How can the meek be considered blessed? Isn't meek being weak? We continue our sermon series on The Upside-down Blessings by learning how being meek is treasured in the Kingdom of God.

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OC Church of Christ

Good morning.

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Hopefully you can hear me.

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Before we begin, I want to make an

apology to one person in this room.

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And that is to Travis Conger.

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Because Travis Conger is

running the camera today.

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And this is a really big stage.

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And when I have a really big

place to walk, I like to walk.

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And then when he's back there, he's just

kind of moving every once in a while.

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Today will be the most

active day of his life.

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So I know you can't see me because you're

behind that brick wall in the back.

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But just know that my apologies now.

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I love you.

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Good luck today.

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Ending the series on the

upside down blessings.

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And the upside down blessings are

talking about the B attitudes.

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One of all time in the Bible.

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And it's a collection of ideas.

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And this is not just a one

time thing that Jesus preached.

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Jesus preached this multiple times.

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And Matthew would put it in, in Matthew

5, right after he just got done talking

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about all these poor people, all

these, uh, you know, invalids, people

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who the refuge of the Roman Empire.

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And then he says, Jesus went and

taught them, blessed are you.

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What an amazing concept.

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What an amazing thought.

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Because Jesus doesn't look at

all the outward appearances.

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Jesus judges the heart, and you'll see

this with these upside down blessings.

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Now, last week Marcel gave you,

uh, a kind of a, a brief snapshot

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of the, the context of this.

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So I don't feel the need to, and if

you didn't get the, the, the, uh,

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the handout, I know it's put on the

church app, so please go read it.

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But I do wanna stay, take just

a moment and read through the.

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And that is this, Matthew 5, 3 8,

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for

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theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

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Blessed are those who mourn,

for they will be comforted.

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Blessed are the meek, for

they will inherit the earth.

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Blessed are those who hunger

and thirst for righteousness,

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for they will be filled.

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Blessed are the merciful,

for they will be shown mercy.

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Blessed are the pure in

heart, for they will see God.

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Blessed are the peacemakers, for

they will be called children of God.

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Blessed are those who are persecuted

because of righteousness, for

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theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

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Blessed are you when people insult

you, persecute you, and falsely say all

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kinds of evil against you because of me.

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Rejoice and be glad, because

great is your reward in heaven.

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For in the same way they persecuted

the prophets who were before you.

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Upside down blessings.

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If I was writing these blessings,

I don't think I would have

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mentioned a single one of those.

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I would have said, blessed

are those who are important.

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When everyone wants to listen to them.

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Blessed are those who are wealthy.

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Who can afford to do whatever they want.

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Blessed are those who are good looking.

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When people want to run after you.

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Blessed are those when people don't

want to say anything evil about you.

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Blessed are those who never struggle.

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Those would be my blessings.

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That's not the blessings

Jesus is talking about.

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Because Jesus, again, sees this world

not for what we see, but for the

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spiritual battle that it contains.

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Today I'm going to be

focusing on this one.

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Blessed are the meek for

they don't hurt the earth.

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Now, when these were being divvied up,

and I was asked to give on the meek,

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I knew that I wasn't at the meeting

when people started choosing these.

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Because this would not be

the one I would have chosen.

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At all.

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I mean, when the word meek?

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Think about it.

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When's the last time you've been

like, That brother, so meek.

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I just love you sister, you're so meek.

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So what comes to mind?

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I want you to sit and think for a moment.

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What comes to mind for you?

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Just take a moment and think about that.

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What comes to mind when you think meek?

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Humble?

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Timid?

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Weak?

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Shy?

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Self control?

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I mean, when's the last time

we put this on a resume?

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You know, we're at Hire Me, I'm Neek.

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We don't.

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What I thought of him.

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Gentle Jesus, meek and mild,

look upon the little child.

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I know, it's old, I get it.

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But that's what I think of.

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This little poor little goofy dog.

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You know, I'm sure Wesley was just

trying to find something in line

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with child and he went with mild.

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But meek and mild.

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Who likes mild?

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I

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don't like mild.

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we think, Neat?

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We don't think it.

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Maystreet, you'll get big images.

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You don't think it.

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And that's a shame.

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But

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sometimes

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when we want to give you a scripture

that God speaks about his own people.

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Here it is in Jeremiah See how you behaved

in the valley, consider what you've done.

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You are a swift she camel

running here and there.

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A wild donkey, accustomed to the desert.

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Sniffing the wind in her craving,

in her heat, who can restrain her?

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Any males that pursue her need not

tire themselves at mating time.

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They will find her.

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Whoa!

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Yeah, we bet again.

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What an insult.

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And what he's saying?

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My people are not meek.

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That's what he's saying here.

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You are not meek.

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You are a wild donkey.

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An unbroken horse.

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That's what we're saying.

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That's what it means to not be meek.

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And we see this all over our society.

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It's celebrated.

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In fact, there's an entire genre

of television built on this.

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Would we have reality TV if

people, all the contestants and I

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don't mean to insult this woman.

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I have no idea who she is.

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Famous cat meme.

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Um, but this is what it

means to be uncontrolled.

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Unrestrained.

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Just, whatever comes out, comes out.

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No concept of, you know,

controlled strength.

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Which is what meek means.

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Meek means controlled strength.

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It's not that the horse is weak.

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It's just not controlled.

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To be meek, it calms your passions.

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It tames the temper.

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It manages the impulses.

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It brings order out of the

chaos of the human soul.

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This is what it means to be meek.

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Not running wild.

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Not whatever you think you say.

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And we hear people say this all the time.

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I'm just speaking the truth.

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No, you're just being rude.

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You know, but it's what I feel.

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That doesn't mean you've got

to make me feel something too.

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Controlled strength.

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That's what it means to be meek.

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This is an image of meekness.

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Strong horse.

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But tempered.

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Broken.

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Managed.

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That horse can easily

destroy that little girl.

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But instead, because it's

controlled, it's appreciated.

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It's loved.

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And it

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can be in the same way,

meek, like this horse.

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Charles Spurgeon says this about meek.

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He gives these words to help define

the qualities of what meekness is.

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He says to be meek is to be humble,

is to be gentle, is to be patient, is

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to be forgiving, and to be contented.

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These are the qualities

of someone who is meek.

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Let's look at the opposite

of what these would be.

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Proud.

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Brutal.

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Impatient, Unforgiving, and Dissatisfied.

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Does anyone want to be those?

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Does anyone want to have a

relationship or a life partner

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or someone who represents that?

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No.

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To be meek is to be humble.

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It's to be forgiving.

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It's not that you don't have the power.

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It's that you recognize

that, you know what?

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I choose to be gentle in this moment.

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It's not that you haven't been

wrong, but I choose to forgive.

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It's not that the world's going all

your way, but you choose to be content.

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And I figured if I'm gonna go

on an unpopular idea of meek,

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I might as well go all the way.

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And that is, meekness is submission.

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Wow, there's a word that no one likes.

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I figured if you're gonna go all, gonna be

unpopular, might as well just be the most.

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Meekness is submission.

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When's the last time you liked that word?

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People are now taking it

out of marriage, uh, vows.

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Because we don't like the word.

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It means your mission is

submit to something else.

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And in this case, to God.

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Boy, we don't like submission.

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I barely like saying it.

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But yet, to be meek means we must submit.

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And what do we submit to?

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We submit to God's word, we submit to

God's will, and we submit to God's people.

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Let's look at some

scriptures on these concepts.

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Therefore get rid of all moral fault

and evil that is so prevalent and

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humbly, or meekly, accept the work

planted in you, which can save you.

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That moral fault is prevalent.

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It's prevalent to not be meek.

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It's prevalent to not be forgiving.

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It's prevalent to be brutal.

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It's prevalent to be dissatisfied.

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But instead, humbly,

meekly accept the Word.

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Why?

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Because it will save you.

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And I don't think it just means that it

will save you for the next life in heaven.

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I think it saves you now.

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That's why it says, Blessed are the

meek, for they will inherit the earth.

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Because you think about what it

would be to be in a relationship

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with someone who is a meek.

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Why do you think the

divorce rate is so high?

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To submit to God's Word.

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Meekly.

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Humbly.

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And the more things in

there I don't want to do.

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Because there's a lot of

moral filth that's in me.

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But as you read it and you understand it,

you realize it's the only way to live.

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Let me give you some examples

of what meekness will not sound

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like when it comes to this.

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This may be what God

says, but not what I want.

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Example of not being meek to God's Word.

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I know God says this.

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I know God says I need to forgive,

but that's not what I want to do.

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I know God says that I must be humble.

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That's not what I want to do.

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You're an unbroken horse.

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A wild donkey.

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Or worse yet, this is what I

want, so it must be what God says.

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So I'm gonna do it.

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A lack of meekness.

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This is what I want.

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So I'm gonna make God's word

match what I have to say.

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You're a wild horse.

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Let's just submit to God's will.

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Trust Lord with all of your heart and

lean not on your own understanding

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in all your ways, submit to him

and he'll make you pass straight.

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I have it in all your ways because,

man, I would love it to say sometimes,

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occasionally when you agree with it,

when you feel like it, when it suits you.

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I would want to say that.

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In all your ways, submit to Him.

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Submit.

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Meekness.

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This idea that God tells us that

we are to submit to His will.

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And submit to God's people.

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Submit to one another out

of reverence for Christ.

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In my mind, this might be the hardest.

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In my mind.

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Because I don't like a lot of people.

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I'm just being honest.

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At my wedding day with Daniella,

Marshall looked up my last name,

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Ennis, and it means Ireland.

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Or, in Ireland, it means, um, island.

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And I'm like, that is me.

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I am an island.

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I would be happy to be by myself.

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I'm good.

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And so to submit to one another.

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To submit to God's people, which

means we must have relationships

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with God's people to submit to them.

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So, if you're the autonomous Christian out

there that goes, I'm by myself, I'm good.

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How do you submit if you

don't have relationships?

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Because these relationships will test you.

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They tested Jesus.

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Do they not think they'll test you?

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Submit to one another.

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Submit to God's people.

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Now, I do want to give one caveat with

this, and that is, this is the only

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one of the three that is conditional,

and here's what I mean by that.

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The other two, there's no conditions.

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God's Word, God's Will.

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But this one, if someone's asking

you to do something contrary to what

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God's Will is, then that's different.

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Even Paul speaks on that.

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But as far be it for you, in

aligning with God's Word and

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God's Will, submit to one another.

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So, what does this look like?

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I'm going to give you four people

in the Bible that I think are

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awesome examples of meekness.

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And I just want to give you a

brief backdrop on the story and

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then show you why these guys

were lifted up as being meek.

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First is Moses.

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In case you don't know his story, I'll

give you a brief, brief, uh, context.

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This is the guy that he was a

part of, raised in an Egyptian

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household, despite being Jewish.

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He sees, uh, an Egyptian

hurting a Jewish man.

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In his wrath, in his temper, he

kills that, uh, that Egyptian.

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He flees, and God will work on his

heart for the next several decades.

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And God will tell him, you're

gonna go back to these people,

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and you're gonna bring them out of

Egypt, and into the Promised Land.

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And he was like, wait, me?

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I don't know if I want to go.

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And God goes, you.

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You're going to be the guy.

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And so he does.

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He risks his life for these people.

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He speaks before Pharaoh, and he

gets them and brings them out.

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Out of slavery.

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And through the desert.

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And while in the desert, these

people look at him and go,

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why you brought us out here?

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You brought us out here to die.

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We were better off as slaves.

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And they started grumbling

and complaining against him.

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And then began to worship other gods.

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Now, if I were Moses, in my

lack of meekness, I'd be like,

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God, get rid of these people.

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These people are terrible.

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I'm gonna go back to my

island and abandon them.

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But the Torah says that Moses was

the most humble, in Hebrew, meek

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person on earth at that time.

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Because his response is this.

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But now please forgive their sin.

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But if not, then blot me out

of the book you've written.

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Wow.

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Not only is he saying to forgive them to

God, but he's saying, God, if you're not

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willing to forgive them, blot me out too.

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Because I want them saved that much.

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Wow.

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And he wasn't doing it to

people who were praising him.

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He was saying that about people

who were grumbling against him.

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What it means to be meek.

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Let's look at another person in the Bible.

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An example of meekness.

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One of my favorite people

in the Bible, David.

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In case you don't know this context, David

is considered one of the greatest, if

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not the greatest, king of all of Israel.

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He rises up as a young man chosen by God.

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He will conquer Goliath in God's name.

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When Saul, his king, tried to

attack him, he never retaliated.

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He never killed Saul.

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He humbly accepted that God would

lead him where he needed to be.

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And then in his sin, when he finally

becomes king, he sins greatly.

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And then, God's wrath will speak.

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And what will happen was, his

own son will take the throne from

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him for a moment, and for a time.

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And his own son will plot to kill him.

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And David would have to flee Israel.

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And he's fleeing with the royal

guard and his loyal followers.

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And as he's fleeing, this guy Shimei, the

guy you see with that, about the throwing

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arm right there, will throw stones

and dust at him all along the journey.

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This guy Shimei was a member

of Saul's household, family.

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And the entire time, he's just

chanting him, You murderer!

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And just throwing dust and dirt.

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And Abishai, his royal

guard says, You know what?

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How dare this guy insult the king?

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Let me go kill this dog

and cut off his head.

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If it were me, I'd be like,

That sounds like a good plan.

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I think that's a good way to go.

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After all, I'm king.

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How dare you insult a king like this?

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But David was meek.

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He was humble.

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His response.

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It may be that the Lord will look upon

my misery and restore to me His covenant

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blessing instead of His curse today.

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He doesn't say, hey, yeah, that's

a good idea, go kill that guy.

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He says, you know what?

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It may be.

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Maybe God will see what I'm

going through and restore to me.

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And I like the word maybe.

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Actually, I don't like that word.

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But it's a good word.

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Maybe.

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Because that means not saying, God

will definitely do this for me.

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I don't know.

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I don't know if God will.

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I don't know if God is going

to have that plan for me.

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I don't know.

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But I want to trust that God

will do what God wants to do.

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And maybe God will have mercy on me.

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And I will not act on my own accord.

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What it means to be meek.

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Another guy that is very well

known in the New Testament.

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Paul.

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Also a man of meekness.

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Paul, one of the greatest missionaries.

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If not the greatest missionary

in the New Testament.

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Most of the New Testament

books were written by him.

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As he will plant church after

church after leading Antioch.

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And many of the Greek speaking

and Gentile churches were

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created and established by Paul.

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And yet, when he's put on his first trial,

no one will come and stand beside him.

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And speak up for him.

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No one.

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Despite all of his efforts, despite all he

did for the Church in Rome, for the Church

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in Corinth, for the Church in Ephesus,

for the Church in Philippi, for the

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Church in Galatia, no one stood by him.

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Not one.

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And what's Paul's response as

he writes a letter to Timothy?

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He says this, At my first

defense, no one came to my

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support, but everyone deserted me.

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May it not be held against them.

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What it means to be meek.

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is controlled.

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I recognize that, you know what?

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This hurt.

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But I humbly accept this position,

and I forgive those who hurt me.

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I wonder who's hurt you in this room.

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And I wonder if you've forgiven them yet.

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Because we've seen three

great examples of this.

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But the last is the most significant.

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And that is our Lord Jesus.

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I want to paint a picture of you, of a

man in a garden, a couple men, three men

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are sleeping on the side, and this man

is laying on a rock, sweating profusely,

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crying out passionately, recognizing

that his time of life is about to come

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to a brutal end, for sins that he did not

commit, but for sins that I committed.

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And here he will lay, in prayer.

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And his response?

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Father, if you are willing,

take this cup from me.

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Yet not my will, but yours be done.

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Is there any greater example

of what it means to be meek?

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A man who could have called ten

thousand legions of angels at his

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side, humbly accepted the position

of whatever God's will was.

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And as we prepare for Communion,

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I want you to consider Jesus on the cross.

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And the words, Father, forgive them, for

they do not know what they are doing.

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As Jesus was up on that cross,

he could have called on God

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and said, God, let's end this.

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But instead, he looked down on all of us,

at his weakest, And most difficult time.

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And says, Eric, I forgive you.

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Because I don't realize you knew,

you didn't know what you were doing.

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And he said the same to all of you.

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And he said the same to those

who were attacking him then.

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This is what it means to be meek.

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Blessed are the meek.

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For they will inherit the earth.

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Let's pray for communion.

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Father, as we come before you, And we

lift up your name, we do so with our

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bowed heads, recognizing God that you

have given us so much, but you've done

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so in a way that responds to your love.

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God, Jesus could have done anything,

but he came down here as a, as a lamb

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to be slaughtered, as a representation

of what it means to be meek.

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And what it means to live in that upside

down blessing, that we can be saved.

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And Father, as we lift up this time to

you, and we lift up our hearts to you,

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and we take the sacraments, the bread

and the juice that represents your

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body and your blood, we do so, God,

knowing that it is because of your love

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that we've been called to this life.

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And Father, I pray that

we walk meekly with you.

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Controlling our impulses, controlling

our tempers, controlling our own will,

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and submitting it to you, to your word,

and to one another, in honor of you, and

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in appreciation of your son's sacrifice.

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And we pray this in your son's name.

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Amen.