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[ Silence ] [ Music ] I still hear, I still hear, Mama praying, and the prayer that she prays, still keeping ♪ Every day ♪

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♪ Oh, I still hear mama pray for me ♪ ♪ Oh, I know I still hear ♪ ♪ Mama pray ♪ ♪ I still hear ♪

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♪ I can hear my mama pray ♪ ♪ And the prayer that she prayed ♪ ♪ Still keeping me day by day ♪ ♪ I can hear my mama ♪

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♪ My mama praying for me ♪ ♪ When mama bowed her head ♪ ♪ And she knelt down in fervent prayer ♪ She knew, she really knew how to call on the name of Jesus.

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And she knew he would always meet her there. You know, she thanked him for helping the street. Just to run this Christian race. But she never, she never failed to pray for her children.

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She said, "Lord, save them by your grace." And I still hear, it seems like I can hear right now, I hear Mama pray. Oh, I still hear, I hear Mama pray. And you know the prayer that she prays, still keeping me day by day.

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I still hear my mama, my mama pray. [MUSIC] Now the one that you call mama, She might be sleeping in the arms of our God

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But the memories of the family devotion Causes us to keep on keep on trusting in the Lord She prayed for God to bless and keep her children In all ways, let the love of God abide.

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And the prayer that she prayed will cover us even today, until we meet her over on the other side. Oh, my mama prayed. Oh yes she did.

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prayed. Oh yes you did. My mama prayed for me. Oh mama I can hear her say right now. Our father is once more and again that your alma servant, in the most humble way that I know how. And I want to thank you this morning. I want to thank you for watching over me all night long. And I want to thank you, I want

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I want to thank you for waking me early, early this morning. I was closed in my right mind. Yes, I was. I want to thank you, Father, for a reasonable portion of health and strength.

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I've got to thank you, Father, that the bed I laid on was not my, was not my cooling board. Oh, Father, oh, Lord, oh, Lord, I want to thank you, Father, that the sheets, that the sheets I laid on were not,

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they were not my winding cloth. Oh, Lord, I want to thank you. She looked at the obituaries and said, I want to thank you that you let my mamas roll on, roll on,

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Roll on just a little while longer. Oh Lord, Mama prayed. Yes, she did. I'm glad Mama prayed for me.

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Oh yes, she did. I'm glad she took the time out. Yeah. Don't forget the family prayer.

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I know Jesus, he promised to meet you there. ♪ I was gonna meet you there ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, mama prayed ♪ ♪ Prayed ♪

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♪ Mama didn't mind prayer ♪ ♪ Because she knew the power of prayer ♪ ♪ Oh, yes, she did ♪ ♪ Prayed ♪

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♪ She prayed for me ♪ ♪ Prayed for me ♪ ♪ I still, I still ♪ ♪ Oh, I still ♪

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♪ I still hear mama pray ♪ ♪ Praying for me ♪ ♪ Oh, she took time out to pray ♪ ♪ Oh, I still ♪

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♪ I still hear mama ♪ ♪ I still hear mama pray ♪ ♪ Oh, I still ♪ ♪ I still hear mama pray ♪

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♪ Prayin', prayin' ♪ ♪ For me ♪ ♪ Oh yeah ♪ - Let's all say amen.

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[Applause] [Unidentified man] We recognize our guest today. Our oldest daughter is with us, Marva. We went down to Texas A&M for our son-in-law's graduation.

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He had received a PhD in education administration. and we got a chance for the family to be together for a brief shining moment. And a new earth. Father, first heaven and the first earth had passed away.

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And there was no more sea. Revelation 21st chapter and the first verse. The subject of the message, no more sin. No more sin.

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I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and there was no more sea. First of all, we need to consider

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the person who is responsible for having this experience that we share today as the basis of the morning message. John, faithful disciple of our Lord.

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John, who was a forceful preacher of the word of God. John is cast into prison. Tradition has it that he was fed to lions and somehow he miraculously escaped. That he was born in oil and somehow he came through that.

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that. And so as a last resort they put him on an island, the Aegean Sea, the Isle of Patmos, where he was to be starved to death by loneliness. There he is in this prison. The Lord's Day comes and he has no choir to sing the majestic praises of the eternal. He has no ushers to exhibit the hospitality of heaven for the saints

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on earth, he's alone. And while alone, he has a vision of the church, seven churches in fact, and God shows him many things that will come. And as he moves to the close of that vision, he says, "I saw a new heaven and a new earth,

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for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no more sea." No more sea. peoples considered the sea as an enemy. They thought that there were demons who resided in the sea. And so many of them did not venture very far from the seashore because they might

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be caught or destroyed by the demons lurking in the sea. John said there was no more sea, no more danger. There are a list of things there listed as being no more, no more sickness, no more sorrow, no more crying, no more sin, no more sin.

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In the midst of this experience, we may well recall how the scene is in the experience of the people of God. They're in Egypt and in the midst of their slavery experience, Moses comes and tells Pharaoh to let the people go and Pharaoh, after a great deal of resistance, decides

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to let the people go. And there is the Red Sea, which they must cross. And they come to the Red Sea and they look back and they see the shining swords of the Egyptians.

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They hear the rumbling chariots and Moses cries unto the Lord and God tells him to stretch forth his hand with the rod and the sea divides and they pass through on dry land. Every one of us has had some Red Seas where we could see no way out. Sometimes it's the Red Sea of sickness, sometimes it's the Red Sea of

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disappointment. Sometimes it is the Red Sea of Day, but whatever may be that sea there is one who is prepared to guide us through the waters safely to the other side and one may be comforted by the fact that there is no more sea. No more Isn't it a wonderful thing to envision a time where you'll have no more trouble?

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Probably every one of us here has some problem that we must address and to reach the state in life where there is no more sea, no more dragons to face. You see in ancient times there was this belief that there was the dragon of chaos, Tama, and then there was a dragon of order, and that was Marduk.

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And these two dragons fought one with the other. And we get a picture of that in the beginning of the Bible, Genesis. In the beginning, darkness covered the earth. There was, and God moved upon the face of the waters, and out of that darkness came

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light. Out of that darkness there came water. God hatched water out of chaos. And that's what the great theologian Karl Barth calls the triumph of God's grace.

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So at the end of the journey, there is this word that comes from John. I saw a new heaven, a new earth, and there was no more sea. Oh, my brothers and sisters,

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the seas that we've had to cross. As we look at the black family, we've had our sea. Daniel Patrick Monaghan wrote about the black family the black family and he said that of course one of the main problems that we

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faced as blacks in the family had to do with the fact that we are left with what is called a matriarchal family. Slavery left the children with the mother and And the mother had to carry the responsibility of being both mother and father. That was a C. That was a C.

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And then there were other problems. We were deprived of equal opportunity and education. All of that we had to contend with. Then there was the problem of having to contend with equality when it comes to finance, opportunity for a job.

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We were denied that. And to envision a time in our history where there will be no more sin is indeed a wonderful vision. It's a wonderful vision. So this is a celestial vision. It's not a vision of reality on earth, but it's a vision that describes the end of the way, when we get through all that we are to experience, that there will be no more sea.

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The Sea of Galilee is one of the biblical seas. And on the Sea of Galilee, one may sail today and around there, there's some restaurants and you can sail on the sea

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and you can stop at one of the restaurants and have fish from the Sea of Galilee. And a group of us who made that journey, Got on the ship and it was a rather pleasant day just as it is today, rather calm.

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And we entered the ship and before long as we got out on the sea there was a raging storm. a wild wind the ship was tossed about and finally the storm was over and we reached the other side. We had sailed through the storm. Well that's what every one of us hopes to do. We hope to be able to sail through the storm. We

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We hope to be able somehow in the midst of the howling winds and in the midst of the roaring waters as the ship is tossed to and fro to be able to sail through that storm to the other side. No more sea.

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No more sea. Well John has the experience even though he's out there alone on this island, he has the the experience of seeing a time that God reveals to him through his goodness and through his grace

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that the time will come when there will be no more sea, no more dragons to contend with, no more darkness to have to fight against, no more sickness, no more death, no more sea.

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So as we sail today, we find ourselves going through what we may call some uncharted seas. We embark not knowing what may occur to us. We don't know what's going to happen this week.

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It's an uncharted sea. And we certainly don't know what's going to happen next year. We have our prognosticators, we have them to tell us that the economic forecast is this, they tell us that the market

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forecast is this, but we really don't know. We really don't know. And we need someone to guide us safely and gently

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through these troubled waters. For we do live in troubled times the children of Israel passed through the Red Sea They had their experience on

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The Sea of Galilee Then there's another sea biblical Sea, and that is the sea

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That we call the Dead Sea And that sea doesn't give out anything It just takes in everything Takes in everything and and it's the Dead Sea

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It has a foul and filthy aura that is around it the Dead Sea but this word from John tells us

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that in spite of all of the difficulties in spite of all of the discouragement in in spite of all of the threats that we may face, that there is a time and there is a place where there is no more sea.

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It'll all be over. And that's comfort. That's a good word. That whatever troubles we may encounter,

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that they'll not be always. As the spiritual say, I'm so glad Troubles don't last always. But there is a time, there is a condition

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where there will be no more sea. So John has a vision of the world to come. He has what we may call a celestial vision. So this is no more, no more.

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No more weeping and wailing. No more, no more. So we envision a time when the angel Gabriel will blow his horn and put one foot on land and the other on sea and declare time no longer to be, that there will be no more sea.

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No more sea. Well, as John has this vision, it is the vision of the end of the Christian journey. the end of our way. No more sea. Nothing separating us. Now the sea separates us. Separates one continent from another, one group from another, the sea. But there

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is a time that God has envisioned for his people where there will be no separation. I am completely convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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- Yes Lord. - No more sea, I tell you. No more sea. So in the midst of it all,

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we have one who is a pilot. On this side, on this side. There is one who is a pilot and we can joyfully sing,

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Jesus, Savior, pilot me. All life's tempest to see. Chord and compass come from thee. Jesus, Savior, Highland.

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No more sea. As we sing the hymn of invitation, we extend the privilege of the church. We invite you to come by letter, by Christian experience.

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No more sea. To become a candidate for that place toward which we all journey, where there is no more sin, but only peace and joy

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and happiness and eternal life with our King of Kings. (upbeat piano music) - Door of the church is open, invite you to come. a letter by Christian Experience of Professional Faith.

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♪ I was aking deep and say ♪ ♪ Far from the peaceful shore ♪ ♪ Very deeply staying within ♪ ♪ Singing to rise no more ♪

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♪ But the master of the sea ♪ ♪ Will let his fairy cry ♪ ♪ From the waters lifted me ♪ ♪ The same ground I'm on ♪

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♪ Love lifted me ♪ ♪ Love lifted me ♪ ♪ When I used to doubt ♪ ♪ Love lifted me ♪

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♪ Love lifted me ♪ ♪ Love lifted me ♪ ♪ When all the oaks stood up ♪ ♪ Love revealed me ♪

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♪ All my heart to Him I give ♪ ♪ Never to Him I leave ♪ ♪ May His blessing gladness give ♪ ♪ Ever His praise receive ♪

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♪ Love so mighty and so true ♪ ♪ Never my soul can stop ♪ ♪ Make my loving service to Him belong ♪ ♪ Love revealed me ♪

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♪ Love revealed me ♪ ♪ When all the oaks stood up ♪ ♪ Love revealed me ♪ ♪ Love revealed me ♪

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♪ I've always been near you ♪ ♪ When I used to doubt ♪ ♪ Love lifted me ♪ ♪ Souls that ran to hope above ♪

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♪ Jesus completely saved ♪ ♪ He will lift you by His love ♪ ♪ Out of the angry place ♪ ♪ He's the master of the sea ♪

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♪ Let us sing with all day ♪ ♪ He has set the world to beat ♪ ♪ He's came to reign ♪ ♪ God rest ye meek ♪

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♪ God rest ye meek ♪ ♪ And all ye that have ♪ ♪ God rest ye meek ♪ ♪ Oh, lift him up ♪

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♪ Oh, lift him up ♪ ♪ And nothing else can help ♪ ♪ Oh, lift him up ♪ - Nearby our heads for the benediction.

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Now unto him is able to keep you from falling and present you faultless before his glorious presence of exceeding joy. To the only wise God, our Father,

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be glory and majesty, dominion and power now and forevermore. Amen. - Amen.

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(gentle music) ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪

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♪ Amen ♪ - Thank you. How are you? Oh, thank you.

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You know, Georgina. [BLANK_AUDIO] [ Silence ]