The Empty House
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Good morning. Welcome to Insights. This
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is Pastor John. Let's pray. Heavenly
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Father, we just thank you and praise
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you, Lord, for your word. God, we ask
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that you open hearts and minds to
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receive and that you help us, Lord, to
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speak the words that you would have
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people hear. In Jesus name we pray.
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Amen. So, today we're talking about the
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empty house.
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And uh
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we're going to start in Matthew chapter
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12. But let me lay some groundwork here.
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Matthew chapter 12 is where Jesus begins
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to confront the Pharisees for their
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hypocrisy and the things they do. So one
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of the things he hap that happens in
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chapter 12 is Jesus declares his def his
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divinity by claiming to be the Lord even
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of the Sabbath day.
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And uh he leaves the synagogue and he
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heals a man whose hand is withered.
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And uh
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he gets into a confrontation with the
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Pharisees for healing on the Sabbath
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day.
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And uh
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they demand a sign. And they they accuse
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him of casting out demons in in uh
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the name of Billsub, the prince of
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devils. And Jesus goes on and this is
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this in Matthew is where he talks about
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the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. And uh
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when it when in verse uh 43
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they did the scribes and Pharisees
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demanded a sign from Jesus to prove
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that he was who he said he was.
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So he gets down to verse 43 and he's he
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had cast out a demon and he's talking
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about
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the condition
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and this is really important and it
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applies to us and I want this I I'm
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putting this in context so that we
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understand he's talking to them
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uh and he says when the unclean spirit
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is gone out of a man he walketh through
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dry places seeking rest and findeth
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none. Then he saith, I will return into
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my house from whence I came out. And
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when is come, he findeth it is empty,
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swept and garnished. And then he goeth
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and he taketh himself seven other
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spirits more wicked than himself. And
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they enter in and dwell there. And the
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last state of that man is worse than the
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first. Even so shall it be also unto
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this wicked generation.
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And uh when we're looking at this
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passage of scriptures, you know, it's
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important that we understand that
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when we
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when we get saved
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and Jesus comes and he cleanses us and
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he forgives us of our sins, that's
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that's initial sanctification.
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That's where God has restored our
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fellowship with him through Jesus's
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atonement on the cross and our
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acceptance of that. But it goes much
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deeper because
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moving forward from that point,
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sanctification is ongoing. And what that
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means is that as we're progressing
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further and further in our relationship
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with Christ, he's going to begin to
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point out other things that are
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hindering our walk. And I work a uh
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with men who
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uh are dealing with issues of addiction
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and um homelessness.
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uh recidivism
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uh which means uh repeated
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incarcerations either in jail or prison.
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And uh one of the things that I've
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learned over the years of doing this is
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number one,
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when you truly want to see a change,
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you have to change your thought
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processes. You have to change
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uh how you approach life. You have to
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change your friends. You have to go to
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new places. You have to stop going to
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the old places where you were tempted to
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to uh go back to what you're doing. And
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in Romans chapter 12,
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uh Paul talks about this in in great
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detail. And this does tie into what
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we're talking about the empty house. He
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says, 'I beseech you therefore,
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brethren, by the mercies of God, that
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you present your bodies a living
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sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,
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which is your reasonable service. And be
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not conformed to this world, but be
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transformed by the renewing of your
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mind, that you may prove what is that
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good and acceptable and perfect will of
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God. So, let's go back over to Ro uh
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Matthew chapter 12 and let's look at
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this again. He says, "When the unclean
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spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh
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through dry places seeking rest and
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findeth none." Then he saith, I will
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return into my house from whence I came
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out. And when he has come, he findeth it
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empty, swept, and garnished. Well, when
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Jesus comes in, you accept him as Lord
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and Savior. He cleans you up from the
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inside out. So, he restores everything
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back into a place of where it where it
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should have always been. Uh, which is
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impossible to get without him. But if
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you don't put things in that swept clean
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house that are acceptable to God and
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they and are changes made into your
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lifestyle, when that thing raises itself
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up again against you and it finds that
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you haven't put anything in there to
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counter it, it comes back in. And I've
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seen this uh I have witnessed this
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personally. I have seen people that got
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free of addictions. They lasted they
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they went through life clean and sober
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for for a period of time.
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But when they didn't engage in true d
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disciplehip and begin to put into
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themselves things that have to do with
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living for God, studying God's word,
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going to church, having fellowship, uh
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going to Christbased sober living
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meetings and things of that nature when
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the addiction raises itself back up or
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the possibility of going back to prison
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because you feel like you're not making
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any progress. stress and you get
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desperate and these kind of things and
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you go back and do the same thing you
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did before
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uh you wind up in a condition that's
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seven times worse than it was before you
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started
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and um
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so the first thing that we have to do to
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overcome that is change how we think and
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listen to what Paul said he said be not
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conformed to this world but be
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transformed by the renewing of your mind
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that you may prove what is that good and
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acceptable and perfect will of God. So
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the empty house will remain empty unless
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you transform your mind and take on the
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things of Christ. Well, you might be
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asking yourself, well, how do I do this?
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How do I furnish this house? Well, one
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of the ways of doing that is uh
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we go over to first uh 2 Corinthians
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uh chapter 10. He says, "Now I," this
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starts in verse one, "now I, Paul,
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beseech I, now I, Paul myself, beseech
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you by the meekness and gentleness of
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Christ,
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who in presence and base among you, but
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being absent and bold toward you, but I
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beseech you," that means I beg you in
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all things, that I may not be bold when
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I'm present with that confidence
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wherewith I think to be bold against
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some which think of us as if we walked
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according to the flesh. F. Now listen to
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this. This is where it begins to explain
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it. For though we walk in the flesh, we
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do not war after the flesh. For the
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weapons of our warfare are not carnal,
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but mighty through God to the pulling
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down of strongholds,
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casting down imaginations and every high
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thing that exaltth itself against the
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knowledge of God,
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and bringing into captivity every
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thought to the obedience of Christ.
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And that's critical. That's very
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critical because you need to be able to
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do that to have a successful walk in
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Christ.
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Now,
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today in today's world, you're going to
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hear people all the time, and I see this
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posted on the internet. I see it posted
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on social media all the time, and people
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say, "Well, you don't have to go to
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church to be a Christian."
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That's true, but you do have to go to
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church if you want to be a successful
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Christian. You need that fellowship. And
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Paul laid it out this way in uh
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Ephesians chapter 4 starting verse 11.
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And I I want to expand on this some
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because I want you to realize what he's
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saying. He says, "And he gave some
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apostles and some prophets and some
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evangelists and some pastors and
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teachers for the perfecting of the
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saints, for the work of the ministry,
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for the edifying of the body of Christ,
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till we all come in the unity of the
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faith and of the knowledge of the Son of
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God, unto a perfect man, unto the
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measure of the stature of the fullness
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of Christ, that we henceforth be no more
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children tossed to and fro and carried
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about with every wind of doctrine by the
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slight of men and cunning craftiness
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whereby they lie and wait to deceive,
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but speaking the truth in love may grow
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up into him in all things which is the
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head, even Christ. And uh the word I I
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want to focus in on this because I want
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to explain this and I looked this up in
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the Greek to make sure. So
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in verse 12 he says that the reason for
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verse 11 and he gave some apostles and
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some prophets and some evangelists some
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pastors and teachers for the perfecting
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of the saints for the work of the
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ministry for the edifying of the body of
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Christ. So, I looked up that word
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perfecting
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because a lot of times we misinterpret
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what that word says.
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And what that actually means when you
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look it up under perfecting in the Greek
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in this word, it means fully or
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completely furnished.
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Back over to Matthew 12, Jesus goes in,
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he sweeps the house, he cleans the
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house, he puts it all in order.
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And then the work falls to apostles,
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prophets, evangelists, pastors and
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teachers
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to help you
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completely
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furnish
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your house. The Bible says that our
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bodies are the temple of the Lord. This
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is the place he inhabits. So he puts
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different ministry gifts into the
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church.
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uh which are different than the gifts of
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the Holy Spirit listed in uh 1
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Corinthians chapter 12. These are
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ministry gifts. These are ministry
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offices that he has established that he
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has put in place and it all has one
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purpose which is the complete furnishing
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or fully maturing
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of uh the saints. It's for the
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perfecting of the saints. And what is
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the end result of completely furnishing
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a saint? Well, they begin to work in
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ministry.
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There's a lot of lay ministry in the
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church. Not everybody's called to be a
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pastor. Not everybody's called to be a
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teacher. Uh not and assuredly not
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everybody's called to be an evangelist
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in the the ministry office evangelist,
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but we're all called to do evangelism.
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And you can't do evangelism unless you
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know what the word says. So we have to
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come in and we have to fully furnish and
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equip
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uh the saints for work of the ministry
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and it's for one purpose which is
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edifying the body of Christ. That's the
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church as a whole. And what edifying the
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body of Christ means is bringing them to
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full maturity.
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And you know you run into people a lot
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in this world who would prefer not to
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mature. They want to
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get saved.
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They want someone to tell them,
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"Everything's going to be fine. You got
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saved. Everything's fine now. You don't
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have to do anything else. You You've
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done everything you need to do." Um, and
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they're not being honest
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with Christians. I've said this before,
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I'll say it again. If you step out to
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and you make a commitment to Christ that
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you are serving God and that you're
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going forward and you're going to do the
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things that God has called you to do,
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the enemy is going to come against you.
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He's going to make life hard.
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But Jesus says to stay the course, to
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continue going forward. Because if you
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do,
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he's going to empower you through the
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Holy Spirit to overcome
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all of this.
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He said in John 10:10 that thief cometh
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but to kill, steal, and destroy. But I
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come to give life and to give it more
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abundantly.
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And you know, our what we're seeking
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here is not an earthly reward. We're not
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seeking, you know, fame, fortune,
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houses, cars, money, wealth, notoriety.
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What we're seeking is a closer
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relationship with Christ. Why? Because
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it's only during our life here on earth
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that we have an opportunity to
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determine,
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and it's up to us to determine where
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we're going to spend eternity.
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It's your choice. You get to choose.
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Heaven is real.
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What we we refer to as hell, it's real.
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It's an eternal place of torment and
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punishment.
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Um the Bible warns us. Jesus warned it.
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In fact, Jesus spent more time talking
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about uh avoiding the consequences of
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sin and winding up in hell than any
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other thing that he came to talk about.
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other than salvation, other than it you
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have to accept him as Lord and Savior,
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as the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords,
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the Alpha and the Omega to come to a
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place where when you die or the rapture
15:56
takes place, you're going to spend
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eternity in God's presence. Because
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there's only two places that you're
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going to spend eternity. Either in God's
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presence or in hell.
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There is no in between. There is no
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paradise. There is no, well, I just want
16:12
to squeak in the door. You're either
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going to be there or you're not. He
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says, you know, he went ahead of us to
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prepare a place for us. I talked last
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week about how
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when the Jews rejected Jesus, the
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message was taken to the Gentiles for
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the Gentiles to um be heirs according to
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the promise.
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And uh
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you know Jesus talked about that. He
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talked about how he had come
16:49
for his own that's God's chosen people
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and they rejected him
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and the message of grace the message of
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uh reconciliation
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was passed to the Gentiles because the
17:06
Jews rejected it. But at the end
17:10
after the church is raptured,
17:13
the Jews are going to repent and they're
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going to they are going to come into
17:17
their own as the preachers they were
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supposed to be if they had followed
17:22
Jesus from the beginning. So I want you
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guys to keep in mind that the things you
17:27
go through
17:30
are meant to build car are meant to
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build character and integrity.
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They are meant to give you a solid
17:37
foundation so that as you go forward in
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your walk with Christ, you're able to
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overcome anything the enemy brings
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against you. And uh you know, sometimes
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we find ourselves
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uh
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in situations we never expected. I know
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I did. And uh I also by maintaining my
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relationship with God, trusting and
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depending on God in that situation, God
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brought me out of it. Um, I can tell you
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lots of stories, uh, and I have spoken
18:14
on these before in the past of how
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God used my situation
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to minister to me in such a way that I
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was able to overcome the situation I was
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in and changed my life. And uh, you
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know, we all have things we deal with.
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you're if you think you're you're the
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only one, uh that's not true. Everybody
18:43
does. Uh he came for a broken world. He
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he said, you know, the well not need a
18:50
position. I came for those that are sick
18:52
and broken. Um every human being on the
18:56
face of this earth is broken.
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And Jesus provided healing from that
19:04
brokenness.
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And only he could do it.
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When you read through the Old Testament
19:12
and you're you're seeking to understand
19:14
God better, and you should read the Old
19:17
Testament, you should study the Old
19:19
Testament and realize that even through
19:21
the law, God was still trying to reach
19:24
people. But you'll notice in all these
19:27
Bible heroes in the Old Testament,
19:30
it wasn't
19:32
their adherence to the law
19:36
that gave them a place at God's table. I
19:41
mean, partially, yes. But look at
19:44
David's life. He started out, you know,
19:49
a shepherd boy.
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He became anointed to be king.
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He went in, he killed Goliath.
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He became the favorite of the people to
20:01
the point of jealousy growing in Saul to
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the point that Saul tried to kill him
20:05
for years.
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And David went through all of that and
20:11
was became king. And after he became
20:15
king, he was he was uh he was known as a
20:20
man after God's own heart. But at the
20:22
same time he had some major major flaws.
20:27
Um he spoiled his children rather than
20:30
disciplining them. Um he committed
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adultery and murder. Uh and still
20:38
God blessed him in such a way that it
20:43
was through his descendants
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uh all the way down to Joseph. It was
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the line of human beings that God chose
20:51
to use to come to this earth to become
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the supreme sacrifice for all of mankind
20:59
to eradicate sin.
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And so God, if you are there thinking to
21:07
yourself,
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I am too broken.
21:13
I am too messed up. I have made too many
21:18
mistakes. And there's no way that God
21:21
can overlook all of that. Let me tell
21:23
you, that's not true.
21:25
He loves you. He died for you. Even when
21:28
you didn't know him,
21:31
he made a way for you to escape exactly
21:33
what you're living in.
21:35
He made a way for you to overcome all
21:39
the attacks the enemy has brought
21:41
against you.
21:42
And he's given you power over all the
21:46
powers of the enemy.
21:48
He has made it possible for you to live
21:51
a full complete Christian life through
21:55
him. He swept the house clean.
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Now, it's your responsibility to furnish
22:01
it. And you can't furnish it if you
22:04
don't know what's in the Bible. You need
22:06
to know what God says about you. You
22:09
need to know what God says you're
22:11
capable of doing. Uh you need to realize
22:14
that he called you and saved you for a
22:17
purpose. He didn't call you to
22:20
uh
22:22
build space on a pew in a building. He
22:26
called you to be the church. And what is
22:30
the church? It's Jesus's arms
22:32
outstretched to the world. Jesus said,
22:35
"If I be lifted up, I will draw all men
22:37
unto me." He said, "Upon this rock,"
22:41
speaking of himself, "I will build my
22:43
church, and the gates of hell shall not
22:45
prevail against it."
22:47
So, as you're going through this life
22:51
and you've chosen a life with Christ,
22:55
put in the effort to make it a
22:57
bountiful, successful life. And I'll
23:00
tell you something, I played sports in
23:02
high school. I was a baseball player.
23:06
And
23:08
before we played our first game every
23:10
year, we practiced and practiced and
23:15
practiced. And then after our first
23:17
game, we practiced and we practiced and
23:20
we practiced until our next game. And we
23:22
practiced and we practiced and we
23:25
practiced.
23:26
You have to pursue it with a passion.
23:29
You have to make it more important to
23:32
you than anything else in your life. And
23:36
be when you do that, when you put God
23:38
first, he will put you first in
23:41
everything you do. So I want to
23:44
encourage you. I want you to keep your
23:46
mind focused on this point. God has a
23:50
plan for your life. God has a desire
23:56
to see you become as successful as
23:58
you're capable of becoming through him.
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And you can do all things through Christ
24:03
who strengthens you. There is nothing
24:06
that you cannot overcome. And uh Romans
24:10
chapter 8 uh vers uh 38 and 39 it says
24:14
there is no thing in all creation that
24:19
can separate you from the love of
24:21
Christ. So no matter how bad it might
24:24
be, no matter what you're going through,
24:27
realize one thing. Jesus said, "I'm a
24:29
friend that sticks closer than a
24:31
brother. I will never leave you or
24:32
forsake you." He's not going to let you
24:35
live by yourself and face these things
24:37
alone. He wants you to trust him to get
24:42
you to the other side. It always makes
24:45
me think about the parting of the Red
24:47
Sea and the parting of the Jordan River.
24:50
Um
24:54
when he parted the Red Sea, Israel went
24:57
across on dry land. When their enemies
25:00
came in to attack them, God released the
25:03
sea and drowned them.
25:05
They were no longer the slaves and
25:07
captives of Egypt at that point. Later
25:10
on, 40 years later, as they're preparing
25:13
to enter into the promised land, God
25:17
blocks the Jordan River
25:21
and the children of Israel cross into
25:24
Canaan into the pro promised land on dry
25:26
ground.
25:29
and they go in and they begin the
25:31
conquest.
25:33
And
25:35
it's important for you to realize that
25:41
having a relationship with God doesn't
25:44
promise you
25:46
that you're going to get to walk on top
25:49
the water,
25:50
i.e. life problems
25:53
attacks from the enemy or go around it.
25:57
99.9% of the time he wants you to go
26:01
through it. That's and David made that
26:04
clear in the 23rd Psalms. You know, when
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he said, "Yay, though I walk through the
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valley of the shadow of death, I shall
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fear no evil." That's what he's talking
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about. He didn't say, "Thank you, Lord,
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for allowing me to to
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bypass the b the valley of the shadow of
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death." He said, "Yay, though I walk
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through the valley of the shadow of
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death, I will fear no evil. For thy rod
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and thy staff, they comfort me." So
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God's with you in the worst, and he's
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there with you in life's best. And you
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have to build confidence in Christ to
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the point where you can trust him
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beyond what you can see. And that's what
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faith truly is. Hebrews 11:1 says,
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"Faith is the substance of things hoped
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for and the evidence of things not
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seen." You can't see the workings of God
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behind the scenes. You can see the
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results of the working of God in your
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life, though. So, I want you guys to
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keep that in mind this week. As you're
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going through life, put new furniture in
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that clean house. And as you're going
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through life and God brings other things
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to mind that you need to work on, let
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him take them and replace them with new
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things that bring glory and honor to
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him. So, that's it for this week, guys.
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We will see you next week. Enjoy
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the holiday season. Uh right now it's
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Hanukkah for our Jewish brothers. Uh
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we're preparing to go into Christmas
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next week. And uh I want you guys to
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celebrate Jesus because he is the reason
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for this season.
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We'll see you next

