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[ Silence ] [ Music ] Oh my Lord, how wonderful you are. You've done so much for me, I cannot tell it all.

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As long as I live, I give your name the praise of how wonderful you are. ♪ Hold me in thanks ♪ ♪ I'm true to God in heart ♪

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♪ You've done so much for me ♪ ♪ I cannot tell it all ♪ ♪ As long as I have heard ♪ I'll give your name the praise, oh, how wonderful you are.

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Praise the Lord, for he is good, he's worthy of all praise. ♪ O give thanks unto the Lord ♪ ♪ Honor and thanks be to him we now proclaim ♪ ♪ As long as I live I'll give your name the praise of God ♪

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♪ O'er the land of the free ♪ ♪ And the home of the brave ♪ ♪ O'er the land of the free ♪ ♪ And the home of the brave ♪

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♪ O'er the land of the free ♪ To him we now proclaim. As long as I have left, I'll give your name the praise. Oh, how wonderful you are.

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Amen. Let us all say amen. Amen. I'd like to ask Brother McKinley to play "Shine On Me."

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As we consecrate ourselves to present God's message, we ask that you would listen intently, that you would prepare your hearts. [MUSIC]

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♪ Shine on me ♪ ♪ Shine on me ♪ ♪ Let your light ♪ ♪ Come the lighthouse ♪

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♪ Shine on me ♪ ♪ Let it shine ♪ ♪ On me ♪ ♪ Let it shine ♪

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♪ On, on me ♪ ♪ Let your light ♪ ♪ From the lighthouse ♪ ♪ Let it shine ♪

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♪ On, on me ♪ ♪ Let it shine ♪ ♪ On, on me ♪ ♪ Let it shine ♪

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♪ On, on me ♪ ♪ Just let your light ♪ From the lighthouse, let it shine on me. Lord, let it shine, shine on me.

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Let your light shine on me. Let your light from your lighthouse, let it shine. All on me. Amen.

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Every now and then, you need a little light from the Lord to just shine on you. When everything in our society and our world seems so dark and grim, we need a little light

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from the lighthouse to shine on us. When we've tried to lead for 22 years, sometimes people don't always want to follow us. We just need to have a little light from the lighthouse

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to shine on us. Pastor Griffin, my father in the ministry to Reverend Swishet, to all of you who have assembled here this morning,

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I give thanks to God that he's allowed me another opportunity, another chance to stand in his house of prayer. And I'm like David, I'm glad to be here. I was glad when they said unto me, "Let us go into the house of the Lord."

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And I learned not too long ago that when you enter into the house of the Lord, you ought to be ready to praise him. You ought to be ready to lift up his name. Whatever it is that you have, you ought to leave it at the door.

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Because when you come into the house of the Lord, then we ought to be ready to praise him and lift him up this morning. We've got a reason to lift him up. 22 years of service is a reason to lift him up this morning.

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Before I run on, let me stop and have you turn with me to the book of John, 14th chapter. to focus on verses five and six. And it reads, "Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest,

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and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me." we'd like to use this morning for our theme,

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how can we know the way? How can we know the way? And I'm sure that's not a foreign question to a lot of us. Sometime in our lives, we've asked that question.

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And if you haven't, the old folks say, just keep on living. Because you're gonna get to a point in your life where you won't know where to turn. And you'll be stuck and you'll be asking yourself

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or asking somebody, how can I know the way? A lot of questions run through my mind, especially when you don't understand something and you end up asking yourself, how can I know the way?

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When you're trying to get to some way and you need a little direction. You wanna know how to get there. Can you write it out for me or point it out?

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Show it to me on the map. But the question comes, how can we know the way? That's the question Thomas gives this morning. As he asked the master a puzzling question

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to him and his mind. How can we, Lord? How can we know the way? See, Jesus has put a lot of things on the disciples' mind.

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Or if you go and begin reading in the 13th chapter, you'll find that Christ has begun to tell them that his time on Earth is about to come to an end.

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They're in the upper room, and Christ began to wash their feet. And that was one thing that was puzzling. Christ the master, the Lord, the teacher,

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washing the disciples' feet. That puzzled them. Then as he began to wash their feet, he also mentioned the fact that somebody would betray him.

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That somebody would give him over. And that's another thing that puzzled the disciples. They didn't understand what the Lord had done by washing their feet.

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They didn't understand what he was talking about by saying somebody within their close-knit group would betray him. And then we find Peter,

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oh Peter, as God begins to wash his feet and he didn't want him to wash his feet. But Christ said, "Unless I do this,

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"you don't have any part of me." So he says, "Not only my feet, Lord, "but my head and everything else." Christ pointed out, "Peter, you're already clean.

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I mean, if you're already taking a bath, you're already clean. But you need to wash your feet, though. So Peter, that impetuous Peter, says to Christ, after he mentioned to them that he was going away, that he was going to leave them.

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And that was the third thing that puzzled them. And Peter asked, "Lord, where are you going? Why can't I go with you? I'll follow you to the ends of the earth."

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said, "Yeah, sure, Peter. Not right now you won't, because see when things really begin to get rough and everything begins to take place and it starts to get hot and heavy, you're going to deny me three times." So that left the disciples puzzled, not knowing what Christ was doing, not knowing what he was talking about. And Christ understood this.

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That's why he said, "Let not your heart be troubled." Because if you believe in God, then believe also in me. Because in my Father's house are many mansions, are many rooms, and I'm going away to prepare one of those rooms for you.

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And where I'm going, you know, and the way you know. But Thomas said, "No, wait a minute. "Lord, wait a minute. "You're telling me that I already know where you're going

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"and I already know the way. "How can I know the way?" Christ says that I am the way. And I believe in telling Thomas that he was the way.

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He was pointing out a couple of things to him. Thomas, I am the way because I am directing you in the way. in the way, that I am showing you the way. I'm showing you the direction.

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All these years that you have been with me, I have been showing you. I have been plotting a course. I have been writing it out to you on the map, showing you the direction in which you should travel.

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I had to do that on yesterday with my sister-in-law. I had to show her how to get to Barton Creek Mall, so I pulled out my map and I took a highlighter and I highlighted the route for her so that she could get from our house to Barton Creek Mall.

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Christ said, "For these three years, I've been highlighting the way so that you can get from here to heaven." See Thomas didn't understand that. Christ said, "I'm trying to show you the way, Thomas."

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Book of Proverbs said that in order for us to know the way, we ought to acknowledge Christ in all our ways. And then he will direct our path. See, Thomas had to understand, he

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had to acknowledge who Christ was. And he hadn't yet done that. He hadn't acknowledged that he was the Christ, the one who had come to take away the sins of the world,

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and not as an earthly king would do. But he was going to do it in a spiritual way, and Thomas didn't quite understand that. But he says, "In all thy ways, acknowledge him,

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and he will direct thy path." Now, that's the worst thing in the world, is to get some bad directions. You're trying to get somewhere on your life's journey.

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You're trying to get from here, point A to point B, and you ask somebody that you think knows the way, How do I get to such and such a place? And they give you some bad directions.

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You end up making the wrong turn. Well, with Christ pointing the way, you don't have to worry about making the wrong turn. See, Christ doesn't give any bad directions.

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And another thing, Christ does not lead you down a dead-end street. Dead-end, boy, how final can you get? Dead-end.

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That's it. But following the vice of flesh and blood, following the vice of peers, following the advice of humans, you might get some wrong direction.

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You might end up on a dead end street. And the bad thing about a dead end street is that once you get there, unless you turn around, you're stuck.

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And then when you turn around, you got to go back the same way you came in order to get to that dead end street. But Christ does not lead you down that kind of road.

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He's leading you in a straight path. He pointed out there are only but two ways that you can go. Now, you can go the broad and narrow way that leads to destruction.

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Or you can go to the narrow way that leads to life. That's what he was trying to point out to Thomas. Thomas, I'm directing you. I'm showing you the way." Not only did he give him some direction, not only did he

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point it out to him, but he wanted Thomas to understand that I am the way because I am the access to the Father. I am that access that you have to heaven. Not only do I point it out to you, but I'm it, Thomas. I am the way. Paul says to the church at Rome, after being justified by faith, we have access to God.

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And it's through that faith that we have that kind of access. See at State Farm Insurance, we have a little key that allows us access into the building. So you have to have that key and stick it in the slot and the door will open. And then the great thing about State Farm is that if you don't have your key, then I

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believe they'll call your supervisor and then your supervisor will come up and say that you are who you say you are and then you can get in through the door. So there's still some access allowed for you in order to get into the building. Christ is sort of the same kind of way.

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Christ provides us that access that we have to have in order to get into heaven. But I'm glad that God fixed it such that my access to heaven wouldn't be based on my financial situation. Because if it was, I'd be doomed to hell.

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Because it's not based on riches. It's not based on wealth. I'm so glad that God fixed it to where my access wouldn't be based on political position. Because if it would, I'd be doomed to hell.

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I'm glad that God did not base my access into heaven on earthly organizations, because I don't belong to many. And if it would, I'd be doomed to hell. I'm glad that God did not base my access on church affiliation, because if it would, I'd

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be doomed to hell. But he based my access on the fact that Jesus Christ was the way. And he's the only way that we have unto the Father. And he and the Father had a special kind of relationship.

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He said that I'm in the Father and the Father is in me. So if you know me, you know the Father. And the Father fixed it such that Paul says in Philippians that he's exalted himself and put his name above all names.

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That at the name of Jesus, every knee has to bow and every tongue must confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. So he says, "Thomas, I am the way." There's no other way you can get around it. I am the way, Thomas. And he told Thomas, "Not only am I the way, but I am the truth. I don't lie. It's impossible for God to lie. I'm telling you the truth.

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The truth is in me. And then not only am I the truth, but I am the life. I am the way, the truth and the life. Say, "Within me you'll have everlasting life. Within me you'll have abundant life. Within me you'll find that heavenly eternity." See Thomas, that's what you will find if you just understand that I am the way, that I

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am the truth, and I am the life. So if that's our question this morning, if we're asking ourselves how can we know the way, then I'll just point you to Jesus Christ for he is the way. If we're asking ourselves how can I make it out of this situation then I point you to Jesus Christ for he is he is the way. See Joshua

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had to tell the children of Israel when they asked him how can we know the way Joshua said if you would keep the name of the Lord thy God and if you would love him and keep his commandments and his statutes then God will make your way prospers. See Solomon had to ask the Lord for the children of Israel, "Lord how can

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they know the way?" But God told Solomon, he said that if my people that are called by my name would humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways then will I heal their land. Paul asked the same question for the Romans, he said how can they know the way? He said if you would confess the name of the Lord Jesus

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Christ and believe in your heart thou shalt be saved. I'm glad this morning that Jesus Christ answered Thomas's question by saying that I am the way, that I'm the truth, and I'm the life. And this morning if you want to know the way just look to Jesus. This morning if you're puzzled in your mind just look to

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Jesus. I will look unto the hills from whence cometh my help, for my help cometh from the Lord. See that's what I have to do sometimes when I get all confused and turned around. I have to stop and look to the Lord and say, "Lord, point me into the right direction." And I know that's what our pastor has done for

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22 years. We say that he's a good shepherd, but the good shepherd has to hear the voice of Christ. Hear the voice of Christ telling him and leading him so that we as sheep would follow. If you want to know this morning the way to heaven. If you want to know this morning the way to glory, then Jesus Christ is the way.

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See we were talking about heaven in vacation Bible school and some of us said when we get to heaven all we want to do is sing. They realize that they can't quite hit the note right down here on earth, but they believe in their heart when they get to heaven. They're going to be singing in that heavenly choir. I told them that when I get to heaven, that

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I love breaking bread down here, but when I get to heaven, there's gonna be milk and honey just flowing all over the place. And I could just be sitting there enjoying myself.

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Now you may have your own reason for getting to heaven, but when we get to heaven, oh, what a day of rejoicing that will be. When we get to heaven, we'll be able to see his face

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and glorify the Father, telling him, "Yes, Lord, I knew that you were the way." If you wanna know the way this morning, You need to look to Jesus.

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You need to look to Jesus. He's the way. He's the only way. Maybe there's one this morning.

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You were confused, and you didn't quite understand. You were like Thomas, had that question mark in your head. How can I know the way? Jesus Christ is the way.

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Would you come this morning? Make up in your mind, and he doesn't care how you come. Say, "Just as I am." You don't have to be looking all fine and pretty

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to come to Jesus. He doesn't care, just as long as you come with an open heart and accept him and believe that he is the one. You can come this morning.

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Will you come? [ Music ] Will you come this morning? [ Music ]

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He gave his life for you. He shed his blood for you. All they're asking now is that you would come. Will you come this morning?

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Just as I am, and waiting not to rid my soul of the dark cloud, [Music] Privilege is still extended for those who want to know the way. [MUSIC]

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[ Music ] Just as I am, none will precede, With wealth and high and praise redeem, Because thy promise, my King, to the land of God, I come, I come.

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Let us all say. [BLANK_AUDIO]