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- He knows what they need to know, and he is prepared to communicate it. So the true prophet has vibrant intellectual power. God's prophets are not lightweights.

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They are God's heavyweights. They are able to hold their own and demand an audience from the lowest to the highest. So God's prophet is able to discriminate

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between the temporary and the timeless. He's able to discriminate between the eternal word and the temporal shout of man. God's prophet knows how to use diplomacy

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and common sense with what Ralph Sockman calls the gaiety of godly courage. So it's to the prophet that this man says, the servant says, there is a man,

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there is someone who can give us direction of the way we should go. He's a man whose word is respected and he can perhaps tell us

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the way we should go. Searching for a way. So many today find themselves just searching for a way. In the darkness, confused, do not know where to turn.

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As I said, they're looking for a way. And there's so many ways, so many ways. The scripture said there is a way that seemeth right, but the end thereof is the way of death.

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And there is a way that leads to hell from the gates of heaven. Isn't that something? You can be right at the gates of hell, of heaven,

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and take away the leads to the gates of hell. And Robert Frost says in one of his poems that two ways converged in a narrow yellow wood, the yellow wood.

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And I, I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference. Which is the way to go?

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Someone has said there's no way like the which-a-ways. Which way shall we go? Perhaps. There is a prophetic word that will tell us which way to go.

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That's what they're riding on now, that conjunction, perhaps. Many of us are here this morning on perhaps. Perhaps. I'll go up there and I'll share in the service.

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Perhaps, perhaps there'll be something conveyed in the songs that the choir sings. Perhaps that will strengthen my heart. Perhaps the preacher will say something

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that finds a lodging place in my life that will change my course of direction. Perhaps, I'm not sure about it, but perhaps.

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- Yes, yes. - And this is what causes him to go on. No doubt Saul is inclined to turn back, not even knowing where he is and where he's going.

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But here the serpent said, let's go on up to the city where this man is and perhaps, perhaps, perhaps, He can tell us the way that we ought to go.

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So many people search for that way and they don't have anyone to tell them the way. Don't have everybody in the family, little children get lost early in life,

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lost at an early age because there's no one there to tell them. And years later we look back at the experience and say if I had just had someone

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to tell me and to show me the way to go. Well, this is a word that is addressed to the people of God. is a condition, perhaps. And when Saul hears the word of his servant,

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he is moved to go on and there and meet the prophet Samuel. And they hear the word that God has for them. Saul does not recognize Samuel. And somebody says to him, I'm looking for the prophet.

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And Samuel says, you're looking at him. I am the prophet. And he tells him that the donkeys you lost three days ago, don't worry about them, for they are found.

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I told Samuel to anoint Saul as king of the nation. When you listen to the word that God has directed for your life, then you find the results are rewarding. When Saul left home looking for some donkeys,

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he didn't know that he was going to be selected as the king of Israel. God has blessings for us. If we are willing to listen to his word.

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If we're just willing to listen. The great tennis players, two sisters, Serena and Venus, they've done remarkably well. They've excelled in the game of tennis.

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And the father said of them that he told them what to do and they listen. That seems so very simple. But so, so many, so many are told what to do

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and they just don't listen. This is the way to go, but they just fail to listen. I can hear some of the old people saying when I was young, boy, you better hear me.

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- You better hear me. - That's right. - Telling us the way to go. Now this is the way, sir.

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I have been along there. Where you going, I have been there already. And watch, watch that left turn. Up the road.

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'Cause that's where we come to the fork of the road. And we don't know which way to go. And there is a word that says, you shall hear

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a voice from behind you saying this is the way. - Yes, yes. - And many of us, our parents

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and our acquaintances during our childhood have passed on into the great beyond,

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but you can hear those voices. - Yes, Lord. - You get to a fork in the road

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and you don't know which way to go and you hear the voice from behind saying,

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"This is the way!" - This is the way. And thanks be to God that he has sent his

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only begotten son, Jesus Christ our Lord, to tell us and to show us the way.

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In fact, he says, - Yes Lord. - We don't make no mistake about it. Here I am, look at me, search my life, I am the way.

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The truth and the life. He that believeth in the Father, believeth in me, believeth in the Father, I am the way. So this is the way.

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Jesus Christ, that's the good news. that he is the way. And there's an old song that I think expresses it well. I want Jesus to walk with me.

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Then you're sure, you don't have to worry about being lost if you hold his hand. He'll be with you as you go over the hills and through the valleys and the level places.

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He's there. He's with us every step of the way. I want Jesus to walk with me. All along this pilgrim journey.

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I want Jesus to walk with me. As we come now to the hymn of invitation, "Life's a Railway to Heaven." There's so many ways,

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but there is one way that's the right way, and that's the way through Jesus Christ. In fact, the beginning of our faith is recorded in the Holy Scripture.

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Christian way is called the way, not a way, but the way. It's the way we should go. The door is open. Those who would walk in the way

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would accept Jesus Christ as Lord of your life. We ask you to come here this morning. It's an open door. He forgives our sins and gives us a new future.

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Come. By letter, by Christian experience, our own profession of faith. [ Music ]

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Come. [ Music ] I have liked a mountain riddled with an angel in that frame. ♪ We must make the world successful ♪

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♪ From the pale to the great ♪ ♪ Hearts will hurt the fields of Tallahassee ♪ ♪ The fields of Tannau ♪ ♪ Ever warm ♪

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♪ Ever clear ♪ ♪ Ye gods ♪ ♪ Above the clouds ♪ ♪ And your eye upon the grave ♪

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♪ Blessed is he ♪ ♪ Who now will guide us ♪ ♪ Till we reach that place ♪ ♪ From shore ♪

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♪ And he made ♪ ♪ The sway ♪ ♪ To join us ♪ ♪ In thy praise ♪

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♪ Forevermore ♪ ♪ Evermore ♪ - Put your bow your heads. Now unto him who is able to keep you from falling

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and present you faultless before his glorious presence with exceeding joy. and the only wise God, our Father, be glory and majesty, dominion and power,

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now and forevermore. Amen. ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪

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♪ Amen ♪ - Those who stood celebrating birthdays, Will you come now please to the rear of the sanctuary. [ Music ]

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[ Silence ]