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[ Silence ] [MUSIC] ♪ He will guide me every day ♪ ♪ Sing your glory, oh, I pray ♪

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♪ For my sins he'll work ♪ ♪ He for my sins he'll work ♪ ♪ Humbly I ask thee, teach me your will ♪ While you are working, help me keep still.

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Though Satan is busy, God is real. Order my steps in your word, please. Order my steps in your word. Brighten my tongue.

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Let my words edify. Let the words of my mouth be acceptable in thy sight. Take charge of my life, both day and night. Order my step in your word.

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Please, order my step in your word. I want to walk worthy. I want to walk worthy. ♪ My calling will always be ♪

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♪ One of my steps ♪ ♪ One of my steps, Lord ♪ ♪ And I'll do your blessed will ♪ ♪ The world is ever changing ♪

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♪ But you are still the same ♪ ♪ You are my steps ♪ ♪ I'll praise your name ♪ ♪ I want to walk worthy ♪

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♪ I want to walk worthy ♪ ♪ I'm calling to you ♪ ♪ Please come and I'll stand ♪ ♪ Oh, you're my steps, Lord ♪

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♪ Oh, love, do your part ♪ ♪ The world is ever-changing ♪ ♪ But you are still the same ♪ ♪ If you order my steps ♪

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♪ I'll praise your name ♪ ♪ Oh, order my steps ♪ ♪ In your word ♪ ♪ Order my tongue ♪

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♪ In your word ♪ ♪ Guide my feet ♪ ♪ In your word ♪ ♪ Watch my heart ♪

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♪ In your word ♪ ♪ Show me how to ♪ ♪ In your word ♪ ♪ Show me how to talk ♪

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♪ And I need a brand new song to sing ♪ ♪ Show me how to touch your grace ♪ ♪ In your word ♪ ♪ In your word ♪

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♪ In your word ♪ ♪ Order my steps in your word ♪ ♪ Please order my steps in your word ♪ [Music]

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♪ Water my steps in your word ♪ ♪ Water my tongue in your word ♪ ♪ Wash my feet in your word ♪ ♪ Wash my heart in your word ♪

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♪ I want you to show me how to walk in your word ♪ ♪ Show me how to talk in your word ♪ When I need a brand new song to sing, show me how to let go. In your word, in your word, in your, in your word.

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Please order my steps in your word. Please order my steps in your Word. Please order my steps in your Word. Please order my steps in your Word.

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Amen. [APPLAUSE] The king's wedding garment. The king's wedding garment. In ancient Gama, which is on the west coast of Africa, most of the The king's household were privileged to wear a certain garment made of kente cloth.

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This was considered very beautiful and precious material, but only the king's household, the royal household, was permitted to wear garments made of that material. So the message today is concerned with the king's garment. It is a garment that was provided for weddings by the king in those days.

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There was no price attached to it. was provided for each guest by the King. I was in a church some time ago where there was a sign at the door stating that no ladies wearing pants were to enter the sanctuary for the worship.

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But if there were those who had come who had on pants, that they could secure a robe and come into the sanctuary for worship. The king had sent out invitations, this particular parable Jesus tells near the end of his ministry according to Luke.

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And word had circulated from the king's messengers that there was a wedding feast scheduled. In fact, when we read this chapter, you'll find two stories woven together, two rabbinical stories woven together regarding the king and the waiting that is given. We live in a time when there is considerable concern for uniformity.

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We want to have uniforms in schools. And there are those who maintain that if uniform dress is required in schools, that you'll have better schools. There's not a great deal of disagreement in that.

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But there have been those not too long ago who were in the news, pupils who said that they should have the right to wear whatever they want to wear. And their parents have agreed with them. Some have even talked about going to court over this particular issue of uniformity.

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But the king, the kings in those days had the first and the last word. The king has decreed that there would be a wedding. He has his invitation list, so to speak, and he sends forth the messengers

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to distribute the invitations. There is some time that lapses between the first invitation and the second invitation. First invitation is sent out in order

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that they might prepare, get ready for the waiting. And then after some time, the second invitation comes. The time, the date of the waiting, these facts are known, so come to the waiting.

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So, everybody is included. It is an invitation which is extended to those in the highways and the byways. Wherever you are, everybody everywhere is invited to the King's waiting.

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So the time arrives, there is no one left out of the King's invitation. It is expressed, I think, this particular openness is expressed time and time again in our worship and our songs. I remember a song that was sung when I was a boy, "He Included Me."

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He included me. When the Lord said whosoever, he included me. So everybody is included. How gracious it is.

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Most of the time when we give a party, we make a list and we limit it to that list. And that's it because we have to have some sort of limitation on the expense. Everybody. But the king includes everybody, everybody.

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You're invited to the king's wedding feast. And everyone who entered into the dining hall and joined in the celebration, everyone who did that was to have a special place and to wear a special garment, King's garment. King provided the special garment for everyone.

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No one needed to worry about his dress as long as he conformed with the King's request to attend and to enter into the dining hall dressed in one of the king's wedding garments. Well, the time came and the people have gathered and the invitations have been honored, the wedding feast is in progress and the king decides to walk around in the

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dining hall go from table to table greet the guests he visits with his guests that's wonderful take the king the king not the butler but the king among the guests and visits with them. We can all thank God that he visits with us through his son Jesus Christ.

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And as he walks about, his eyes, his scrutinizing eyes, fall upon one who is in the crowd who has no wedding garment. And he moves closer to him and he speaks so graciously, he addresses him. He said, "Friend, friend, listen, friend, how did you get in here without a wedding

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garment?" And the dear brother was speechless. No excuse, no reason, justifiable reason at all. He's speechless.

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Because he had failed to obey the rules and the regulations governing a wedding feast, You would take the invitation, notify them that you were going to be there, and then show up and put on a wedding garment and be in accord with the proceedings. But this man, this particular man, who has on no wedding garment, he knows the rules,

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disregards, he's arrogant. Instead of obeying the rules that the king has to put on a wedding garland, which the king provides, he ignores the king. He has his own standard, he has his own righteousness and being ignorant of the righteousness of God he goes about to establish his own righteousness. Jesus is

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telling this story really for the Pharisees and Sadducees that's the way they were they got the message and when they heard this story they were angry because they are not willing to follow the King's orders. Well, he's speechless And he doesn't have an argument to make at all.

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Once we gave a party for our children. They were in high school. So we gave a party. And we had the invitation list.

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And we had chaperones for them. But there was one fellow who came to the party, who was not invited to the party. But he came as if he were invited,

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came in and took a seat, moved about in the crowd. We were serving roasted wieners and we had music for them, but he enjoyed himself as much or more than anybody else.

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And he was leaving in five. We didn't bother him. We let him go. And the occasion, as far as he was concerned, it was a great occasion.

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But this man was not invited. But in the case of this man that Jesus is talking about in this story, he was invited. When you think of being invited to a party by the king, provided all the things that you need, what a great honor that is.

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When I read this story over and over again, I thought it was such a great thing a few years ago when Lyndon Johnson was president. He invited a group of us to a barbecue on his lawn in his country home out there. I said, this is great, being invited by the president.

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Then later, when Clinton became president, he had a breakfast. And I was one of those that happened to be invited to the-- by the president? That's a great honor.

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And when you think of where you came from, a little Barefoot boy, picking cotton in East Texas and other places. But this man who has the great honor of being invited by the king and provided everything that he needs to enjoy the occasion.

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Isn't it something that God has provided for his people everything you need to live the best life? And then to ignore his orders, his requests? "Friend, how did you get in here?" And even after he has gone to great lengths to defy the king, the king is still gracious

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and says, "Friend, how did you get in here?" In other words, I've made the provisions and you have not complied with the provisions. How did you get in here? Well, you see, there's no way of hiding from the king.

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He has perfect vision. He has no cataracts. perfect vision and the man who's waiting to be served seated at the king's table waiting he's ready but he's not prepared he doesn't have on a wedding garment in

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In fact, the King's wedding garment represents for us the King's righteousness. Now, that's some righteousness, but not the King's righteousness. Reverend Lucas used to say that certain times when he, certain ways he presents himself, one is Reverend Lucas and one is Mr. Lucas.

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It's much better to deal with the Reverend Lucas than to deal with the Mr. Lucas. How did you get in here? Well, what would you say if you found yourself in a place

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where you were not supposed to be according to the persons who addressed you. What would you say? How did you get in here? How did you make it?

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How did you get in here? Friend, how did you get in here? Christ provides for us the kind of garment that we need in order to get into his waiting feast. Our Lord prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies.

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And then not only does he prepare the table, he comes into the dining hall with us to share with us. What a celebration this is. and yet here's a man who's not ready for it. A dinner party, a wedding feast, celebrating intimacy

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with the king. This is an occasion on which everybody was expected to dress up, to look your best. And to look your best, you had to have on the king's wedding

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garments. For those who have been lost, for those who are deserted, abandoned on the highway of life, the king sends his messengers to find them and to bring them, compel them to come. I want them there.

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And yet, when he moves about in the dining hall, he finds one without a waiting card. How tragic. But all the preparations that have been made, with God having prepared his son and sent him

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wrapped in human flesh to dwell among us and to show us how to live the best life and come to the banquet without the king's wedding garment. For those who've been lost,

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for those who have drifted away, The message comes through this parable to get yourself dressed up with the king's wedding garment. It's a feast designed for joy.

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It's a feast that's designed for those who want to please the king by putting on the king's garments. It's that kind of feast. It's a feast of faith. Those who have faith to believe that what the king provides is the best, to believe that the king's instructions are the best, to believe that the manner of life which the

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king represents is the best. So many representatives from foreign governments came to this country when President Kennedy was assassinated and I noticed something as they were all coming bringing their words from that various governments the arrangement protocol they call it how is arranged and the

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first person that appeared was highly Celeste among the nations and the commentator explained why he was first because he was an Emperor now the the difference between an emperor and a king. And so really, if I were to translate this,

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I'd have the emperor here, because he's over everything. No question about it. He absolute, the absolute of the absolute,

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if there were such a thing to say. So Halas Elassie came and paid his respects to Jacqueline Kennedy, the widow of the slain president. Well, there is one.

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There is one. Above all that we may say or think, as well as act, there is one who's above all of that. Whose scrutinizing eyes perceive everything about us.

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So much, so much, so much you can tell about me, we're like, as the psychologist says, like an iceberg. Most of us is below the surface, we can't tell. But here the king, he sees everything,

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all that we think about doing. He sees that person that we really are and he comes to our table And he asks, "How did you get in here?"

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It's a wonderful thing to say that you came dressed in the king's garment. The king's garment. The king's garment.

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How did you get that garment? Well, you keep reading the Bible and you get over there in the book of Revelation and it's the finality of all history. It comes to an end, fulfillment of history.

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And John says, "I looked and I saw." I saw a host that no man could number. And I asked the question, "Who are these?" And the answer was, "These are they, who have had their robes washed and made white in the

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precious blood of the Lamb. These are they." And our forefathers, our ancestors, answered for saying, "Lord, I want to be in that number." When the saints come marching in, "Lord, I want to be in that number."

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And I'm so glad that I made up my mind long ago when I was just a boy nine years of age that I wanted to wear the King's garment. And I wanted to walk in the steps of the king. And I look forward to the day when I can attend the king's banquet, that great banquet, celebrating

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the final summation, the summation of history, the king's gone. And I like to talk about it because the King has done so much for me. He's lifted me up, taken my feet and put them on a solid rock, put a new song in my mouth. King has done so much for me.

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He's given me a new life, new hope, new being. And I'm so glad that when it's all over, the King will be there. And he'll walk among his guests, and he'll come to the table where I will be sitting. And he'll not have to ask how I got there.

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Because he's made that possible himself. He knows every step I have taken. He knows everything that has happened. happened and oh how good it is to have the key to vouch for you. That's a

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wonderful thing, wonderful thing. You can come to a place and you can't get in sometimes. They had one of the Fairmont Hotel a number of years ago in Dallas. It was considered at that time one of the best hotels in one of the most exclusive hotels and they were having a meeting there.

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In fact, they were giving a report in this meeting. Hubert Humphrey, the vice president, was there and the governor had said, "Any of us who wanted to go, just go." Tell him that he had approved us.

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I got there and I got to the door. Nobody knew me. "Who are you?" I tried to tell them who I was, but they didn't hear that.

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And finally I told them the governor. And then they found the governor and they came back and they said, "Let him in." And I was moving among the guests. Moving among the guests.

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And I listened to the report coming in from Hubert Humphrey himself about the struggle we were having in Vietnam and what the facts were. And as I think about that, I'm so glad that there'll be somebody who knows me. Who knows me. You go to the bank, don't care how much you've gone that many times,

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if it's the big bank, they don't know you. Unless you owe them a whole lot of money. But most of the time, but he knows, he knows, he knows us through and through. He knows how much I can bear. He knows and he is able to lift us over the hills and carry us through the valleys.

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And we can celebrate with him the goodness of God. It just makes me feel good inside and lifted up when I think about how good God is. How he wakes you up every morning and enables you to start on your journey and he'll be there at the end.

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Some people won't be there, but he'll be there. So we come now to the invitation. This is the highest point in the service. It's really a decision to make as to whether or not

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you're going to put on the king's garment and wear the king's garment. That's a wonderful privilege to wear the king's garment. I was the leader in drama, and we gave a play.

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And this play was one that required a lot of changes. And as we rehearsed, we had to play it grambling and I had to change several times. And the audience wooed and awed when I came out

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dressed in different clothes, but I had borrowed all those clothes. from boys in the dormitory so I could appear as the sharpest

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among them but at the end I had to take those clothes back well there's some clothes provided for you and me you don't have to take them back I got a robe

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you got a robe God's children got a robe and when I get to heaven, I'm gonna put on my robe and gonna shout all over God's heaven. So if you want to wear the royal robe provided by the King, you can make that decision here and now as we sing the hymn of invitation.

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[MUSIC] [ Music ] Your faith looks up to Thee, Thou of Calvary, Savior divine. Come near me, take all my guilt away.

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Oh, let me from this day be only thine. ♪ When I reach grace and power ♪ ♪ Share to my pity part ♪ ♪ Thy spirit's power ♪

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♪ Let thouest light for me ♪ ♪ Oh, may thy joy to me ♪ ♫ Earth, all that dwells is me ♫ ♫ I live in Christ ♫

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♫ I'm first on this earth ♫ ♫ To this earth I'm still ♫ ♫ Heaven above ♫ [Church singing]

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[MUSIC] (choral singing) (choral singing) (chanting)

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[MUSIC] ♪ In His bosom we shall all adore ♪ ♪ As we love Him, we love Him ♪ ♪ We shall be His forever ♪

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[Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]