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The scripture reading of the morning is from the Gospel according to John, the eighth chapter. I begin reading at the verse numbered 31. Jesus then said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." They

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answered him, "We are descendants of Abraham and have never been in bondage to anyone. How is it that you say you will be made free?" Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not continue in the house forever. The Son continues forever. So if the Son

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makes you free, you will be free indeed." And may God bless to us and to our understanding this reading from his word. Pray with me. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

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Most of us are familiar with the name Dale Carnegie, famous for his book, "How to Win Friends and Influence People." It is not so generally known that sometime after the success of that book, someone asked Dale Carnegie what his next book was going to be, and he replied, "I'm going to write a book entitled 'About

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Dumb Things I Have Done' by Dale Carnegie." Well, I'd like to think with you this morning about the dumb things that we have done. By dumb things, I mean those things which are not deliberately and maliciously sinful. Now, there is a very real sense in which every blunder that we make, every error that we make, every

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mistake which is ours, is the fruit of sin. If we had not sinned, then we and all of the universe would be moving in perfect order. We would be as, in fact, God wanted things to be. We would be moving in such a beauty of holiness that there would be no error or blunder. But we as a people have sinned, and consequently there

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are many uglinesses and many blunders and errors in life. And I want to speak this morning about those things which are not deliberately and maliciously evil, but rather about those dumb things that we have done. The marriage that you look back upon now, and you think to yourself, "Why in the world did I ever do

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such a dumb thing? I mean, it was written all over that marriage from the very first day that it could not succeed. Why didn't I see that then?" Or the task that you take on and then discover that you do not have the ability to complete it. And while you're choking on what you've bitten off, you say to yourself, "Why in

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the world did I ever get involved in this? It was evident from the very beginning I couldn't complete it. It's such a dumb thing." I don't know about you, but I have a lot of dumb things in my life. For example, there was a time that I made a blunder on my passport and ended up being arrested as a diamond smuggler

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and put into a jail in the center of Africa. I'll have to tell you about that sometime. And then there was the time that I entered into a limited partnership out in California for a new place to grow and produce lions. Lion Country Safari, it was called. I lost on that thing every year for five years.

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When I finally got out of it, I asked myself the question, "Why was I dumb enough to get into it in the first place, and why was I dumb enough to stay with it five years after I got into it?" Or there was the time that I decided to be a house painter and in the first six minutes of my painting did $760

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worth of damage to the property. That was a very dumb thing. I'll have to tell you about that sometime. And then there was the time that I got trapped in the ladies room of a church which was being dedicated and where I was the principal speaker. You'll never hear about that one.

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Anything can go wrong. It will anyway. Now I am joking about it, but really sometimes these dumb things can be very costly. I recall when I was in high school being separated from my best friend in high school for one year. No peace between us for one year. Deep antipathy between us for one year, all over what turned out to

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be a very dumb thing. Or take even more costly example. Some years ago there was a college girl in Chicago who was having a Christmas party for some of her friends and she allowed her 12 year old younger brother whose nickname was Addy to stay for the party. And Addy was very bored, but at one point one of the boys

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home from college said that he had learned the manual at arms during his college semester. And Addy went immediately to the cupboard and took out the family 22 rifle and said to this young man, "Show us." And he did. Now it's not exactly clear what happened after that. Some say it was when Addy was

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trying to do the manual arms himself. Some say it was while he was putting the rifle away. Some people say that he aimed the rifle deliberately at Ruth Merwin. But whatever were the precise details, the rifle went off and Ruth Merwin fell to the ground dead. And Addy, whose full name was Adlai E. Stevenson, went on to

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be twice nominated for President of the United States and an Ambassador to the United Nations and a man of eloquence and a lover of peace. But never, ever in all of his long life did he forget what had happened that night. Dumb things can be very painful and costly. Three principles then concerning how to deal

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with them. The first principle is this, let the dumb things go. Now the Apostle Paul on occasion did some dumb things. He, for example, tried to stop the unstoppable, the kingdom of God. He sank to a level of bigotry and intolerance where he was ready to be part of a murderous group when Stephen was slain.

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And there are times in his writing when he crosses the line from modesty to immodesty. But what does the Apostle Paul say about these things? He says, "Forgetting the things which are behind, I strain for those things which are before." He let go of those dumb things. Grove Patterson was for many years the editor of the Toledo

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Blade and he wrote an editorial once called "Water Under the Bridge." And in it he talked about a boy who was standing on a bridge, leaning over the edge and watching the water going and seeing logs and branches and chips of wood carried on as that had been for a hundred years or perhaps a thousand years or perhaps a

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million years. And as he watched this, this boy made a discovery. It wasn't a tangible thing on which you could put your hand, it was not a material thing it was an idea. But the idea was that everything finally passes under the bridge and that that's true of all of life. And throughout the course of his

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life, in the toughest and most difficult times, in those times when he lost things or people that he loved or when he was facing anxiety, he did not allow himself to worry because he realized that eventually everything in life like that water passes under the bridge. It's wise counsel to remember that. As a minister

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for almost 30 years now I spend a lot of time in the counseling chamber. I've talked to a lot of people and you learn certain codes that people use. Their body language for example, how they hold their arms while they talk, whether they look at you when they speak. You also learn certain code words that people use. Now

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one of the code words that always alarms me is when I hear people saying "if only." If only I had done this. If only I had not done that. If only I had tried a little harder. "If only" is a clue to defeatism and it becomes a litany in their conversation. If only this, if only that, if only something else. My goal is

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to try to get "if only" people to become next time people. Next time is a positive affirmation. "If only" is pessimistic. It looks back at the defeat. Next time is optimistic. It looks forward to the next opportunity. Paul was a next time person. He said, "forgetting those things which are behind, I strain on to those things

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which are before, I press on toward the goal." You know on the Sunday mornings when I'm not with you here, I'm in church somewhere else. I like to visit other churches. But it discourages me many times when I'm in those churches to find what is said and done there to be lifeless and dull and morbid and the only

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word that I can think of is kind of weepy. Worship services which focus more upon sin than they do upon the gospel. More upon what has been than what can be. I don't want that to be true of our worship here. I want our people to go out of this church on a Sunday morning with their sails filled with the winds of the

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Spirit of God and saying, "I'm better ready for next time." Jesus said, "you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free." And part of the gospel truth is this, everything goes under the bridge. It is not necessary for us to build any dams because Christ is ready to go with us into whatever is next time. So let

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those dumb things go. Now the second principle is to get all the good from the dumb things that you can. No Christian ought to ever be totally defeated by anything. Now there are going to be defeating moments but you don't have to be totally defeated by anything. We serve a Lord who said, "in the world

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you will have tribulation but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." We serve a Lord who said to his disciples, "I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly." What we need to remember is that in every situation no matter how discouraging or defeating it can be, there is something good that we

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can draw out of it. So as you let that dumb thing go, learn from it. Clement Stone, the insurance executive, has said, "every disadvantage has with it a corresponding advantage." I would put it this way, powerful blessings often come in pressing problems. The whole essence of our faith is bringing good out of

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evil. Look at the cross. The cross was the electric chair of its day, an instrument of torture and of death, and it has become instead the symbol of hope and joy and victory and eternal life. It's kind of like golf. I don't play golf. I have nothing against golf, it's just that I have more important things

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to chase than golf balls. I am told by those who are aficionados of the sport that you should learn from every stroke that you make. If you have a good shot, you should think about that. What did I do right? How was I standing? How was I holding the club? All the rest of it. If you have a bad shot, a hook or a slice,

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you take a moment to analyze it. What was I doing wrong? Was I too close to the ball? Did I hit it too hard? Did I play it wrong? These are the kinds of things that ought to happen so that every stroke that you take gives you some instruction for those that are going to come after. Do you hear about the two old

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men who were out playing golf together? The one man said to the other, "My sight's not so good anymore. Would you watch and see where my ball goes?" The other one said, "Certainly." So he had a good drive, went right straight down the fairway. He said, "Did you see where it went?" The other fellow said, "Yep." And they started to

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walk and all of a sudden the second man said, "Wait a minute." He said, "I thought you saw where it went." He said, "Oh, I did see where it went. My eyesight's fine, but my memory's not so good. I can't remember where it went." Well, if you don't remember the things that you've done and learn from them, then the possibility is that

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you will repeat them again. Jesus said, "Ye shall know the truth and the truth will set you free." And part of the implication of that is that you can eliminate the mistake patterns in your life. What you discover is the truth that frees you from making that error again. Many times in the Scripture, the

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illustration of the potter is used. A man who makes pots. And my favorite example of that is in Jeremiah chapter 18. God takes the prophet Jeremiah to a potter's place and the potter is throwing a pot, spinning it on the wheel, and something happens which causes the plan to go astray. So what does the potter do? He

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pushes the clay down in upon itself and starts over again. And God says to Jeremiah, "This is what I do. When something is marred, when something is mistaken, when something does not go as it ought to go, then I take you and remold you." Now the principle there is, you see, you don't throw away the clay. You throw

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away the mistake. You eliminate the error. So when you do something dumb, profit from it. Like that Adlai Stevenson did that I was talking about a few minutes ago. You know Adlai Stevenson took on tough causes all of his life and he was a model of genuine humanitarianism. He abhorred violence, he was a lover of

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peace, and many of these things were true of him because, precisely because, he bought beauty out of ugliness. And you can do that too. A little boy and his father came into the church and while the father was taking off his hat and coat, the little boy was looking at a bronze plaque on the wall with lots of

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names. He said, "Daddy, what are all these names?" And his father said, "Those are people who fought for their country." And the little boy said, "What are those gold stars in front of some of the names?" And the father said, "Those are the ones who died in service." And the boy said, "Did they die in the 830 service or in the

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11 o'clock service?" I don't want anybody to die in our services. I want you to understand that instead of it, you can say goodbye to those dumb things and gain something out of them which you can use as you move ahead in life. And that brings me to my third and last principle which is this. God and you are greater

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than any dumb thing you have ever done. You know, when you do a dumb thing, you need to face it. Face it head-on. Face it head-on because you're not going in your own strength alone. If you belong to God, you are going against that problem in God's strength. I think it's good to personify dumb things, to look at them

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and say, "Okay, you stupid thing. I really blew it when I did you, but now I'm going to get rid of you. I'm going to wrestle with you and I'm going to win out over you and the reason I'm going to win out over you is because I have been made by God to be in his image. I've been saved by his Son and I am empowered by his

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Holy Spirit and that means I am going to fight you and I am going to finish the course and I am going to keep the faith and I will win because I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Now you can't enter into that kind of commitment with a half-made-up mind. I mean, I'm not talking about wimpy

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believing. I'm talking about fundamental commitment. Take the Scriptures for example. Now we know the Bible to be sharper than a two-edged sword, but being sharper than a two-edged sword means this. Just as you cannot use a sword while it is still and it's scabbard, so you cannot use this book if all it does

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is sit on your nightstand and gather dust. It is as you use this and become proficient with the sword that you can have the power of God which is available to you through his Word. Most of you I know know Mr. Jim Richards of our congregation. Now Jim Richards is one of the most beloved men in our church. One

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of our trustees, speaking of him just the other day, said "He's a man of power but of gentle power." And I got to thinking about the fact that Jim Richards spoke at our Tuesday noon service this last Tuesday. He's a Yorkshireman who came to this country when he was 16 years old, went to night school because he worked

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all day, took his degree from Duquesne, went on to become a CPA with Price Waterhouse, and became a member of this church a number of years ago with his lovely wife Bea, and they are an integral part of everything that goes on here and he is loved and respected by us all. Now when Jim was speaking here from the low

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pulpit last Tuesday, this is what he shared with the men and the women who were here for Tuesday service. He said "I have made it a practice every day for many many years to rehearse in my mind when I first get up six verses of Scripture. I selected these a long time ago and I've made these my own and I do

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not begin a day without them. First I bless the Lord, bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me, bless his holy name, bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits." That's praise from the 103rd Psalm. Then he said "I recommit myself to God," and here he uses Romans 12, "I beseech you therefore brethren by

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the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewal of your mind." Then he says "I focus my day, I focus my day on the things I ought to be thinking about," and

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here obviously he goes to Philippians 4. "Finally brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things."

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Then having focused his day, he reminds himself of the authority of the scriptures that he is quoting to his own heart. 2nd Timothy 3, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness." And then he puts on the

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mantle of courage out of Philippians 4 with another verse, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." And then his charge and assignment for the day, from Matthew 28, "All power in heaven as earth is given unto me, go ye therefore into all the world, baptizing all nations in the name of the Father

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and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and lo I am with you always." Now is it any wonder that a man who has taken the scriptures and hidden them in his heart and rehearses them and reminds himself of their truth and of their power, is it any wonder that he is loved and has the gentle power that he does in his life?

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You and God can triumph over any dumb thing you've ever done, but you've got to commit yourself to the utilization of the power of God in your life. The scriptures say we are to be more than conquerors. That means not only victors in the future, but victors now. And I think of that, I always think of Eddie

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Rickenbacker. You kids won't remember Eddie Rickenbacker, but Eddie Rickenbacker was well known by all of the older people here. He was a famous racing car driver and he was a flying ace in the First World War and he was an important part of our war effort in the Second World War and he was a very great

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businessman. He was a remarkable fellow and in the course of his life he had a hundred and thirty-four different occasions when he almost shook hands with death. One of those occasions happened in an airplane crash outside of Atlanta, Georgia. In that crash he broke his pelvis, smashed his hip, crushed his

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right arm, and his right eyeball was hanging out on his cheek and it completely left the socket. When they took him to the hospital he heard one of the interns say, "Don't spend any time with him, he's too far gone, help these other people," we might be able to say. Eventually they got him upstairs to one

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of the rooms and he was lying there in a groggy state and a radio was playing by the bed of the fellow in the next bed. And he heard Walter Winchell, for you kids that was a very famous radio commentator from those days, and he heard Walter Winchell say, "Captain Eddie Rickenbacker is dying in Atlanta, Georgia.

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He will not live through the hour." And Eddie Rickenbacker reached out with his one good arm and he picked up the pitcher of water that was on the table beside him and he hurled it at the radio, knocking the radio and the pitcher onto the floor, and they smashed into a thousand pieces. And four months later

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Eddie Rickenbacker was up and at 'em again. And when he was asked where he got the grit, where he got the power, where he got the determination to rise above this thing that had happened to him, his answer was instantaneous, "If I take the wings of the morning and if I dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even

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there God's hand leads me and his right hand still holds me." We as the people of God are held in the right hand of God. And when you understand and exercise the truth of that, you are free, we are free of any dumb thing we might ever have done.

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Pray with me. Oh God, make us strong and powerful and victorious because our dependence is on thee. Teach us through Scripture, teach us through reliance upon thy Spirit, teach us through the fellowship of the Saints and the communion of believers, that we can do all things through Christ who's

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ministered to us in these ways. Give to us good memories, not memories that remember everything, but memories that remember the good things, the profitable things, and forget the bad things, the destructive things. Father, we don't want to be if only people, we want to be next time people. Do it in us and help us to

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do it for ourselves in Jesus name, amen. [Music] [Music] [Music]

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♪ For the good of the nation ♪ ♪ All our life and time ♪ ♪ We pray you for the peace ♪ ♪ And for your harmony ♪

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♪ For the good, the good ♪ ♪ And for your harmony ♪ ♪ For the good, the good ♪ ♪ For the good of the nation ♪

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♪ We sing of you and your love ♪ ♪ And still our life is living ♪ ♪ For the good of the nation ♪ ♪ Here in the land of Israel ♪

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♪ We sing of you and your love ♪ ♪ Here in the land of Israel ♪ ♪ God bless you and your people ♪ [Music]

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