Latest / Rick Manis Ministries Podcast / The Weakness of God

Transcript

The Weakness of God · Rick Manis Ministries Podcast

• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like this uh this summer I've uh for Judy and I it's been very, very uh busy about not just busy, we've been um away from home a lot.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm especially excited this morning to be back.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um haven't been able to be here for a few weeks.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: And uh so good to see everybody.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um today I want to try to convey something.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is um you know, you can never do when we talk about God and when we we we break it into topics about God, you can it's hard to do anything justice anyway, let alone do it in just a short time of speaking up here.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: But I want to convey something that a thing about God that I want to look at that I don't think is talked about a whole lot.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: And has it all it all revolves around his grace and his graciousness.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: But I've titled this and I I've kind of felt bad about it, but I've titled this the weakness of God, and I thought people would look at that and think, what a great time to stay home.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: The weakness of God.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, because and we just sing it how great he is and how great his name is.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: We know he's omnipotent and he's he's he's he's I mean our minds can't even begin to wrap around how big and he is.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: He created all things.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: But it's amazing how in his bigness, in his powerfulness, he is he chooses to be so gentle, so giving, so gracious, and that makes him even bigger to us.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: In Hebrews chapter 12, um we see a picture of something here about Jesus hanging on the cross.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: And in Hebrews chapter 12, verses 2 and 3, uh it says, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, or counting the shame a small thing, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: For consider him, Jesus, consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you know what the story, he's hanging on the cross, he's hanging there in total shame, beaten, naked.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the reason that they had him, that they wanted him to be crucified was because not only was it brutally painful and torturous, but it was, it was, it was shameful.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: It was, it was, they were, they wanted Jesus to hang there in an open shame and let everybody, anybody who might have believed in him or might have followed him to know, is this your guy here?
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Is this what you believed in?
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: And he's hanging there with that in that shame.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: And also we know that at one point somebody said said, you know, if God's really with you, come down off the cross.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: If God's for you, if God will have you.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: And we also know that he could have done it, right?
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: You read where it says there's a there were angels ready to do it.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: All he had to do was say the word and think of that.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: They've got him nailed to that cross, and they say, you know, prove it.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Prove who you are by coming down off the cross.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: And what if he goes boom?
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: And he just comes down and says, There, you want some of me?
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: But he didn't.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: We know he didn't.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: We know he could have, but we know that he he didn't.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: And 2 Corinthians chapter 13, verse 4, says it this way.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: For though he was crucified through weakness, or he chose, he chose to be prone.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: He chose rather than to overpower in the way that humans would think is the way to overpower, we know that he overpowered, if you will, or he won, defeated everything that needed to be defeated in a way that was was totally not expected.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's why a lot of people didn't believe in him, right?
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people were expecting a different kind of messiah, a different kind of Christ, a different kind of savior.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: There were, and if you know your history about that time, there were many false messiahs before Jesus came and died, and even after that.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: And and they all came basically the same way.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: They all came with the strength of man, didn't they?
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: They all came on horses with swords, they all came gathering numbers, they all came gathering people ready for war to defeat and overpower the Romans.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: But we know that Jesus talked about a different kingdom, and that's what we're looking at here.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: We're looking at there is a kingdom of heaven, and there's a kingdom of this world, which is the normal that we see.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so many times Jesus would talk about how it's backwards or how it's almost the opposite, really, of how it operates in the world.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: For instance, he'll say, you know, the kings, the leaders in your world, they exert dominance and control over you.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: But it's not going to be so with you.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna do it differently.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: And the way that he's when we look at this, and we know these things mentally, but but but maybe we can see something with some depth here, that what he's talking about goes against the natural inclinations of human human logic and human thinking.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's why the world is all trying to overpower each other all the time.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's just the way it makes sense.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: Thinking about how gentle yet powerful God is compared to what human logic says.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know why people yell at each other?
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's because they're trying to overpower.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: The loud one gets to be right, basically.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: And there's always this, there's always this feeling of the way to get what we want or the way to win is to exert strength or dominance or control.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Now there's nobody stronger than God, but yet he chose and showed us something that just we look at this and it just it's to this day, it's still hard to trust it, to be honest with you.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Still hard to trust the way that God operates in the kingdom, and so often we it's tempting to revert to exercising human dominance and control in situations.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he lives by the power of God, for we also are weak in him, but we live with him by the power of God.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, let's just read the next verse, then we'll get into this.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Let's read this next passage here.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: I want to I want to read 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 18, where it talks about this some more.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: And it says, For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's written, watch this, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: He brings in the kingdom of heaven, the ways of heaven, and and it's just, it's, it's so foolish to the natural mind.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: But he says, I'm going to destroy the wisdom of the wise.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent or the intellectual.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Where is the wise?
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Where is the scribe?
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: Where is the disputer of this age?
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: For since in the wisdom of God the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe, because the Jews require a sign, a power sign, if you will.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: And the Greeks seek after wisdom.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: But we preach Christ crucified.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: While the world is going after strength in this way and strength in that way, we're preaching this savior of ours who willingly died on a cross and chose that way, and because he chose that way because that was the only way to really win, right?
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: If Jesus had come down off that cross and exerted dominance and control like other other leaders in those days did, we'd still be lost here today, wouldn't we?
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's because of what he did on the cross, it's because he gave himself, and giving himself, which looks like you're losing, he's telling Peter and all those guys, listen, Matthew 16.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: He said, He says, okay, listen.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I'm gonna go to Jerusalem.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: They're gonna take me, they're gonna crucify me, and I'm gonna raise again the third day.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's almost like they didn't hear the third day part.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: But what's Peter say?
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: He says, No way, we're not gonna let this happen to you.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: Because it doesn't make sense.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we need to win here, Jesus.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: Judas had a big problem with Jesus because Jesus was too gentle, he was too gracious.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: He wasn't, Judas knew he had power.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: Judas had seen the power, Judas had experienced the power.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know, my Bible says that when Jesus sent out the 12, he sent out the 12, not the 11.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Judas included, and it said, and if that's the if that's the way it really was, then Judas himself went out healing, healing the sick.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: Judas knew the power, he saw the power, but this turned the other cheek stuff just wasn't going to get it.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: And that was a problem that it's hard.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard for the natural mind.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, But we preach Christ crucified, which to the Jews it's a stumbling block.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: And to the Greeks it's foolishness.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God, or what looks like foolishness, is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, the best of our strength, the best we can all muster up, the best we can we can do to dominate and control the world and situations and things like that, God's way of the kingdom is much, much more powerful and stronger, and we see that when we look at the cross.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: He won.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: He chose to what looks like losing to us.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: But we celebrate every single day of our lives because he won.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: He won on the cross.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: He did exactly what he was telling them to.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: This whole thing about turning the other cheek, and if they ask you to walk a mile, walk two, and all this stuff.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: And and we're good with that up to a certain point.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: But he's telling us not just rules of how to obey me or what do I want you to, you know.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: He's showing us the whole a way of a whole other kingdom here.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Here we are in the course of this world, walking according to the course of this world, all alone with ourselves, only our thoughts and our logic and our own personal strength and whatever we can gather together as humans, and we're doing this thing, and Jesus comes and says, You're walking the wrong way.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: He says, It's a whole other thing here.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: It is not so in the kingdom of heaven.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: You know how it's natural for us to want to be admired or honored or respected.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: There's something about God that I see, and I hope I can convey this this morning.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: When I talk about the weakness of God, let me present God as willingly vulnerable, if you will.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: And vulnerable means to be exposed, to be susceptible, to be unguarded, unresistant, at risk.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: So look at this.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: Now, he's not really.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus was not really at risk on the cross.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: He was going to come out of that tomb on the third day, and he knew that, and he did.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: But it looks, it looks risky.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: And if you look at his whole nature, when we look at the graciousness of God, and this is one of the things that gave me so much trouble, was because I felt like I needed him to dominate me in a way that I that I understood dominance.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: And when I was presented with this idea, a revelation of grace, as the Spirit was just showing it to me more and more, I loved it.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: It was beautiful, but it it just it there's some things that just didn't make sense about it, right?
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: And it and you know, if you talk to a lot of people in church, in the church world, you you run into things sometimes because it just doesn't make sense to them.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: Because if what do they say?
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: If God is that gracious, if he's that loose with you, then everybody's just gonna sin all the time.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you take that to another thought, and it it it that doesn't even make sense, does it?
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, how many of you are here because you're looking for ways to sin all the time?
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: How many accepted God's grace and you embraced that truth because you found out that was a way for you to be the most horrible person you could and still go to heaven?
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's not even real.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's a straw man.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's not even what happens.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's not what we're any of us want to do.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: But he gives this grace.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, we used to say things in church, I mean, I used, I don't know if we did, but I would hear it a lot.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: But but things like, God did this to me because he knew that I would do something horrible if he didn't do that to me first, or something like that.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, God, God, God pushed my car in the ditch when I was going down the highway and got me in that car wreck because I probably would have went and sinned somewhere that night.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: But it's but we had this idea of God, a lot of times that's where the idea of God, I think, micro um micromanaging or micro-controlling every single thing.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: And that can be an error because we start taking things personal because things don't always go the way that we want them to, and we might take it personal and we get upset at God or frustrated and say, God, why didn't you do something about this?
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: But God is, God, God does things in a whole different way.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: Why does God allow such things to go on?
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: I don't understand everything about it, but what I see the more as I as I know him is that God is very much at rest and very much at ease, and and he is powerful.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: So even though we experience some hard things, if you stay with him, you find out that the the that the grace that comes over overshadows and over over overcomes and overpowers any grief and pain that we might experience in this life.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's amazing how that works.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: But but throughout history, we also see a God who can control everything.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's why people have a problem.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: If God can do it, why doesn't he do it?
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: Because we think if we were that had that much power, we would do that.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: So why doesn't God?
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: And while I don't claim to know everything about it, we can see that God has chosen through time and history to allow a flow of events to continue to happen.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: But all the time we also know that we have the seed of this kingdom, and we know that of the increase of his kingdom and of peace, there will be no end.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: It will continue to grow.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: Having a conversation with some some some friends uh last night over dinner, and and people were, you know, the conversation got into all these bad things that are doing, and other religions wanting to dominate and control and doing and you know coming and infiltrating things in America and in the world and how they're you know their agenda is is evil and awful and and and all that stuff.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: But in the midst of that, here's what I hear every single time when I hear bad news, I hear it by the Spirit.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: I hear that of the increase of this kingdom, I point right here because it's in here, right?
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's that seed.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus planted the seed.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: This is why he's content to sit down at the right hand of the Father.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: Because once you plant the seed, and it's an incorruptible seed, then that word is true, that of the increase of it, there will be no end.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: It will continue to grow.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: He said, though it might be small like a mustard seed, it will continue to grow, and and eventually all the birds of the air will find rest in it.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: So what's what God has put in us, it's not going away.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: The church world might change.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of the religion might crumble and fall, and that's not necessarily a bad thing at all.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: But the kingdom, the reality of this kingdom, this supernatural, eternal, very, very real kingdom of heaven.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: God's world, God's realm, him himself, him living inside of us.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: This will never be crushed.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: It'll never go away.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: The world has tried to crush it over and over again for thousands of years.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: It has not prevailed because it cannot and never will.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: This thing operates a wholly different way.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: They can use all their dominance, all their power, all the world can use all the control they can muster.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: It will never defeat God's kingdom because the weakness of God is greater than the power and strength of men.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: His ways.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: He said it way back in the Old Testament, didn't he?
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: My ways are higher than your ways.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus, you want to go to a cross.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: No way.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: My ways are higher.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: My thoughts are not your thoughts.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's how it was at that time.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: But what's happening to us now?
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: We're starting to think more of his thoughts, aren't we?
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: We're starting to see and take on more of his ways.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: Matt was talking about doing what Jesus did.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's what's happening in our growth.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: We're taking on more of his ways.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: We're seeing, seeing him.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: But this whole, but there's these two words, vulnerable and venerable.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: Humans want to be venerable.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: We want to be admired.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: We want to be respected.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: We want to be honored.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: To be vulnerable means that you're taking a chance.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: It looks like you might not win a lot of times.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: You want to raise your voice because the louder voice is more dominant in a disagreement.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: But what we found, what we find is that all it does is just keep raising the voice and causes causes people to knock heads and nothing really gets solved.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, things go worse and worse and worse in that direction.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: But but we're we're we're we operate that way because our instinct says we've got to overpower, we've got to win this.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: But then we find out that the Bible is true when it says a gentle answer turns away wrath.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: How many of you ever found that?
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: That you decided to go another way, and rather than try to overcome and overpower with your ability to dominate, you choose to humble yourself, give a gentle answer, and you find out that that which looks so small, which looks so weak, that little gentleness is the one thing that can overpower the wrath of somebody else.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: I got a question for you.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: Why do we really love God?
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: Do we love him because just because he's so big and powerful, and he is, is that why we really love him?
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: Or do we love him because he first loved us?
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: Because our hearts were touched by that powerful, yet gentle, giving, gracious love.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: My heart, my life was changed when I found out that God loved me, loved me like I was without any conditions upon it.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: My brain still gave me trouble there when I first began to see that.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't make sense.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: That God would be that risky with me, that God would love me no matter what, that God would be that gracious.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: When I read in Psalms 103 that He will not punish us according to our sins nor reward us according to our iniquities, I thought, God, you will never punish me for my sin.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't make sense.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: You have to do that.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's how you're going to change us.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I was taught.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm seeing this other thing, and he's like, No, I won't do any of that.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't make any sense.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: The reason it didn't make sense is because I had never seen a love like that, right?
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: I had never experienced the power of that kind of gentleness and love.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: But to our mind, it's not risky to him, but to the human mind, it looks risky.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: This is why so many in the church world will push against your revelation of grace, is because it looks too risky.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: They don't see any kind of power to control you.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: They don't see any kind of power that's going to dominate over your flesh to cause you to walk right, talk tight and spit white, or whatever it is, you know.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: But but what did we do?
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: We found out when we went ahead and we did we embraced this thing, we found out that his gentleness, his grace, his love without without demanding anything from us started working in us.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: And that's how the power of God really works, and that's how the will of God works.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Is being done and will be done in the world is because it's God working in you, as the Bible says, causing us to will and to do, or giving us the desire and the ability to do his good pleasure, to do his will.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's a real inside job, isn't it?
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: But as long as, see, early on in my Christianity, almost all of our praise was all about how mighty God is, how awesome He is, and He is.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: I can still cry when I sing how great thou art, because He just He is, and we we love that.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: But for years, just thinking of Him that way, it didn't bring me to what I have now, what I would call an intimacy or a genuine love relationship, where it just feels so right and so good, and it's so good to be in love with God.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I never fell in love with the awesome, gigantic, power all-powerful God until I experienced his gentleness and his, I use I want to use the word vulnerability, and by that I mean risky, unguarded.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas I thought God was a God that was always demanding of me, and I'm like, yes, Lord, I'm trying, I want to, yes, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: Every day, I'm sorry, Lord, I'm sorry, Lord, I'm sorry, Lord, I'm sorry, Lord.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: This all-powerful God who who was demanding and was wanting to dominate and control my life in that kind of a way.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: All it did was just, it just caused me to struggle for so many years, and then I find out that he's not even like that at all.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: And we fall in love, and it changes our world.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: And it's continuing to change our world, and it will continue to change not only our world, but the world around us with the reality of the kingdom of heaven.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of times I just think I think the world's not buying what we were selling.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: I mean the church world as a whole.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: The world is not buying what the church world is selling because they're not hearing that certain sound from heaven.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: The world wants to fight against us because they think we're fighting against them for dominion, control, power.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: And see, there's a part of our minds that says, but God, you need, we want, we want to see this.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: I know you want to see that.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: You want the world to be made right, you want the people to do these things.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so we get these ideas.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: God's gonna come down, He's gonna smash all those kinds of things, and we have this picture of that kind of dominance and power.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: And we bring that into our story of God and our idea of God.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's what we would do.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: Am I okay?
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: Are we all right so far?
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: God is big and powerful, but that's not really why we love him.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: We love him because he first loved us.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: He loves us freely.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: He gave us love without conditions.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: A love that looks risky, puts him in a vulnerable position.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: What if he loves us and we don't do anything he ever wants?
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: It looks risky.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: The natural mind thinks those thoughts.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: God's never thought those thoughts because he knows how it works.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: This is why grace is so beautiful.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: When we got a revelation of grace, we started to really understand God.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: We started to see the beauty of God.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: And what he what when he presented himself to us, not only we see it demonstrated on the cross, but that's just the way he is with us day after day.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: And when he presented himself to us with that kind of vulnerability, what looks like weakness, if you will, what does that do?
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: It gave me courage when I saw, when I saw that God loved me without trying to do the things that I thought he was trying to do, it gave me courage to draw near to him and say, I'm coming, Father.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: I come to you.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have to be afraid of you, I can trust you.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have to be afraid of you again, I don't have to be nervous around you, I don't have to hope that I'm doing all the right things, I don't have to hope that I'm singing right this morning, or I'm, or you know, whatever.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have to hope that I'm I it gave a whole different kind of a thing.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: The way that he was with me, being just open and risking that kind of love and grace toward me, risking what I thought would never work.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: But being open and vulnerable, and though he was all powerful, he says, I'll take you like you are.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: And don't worry about those things, son.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: I love you.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: And when when he was vulnerable, when I saw that, and I know we don't use these words all the time, but I'm just you know, I'm trying to give a picture of something, but when I saw his heart the way it is, it allowed me to run into it and embrace it.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: And it's and it has been the most powerful, powerful, powerful thing that I've ever known in my life without one shred of man's dominance and control or our ideas of dominance and control over my life.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: That explained a lot of things too.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I'd beg God, God, why don't you change me?
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: Why don't you do something about this?
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: I don't like being like this.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: Do something, and I would beg him.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I look back and I see why, because even though he could, he could say, okay, boom, there, now you're perfect.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: It was totally different.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I'm not even about that.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's a relationship, it's a love thing.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: Get to know me.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: Come on, walk with me.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, if I ever get my act cleaned up, I can ascend to the holy hill and then I can be with you, Lord, and I can walk in your presence.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'll take you with all that.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: And that same type of vulnerability, many of you know that when we are that way with other people, see, I found out the strength of ministry a lot of time.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: One of the big strengths of speaking ministry is our vulnerability and openness and willing to just go ahead and say, hey, here's my flaws, here's my weakness.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: Where it looks like a scary thing, or it looked like a scary thing to me early on.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: I thought that I was supposed to project perfection.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: And if I could project for perfection of some kind, then it would inspire perfection in other people.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: What was that?
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: It was a totally different kind of kingdom than what God's operate, God operates in.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: Huh?
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_00: And we think that God, and and there's this hidden thing in our minds a lot of times, or or or it certainly was in mine, where I thought that God was driving me towards perfection.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: It was there.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's why I was apologizing all the time.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: And now I live here in my flaws and in my weaknesses, infirmities, and I see what Paul said when Paul was wanting God to get something rid of something in his life, and God kept saying, My grace is sufficient for you.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: And Paul finally got it, and he said, Uh-huh.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: I can boast in my weaknesses and my my you know, all these necessities, all the weaknesses, all the things.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: He said, It doesn't matter anymore because it's all about him.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: And that vulnerability is what changed our hearts.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a vulnerability that we give to people.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: And when we give that same type of vulnerability, rather than trying to dominate and control, as we give that, we're giving it as a gift.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: I like bringing out the weaknesses, I like bringing out the humanity, but Christ in the midst of all that thing, and how it how it empowers us to live in the way that we do.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: Empowers us to live with freedom, empowers us to live without condemnation, empowers us to just love God and be in love with Him day after day and watch the changes happening, watch the revelation rise up in our lives.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: What I'm saying this morning is there are two kingdoms, and there's a kingdom of this world, but there is a kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: And they don't, they are the opposite of the of each other.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: Paul said it this way.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_00: He said, he said there's the there's the spirit that pushes against the flesh, and the flesh against the spirit, and they're they're they're they're the opposite.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: They're not the the the flesh is not helping the spirit.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: The Bible says that our the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty through God to pull down the strongholds.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: I want to wrap this up by bringing some practical examples.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, Jesus would talk would talk about walk two miles, turn the other cheek, all that stuff.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to be great, you know how it is your leaders do, they want to dominate and control, they want power.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_00: He says, but it won't be with that way with you guys.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: You guys are gonna serve.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: So there was, I remember hearing a story from someone I knew where uh they were a part of a church that that uh this was a few decks a couple of decades ago, I guess.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: But they were in a part they wanted to be a they wanted to have an influence in the school.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, and rather than he said, what what others uh other Christians were doing back in those days is that they were pushing hard on the schools and in the government, and they were like, we demand, we demand that we be able to pray in school.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: We demand, we demand that the Bible be taught in schools, we demand these these Christian things, you know.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: We have a right, as Americans, we have a right to have those things done with their perspective.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_00: They said, we wanted influence in the school, but we didn't go there doing that.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_00: What we did is we went to the school, we said, How can we serve you?
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_00: We said, we we we want to bless you, we want to bless the children.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_00: What can we do?
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: You know, is there anything that any of us that any of our church people can do?
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: And at first they were like, Well, you can you can clean up the playground for us, you can pick up paper, you know, and they did.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then eventually it got to where they they helped monitor the hallways, and then and then and more and more, and then eventually when it was presented to have an after-school uh Bible study, and I don't know how they how they did that, but anyway, they wanted that people from that church to come in and bring that kind of that kind of uh teaching.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: When when children needed counseling and they were Christian, they they would refer them to the people of this church.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: They had strong influence in a public school because they came in the way that Jesus said.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: They came in vulnerable.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: Now they came in in a way that's not demanding and not controlling, but they had power.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: If you, you know, Martin Luther King Jr., when you listen to him, if you you can look at so many of his messages and sermons, and a lot of people don't know this because they only see the civil rights activity, and this was all a part of it, but he preached love.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he's got some of the greatest quotes and greatest greatest messages on the love of God.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: And here in the midst of this thing, when when when when the people that he's fighting for are being dominated and being being being overpowered and being treated horribly, and all this is going on, what natural people uh thought would work was was was being tried.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: And people were using the ways that natural man would use to try to try to gain their power and try to gain their rights.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: And Martin Luther King Jr.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: says, Don't ever let a man bring you down so low that you that it causes you to hate him.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: And he would preach about love.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: He said the bet the greatest way to defeat an enemy is to make him your friend.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: And he was saying all these things that don't work, and that's why a lot of other leaders, civil rights leaders, they didn't like what he was doing.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: It was too weak, too vulnerable, too risky.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's not going to get anything done.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_00: We need power.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: But we say it today.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: This is how we fight our battles.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: And he changed things back in the 60s and they got the civil rights bill passed, they got things done that he got uh because of what he did.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_00: He had influence with the president that day, had influ or that time, he had influence with the government, he had influence with the people, the people watched what he did.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: Even so many people that weren't sympathetic to the cause because what they saw was just a lot of violence and a lot of anger and so on.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_00: But when they, you know, Selma, Alabama, when they saw how they were treated when they were marching across that bridge, and what they saw that they were not, that they were, they were basically turning the other cheek.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: They did not raise a fist, they stood there and they let themselves get beaten.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_00: Just like Jesus.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: And we all watched it on TV and we're like, oh my god, this is horrible.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: There really is a cause here.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: And some victories were won because of that, when the other people that were exerting human, trying to exert human power couldn't get it done.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: There was a pastor who was telling me how they they started giving money to their to their city.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_00: They said, you guys know more than we do what it what it needs.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: We just want to be a blessing.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: There's no strings attached, we just want to bless you.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: They would regularly give money to their city.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: You know what happens.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_00: Eventually, the city starts contacting them.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_00: When they're having functions, we want you involved.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_00: We want you to come and do your thing.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_00: And it just works.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God works in such a different way.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now, here's the opposite of that.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the opposite of that.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_00: A couple of weeks ago I saw in the news a story of a man that was on his social media.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_00: He was he was a Christian.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_00: He was often putting Bible quotes on his social media.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um he was calling for the church to pray against all this evil that was going on and all these all these things that were happening.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_00: Christian man quoting the scriptures, calling for prayer.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um day he gets his AR-15 and he goes and tries to storm an FBI place and uh gets killed because he's trying to use that kind of force to try to bring about the thing that he thinks is the right thing.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_00: So there is a lot of evil of humanity that goes on.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_00: I don't believe humans are evil, but I believe humans do can do evil things.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_00: But what I'm saying this morning is have have confidence and have faith in a kingdom today.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_00: Have confidence in that love that was given to us.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_00: Have confidence in that grace that was given to us, because I have good news of the increase of his kingdom and of peace that there will be no end.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_00: Does God win?
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_00: Every time he's winning every single day.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_00: Does love win?
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, God is love.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_00: Is it powerful?
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_00: There is nothing in this world that is more powerful than the ways of the kingdom of heaven.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_00: You know, Jerusalem was destroyed a long time ago, just like Jesus said it would be.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know how that came about?
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_00: Because years after Jesus had been had died, rose from the dead, there were still other messiahs coming.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_00: And one of them came very strong, and he he went against the Romans so strong and hit them so hard that it caused them to just come down with waves of armies.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_00: And they came and the whole and and the Jews' religion as they knew it in that time was destroyed.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: They haven't made a sacrifice in a temple since.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: It was all destroyed because a Messiah came with strength, power, dominance, and control in the way that men thought it should be wielded.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_00: And it didn't cause them, bring them victory, it crushed them.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_00: How is God working in you?
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_00: He's being gentle with you, he's being gracious, he's not upbraiding, he's not condemning.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, in Matthew chapter 5, 16, here's the verse.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what God does with us, and here's what we do.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_00: This is our lives.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I love how the grace of God has changed me, has changed my heart, because not only has it caused me to fall in love with God, but I can see myself falling more and more in love with the world.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_00: By that I mean the people of the world.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a funny thing that it gives my mind fits sometimes because I think, no, these people need to be crushed, they need to be destroyed.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_00: They're, you know, come on.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_00: But there's something happening here where I'm starting, I like how I'm feeling that maybe I'm starting to feel what Jesus felt before he came.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_00: For God so loved the world that he did what he did.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_00: But they're evil, but they're enemies, they're going contrary to you, God.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_00: Who hasn't?
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe in many ways, we still are in so many ways.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_00: But I've fallen in love with this love that has touched my heart.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_00: I've fallen in love with this grace that has changed me.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I love what I see happening to me, and I love how my vision is changing.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_00: I love the peace and the joy and the sense of strength that I feel knowing things such as this.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_00: I have a vision to see this world changed.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_00: And it's going to change.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe one knee at a time, but it will continue to change, and it will change and look more like the kingdom of heaven because it'll be in the hearts of people.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_00: And they've tried to crush, crush us, the church, the world, spirit of this world has tried to crush the church.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_00: They would torture us, they would burn us at the stake, they would infiltrate us.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_00: Things all through history.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_00: But it just kept on going.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_00: It just kept on, the kingdom just kept on advancing.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_00: One day it hit me.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_00: One day it advanced and it hit your heart.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not about to stop.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_00: God is very awesome, He's all powerful.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_00: But we're not making it, we're not seeing God in the image of men and doing the things that men would do.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_00: God rules and He does reign.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_00: In his grace and in his glory.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_00: Matthew 5, 16 says, keep open house.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_00: Be generous with your life.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_00: This is what, first of all, this is not just a demand to us.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, whatever Matt was bringing this out so many times the last couple of weeks.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_00: We see what he does, and it causes us to do what we do.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_00: So, first of all, God kept open house, didn't he?
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Come.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_00: Your sins and your iniquities mean nothing to me.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_00: Come.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_00: Come, prodigal, you're my child.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_00: You belong here.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_00: You belong with my ring and my robe upon you.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_00: You belong in the place of honor.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_00: You should be the guest of honor in my house.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_00: He kept open house.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_00: Be generous with your lives.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_00: Hasn't God done that?
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_00: Would y'all stand with me?
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_00: If you feel like it, you don't have to, it's not a command.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_00: But maybe you'd like to fluff your pillows a little bit.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_00: He kept open house, and he's totally generous with his life toward us.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_00: And the more we see it, the more we know he is absolutely generous with his goodness, with his grace.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_00: By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, there again, what did he do?
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: Opened up to us.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_00: Your sins don't stand in my way.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_00: I do not condemn you.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_00: Come.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_00: I remember saying, telling God, what if I never change?
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_00: Come on, son, I love you.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_00: I realized all that time he wasn't loving a future version of me.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_00: He wasn't loving some perfect version of Rick.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_00: He liked me.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_00: He liked me.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_00: And his heart was always open to me.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_00: And the image I had of him was nothing like this daddy we now know.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_00: But what we see in him is what's happening with us, and it's causing us now to keep open house.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_00: We have no condemnation.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_00: We haven't received any.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_00: We got well, so we don't have any to give.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_00: We're generous with our lives.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_00: We give grace.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_00: We give grace where there's ugliness.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_00: We give grace.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_00: By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up to God.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_00: This generous Father in heaven.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_00: Father, I uh I love your ways.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_00: I love heaven.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_00: I love your goodness.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_00: I love that you have taken weak and foolish vessels.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_00: And you've brought us in a way that we're learning.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_00: But we rejoice as we look at its beauty.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_00: We like every day, everything that we see.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I pray that we take the courage that's offered to us.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_00: As you've opened up completely to us, that we courageously embrace you.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_00: And we embrace your heart, your goodness, your love, and we don't.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_00: And if that means we cast aside things that are contrary, so be it.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_00: We just love you.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_00: As David said, teach me your ways and show me your paths, and we thank you that that's happening to us.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_00: Father, the growth that we desire is to grow in the knowledge of you, Daddy.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_00: We love you.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_00: You're beautiful and you're wonderful, and this is why we give you all of our praise and our love, our devotion, and all that we have.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_00: We want to freely give it to you, and we want to freely obey and be led by your spirit because you're just so good to us.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_00: And we want to convey that goodness to a world that doesn't think you're good.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_00: Help us to help people.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_00: Father, sometimes it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's hard.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's it's it's hard to to to convey and to to show that that goodness that we know that we see from you and we want others to see.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_00: But I pray today that everyone within the sound of my voice that that you do bring an opening of something to where our heart's desires fulfilled.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_00: We want others to see.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_00: We want them to know.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for this day that we can celebrate you.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_00: Bathe in your goodness, Father.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for your grace and your love in our lives.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_00: We thank you in the name of our mighty, powerful Savior who won, who won the victory in such a powerful, powerful way.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_00: We thank you in his name.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.