wondering which way to turn, 

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where to go, which light in the 
distance is the light of God, 

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and which is deceptive 
flickerings of false hopes and 

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deceptions. 
Now, I've encountered some folks

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in the churches over the years 
who have never experienced a 

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dark night of the soul, who seem
always to live in the noonday 

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sun, who seem never to have been
given a reason to doubt, and who

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are completely firm in their 
confidence, direction, and 

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faith. 
If you are such a person, thank 

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God for the blessing that God 
has given you, but please do not

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chide or sneer at or judge as 
faithless those who seek to 

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follow Jesus in the darkness. 
Those who walk in the darkness 

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are prone to fears, anxieties, 
worries, and doubts. 

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And doubt is not the opposite of
faith. 

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Some would argue that without 
doubt there is no room for 

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faith. 
Doubts at first whether we are 

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still following God in his way, 
and then doubts as to whether 

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there really is a God and a way 
and a true light. 

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They feel like this is the 
result of sin. 

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They feel like that it's a 
repudiation of faith. 

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They feel like the abandonment 
that they've been abandoned by a

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faithless God. 
Or perhaps there was never 

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really any God there at all. 
There are a lot of people living

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in that kind of darkness, some 
who have come out of faith and 

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have been led by the Spirit into
this dark night of the soul, and

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others who have never seen the 
light of faith. 

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The shooter in Minneapolis here 
a few days past is one of many, 

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many disturbing types of events,
not just for the violence, but 

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for the apparently total absence
of any ideological motive for 

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the violence. 
Just wanted to see the world 

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burn. 
Just believing there's really no

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point and no direction and no 
purpose. 

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So why not kill some people? 
The philosophers call it 

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nihilism or nihilism, depending 
on which they spell it the same 

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way they pronounce it 
differently. 

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I don't get that. 
But once again, they didn't ask 

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me. 
The nihilists. 

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The nihilists relish in the dark
night of the soul, and they say 

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00:14:00,680 --> 00:14:02,440
there is nothing but the 
darkness. 

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00:14:02,920 --> 00:14:06,640
There is no meaning, There is no
purpose, there is no direction. 

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00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:11,520
Our existence is an accident, if
it's even real at all. 

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There is nothing to look forward
to except toil and misery, or to

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the extent that we can grasp 
power and use it to make 

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ourselves feel better by doing 
whatever to the people around 

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us. 
You may have not heard the word 

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00:14:35,560 --> 00:14:38,920
before. 
Maybe you have whether you know 

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00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:41,760
that word and know that 
philosophy or not, you don't 

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00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:47,320
have to look long at the news to
realize that nihilism as an as a

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consciously accepted philosophy 
of life is on the rise in some 

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very dramatic ways. 
And there are some that live in 

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that kind of darkness, where 
they see and believe that there 

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is only power and those who seek
it or those who are crushed by 

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it. 
But dark nights don't need to 

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end in mindless, meaningless 
death and destruction, because 

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dark nights are God's good gift 
to us. 

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As surely as the sunshine of 
noon is slowly and painfully 

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stripping away our reliance on 
everything that is not God, What

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00:15:39,680 --> 00:15:43,000
we learn in the dark night of 
the soul that that warm and 

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wonderful feeling we get as we 
sit in prayer is not God. 

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That the passion that we feel as
we stand and worship is not God.

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That that sense of self or that 
sense of righteous, empowering 

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purchase purpose that we feel in
our hearts and our souls and our

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minds when we see the truth and 
when we see the direction, that 

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feeling is not God. 
And that if we chase the 

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feelings, we will inevitably 
lose sight of God, and we will 

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lose our way and be truly in the
dark. 

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And so God, in His grace and in 
His mercy, will give to those 

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faithfully following Him at 
times a darkness that leaves us 

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as His followers, with nothing 
to depend upon with except God 

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Himself, who at times withholds 
even the very sense of His 

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presence and His power and His 
purpose. 

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When we walk in this dark night 
of the soul, the best that we 

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can do, the very best that we 
can do is to remember the light 

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that we used to see, remember 
and choose to believe that it 

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was real and not imagined. 
The first time I encountered 

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this particular teaching was, 
was decades ago. 

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And, and Amy and I met a woman 
named Kimberly Butler. 

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I'm not going to give you any 
details of it other than that 

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with Kimberly's help. 
Now I'm just going to, it's 

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going to sound mysterious. 
And then we're going to, we're 

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going to, you know, like what 
was going on with the 

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sacrificing goats or something. 
Not a single goat was involved, 

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but Kimberly was guiding and 
teaching, Amy and I mentoring us

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a bit and our relationship as a 
married couple and in the realm 

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of spiritual growth and 
spiritual conflict and those 

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kinds of things. 
And Amy and I had a, a 

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tremendous connection with each 
other and, and a very sense of 

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strong sense of kinship and 
friendship with Kimberly. 

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It was one of those mountaintop 
experiences. 

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If you've ever had a mountaintop
experience, whether it camp or 

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school or church or family or 
whether, wherever this was for 

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US, one of those mountaintop 
experiences. 

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And Kimberly, as we were sitting
and basking in the glow of the 

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noonday, Son of God on the top 
of the mountain, said this won't

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last forever and you will reach 
a point where you will be 

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tempted to believe that you 
imagined all of this and none of

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it was real. 
You have to decide now that when

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that happens, you will choose to
believe that this was real and 

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not imagined. 
And we knew at that point it was

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real and not imagined. 
And I thought, I'm Kimberly 

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smart. 
That's not going to happen. 

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Well, that happens and it 
happened. 

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And I remember those days going 
did it? 

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Was it? 
Did I really did? 

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I just imagine all of that. 
And there are times when that is

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all that we can do is to choose 
to believe that the memories we 

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have are memories of what was 
and is real, because it no 

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longer feels real in the 
darkness. 

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As we walk in the darkness, we 
will stumble and we will fall as

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Abram and Sarai stumbled and 
fell over and over and over 

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again, each of them making bad 
decisions in the name of faith 

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and hope. 
Bad decisions that hurt 

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themselves and hurt other people
around them. 

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And we will do the same. 
We will make bad decisions in 

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the name of faith and hope. 
And we will hurt others in the 

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name of God, just as they did. 
And by the grace of God, we will

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become aware of just how much we
have hurt others. 

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By the grace of God, we will 
become aware of just how bad our

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decisions have been, just how 
weak our faith has been, and 

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just how much our behavior, our 
decisions have caused pain and 

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harm and hurt to others. 
And when we realize that, we 

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sink deeper into the darkness, 
shame will wrap its cloak and 

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it's blinders around you until 
all that seems to exist is 

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darkness and despair. 
And then you'll wonder if there 

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is ever a God who is good. 
How could a good God love a 

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Wretch such as me? 
But it is in the deepest 

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darkness that God will whisper 
into our darkness. 

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This is why I died. 
This is why the cross was 

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necessary for you. 
You need it too. 

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You need my grace. 
You needed my sacrifice. 

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You have no hope without it. 
You have no hope without me. 

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All of your goodness, all of 
your faith, all of your deeds, 

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all of your works, all of your 
plans, all of your intentions, 

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00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:53,440
and all of your efforts. 
With all of those things, you 

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are only paving your road to 
hell, but for God, but for 

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Jesus. 
Now a light like that is so 

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00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:17,280
faint, so ethereal, and so 
easily missed. 

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A light such as that is so 
easily drowned out and out, 

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00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:26,280
shone by the dazzling lights of 
self help, church, church work, 

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00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:29,400
praise, glory, admiration of 
others in the world. 

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00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:35,040
So many dazzling lights that the
real hope and light of God and 

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00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:39,760
Jesus often cannot be seen 
except in the darkness. 

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00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:45,800
So I want to give you the same 
comfort that God gave Abram. 

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00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:50,840
The wisdom, truth, and advice 
that God gave to Abram as the 

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00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:53,360
darkness was closing in around 
him. 

305
00:22:53,480 --> 00:22:58,200
Wisdom, truth, and advice that 
are absolutely true, absolutely 

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00:22:58,200 --> 00:23:02,760
right, absolutely written, 
necessary, and almost absolutely

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00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:05,800
futile. 
Don't be afraid. 

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Don't be afraid of the dark. 
I say futile because it's nearly

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impossible not to be afraid at 
times in that darkness. 

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00:23:27,120 --> 00:23:30,720
But in the darkness, God is 
Lord. 

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00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:34,760
God is Lord over the darkness as
well as the light. 

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00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:37,960
God is Lord over the chaos as 
well as the order. 

313
00:23:38,120 --> 00:23:42,280
God is Lord over the confusion 
as well as the clarity, the fear

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00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:45,080
and the anxiety, as well as the 
peace. 

315
00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:49,880
And though we are unfaithful, 
especially in the dark, God is 

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00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:52,520
faithful. 
And though we, like Peter and 

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00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:56,400
Judas, are unable to keep our 
promises, God always keeps his 

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00:23:56,400 --> 00:23:59,440
promises. 
So let us not despair like 

319
00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:06,480
Judas, but let us repent like 
Peter, turning and returning to 

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00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:09,560
the light, acknowledging our 
weakness and failures, 

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00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:11,760
acknowledging the harm we have 
done. 

322
00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:15,520
Whether it's individually or 
collectively. 

323
00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:22,480
Let us dispense with our pride 
and acknowledge that the best 

324
00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:30,760
that we can ever really hope to 
do is to love Jesus a little bit

325
00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:36,960
and love our neighbors ourselves
as best we can. 

326
00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:42,560
Let us humble ourselves and hear
from Him. 

327
00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:46,920
Hear from Jesus the same words 
that he spoke to Peter. 

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00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:53,200
If you love me, then feed, tend,
and care for my lambs that are 

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00:24:53,200 --> 00:25:00,760
all around you in this world. 
If we take up that task as our 

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00:25:00,760 --> 00:25:07,080
mission of faith, as our mission
of love, we can know this. 

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00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:12,240
That the work that we have been 
given to do in faith has not 

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00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:15,320
been given to us because we've 
earned the job. 

333
00:25:16,360 --> 00:25:20,120
Not because we've got such a 
stellar resume, not because we 

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00:25:20,120 --> 00:25:26,440
did such great work in our last 
position, but because God is 

335
00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:35,320
merciful and God is wise and He 
knows that we need the work that

336
00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:38,040
we're not. 
If we are not working in His 

337
00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:42,880
Kingdom by His grace to share 
His love, then we will find 

338
00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:47,840
ourselves rotting in hell by our
own efforts, decisions, and 

339
00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:51,880
righteousness. 
Sometimes we'll be working in 

340
00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:58,200
the light that other times we'll
be working in the dark, but when

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00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:04,360
the darkness falls, May God help
us to remember the light and not

342
00:26:04,360 --> 00:26:08,800
be afraid of the dark. 
In Jesus name, Amen. 

343
00:26:10,120 --> 00:26:10,480
Amen.