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[ Silence ] [MUSIC PLAYING] (piano music) [ Music ]

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It would be such a tragedy. It would be such a shame. Together, together, and God praise His name. It would be a tragedy not to lift Him up.

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♪ So I'll praise him ♪ ♪ Yes, I'll lift him up ♪ ♪ He's worthy to be praised ♪ ♪ It would be such a tragedy ♪

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♪ It would be such a shame ♪ ♪ Together, together ♪ ♪ When all praise is made ♪ ♪ It would be a tragedy ♪

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♪ Not to lift him up ♪ ♪ So I'll praise him ♪ ♪ Yes, I'll lift him up ♪ ♪ And he's worthy to be praised ♪

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♪ Praise him on the trumpet ♪ ♪ The psaltery and harp ♪ ♪ Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord ♪ Praise him with the timbrel, the timbrel and dance.

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Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. It would be such a tragedy. It would be such a shame. Together, together, let no one praise his name.

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♪ It would be a tragedy ♪ ♪ Not to live with God ♪ ♪ So I'll praise him for ♪ ♪ That's how the world ♪

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♪ Is working to defend ♪ ♪ Praise him on the string instruments ♪ ♪ The instruments and organs ♪ ♪ Let everything that hath breath ♪

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♪ Praise the Lord ♪ Praise him on the loud cymbals, the high sounding cymbals. Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. It would be such a tragedy.

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It would be such a shame. Together, together, and now. Our praises, hey. ♪ It would be a tragedy not to lift him up ♪

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♪ So I'll praise him ♪ ♪ Yes, I'll praise him ♪ ♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪ ♪ Praise Him all creatures ♪

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♪ Here below ♪ ♪ Praise Him above ♪ ♪ The heavenly host ♪ ♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪

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♪ So I'll praise Him ♪ ♪ Yes, I'll lift Him up ♪ ♪ So I'll praise Him ♪ ♪ Yes, I'll lift Him up ♪

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♪ So I'll praise Him ♪ ♪ Yes, I'll lift Him up ♪ ♪ He's worthy to be praised ♪ (audience applauding)

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this word recorded in Exodus the first chapter, the 15th through the 22nd verses. Exodus, the first chapter, verses 15 through the 22nd. And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of one was Shiproth,

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in the name of the other pure. And he said, "When ye do the office of midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools, if it be a son, then ye shall kill him. But if it be a daughter, then she shall live. But the midwives feared God and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. And the

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The king of Egypt called for the midwives and said unto them, "Why have ye done this thing and have saved the men children alive?" The midwives said unto Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women, for they are lively and are delivered ere the midwives came in unto them."

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For God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and waxed very mighty. And it came to pass because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses. And Pharaoh charged all the people saying, "Every son that is born, ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive."

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Would you repeat these words after me? The midwives feared God and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. I'm going to talk about midwives in Egypt.

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Midwives in Egypt. It was a dark day for the people of God. There arose a king in Egypt that knew not Joseph, and he increased the burdens of the people. And he focused his activity on the children in order to punish and stifle the

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growth and development of the nation. It so happens that our hope for the future is in our children. They're the bridge by which the nation may travel from tragedy to triumph, the children. The children are the means of deliverance from bondage to freedom, children. children of the hope that we have for the fulfillment of this democracy of ours.

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Israel is enslaved in Egypt. A cruel monarch has decided that the nation must be kept in subjection. Injustice is inflicted upon the people, but they prosper in spite of adverse circumstances. National measures are taken by Pharaoh to crush the spirit of the Hebrews and sap their

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energies. The king called a national medical conference in which he privately instructed the superintendents of the Israelite midwives instructed them

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to kill the Hebrew boy babies at the time of their birth. There is a way of programming young lives for destruction. This may be done in the vestibule of their existence. They're not given a good

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start in life. That's a sure way. Destroy the young. Kill the babies. That is Pharaoh's They are a threat to me, he says. A cheap price tag is placed on human life in Egypt at this time. Infants are marked for death at the beginning of their existence.

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A distinction is made between male and female Hebrew infants. Girls may be permitted to survive, but they are viewed as weaker and not as a threat. In ancient society, females were not

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considered as valuable as males, and we still struggle with granting equality to females after all of these years. We have a system that allows people to be destroyed before they are born. There was a book written several years ago based on a Boston experience which was entitled

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Death at an Early Age. You don't have to wait a long time to kill children. You can kill them at birth, and this is what Pharaoh did, death at an early age.

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So his program was not to take any chance on a child developing and becoming what the child may be designed to be. It killed them, nipped them in the bud, killed them at birth. So we often program people and categorize them for success or failure,

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for life or death. That is Pharaoh's policy. Egyptian children may rule the nation but Hebrew children are designed for servitude. So we have a tendency to place people in social strata, the upper class, we say,

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and the underclass. Arnold Toynbee says that civilization suffers from the twin diseases of war and class. How dreadful to slaughter innocent and helpless infants. But this is the king's decree.

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Egypt adopts a policy and a program of legalized murder. It is a program designed to rob the Hebrews of vitality and strip them of vigor to destroy the children. This is the order the midwives are to obey.

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Now, a midwife assists in producing new life. That's what a good midwife does. The midwife helps to bring to pass the birth process. Midwife is a channel of grace, a conduit,

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a participant in the life-giving process. A midwife helps to bring life into being. Midwives are those who have the task of introducing new lives into the world. They're told by the king to be a hindrance rather than a help.

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They're commanded to be an enemy instead of a friend. They are to destroy the male Hebrew babies. These midwives in Egypt are called upon to destroy their own children, their own children. This is what Pharaoh insists that they do.

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Pharaoh is in control. If they fail to do as Pharaoh commands, their lives are in jeopardy. If they obey his order, then their lives are in jeopardy. Either way they go, they're in trouble.

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They will forfeit their future if they obey Pharaoh because children are the hope of the future. The midwives are in a pivotal and precarious position. They are on the horns of a dilemma.

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They are between the devil and the deep blue sea. Every parent is in the position of a midwife. Every teacher is in the position of a midwife. Every leader is in the position of a midwife.

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Every individual is in the position of a midwife. The question is whether the midwife's strategic position will be used to help or to hurt. The midwives direct the others in how to respond to Pharaoh's mandate. This is what they did.

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One has the name of Shepherd. Her name means elegant and beautiful. How wonderful it is to have someone during those earliest years, that period when the child is still in the womb, to have one who helps in every way to see that the child is

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well born. I've seen some parents who read books and they read to their children while they're still in the womb. They're concerned about them having a good birth, concerned about them wanting to be

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loved and introduced to certain things at the earliest possible time. So the midwives direct the others in how to respond to Pharaoh's mandate, these two, shipper and poor. The Hebrew children are saved because of their faith, their commitment, their example.

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That's the role we play today. That's the role that is assigned to us. If we would be the kind of persons that we ought to be in shaping the lives of others, we will find ourselves fulfilling our duties as midwives in Egypt.

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Because there are difficulties that we cannot solve alone, and yet the children must be saved. They need to be saved. And if children are to be saved, they must be led to accept certain opportunities at

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the earliest possible period in their lives. Kenneth Clark, who died not too long ago, just almost a matter of weeks ago, conducted an experiment involving black children.

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He had a doll that was offered to the members of a group composed of both black and white. And each time, more of the children, black children, selected a white dog rather than a black dog.

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This shows how children are formed, how they are shaped at an early period by a society that should be providing the best possible opportunities for them. These two midwives, I don't know what happened in Egypt, but I'm sure Pharaoh

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was disturbed because as he looks about he sees the Egyptians on the one hand are being outnumbered and he wants to take some action and he has called a national conference of the midwives and he's sort of, maybe you didn't understand when I issued the decree, maybe you didn't get to read it.

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But let me call your attention as to what the decree says and what you're to do. Now these two were so unusual, I'd like to single them out as midwives for the year, because they were instrumental in doing what was absolutely necessary for the development of future persons.

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They were helping to shape their lives with elegance. They were helping to shape them in the way of morality. They were helping to shape them in order to keep them alive. It's one thing to exist.

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It's another thing to really be alive, to be in tune with what is necessary for your life to develop to the highest possible degree. That's what these two women did.

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And so they are remembered. It could have been that these midwives were of the opinion that there was nothing they could do. So often we take that position, nothing we can do.

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But they found that in spite of all of the prescriptions and in spite of all of the things that were designed to cause their failure that they were able to succeed. And so Pharaoh calls them together again.

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But they continued because they feared God. The midwives in Egypt feared God. They had reference, they had opportunities, They feared God.

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And I think that when we look at our society, we would be much better off if we had more people who serve as midwives of introducing our young to the best possible way, because they feared God.

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In fact, more and more of us are trying to get rid of God, but they feared God, they honored God, and they were a beacon light for the generations that they ushered into this world.

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Now, no doubt when they assembled in this special conference, it was called by Pharaoh that they said, "Your Majesty, The problem is that the Hebrew women

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are so lively. They deliver their babies that when we get there it's all over. They deliver them so quickly and they have delivered the child

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on our arrival we find out there's nothing for us to do as far as that birth process is concerned. that was their excuse before Pharaoh. So Pharaoh took a more ruthless course. He decides to take

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public action and as he moves with haste to destroy the Hebrew boy babies he decides that every

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Hebrew son is to be cast into the Nile River at the time of their birth, or as soon as they could be apprehended. That was very difficult, I'm sure, for the Hebrew midwives to deal with. But our controversy today is concerned with so often pro-life issues,

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pro-choice issues, and we do not think that this battle belongs to the courts. Many times people take positions on these things, and yet they fail to do what they can to help the children that are the fruits of much of the positions that they take.

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Because the midwives feared God, they saved the children alive. Listen to that. They saved the children alive. Other people may be saved as far as being able to breathe, but to save the children

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alive means that they are saved with meaning, with a purposeful existence. They save the children alive. It's like the story I shared with you some time ago where children were asked what they'd like to do when they grow up.

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And the woman said one thing, and the one said another. And finally, one answered, when I grow up, I just want to be alive. Well, these midwives saved the children alive.

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They were not just faces, but they had a sense of purpose, had a sense of concern. They saved the children alive. So children today need more midwives,

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more who are helpful in developing the kind of personality that is helpful and meaningful. To save the children alive is to help them grow in the proper way.

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So what is happening to our children? What is happening to this group that is a channel of hope? And I say we must risk all to save the children. That's what the midwives in Egypt did.

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They risked everything to save the children, to make a better generation, to save the children. that which Pharaoh intends as an instrument of bondage and destruction, God uses it as a means of redemption

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and salvation. They save the children alive, children to hope for the future. Well, it was said during the Birmingham boycott

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in the civil rights struggle, that the movement was floundering, floundering. Things were beginning to cool off. It had become more and more difficult to recruit people

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to go to jail. And finally, Dr. Martin Luther King and his lieutenants, as they asked for volunteers and received very few, decided to use children.

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And children were arrested, children were placed in jail. Not only was it an embarrassment to that community, it was an embarrassment that was put before the world. But that broke the backs of the Civil Rights Movement,

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of those who were opponents. The children, children, hope of tomorrow, children, those young, innocent, and what we often look upon as being helpless.

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They save the children alive. Well, that's your task. That's my task, that's the task of every one of us, to save the children alive.

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To be an instrument in that birth process that helps to bring a wholesome personality into the world. So that we get beyond the experience of drugs in our neighborhoods, taking the lives of children

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before they really know what life is all about. Save the children alive. So it's not enough just to have programs, but we must make the necessary sacrifices.

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Read that story again and see the sacrifice that the midwives-- They risk their lives, I say again, they risk their lives for the future of the children. So this is our task,

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not only for our generation, but for generations to come. I remember a man who was a professor of chemistry, and he was regarded as one of the best members of the faculty.

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I remember we had the opportunity to talk with him and ask him how he developed, how did you manage to excel in your field just as you have done? He said, "Well, it's this way." He said, "When I was in school,

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I was regarded as being very dumb and I couldn't learn. Teachers tried and tried, but they did not. But I was with my succeed.

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I was with my mother and she was trying to help me with the work, And I wasn't responding and she cried. As we say, she broke down and cried. And that so impressed him that he determined that he was going to learn.

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And he became different from that experience. And as time went on, he not only finished school, but he came to excel in his school. All because he cared enough to weep. That's what the widows, the people of midwives in Egypt, that's what they did.

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they cared enough not only to risk their lives and to suffer, they cared enough to make the supreme sacrifice. So this is what God does. This is what he does. This is what we listen to Sunday after Sunday, week after week. This is what God does. He gave his only begotten Son. He sacrificed. He gave the most precious gift. He gave that gift to

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preserve life and to give a good future for his people. So thanks be to God who not only leads us in the way that he should go, he demonstrates it by the gift of himself. So we come now to extend the invitation to Christian discipleship. We invite you to come as we sing. It's an open door that he sets before us. It's a

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door of salvation because all of us are God's children to be saved alive. Amen. [MUSIC PLAYING] Come to Jesus just now.

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Come to Jesus just now. Come to Jesus. That's what makes life meaningful, the redemptive grace of God.

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Come to him. [ Music ] >> Door of the church is open. ♪ Come to Jesus, come to Jesus ♪

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♪ Come to Jesus just now ♪ ♪ Just now ♪ ♪ Come to Jesus, come to Jesus just now ♪ ♪ Oh, just now ♪

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♪ He will save you, He will save you ♪ ♪ He will save you just now, just now ♪ ♪ He will save you, He will save you just now ♪ ♪ He will save you just now ♪

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♪ He is able, He is able ♪ ♪ He is able just now, just now ♪ ♪ He is able, He is able ♪ ♪ Oh, just now ♪

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♪ He is willing, He is willing ♪ ♪ He is willing just now, just now ♪ ♪ He is willing, He is willing just now ♪ [MUSIC]

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♪ He will forgive you ♪ ♪ He will forgive you ♪ ♪ Just now ♪ ♪ Just now ♪

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♪ He will forgive you ♪ ♪ He will give you ♪ ♪ Just now ♪ - Number 11.

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♪ Only trust him ♪ ♪ Only trust Him ♪ ♪ Only trust Him ♪ ♪ Just now ♪

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♪ Just now ♪ ♪ Only trust Him ♪ ♪ Only trust Him ♪ ♪ Just now ♪

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- Verses are still early in celebrating birthdays Would you go down to the rear of the sanctuary. Sister Hurst, is there a fellowship period arranged? We invite you to

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share with us a time of fellowship immediately following the benediction. Would you bow your heads please. Now unto him who is able to keep you from falling and present you faultless before his

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glorious presence with exceeding joy. To the only wise God our Father be glory and majesty, dominion and power, now and forevermore. Amen. Amen.

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