Latest / Citipointe Church Caboolture / Repentance is a Superpower | Ps Teejay Davidson

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Repentance is a Superpower | Ps Teejay Davidson · Citipointe Church Caboolture

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Hey, welcome to the City Point Church podcast.
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Thanks for joining us. Every day is an opportunity to
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take hold of. So we hope this message inspires
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you and build your faith that it helps you have more of a God
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perspective for your day. Enjoy.
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I'm going. To start with a story, I've got
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a good story to tell. You know why it's good?
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Because it's a true story. It's a testimony of what God did
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in my life. I got saved.
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For those that don't know, I got saved seven years ago and praise
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God and early on I had this dream and vision that God had
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put in me to go to Bible college.
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I didn't know what it was. I didn't know it was a
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university. I had no idea where I was going.
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I just know that God had put this dream and was calling me
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into Bible college. Yes, I'd heard about it through
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the Grapevine and people would come up to me and say tji see
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Bible college all over your life and I thought to myself I might
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go check this out. So what do I do?
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I asked my wife to sign me up and she signs me up.
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I thought I was going to a life group that learned about the
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Bible. I had no idea you had a degree
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the after that that you would attend and get a degree.
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I had no idea that you could become a pastor through it.
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I was just going there because God just kept putting dreams in
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me. I'd wake up in the middle of the
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night and I would dream about Bible college and have visions.
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I forgot, I better stop this. I've got to go.
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And so I went, went on my merry way.
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And I had so much. I didn't have an idea of where I
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was and what I was doing. And I seen all these people that
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surrounded Bible college and they were saying doctor this and
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doctor that. I didn't know that you could
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have a doctrine in a different field.
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I went home to my wife. I said, I'm perplexed.
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I learned that word in Bible college.
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There's all these doctors over there.
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What are they doing? Is that where all the rich
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people hang out? Is that what they do?
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And I thought, you only have one doctor.
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It's a medical doctor. My wife, she laughed.
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She said, DJ, that's so funny. You could have a doctorate at
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any field. And I did not know that.
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And that was a good start to Bible college.
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And anyway, I would attend diligently full time.
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And I was only nine months into my salvation going there.
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You didn't know a lick of the Bible, hardly even knew Jesus,
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just knew that I encountered him and he was real and I was there
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and people would begin to speak these words and I never heard
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such vocabulary in my life. I was uneducated.
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My vocabulary, Larry was about that big.
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And I was thinking to myself, what are they saying?
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What are these words that are coming out of my their mouth?
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So all through the lecture I'd put my hand up.
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What does that word mean, Sir? What does exegesis mean?
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What does Officer Jesus mean? What is that?
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And I'd turn a three hour lecture into an 8 hour lecture.
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I even asked one question once. I said I was Hitler, the devil.
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I seriously had no idea. And he's like, teacher, I'll
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just see you after my class. He was so gracious to me.
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Then it got too hard. It got to the point where I had
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no idea that you had to do. They started talking about
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assignments and they started talking about referencing and
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doing all these 2000 word essays.
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The only essays I knew was my mates from Mexico.
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But here I am and I started doing it on my own strength and
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I thought I could do it alone, apart from God.
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Let me just give you a say. If you're in Bible college
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today, what you will do in Bible college, you'll replicate in
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ministry. What you will do in Bible
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college, you'll replicate in ministry.
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If you think you can get through Bible college without God,
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you'll think you can get Bible college.
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You think you can get into ministry without God too?
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There is no shortcuts like past the rights.
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Give a, a word a couple of years ago, two years ago to the dream
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team. There is no shortcuts to this.
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The anointing is real. You know when you got it and you
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know when you're done. So I end up taking off and I
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left church for two years and I didn't say a word to the Dean of
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the college. I didn't say a word to my
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pastors. I just left without notice.
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COVID happened and I let I use that as a cover up.
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Every excuse. Oh you know, never my fault
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until God sent a beautiful couple in this very church to
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come save me and my wife from that desert that I put myself in
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and my family. I LED my family inside a church
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and I let him ride out and God sent 2 beautiful family members
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to come and rescue us from our desert and they would walk
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through US, walk with us in this journey and bring us back to
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church. And God would do a beautiful
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work in my heart and I'll come back to church.
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And I felt this burning desire and unfinished business to go to
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those people and ask for forgiveness and are repented of
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what I did to their face. And I went to my Bible college
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Dean of the school and I met with him and I thought he was
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going to say, TJ, why didn't you call me?
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TJ could have helped you and I could have done this and I could
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have done that. But I walked out of that meeting
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feeling so uplifted. I felt like $1,000,000 that I
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promised myself I'd never walk into Bible college and somehow
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walked out of that meeting and said sign me up again.
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So I titled this message, Repentance is a superpower.
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Repentance is a superpower. It's freeing.
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It's freedom. Man.
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When I got my first taste of true repentance, I was hooked.
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I couldn't believe it. I was carrying around this
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weight for so long. I would toss and turn, even on
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my bed in the desert season, wondering about the people that
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are wronged and how I wronged God.
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But all it took was a moment of repentance that released me from
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the trap and from the snare and from the chain of unrepentance
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that led my heart to become hard.
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Repentance is a superpower, and for so long I wondered that
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word. I always wondered what is
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repentance because for me, from the outside in, I always assumed
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repentance had to do when it was like when you got in trouble by
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your parents. You've been a bad boy, naughty,
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bad times. Or associated repentance with
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hell condemnation because the way I've seen some people preach
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on it, Repent now you go on to hell.
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OK, fair enough. But repentance in the Bible is
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so beautiful and that's what I want to highlight the beauty of
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repentance. See it's biblical meaning is in
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the Old Testament is to turn, to return, to turn back to God.
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And in the New Testament it says it like this, to change, to
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change one's mind, one's thinking, to change your
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thought. See, we make repentance and
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think about it. This big thing that has to
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happen. Like Jonah and Nineveh, where he
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went there and he preached and he told them what God had told
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him, and they threw on sackcloth and ashes and they went into a
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time of fasting. That is amazing.
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But repentance can be as small as this.
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Oh, I never seen it that way. And you've changed your mind and
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you're thinking according to the word of God, the truth that He's
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given you. There's been so many times.
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Thank you for that bell. There's been so many times where
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I have spoken to an elder in this church and I believe one
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way wholeheartedly and they've gone on.
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TJ, that's just not true. But I said, yes, it is.
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They're like, no, it's not. It's in your word.
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And I would go home and I'd read it because I want to know for
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myself. And I'd go to my word and I'd
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see that they were right. And I'd have a change in my
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thinking and a change in my thought pattern around that,
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which changed my action. It changed my belief around what
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I believed. And that's transformation,
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right? But nobody attributes that to
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repentance. We all give that word
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transformation, and it deserves it too.
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Such a big praise party. But seldomly do we realize that
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repentance is the vehicle and road in which we come to that
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place of transformation. We can ask our brothers and
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sisters today, especially if you're discipling somebody, what
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is your prayer life like? We all know that question.
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Everyone knows that question. What is your prayer life like?
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But the question is this. That I think is equally
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important. What is your repentant life
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like? What is your repentant life
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like? Have you kept up to repentance,
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beloved? But, TJ, what are you telling
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me? I thought our sins are forgiven.
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Yes. They're forgiven eternally from
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condemnation. We're forgiven from eternal
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death. But don't stay in that place
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where we think we've graduated from repenting.
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Because that place leaves you stuck.
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That place robs you from transformation.
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It's a continual process. See the Apostle Paul says this
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in Acts 26 verses 20. If we can go there in our Bibles
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or take notes today, he says I preach first to those in
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Damascus who knows Paul, man, come on then in Jerusalem and
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through it all Judea and it also to the Gentiles that what all
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must repent of their sins and turn to God that all must
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repent, not some, not a not a few, not the ones that have come
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to Christianity that all must repent and turn to God.
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And here's a key and prove they have changed by the good things
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they do. Man, there's proof around your
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repentant life. You know, John says it this way,
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The the John the Baptist, he says produce fruit by keeping up
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to repentance. Who's ever made that connection
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with repentance and producing fruit?
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Are you kidding me? By by keeping up to repentance,
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that means there's something producing in our life and that's
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fruit. Maybe sometimes we we feel like
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we have going through an unfruitful season or an
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unfruitful time. Maybe it's time we got back on
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that place where we're like God. I, I live a life of repentance
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to produce fruit in my life. Proof.
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The evidence is transformation, but how we get there is through
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living a life of continual repentance.
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See, repentance is not about bringing you down and for your
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demise, but Christ to lift you up and lift you up and edify you
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and bring you to a a place deeper in relationship with Him
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and transformation. No longer you think that way.
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No longer you act that way. No longer you believe that way
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because the word of God has got inside of you and you've been
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transformed in the inside out and no longer will I walk that
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way. See, there's some people in here
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today that no longer longer do things they did five years ago,
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10 years ago. Why?
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Yes, because of transformation. But let me tell you, I celebrate
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yous today because that comes from repentance, the vehicle and
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road. And which got you to
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transformation. One of the greatest
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illustrations of the beautiful nature of repentance comes from
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the story in the Holy Bible about the Prodigal Son.
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I could cry here, so it's OK, we can cry together.
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But the prodigal son, he thought he had a better way.
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He believed the grass is greener on the other side.
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Maybe he's seen his father's bank statements and thought he's
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holding that here. I need to get me some
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inheritance. And quick, why wait?
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There's a good life there, there.
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All my mates are drinking, all my mates are doing party life.
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But I'm missing out here on the farm eating farm food.
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I want Mackers and Hungry Jacks like my mates, but Dad's got me
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on a strict diet. And maybe he thought, you know
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what, Dad wouldn't mind if I took some inheritance early.
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I know you're getting old now, but you know I've had enough.
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An actual fact, you got your bank statement the other day and
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the reason why you couldn't find it is because I was reading it
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for two hours. So we off he goes with his
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inheritance, but then life happens.
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See, The thing is, the inheritance here without Christ
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is nothing. But you've got an eternal
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inheritance in his name's Jesus, and that never runs out.
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You think you can hear on earth and spending on on good times
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and spending on on on things that that aren't of eternal they
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they lead to brokenness. They lead a down.
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Trust me, I've been through everything in life where I've
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tasted and I've seen what this world's got to offer and they
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give me a piece just for a moment and then he'll come back
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and with interest and absolutely rob me every time.
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But God's eternal inheritance in Jesus Christ.
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You know that he calls you and his his inheritance.
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How amazing is that? But the prodigal, he said verses
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17, it says when he come to his senses, another version says he
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come to his own man. Imagine what he was feeling.
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He's he's come broke now he's finished his inheritance.
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And he said how many of my father's hired servants have
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food to spare? He knows that.
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And here I am starving to death. I will set out and go back to my
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Father and say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and
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against you. How many of us have done that
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when we've gone to somebody and say, I have not only sinned
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against you, but I've sinned against heaven, I've sinned
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against God in you. I'll repent for my mistake.
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He says, I'll set out and go back to my father and say to
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him, Father, I've sinned against heaven and against you.
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Verses 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son.
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Make me like one of your hired servants.
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Don't even give me the position of being to be called son
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anymore. So he got up and went to his
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father, But while he was still a long way off, some of us can
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still feel a long way off. But this is the beautiful nature
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about repentance. It's displayed here.
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Is that what happens when we come to Father God in a repented
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heart and how His response is in the Bible every time.
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If you read and read the response of true repentance, you
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will see what our God did with that.
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It's not for your demise. It's not for your destructions,
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but it's beautiful. It's magnificent.
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It frees you. And he saw him and he was filled
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with compassion for him. And he ran to his son.
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That was a cultural unknown in that time.
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And he threw his arms around him and kissed him.
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That's our Father's response when we repent.
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His response is this. And the son said to him, Father,
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I've sinned against heaven and against you.
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I'm no longer worthy to be called your son.
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But the father said to his servants, quick, quickly, bring
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the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and
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sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill
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it. Let's have a feast and
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celebrate. For this son of mine was dead
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and is alive again. He was lost and and now found.
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So they began to celebrate. Let me tell you, beloved, when
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you come to God in this way, in true repentance, there is a
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celebration. God saying, come on my son, come
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on my daughter, I want to celebrate you that you've had
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this hard position to come to me and now I'm going to transform
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you in this area in your life. Our Father is this is his
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heavenly nature to when we come to him like this, He will never
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turn his back on us no matter what.
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True repentance isn't about shaming you for your demise of
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destruction. It's about Jesus lifting you up
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and restoring you to freedom and a transformation in him.
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It's about transforming you, getting into your mind and your
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thoughts that one way you were thinking this way, He wants to
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get in to those areas in your life.
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And I'll use tithing for an example for some of us here
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today, and this isn't about trying to put you down, but I'm
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saying that when we come into that place and we say, God, oh,
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I can't give you that area in my life that that's the area that
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God won't work in because you haven't give him permission.
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He's a gentleman. He wants to get into that part
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of your life and transform you and take you to a higher level
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and bless you with His blessing and give you his favor.
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But when we come before and say, you know what, God, I haven't
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let you in in that part of my life.
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I'll ever haven't let you into that part of my mind.
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I haven't let you into that part of my heart.
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But here I am, Father God. I repent, but not only do I
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repent, would you teach me and show me and strengthen me in
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this area? You don't do it alone.
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There is a Father that's running after you today, and maybe you
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come to church today and this is your first time.
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And I thank you so much for coming to church and being in
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this great church. The Father's been running after
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you for a long time, and there's no mistake that you're in this
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place today. This is who Father God is.
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There is a robe, there is a ring, there is new sandals and a
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celebration for you. All that take up the name of
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Jesus and call upon His name, Whoever believe in Him and put
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their faith in Him will not perish.
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You will receive eternal life and that's the good news today.
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There is joy and repentance. It's not for your destruction,
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but for your transformation. Repentance is a superpower.
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See Edwin Lewis Cole said this about the prodigal.
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I love this quote because he picked up on a pattern about the
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prodigal son. And the pattern of the prodigal
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is this rebellion, ruin. And in the middle of repentance,
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reconciliation, restoration, he rebelled, come to ruin, he
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repented, was reconciled and restored back to his father.
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Let me tell you today, maybe you've tasted this world for way
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too long and the world is giving you nothing but grief and you've
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been living life the same way for 1520 years and it hasn't
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worked out for you. And you keep trying and trying
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again. But let me give you this today.
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Have you tried Jesus? Have you tried Jesus?
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Have you put Jesus on? Have you give Jesus?
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You'll have you. Have you wanted to say, you know
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what, God, I'll give you my life.
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See how that works out for you and keep coming to church and
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fellowship and see how your life gets transformed and changed.
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That's repentance right there, where you turn away from the old
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way of living, turn away from the old man.
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And he said he'd put his spirit in you and he'd make you a new
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creation, a new person. You can't even help it.
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You can't even earn it. He just does it.
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I remember one guy said to me today, a while ago, was down at
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the Bribie Island jetty, I just love to talk to people.
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And I was evangelizing to him, giving him the gospel and the
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good news. And he said, how'd you change,
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mate? And I was like, hey, hook, line
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and sinker, ask me that again, brother.
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You know, you just bait them. You bait them into those
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questions, man. I'll tell you what, it's not my
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favorite thing. It's awesome.
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Let me tell you. I changed and he took a step
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back and he was fairly offended at what I said.
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And he said, what do you mean? No, no, that was all you, you,
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you did that. That's what you did.
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And, and, and let me tell you, you've worked hard for that.
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Don't you dare. And I said, I understand where
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you're coming from, but the truth is this.
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I tried everything, brother. Everything.
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Every single thing. I tried it and it didn't work.
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And I tried Jesus and it worked. Jesus, the name of Jesus.
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He's the only one. He's the one that transforms
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you. He's the one that gets inside of
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you and transforms you. He's the one.
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He's the one. He's the one.
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He's the one for this community. He's the one for your family.
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He's the one for your friends. Come on, Jesus, He's the one.
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He's the one. There's no way I could have done
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that on my own. He's the one I'd help all along.
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Just like that Bible college story, I end up coming back to
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that place. Two years, 2 1/2 years, I stayed
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in that place and I finished only because of Christ and the
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Spirit that he's given me. And I remembered and he
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strengthened me. And I said, oh, that's right,
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God, this isn't for me to take over myself.
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This isn't my ministry. This isn't my mission.
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I had a moment of repentance that led me into transformation.
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You know how freeing that is. People talk about addictions and
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they say, you know how bad that is.
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Yeah, fair enough. But those addictions turned into
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something now where I'm addicted.
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I can't wait to get in His word. I can't wait to get into prayer,
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man. I'm addicted to the presence of
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God. How much more can we be addicted
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to freedom? Man, I'm fully sold out to
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freedom. There's so many old Search my
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heart. Oh Lord, why was David saying
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that? Search me so I can repent, so I
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can transform God search what's in me that I can't see so I
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could repent and transform so I can change the way I think so I
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can change my belief system, so I can change what I what I
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thought was true, but I was deceived, but only by the word
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of God that you've brought in a sword that cut me going in.
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And yes, it hurts sometimes, but brothers and sisters, let me
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tell you, we not allow that sword of the spirit, which is
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sharper than any other sword, to have its time to come out and
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heal. So many of us don't give the
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opportunity of the Word of God to heal.
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It's the only sword I know that cuts and heals at the same time.
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But so many will get in this, let it cut their heart and stay
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in that place and allow God. We've got to allow God to let
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the washing of the world, let the healing of the world, let
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the transformation and the renewing of the mind as the band
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comes up, Oh God, God's magnificent.
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He's wonderful. Repentance is beautiful.
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Maybe repentance has had a bad shade, but the more I read the
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word, the more beautiful and wonderful and freeing it is.
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It's not for your demise. Repentance is for every
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Christian. Repentance should be in a daily
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lifestyle, quick and ready to repent, to turn away.
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And I know even for me, there's things that I don't know right
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now, and I'll be honest with you that I'm waiting for God to
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come, waiting and waiting. I do this every day.
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God, I shouldn't have thought like that.
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I'm sorry. But repentance is more than a
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good sorry. It's about your faith in action
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that leads to repentance, that leads to transformation.
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The proof on your life that something has taken place in
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your mind, in your heart, is that you've actioned towards God
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and allowed that transformation to happen.
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We no longer can sit in limbo and linger and stagnant.
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There's areas in our life that God wants in all the time
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because He wants to free you, would set you up into a higher
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place and edify you, would lift you up a life of repentance.
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I've given 3 scriptures here that will help us practice this
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way of living. One of them is a lifetime verse
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for me. Number one.
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Romans chapter 2 verses 4 in the new King James Version says
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this. This is Paul speaking the
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apostle. Or do you despise the riches of
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His goodness, forbearance and long-suffering ready, not
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knowing that the goodness of God lead you to repentance?
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That's different. The goodness of God leads you to
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repentance. And another version that says
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kindness. So hold up.
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It's not shame that leads me there.
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It's not guilt that leads me there.
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It's not condemnation that leads me there.
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What is it? It's His goodness and His
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kindness. So when you're in that moment
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and you've come to God and you're, you're standing in
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repentance, celebrate and be overjoyed that his goodness has
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LED you there, that his kindness has LED you there.
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Oh God, how exciting is that? So instead of being Lord and
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focus on your sin all the time, one big key God give me in a
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revelation he give me was that I had trouble overcoming some
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addictions when I first come to Christ.
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You know that scripture fix your eyes on Jesus.
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It didn't say fix your eyes on your sin.
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It says fix your eyes on Jesus and instead of focusing on my
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sin and focusing, I turned and I repented and I turned to God and
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I said, oh God, you're magnificent, You're wonderful.
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You're the one that strengthens me.
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You're the one that's put your spirit in me.
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Father, I know that my sin is great.
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Forgive me and help me and teach me.
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I need you God and I'll keep focusing on you.
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Like Pastor Andrew Stagg says, what has got your attention has
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got you. What grabs your attention, grabs
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you. What's grabbed you today,
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Church, What's captivated you today?
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Is it Christ or your sin? What do we focus on?
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I'm not trying to say sweep it under the carpet, come to God
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honestly and truthfully, but fix your eyes on the author of life.
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Fix your eyes on Christ. Fix your eyes on Jesus, on
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Jesus, on Jesus, on Jesus. That's the key there.
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Be excited that His goodness and His kindness has LED you to that
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place #2 in Joel chapter 2 verses 13 in the NIV says this.
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Rend your heart and not your garments.
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Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and
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compassionate. There's that word, compassionate
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again, slow to anger, abounding in love, and He relents from
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sending calamity. Rend your heart and not your
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garments. He's saying here there's no
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substitute for your heart, Rend your heart.
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Don't rend your time for a substitute for him.
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Don't rend your money for a substitute for him.
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We're not coming to him and trying to substitute, but he
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said just give me your heart, rend your heart to him.
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Offer it up to him for him to do a deep work and and partner with
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God work with him so many times. I want to God to ZAP me.
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He ZAP me all right, ZAP me with truth and conviction.
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Get up. I want to partner with you TJ in
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relationship. It's going to be hard.
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They're going to be tough times, but I'm with you.
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Rend your heart every day before you look at your phone, before
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you start your day here. I am God, for you to use a
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living vessel, A chosen instrument.
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Start speaking identity over yourself.
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Beloved. I'm loved today, brother.
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Almighty God, I rend you my heart.
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God. Thank you, father #3 Revelation
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2, verses four and five. I love this Scripture.
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This is my lifelong Scripture because I know what it was like
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to fall out of the love of God, and I know what it was like to
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be restored in His loving arms in repentance.
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And here's a key here. It says, yet I hold this against
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you. He's talking to the Ephesus
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church, but it applies to us today.
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You have forsaken the love. You had it first.
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I've done that. I've forsaken the love I had at
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first when I first got saved, man, I remember being so
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overcome by His love. I knew that there was a God.
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I knew Jesus was real in that moment.
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Just one touch, one revelation, I knew and I was overcome by His
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love. I never knew a love like that,
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but that was immense, that was intense, that was supernatural.
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I've never felt love like that from a human being, ever.
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But that love of God, and I still can't comprehend it.
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I still can't fathom, and I'm good with that, His depth of his
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love. But for us, some of us, maybe
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the love has gone cold. And here's a real key for you
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today. Maybe you, you have you just
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saying God, I don't know where you are anymore.
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I can't feel you anymore. I, I used to remember being in
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your presence like that and I would feel you in a certain way,
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but I can't even remember the last time I spoke to you.
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I feel empty. This verse is for you.
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Verses 5 is a real key here. It says consider how far you
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have fallen. There's a consideration of how
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you how far you have fallen. If that's you today, you look
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back from your salvation and you consider how far you have walked
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away from the living God. He never walked away from you.
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Just like Adam and Eve, when they sinned, where did they go?
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They went hid. Men and women, brothers and
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sisters, children of God have been hiding from God ever since.
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They've been hiding from God the shame, the condemnation that the
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world tells them that the enemy comes in and deceives God,
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saying consider how far you have fallen ready, repent, Consider
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how far you've fallen. Repent and watch this.
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What does it say up there? And do the things you did at
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first. Do you remember when you first
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got saved, what you did? Do you remember how long you
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spent in your word? Do you remember how long you
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prayed to the living God? Do you remember how excited you
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were when God encountered you and when you knew the love of
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Christ and there was nothing else that could compare?
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And man, you just couldn't wait to get home after work and be
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and sit with Jesus. And you couldn't wait after
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being having such a long day to go to life group and share and
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listen to the brothers and sisters and have fellowship.
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You couldn't wait to church and and praise, worship Him in
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spirit and in truth. Oh man.
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But life gets in the way and it tries and, and and this
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decreases and prayer decreases and our tanks start to empty and
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the enemy comes in and he starts to deceive.
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He tell you lies. He tell you who you you are when
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God is saying something totally different and he's telling you
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who you are in here. He's saying I'm made in you.
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You're made in my image, that you are loved.
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It says if you do not repent, I'll come to you and remove your
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lamp step from its place. And it can feel like that.
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Oh man, I know what it's like to to live in darkness after I've
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encountered God. I know what it's like to feel
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the love of God grow cold in me. Man, it's the worst knowing God,
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but knowing that you keep walking away from him, walking
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away from the only source of goodness, the only source of
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love. He doesn't remove himself from
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you like you see in the prodigal son.
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Every time you you repent and say I'm no longer walking this
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way. I've had enough.
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I've come to my senses. Oh God, I repent.
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I repent because I know you're good.
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This world ain't going to give me the love that you have.
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This world isn't going to speak over me like you do.
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I'm turning away from that whole way.
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Oh Jesus, and I'm turning towards you right now and I'm
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making a decision right now. Consider, repent, and do the
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things you've done at first. Like I said this morning,
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there's some things that I have too have put down when I when I
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first encountered Christ and now it's time for me to pick those
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things back up. Church.
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It's time that we get excited about being in the presence of
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God. It's time that we get excited
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about coming to church again. Oh, it's time that we get
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excited about being with Jesus and telling him and letting him
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wash over you. It's time that we invite that
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family member. It's time that we no longer
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stand in line in shopping center and not tell the person next to
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us about the hope in which we hold, about the living hope in
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which we carry, and about the Holy Spirit in which you have
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been filled all. Its time.
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You don't do it on your own, it's with Him.