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Let us lift up our hearts. Let us pray. Oh gracious God our Father we lift up our hearts to you in grateful praise for the multitude of your mercies, for the blessed opportunity that is ours together in the house of prayer. We pray that you will guide us in this service of worship, forgive us of our sins, renew

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the right spirit within us, and grant that each one of us may worship you in spirit and in truth. the glory and honor of thy name we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord amen good morning and welcome to the worship of God number 308 hallelujah

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I I I Oh

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Oh Oh Oh I

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♪ All I love you, hallelujah ♪ ♪ All I love you, hallelujah ♪ ♪ All I love you, hallelujah ♪ ♪ All I love you, hallelujah ♪

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I will serve thee, hallelujah. I will serve thee, hallelujah. I will serve thee, hallelujah. I will serve thee, hallelujah.

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I will praise you, hallelujah. I will praise you, hallelujah. I will praise you, hallelujah. I will praise you, hallelujah.

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I will praise you, hallelujah. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Hallelujah, hallelujah.

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Hallelujah, hallelujah. This is our time of prayer together as we gather around the altar. Let every one of us unite our hearts in the blessed fellowship of prayer. What a friend we have in Jesus.

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All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. "Lord, teach us to pray," was the request of the disciples to Jesus. As we pray, let us not only present to God our personal concerns, but let us remember

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others, their needs, our world. May we bow our heads. O gracious God, our Heavenly Father, we bow reverently in your presence with hearts of gratitude because of the many expressions of your loving kindness.

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You have blessed every one of us. You've given us life, a reasonable portion of health and strength. You've given us freedoms to enjoy and privileges to share. And so we say thank you.

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Thank you for the gift of this day, for the privilege of being ushered into another week. We know that because of our righteousness we don't deserve any of these things. We are all sinners. We've all missed the mark.

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We've all fallen short of your glory. But because of your graciousness we are permitted to be here. And so we pray that you would equip us for your service, purge our hearts from all ill will and from envy and malice and give us pure hearts, clean vessels to be used in your

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service. Lord, we do not know what we face in another week. Some of us may be uptight, some of us may have problems that are too much for us to solve, but you know where they are.

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And we present them to you right now and we ask that whatever may be the struggle and whatever may be the obstacle, that we may be able to claim the victory in your name. We pray for this church. We pray for those who are sick, who are in hospitals today.

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We thank you for those who have experienced the measure of recovery. We pray for those families that are bereaved. Oh Lord, we thank you that you are a physician who cares about every one of us and that you have the power to heal not only the infirmities of the flesh, but of the mind and of the spirit.

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Have mercy upon us and bless us. We pray not only for this church, but we would pray for your people everywhere. Those who confess you as well as those who do not own you, we pray that we may be your instruments, that we may be the light shining in darkness.

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We pray for the suffering people of South Africa. We pray that your spirit may reign in that situation. We pray for freedom and for peace and for justice. And not only for the people of South Africa,

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but we would pray for the peoples of our world. For that day when men shall beat swords into flower shares and spears into pruning hooks and study war no longer. Oh Lord have mercy upon us and bless us as we go forth to face the challenge of a new

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week. Help us to go with you with our hand in your hand and with the blessed assurance that all will be well. We ask in Jesus name, Amen.

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[MUSIC] [ Music ] ♪ There's joy for my soul ♪ ♪ And all that is within me ♪

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♪ Can be found only in Him ♪ ♪ Let's go, Lord, let's go ♪ ♪ The cold that is within me ♪ ♪ Presses on me ♪

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♪ Hey ♪ He has come with tears He has come with tears He has come with tears

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As His body lay He has come with tears He has now revealed, He has now revealed His holy name ♪ You are strong, oh my strong ♪

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♪ And all I live within is ♪ ♪ The victory day ♪ ♪ You are strong, oh my strong ♪ [Music]

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Eternal God, as we come to this period of giving, giving our tithes and offering gifts, we ask thee, Lord, bless those who are to give and those who may not have anything to give. And may it come back threefold, Heavenly Father.

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And Heavenly Father we ask thee Lord to bless those Heavenly Father who are less fortunate than we are. We shall give you the praise for everything as we give. Amen.

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[Music] [Music] [MUSIC] ♪ All to Jesus ♪

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♪ I surrender ♪ ♪ All to Him ♪ ♪ I freely give ♪ ♪ I am ♪

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♪ Love and trust in His presence daily feed ♪ ♪ I surrender all to Him ♪ I surrender all I surrender all

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I surrender all All to Thee, Lord I surrender all. ♪ Golden Jesus, I surrender ♪

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♪ Only your kiss be my vow ♪ ♪ Early grave service ♪ ♪ Jesus, all forsaken ♪ ♪ Take me, Jesus, take me now ♪

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♪ I shall be, I shall be ♪ I surrender all, I surrender all, I surrender all, all to Thee, God, and I. ♪ Savior, I surrender all ♪ ♪ All to Jesus, I surrender all ♪

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[Music] ♪ Christ surrender ♪ ♪ Holy Savior ♪ ♪ Let me come ♪

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♪ Let me bring the ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ If you will hold my hand ♪ ♪ I'll walk on ♪

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♪ I'll stand by you ♪ ♪ I'll stand by you ♪ ♪ I shall be ♪ ♪ I shall never walk alone ♪

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♪ Home to thee, my ♪ ♪ Merciful Savior ♪ ♪ I shall praise ♪ [Music]

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Amen. As we continue our sermon series based on the Book of Psalms, We invite your attention to Psalm 38. You should read three verses in that particular psalm.

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First is verse 8. I am utterly spent and crushed. I groan because of the tumult of my heart. Verses 21, 22, Do not forsake me, O Lord, O my God, be not far from me;

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Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation. The subject, a deathbed testimony. Sickness is a part of life. Sooner or later,

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all of us experience sickness. Something happens that serves notice that there is disorder. A part of the body is not functioning as it should. Sickness is related to disease.

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The word dis-ease. We are not at ease. We are in a state of dis-ease. We're not comfortable.

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We cannot rest. We are not at peace because we are sick. Something is wrong. Psalm 38 is the prayer of a person who is critically ill, or as my grandmother

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would put it, deathly sick. Sickness is a signal that something is wrong. It may They begin with a slight pain, with soreness, or some expression of discomfort. It may continue and become progressively worse

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to the point that we are compelled to remain in bed. The hours may stretch into days and the days into weeks sometimes the weeks into months and the months into years. How we react to our sickness reveals the nature of our character. This psalm is important for

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every one of us because sickness is a part of life and if none of us has been seriously ill before we leave this world it is the case that all of us at some time will be sick. So really what is important here as we consider this psalm is to recognize that how we react to our

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sickness reveals the nature of our character. When some people are sick they're mad with everybody because they're sick. They're mad with the world. Some people when they become sick they quickly give up, they despair. Some when they are sick become angry with God. So this particular psalm is helpful because

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it gives us a vivid description of a person who is critically ill. Here is a a person who has explored countless remedies, many medicines have been applied. Instead of getting better, the condition has become steadily worse. So the patient cries unto the Lord. This psalm is a prayer, it is a lament. The patient believes his illness is due to God's

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action. His sickness is believed to be an expression of divine anger. His sickness is the results of the chastening of the Almighty. So as you read the psalm here the patient is a victim of the errors of the Almighty. In other words as he lies on his sickbed and meditates on his condition he is convinced that he is

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getting what he had coming to him. He realizes that he brought it on himself. Now all sickness is not intended by God but it is permitted by God. In his omnipotence God has permitted it, it's so arranged that if we violate certain laws we must suffer. Now we may violate the laws of good health as much as we

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please we can eat whatever we want to eat we can eat as much as we want to eat but when we eat something that we ought not eat it lets you know about it. Sooner or later we have to pay for it and sickness may serve as a discipline to warn us, it may serve to strengthen us, to make our lives better. Sickness warns us

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that something is wrong in the body that needs attention and it should be corrected in order for us to be restored to a state of health. Now sickness is prevalent. Hospitals, health care centers, convalescent homes, clinics all remind us of the presence of sickness. Drugstores, doctors, nurses, all of these remind us

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of sickness. Every pain in our body, no doubt someone who listens to me now has some pain. We all no doubt recognize some physical weakness, some disorder. There is some signal that we have that reminds us of the presence of sickness. Now in his sickness the psalmist cries unto the Lord. He says Lord rebuke me not I'm sick

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there is no soundness in my flesh there is no health in my bones. Now this is no slight illness not only has it afflicted him on the outside not only can you notice that there has been a change as far as the skin of his body is concerned but he says it's all in my bones. So this sickness has reached to the very depth

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of his existence. He's critically ill. This sickness seems to be a sickness unto death. He says so to speak I have done everything I know to do. I have I've tried everything, every human remedy I know. And so Lord, I'm presenting the case to you.

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My iniquities have gone over my head. Here I find myself in it over my head. There's nothing I can do. And I find myself with a burden that is too heavy

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for me to carry. Now what happens, what happens when sickness becomes a burden too heavy for us to bear? Well, this man, the psalmist here,

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cries unto the Lord. take your burden to the Lord and leave it there. For if you trust and never doubt, he will surely bring you out.

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Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there. Now I said this sickness has brought the sufferer to the depths of despair. Now some of us know how it is

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when you've just been sick a short time. I hear some people say, "Rev. I just can't, "I'm just not accustomed to being sick, "and I just can't deal with this."

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And sometimes they've just been sick just for a day or two. But here is a man who has been sick for a long time. He has a protracted illness, And he has gone down, down, down, and here he is on the deathbed and we listen to his testimony.

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As he talks with the Lord, he has come to the very depths of despair. And the wonderful thing about it is when you have, you have gone as low as you can go. That when there's no human resource that can somehow reach your case that when you are really down there as low as you are

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as possible for you to go that there is one to whom you can call and cry in your despair and he says to the Lord my wounds grow foul and fester because of my foolishness In other words, Lord, I know what got me here, it's my foolishness. And I confess that it was my waywardness and my disobedience that put me in this condition. I'm utterly bowed

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down and prostrate all the day I go about mourning. Lord, I am as low as I can go my lawns are filled with burning and there is no soundness in my flesh I'm troubled by aches and pains I am utterly spent and crushed I've given out I'm utterly spent, I don't have any more strength. I'm utterly spent, I'm crushed.

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My hopes are shattered and I groan because of the tumult of my heart. You know, sickness brings a sense of alienation, alienation, strangeness. You don't feel that others feel and share what you share. Oh, they come to the bed and then they say I hope you get well and all of that but there

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is a sense of alienation of you know you just don't know how I feel and we really don't. We may try to put ourselves in that position but there's always a sense of alienation. The sufferer feels that there is a great distance between himself and others. Even though you may be in the same family, there's a sense of alienation where there is sickness.

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And there's a strangeness in the relationship. You know, the moment someone becomes ill, there's a certain strangeness that develops. And many times, you can't do what you used to do. You can't be where you used to be.

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You don't feel like you used to feel, and there is a sense of alienation. And so he feels, he feels, this sufferer does, that he is not as close to the eternal as he once was. That is close to God.

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He feels God is far from him now. I don't know why it is, but when you get sick many times, you just feel that God isn't as close. people say well I didn't come to church because I didn't feel well. They go other

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places when they don't feel well. But somehow they just came in to church. That they somehow feel. In other words they ought to be coming more it seems to me. You know if they really believe in the Lord. But somehow they feel that the Lord is farther away and there is a great distance that is now between you and the Lord. Sense of alienation. And certainly you get that with the people that you once associated with because you don't see them as often

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as you used to see them. Most of the time when you get sick the first day or two the minute will come but the longer you stay ill the fewer are visits. And we somehow have the practice of putting the person off somewhere. We put them in the hospital, we put them in the nursing homes, we put them in isolation wards, and

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if they have some dreadful or some unusual disease, we are very careful and we make our visits few. That's just the nature of sickness. But he prays to God. He recognizes that there's a distance here and so he engages in prayer because he wants to bridge the gap. He wants to be in in tune with the infinite. He wishes

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to have fellowship with the eternal, he wants to enjoy holy community. And so the sufferer who has descended to the depths of despair reaches up to God from his deathbed, he prays to God, he chooses to talk with God about his condition. No matter what may be our condition, dreadful it may be you can always talk to God about it. For it's on his bed of

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affliction now that he talks to the Lord and this is what he says, "Lord all my longing is known to you, my sigh is not hidden from you, my heart throbs, my strength fails me, and the light of my eyes has gone from me. My friends and companions stand aloof from me because of my plague, because of the malady that I

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have, the people that used to come around me don't come around anymore, those who used to be associated with me are not there anymore, and I'm avoided because of the plague. That's the nature of sickness. We have a problem today, AIDS. AIDS is a dreadful disease and we haven't found out yet just what causes it. And people are becoming more

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and more concerned about, I want to be sure that, you know, I'm going to be careful what I do here and what I do there because if you get this, there's no cure that we know anything about. And we are concerned. Sickness brings isolation, it brings loneliness, it brings separation. Sickness causes us to be in intensive care units and left

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alone and when we stay sick relatives and friends and acquaintances often isolate us. But the question is how do we react when we are deserted in time of sickness? Do we despair? Do we just give up? Do we become angry? Do we do we wish to do as Job's wife suggested to him, curse God and die? But the psalmist, yeah,

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beseeches the Almighty, he goes to God in the blessed fellowship of prayer, he says to an evil persons take advantage of my illness, and that often happens. When you get sick, those who had something against you, they're glad you're sick. And they wish that you were dead.

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As that song says, "I'll be glad when you're dead, you rascal you. I'll be glad when you're dead, you rascal you. I'll be standing on the corner high when they bring your body by. I'll be glad when you're dead, you rascal.

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Now the psalmist you see has this experience. He says those who seek my life lay their snares. Those who seek my hurt speak of ruin and they meditate treachery all the day long. And there are those who say during what seems to be my terminal illness that I'll be glad when you're gone.

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And so this sickness which is considered a kind of punishment, this sickness which is a part of life, this sickness which expresses many times God's permissive will and God's action in our lives, the arrows of the Almighty, the wonderful thing about it is that there is also the grace of God and the healing mercy of God that is always available no

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matter where we are. So here is a prayer for God's deliverance. He says do not forsake me O Lord, O my God be not far from me, make haste to help me O Lord my salvation. When you come to that last point in life, that last stage, when you when you're at the last point in despair to cry out to God, "Lord, help me, you are my salvation!"

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That's faith. Somehow in the midst of the greatest circumstances, the greatest obstacles, in the midst of the dense darkness, when there's no light at all, when there's no sun in your sky, no stars that you can see and you find yourself in the utter darkness to cry out to God, you are my salvation. That's hope

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and that's faith. Oh for a faith that will not shrink, though pressed by every foe. Assurance of victory, that's what the Psalmist has here. Assurance of victory, rate. And you see you need that because some of us find ourselves with ailments that we're gonna have the rest of our lives. And if you really think that God's

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gonna cure everything if we talk to him about and he doesn't cure your ailment when you pray about it, then you get angry with God. You've got something and you'd like to get rid of that. You know, I'd like to get rid of my sinus, but it's there.

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Maybe you'd like to get rid of your arthritis, but it's there. You'd like to get rid of your hypertension, your heart rate pressure, but it's there,

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and it's gonna be there. And somehow we have to learn how to live with that and to keep our faith in God in spite of the fact that we have to deal with the infirmities of the flesh.

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Deal with that. Paul gives us some insight into that. He's a good man. He's doing everything he can for God.

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But he has a thorn in the flesh. He has some chronic sickness. And he said, "I talked to God about it three times I went to God and I said take it away, take it away Lord here I am out here serving in your name burning

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myself up and I could do even more if you take this thorn out of my flesh but he said Lord left it there, he said my strength is made perfect in your human weakness. That my grace is sufficient for you and that all we need somehow is to embrace God and God's acceptance of us is enough. That's enough. And God speaks

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to us through Jesus Christ to show us that he accepts us in spite of these infirmities. Wonderful thing about it is he can cause the church to prosper even in ill health. He comes to us. That's good news. That's good news. I can remember when I was in Cleveland working with Dr. McKinney at the Antioch Church and I was

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fresh out of seminary. One day he said come and go with me and we went out to the hospital to the tubercula hospital. Tuberculosis patients were there. There was a young lady there that had tuberculosis and I remember when we came to the to the room before we could go in we had to put on special things we had

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to put something over our mouths, we had to put on gloves, and say are you afraid to go in here? I said no, and we went in and we talked with the young lady, she was engaged to get married, and we visited with her, and so many people said did you, did you go in there? I wouldn't have gone in there, and I've gone in many

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since then sometimes it's been burned sometimes and this or that. But I thought about how Jesus comes to us. Sometimes when our condition is beyond human repair and we are isolated and left out there all alone that Jesus comes right where we are and anoints our wounds. He touches the leper. He's off there isolated and he's rejected and despised but Jesus touches him, comes right where we are and the wonderful thing is that God can give us

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victory even in our sickness. May I never get over it but he can give you the strength to bear with it. I remember a dear lady in early part of my ministry as pastor of the New Hope Church in Waco. She was on her sickbed, her deathbed, but she continued to make her testimony to the Lord. Her name was Rhoda, Sister Rhoda Ashford. She was a

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circle leader but she could do more with that circle right there on the telephone in her bed than many were able to do that were up and about and she didn't let her sickness be an excuse her husband was a deacon he was chairman of the deacons she didn't let her sickness be an excuse. Now sometimes people say

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well you know I didn't do this because I you know you know Reverend I have sickness and we just lean on that many times and we make it a crutch as to what we're not gonna do because you know I have sickness and we also oh yes yes yes but when the time came for him to do something in the church

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you said you go ahead on leave me here you go ahead on don't don't let the work stop her sickness was not an excuse. That's so behind the midst of her sickness she glorified God and used it as an opportunity to show how God was victorious in her life even in the midst of the sickness. What a friend we have. Oh Lord he says as he closes my salvation what a friend, what a

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friend. Someone who is with us wherever we are, who lifts our spirit when we are in the depths of despair. What a friend we have in Jesus. [ Silence ]