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"God is My GPS: God Provides Service · HAVE FAITH LET IT BEGIN®

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  Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Have Faith, Let It Begin.
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  Today is Monday, July 21st.
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  Yesterday, I was at my church doing a sermon entitled, God is My GPS.
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  So here is the audio version of that. The YouTube video and TikTok video format
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  is also now available on our channels, Have Faith, Let It Begin.
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  For that being said, here is the audio version. We hope you enjoy it.
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  And as always, I like to shake things up. we're going to do a children's lesson
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  just about God is my GPS. So if there's anyone that's here that'd like to come forward, come on down.
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  They're coming. This is good, too. This gives me enough time to turn this on.
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  How are you? What's going on? Did you have a good week? Yes. Yes.
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  Wow. Here they come. Oh, yeah, you're ready. Well, come down that road, my friend.
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  Come down that road. what's going on good morning
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  good morning good morning okay so as
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  usual technology didn't work for me but that's okay does anyone
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  here and it's okay because you guys are little guys and
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  that's cool how are you do you know what a gps is that's okay wait there mine
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  it's a place where you can call erection that's good it is it's or it's or we
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  can call it um a device let's call it a device Can we bring up that GPS for
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  me one more time? See that right there? That is a GPS.
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  What that does is it connects to your car or your phone and you put directions.
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  So let's say we want to put directions. I'm sorry.
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  Or a computer. Very good. But it's very hard to bring a computer in your car.
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  So we're going to use the little GPS or your phone.
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  So if we were doing directions, let's say from your house to your school,
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  even though you know the directions, it's kind of nice to know where to go.
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  That's what they call it a GPS.
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  In a few minutes, I'm going to describe what GPS stands for.
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  That's a spoiler alert for the adults because you'll be getting that question.
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  Signs. You know, how did you read my mind? I happen to have a sign right here.
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  I'm going to need a favor. I need all of you guys to stand right on top of that
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  road right there. Can you go over there for me?
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  Cool. And you just, you're ahead of me. I love this.
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  Okay. So what we're going to do is we're going to do a small little game.
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  And the game is finding the way back to the top of this altar.
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  So what I want you to do is follow my words and pretend that I am the GPS.
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  And as you're going, you may encounter a couple of things called detours.
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  And why is there a road there?
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  Because all roads lead to God.
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  So let's do that. Ready? I want you to start walking this way. Ready? Here's the GPS.
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  Please walk forward 20 steps.
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  Please walk forward 20 steps. Stop.
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  Detour. What is a detour? Do you know what a detour is?
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  Detour can look like this. A detour means you can no longer walk that way.
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  So what I like you to do is go this way.
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  Make a right and go down this way. Go ahead. Follow this right through. Go right through.
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  Keep going. recalculating.
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  Adults know that one. Recalculating. Let's hope you don't lose the signal.
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  Make a left. Go all the way to the back.
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  Recalculating. Recalculating. Make another left at the end of the views.
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  Follow the signs to the road leading to God. Uh-oh, what is this?
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  Oh, somebody said speeding.
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  And now I know who's not driving with now. So you see this, I want you to stay right where you are.
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  A lot of adults here don't like this sign because it means we have to recalculate.
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  We have to figure out where to go.
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  See, sometimes roads close, but I'm going to show you something with, don't move.
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  I'm going to show you something today that I'm going to explain to all these
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  adults here, all these parents.
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  You see, GPS, stay right there. I'm coming.
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  GPS may cause problems But you know what stops the detour?
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  Jesus. So that is for you.
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  Jesus is the way, is the truth.
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  Every single chance we get, as you grow older, you're gonna encounter detours.
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  People are gonna ask you to make certain turns.
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  And I want you to know something. No matter how many detours you will encounter,
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  you will never find a road that is closed if you follow the road to Jesus's
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  heart because Jesus loves you all.
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  And we love Jesus. Amen. Can we pray together? Can you give her a one too? How about we give one?
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  Let's give two, okay? One for mommy since we're dedicating today to grandma.
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  Of course you can. Here you go. Let's do a quick prayer, right? Let's put our hands up.
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  Hands up. Heavenly Father, we just ask you, Lord, to watch over these beautiful
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  children and all the children all over the world.
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  Lord, there are many ways that we can talk about GPS and sometimes we have to
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  show them in ways where it's fun. But even though we all know these detours
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  will come There's no greater path to righteousness than the way to the lord and savior.
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  Amen I hope you enjoyed that message. All right, go back gps Oh, the adults are ready.
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  I told you there was a question coming My gps. We all know what gps is, right?
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  We all know let's be real. We all understand that But what does gps stand for? Does anybody know?
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  I know you were gonna know You know too? All right. Let me give them.
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  I know you. You flew helicopters.
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  Global positioning system. What do we have for her today, Johnny?
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  No, I'm just kidding. Good job. Good job. That is correct. It's global positioning system.
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  And GPS has come a very long way since its first inception.
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  I have this odd habit of turning on my GPS, my global positioning system,
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  even when I already know the way to my destination.
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  It's like a safety net for me, just in case I stray away from my path or I miss a turn.
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  A couple nights ago, I ran into some unusual traffic, heavy traffic, right on 211.
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  It was not a very familiar type of traffic that I was used to.
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  My GPS was on and immediately it began to redirect me or our famous words, recalculating.
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  It kept telling me to turn right, even though I knew that the highway that I
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  wanted to use straight ahead was near.
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  And I didn't want to listen to the GPS.
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  I came to the place where I would usually turn to get on Interstate 84,
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  and there was a bigger detour sign.
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  And the detour said, continue straight. But my GPS kept insisting that I should turn right. Right.
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  It even noticed and enticed me by telling me that if you turn right,
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  it would probably take me 18 minutes rather than probably 25 minutes because of the detour.
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  However, I'm pretty stubborn, as my wife would tell you.
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  I'm stubborn, and because I was confident that I already knew my way home,
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  about 10 minutes later, after I took my way, I finally made it on the ramp to the detour of 84.
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  When I finally got on the highway, I hit never-ending line of traffic.
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  And that was the beginning of the little back and forth between me and my GPS.
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  The GPS started to continuously say, recalculating, recalculating. I turned it off.
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  I was like, that's it. I've had enough. I was being routed back off the highway
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  and around more back roads to yet another ramp.
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  At the end of my journey, it took me 45 minutes to get home on the route that
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  I should have probably stayed on, which would have given me a 15-minute route home.
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  But it turns out that my GPS knows maybe a little bit more than me and getting
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  me from one place to another, even though I think I already knew the way home.
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  It can see that things ahead of my path can easily be changed.
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  Satellites know when things are going to be altered.
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  So the GPS tends to know a little bit more than we do, at times.
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  Much like a global positioning system that tells us how to get from one place
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  to another, we all have something better than that. It's called the spiritual GPS.
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  Or what I like to call, GPS, God Provides Service.
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  This system has been given to us from the Holy Spirit.
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  If we have given our lives to Christ, this Holy Spirit now dwells within us.
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  And He is constantly speaking to us. I have often found that I tend to take
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  some much-needed approach to God, or as we know it as God's positioning system.
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  As I do with my GPS, the Holy Spirit is consistently speaking to me and encouraging
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  me to take the paths that are unfamiliar.
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  He tells me to say no to things that I want to say yes to or say yes to things that I want to say no to.
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  Much like my GPS trying to get home faster, God is only trying to help me get
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  to the destination he has for me faster with less pain.
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  But for some reason, I keep looking back at him and saying, no,
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  God, straight, is obviously the direction I would go to accomplish your purpose for my life.
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  God just lovingly responds, yes,
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  straight may get you there eventually, but if you turn right,
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  you'll find far less traffic and no more detours because just like GPS.
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  God provides service and the service can see things ahead of the path that I cannot see.
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  Our spiritual GPS isn't programmed
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  to make sure we get everything we want in
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  life It's programmed to draw us near
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  to God And to help us walk in the purpose that He designed for us It's programmed
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  to bring about His greatest glory And our greatest good But much like a GPS
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  God provides us service and does us no good if we do not follow it.
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  We won't use it if we think we already know the way. Sometimes I treat God's
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  voice just like I treat my GPS, like a safety net.
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  I only want to listen to it when I take a wrong turn and end up in a place that I don't want to be.
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  Let me tell you something, a little story. Last week, we talked about all the
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  different things that have occurred with me with my vehicles.
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  And we talked about how God, you know, is we have a hunger for Christ.
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  And I didn't share with you what happened when I got to New Jersey on the 4th of July.
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  See, my wife likes to plan things on the fly. I'm more of a planner.
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  So we decided to go to Belmore Beach on the 4th of July. We know where this is going, right?
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  No parking, driving around for 45 minutes trying to find a spot.
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  Now everybody around me is extremely upset, but I would not allow that negativity
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  to get the best of me. So I just kept laughing and playing music and say,
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  don't worry, we're going to get in the beach. It's going to happen.
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  So after about an hour, they decided it was enough. And I said,
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  okay, how far are we from Point Pleasant Beach?
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  He said, another 35, 40 minutes. We're going.
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  What are you, crazy? That's even bigger of a spectacle area.
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  We're not going to get part.
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  Trust me, God is going to find the way. So we head over to Point Pleasant Beach
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  and the traffic was 10 times worse.
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  So, now you get to the point where you have two children in the car,
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  my son and my daughter, and they're getting a little bit irritated.
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  So, I decided to tell my wife, okay, plan.
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  I'm going to pull up. I'm going to let everybody out. You take them into the beach.
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  Let them do what they have come to do.
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  I will stay in the car and I will drive around until I find the spot. So, I let them out.
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  And my journey began. And the GPS and I became really, really close.
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  Anybody need to know directions into Point Pleasant Beach? I know all the streets.
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  There's New York Ave, Baltimore Ave. I know them all.
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  You know how I know them all? Because after one hour, I still couldn't find a spot.
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  After two hours, I still couldn't find a spot.
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  After three hours, I still couldn't find a spot.
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  Now I got a little hungry. And I decided to pull into an ice cream stand.
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  It was the only place that had all the parking available.
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  And I got myself a large carrot cake ice cream cone.
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  It was the best ice cream cone I had in a long time. Then I get a phone call from my wife.
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  It is unfair that you are out there while the family's over here having a good time.
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  My response was, this isn't a day for me. This is a day for the children. This is a day for you.
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  I'm having a great time. I miss you. But as long as the kids are having fun, it's okay.
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  And then Ariel yells out, did Jesus find you a spot?
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  No, honey, not yet. Don't worry, daddy, he will.
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  Three hours and 45 minutes, I have to use the restroom.
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  Duty calls. I have to drive nine minutes out of the way to find a place where
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  I could pull in and go to the restroom.
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  I find a Dunkin' Donuts, get myself a nice coffee.
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  And as I'm paying, I get a phone call. You have to hurry back.
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  Why? This nice couple's holding a spot for us.
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  You got it. I'm on my way. Well, nine minutes out of the way with heavy traffic, that's 20 minutes.
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  By the time I got about 1,000 feet away, the couple just couldn't wait. And they left.
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  So my wife says, what a nightmare.
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  And my daughter says, Jesus will find a spot.
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  At that moment, I decided to do the Lord's Prayer. And as I passed by the parking
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  lot and made a sharp turn right because I really didn't want to But something
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  told me I had to It was a sharp turn that only made one-way turns,
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  which puts me right back where I started What I was doing was passing that street
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  and making myself go all the way around But that one time I decided to take
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  that sharp turn left I get another phone call This other couple overheard what
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  happened they are holding a spot and they said,
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  we will not leave until he comes in.
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  Three hours, 56 minutes and 28 seconds.
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  I got a parking.
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  Jesus found me a spot and we had the best time.
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  You never know when God will arrive.
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  You never know what paths to take. You will always encounter detours.
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  You will always encounter stop signs. You will always encounter things that just don't make sense.
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  Hold on to the positivity, hold on to your faith, hold on to all the goodness
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  that's inside of us because the negativity will try to steal your joy.
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  God's positioning system isn't just a safety net.
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  When we get to know him and learn to trust in him, he will guide our every step.
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  The good news is that he never gets tired. He never needs to be recharged.
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  He never takes a wrong turn.
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  He is far more reliable than the global positioning systems that we are used to.
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  Sometimes the route he takes us on doesn't seem to make sense.
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  Sometimes it leads us down roads that are dark and scary.
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  Sometimes he tells us to go right when we just wanna stay on the straight path, a familiar path.
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  It all comes down to this one word and one question. The word is faith.
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  Do we trust the Holy Spirit?
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  Do we have our faith? Having faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the
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  culmination, is the straight path as we venture into roads that we are unsure of.
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  Must allow our faith to keep us on the correct path, just as we put our faith
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  and belief that he is for us and not against us, and that his ways are certainly
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  higher than any other way.
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  Our faith will allow us to continue to follow him. He will find times when we are weak.
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  We will feel like we are not worthy. We will feel like we have been broken down
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  on the side of the road, we will look to our GPS and notice that the battery is low.
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  We look for the charger and we cannot find it. In this moment,
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  we begin to doubt, just like the disciples.
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  Were they perfect? No. Are we perfect? No.
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  Am I perfect? No. You know who's perfect?
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  Jesus Christ. When I am being prideful and not listening to God's voice,
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  it's because I have lost perspective on who he is and how much he loves me.
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  So I stand here today in front of all of you and say, all of us have been broken down.
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  All of us know what it feels like to be broken down.
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  And some of us here still on the side of the road today, some of us here are feeling broken down.
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  Here's the reality and the missing piece of why our internal GPS,
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  our God's positioning system, and our God who provides service to us all will
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  help us. It's not a yearly membership.
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  It's not a service that puts people on hold.
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  It's not an everlasting service that provides us all with love,
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  with compassion, with guidance, with admiration,
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  with infinite destinations, with many recalculations that will enable us to
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  find the path to his heart.
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  I wanna ask one more question to all of you this morning.
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  You take a few minutes to just reflect on God, on who God is,
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  how incredible and powerful he is, how much he loves and cares for each and every one of you.
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  It's the faith in these things that truly give us the courage to turn on our
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  spiritual GPS and actually allows us to follow the directions that God has intended for us.
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  I mentioned this morning that I'm dedicating today's sermon to Lois Crisp,
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  who showed me, Lois showed me the path of how to make my GPS,
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  my internal GPS, ignite.
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  Lois was the one person that came to vacation, excuse me, youth group every
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  single week and said to me, how's it going?
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  There were times we had five kids. There were times we had two kids.
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  There were times we had 48 kids.
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  And Lois always said, you just got to talk to one. All it takes is one.
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  Just keep doing what you're doing.
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  Thank you, Lois. I leave you with Psalms 16, verse 11.
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  You make known to me the path of life. You will fill me with joy in your presence,
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  with eternal pleasure at your right hand.
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  God is our GPS. He is not going to recalculate with you anymore.
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  He is showing you the path to righteousness. Amen.
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  So today's service is concluded. Together, we were talking about the GPS.
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  We found out that we had stop signs.
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  We recalculated. But what we did find is that Jesus is the way,
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  the truth, and the Holy Spirit that comes through us.
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  I leave you with the Psalm 25, verses 4 through 5.
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  Show me your way, Lord. Teach me your paths.
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  Guide me in your truth and teach me. For you are my God, my Savior,
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  and my hope is in you all day long.
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  As you prepare to leave Schofield Street today,
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  set your inner GPS to your next destination as you travel down the roads of
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  righteousness and the road you're on leads you to any detour or even a dead end.
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  Allow yourself to pull over and say your prayer. Allow our Heavenly Father to
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  help you recalculate your route so that you can keep your destination clear and focused,
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  which will allow you the opportunity to avoid any distraction, any fear.
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  Instead, allow God's positioning system to override any evil,
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  anyone that will try to steal your joy inside of you so that you can follow
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  the road to success and life and hope and love and joy in the name of the Father,
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  the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
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  As my family always says, que Dios te bendiga, which means God bless you.
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  And as my mother always tells me and I share with you, when you were born,
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  all the angels came from heaven.
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  Do you know why? Because each and every one of you are special.
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  I have something for you on the way out. God bless.
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  Music.
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  Hey, Have Faith family. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share the podcast with your friends.
• 22:12
  Visit our website, havefaithletitbegin.com. We would love to see you.
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  Music.