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[ Silence ] (silence) [silence] [ Silence ]

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[ Silence ] [The video is shown.] [The video is shown.] [The video is paused for the next 30 seconds.]

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[The woman is shown in a room with a mirror. She is shown in the mirror, looking at the mirror, and looking at the mirror.] [The woman is shown in a room with a mirror. She is shown in the mirror, looking at the mirror, and looking at the mirror.] [The video is shown again in slow motion.] [ Silence ]

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[The film is available in English and Spanish on the website www.thevenusproject.com] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [The film was shot in the United States in March, 1995.]

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[The film was shot in the United States in March, 1995.] [The film was shot in the United States in March, 1995.] [The film was shot in the United States in March, 1995.] [The film was shot in the United States in March, 1995.]

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[Silence] [Music] Let us stand. [Music]

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This is my father's world And to my listening ears, all nature sings and 'round me rings the music of the sea. ♪ This is my Father's world ♪ ♪ I rest here in the Lord ♪

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♪ No rocks and trees or fires and sea ♪ ♪ Is my more wonderful world ♪ This is my father's world The birds and the rose-grain

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The morning light, the living light The angels and the praise This is my foremost love, he shines in all I do. In broken glass I hear him shout, he speaks to me every word.

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This is my father's world, so let me never forget. Let all the wrongs he has done, but he will rule again. This is my Father's Word, the measure that we are done. We trust the lights that the evil night, can never, can never be gone.

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After John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying, "The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye and believe the gospel." Mark the first chapter and the 15th verse.

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God's rule. God's rule. Central in the preaching of Jesus is the proclamation of God's rule in human history. Amid foul and foggy weather comes the sunshine,

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proclaiming God's presence and power in the human situation. In the midst of the catastrophic occurrences in history comes the good news of God's rule. John the Baptist is arrested and placed behind prison bars.

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His stern voice of righteousness is removed from the public scene and made to suffer isolation and loneliness in a secluded dungeon. John, the powerful and persuasive,

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Baptist witness in the wilderness. The man who baptized Jesus and aroused and pricked the conscience of the nation, the man who pointed others to Jesus saying behold the Lamb of God is a prisoner of the opposition. At such a time as this Jesus came preaching the gospel of the kingdom, the good news of the rule of God.

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It was for Jesus the right time to begin his ministry. It was the time to declare God's rule. God is King. Gone are the days when the absolute monarch is popular among the governing nations of the world. Those who retain the title of King for the most part do not have the power. The monarchy in the British Empire

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is without absolute power. The Shah of Iran was defeated because it was claimed that he sought to exercise absolute control. We live in a time when the popular slogan is down with the monarchy, more power to the people. But the Kingdom of God is a monarchy. God himself is the ruler. It is not a committee. God is king. He does

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not share the throne with anyone. He does not have to compete with anyone for his power. He is King. So we live in times when people question the existence of the absolute and worship that which is relative.

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God is that absolute power. He is King of the universe. The universe is His. He has made it.

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The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. God rules the world. It's his, he made it. It is subject to his laws.

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He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods. God rules. The sovereignty of God is not a new idea. It was not something that just appeared on the scene with the beginning of the public

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ministry of Jesus. The Jewish people had long accepted the idea that God rules the universe. God has all power, but the devil, the prince of this world, has some power. They believe that God is present in human history,

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moving toward that final consummation. They look forward to the end of time when God would set things in order, when he would make the crooked straight

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and the rough places plain. The end of time, that time in history, in the distant future,

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when the wicked will cease from troubling and the weary will be at rest. But not now. But Jesus appears on the scene declaring that the time is now. The kingdom of God is at hand.

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It is present here and now. The rule of God has arrived. on the scene right now. God's rule is occurring in human history and this is something new. It's a new interpretation of history. It calls for a new

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understanding of ourselves and a new understanding of the human situation. It It calls for a new understanding of our relationship with God. God rules. Philosophers, theologians, and prophets

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have interpreted God's rule in human history as being established through an ethical commonwealth, which would gradually come and bring perfection in history through the exercise of love and moral actions.

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In other words, God will rule when everybody learns how to love everybody. God will rule supremely when everybody does what is right. And that will happen at the end of history.

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And most of us who are alive in the here and now say, "Well, I don't have time to wait that long." People are quick to answer in that way, because ours is a generation that will not be satisfied with the promise of pie in the sky, by and by.

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We're concerned about what we're going to have for breakfast, and the satisfaction of our pangs of hunger right now. We must be dealt with in the light of what our situation is now. Well how long must we wait for justice to be done?

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How long must we wait for the vestiges of racial discrimination to be removed? How long must we wait for the children of God to love one another? How long must we wait? Well God's rule is present.

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It's nigh unto you, Jesus says. God's power is available. God's rule has arrived. But how does the kingdom manifest itself?

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Kingdom is often described as coming through social evolution, occurring through the progressive moral spiritual development of mankind. And every day in every way we're just getting better and better. That's an old slogan, but we know that that does not seem to be true. God is in his power. God's rule is not something that we

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build. Sometimes we say that we build up the kingdom, that we are going to build the kingdom and what we do is building up the kingdom. Well the kingdom is not something that depends upon our ingenuity and our power, not God's kingdom. The kingdom of God is not something that we construct with our

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feeble efforts. When people try to build up the kingdom, when people try to bring in the kingdom of God by sheer human efforts, our plans are thwarted, our plans become fruitless and futile. The works of our hands are brought to naught, like the story of the building of the Tower

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of Babel. That tower crumbles to the dust. When we try to build a kingdom, when we attempt to build it up ourselves, we fail miserably Because the kingdom is not ours to build, the kingdom is God's and he brings it, he ushers it in.

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And so it is God's rule and not our rule. And according to Jesus, the kingdom of God is not a new order that people may build up in partnership with God. It is a reality that breaks in upon us. It's something that invades our lives.

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It invades our domain, it comes anyhow, it breaks in upon us, and that's what Jesus Christ announces, that the kingdom of God, God's rule is breaking in upon you. Well we may announce that we have no room, no vacancy, God's rule breaks in. Just as John the harbinger, the forerunner, for passed away and is

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arrested by being cast into a dungeon, the rule of God breaks in anyhow. Kingdom is present in God's eternal Word, for God's Word is able to accomplish that which he announces. Whatever he proclaims God is able to bring it to pass. God rules through his word. God says let there be light and there is light. God says let

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the light be separated from the darkness and it happens. Let there be and it happens. God's rule is present. God's rule is present in his word. God's rule is present in his world. Jesus announces the presence of the kingdom where Jesus is, God rules. How strange it is for a hometown boy returning to Galilee

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announcing God's rule. He begins at home, he begins at the familiar place, he He begins in the ordinary situations, the commonplace circumstances, he begins right there announcing God's rule. God rules through his word.

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Where Jesus is, God rules, you say? Yes. We sing it, "If Jesus goes with me, I'll go anywhere. It is heaven to me wherever I be. If he is there, I counted a privilege here, his

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cross to bear. If Jesus goes with me, I'll go anywhere. So God does rule and wherever Jesus is, God rules. That's the good news of the gospel of the kingdom. And wherever the kingdom comes it produces crisis. There's always a danger and an opportunity in our response to God's rule. When we accept God's rule, God's

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hand is open unto us. Glorious invitation to accept his rule and that's a wonderful opportunity to accept that rule, but when we reject the rule of God that open hand becomes a fist against us. And so whether or not God appears to be for us or against us, this is a crisis in which we find ourselves and how we

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respond to the rule of God in history. God's rule is near you, it's near to every one of us realized in the here and now that's good news. God's infinite goodness, his unconditioned grace, these are available for those who are abandoned and destitute and they are available every moment of our existence

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available right now. Kingdom is present. God's rule is imminent in human history And there is no reason to be afraid if we believe God rules. There is nothing that we need to be afraid of. Nothing. Nothing. If you here this morning, wherever you are, if you really believe deep down in your heart that God rules, there's nothing you need to be afraid of. Nothing that can happen here or hereafter, nothing whatsoever that you need to be afraid of if you really believe that God rules.

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Fear not, that's what Jesus says, fear not. Fear not, little flock, because it is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. that's God's pleasure. We might experience his rule and that kingdom is within, that kingdom is within. One of the problems that the people faced in confronting Jesus was a false concept of the kingdom. They always thought about

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the kingdom as being an earthly kingdom. They always thought of the kingdom as being something that they could point to, that they could see a throne here, and that they could see here is the government set up, this is the statehouse, and these are the officers, this is the slate. They always thought of

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it like that, and Jesus was always reminding them that that's not the nature of the kingdom that neither shall you say lo here or lo there you can't point to something specifically and say this is the kingdom. He said the kingdom of God is within you. God's rule in human history is within you. It's that spirit

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within you, that spirit of love, that spirit of sacrifice, that spirit of God that dwells within. Pilate says to Jesus, "Are you a king? Then where is your kingdom? Where is your territory?" Well God rules wherever his name is truly hallowed. God rules wherever his will is done on earth as it is in heaven. God

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rules wherever sin is forgiven. God rules wherever evil is overcome. God rules wherever hurts are healed. God rules wherever the hungry are fed. God rules wherever the downtrodden are raised up. God rules even in the midst of pain and suffering. God rules just even in the midst of death for he overcomes the worst. God rules in absolute

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righteousness. God rules in unsurpassable freedom. God rules in darkness love. God rules in universal reconciliation. God rules in his world. Oh I know sometimes it seems that the devil has complete control of the world. Oh sometimes it seems that God's rule is so far off, but the good news of Jesus Christ is that

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God's rule is immediately accessible. The kingdom of God is within you. God's throne is the human heart and God rules wherever he is given first place in our lives the kingdom comes, kingdom comes wherever God is accepted and somehow wherever his will is obeyed the kingdom comes and God exercises his rule. That

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was a Russian youth who had become a conscientious objector. It was against war. He had come to this position through the reading of told story, his writings, and through the reading of the New Testament and the high standards that set forth in the teachings of Jesus and his life in ministry. So he had arrived

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at the position that he would have no part of war. He was brought before the judge to give his testimony and when he was brought before the judge he spoke on the strength of his conviction. He said to the judge that he followed the way of life in which he loved his enemies and he believed in doing good to those who

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despitefully use you and that this way of life was a way of life that would overcome evil with good. It was a way of life that would refuse to go to war. The judge said yes I understand what you say but young man you must be realistic those laws you are talking about are the laws of the kingdom of God and it hasn't

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come yet and the young man straightened and said sir I recognize that it has not come for you but that it has come for me that's the good news. That's the good news right now that the kingdom of God may not have come for someone else but that the kingdom of God has come for you and for me and that presence of the kingdom is there for everybody yes the kingdom

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has come. It's come. And every experience that we have of God and the presence of his spirit we have just a foretaste of what the fullness of the kingdom is going to be down the road. We know we have had our D-Day in our battle. D-Day has already come. We've made our decision and we really know that the kingdom

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has come for us because we have accepted it. We have the joy, that joy that surpasses all human understanding wherever God rules and we know that the day is just down the road. We don't have to worry. We know that day is already set. We have a foretaste of the kingdom and that's why we can pray thy kingdom come thy will be done because we already have a foretaste of the kingdom right now

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that God rules, God triumphs yes even through tragedy God rules the kingdom has come God rules Jesus comes declaring that the kingdom of God is at hand. God rules in human history. That's the crisis that the kingdom brings. The rich farmer didn't quite understand it. He got his values all mixed up. He was concerned about

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putting more grain in his barns, suddenly he heard a voice saying, "This night your soul is required of you." God rules. Make no mistake about it, God rules. We may, we talk about who runs Austin. An article appeared some time ago, "Who runs Austin?" Someone tried to analyze it and give the people that really run the city.

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But you know if all those people died today the city would still run? And most of us don't even know them! But somehow if they were all removed, as important as their influence may be, that somehow God rules. Sometimes his will may seem to be hidden, but like a treasure in a field it may be hidden, but God still has control. God runs the country. And somehow when

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we when we think that that that evil somehow has conquered God frustrates evil forces and and the meek and lowly come out triumphant that's what he means that the meek shall inherit the earth the only way that can happen is if God rules and somehow when we do right when we trust in him God will bring it to

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past. That's good news. That's good news for a weary traveler. That's good news for someone who's been wounded in the struggle and wonders how it's going to come out. God rules. That's good news. Lift up your heads. Be of good cheer. God rules. His kingdom is present for he rules in the hearts of those who accept him. and trust in him. Savior, more than life to me. As we sing that hymn, we invite you to accept Jesus Christ as Lord of your life. [ Music ]

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[music] ♪ I am a woman, I am a woman, I am a woman ♪ ♪ I am trying to be ♪ ♪ I am living, living ♪

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♪ Close to me ♪ ♪ Let the nature of the mind ♪ [Music] [Music]

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♪ Every day ♪ ♪ Every hour ♪ ♪ Every day ♪ ♪ I'm left in doubt ♪

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♪ May the kin ♪ ♪ Come unto me ♪ ♪ I feel the sun ♪ ♪ Long, long, long to be ♪

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♪ Through this changing world we go ♪ ♪ We believe, we believe, we believe ♪ ♪ As I go ♪ ♪ Trust in me ♪

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♪ I can't walk away ♪ ♪ I can never ♪ ♪ Never lose ♪ ♪ My way ♪

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♪ Let me be ♪ ♪ Every hour ♪ ♪ Let me feel ♪ ♪ Like an anchor ♪

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♪ Lay my head ♪ ♪ Down on the field ♪ ♪ I feel closer ♪ ♪ Closer ♪

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♪ Oh ♪ ♪ To me ♪ ♪ Every day ♪ ♪ Every hour ♪

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♪ Let me be ♪ ♪ My empty heart ♪ ♪ May my tears ♪ ♪ Don't long to be ♪

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♪ I'm being closer ♪ ♪ Closer, more ♪ ♪ To me ♪ me.

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May we bow our heads. Gracious God our Father we thank you for your grace and for your glory. We thank you for the manifestation of your power, for your rule

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in heaven and earth. Heaven is thy throne, earth is thy footstool. you have control of our lives from the beginning to the end. In this firm faith, help us to go on our way rejoicing.

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This is good news to cheer us on our journey, that the rule of God is in our midst. Demonic forces cannot conquer it. Grace, mercy, and peace be with you. From God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.

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[choir singing] ♪ (singing) ♪ Let freedom ♪ ♪ Let me be ♪

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♪ I will be found ♪ ♪ 'Til I did the law to thee ♪ ♪ I'll be closer ♪ [Choral singing]

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I have an announcement here that there was a mistake made on the program regarding who's going to give the music. It's the chancellor choir rather than the gospel choir. So the ushers made a mistake on that program. It's printed the way they turned it in so they made a mistake. I don't know how they did it, but they're human. I guess that's how it happened.

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Uh, so, uh, the chancellor choir will give the music. [BLANK_AUDIO]