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Gifts on Everyone’s Wish List · Wetumpka Church of Christ Online

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Sure, greatest a brother Howard is great to see and hear hear
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you as sister Tanya. So great to see you all and
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everyone is great to be with you this morning.
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Just a blessing to gather together as the Lord's people
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again, for those that are in the fellowship hall across the way
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and some still worshiping With Us online.
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We were just so thankful for the presence of each and every one
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and it's just a joy together together as God's people, one
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more time, and spend some time in worship to him.
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We're spend a few moments together this morning.
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Talking about some gifts, on everyone's wish list.
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Let me introduce this idea by kind of taking a little weird
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Journey just for a second, that I hope will make some sense here
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in just a moment. We for the most part.
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Now. I know there are exceptions to
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the rule but those are the rare exception for the most part.
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We share basically the same skeletal structure, the same 206
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bones. We share those as human beings.
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We share commonalities as far as our internal, organs are
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concerned that some of you probably on your driver's
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license, have something on there.
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That's that signifies that you are.
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Organ donor. Meaning that if the
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circumstances were such that there are organs inside your
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body that you are willing to be donated to someone else who
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could use them. So, our body parts are
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interchangeable because of the commonalities that we have is
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human beings both regarding our skeletal design.
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And all the internal organs that make us who we are as human
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beings of Course, this is by God's Design.
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This is not some magic of random Evolution.
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We know as Believers in God that he is the one who designed Us in
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this way where we have these shared traits, these shared
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physical characteristics, but I want to share with you the
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thought this morning that that's not where God stopped.
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He did not stop by just designing Us in the same way as
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human beings. Physically.
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That there are some ways that he designed us, as far as
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commonalities regarding our psyche, regarding our Behavior
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regarding our desires. Our once our needs.
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In fact, there is and his someone who credits it all with
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Evolution and human adaptation through millions of years, but
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this is Who's done a study on this very thing, he has come up
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with, he's an anthropologist his name.
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Is there. My hand are, I've got the print.
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So small Donald Brown. Okay, I see it now. 211
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Universal, human traits, characteristics that all humans
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share and he is quoted in the writing that he has done on this
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topic. That there are known.
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There are no known exceptions. So he's come up with a list of
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211 traits. These are behaviors.
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Of Ural, these are psychological.
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The things that make us tick the things that make up who we are
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not from a skeletal standpoint or a biological standpoint, but
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it's what makes us as far as our Essence is concerned.
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Now, he credits this with evolutionary process and human
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adaptation over millions of years.
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This is just another example of God's design.
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Is it not where God did not stop just by making our skeletal
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frame similar by giving us the same.
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Organs, but he gave us some of the same inherent innate needs
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desires, Tendencies behaviors. There's some of these things
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that we share and so that's why I can make a bold statement and
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say with such a diverse crowd is here this morning, that there
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are some things that are on all of our wish list.
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These are some things that all of us want that all of us desire
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and I want to share just a couple of them.
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By no means, are we going to get into an exhaustive study of
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those things that we share as far as human beings as far as
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our basic wants and needs and desires.
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Our concern but just a couple want us to examine this morning
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and maybe when it's my turn to preach again, I'll do a few more
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on the list. This is a gift giving time of
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year. So we're thinking about gifts
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that we're planning to give others.
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I heard a statistic Benjamin. I know it's ramped up for you
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and your line of work. I heard a statistic starting, I
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think, 10 days ago. They were estimating on average
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every day from about 10 days ago, until Christmas 7 million.
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Packages will be delivered just in the United States per day
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every day on average from 10 days ago, till Christmas a lot
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of stuff being given and received this time of year.
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And so we're going to talk about some things that God is offering
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to give us that. We desperately want that.
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We need that we desire. These are a couple of things
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that God is offering to give to us every single day.
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And these are also gifts that in our Christian Life and our
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Christian walk. We have the ability to give to
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one another. And let's begin with a desire
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that we have for stability Under the Umbrella of that word.
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I want us to think about some additional words.
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I want us to think about safety security Comfort order,
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consistency control. These are desires that all
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humans, share. We desire, We crave stability.
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We desire, We crave control. I think that's one of the
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reasons why even among Christians.
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Those of us who have hope for eternal life brother.
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Larry. We took a minute ago about the
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hope that we have that that those angels are going to do
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just like they did with Lazarus and Luke 16.
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And the second our spirit gets ready to leave our body maybe
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even before then. I know that I was talking to my
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dad. One time.
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We were talking about his mother, my granny passing away
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and he said, I believe that. In that hospital room where she
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passed that before her spirit even left her body, that Angels
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unseen by our human eyes, but we're in that room.
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Getting ready to deliver her soul to Jesus bosom.
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And we have that trust. We have that faith.
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We have that. Hope that Assurance is
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Christians. But even if we do, there's a
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part of us that has a little bit of fear of that moment, don't
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we? Because it's a moment where
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everything that happens, when our spirit gets ready to leave
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our body. Everything that happens from
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that moment going forward is completely and totally out of
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our control, isn't it? Do we have the power to
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transport our soul to where it's going next?
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How many of you can plug that into your GPS?
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I don't think any of us knows where it is, and where we're
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going and where we heading. We have trust and faith in the
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existence of it and the pleasantness of the journey and
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the certainty of the joy that we will experience when we get
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there. But even for believers, there's
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probably a part of many of us that there's a little bit of
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trepidation involved, even though we truly believe it's
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going to be great and wonderful and joyful and blissful.
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Probably that little piece of you that has that.
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Feeling of hesitancy or uncertainty is based on the fact
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that is completely and totally outside of your control.
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And that's one of the things that as human beings.
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We innately desire and crave. Control consistency, safety
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security. These are the kinds of things
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that we long for now. I don't know if this is hard and
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fast science, but you've probably heard this before, that
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human beings are born with only two innate fears.
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That's the fear of loud noises and the fear of falling.
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Every other fear that we have. We develop our we And that's
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what psychologists tell us. And I want to think about
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falling just for a moment and how it plays into this idea that
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God has planted within us. These inherent desires that we
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have that we share as human beings and most of us have
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experienced falling. Hopefully not a great distance,
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but most of us have experienced falling at some point or another
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and whether that experience of falling lasted for half a second
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or a few. Ins, you know what?
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You were yielding when you're in the process of falling, you were
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yielding, your control, your yielding, your stability, your
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yielding, potentially your safety, your yielding, your
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security. And so falling is no fun for us
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because we are losing many of those things that we desire That
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We crave. So they say that we are born
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with that a born. We are born with a fear of
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falling because As we're born, I believe with these inherent
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trays, given to us by God Where We crave, we desire, stability,
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safety security. And when those things have been
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breached even as a newborn baby, there's a fear of falling
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because all of a sudden, there's not even a conscious
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understanding of it, but there's an inherent innate, fear of this
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experience. Because while falling, we have
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none of these things we have, no safety.
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No, OT, we have no stability. We have no control.
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How does God provide these inherent desires for us.
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How does he fulfill these things?
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On our wish list for us? Look at the ways he provides for
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us. Consistency and reliability.
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Don't We crave consistency and reliability in both the things
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that we use and the people we interact with on a daily basis.
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Don't We crave those things MIT, don't you, crave being able to
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get in your car, to go, to work in the morning and you have a
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desire that it cranks up with no issues, no, hesitation, and gets
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you where you're going to go. You like that, reliability, that
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stability. And if your vehicle is acting
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erratically, or if that service engine light is on, you don't
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know what's going on. Doesn't it?
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Cause a little concern? Okay, what's going on here?
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Why is my car not acting as reliable as it?
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Generally, does, We crave reliability, and consistency,
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and God provides that for us. James 1 verse 17 says every good
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gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from
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the Father of Lights in whom. There is no variation.
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Neither shadow of turning that Greek word that is translated
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variation. It literally means there is no
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change or mutation. God does not change.
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That's what we learn over and Over in scripture in Hebrews,
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13:8 Jesus Christ. The same yesterday today and
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forever. Malachi 3.
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And verse 6. I am the Lord.
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God, says the prophet Malachi. I do not change.
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God is reliable. God is consistent.
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He does not change with the times.
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He does not act erratically based on a disposition or a
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change in mood or a change in Attitude.
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God, never wakes up on the wrong side of the bed.
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God never acts in such a way where we wonder?
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OK. How is he going to be today?
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Do I need to be careful When approaching his throne of grace
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and mercy. Today?
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Is he not having a good day? Is he having a bad day?
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We don't have to worry about those things with God.
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Do we? Because with him, there is no
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variation. When our relationship with God
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changes, when our relationship with God has Ebbs.
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And flows is not because God has gone anywhere.
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It's because we have In order to illustrate, let's illustrate it.
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As far as the Earth's relationship to the sun is
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concerned, when the sun is always just there.
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It is there and just just a little sod fact, a lot of you
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probably know this when you think about the enormity of the
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sun, if you imagine the Sun as a gumball machine and the Earth is
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a gumball. Do you know how many Earth
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gumballs can fit inside the sun gumball machine?
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A million million earth-sized gumballs can fit inside a son,
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sighs, gumball machine. And so you've got this enormous
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powerful sun and it's there. The Earth relationship with this
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sun changes, doesn't it? We're experiencing some Colder.
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Weather than we experience a few months ago.
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Why? Because where we are on the
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earth. Our relationship with the sun
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has been altered. There's a variance.
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There's a variance in the tilting of the earth.
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There is a variance in how the Earth is in relation to the sun.
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The change has not come from the Sun.
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The changes come from the earth, when our relationship with the
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Lord, goes through abs and flows highs and lows.
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The Lord is like the sun. He's not going anywhere.
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He's not changed. He is steadfast and unmovable.
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And so the highs and lows that we experience in our walk with
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Christ is based on how we're over here spinning around.
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And varying, our level of commitment, our relationship,
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our interaction with the Lord does not change one of the great
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takeaways and Luke chapter 15. The parable of the prodigal son.
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We do a lot of times when we read through that great Parable.
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We focus on the prodigal son, and there needs to be a lot of
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focus on him. We focus on the Sun that stayed
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home and there needs to be at times some study and some focus
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on him, but there needs to be some reflection on what Jesus is
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trying to get us to take. from the role of the Father, the
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father who represents God and in Luke chapter 15 verse 20 and The
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Prodigal Son arose and came to his father.
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Do you read anywhere in this Parable, where the sun was
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worried about whether or not, his father would be home when he
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got there. Does it say anywhere in that
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Parable, where he, when he came to himself?
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He thinks well, I sure hope dad hasn't moved.
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I sure hope he's not taking a job.
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Two Villages over and is not there anymore.
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He never had any reservation in his mind about the fact as to
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whether or not the father was going to be there.
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And do you know where the father was?
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When the Prodigal Son came to himself, we returned home.
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He was exactly where he was when he left.
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One of the big takeaways from the parable of the Prodigal Son,
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as the fact that the relationship between the Sun and
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the father changed. And it had nothing to do with
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the father because the father never went anywhere.
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Steadfast unmovable the sun chose to be at home, chose to
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leave home chose to come back home the whole time.
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He's doing this the father's right here.
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He provides for us to bility. Reliability, consistency.
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God provides the need that we have the inherent desire that we
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have as human beings for Safety and Security Proverbs 29:25.
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The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord
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shall be safe. Now.
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Does this mean that no physical harm will ever.
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Come our way is as Christians. But that, which is ultimately
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important that part of us that will live eternally.
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We know this body is going to Decay and it's going to die and
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it's going to return to the dust of the earth.
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If the Lord tarries, we know that this body has a shelf life,
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our soul that part that lives eternally, cannot be touched by
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anything that man can do to us. That's why Jesus in Matthew 10
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verse 28, said fear, not them, that kill the body but cannot
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kill the soul. There's Thing that man can do to
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hurt our soul in any shape form or fashion.
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So yes, our physical body may experience harm even as a
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follower of Christ, but what is most important that part of us,
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that is eternal, that part of us, that really makes us who we
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are. Our Essence, our soul.
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Our spirit is safe in the arms of Jesus.
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Nothing can happen to it from an external source.
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Matthew chapter 23 verse 37. How often Jesus is weeping over
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Jerusalem. How often would I have gathered
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your children together as a hen gathers her chickens under her
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wings? Jesus says he's weeping over
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Jerusalem. He's thinking about 40 years
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into the future when it would be destroyed by the Romans in ad
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70. Jesus did not want that to
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happen. He did not want some who were
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alive at the time. Of that.
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Statement that he made in that great chapter, knowing that
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there were some Jews who were alive, right?
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Then, who would experience the Calamity and the disaster that
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was coming to Jerusalem in ad. 70.
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Jesus weeping over that City and says how many times I wanted to
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offer you safety protection security.
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I wanted to gather you to myself like a chicken gathers.
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Her like a hen gathers, her chickens under her wings.
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By the way, if you ever talking about talking to someone who
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believes that, we do not present possess free will get them to
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explain this passage to you. Where Jesus is Will was to
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protect Jerusalem. Jerusalem's will was not to
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accept his offer protection and he's weeping over the fact that
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of what's going to happen to them.
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How can you believe that? We have no free will if if Jesus
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is Will was to save Jerusalem and their will was not to be
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protected by him and Jesus allowed the Calamity that he
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didn't want to have happen happen.
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Jesus wants to provide for US security and safety John chapter
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10. Of course you remember that
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great chapter. There's a lot of discussion
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almost from the beginning of the chapter through verse 29 of
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Jesus being the shepherd and we being his sheep towards the end
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of that discussion. In that chapter.
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We have Jesus saying my sheep hear my voice.
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Beginning in verse 20, 27 of John chapter 10, and I know
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them, and they follow me. I give unto them eternal life
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and no man can snatch them out of my hand.
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My father who gave them to me, is greater than all, and no man
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can snatch them. Out of my father's hand.
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Jesus offers us safety protection again, that doesn't
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mean that we'll never experience some kind of physical harm in
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this life even as a follower of Jesus Christ, but what is
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ultimately important, the safety of our soul, And the protection
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of what makes us who we are and the protection of what about us
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will live for all of eternity. That is safe, with Jesus.
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That's why Psalm 23 is such a comfort.
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That's why it's red. So many times at graveside
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services and funeral services. Because this Psalm captures so
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many of our inherent needs and desires.
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The need that we have, the desire that we have for safety
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for protection, for stability, for comfort for security.
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All those things are pictured. The Lord is my shepherd.
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I shall not want in other words. There's nothing I'm going to be
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without. There's nothing that I'm going
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to do without because the Lord is my shepherd.
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He leadeth me beside the Still Waters.
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Leads me to those Green Pastures.
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He restores my soul. All those things at Psalm 23
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talks about they appealed to us. Because they speak to our basic
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inherent needs. And God is willing to provide
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those for us. But, you know, we're capable of
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if we're walking in the light, if we're submitting to Christ
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and doing what he's calling us to do for our families, for our
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friends, for our fellow man. We can provide these things for
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one, another as well. Can't we what a great blessing
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if we can provide for our spouse stability.
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To provide for our spouse consistency to bribe her provide
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for our spouse. I am someone that you can depend
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on, you don't have to worry about what I'm up to.
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You don't have to worry about whether I'm going to be there
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for you or not in the good times and the bad I'm providing for
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you stability security, consistency.
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Oh man. What a blessing that is if we
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can provide that for our spouse or spouse can provide that for
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us. What a blessing.
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It is to provide that level of friendship to another person
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where this person knows. And I know you value.
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If you've got a friend like that in your life, that you know,
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that you can call on them at any time and they're going to be for
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you. They're going to be a rock for
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you. This rock of stability, this
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rock of consistency. We if you have people like that
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in your life, you know, there's no price tag, you can put on a
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person like that. It is a value above gold and
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silver because it fulfills this inherent desire to have
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something someone that we can count on that.
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We can rely upon as Christians aren't, isn't that what we're
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called to be for one another. Is to be that rock that go-to
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person that that person is going to be there when we need him or
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her. And we're providing that same
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level of Devotion to that person in return.
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We have the ability to provide, that's what the church is
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supposed to be. That's the way the church is
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designed to be. As a shelter from the storms of
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life. The world is going to treat us,
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unfairly. More often than not.
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Many of us, many of us have jobs that you don't know if that job
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is going to be there one day to the next.
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You don't know if that contracts going to be renewed.
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You don't know if that business is going to be there a year from
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now you have instability in the workplace.
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You have instability. We have instability in so many
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areas of our life. What the church, the way the
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church is design is it's designed to provide for us to
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place. That is stable.
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That is consistent. That provides for US, security.
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Consistency. Now, let's look at one more.
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One more of our inherent desires that we have as human beings.
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We desire significance. It's a common trait that we have
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as human beings. We desire significance.
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We need to be needed. We need to be wanted.
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We need to feel special. We crave validation recognition.
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We crave these things, those that have studied people who
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give up and almost will themselves.
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To die to leave this world. One of the things that fuels
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that emotion, where I'm just, I'm ready to go.
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I'm giving up its people who feel like they have no more
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value to those around them. Because We crave usefulness, We
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crave value, We crave being needed by someone else.
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We crave being wanted by someone else.
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These are Universal feelings and emotions that we share.
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Let me share with you and you may know the story of this
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individual Robert Hansen. He is known as the most damaging
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spy in the history of the FBI. He was sentenced to life without
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parole back into 1001 for crimes that he committed against this
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country, through spying giving it was selling secrets to
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Russia. In particular.
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I think he gets one hour per day outside of his cell.
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Since 2001. He's been spending 23 or 24
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hours of every day in solitary confinement and a federal prison
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in Colorado. There was a movie that was done.
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If you want to watch you want to watch it through video.
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There's a couple of words, I think and various places in the
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movie that tells the story of this man.
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And usually, when you're talking about something like this, a lot
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of what you're trying to do is figure out the why why this
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person was so accomplished. Had this very great and
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important job. He was working in a department
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that's supposed to protect the country.
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Why did he start the in selling secrets to our enemies?
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Much. So that some of our agents were
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murdered as a result of secrets that he sold there are some who
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say that Osama Bin Laden use some of the secrets that he sold
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to Russia and some of the terrorist acts.
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He committed against this country.
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Why would someone do this to his own countrymen to his own
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country? And there's a scene in the movie
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that believe this is when they tried to capture the Inner, Man,
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and try to figure out. Why did you do what you did the
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FBI hired? This young up-and-coming agent
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to basically work as the one who would get the evidence needed to
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bring him down. He was suspected of spying years
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before he was actually arrested. And so anyway, the young agent
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that had been hired by the FBI. This is your job is try to help.
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Get the evidence. We need to.
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Finally bring this man to Justice.
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There's a conversation that they're having in the movie
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where the Young Bucks says to mr.
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Hanson. You don't matter that much and
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then he goes on to say a few more things.
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And Hansen never responds to any of the other things that he
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says, but his only response to this diatribe, this young man
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goes on, is he says, I matter, plenty.
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And what they believed was the primary motivating factor for
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Robert Hansen doing what he did is he believed he did not get
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the recognition within the FBI that he felt he deserved.
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He considered himself to be smarter sharper than most of the
28:07
ones that he was working with. He lacked a few of the social
28:10
skills that enabled him to move up the ranks like he could have
28:13
based on his skill set. And so, he was overlooked for
28:17
certain promotion, certain positions.
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He was sometimes made Phone off because of his social
28:24
awkwardness and and he knew there were some nicknames that
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people had come up with about him, that were little
28:30
disparaging that they'd use behind his back is.
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So it is believed though. He's not talked extensively
28:36
about the, why it is believed based on those who did know him.
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I believe he was fueled by this idea that he was not getting the
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recognition. That he felt he deserved.
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He was not given the level of significance, the level of
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status. He wasn't valued in the way that
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he believed. He should be valued.
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In fact, those who have studied Benedict Arnold and the why
29:00
behind why he did what he did have come to the same
29:04
conclusion. That it was an individual, who
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felt like he had been slighted. He felt that he was more
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accomplished. He had more ability than many of
29:12
his counterparts, and he had been looked over for certain
29:14
promotions and their slights that he had endured in his.
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Military career, that field him to decide to team up with
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Britain and attempt to turn West Point over.
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To England because he felt like he was not being valued.
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We crave. We crave this inherent desire as
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human beings to be wanted to be needed to have some level.
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It's not a pride thing. It's not that we feel that we're
29:52
better than anybody else. It's just an innate desire given
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to us, by God, to want to matter.
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In someone else's life. What does God do for us?
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John 3:16 for God. So, loved take out the world for
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a moment and insert your name. Brother Cliff.
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I think you've done that before in a devotional, that you've
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done, where you've taken General pronouns, or broad pronouns and
30:22
inserted. As a way of illustrating to us,
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this is the Lord speaking, not just to an entire group, but the
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Lord speaking to you speaking to me for God.
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So loved insert your name there. That he gave his only begotten
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son. Revelation 3:20, behold, I stand
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at the door and knock and if at least 5,000 people will come to
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the door. I'll come in and dine with them
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and they with me. Does God set a minimum number on
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how many people need to answer the door before he's willing to
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take the time to go in and spend some time with whoever's inside?
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You know, there are certain musicians who will only go to
31:11
certain sized venues. If the venue is below a certain
31:16
seating capacity. They want, they won't take the
31:19
time to perform their there has to be a minimum of X number of
31:24
seats for certain musical artists before they're willing
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to commit to perform, their Jesus does not have that same
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kind of requirement. That all for that he is giving.
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Yes. It's an offer that is being
31:36
given to everyone but it's also an all for this being given to
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anyone. Behold, I stand at the door and
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knock. If anyone hears my voice and
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opens the door. I will come into him and eat
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with him and he with me. Yes.
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This is an offer being given to the whole world, but it's also
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an over being given to you. You singularly.
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Me singularly. Jesus is assigning value to us
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where he is the creator of the universe.
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And yet, he is offering to spend time, just with you, if you want
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to get into the mind of Jesus. One of my favorite passages in
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Scripture. Is Luke 23 on the greatest day
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of all human history. The day Jesus rose from the
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grave? And if we're in Jesus's shoes,
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water we doing. But what did Jesus do on the
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most important day of the history of the existence of the
32:50
world? Is he going right into the
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middle of the temple to show himself to anybody, and
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everybody? Who was there?
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As he going to the middle of the meeting of the Pharisees and
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say, what are you going to do now?
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Here? I am.
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Does he go to the highest mountain and draw thousands to
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him? Do you know what?
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He spends a significant bulk of that day doing with to do?
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Sciples walking 7 miles one way to Emmaus.
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Is that not amazing? Jesus has risen from the grave
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greatest day ever. And here he is spending a
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significant bulk of that day walking with two men.
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That's the kind of Jesus, we serve where he attaches value to
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us. Not as a group.
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He attaches value to us individually.
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In the same way, Luke 15 and verse 10.
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I tell you there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of
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God over one sinner. Who repents?
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Did the Angels, wait for Jesus? Okay, Jesus.
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Okay. We just hit number one hundred,
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we can all clap. Now.
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If you ever been to a graduation where they say, hold your
34:12
applause until every name has been called and we got 400
34:15
people to go across the stage. We can't be clapping for
34:17
everybody. Does Jesus in the throne room of
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God? Say we just hit 100 everybody?
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Let's make some noise. There is rejoicing in heaven
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over one sinner. Who repents have you ever
34:34
thought about the fact that when you obey the gospel, when you
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were baptized into Jesus Christ? It initiated an emotional
34:43
response in the throne room of God.
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That's the value that he places on us, Revelation chapter 3 and
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verse 5. The one who conquers.
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Yes. Again.
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This is a statement that applies that is applicable globally.
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Everyone can be a part of this, but it's also individual.
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The one who conquers will be clothed, in, white garments.
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And I will never blot his name out of the book of life.
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I will confess his name before my father and before his angels.
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Have you done what you need to do to enable Jesus?
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To be able to say your name. Confess your name before the
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father. If you're not a child of God
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become one this morning, there may be someone here.
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This morning who you have had a horrible experience up to this
35:36
point in your life. You have not experienced any
35:38
kind of stability, consistency. Love support value.
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You've not received that from your parents.
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You not receive that from Friends, coworkers.
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God is waiting to give you everything that you inherently
35:55
crave. Do you want to feel valued?
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You want to feel loved? Do you want to feel needed and
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wanted? Become a child of God by faith.
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Repent of your sins confessing Jesus Christ is Lord being
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baptized into Christ, having those sins washed away coming
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out of that, water New Creation, ready to walk in newness of
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Life. You've done that, but you need
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to come back home, come back to your first love.
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Let's pray within for you. If we can encourage you in any
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way, please come as together. We stand in the same.