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[ Silence ] [ Music ] [MUSIC] ♪ God won't ever change ♪

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♪ God is a good God ♪ ♪ That's why I'll ever praise his name ♪ ♪ 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 ♪ ♪ And whatever grace is made ♪ ♪ God is captain of the ocean ♪

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♪ He's captain of the sea ♪ ♪ He rides on every wind storm ♪ ♪ And he moves in every breath ♪ ♪ I wanna tell you that ♪

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♪ God is a good God ♪ ♪ Is he ♪ ♪ God won't ever change ♪ ♪ God is a good God ♪

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♪ And I'll ever praise his name ♪ He's Alpha and he's Omega. He's the beginning and he is the end. He'll save your soul from a burning hell

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and he'll cleanse you from all your sins. I keep on telling you that God is a good God. God won't ever change. God is a good God.

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That's why I'll ever praise His name. ♪ God led the children of Israel ♪ ♪ Across the mighty Red Sea ♪ ♪ He led them to the promised land ♪

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♪ And he can do it, he can do the same for you ♪ ♪ I know he will ♪ ♪ Keep on telling you that God is a good God ♪ ♪ Good God ♪

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♪ God won't ever change ♪ ♪ God is a good God ♪ ♪ That's why I never praise his name ♪ ♪ There's nothing too hard for God ♪

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♪ There's nothing he cannot do ♪ ♪ He's still working miracles ♪ ♪ And if you need one ♪ ♪ And he'll work one just for you ♪

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♪ I keep on telling you ♪ ♪ That God is a good God ♪ ♪ God won't ever change ♪ ♪ God is a good God ♪

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♪ That's why I never ♪ ♪ Raise his name ♪ ♪ I give up 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 our love of grace is made ♪ ♪ That's why our love of grace is made ♪

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♪ That's why our love of grace is made ♪ (audience applauding) this word is recorded in the gospel according to St. Luke, 9th chapter, verses 51 through 56, reading from the new English revised version. At the time, as the time approached when Jesus was

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to be taken up to heaven, he sent his face resolutely toward Jerusalem and sent messages ahead. They set out and went into a Samaritan village to make arrangements for him. But the villagers would not receive him because he was on his way to Jerusalem.

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When the disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, "Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?" But he turned and rebuked them, and they went on to another village. The subject, going to Jerusalem.

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When we plan a trip, timing is of utmost importance. We consider the time of departure, we consider the season, we consider the day,

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the week, and the time of arrival, how long we plan to stay. This particular scripture, which is the basis of our morning message,

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marks a turning point in the gospel according to Luke in Jesus' ministry. He is coming to the conclusion of his earthly ministry,

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and he makes a new resolve connected with his ascension. He is looking forward to the time when he will be offered up.

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So he set his face, steadfastly, the King James says, to go to Jerusalem. It was a significant decision.

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It was a most meaningful determination to go to Jerusalem. A number of years ago, and our tour group was,

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in Jerusalem we were to stay in the land of Israel for 30 days, and those who were planning the trip faced a decision as to whether they would have us to begin the trip at Jerusalem,

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or whether to have us to end the trip at Jerusalem. The decision was made to end the trip at Jerusalem, where we would have the opportunity to reflect on all that we had seen in the land, and to spend a week of study with professors at Hebrew University.

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So we came at last to Jerusalem. So Jesus comes at the conclusion of his ministry to Jerusalem. And going to Jerusalem, it is an upward climb. The road winds upward all the way.

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An upward climb. Now it's always difficult when you're going up. As a teenager when I was riding a bicycle, when I had a hill to climb, I recognize that it took some extra energy.

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Had to push down on the pedal a little harder. And back in those early days when we were riding in a Model T Ford, you know, and you had those heels to climb,

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you could hear it humming as it had to climb the hill. You have to shift gears many times when you have a hill to climb. But that's the trip on which we are engaged.

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That's the Lenten journey in which we participate going to Jerusalem. Jesus set his faith steadfastly to go to Jerusalem. Now, Jerusalem is our destiny. Jerusalem is our destination.

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Jerusalem is our goal. So when we think about the goal of our striving, it is to go to Jerusalem. All of us have some Jerusalem toward which we are striving.

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Some goals we seek to realize. And we may express this, this struggle, in terms of education, marriage, family, or vocation. These constitute our goals toward which we strive,

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the end toward which we seek. So in going to Jerusalem, let me hasten to say that it's a struggle. We travel upward. It calls for additional strength, additional resolve. You have to have a little more determination when you're going up.

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Whatever may be our mode of transportation, whether we are walking, riding a bicycle, or using some other vehicle. So Jerusalem is for the person who has decided to take the upward way, upward way,

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travel upward. I remember many years ago when we made a trip to Pikes Peak in Denver. that's one of the highest points in the country,

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not the highest, but one of the highest, some 14,110 feet. But as you go up Pikes Peak, they had certain signs at certain levels.

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If you were taking your car up there, you could stop because chances were that your car would get overheated. so you could get some water, refuel, and keep on.

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But it was a recognition that you had a struggle to go up the peak. And many times when you are going at high altitudes, you find it difficult to breathe.

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It requires a little more when we travel. So this is what is involved in going to Jerusalem. We sang a moment ago, I'm pressing on the upward way.

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New heights I'm gaining every day. Still praying as I onward bound. Lord, plant my feet on higher ground. Lord, lift me up and let me stand by faith

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on heaven's table land a higher plane than I have found Lord clad by feet on higher ground. So Jesus, our Lord, Jesus our Savior sent His face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem. He was determined no matter what, come hell or high water, He set His face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem.

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Now, oft times we have praiseworthy goals. We start out with noble objectives. We make meaningful resolutions, oh, and we promise to keep them. We do that often at the beginning of the year, and sometimes before the week is out, we have

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broken the resolutions. We abandon the highway on which we are supposed to travel before we get out of the city limits. become dropouts on the Lenten journey. There are countless talented individuals who might have reached the summits of success if they had had the

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will to go on, but they gave up. They dropped out. Some failed to reach Jerusalem because they take a detour from the main highway. They meander around in the towns and villages in the countryside and they never arrive at Jerusalem. But in the case of Jesus there is a look of determination in his eyes,

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there is a sure steady confident step in his walk. He set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem. It was not an off-and-on matter. He was constantly on the journey moving onward and upward. He set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem. He was not deterred by detour signs, he did not take the opportunity to go on a bypass.

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You know sometimes you get on these roads and it tells you bypass. So if you want to bypass the city, avoid all of the traffic that's involved, the business section that slows you down, take this bypass. But Jesus does not take the bypass. And when you read the story you see that he had a number of bypasses

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offered to him. We considered one a few messages ago. So well you know Herod is on your trail and he intends to prevent you from accomplishing your purpose. He is bent on your destruction and Jesus sends back to him, "Tell that fox that I'm working today and I'll be working tomorrow. I'll not be deterred by what

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he's doing." That was a bypass. Others came, they were coming in and telling him, you know, "Get away, go into hiding, don't be around for Herod to get you." Then that came later and they're talking to him about Pilate. So you know Pilate killed some Galileans and you know he doesn't mind killing you but this

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did not deter Jesus. Then some Greeks came to him and the Greeks came to him and said well you know they're after you, come on away, go into hiding. These are bypasses. There are always some bypass opportunities. If you made up your mind to go to Jerusalem, there'll always be

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some opportunities to take a bypass. And all so many who would have reached noble heights get taken away by the bypass. Bypass. They don't ever get to Jerusalem. But you see, Jesus takes the traditional route to Jerusalem. He does the common things in an uncommon way. He sends an advance team

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to make arrangements for his arrival. Those who are sent to assist in making arrangements for the master's reception are rejected. Now when we have a person coming in, the president is coming to town, the president's wife is coming to town, they send an advanced team down to look around see that everything is in

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all and you certainly treat those people with respect, courtesy and the like but they reject the advanced team and they have them to understand we don't want Jesus here. In fact he's a Jew. We're Samaritans. We don't have anything to do Samaritans, "Stay away from our city." "No, we're not preparing anything for you."

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And when they received his word, two of the disciples, James and John, said, "Lord, take care of this matter by having fire to fall from heaven and burn up that village, burn these people up. And that's the solution many people have to the problems of the world today. Call down some fire. These are called sons of

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thunder. They are firebrands. They are hot-headed. They are quick-tempered. No whole lot of us are like that and we will never never never never get to Jerusalem that way. Has to be patience. Jesus says no no no no in fact he calls them closer to him and he reprimands them. In other words you should be ashamed

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of yourself, fellas. This isn't the way I've taught you. This isn't the way I walk before you. You are suggesting something that would be a disgrace not only to you but to the work of my kingdom. So they corrected, they reprimanded, let not your temper cause you to miss the opportunity of traveling

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on to Jerusalem. So there is hostility, hostility today. These disciples They were not going to have no part with diversity. No, no. They were recommending force.

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They were recommending violence. And Jesus teaches here nonviolence. He set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem. Now, some people,

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people take the high road and some take the low road. Jerusalem is the high road. High road. High altitude, struggle, road winding, up winding, all the way. Jerusalem. Jesus set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem. Soren Kierkegaard says that we all walk on the same road of life, we travel on the same

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road of life. He says, "But the difference is how we travel on that road. on the same road but the difference is how we travel on that road. Many travel IH 35, now some zigzag around on the road, some travel rather slowly on the road

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and some are very reckless on the same road. But all are travelers on that road But here Jesus sets the pace for the race. Follow Him and He goes with us to the end of the journey. At this particular passage there just beginning the decision is being made to go to Jerusalem.

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Jesus goes all the way. When I was a child, I'd go to my grandmother and say, and I'd be playing with someone and they'd come back home with me

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and then I'd go to her and say, can I go peace of the way? Can you go peace of the way? Just a peace.

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Just a peace of the way. And the relationships we have here on this earth just have to do with the peace of the way. The relationships we have in the family, peace of the way. Relationships in the school, peace of the way. Relationships, peace of the way. But Jesus goes all the way.

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All the way. All the way. That's wonderful. Not a piece of the way, but all of the way. Oh, I know, I know, I know that there are some hills to climb, but he goes all the way. I know that there are some deep, dark valleys through which to pass, but he goes all the way. So, there's no detour, there's no bypass, he goes all the way.

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That's good news. All the way. All the way. All the way.

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My Savior leads me. the way my Savior leads me. What have I to ask beside? Can I doubt his tender mercy who through life has been my guide? Heavenly peace, divinest comfort, here by faith in him to dwell for I know, I know, yes I know whate'er befall me, Jesus doeth

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all things well. So come, come let us join him in that little journey that that moves from Galilee to Jerusalem. Come let us go with Jesus, let us follow him. Let us follow him, yes. Follow him to the Garden of Gethsemane. That dark valley where he kneels in prayer to the Heavenly Father. Let us follow him there.

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Let us follow him, yes. Follow him to the Sanhedrin Council. Let us follow him to Pilate's judgment hall. Let us follow him. Yes, let's follow him wherever he goes. If Jesus goes with me, I'll go anywhere to the heaven to me wherever I be. If he is there, I count it a blessing just to share with him this life. Well, I'm going

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through. That ought to be our determination. As we celebrate this Lenten season, it ought to be that we get a little deeper and get a little closer, deeper into faith and closer to Him. As we travel this road to Jerusalem, we invite you to come. The door of the church is open. You may come by letter, by

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Christian experience or profession of faith, we ask you to come. The door is open. The invitation is extended. If you're not rightly related to Christ in the church, or if you're living in Austin of the church home. Come! The Spirit says come! Come! Come! Come! Lord, I have started...

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♪ I have found it ♪ [BLANK_AUDIO]