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[ Silence ] [Music] I've got a feeling everything's gonna be alright. I've got a feeling everything's gonna be alright.

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Lord, I've got a feeling everything's gonna be alright. Be alright, be alright, be alright. ♪ Jesus told me everything's gonna be alright ♪ ♪ Jesus told me everything's gonna be alright ♪

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♪ Jesus told me everything's gonna be alright ♪ ♪ Be alright, be alright, be alright ♪ [Music] ♪ The Holy Ghost told me ♪

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♪ Everything's going to be all right ♪ ♪ The Holy Ghost told me ♪ ♪ Everything's going to be all right ♪ ♪ The Holy Ghost told me ♪

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♪ Everything's going to be all right ♪ ♪ Be all right ♪ ♪ Be all right ♪ ♪ Be all right ♪

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♪ I've got a feeling ♪ ♪ Everything's going to be all right ♪ ♪ I've got a feeling ♪ ♪ Everything's going to be all right ♪

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♪ I've got a feeling ♪ ♪ Everything's going to be all right ♪ ♪ Be all right ♪ ♪ Be all right ♪

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♪ Be all right ♪ say amen. To my father in the ministry, Pastor Griffin, my senior Pastor Reverend Franklin, my brothers and sisters in Christ, I just praise the Lord for being here. You know, we were talking about in the last Wednesday night meeting about things to be thankful

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for and it just didn't cross my mind until after the whole thing was over with that I was just thankful to the Lord that I've got a car that runs. Some of you all that know I seem like I always have problems with cars but God is so good and he's granted us to see the beauty of this morning. We thank him

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for his goodness and his grace. Let us pray. Oh, gracious master, we thank you for allowing us to be here today,

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and we ask that you may be with us. Lord, we ask for your spirit at this hour. And Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart

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be acceptable in thy sight. Oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Amen. We want to pay particular attention to one verse

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that is within our text this morning that is found in 2 Timothy 2, chapter two, verse 12. It reads as follows. For the witch cause I also suffer these things, nevertheless I am not ashamed,

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for I know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. The title of the message, "Beyond Speculation." "Beyond Speculation."

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To speculate, as Webster defines it, is to engage in risky transaction. It is to gamble, to take a chance on something of which we're not too sure.

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And for the most part, that is the story of our lives. It's a guessing game. Life for the most part is a matter of taking risks.

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We live not knowing what to expect. We find ourselves speculating on the things to come. We stand at the threshold of entering a new presidential administration.

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And as much as we hope and pray that everything will be okay for the direction of this country under this new administration. In the final analysis, we just don't know.

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We're unsure of the challenges that face us each day. You know, I thank God that I have a job and I thank the Lord that I am able to work. But you know, there's not a day that goes by

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when I am traveling to my place of employment, that the thought doesn't cross my mind that there's a possibility that when I get there, I may not have a job.

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People are losing their jobs every day for one reason or another. We speculate on things like that. We just don't know.

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Many times we're caught by the surprise of the unexpected. I can remember one time I was attending a night service at a church that I used to attend and we were having such a good time

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and I was filled with the spirit until the moment when I came out of the service after the service, that when I came out and found that somebody had jacked my little car up.

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Taking all of my tires and set it down on blocks. We're caught by surprise of the unexpected. We live our lives guessing, hoping, praying that everything is going to be all right. We take risks and we enter into life not really sure of that which is to come.

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Yet we hear the words of the Apostle Paul as he declares with great conviction, I know, of whom I believe. And I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that, that I've committed unto him against that day.

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There's no waffling of opinion. There's no guesswork. There's no trying to figure out if he's right or wrong. Paul declares with a great proclamation, "I know."

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It was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who said, "It is not that I think or believe in a certain matter, but I know." The apostle demonstrates that same confidence in saying, "It doesn't matter what things may look like or the way things may be.

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I know of whom I believe." But the question may be raised, and rightly so, how can Paul be so sure? How does Paul really know in whom he believes? And there may be many reasons for his convictions.

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But one thing is for sure, in Christ, Paul finally found that which is beyond speculation. There's no risk factor, no guesswork. In Jesus Christ, Paul could be sure. And you know that's important.

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That's important to life to have something that you're sure of. You know, in last week's Wednesday night Sunday school teachers meeting, we were discussing the lesson and the pastor was expounding upon the political element in Jeremiah's life. We were talking about how the nation was going through a whole lot of things, that is Judah.

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He was trying to recall the last king of Judah before the Babylonian exile. He couldn't remember the name and I was thinking to myself, "Well, I've got him now." I said, "It's Zedekiah." And he said, "No, it wasn't Zedekiah."

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And I said, "Yeah, I believe it was Zedekiah because the name started with a Z." And he said, "No, no, the name started with a J." And we finally looked it up and we found out he was right. It was Jehoah Chin.

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And I was thinking, I said, "Well, in order for me not to be completely outdone, I said, 'Well, at least it sounded like a Z.'" But you know, the thing was, the pastor said, "I know that because I have studied Jeremiah. Jeremiah is one of my favorite books.

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And I know Jeremiah." Do you know that's somewhat of an illustration of who Christ is in our lives? For Jesus knows all there is to know about all there is to know and more. And Paul is convicted to the very measure that Jesus is the one who he can depend on

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regardless of what happens. And that's the reason he says, "I know." Paul says that Jesus Christ has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. You know, apart from Christ, we don't really know what living is.

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has said that many of us live our lives in mere existence. And sometimes I find myself being caught up in the drudgery of life just trying to make ends meet. I go to work, I I go to school, I go home. I go to work, I go to school, I go home.

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Just trying to last out, trying to make ends meet. And you know a lot of times we gotta be careful for that. Because you know Jesus said, "A man's life is not so much in how much he owns,

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"but how much he is in tune with God." There are times when we forget what life is really all about. Barely making it, trying to live out life in a daily routine. That's not what living really is.

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For Jesus has said, I have come that you may have life and that you may have it more abundantly. Jesus Christ has brought life to light through the gospel. And yet, he has brought something else to life.

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And that is immortality. Job asked the question, if a man dies, shall he live again? And this is a question that has been bandied about for as long as we've been here. Shakespeare's Hamlet calls death the undiscovered country from which, from whose born, no traveler

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returns. And that is the way a lot of people think about death, that it's a land of no return. But Jesus Christ, the one who has come back from the dead, contradicts that assessment. I am the resurrection and the life.

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There's no guesswork, no gambling about this, no risking. He that believeth in me hath everlasting life. And well, when we think upon these words of the Master, and when we think upon the conviction of the Apostle Paul, some may think that these words are a little too dogmatic, too literal,

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and too emphatic in content. And there may be those who will have a problem with the words because they're just too straightforward. But you know, in the words of that famed news anchor, Walter Cronkite, as he would close his broadcast at the end of the day, "That's the way it is.

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It doesn't matter if we like it or if we don't like it. That's just the way it is. Oh, you know, we spend so much time, waste a whole lot of time speculating,

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arguing over spiritual matters. I had one brother come up to me one time when I got through voting. And he asked me, he said, have you

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received the spirit of the Holy Ghost? And I said, yes. He said, "Do you speak in tongues?" And I said, "No."

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And he said, "Well, you haven't got it." And we sat there and we argued for about 15 minutes until I came to myself. And I said, "Well, let me ask you a question."

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I said, "Do you love the Lord?" And he said, "Yes." And I said, "Well, I love him, too." And that's all there is to it.

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There's no argument about that. I don't have any problem with you speaking in tongues. You shouldn't have any problems with me not speaking in tongues as both as we know and love Jesus Christ.

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There's no speculation about that. No argument. Jesus Christ, in Jesus Christ, we are brothers. And Paul says, "I have been appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher."

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Not so much as a speculator, not so much as engaging in gambling or risk taking or guessing about this whole matter. Paul says, "I have been appointed an apostle, a preacher, and a teacher to go out and tell the good news everywhere I go."

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And you know, that's what I've come to realize in my own life. You know, I'm in seminary right now and I need your prayers. And you know, if you ever think within yourself that you know a whole lot of things, seminary will demonstrate to you that there are a whole lot of things that you still don't know.

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There are a whole lot of questions that are being brought forth that I never even thought A whole lot of speculations that are being put forth that I never even considered. And sometimes it would get to a point to where, well what is it that I do know about the Bible? Since they're telling me all of these things that I don't know and convincing me of some.

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Well I have come to the conclusion that regardless of what I may learn there, or what I may learn here, no matter what I may go through in life, I can say along with the Apostle Paul, I know. I know that beyond speculation, I know. I know of whom I believe, and I know that God is going to take care of me.

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And you know that's really all we need to know in this life. We don't need to argue, we don't need to be guessing about it, we don't need to do all of these things that may draw us away from Christ. Let us draw closer to Christ. Let us be convicted in the fact that we know that Jesus Christ is. You know there

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may be times when it feels like I wonder how much love God has for us. I turn in my Bible and I realize that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. And sometimes when I travel in darkness, not knowing which way to go, I turn in my Bible and I read that Jesus says, "I am the light of the world." And there may be times

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when my direction is short and I may be facing all closed doors and not know which way to go. Jesus says, "I am the door. If any man enter in, he shall be saved." You know we're gonna go through a whole lot of things in this life. A whole lot of trouble in this life. So much trouble that we may come to a point where we don't know what

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we know. But at that time we can turn in our Bibles and we can read that the master says in this war you're gonna have tribulations. But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Jesus Christ is beyond speculation and above anything and everything we can trust in him. Do you have that blessed assurance? Do you

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know that Jesus Christ is beyond all of our hoping, all of our guessing, all of I was speculating that Jesus Christ is the one that we can all put our hope in. And we have a blessed assurance, blessed assurance that Jesus Christ is there for us. If you don't have that assurance today, you're invited to come at this time.

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The door of the church is open to come join the family of those who say, "I know." I have a blessed assurance in Jesus Christ. you come. God is so good.

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He's been our protector day in and day out. We can say, "I know." We can say, "We know." That Jesus Christ is good.

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This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long. Earthly salvation, earthly delight, Angels who've treaded the earth so last night,

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Angels who sing, ranger of love, angels of mercy, whispers of love. This is my song, this is my song, raising my sails, holding it low.

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This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long. Worthy is the mission, all is at rest, I my Savior am happy and blessed.

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♪ Watching and waiting, laughing and laughing ♪ ♪ And in His promise, trusting His word ♪ ♪ This is my story, this is my song ♪ ♪ Praising my Savior all the day long ♪

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♪ This is my story ♪ ♪ This is my song ♪ ♪ This is my statement ♪ ♪ All the day long ♪

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