Edward Hennegar - "What Really Matters?" (July 28, 1974)

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	(organ plays enthusiastically)	0:04
-	May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.	10:08
	This is none other than the house of God,	10:13
	and this is the very gate of heaven.	10:16
	This is a day the Lord hath made,	10:20
	let us rejoice and be glad in it.	10:23
	Let us pray.	10:28
	Almighty and everlasting God in whom we live and move	10:31
	and have our being, who has created us for thyself	10:37
	so that our hearts are restless	10:41
	till they find rest in thee,	10:44
	grant unto us purity of heart and strength of purpose	10:47
	so that no selfish passion may hinder us	10:51
	from knowing thy will and no weakness from doing it.	10:55
	In thy light, may we see life clearly and in thy service	10:59
	find perfect freedom.	11:03
	Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen.	11:05
	♪ Praise to the Lord, the Almighty ♪	11:13
	♪ The king of creation ♪	11:17
	♪ O my soul, praise him ♪	11:23
	♪ For he is thy health and salvation ♪	11:26
	♪ All ye who hear ♪	11:33
	♪ Now to his temple draw near ♪	11:36
	♪ Join me in glad adoration ♪	11:43
	(organ sounds)	11:54
	♪ All people that on earth do dwell ♪	12:25
	♪ Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice. ♪	12:32
	♪ Him serve with mirth, his praise forth tell ♪	12:39
	♪ Come ye before him and rejoice ♪	12:46
	♪ The Lord, ye know, is God indeed ♪	12:56
	♪ Without our aid he did us make ♪	13:04
	♪ We are his folk, he doth us feed ♪	13:11
	♪ And for his sheep he doth us take. ♪	13:19
	♪ O enter then his gates with praise ♪	13:30
	♪ Approach with joy his courts unto ♪	13:37
	♪ Praise, laud, and bless his name always ♪	13:44
	♪ For it is seemly so to do ♪	13:52
	♪ For why, the Lord our God is good ♪	14:02
	♪ His mercy is for ever sure ♪	14:09
	♪ His truth at all times firmly stood ♪	14:17
	♪ And shall from age to age endure ♪	14:24
	♪ Amen ♪	14:35
	Our corporate and private prayers of confession	14:58
	are essential to our spiritual health	15:02
	and to our true worship of God.	15:06
	As we come into the presence of his holiness,	15:09
	it behooves us to remember	15:13
	that we are frail creatures of the dust	15:15
	who continually fall short of the glory of God.	15:19
	We are privileged to come before God,	15:25
	not because we are worthy and good,	15:28
	but because he looks with loving compassion	15:33
	upon our frailty, is ready to forgive our sin,	15:36
	and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.	15:41
	In the spirit of his son, our Lord,	15:45
	who came into the world to save sinners,	15:48
	we offer unto God our unison prayer of confession.	15:51
	Let us pray.	15:57
	Oh Lord our God,	15:59
	(congregants echo)
	even as we sing your praises here,	16:02
	we realize how reluctant we are to sing them in the world.	16:05
	And yet, even then we too often sing empty praises	16:10
	with our lips, but not our lives.	16:15
	Though we want to deserve the love of other persons,	16:19
	we hesitate to risk loving them without assurances,	16:23
	Though we want to feel needed,	16:28
	we are afraid to admit our own need for you and for others.	16:30
	Though, we want above all to escape from being alone,	16:36
	we shrink even more from being known as we are.	16:40
	Free us, oh God, from the fears that bring alienation	16:45
	worse than aloneness and open us to the fullness of life	16:50
	that comes only to those who face it, unafraid.	16:55
	Amen.	17:00
	And now in silence, let us offer our personal confession	17:02
	unto God who looks not upon the outward appearance,	17:07
	but upon the heart.	17:11
	Oh Lord, who are always more ready to hear than we to pray,	17:39
	and ought want to give	17:46
	more than we either desire or deserve,	17:48
	pour down upon us the abundance of thy mercy,	17:52
	for giving us those things	17:56
	where of our conscience is afraid,	17:58
	and giving us those good things	18:01
	which we are not worthy to ask,	18:03
	but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ,	18:06
	thy son, our Lord, amen.	18:11
	(organ plays sadly)	18:16
	(choir sings indistinctly)	18:54
-	Hear the word of God,	21:36
	as we read first from the Old Testament,	21:37
	from the prophecy of Isaiah, the 61st chapter.	21:40
	The portion of scripture,	21:45
	which obviously was a favored one	21:46
	during his earthly life of our Lord Jesus Christ	21:48
	and one which shaped and patterned	21:52
	his life and his ministry in obvious ways.	21:55
	"The spirit of the Lord God is upon me	22:00
	because the Lord has anointed me	22:02
	to bring good tidings to the afflicted.	22:04
	He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,	22:07
	to proclaim liberty to the captives	22:10
	and the opening of the prison to those who are bound,	22:12
	to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor	22:15
	and the day of vengeance of our God,	22:17
	to comfort all who mourn,	22:20
	to grant to those who mourn in Zion	22:21
	to give them a garland, instead of ashes,	22:24
	the oil of gladness instead of mourning,	22:27
	the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit,	22:29
	that they may be called oaks of righteousness,	22:33
	the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.	22:36
	They shall build up the ancient ruins,	22:39
	they shall raise up the former devastations,	22:42
	they shall repair the ruined cities,	22:45
	the devastations of many generations.	22:47
	Aliens shall stand and feed your flocks.	22:50
	Foreigners shall be your plowman and vine dressers,	22:53
	but you shall be called the priests of the Lord.	22:56
	Men shall speak of you as the ministers of our God.	22:59
	You shall heap the wealth of nations	23:03
	and in their riches, you shall glory.	23:04
	Instead of your shame, you shall have a double portion.	23:07
	Instead of dishonor, shall rejoice in your lot.	23:09
	Therefore in your land, you shall possess a double portion.	23:14
	Yours shall be an everlasting joy.	23:17
	For I, the Lord love justice.	23:20
	I hate robbery and wrong.	23:23
	I will faithfully give them their recompense,	23:25
	and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.	23:28
	Their descendants shall be known among the nations	23:31
	and their offspring in the midst of the peoples.	23:33
	All who see them shall acknowledge them,	23:36
	that they are a people whom the Lord has blessed.	23:38
	I will greatly rejoice in the Lord.	23:42
	My soul shall exalt in my God for he has clothed me	23:44
	with the garments of salvation.	23:48
	He has covered me with the robe of righteousness.	23:51
	As a bride groom decks himself with a garland,	23:54
	and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels,	23:56
	for as the earth brings forth its shoots,	23:59
	and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,	24:01
	so the Lord God will call righteousness and praise	24:05
	to spring forth before all the nations."	24:09
	And then from the New Testament,	24:14
	the gospel of Matthew 9:35-38.	24:17
	"And Jesus went about all the cities and villages,	24:23
	teaching in their synagogues	24:26
	and preaching the gospel of the kingdom	24:28
	and healing every disease and every infirmity.	24:30
	When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them,	24:33
	because they were harassed and helpless,	24:37
	like sheep without a shepherd.	24:39
	Then he said to his disciples, 'the harvest is plentiful,	24:42
	but the laborers are few.'	24:45
	Pray, therefore, the Lord of the harvest	24:48
	to send out laborers into his harvest,	24:50
	and may the spirit who inspired these words	24:54
	cause their meaning to sink deep into our being."	24:57
	(organ sounds)	25:03
	(choir sings indistinctly)	25:11
-	Let us now unite in the affirmation of faith.	25:45
	We are not alone.	25:50
	(congregants echo)
	We live in God's world.	25:53
	We believe in God who has created and is creating,	25:55
	who has come in the true man, Jesus,	26:01
	to reconcile and make new.	26:04
	Who works in us and others by his spirit.	26:07
	We trust him.	26:11
	He calls us to be in his church to celebrate his presence,	26:13
	to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil,	26:19
	to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen,	26:24
	our judge and our hope.	26:29
	In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us.	26:31
	We are not alone.	26:38
	Thanks be to God.	26:40
	The Lord be with you.	26:42
Congregation	And with your spirit.	26:44
-	Let us pray.	26:46
	Oh God, by whom the meek are guided in judgment,	26:58
	and who has taught us to pray	27:04
	for the coming of the kingdom upon earth,	27:06
	hear our prayer of intercession	27:10
	for the leaders and citizens of this, our country.	27:14
	In a time of national travail,	27:19
	grant us in all our doubts and uncertainties	27:24
	the grace to ask what thou would have us do,	27:28
	that the spirit of wisdom may save us	27:33
	from all false choices and that in thy light,	27:36
	we may see light, and in thy straight path, may not stumble.	27:41
	Suffer us not to shrink from any endeavor	27:47
	which will purge our nation,	27:51
	and bind her wounds in accordance with thy will.	27:54
	Grant that out of our current distress,	27:59
	the searchings of others and of ourselves	28:04
	may come a heightened,	28:08
	and a more refined and joyful patriotism,	28:10
	a more durable commitment to the ideals	28:15
	that animated our founding fathers,	28:19
	and guided the growth of our nation	28:22
	in freedom, justice, service, and truth.	28:24
	Even so, keep ever before us the vision of that city	28:30
	whose builder and maker is God,	28:36
	that as citizens of heaven,	28:39
	we may forget neither our origin, nor our eternal destiny	28:42
	in the name of him who taught us when we pray to say,	28:47
	our father who art in heaven,	28:51
	hallowed be thy name.	28:54
	(congregation echos)
	Thy kingdom come, thy will be done	28:57
	on earth as it is in heaven.	29:00
	Give us this day our daily bread,	29:03
	and forgive us our trespasses	29:06
	as we forgive those who trespass against us,	29:09
	and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,	29:13
	for thine is the kingdom	29:18
	and the power and the glory forever,	29:20
	Amen.	29:24
	It is a great pleasure	29:29
	to welcome to our pulpit this morning,	29:31
	the Reverend Edward Hennegar,	29:34
	Pastor of Blacknall Presbyterian Church here in Durham,	29:37
	whose ministry and whose church	29:42
	has an unusual value and meaning	29:46
	for many members of the Duke community.	29:49
-	And Jesus went about all the cities and villages,	30:02
	teaching in their synagogues,	30:05
	and preaching the gospel of the kingdom,	30:07
	and healing every disease and every infirmity.	30:09
	That's the way it was	30:14
	when the God who made everything	30:18
	showed up on this planet.	30:21
	Planet earth, a tiny speck of cosmic dust	30:25
	swirling around an average sized star,	30:30
	lost in an average sized galaxy	30:33
	among millions of galaxies in God's creation.	30:36
	And yet this is where he came.	30:41
	And this is what he did.	30:45
	An obscure province called Galilee,	30:48
	in the person of a man named Jesus,	30:52
	the mighty creator God went into action.	30:57
	He traveled around the tightly walled cities,	31:05
	the dusty villages, he sought out those who were in need,	31:08
	he took his place alongside all the other people	31:15
	of that place, in their worship of God and the synagogue,	31:19
	and when given an opportunity, he stood up to teach.	31:26
	And whenever he could find an audience, he preached.	31:31
	And whenever he was confronted with a case of human need,	31:37
	he met it.	31:41
	Preaching, teaching, healing.	31:45
	Those were his concerns, and all three of these activities	31:49
	have their focus in a larger reality.	31:52
	The reality of the kingdom of God,	31:56
	because the mission of Jesus Christ primarily was to declare	32:00
	that this earth is the Lord's and everything in it,	32:03
	That the kingdom, the righteous rule	32:07
	of a righteous and a loving all powerful God, has come.	32:10
	In spite of the enormous overwhelming realities	32:18
	of evil and injustice, that message is still sounded today,	32:21
	that the kingdom of God has come.	32:27
	It is at hand.	32:30
	And its ultimate consummation is guaranteed.	32:33
	As he taught in the synagogue,	32:39
	he taught the way of the kingdom.	32:41
	As he preached, he announced the arrival of the kingdom,	32:44
	and invited men to it.	32:46
	As he healed people, he demonstrated	32:48
	the power of the kingdom.	32:50
	Matthew's gospel seems to focus on this theme,	32:53
	the theme of the kingdom.	32:56
	Something over 50 different times	32:58
	Matthew mentions concepts of kingdom, kingship,	33:01
	rule, authority in reference to Jesus.	33:05
	One of his purposes is to proclaim	33:08
	that the promised Messiah for which the people of the Jews	33:11
	had longed for generations, had actually arrived,	33:15
	that he had come, and that Jesus was his name.	33:21
	And in this summary statement	33:26
	of the ministry of Christ in Galilee,	33:28
	he puts the focus there again.	33:30
	Jesus went about all the city's teaching in their synagogues	33:36
	teaching about the kingdom of God,	33:39
	teaching what life in the kingdom was like,	33:41
	teaching what the king expected of citizens of his kingdom.	33:44
	Matthew gives us a summary of that teaching,	33:51
	the first or in the beginning of his book	33:53
	in chapters five through seven,	33:55
	sometimes known as the Sermon on the Mount.	33:57
	Christian should read that at least weekly	34:01
	to find out again and again and again,	34:03
	what God, our king, expects of us.	34:06
	He also went preaching everywhere he could	34:10
	the gospel of the kingdom,	34:13
	the good news that the kingdom had come,	34:14
	that this was in fulfillment of that symbolic meaning	34:17
	of the year of Jubilee,	34:20
	which in the Old Testament was the time of celebration,	34:23
	an occasion every 49 years, when on the 50th year,	34:30
	slaves were allowed to go free,	34:35
	financial debts were canceled,	34:38
	mortgages were written off,	34:41
	prisoners were set free,	34:45
	land reverted back to its original owners	34:48
	when it had been lost,	34:51
	occasion of putting all things right.	34:53
	And Jesus went up and down the countryside of Galilee	34:57
	announcing to people in that obscure place	35:00
	that God's eternal Jubilee year as it were had arrived.	35:05
	That this was the time for captors to be set free,	35:12
	for debts to be canceled, for sins,	35:16
	offenses against almighty God himself, to be forgiven.	35:20
	And Jesus gave personal invitation to all who would	35:28
	to enter, and to be a part of that kingdom.	35:32
	He also healed all manner of infirmities and diseases.	35:36
	His purpose in doing this was not primarily, simply to give	35:41
	physical wholeness as if that were an end in itself.	35:45
	His purpose was not primarily to use these miracles	35:49
	and these signs of so many spiritual fireworks	35:53
	by which to attract attention to himself.	35:56
	His purpose primarily it seems was to demonstrate	36:00
	that he coming in the power of almighty God himself	36:03
	and establishing his kingdom, had broken the power of evil.	36:08
	That the adversary, the enemy, who held people	36:14
	in the bonds of disease and madness and sin and death	36:18
	had been crushed.	36:23
	And that Jesus was the triumphant victor,	36:26
	in this life death struggle	36:30
	between himself and the kingdom of evil.	36:32
	The kingdom of God triumphed in the person Jesus Christ,	36:36
	And what a magnificent person he is.	36:41
	One of enormous intellect.	36:47
	If he had taken IQ tests when he was here,	36:51
	his score would've gone right out the top.	36:54
	An absolute genius.	36:56
	And yet one who delighted in communicating	36:57
	with the unlettered and the illiterate.	37:01
	A person of enormous authority when he spoke.	37:04
	A person who could keep huge crowds spell bound,	37:11
	and yet one who had great sensitivity	37:17
	to the needs of those to whom he spoke.	37:21
	One who was filled with personal charisma and magnetism,	37:26
	such that people were drawn to him by the thousands,	37:30
	and yet one who never sought	37:38
	the praise and the adulation of mankind.	37:41
	But he sought to love people,	37:45
	to give himself in service for them.	37:48
	That's something.	37:52
	The person who has come and declared himself	37:54
	to be the king of planet earth.	37:56
	We were told that when he saw the crowds,	38:02
	he was moved with compassion for them,	38:04
	because they were harassed and helpless	38:07
	like sheep without a shepherd.	38:12
	He loved people.	38:21
	He had compassion on the masses,	38:23
	and that he really cared for the individual.	38:26
	He had a general concern for mankind and its plight,	38:31
	and yet he had tremendous love for the person in particular.	38:37
	And he still does.	38:44
	No one can honestly say that no one cares for me.	38:48
	No one regards me with any importance,	38:53
	because this same Jesus, if any of this record of him	38:58
	and his activity be true at all,	39:03
	is still very much alive,	39:05
	is still very much to be dealt with,	39:07
	is still very much concerned about people,	39:12
	and still able to look at the masses,	39:17
	the crowds that inhabit this earth at this moment,	39:20
	and to be moved with compassion for individuals.	39:25
	Even you, even me.	39:29
	And that heart of compassion drove him at that time	39:34
	to cry out to his disciples,	39:37
	those who were following close with him,	39:39
	"look, the harvest is plentiful.	39:41
	There are thousands of people who need to be introduced	39:45
	to the kingdom, who need to be brought into	39:47
	the newness of life that the kingdom offers and promises,	39:50
	who need to be set free from the things	39:54
	that are binding them up.	39:56
	And yet there's so few.	39:58
	Go and tell them.	39:59
	You pray that the Lord of the harvest	40:01
	will send forth laborers into his harvest," he said.	40:03
	The very next statement that Matthew makes	40:08
	in recording the activity of our Lord is this.	40:12
	"And he called to him, his 12 disciples	40:16
	and gave them authority over unclean spirits,	40:18
	to cast them out and to heal every disease.	40:21
	And these 12 Jesus sent out, charging them	40:25
	to go to the lost sheep of Israel."	40:28
	And that's the way it still is.	40:33
	His parting words, according to Matthew's account,	40:37
	when he mysteriously disappeared from this earth	40:41
	and went into the presence of God the father,	40:44
	however that's to be understood, were to his disciples,	40:47
	reminding them once again,	40:53
	"that all authority in heaven on earth has been given to me.	40:55
	Therefore, you who are identified with me,	41:00
	go and make disciples of people of every nation,	41:04
	baptizing them and teaching them to do	41:09
	the things that I have told them to do,	41:12
	the things that I have committed unto you."	41:15
	He hasn't revoked those orders yet.	41:19
	They still ring across the centuries,	41:23
	and every person who names the name of Christ	41:25
	must listen tentatively to what that means.	41:28
	Here, he is not only advocating a program	41:37
	of foreign missions, though that certainly is a part of it.	41:40
	Here he's speaking not only of the need	41:44
	to go to the uttermost parts of the world	41:45
	and declare this glorious good news	41:48
	to those who've never heard it.	41:52
	He's also saying that we are to take seriously what it is	41:55
	to continue the ministry that he himself	42:00
	performed and accomplished while he was here.	42:04
	As Paul put it, "we pray you in the place of Christ.	42:09
	In Christ's said, be reconciled to God."	42:12
	The church's task is to do just that.	42:17
	To go as Jesus did, where people are,	42:24
	teaching, preaching, healing,	42:27
	teaching the way of life,	42:31
	teaching the nature of the kingdom,	42:32
	teaching what characterizes life and the kingdom of God,	42:34
	under the rulership of King Jesus,	42:38
	proclaiming that the Jubilee has arrived,	42:41
	that there is forgiveness, there is release from bondage,	42:44
	that there is a chance for a new beginning,	42:48
	that life can begin again,	42:50
	and inviting people to come and to live	42:53
	by acknowledging him as Lord,	42:56
	by believing that God is raising from the dead,	42:58
	and that he's therefore still around,	43:01
	and very much to be dealt with,	43:05
	and very much concerned and interested in	43:07
	the particular affairs of our lives,	43:10
	and doing all we can to make men whole,	43:18
	indicating that the power of the evil one has been broken,	43:23
	and that despite the appearance and the reality of evil	43:28
	in all of its forms in the world today,	43:32
	that that is not the last word.	43:35
	Jesus, you know, told the parable	43:38
	of the wheat and the tares,	43:40
	indicating that there will be weeds along with the wheat.	43:42
	There will be evil as long as the wheat,	43:46
	as the good kingdom of God stands until that final day	43:48
	when he brings it to its consummation and culmination,	43:52
	as he returns to put things, all things right.	43:55
	What his heart's desire for his people today is,	44:02
	among other things, that his people will gather	44:05
	in his name regularly to hear a fresh word from him,	44:09
	calling them the new hope in the midst of the frustrations	44:16
	and the disappointments and the discouragements of life.	44:19
	Calling people to look at life from the way God looks at it,	44:23
	rather than the way man looks at it.	44:26
	Speaking his word to his people,	44:30
	pouring his spirit into people's lives,	44:32
	making them new, making them free, filling them with joy,	44:35
	allowing them to enter into something	44:39
	of a glimpse of what the meaning of human existence is	44:41
	under the Lordship of Christ.	44:44
	Not just that they can experience that	44:47
	for their own enjoyment, but that they might be sent forth	44:49
	with boldness and with gladness	44:52
	by their own choice to involve themselves	44:58
	in the lives of others,	45:00
	choosing to make someone else's problems their own problems,	45:02
	choosing to bear one another's burdens,	45:06
	choosing to weep with those who weep,	45:09
	as well as to always with those who rejoice,	45:11
	and especially seeking out those whom Jesus sought out.	45:14
	The poor, the needy, the lame, the sick, the helpless.	45:19
	The scum of the earth, if you will,	45:27
	the outcast, the nobodies, the losers.	45:29
	Taking time to let those people know,	45:37
	and for that matter, which one of us	45:41
	is not among those people in one way or another,	45:42
	that life can be worth living.	45:46
	That those things which seem to rob that individual	45:50
	of the meaning of life and the fullness of life	45:53
	need not have the definitive word	45:57
	of that person's existence.	45:59
	Jesus was moved with compassion,	46:05
	and when people stay close enough to him	46:10
	as closely as he would like, it's impossible,	46:12
	but that compassion rubs off on them,	46:18
	and that concern and that love and that desire	46:23
	to bring wholeness is transferred.	46:26
	As he looks into our hearts, our lives today,	46:34
	into our church today, what does he see?	46:37
	Does he see a group of people who are excited	46:41
	about the things he was excited about?	46:43
	Does he see a group of people	46:46
	who rejoice to be the bearers of good news?	46:47
	People who rejoice to have opportunities to go	46:52
	and to care for people?	46:55
	Caring you know means sacrifice.	46:59
	It means meeting people at their level.	47:01
	It means listening to people when they need to talk	47:04
	about their problems, not only when it's convenient to us.	47:06
	It means giving up some of the things	47:10
	that we would choose to do	47:11
	in order that we might be available	47:12
	to those who need our help,	47:14
	and even more importantly than that,	47:16
	it means working hard to transfer	47:17
	whatever dependence people might place in us	47:20
	to the only one who can really bear it.	47:25
	You'll stand with each other until we grow into maturity	47:27
	after the likeness of Christ himself	47:33
	and his will is done on this earth,	47:37
	and he comes again to establish his righteous rule.	47:40
	It means we seek out those who are slaves	47:45
	to alcohol or drugs, those who have sick marriages,	47:48
	and want them to be whole again,	47:56
	those who are convinced that no one really cares,	47:59
	no one understands, no one has suffered as they do,	48:02
	those who are lonely.	48:07
	In every case not only seeking to meet their needs	48:12
	as we introduce them to the one who alone can do that,	48:14
	but enlisting them along with us in going to others,	48:18
	because only as we learn to care for someone else	48:22
	can our needs for caring really be met.	48:26
	Jesus went teaching, preaching, making people whole.	48:32
	That was God in action,	48:39
	in one man, 2000 years ago.	48:42
	God is still in action.	48:45
	He is still making people whole.	48:47
	He is still setting people free.	48:49
	He is still making sick marriages well again.	48:50
	Are we willing to let that happen with us	48:56
	and through us in the lives of other people?	48:58
	Insofar as we are preoccupied with other things,	49:03
	insofar as our concerns reigned in different directions,	49:05
	Jesus comes to us and says, "repent."	49:09
	This is the way of life.	49:13
	You're not in this just for what you can receive,	49:16
	you've been enlisted in my kingdom	49:18
	to continue the work as my instruments	49:22
	of announcing this kingdom and its power to the world.	49:26
	And we dare not take lightly those responsibilities.	49:31
	Story is told of Alexander the Great	49:36
	who's conducting a court marshal	49:38
	after one of his military campaigns, it was his custom.	49:42
	Young soldier was brought before him with a charge	49:46
	that he had run in battle.	49:49
	Alexander looked the young man in the eye and he says,	49:52
	"soldier, are these charges true?"	49:54
	His eyes fell.	49:58
	And he said, "yes, sir, they are."	49:59
	Alexander the Great said,	50:02
	"soldier, why did you run in battle?"	50:02
	The soldier said, "sir, I was afraid."	50:06
	Alexander could hardly contain his rage.	50:11
	"You were afraid?	50:14
	You, a member of the greatest army of the world	50:16
	as to this point has known?	50:18
	You, in the employ of the greatest military commander	50:20
	the world has ever known?	50:23
	And you were afraid?"	50:25
	The young soldier said, "yes, sir."	50:29
	"Soldier, what is your name?"	50:33
	Hesitantly, the young soldier said,	50:39
	"sir, my name is Alexander."	50:41
	With that, Alexander the Great lunged from his seat,	50:46
	bodily picked the young soldier up,	50:49
	and hurled him to the ground, picked him up again,	50:51
	shook him, and shouted in his face,	50:53
	"Alexander, change your ways or change your name!"	50:55
	The commander of the kingdom of God	51:04
	confronts each one who bears the name Christian today,	51:08
	and just as forcefully says,	51:12
	"Christian, change your ways or change your name."	51:13
	And yet he carries it an important step farther.	51:15
	And he puts his arm around us and he said,	51:20
	and he promises, to stand beside us and to fight	51:22
	in the next battle, and assures us	51:25
	that regardless of the outcome of that particular skirmish,	51:28
	the victory is his.	51:33
	And through him, we are more than conquerors,	51:35
	and that's what really matters.	51:38
	Let us pray.	51:41
	Almighty God, how we praise you	51:47
	that this earth is yours and everything in it,	51:49
	and now thankful we are for the guarantee we have	51:53
	that your rule will someday be known	51:56
	that every knee will bow and every tongue confess	52:00
	that Jesus Christ is Lord to your glory.	52:02
	Thank you for what you did when you came here in him,	52:05
	thank you for what you're doing in your people today,	52:08
	and may your will be done, your compassion be known,	52:12
	your power be displayed, and your love demonstrated,	52:16
	even through these lives of ours,	52:22
	which we present to you now with gratitude	52:23
	through Christ Jesus, our Lord.	52:26
	Amen.	52:28
	(organ plays cheerfully)	52:32
	(choirs sings indistinctly)	53:27
	(organ plays softly)	57:29
	(organ plays cheerfully)	58:33
	(choir sings indistinctly)	58:38
	♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪	1:03:12
	♪ Praise Him, all creatures here below ♪	1:03:17
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	1:03:23
	♪ Praise him above ye heavenly host ♪	1:03:31
	♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪	1:03:37
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	1:03:43
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	1:03:50
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	1:03:56
	♪ Amen ♪	1:04:06
-	Accept oh, Lord, this offering of thy people	1:04:17
	as a token of the obligation and joy of service.	1:04:21
	Bless those who gave and brought it,	1:04:27
	and those for whom it is intended.	1:04:29
	Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.	1:04:32
	(organ plays)	1:04:39
	(choir sings indistinctly)	1:05:22
	In Jesus' name, shalom.	1:07:51
	Go now in peace, and may the peace of God be with you.	1:07:55
	♪ Amen ♪	1:08:08
	♪ Amen ♪	1:08:15
	♪ Amen ♪	1:08:21
	♪ Amen ♪	1:08:35
	♪ Amen ♪	1:08:44
	♪ Amen ♪	1:08:58
	(bell tolls)	1:09:13
	(organ plays lively)	1:09:30

Item Info

Title:

Edward Hennegar - "What Really Matters?" (July 28, 1974)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r40r9r52c

Date:

July 28, 1974

Speaker:

Hennegar, Edward

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0718
ref6635_lug
uachapelsermaud
duke:628258
dcrau002690
ark:/87924/r40r9r52c
10292fbf-d384-47df-a0b3-4173faafa826

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC 4.0

Rights Note:

This recording may contain 3rd party materials, such as music or readings that are therefore not covered by the Creative Commons license indicated here. For more information see https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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Edward Hennegar - "What Really Matters?" (July 28, 1974)

Transcript

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Duke University Archives

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