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[BLANK_AUDIO] [MUSIC] ♪ God praise His name ♪ ♪ He's captain of the ocean ♪

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♪ He's captain of the sea ♪ ♪ He rides on every windstorm ♪ ♪ And He moves in every breeze ♪ ♪ I keep on telling you that God is a good God ♪

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♪ And God won't ever change ♪ ♪ God is a good God ♪ ♪ And God will ever praise his name ♪ ♪ Alpha and he's Omega ♪

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♪ He's the beginning and he's the end ♪ ♪ He'll save your soul from a burning hell ♪ ♪ And he will wash away all of your sins ♪ ♪ I keep on telling you that God is a good God ♪

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♪ God won't ever change ♪ ♪ God is a good God ♪ ♪ That's why I'm here to praise his name ♪ ♪ God led the children of Israel ♪

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♪ Across the mighty Red Sea ♪ ♪ He led them to a promised land ♪ ♪ And he can do the very same for you ♪ ♪ I keep on telling you that ♪

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♪ God is a good God ♪ ♪ And he won't ever change ♪ ♪ God is a good God ♪ ♪ That's why I never run race to Maine ♪

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♪ There's nothing too hard for my God ♪ ♪ There's nothing that he cannot do ♪ ♪ He's still working miracles ♪ ♪ And if you need one ♪

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♪ He will work one just for you ♪ ♪ I keep telling you that God is a good God ♪ ♪ And I know God won't ever change ♪ ♪ God is a good God ♪

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♪ That's why I never, never praise his name ♪ ♪ God is a good God ♪ ♪ And he won't ever ♪ ♪ God won't ever change ♪

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♪ God is a good God ♪ ♪ That's why I'll ever praise his name ♪ ♪ That's why I'll ever praise his name ♪ ♪ Forever praise Him ♪

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♪ His name ♪ ♪ His name ♪ - Amen. - Amen.

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Hear this word, recorded in the gospel according to Luke, 6th chapter, the 27th through the 30th verses. Luke chapter six, verses 27 through 30.

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I say unto you which hear, love your enemies. Do good to them which hate you. Bless them that curse you.

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Pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on one cheek, offer also the other. and him that taketh away thy cloak,

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forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every man that asketh of thee, and of him that taketh away thy goods, ask them not again. And as ye would that men should do to you,

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do ye also to them likewise. Doing the impossible. Doing the impossible. According to Luke's gospel,

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These words are a part of what is called the Sermon on the Plain. In the Gospel according to Matthew, this is a part of that sermon which is called the "Sermon on the Mount" contained in the fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters of the book of Matthew. These words which I have read as the basis of the morning message,

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In many Bibles, we have them in red letters, a red print, indicating that they are the words of Jesus. [Audience "Amens"] They are His demands for His pupils.

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They are his requirements for Christian discipleship. Listen again to them. Love your enemies. Do good to them that hate you.

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Bless them that curse you. Pray for them that despitefully use you. To him that smited you on one cheek, turn the other. To him who takes your coat, give him your overcoat also.

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Give to every person who asks you. And as you wish others to do to you, do to them likewise. Brothers and sisters, this is doing the impossible. These demands are considered in the society in which we live as the impossible ethic.

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But it is the case that this sermon in which Jesus states these requirements is a listing of requirements that are like the stars in the sky. They are high above us. We are earthbound creatures. We look at the stars. We watch the stars. But we're not expected to reach them.

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But Jesus does not deliver this sermon just to fill in the schedule for his day's activities. He's not talking to his disciples just to hear himself talk. He gives an assignment which he expects his disciples

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to fulfill. The disciples of Jesus are called to dream the impossible dream and to reach unreachable star. So our task is to do the impossible. The US Army Service Forces have this slogan, "The difficult we do immediately, the impossible takes a a little longer. We're called as Christians to do the impossible.

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Ryan Holden Eber, a noted theologian of our times, talks in his writings about the impossible possibility, the impossible possibility. And he describes it as moral man in immoral society. And it's like trying to catch clean fish

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in a contaminated pool. impossible possibility. We may well ask, why should we concern ourselves here today with, or any day for that matter,

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with the impossible? Abandon it, leave it alone, it's impossible. We have enough trouble trying to do the possible. Jesse Jackson has many catchy rhyming phrases

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and one of them is, "If you can believe it, "you can achieve it." The impossible. Who lives this way?

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That Jesus is telling them, "Love your enemies. "Love those who are against you. Love those who are doing everything in their power to harm you and destroy you.

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Love them. Accept them. Do everything in your power to help them. Love them, no matter what they may do to you.

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Now that's what Jesus says. That's what he requires of you and me. Lord, is that what you really mean? Love those who are waiting to ambush and assassinate me,

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who are bombing my home, who burn church and synagogue. Love them, those who put poison in my soup. Isn't it enough to tolerate the enemy? But love them, that's a little much.

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Aren't you expecting too much? Let me be passive and leave the enemy alone. No, love the enemy. Be passionately concerned.

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Reaching out, love everybody, But love your enemy. Be aggressive. Be proactive.

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Be for the enemy, even though the enemy is busy working against you. Love the enemy. The one who has stolen my legacy,

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Robbed me of first class citizenship. Caused me to be disenfranchised and disinherited. Loving? Lord, this is impossible.

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I don't have the strength. I'm not that strong. You've given me, Lord, an impossible task. Wait, there's more he says.

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Love the enemy and do good to those who hate you. Bless them that curse you. Those who wish the worst for you, you wish the best for them. Peace on earth, goodwill toward all men. Don't just reserve those phrases for Christmas.

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Christmas comes just once a year. Do it every day, every moment of your existence. That's what he says. Pray for those who despitefully use you. Now Lord, I've been preaching 50 years

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and I've been going to prayer meetings and I have heard people praying for those who despitefully use me. Have you?

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This is an impossible task And it is not something that we find most of those who call themselves Christians doing. What you say about that, it must be for another generation and another time. In other words, we live by, I grew up saying, "I'm not going to take the last lick."

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You hit me, expect to get hit back. I was reared with that. And then Lord, what you have to say about giving, that troubles me.

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You say give to every person. Did you hear that? The language give to every person who asks you. Who can afford that?

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[ Laughter ] You know, give to every person who asks. Too many bums, too many beggars, they're all along the way. I saw some this morning on my way to church.

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Stop and give to them if they stop me even at the traffic signal and come up to the car. You expect me to give to everyone who asks? What am I going, how much would I have left for me?

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Lord, I've got to interpret this word to the people of God at Ebenezer. And they would like for me to include some exceptions to this.

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But, he comes back and he says to me, my word is the same. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Forever my word is the same. Lord, this is the impossible dream. Do good to those that hate you. Bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you, to him that smites you on one cheek,

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turn the other, to him that takes your coat, give to him your overcoat. A. Clayton Powell delivered an address in San Antonio a number of years ago, and he The good master says that if he smites you on one cheek, turn the other cheek, he said,

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but he didn't say what to do after that. (audience laughing) He said, I'll tell you what to do after that, knock the hell out of you.

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(audience laughing) That's the impossible dream. The impossible dream, the impossible. And if someone takes your coat,

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give to them your old coat. And as you wish, listen to that language, as you wish that others will do to you, as you'd like for them to do,

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you do unto them. Not what they do, but as you wish for them to do. And everybody wishes for himself or herself the best and the kindest treatment.

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So if we're gonna live by that, be a different world. Lord, this is impossible. But you have called us to dream the impossible dream

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and to reach the unreachable star. Dr. Shuler says, this is possibility thinking, possibility thinking. Prophets talk about the last days, last days.

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And we are children of the last days. Let me take just a moment, I don't have much time, but to take a moment to talk about what it means to live in the last days.

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In other words, suppose you knew for sure that this was your last day on earth. How different it would be to live. If you knew that this is your last day.

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Last day, we live differently. There's a story of a man who was on his deathbed. He thought he was gonna die. There was another brother who had done something to him

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and he held that grudge all the years and he asked that he be brought to his bedside. And he said to him, "Jim," he said, "you know that something that came up between us years ago,

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"I've had all these years against you. "You see, if I die tonight, all of that is forgiven." He said, "But if I live, things are just like they were." (audience laughing)

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Last days, how do we live the last days? (audience laughing) And if you really live as one, the prophet always talking about end of the last days,

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in the last days, in the last days, people shall come from all of the ends of the earth, and they shall gather on that holy hill called Malachi. In the last days, the last days,

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the last days women and sons and daughters will prophesy in the last days. So we, it's called the eschaton and the eschatological community.

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We are children of the last days. We live as if, because the last has to do with the goal toward which we strive. And we pray thy kingdom come because we know

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that the kingdom has already come in our hearts. The last days, the last days. So living in the last days, we recognize that we who are called

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to be like the first Christians, to be people who live like the last has already come. That's what we're supposed to be doing. And you see, when you see that early community,

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they were living like that. That's why they sold their property. And they were sharing all that they had, and they were going from house to house,

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Rejoicing in the Lord because for them, the last had already come. So if you really live for the last days, you won't worry too much about it.

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Take no thought of what you shall eat, what you shall drink, living in the last days. So don't worry about the enemy. Don't worry about the enemy.

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Don't be disturbed about those who hate you. Love them. Love them to death. "Fred not thyself because of evil doers,

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"for they shall soon be cut down like the grass "and wither as the green herd." Trust in the Lord. And do good and verily thou shalt dwell in the land,

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verily thou shalt be fed. God the impossible becomes possible. Sure. Go back, read it over and over again. It's impossible for us. We can't do that of ourselves, but we serve a God who does the impossible. In fact, God specializes in things we think impossible.

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In other words, God, God, God, the three in one, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, all in one, that's an impossible possibility. But with God, it's possible, with God.

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God is the God of the impossible possibility. A virgin is with child. That's impossible, the immaculate conception. That's impossible, but with God, it is possible.

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With God, this multitude of 5,000 hungry, And here is a lad with just two barley loaves and three fishes, just a few fishes and two barley loaves. And the multitude is fed and twelve baskets left over. It's impossible to feed that many people and have that much left from the earthly viewpoint. But with God, with God, it's possible.

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The blind are unable to see, but with God the blind see. The lame cannot walk, but with God the lame walk. With God the deaf cannot hear, but with God, without God, they cannot hear, but with God they can hear.

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God does the impossible. The impossible possibility. You wanna know what the greatest impossible possibility is? It's the resurrection.

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It's the resurrection. God wraps himself in human flesh, comes down here on earth, and they kill him on a cross between two thieves,

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and they put him in the tomb. And he'll not get up. That's the decree of men. But with God, early, early on Easter Sunday morning,

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he gets up, walks the streets again. God does the impossible. I could go on and on about how he closed the mouth of lions. how children of fiery fairness are able to walk

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and come out alive. He does the impossible. But I know how he has done the impossible in my own life. He's done the impossible.

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People say he can't make it, he can't go to school, he can't, he's too poor, his people aren't able to do that. But my mother said, God, just in God's sight, God will make a way and he does make a way.

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He opens doors that are shut. God does the impossible. So all we have to do really is believe and trust him. You know, you hear the old folk used to say,

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put it in the hands of God. And that's enough. That's enough not only for right now, that's enough for right now and forever. God, with Him is the impossible possibility.

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So, this is what the scripture tells us. Just believe. If a man be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things are passed away and all things are new.

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And we are able to say with the apostle, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And we come now to present the invitation to Christian discipleship.

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Come believing in God, come trusting in his word. I invite you to come as we sing, "Only Believe." All things are possible, only believe. The door is open.

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Invitation to Christian discipleship, you may come as a candidate for baptism on profession of faith, by letter, In our Christian experience, the restoration comes.

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Comes. Comes. All things are possible. Only, only believe.

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Only trust it. ♪ Fear not little one ♪ ♪ From the cross of the Lord ♪ ♪ From death into life ♪

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♪ Divine for His own ♪ ♪ All power in Him ♪ ♪ All power above ♪ ♪ Is given to Him ♪

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♪ For the cloud of His love ♪ ♪ Only believe ♪ ♪ Only believe ♪ ♪ Only in the possible ♪

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♪ Only believe ♪ ♪ Only believe ♪ ♪ Only believe ♪ ♪ All things are possible ♪

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♪ Only believe ♪ ♪ Dear God, good Lord ♪ - That's hymn number 144, I believe it is. ♪ Your shepherd sent ♪

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♪ And at the path you tread ♪ - 184, 184. ♪ The waters of love ♪ ♪ Are the hills of Sweden ♪

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♪ For thee ♪ ♪ He drank all the bitter wine ♪ ♪ The bitter in testimony ♪ ♪ Only believe ♪

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♪ Only believe ♪ ♪ All things are possible ♪ ♪ Only believe ♪ ♪ Only believe ♪

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♪ Only believe ♪ ♪ All things are possible ♪ ♪ Only believe ♪ ♪ Only believe ♪

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♪ Only He lives ♪ ♪ All things are possible ♪ ♪ Only He lives ♪ ♪ Only He lives ♪

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♪ Only He lives ♪ ♪ All things are possible ♪ ♪ If you only believe ♪ - As believers in your name, oh God,

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send us forth this day to do the impossible because we know that with you, impossible is possible. Grace, mercy, and peace be with you. From God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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[ Music ] [BLANK_AUDIO]