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[ Silence ] [MUSIC PLAYING] [CHOIR SINGING] [MUSIC]

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♪ Echoing their praise and ♪ ♪ Gloria ♪ ♪ In excelsis Deo ♪ ♪ Gloria ♪

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♪ In excelsis Deo ♪ [MUSIC] ♪ Well-trained pride may speed his speed ♪ ♪ But that tide is easy to keep ♪

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♪ Gloria ♪ ♪ In excelsis Deo ♪ ♪ Gloria ♪ Gloria in excelsis Deo.

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Come to Bethlehem and see Him whose birth the angels sing. ♪ From a dawn dimmed in heat ♪ ♪ Christ the Lord, alleluia he ♪ ♪ Gloria ♪

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♪ In excelsis Deo ♪ ♪ Gloria ♪ In excelsis Deo Amen

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Speak to our hearts, O God. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. portion of that passage of scripture which was read earlier, Isaiah 35 and 8, just these words,

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"And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the holy way." Highway in the desert.

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I walked in the desert and I cried, "Ah, take me from this place." A voice said, "It is no desert." I said, "But the sand, the heat, the horizon." The voice said, "It is no desert."

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Arabs have a proverb, "All sunshine and no rain makes the desert." Desert. Hot,

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barren, lonely, waterless region, uncultivated and uninhabited.

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The desert is considered a threat to human existence. Some years ago I was part of a tourist group in Israel. We took a journey from Beersheba

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to Eilat, which is situated in the Gulf of Aqaba. It was a journey through that portion of the country called the Negev.

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60% of the land of Israel desert. We left early in the morning and we arrived late in the evening. We were in a bus and we traveled this highway. It was the only highway, the only road that led

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through the desert. We all were plagued by thirst. We had soft drinks that were available for all. It was a very narrow road as I recall. Whenever we met a car Any vehicle we had to get off of a portion of the road. But I shall never forget the region.

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It was a region that had mountain after mountain, mountain, whole mountain ranges of rock, desert. And one could easily understand what it means to be without shade and without water because when we arrived at Eilat, we were at a place where it is said that the temperature would get as high as 120 degrees.

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So the journey through the desert is not an easy journey. Anyone who travels in the desert should be equipped to endure the rigors of the desert. The prophet Isaiah seeks to comfort and strengthen God's people by telling them they need not fear the journey from Babylon to Jerusalem.

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They need not fear this journey through the desert, this journey from captivity to freedom. by the grace of God there is a highway in the desert. Now there are many ways to travel. We often ask one another which way are you going? Someone has said there no ways like the which a ways. To every man there openeth a way and ways and a

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way. The high soul climbs the highway and the low soul gropes the low and in between the misty flats the rest drift to and fro. But to every man there openeth a highway and a low, and every man decideth the way his soul shall go. The highway in the desert, this is the promise of the prophet to pilgrims weary of the night of oppression. They need not worry

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how they're going to get home for there is a highway. This highway leads through the desert. It is a highway in the desert that leads through the desert. This promise you see is rooted in history. The prophet knows what God will do in the future based on what he has done in the past. When the children of Israel left

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Egypt that was the first exodus. God made the road on which they traveled. They walked through the waters of the Red Sea on dry land. God led them on their wilderness journey. They made the journey safely from Egypt to Canaan. Now God's people face a second exodus from Babylon to Jerusalem. They're not dependent on

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man-made caravan routes on which they face the journey of being waylaid by man, beast. The prophet Isaiah speaks of the possibility made available to God's people. On the journey they are to take they have this assurance, a highway shall be there. A highway is a direct route. It's the main road. There is a direct

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route for the heavenly pilgrim. It's a highway. To be sure there are other ways. Some take the highway, some take the low. The highway is called the holy way. It's the way set apart from all others. It's specially dedicated and consecrated to those who travel the upward way. And one has to avoid as best we can getting on

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some detour. There are some roads that just lead nowhere. Someone said if you don't know where you're going any road will get you there. Highway. Dr. Bullock who was a professor of education at Texas Southern for a while and later came here to the University of Texas wrote a book about black education

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in which he talked about this this doctrine spurious doctrine of separate but equal And he said that what had happened to black education

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was that We had been taken off on a detour Detour from the main highway What's really much of what we're having with much is happening today is the fact that we've been off of here on this detour

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Now we put on this main highway And we Have to try to as best we can to make this transition main highway. We were looking at the persons that were engaged in the work on the

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building the other day and all the bricklayers were there and my wife said that isn't a single person of color. I said that's a part of this detour. It's a detour. There are a few people in many of these trades and the like because of the detour but here is a direct route. Now there is one road that no one can really

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keep you from getting on. It's this kind of highway that the Prophet is talking about. Now there are many many ways travelers go but you can choose. In In ancient times, there was the Weir Patras, road by the sea, Rome had its famous Appian Way.

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In modern times, we have the Pan American Highway. In this country, we have our four lane international highway system. We have recently increased the speed limit,

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which no doubt will contribute to a great deal injuries based on accidents and even death. But those who travel this highway can be sure of getting where they are going. Now you see the biblical view of history is that of a straight line. That's the biblical view of history,

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just a straight line, place to begin and a place to end, straight line, shortest distance between these two points. Now the Greek view is is that like a circle just keep going around and around everything there's nothing new under the sun that's not the biblical view of history. So in this route that every one

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of us must take. We need to be sure that we are on this highway. Now the prophet is aware of dangers on this way. There's some dangers of the desert. In the first Exodus there were times of thirst. When they got out of Egypt they were thirsty and they couldn't find water but they received the gift of water and then

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later they came to a place where there were bitter waters at Mara. They said we could not drink the waters of Mara because they were bitter but God sweetened the bitter waters. Then they were bitten by poisonous serpents but God gave them healing. So the good news is God is with us as we travel on this

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highway in the desert. It's a thoroughfare on which the wayfarer may travel. Now the answer to the desert threats is divine transformation. God's going to transform the desert. Radical change will occur. That's what we celebrate during this Advent season. The wilderness and the dry land should be glad. The desert shall

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rejoice and blossom abundantly. So the word is be strong, fear not, behold your God will come with vengeance and recompense. Be strong. In other words, there is this belief that God is in history and that God is going to change certain circumstances that God will do that and the longer I live the more convinced I

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am that God is at work in history. When I saw churches that were closed in Russia and all of that and people saying there is no God and to see how the changes have come no gunfire, God is at work and we can look at our own history and see that God is at work.

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And you know there's some things that we can't correct. Some things we just can't handle ourselves. I had a brother who had done something wrong. He had thought he was able to outmaneuver me

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and he had done something and I caught up with him and I wanted to tell him so bad about it. And he died before I got to tell him. I almost wanted to go wherever he was so I could tell him.

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But you see there are things like that that God will have to take care of. We can't take care of all this ourselves. So the Lord says, "He shall come with a vengeance." We talk about God having a smile on His face and He does, but there are times when He has

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a frown. And He says, "I will take care of it. Don't worry about it. Vengeance is mine."

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Don't you try to get even with Stephen. You leave that to me. God is in history. God is at work bringing justice where there is injustice, bringing truth where there is falsehood. God is at work in the historical process. I tell you, He has control and so through his creative power streams appear in the desert. The

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dry parched ground, the burning desert sands are well watered. God comes and the desert blossoms like a rose. We saw in 1960 we saw how the land had been misused and in Israel there had been so to speak a rape of the land. People had grown crops that took the best out of the soil they didn't rotate the crops

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they cut out the trees and much of what was once beautiful had become like a desert. But people came into that area and they began to plant trees. They began to do the things to build up the soil and so

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in a short time the desert began to blossom. Well, we can see that happening Around us there are all kinds of signs and yet God is speaking to the people of all

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generations saying That the desert shall blossom like a rose Don't worry about how you're going to make it from here to eternity

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From this earth to heaven Just be sure that you are on this highway that leads through the desert. Now usually when we get ready to take a journey

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we contact AAA or some other traveling agency and so the prophet here is informing the traveler Concerning what to expect on this highway. He said it's the highway of the redeemed It's it's it's the road

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Traveled by those who have been redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ It's it's a highway of the pure in heart It's the highway where the unclean shall not travel upon it It's a direct path. Fools won't even err. Don't have to worry about it. Just stay on that highway

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But there's no need to be insecure because the lions that you have been thinking about They're not there. There's no beast that's there that will be able to destroy you. The highway Will lead you through the desert Now if you don't know

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How to make it all you have to do is is and and and we really don't know the way They didn't know the way when they were coming out of out of Egypt They didn't know how to get to Canaan, but they followed the leadership of the Spirit of God And so the prophet speaks here and he speaks over and over again

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Make straight in the desert a highway for our God So you see Isaiah talks about God making a highway on which we can travel then he also talks about us Making a highway on which God can travel highway in our hearts where we are

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Open to goodness where we are open to those things that God requires and we sing there's a highway As a highway to heaven none can walk up there but the pure in heart As a highway Heaven I'm walking up the Kings

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highway that's What we celebrate this Advent season Highway, there's a low way

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and a highway And we need to be sure We are on the highway I remember it was around 1954. My wife and I took a trip to Los Angeles and we

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sort of had a dread going through the desert. People had told us so much about the desert. They were saying how hot it was, how your car could get overheated, and all the many things that could happen to your car in traveling through the desert so we had some misapprehensions. But as we left one place

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after another and we finally got to the desert region I remember a sign that said last stop before the desert and so we said let's stop here. We had our water bags and the like jars and all of that filled with water we had fuel checked the batteries and all of those things because we had arrived at the desert

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just about the middle of the day and then after we had done all those things we went on through the desert and I've never forgotten that we we said the desert as we were traveling through the desert isn't what you may think it could be when you're ready for it. When you're equipped for it. When you have all the things that you need

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and you're equipped to travel to the desert and you have a good companion, you can make it. Oh yes, you can make it through the desert and all will be well with you because we have a companion who has promised to be with us. No matter what the conditions are, no matter what may happen, you are safe and secure as long as you are sure that he is with you on this highway.

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You can go from home to eternity on this highway. As we sing now the hymn of invitation, there There may be someone here who is not on this highway. And if you are not on this highway, you're traveling the low way,

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we invite you to take this highway, accept Jesus Christ, put your faith in him, trust in him, come forward, or a profession of faith.

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If you're living in Austin without a church home, we invite you to identify with the family of God here at Ebenezer, because we are all Welcome travelers on this highway that leads from Babylon to Jerusalem.

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I'm pressing on the upward way new heights I'm gaining every day. ♪ Have mercy on me, I'm a slave ♪ ♪ Your hands I'm bending every day ♪ ♪ To where ye have come I bow ♪

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♪ My plans I meet on higher ground ♪ ♪ Lord, lift me up and let me stand ♪ ♪ I've made the land less stable than ♪ ♪ The higher plain that I have found ♪

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♪ For black, my feet on higher ground ♪ ♪ My heart has known these I do say ♪ ♪ Where doubts arise and fears dismay ♪ ♪ Oh, soon they dwell where these all bow ♪

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♪ But where my angels cry out, "Crow" ♪ ♪ Oh, lift me up and let me stand ♪ ♪ My faith, oh, heaven's stable land ♪ ♪ Oh, I am lame and I am numb ♪

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♪ What can I be on higher ground ♪ ♪ I want to live above the world ♪ ♪ The saviors rise, let me around ♪ ♪ The rain has fallen, the joyful sound ♪

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♪ The sun will set on higher ground ♪ ♪ But if the hour had not just set ♪ ♪ I'd make my bed and stay the night ♪ ♪ The higher claim that I have found ♪

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♪ Lord, let my feet on higher ground ♪ ♪ I want to stand beyond both sides ♪ ♪ And that shall be a glory bright ♪ ♪ For still our brave children have vowed ♪

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♪ For King Lear to higher ground ♪ ♪ For King Lear and I shall stand ♪ ♪ Our faith on ever stable land ♪ ♪ The higher claim that I have found ♪

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♪ Oh, let my people ♪ ♪ Higher grow ♪ - Those who stood earlier celebrating birthdays. [BLANK_AUDIO]

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