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Our Mission | Ps Rachel Eaton · Citipointe Church Caboolture

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  Hey, welcome to the City Point Church podcast.
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  Thanks for joining us. Every day is an opportunity to
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  take hold of. So we hope this message inspires
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  you and build your faith, but it helps you have more of a God
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  perspective for your day. Enjoy.
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  Let's open God's Word, shall we? Can read along on the screen to
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  send us Mark 1615 and it reads. And then he told them going to
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  all the world and preach the good news to everyone.
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  Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved, but
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  anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.
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  These miraculous signs will accompany or follow those who
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  believe. They will cast out demons in my
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  name and they will speak in new languages.
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  They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they
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  drink anything poisonous, it's not going to hurt them.
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  They will be able to place their hands on the sick and they will
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  be healed. When the Lord Jesus had finished
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  talking with them, he was taken up into heaven and sat down in
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  the place of honor at God's right hand.
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  And the disciples went everywhere and preached, and the
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  Lord worked through them, confirming what they had said by
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  many miraculous signs. As a church at the moment we are
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  looking at the book of Acts. You might go, well, why are you
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  in Mark? That was in Mark.
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  It's a bit awkward. You didn't get the memo.
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  Now we're in Acts and Mark 16 and Acts 1 is a bit of an
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  overlap. It's talking about the same
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  scenario. And so I want to overlap here
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  and, and read now about what Jesus did in these last days
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  just before he left the disciples and he gave the Great
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  Commission. And so in Matthew 18, sorry,
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  Matthew 2818, there was this version that said, therefore go
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  and make disciples of all nations baptizing, just like
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  Pastor TJ was announcing for next week, baptizing them in the
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  name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
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  And so let's bring up Acts, Acts 11, it says in my first book, I
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  told you, let's just call him Theo because I'm Australian and
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  big names get shortened. So Theo, about everything Jesus
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  began to do and teach them until the day he was taken up to
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  heaven after giving his chosen apostles further instructions
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  through the Holy Spirit during the 40 days after he suffered
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  and died, that was Jesus. Now I've lost my spot.
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  He appeared to the apostles from time to time, and then he proved
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  to them in many ways that he was alive.
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  That was great news. He died and then he rose again.
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  So he's walking around with them and talked to them about the
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  Kingdom of God, his favorite subject.
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  And once he was eating with them, he commanded them.
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  So this is really important information, right?
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  If you can imagine like someone is on their deathbed and and
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  then they outcome with this really important they they, they
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  talk about the really important stuff.
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  I love you and I love the kids. I believe in you.
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  Whatever comes out in those moments.
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  This is Jesus last moments with his disciples.
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  Very important information. So he comes out.
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  So once he was eating with them, He commanded them, do not leave
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  Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised.
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  As I told you before, John baptized with water.
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  But just in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy
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  Spirit. So Jesus is giving the disciples
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  their next steps. We love next steps here.
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  He's like, he's got the Commission.
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  Go into all the world, preach the gospel, baptize people, wait
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  for a few days. You're going to get this gift of
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  Holy Spirit. It's going to be awesome.
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  And so when the apostles, this is verse 6, when the apostles
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  were with Jesus, they kept asking him, Lord, has the time
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  come for you to free Israel and restore our Kingdom and you go.
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  That's a little bit off topic. The name of Jesus actually means
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  Yahweh, which is Jesus saves. But our beautiful disciples,
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  they were a little bit distracted.
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  They were actually a bit distracted by the name of his
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  meaning because they were waiting for Jesus who saves to
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  come and save them from Roman dictatorship.
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  And, and we've kind of look back on, on the story of the gospel
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  of Jesus and the fact that he died with hindsight and go, yes,
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  he came to die to restore us back into relationship with God.
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  He came to set us free from the bondage of sin and all of its
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  oppression. And he set us free.
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  He saved us. And we understand what that
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  means. But the disciples at this moment
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  were still a little bit confused.
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  They're like, well, when's this big army coming?
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  Like, when are you going to overthrow Israel?
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  Like, when are you going to overthrow the Roman Empire so
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  that Israel can thrive again? They were just a little bit off,
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  off topic. Hang on.
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  Has anyone ever, is anyone here a, a, a nautical navigator, like
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  with boats or ships? Do you want to like, has anyone
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  got a boat license? No, you do.
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  OK, So correct me if I'm wrong. Oh, OK, we've got another one
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  over here. If you've got a, a boat and your
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  navigation is off by this much, what's the impact in the long
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  run of your destination? I feel like it's, it's not this
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  much, of course, like if you're this much off a navigation and
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  you're, you're planning to land on the jetty in, in let's say
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  Peru, it's not like you get this far off the jetty.
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  I feel like you land in another country.
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  Is that right? Yeah, what I like.
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  Jesus loves his disciples. He loved these apostles poured
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  in, but they were just a little bit off.
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  And so Jesus has to come in and go, guys, grab their attention
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  and bring it back to the really important directive.
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  So Jesus replies, and he says the Father alone has the
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  authority to set those dates. Chill out guys and times and
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  they are not for you to know, OK?
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  Then he comes back and brings them right back off their
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  little, you know, tiny little off off point.
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  And he says, but you will receive power when the Holy
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  Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses telling
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  people about me everywhere in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in
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  Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
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  And so he grabs their attention and he and he redirects it and
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  goes, here's the directive, here's the Commission, here's
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  what you're supposed to do. This is the really important
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  information. I know you want to talk about
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  this and you feel like it's the relevant thing to be talking
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  about. I know it's important to you,
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  but can you just come back here? This is the focus.
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  This is what's important. So let's see how they went.
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  That was Acts 8. Let's go to the very next verse
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  in Acts 19. After saying this, he was taken
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  up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no
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  longer see him. As they strained to see him
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  rising into heaven, 2 white robed men suddenly stood among
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  them, men of Galilee. They said, why are you staring
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  into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you
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  into heaven. I can, I can kind of imagine the
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  scenario here of all of the disciples gathered and looking
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  up into heaven. And then these angels, they come
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  around to the crowd and they're like, what?
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  What are we looking at? Are we checking the rain?
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  Like what? What are we trying to see, guys?
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  He's gone. He's in heaven.
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  What was the last thing he told you to do?
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  What's the directive? Come on back.
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  Come on back to directive. Come on back to mission.
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  The title of the message this morning is on mission.
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  Do we live on mission? So as we open up the book of
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  Acts, which I do encourage everyone here to be reading this
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  month, we see the early church spring into action.
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  And so I thought it would be a good thing to do this morning to
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  ask three questions of ourselves.
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  Can we have a nice big, you know, self reflection?
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  This morning we're going to ask three questions of ourselves
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  about how we do mission, the purpose of our mission mission,
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  our why. And so we're going to start with
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  question number one. But you're going to have to wait
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  for it because I need a drink. I can feel the anticipation.
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  Question one, does your mission point to Jesus?
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  In John 14/6, Jesus declares this about himself.
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  I am the way, the truth, and the life.
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  No one comes to the Father except through me.
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  That's a big statement. Jesus came to earth on mission
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  and his assignment was you and I.
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  His assignment was humanity. God is obsessed with humanity
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  and he loves us so much that he brought Jesus to come in and
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  bridge that gap so that we can come back into relationship with
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  Him. He came, He died, He rose again
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  so that we may experience abundantly life here with Him
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  and experience eternal life with Him in heaven.
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  Jesus is the hero of every story, so does your mission
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  point to Him? Paul says in 2nd Corinthians 11
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  to Eve was fooled by the snake in the Garden of Eden.
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  In the same way, I'm afraid that you will be fooled and LED away
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  from your pure love for Christ. You see, Paul had a bit of a
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  battle on his hands. False doctrine was starting to
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  enter the church and it was leading people's hearts away
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  from Jesus. Here's the problem with false
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  doctrine. It looks Christian.
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  It can sound Christian. It often has lots of good points
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  and you can hear it and it will just be this far off.
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  It can present as righteous in 2nd Corinthians 1113 to 14, Paul
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  says, but they make themselves look like true missionaries of
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  Christ. It is no surprise the devil
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  makes himself look like an Angel of light.
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  Jesus mission is Jesus focused. Jesus mission is Jesus focused,
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  but we have to be careful to check what we're listening to
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  because we can just be a little bit off.
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  There's so much information out there.
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  There's so much. So we've got to filter it
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  through Jesus word, the Holy Bible and go, are we on mission?
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  Is this purely about Jesus? Is this the gospel of Jesus
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  Christ? Is this the good news?
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  Or is it more focused on maybe empathy for others?
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  Sounds good, sounds Christian. Sounds like a a great thing to
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  to jump on. It often comes as a misguided
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  form of empathy. Have you ever heard a God of
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  love wouldn't allow that to happen?
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  God's grace is so rich we don't even need to repent or confess
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  any sin. There is no need for
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  transformation or spiritual growth because God loves me the
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  way I am. God is love, so I don't believe
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  people will go to hell. These are half truths.
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  The problem with a half truth is that you're missing the whole
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  picture. It's still a lie. 1/2 truth is a
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  lie. It's this much off, but it's
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  going to land you in Pakistan instead of Peru.
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  I love Pakistanian people, by the way.
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  I love all people, all nations. That was not a reference.
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  Thank you. We love Israel, we love
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  Pakistan, I love God's people. The gospel is for every nation,
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  every person under the sun, every colour, every diversity.
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  The gospel of Jesus is for every person breathing.
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  But that's why we got to have this gospel message, gospel like
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  pointing to Jesus because God is love and he doesn't want to
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  experience any nation, any person, any diversity group, any
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  individual. He doesn't want to be separate
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  from them. He doesn't want to be separate
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  from you, He wants to be back in relationship with you.
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  That's why God sent Jesus. It's why he, he brought him here
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  to be the sin for us, so that when God looks at us, He sees
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  the purity of that beautiful spiritual blood.
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  He wants that for us, but we have to choose Him back.
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  It's not enough that he just died.
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  We we have to choose him back. We have to accept God's love.
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  We have to accept his forgiveness.
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  That's gospel, that's the Bible. This is true.
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  That's the message of Jesus. He does love you the way that
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  you are. Come, come as you are.
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  He loves you so much that he removed every barrier so that
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  you could have access to him, can be forgiven, set free,
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  delivered whole, restored. And I'm going to throw this word
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  out that I read in here and transformed and transformed.
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  Repentance is actually a very normal part of Christian life.
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  It doesn't mean you walk around feeling terrible about
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  everything. No, there's so much good news in
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  Jesus. Do you know what repentance
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  looks like? If Jesus was standing here, I'm
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  facing him. That's what repentance looks
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  like. It's all about walking towards
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  Jesus. But repentance is a normal part
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  of a Christian life. It's focused on Jesus.
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  We got to read this Bible. 2nd Corinthians 2 two says I made-up
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  my mind that while I was with you I would speak nothing except
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  Jesus Christ and his death on the cross.
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  So in your mission, is it Jesus? It might sound passionate, it
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  might sound good, you might empathize with it, but does it
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  point to Jesus? Is it gospel?
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  Is it found in His Word? Because this word, His word,
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  meeting Jesus will bring about life to your soul.
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  It brings about freedom, restoration, it will bring you
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  into a place of hope in His beautiful name.
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  Is your mission, your reason centred in Him?
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  Question 2. Does your mission support or
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  uphold God mission? What's God's mission in the
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  establishment of the early church like we just read about
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  in Mark 16 and in Acts 1, Jesus is is with his disciples, his
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  chosen crew and and the mission for them was to go into the
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  world and preach the gospel out of that was the establishment of
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  Church of the early church. Church is God mission.
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  The local church is God mission and he loves this place and he
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  moves in and through it in Mark we read earlier that these
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  miraculous signs will follow those who believe they will cast
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  out demons in my name and they will speak in new languages.
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  They will be able to handle snakes with safety and if they
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  drink anything poisonous, it won't hurt them.
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  They will be able to place their hands on the sick and they will
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  be healed. I'm going to throw a scenario
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  out to you. We just had our healing services
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  a couple of months ago, and in that I believe someone was
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  prayed for and they just left their crutches there because
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  they didn't need them anymore because they got healed.
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  Who was it that prayed for that person?
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  Do we know? No, let's just imagine it was
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  Pastor Graham for a moment. So in that moment, you've got a
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  man who's receiving healing because Pastor Graham has just
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  prayed for him. And so we just heard what
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  accompanies or what follows those who live on mission.
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  Let me ask you a question. Is it following Pastor Graham
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  and the person who's giving up their crutches, or is it
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  following all of us? Hands up if you think it's just
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  Pastor Graham and the person who received healing.
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  Show of hands. Oh, you're also scared.
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  Show of hands if you think it's all of us.
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  I would argue that it follows all of us.
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  I would argue that we as a body and an entity and an Organism,
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  Is that right? Did I say that right?
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  Risky word. As a body of believers, it
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  follows all of us. You know, the conversations that
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  happen after a moment like that when someone throws away their
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  crotches is we. It's guess what we experienced
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  as a church this week. Guess what we saw?
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  It's not guess what Pastor Graham did.
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  It's we. And we as a body of believers
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  are experiencing and walking in godly mission and we all have
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  partnership with that. Josh Pennisi was here.
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  He came to the one of the miracle services.
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  The reason his family came who did not know Jesus was because
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  someone put a pamphlet in his letterbox.
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  The person who put a pamphlet in his letterbox was a girl from
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  youth. If I've got the story right, she
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  put one pamphlet. She delivered one pamphlet
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  because she wanted to be involved in what we were doing
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  as a body. The reason that she knew to put
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  something in the letter box is because we have a youth program.
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  She attends one service, one service a week.
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  The only one she can get to is a youth service.
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  We have a youth service because we have beautiful volunteers and
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  leaders in this place who sacrificed their their time,
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  their talent, their money. Teenagers are expensive men.
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  They sacrificed it. The only reason we have an
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  established youth group is because someone over here has
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  done the legal leg work to make sure that we're allowed to.
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  Someone's organized blue cards, someone's made phone calls,
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  someone's organized training, someone has actually trained it.
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  We are a body, we are many members, and we get to
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  celebrate. When God is actively moving in
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  our church, it follows us. It follows us, those who believe
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  Holy Spirit moved upon us. We speak in other languages.
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  Demons are cast out in Jesus name.
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  They are. We lay hands on the sick and
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  they do recover. And no matter what kind of
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  poison is thrown at us, we remain.
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  Give yourself the pat on the back and go.
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  I'm nailing this mission thing. I'm totally supporting and
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  upholding God's house. Well done you these things
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  follow us. It says if one member if sorry,
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  if one member of the body suffers, all of the other
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  members suffer with it. And if one member is honoured,
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  all the members rejoice in it with it.
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  We are one body of believers partners.
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  So here's a question for you. Are you partnered with God
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  Mission? Do you uphold and support the
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  local church? Jesus calls it his bride.
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  He loves his place. And yes, it's flawed.
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  It's run by humans. Of course there's going to be
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  flawed. But God moves in and through his
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  local church and he loves it. Are you a supporter?
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  Are you partnered here? Do these signs and wonders?
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  Do they follow you because you're partnered and are
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  supporting this place? I often hear people leave church
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  because they're offended and out will come out of their mouths.
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  The church hurt me. There's a lot of things that
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  people have to say about how the hurt church hurt them.
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  You know what I don't hear very often is anyone in a repentant
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  reflective moment going, wow, I hurt the church.
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  Paul did normal part of his Christian life would often
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  reflect and go wow, I really did some damage there murdering
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  threats, actually murdering Christians and God had a moment
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  and just put his hands on him and goes I love the passion, but
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  you're off you're off. I just need to bring you into
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  alignment. I need to bring you into truth
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  because my heart's for this. I'm in this and if you are
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  fighting in opposition. God's church, you're actually
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  fighting in opposition with what God is trying to do.
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  Take everything else off the table and just have you and God
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  in here for a moment. What does he say?
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  He loves this place. He's for it.
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  The local church are you? Does your mission uphold and
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  support the local church? Paul's statement actually in one
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  Timothy 112 to 13. He says in my insolence I
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  persecuted his people, but God had mercy on me because I did it
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  in ignorance and unbelief. Question 3 And me as if you want
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  to come join me, that'd be great.
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  What follows you? What follows you in Matthew 716?
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  It says you will know them by their fruit, what they produce.
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  Time is a great revealer. It's a lousy healer, but it is a
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  good revealer. What are you actually about?
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  What follows you? Chaos, conflict, trauma, gossip,
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  drama, rage or violence. The latest conspiracy theory.
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  You know what I don't see in conspiracy theories?
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  I don't see any faith. I don't see any faith.
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  I see it fueled by fear, sowing seeds of distrust, but I don't
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  see faith. Proverbs 31 says that she laughs
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  for fear of her future. She's back on track, going to be
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  over here, come and speak about the things that are important.
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  I know you think that this matter is so important and
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  everyone should know, is it going to be fruitful?
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  Is it going to lead people to Jesus?
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  Just come back. You might think it's so
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  important. The disciples got this mixed up.
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  They're like, this is so important.
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  And Jesus goes, oh, just come back to what's important, to
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  what's going to bring life to what's going to bring hope to
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  what's going to restore to what's going to deliver, to
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  what's going to pour out my love.
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  You will find identity and confidence when you're centered
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  in Jesus. What are you actually about?
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  What do people read on you? What follows you is a testimony
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  of the goodness of Jesus. Do disciples follow you?
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  Are we discipling people? Does His love and grace follow
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  you? I pray I walk in it.
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  His favor. Provision, peace, sound mind,
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  miracles, healing, deliverance, freedom, authority, it's all
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  available to you and it's found in Jesus alone.
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  It's found because of what He did.
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  It's found because of His great love.
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  Summing up, when I think of mission, there's a verse that I
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  always come back to you that always encourages me.
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  It always locates my why, and it's in one Corinthians 924 to
• 28:29
  26 and it says, don't you realize that in a race everyone
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  runs, but only one person gets the prize?
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  So run to win. All athletes are disciplined in
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  their training. They do it to win a prize that's
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  going to fade away, but we do it for an eternal price.
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  So I've run with purpose in every step.
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  Can we even begin to comprehend what lays before us?
• 29:06
  Are our minds set on the Kingdom of God?
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  On eternity? Eternity does not start when you
• 29:16
  die. Eternity starts right now.
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  If you've got a line, let's imagine that this is the line of
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  your life, right? It starts here, continues to go
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  there. Your death might be here.
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  It doesn't stop when you die. You're not going to have a
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  moment where you go to sleep and don't wake up.
• 29:41
  There is an eternity to look forward to with Jesus if you
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  just want to choose Him back. Do you know how much He loves
• 29:50
  you? John 316 said He loved you so
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  much. God loved you so much that He
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  gave His only begotten Son that if He would just believe in Him,
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  then you're not going to perish. You will experience that eternal
• 30:09
  hope. You will experience that eternal
• 30:12
  joy. You will experience purification
• 30:16
  where you feel clean, where you feel whole, where you are
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  restored. Nothing will do it for you like
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  Jesus.