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[ Silence ] [MUSIC] ♪ Oh, you're a burden ♪ ♪ For there are blessings ♪

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♪ He's bestowed on you ♪ ♪ In every way ♪ ♪ We must never doubt him ♪ ♪ These trials we must go through ♪

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♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ So I'll always do it ♪ ♪ And keep on trying ♪ ♪ The heavenly Father ♪

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♪ Will always care for you ♪ ♪ And he knows ♪ Just how much we can bear Although

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As heavy children You never learn How hard to bear it all Just as the spread of tears on the tide, of the tear-dropped bomb.

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And you have the joy of day The shivers to help him be farther And always to answer prayer And he knows, and I'm so glad he knows

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Just how much we can bear Oh, the load gets heavy, children You never know how long to bear it all Just as was Fred, the King of Torrey,

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Although the tears are falling, You have the joy of Miss Assura. ♪ God is near ♪ ♪ I have before me ♪

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♪ Always answer your prayer ♪ ♪ And he knows ♪ ♪ And I'm so glad he knows ♪ ♪ Just how much we can bear ♪

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♪ Just how much we can bear ♪ ♪ Just how much we can bear ♪ ♪ Just how much we can bear ♪ Amen.

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Continuing our sermon series based on the book of Psalms, we consider today Psalm number 73, verses 14, 24, and 26 as the focal passages for our message. For all the day long have I been plagued and chastened every morning. For all the day long have I been plagued and chastened every morning.

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Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart and my potion forever. The subject of the message, sunshine through the clouds. Sunshine through the clouds.

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Clouds cover the sky. The sun is hidden from view. the sunlight does not penetrate the darkness, providing radiance and hope for the day's journey. clouds cover the sky.

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Then there are times when the sun shines through. The clouds are there and we are able to see the brilliant

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sunlight rays shining through the clouds. The experience which gives rise to our text is one in which the psalmist is in a melancholy mood. The sky is covered with clouds.

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He is despondent. disturbed over the human situation. He looks about and he sees the wicked living in prosperity. They seem to have all of the things that they need and more to spare. The wicked seem to wear the finest, the most expensive suits.

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The wicked seem to wear the designer dresses, drive in Mercedes men's cars, Roll Royce cars. he sees good people hardly able to buy clothes to wear and walking instead of riding. He sees the wicked living in the most expensive homes and the most exclusive residential sections while the good dwell in humble huts, hardly able to pay the rent. So this disturbs him,

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that the wicked should be faring so well where they seem to be traveling on a smooth surface where there is not a bump in the road. They're healthy and wealthy. They have success and seem not to suffer from stress or distress. So when the psalmist looks at the plight of the wicked and compares them with good people. He comes to the conclusion that the wicked

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seem to have it easy and the good people have it hard. And so he asked the question, why? Why this gross injustice? Why do these inequities exist? The scale seems to be tilted in favor of the bad instead of the good. He looks at the human situation and he wonders about God's government. Is God's government

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really good? He sees the bad guys drink iniquity like water. They drain the cup. He sees the prosperity of the wicked and this seems to breed skepticism in the life of the psalmist. He has been a firm believer in God, but now dismal clouds seem to cover his sky.

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He has begun to wonder about the goodness of God in the land of the living. He entertains some doubts. It appears that the bad guys do whatever they want to do and get away with it. It seems that God isn't going to do anything about it.

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And he begins to wonder whether it really pays to be good. In fact, he is jealous of the bad guys. And so he says, "I was envious of the foolish." of the foolish. The bad guys use foul and filthy language. They talk against

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heaven and Lord you don't do anything about it. He says now I have cleansed my heart but it looks like I have cleansed my heart in vain. I'm living a good life but it doesn't seem to really pay. I'm living the good life for nothing. In fact, I have washed my hands in innocence. It's all clouds, dark clouds cover the sky and

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The sun is hidden from view. The psalmist is perplexed. He's perplexed because of the human situation, the prosperity of the bad guys over against the good.

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He's perplexed because of the manner in which God seems to be governing his world. So the psalmist is in a melancholy mood. He's under a cloud. Now the psalmist is not alone because all of us find ourselves traveling under a cloud. We find ourselves making the journey many times when the marvelous

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This brilliant sunlight seems to be covered by dark clouds. We have experienced from time to time when our faith is overshadowed by skepticism, the sunshine is hidden by clouds. Oh I've seen it from time to time it happens all through our experience. I've

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seen godly women who would just love to have a child of their own. Who live a godly righteous and sober life and I've seen those who don't really want any children have all the children it seems that they can get and they really don't really care and those godly women ask the question Lord why? Why? I've seen people

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who are working on jobs who seem to be faithful and who do the work and somehow someone else comes along and just happens to touch the right button and knows the right people and they get the promotions. And the good people ask why?

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Why? The sun is covered by clouds. Man, there is a person who doesn't seem to really care. He just uses all kinds of language,

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curses God every time he gets a chance and look like he just has such good health. And here is another who's reading the Bible, who's praying and they have some terrible malady

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and it seems like they're always going to the doctor. And they ask the question, why? Why? The sun is covered by clouds.

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And you see, these kinds of situations disturb the faithful. Psalm it says, "When I saw the iniquities "that God permits in the world." When I saw that, when I looked at all of the iniquities

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and all of the so-called injustices that seem to exist that God lets exist in the world, he said, "My feet were almost gone." I tried and I thought I was standing on firm ground, but when I saw this happening over and over and over again, my feet were almost gone.

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And he said, to put it another way, my feet well nigh slipped. If this is the way it is, if this is the way God runs his world, Maybe, just maybe, I'll not walk in wisdom's way because it doesn't seem to me that it really pays. The clouds cover the sun.

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In fact, the psalmist goes on to say some rather offensive words to the fateful. You see, when the clouds are in the sky and the sun is hidden from view, the so-called fateful, this man whose feet were supposedly on firm ground almost slipped. And he goes so far as to say some offensive words to the faithful, to other members of

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the congregation. In other words, why are you being so faithful to the Lord? You've seen people in the church who claim to know the Lord and as their feet almost slipped they began to question why you ought to be faithful.

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That's the situation that he faces. And he said, "When I attempted to understand why God governed his world as he did, it was too painful for me." That's the way it is.

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We're often tempted by the experiences of human existence. The song puts it well when it says, "Tempted and tried, we are oft made to wonder why it should be thus all the day long while there are others living about us never molested though in the wrong." So in his perplexity while the clouds, he's

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traveling under this cloud, can't see the sun, in the midst of his perplexity the psalmist goes to church and is in the sanctuary within the hallowed walls of the temple that he understands he's able to see and it's here that he comes to appreciate the divine mystery of God is so mysterious in the way he

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does things. He's a mystery, mystery. You can't program God, just can't program him. He's mysterious. My grandmother was of Cherokee Indian stock. I can remember when she was watching over us as a small child, youngster, lad, that

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when I would do something wrong, there'd be several of us playing out there in the yard, And she says, "I'm going to get you for that." She'd be sitting on the porch, never said very much, just watching. "I'm going to get you for that."

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And that would be early in the day and I thought that in the course of the day that she'd forget about that. The day, many hours had passed. I thought she'd forget it.

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And when she had said that earlier in the day, I would go to bed early. Go in while the sun is still up. You going to bed?

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Oh yes ma'am, I'm going to bed. She'd be still sitting on the porch in the rocking chair. Just rocking. Rocking.

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And then when I'd gone to bed early and gone to sleep, she'd come in with the switch. You thought I had forgotten that, didn't you? And that's a terrible thing

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be aroused when you're asleep. Thought you'd really gotten away with it and yet when it's all over you are reaping. That's the way God is.

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He's rather mysterious. God moves in a mysterious way. His wonders too profound, he plants his footsteps on the sea

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and rides up on the star. So there are clouds, we don't really understand, it's mysterious, we don't understand. The clouds are there and we have to travel underneath the clouds. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take the clouds you so much dread, are big with mercy

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and shall break in blessings o'er your head. travel in the cloud. But this armist goes on to say that my flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my potion forever. That as he gold within the walls of the sanctuary and as he worships in the sanctuary and

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somehow his eyes are opened and he sees the brilliant sunlight of faith that continues to shine through the clouds. And he holds on to God. He said, "Lord, I see now. I see that I'm not really to question the divine goodness, I'm really not to call you into question as to how you run your world, but I'm just to trust in you.

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That's when the sun shines through the clouds. Sun shines through the clouds. So I've just come along to say that we all travel underneath the cloud like the psalmist. But the reassuring word is don't worry about the clouds. Don't worry about the clouds. It's a part of the world of nature.

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It's a part of the scene that if we would have faith that we're going to be bothered by some doubts. There are some clouds and we got to travel underneath the clouds. But the sun shines through the clouds. If we would make the pilgrimage from Egypt to Canaan, then we must travel underneath the clouds.

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Pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day. But even though there is the brightness of day all around us and yet we travel under a cloud. But don't worry, don't worry about the cloud. Sun shines through the clouds. God's in control, he's in charge. don't worry about the clouds. Pharaoh, cruel monarch, seems to be in power.

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People of God are down in Egypt and they've gone down to Egypt because there's bread in Egypt, but after a while in Egypt they find that they are oppressed, oppressed so hard they could not stand. Pharaoh is in power and Pharaoh, Pharaoh orders the killing of the children. He's in power, he's the king

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of Egypt. The cloud is there. And for four hundred and thirty years they cry out to God for help, they are living under a cloud. Cry for help. They're under a cloud and it seems that Pharaoh has the power. But don't worry about the clouds because God is in control. And when we ask the question where, how will the end be? Just wait a while, wait a while. Don't worry

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about the clouds. The sun is still shining, it's hidden by clouds, but just wait a while. Wait a while. And ten plagues are sent upon Egypt by God. And Pharaoh chases the people of God when they leave Egypt in pursuit of freedom. Pharaoh comes on behind them with his mighty army. It's the great

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cloud that's there but Pharaoh comes on but don't worry about the cloud. For Pharaoh and his army are drowned in the midst of the Red Sea. Just wait a while, don't worry about the cloud. Wait a while. Mordecai is a member of a minority and they are oppressed, they are oppressed by the Persians. The cloud is there and Haman arranges to have some gallows built because he doesn't like

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Mordecai. He's going to have the gallows built and have Mordecai hanged. And after all, Haman is near the king and he gets the king to do what he wants him to do.

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And so there's a great cloud there. But don't worry about the cloud. Just wait a while. Wait a while.

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Wait a while. Wait a while and you'll see how it ends. And Haman is executed on the very gallows that he has had built for Mordecai.

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Don't worry about the clouds. Don't worry about the clouds. Don't worry about the clouds. They're there, but don't worry about them.

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Herod, Herod. Herod the gripper. He's cruel. Herod has little children slain.

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In fact, he wants to get to Jesus. He kills all of the children. There's a cloud there, there's a cloud. But don't worry about the cloud, just wait a while.

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He has the head of John the Baptist cut off, but don't worry about the cloud, just wait a while and you will discover how he ends up. He dies, worms destroy his body.

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Don't worry about it. Jezebel, Jezebel, she's a cruel woman. She has even Elijah, the great prophet of God, fearful. But just wait a while.

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Wait a while and you'll see the dogs destroy the body of Jezebel. Don't worry about the clouds because the sun still shines. Sun shines through.

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Through. So when I, when I, when I, when we travel underneath the cloud And when we ask, ask many times God questions

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about why he permits certain things, don't worry about the cloud, just keep your faith in God. You'll come to the point where you can say, through it all, I've just learned to trust in Jesus, through it all.

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Through it all, through it all, I've learned to trust in Jesus, through it all. That's what the Psalmist says. When you read the end of that Psalm,

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he comes, the sun begins to shine through. - Yes. - Oh yeah. - It shines through. It shines through the clouds.

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And he asked the question, he said, Lord, I'm just gonna hold on. I won't trust in you. He said, whom in heaven do I have beside you?

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I don't have anybody in heaven to look out for me, but you. And then he said, whom on earth do I have? There's nobody down here to walk with me to lead me in the way that I should go, but you to trust in God, just to trust in

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God. That's good news, that's good news, that's good news that the sun shines. No matter how dark the clouds may be, the sun shines. It shines through the clouds and we can give thanks to God that the sun shields the earth. Oh yes we travel through the clouds all around us but the sun shines through the clouds and and

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the good news is that if we just keep on traveling now we're gonna come to the time where we're gonna have an unclouded day. That's good news. That's good news. We invite you to come now. [ Music ]

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♪ Oh, they tell me of a home ♪ ♪ Far beyond the skies ♪ ♪ Oh, they tell me of a home ♪ ♪ Far away ♪

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♪ Oh, they tell me of a home ♪ ♪ Where the sun does shine ♪ ♪ Oh, they tell me of a home ♪ [Music]

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[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

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[Music] [Music] Oh, they tell me of a home, a land, a river, They tell me of a home where my dreams have flown.

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They tell me of a land, a river, Where the tree of life, in eternal bloom, ♪ Shed his greatness to the unforgiven ♪ ♪ O the power of God the King ♪

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♪ O the power of God the King ♪ ♪ Who makes every man a father ♪ ♪ Let us not depart ♪ ♪ O, they tell me how they love my dear ♪

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♪ O, they tell me how they love my dear ♪ ♪ O, they tell me how they love my dear ♪ ♪ Oh, they tell me how and how ♪ ♪ Where is my love now ♪

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♪ Oh, they tell me how and how ♪ ♪ How it went ♪ [BLANK_AUDIO]