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Stop Living Like Who You Were—God Is Calling You Higher T.D. Jakes PURPOSE AND POWER · Jakes Messages and Purpose

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  Speaker 1: We're going to the book of Philippians. We're going to
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  Speaker 1: stand for the reading of the word or remain standing
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  Speaker 1: for the reading of the word of God. I got
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  Speaker 1: here to the potter's house this morning, early this morning,
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  Speaker 1: because I intended to. Amen. I wore what I wore
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  Speaker 1: as laid out last night. I didn't wake up this
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  Speaker 1: morning trying to figure out what I was going.
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  Speaker 2: To put on.
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  Speaker 1: I like all of that stuff out of the way
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  Speaker 1: so I don't get up in a haphazard way. I
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  Speaker 1: have a strategy. I have a plan. I know where
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  Speaker 1: I want to go and so I was intentional. I
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  Speaker 1: didn't go joyriding in the car this morning to see
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  Speaker 1: where I might end up at. There's some beautiful sights
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  Speaker 1: to see, but when I got in the car this morning,
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  Speaker 1: I ended up at the potter's house because I was intentional.
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  Speaker 1: And yet, many times in the most important areas of
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  Speaker 1: our lives, we live it without intention. Turning it completely
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  Speaker 1: over to God to work it out as if we
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  Speaker 1: had no responsibility to be co-laborers with him. Well, if
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  Speaker 1: the Lord means for it to happen. If it be
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  Speaker 1: the Lord's will, I'll see you next Friday. If the
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  Speaker 1: Lord wanted me to have it, he would give it
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  Speaker 1: to me. He must not think I'm ready for it yet.
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  Speaker 1: We don't understand intentionality. And yet we have a God
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  Speaker 1: who is quite.
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  Speaker 2: Intentional. He's intentional. You are here because he intended.
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  Speaker 1: You understand?
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  Speaker 2: He's intentional.
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  Speaker 1: And so, I guess you know now, I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: be talking about intentionality. And I'm going to talk about
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  Speaker 1: it from Philippians chapter 3 verse 7 through 16. I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to be reading it out of the NIV. So
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  Speaker 1: you follow along in whatever translation you got or we're
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  Speaker 1: going to sound.
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  Speaker 2: Like the day of Pentecost.
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  Speaker 1: But whatever were gains to me, I now consider loss
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  Speaker 1: for the sake of Christ.
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  Speaker 2: What is more, I.
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  Speaker 1: Consider everything a loss, everything, everything, everything a loss because
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  Speaker 1: of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord.
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  Speaker 1: He's so valuable that he made everything else look cheap.
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  Speaker 2: For whose sake I have lost all.
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  Speaker 1: Things, I consider them garbage that I may gain Christ's.
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  Speaker 2: And be found in him. Not having a righteousness of mine.
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  Speaker 1: Oh. That comes from the law. But that which is
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  Speaker 1: through faith. In Christ Jesus. The righteousness. The righteousness. That
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  Speaker 1: comes from God. On the basis of faith. Good God
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  Speaker 1: of mercy. Did you hear that? The righteousness. That comes
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  Speaker 1: from God. On the basis of faith.
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  Speaker 2: I want it all Christ.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation
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  Speaker 1: in his suffering. Becoming like him in death. Wait, wait, wait,
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  Speaker 1: isn't that something to want? I want to know the
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  Speaker 1: power of his resurrection and the participation in his sufferings.
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  Speaker 1: There are some things you can only learn about God.
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  Speaker 2: Through suffering. So all of you, why me people?
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  Speaker 1: If you're going to escape, you better go right now
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  Speaker 1: because I'm getting ready to mess with your theology. It's
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  Speaker 1: not supposed to happen to me.
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  Speaker 2: I'm a Christian. I'm better than this.
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  Speaker 1: No, no, no. There are certain classes that you can
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  Speaker 1: only take in the classroom of suffering. You'll never be
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  Speaker 1: seasoned if you've never suffered. Becoming like him in his
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  Speaker 1: death And so somehow attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
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  Speaker 1: Not that I have already obtained. I'm talking one place,
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  Speaker 1: but I'm living somewhere else. I don't want to jive
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  Speaker 1: with you. I don't want to blow your mind. I
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  Speaker 1: don't want to play games with you. I have not
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  Speaker 1: already obtained all of this. Or have already arrived.
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  Speaker 2: I haven't arrived.
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  Speaker 1: I haven't arrived. I haven't arrived, but I do have
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  Speaker 1: a goal. I may not be there yet, but I
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  Speaker 1: have a goal. I'm not just fighting as one beats
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  Speaker 1: the air. I got a goal. Don't let the fact
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  Speaker 1: that I haven't obtained or haven't already arrived make you
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  Speaker 1: think that I don't have a goal. I have a specific,
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  Speaker 1: intentional goal. And because I have a goal, I I
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  Speaker 1: press on to take hold. I'm trying to grip that
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  Speaker 1: for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. I'm trying
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  Speaker 1: to grip it. I'm trying to grip it. It's gripped me.
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  Speaker 1: I'm trying to grip it. Oh, brothers and sisters, I
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  Speaker 1: do not consider myself yet to have taken.
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  Speaker 2: Hold of it. I haven't fully gotten a grip on what's.
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  Speaker 1: Gotten a grip on me, but one thing I do.
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  Speaker 1: Forgetting what is behind and... Forgetting what is behind and
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  Speaker 1: straining toward.
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  Speaker 2: What is ahead? Oh God.
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  Speaker 1: Straining toward what is ahead. I'm not, wait, wait, wait, wait.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not just, I'm not just chilling.
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  Speaker 1: I'm straining. I'm not even just reaching. I'm straining toward
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  Speaker 1: that which is ahead. I press on toward the goal
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  Speaker 1: to win the prize for which God has called me
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  Speaker 1: heavenward in Christ Jesus.
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  Speaker 2: All of us then who are mature should take such.
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  Speaker 1: A view of things. All mature people should be intentional.
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  Speaker 1: Children wake up in the morning, don't have a strategy.
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  Speaker 1: But all mature people should take such a view of things.
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  Speaker 1: And if on some point you think differently, that too
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  Speaker 1: God will make clear.
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  Speaker 2: To you.
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  Speaker 1: That's a good word, isn't it? Only let us live
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  Speaker 1: up to what we have already attained. Don't be so
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  Speaker 1: busy snatching after what's next that you don't acknowledge what
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  Speaker 1: you got right now. There's certain things that I have
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  Speaker 1: already attained. Now there's other things that I'm straining toward,
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  Speaker 1: but oh, y'all don't hear what I'm saying. But there
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  Speaker 1: are some things I got up under my belt right now.
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  Speaker 1: Say amen, somebody. Remain standing. I'm going to pray with
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  Speaker 1: you about being intentional. I'm going to pray with you
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  Speaker 1: about being intentional.
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  Speaker 2: Intentional.
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  Speaker 1: Really, I'm going to pray with you about being like Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: Because he is intentional. The cross was intentional. The grave
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  Speaker 1: was intentional. The resurrection was intentional. Living your life right
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  Speaker 1: on schedule. has got to be the best feeling in
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  Speaker 1: the world. I am right where I'm supposed to be
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  Speaker 1: doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing.
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  Speaker 2: That's a good thing.
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  Speaker 1: Father God, in the name of Jesus, we humbly crawl
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  Speaker 1: toward your throne on bended knees and bow down heads.
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  Speaker 1: Hoping that your blood would fall on us and saturate
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  Speaker 1: us and cleanse us. And that you would prepare us
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  Speaker 1: to enter beyond the outer courts and the outer parameters
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  Speaker 1: of childish thinking. But that you would take us into
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  Speaker 1: the intimate place of your tent. So that we can
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  Speaker 1: sup with you. We're going to sit at the table
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  Speaker 1: with you and break bread with you over the next
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  Speaker 1: few minutes. And if we're lucky, somewhere behind the veil,
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  Speaker 1: we will be enraptured in your presence. Because it is
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  Speaker 1: you alone that we seek. And everything else, sing. worthless
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  Speaker 1: beside you your presence cheapens.
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  Speaker 2: My highest pursuit.
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  Speaker 1: For if I attain it without you I have got
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  Speaker 1: the cheapest part of your essence nothing compares nothing It
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  Speaker 1: all looks like garbage in contrast to having you. I
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  Speaker 1: thank you for what you're going to do. Have your
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  Speaker 1: way in this place. In Jesus' name, shout amen.
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  Speaker 2: You may be.
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  Speaker 1: Seated in the presence of God.
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  Speaker 2: Yes.
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  Speaker 1: Our God is intentional. He is not accidental. He is
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  Speaker 1: not happenstance. He doesn't make mistakes. He doesn't react.
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  Speaker 2: He acts.
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  Speaker 1: He's sovereign. He sits on the circle of the earth.
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  Speaker 1: The place of change. Position of power. Heaven is his
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  Speaker 1: throne and earth is his footstool. He's the boss of
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  Speaker 1: every dominion. He's the CEO of the universe. He's the
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  Speaker 1: president of glory. He is the auspicious one. The all
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  Speaker 1: sufficient one. The God that is more than enough. He
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  Speaker 1: is the kind of God that does not need us
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  Speaker 1: to tell him that he's God to be God. He
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  Speaker 1: doesn't need us to volunteer to campaign for him. He
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  Speaker 1: was God before we were there to say he was God.
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  Speaker 1: He doesn't suffer from low self-esteem and need us to
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  Speaker 1: come along and tell him who he is. He knew
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  Speaker 1: who he was before we knew who we were. He
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  Speaker 1: is God all by himself. He has never been worried.
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  Speaker 1: God has never been worried. God has never been shocked.
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  Speaker 1: He determines the end from the beginning. And then works
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  Speaker 1: all things after the counsel of his own will. God
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  Speaker 1: has determined where you're going to end up before you
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  Speaker 1: were ever born. He says, to one prophet before, I
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  Speaker 1: formed thee in the belly, I knew thee, I ordained thee,
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  Speaker 1: and I sanctified thee to be a prophet unto the nations.
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  Speaker 1: I didn't wait till you got here and then look
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  Speaker 1: at you and see what kind of gifts you got
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  Speaker 1: and try to figure out a position for you. I
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  Speaker 1: birthed you with intentionality for you to fit a particular spot.
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  Speaker 1: Nobody can fit your spot like you do.
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  Speaker 3: Amen.
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  Speaker 2: I designed you for that spot.
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  Speaker 1: I gave you everything you need to function in that
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  Speaker 1: spot how dare you think you're not enough when you
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  Speaker 1: think you're not enough you're saying I didn't plan well enough.
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  Speaker 2: You are enough for.
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  Speaker 1: Your assignment and if you're not enough for what you're
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  Speaker 1: doing you got the wrong assignment because everything I intended
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  Speaker 1: you to do I equipped you to do So you
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  Speaker 1: can admire other people's gifts, but never be jealous of them.
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  Speaker 1: Because if you needed what they had, I would give
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  Speaker 1: you what they had. I gave you everything you need
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  Speaker 1: to do what you've.
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  Speaker 2: Got to do.
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  Speaker 1: You must understand then that God is intentional and we
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  Speaker 1: are created in the likeness of an intentional God. Thereby
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  Speaker 1: our greatest defense is not our legs like the hyenas
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  Speaker 1: running or the wings of an eagle that spread out
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  Speaker 1: or the eyes of an eagle that are given to
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  Speaker 1: it as a defense or the roar of a lion. No,
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  Speaker 1: our greatest defense is our mind, our brain. Our legs
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  Speaker 1: are not fast. Our arms do not fly. We can't
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  Speaker 1: lift up out of the ground without building something to
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  Speaker 1: fly in. The thing that gives us our defense is
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  Speaker 1: how we think. And if there were anything up under attack,
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  Speaker 1: it is how we think. That's where the battleground is,
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  Speaker 1: is in your mind. That's where the enemy wants to
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  Speaker 1: confuse you with different voices and different ideas is in
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  Speaker 1: your head because he knows your greatest weapon is your mind. Sisters,
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  Speaker 1: not your mouth. I know there are a lot of
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  Speaker 1: books out there that says your tongue is your weapon.
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  Speaker 1: Your mind is your weapon. Your mind is your weapon.
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  Speaker 1: So winning the argument doesn't move the agenda forward because
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  Speaker 1: it is possible to win the argument and lose the war.
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  Speaker 1: So when you are insecure you don't retaliate by talking
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  Speaker 1: but by thinking.
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  Speaker 2: For as a man thinketh in his heart.
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  Speaker 1: So is he. So I'm going to think my way out.
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to think my way out I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: think my way out because I'm starting to understand that
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  Speaker 1: God is.
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  Speaker 2: Intentional. When we look at our text today, we're not.
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  Speaker 1: Just listening at the writings and the murmurings of some
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  Speaker 1: itinerant preacher or some evangelist who has come into town
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  Speaker 1: to speak to the Philippian church. We are looking at
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  Speaker 1: the one that God used to push out of his womb,
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  Speaker 1: the Philippian church. He has birthed it himself. He has
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  Speaker 1: an attachment to it. There's something about your children that
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  Speaker 1: will get your attention quicker than anything else. Good or bad,
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  Speaker 1: they determine your mood sometimes. Because when you have birthed something,
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  Speaker 1: you can't help caring about it. You can say, I
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  Speaker 1: don't care. It doesn't make me any difference. You do
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  Speaker 1: whatever you want to do. But you're still going to
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  Speaker 1: be looking out that window saying, are they home yet?
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  Speaker 1: Did they get in the house yet? Yeah, because when
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  Speaker 1: you birth something, you have a special level of passion
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  Speaker 1: about it. Especially how God used Paul as a conduit
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  Speaker 1: to birth the church at Philippi. It was not that
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  Speaker 1: God brought him into the city just to do great preaching.
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  Speaker 1: Because preaching was not the platform that shook the city.
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  Speaker 1: He did some of that, but that's not what shook
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  Speaker 1: the city.
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  Speaker 2: He just preached.
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  Speaker 1: Enough to get on enough powerful people's nerves to get
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  Speaker 1: him arrested. So it was not his preaching that converted
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  Speaker 1: the city. It was him being arrested.
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  Speaker 2: Wow.
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  Speaker 1: God created prison as a platform for purpose.
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  Speaker 4: Right.
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  Speaker 1: He willed him into jail intentionally. God could have stopped
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  Speaker 1: the arrest. Sometimes God doesn't stop trouble because trouble is
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  Speaker 1: the platform whereby he shows himself strong. God said, I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to use you getting beaten and locked up in
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  Speaker 1: a way that I could not use your preaching or
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  Speaker 1: your writing or your intellectualism. I need a platform big
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  Speaker 1: enough that the wealthy people are talking about you because
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  Speaker 1: they had you arrested. The elected officials are talking about
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  Speaker 1: you because they executed the arrest. And the carnal criminals
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  Speaker 1: are talking about you because I'm going to put you
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  Speaker 1: in jail right with them. And I put you in
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  Speaker 1: jail to show off. I put you in jail and
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  Speaker 1: I let you get arrested. I let you get beaten
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  Speaker 1: in front of everybody. I let you come down to
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  Speaker 1: absolutely nothing. I let them drag your bloody striped body
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  Speaker 1: into a jail cell so that everybody could be sure
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  Speaker 1: that you were locked away in an inner sanctum, in
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  Speaker 1: an impossible situation, in a place from which you could
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  Speaker 1: not escape with chains around your feet and chains around
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  Speaker 1: your hands because you prayed and asked me to use you.
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  Speaker 2: So I'm going to use you. I'm going to use you.
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  Speaker 1: There's a lady in the hospital I want you to meet.
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  Speaker 1: And so I'm going to bring you in with chest
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  Speaker 1: pains in an ambulance just so that you can be.
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  Speaker 2: Across the hallway.
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  Speaker 1: Y'all can't understand how God sets things up. The big
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  Speaker 1: word I want to use, the first big word I
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  Speaker 1: want to use is exposure. God put Paul in prison
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  Speaker 1: to expose Philippi to the gospel. In other words, God
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  Speaker 1: creates problems so that he can get the glory out
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  Speaker 1: of solving them. In other words, God lets Lazarus die.
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  Speaker 1: Just so he can raise him from the dead. In
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  Speaker 1: other words, God lets the blind man be born blind
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  Speaker 1: so that at the right time he can heal himself.
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  Speaker 1: blindness and get the glory. His mother didn't see it.
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  Speaker 1: His father didn't see it. I willed him to be
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  Speaker 1: blind because when the time is right, the way I
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  Speaker 1: bring him out is going to give me glory. So
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  Speaker 1: just sit still and wait on me. I'm using the trouble.
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  Speaker 1: to expose Philippi to my ministry now you can only
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  Speaker 1: embrace this if you can get past your narcissism and
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  Speaker 1: narcissism today is a hard wall to knock down you
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  Speaker 1: can only embrace this when you begin to understand that
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  Speaker 1: everything you go through is not about you You can
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  Speaker 1: only embrace this when you begin to understand that God
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  Speaker 1: is not a stewardess to make sure that you are
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  Speaker 1: comfortable and that your peanuts are warmed. He is not
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  Speaker 1: as interested in your comfort. He's interested in maneuvering you
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  Speaker 1: into a position of intentionality so that he can work
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  Speaker 1: out his will in your life. And he will use
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  Speaker 1: both your blessings and your sorrow to prove himself strong
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  Speaker 1: in your life so that he can get the glory
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  Speaker 1: out of your life. He will will you to come
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  Speaker 1: down to a Red Sea. You can't get around, block
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  Speaker 1: you in on every side. Amen. Blow back the Red
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  Speaker 1: Sea just so your Pharaoh can see that your God
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  Speaker 1: is bigger than your Pharaoh and he will let your
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  Speaker 1: Pharaoh drown in the afterthoughts of your God. Now your
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  Speaker 1: neighbor says it's a setup. God uses Paul's and Silas'
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  Speaker 1: time in jail As a stage. And at midnight Paul
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  Speaker 1: and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God. And suddenly
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  Speaker 1: there was an earthquake. And a great shaking. And the
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  Speaker 1: doors of the prison were opened. And all the bound
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  Speaker 1: were loosed. And yet nobody left. If God blew up
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  Speaker 1: the prison. Broke loose the chains. Open up the doors
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  Speaker 1: and everybody in the prison is like, yo, chill. We
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  Speaker 1: are still here. Why are you still here if God
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  Speaker 1: blew up the prison for you to escape? So escape
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  Speaker 1: must not be success. Because if escape was success... If
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  Speaker 1: escape was success.
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  Speaker 2: We'd be gone.
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  Speaker 1: I want to talk to all of you people who've
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  Speaker 1: been praying, Lord, get me out of this. Just get
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  Speaker 1: me out. I don't care what you do. I don't
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  Speaker 1: care how you do it. Have you ever considered that
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  Speaker 1: sometimes God puts you in it for something bigger than
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  Speaker 1: your comfort? And if you stand still and see the
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  Speaker 1: salvation of the Lord, that God is going to get
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  Speaker 1: some glory out of this. I don't know who I'm
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  Speaker 1: talking to, but God is going to get some glory
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  Speaker 1: out of this I like exposure in my own life
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  Speaker 1: I've learned that exposure is transformative that we think the
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  Speaker 1: way that we think about things because of what we
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  Speaker 1: have or have not been exposed to I certainly have
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  Speaker 1: to remember that when I get on Twitter Yeah, because
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  Speaker 1: as you deal with people who say obnoxious things, you
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  Speaker 1: have to consider that what they say is a result
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  Speaker 1: of what they think. And what they think is a
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  Speaker 1: result of what they've been exposed to. And everything they say,
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  Speaker 1: you don't have to answer. Time will answer for you.
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  Speaker 1: If they keep on living and get some opportunities to
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  Speaker 1: be exposed to something other than the people that they
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  Speaker 1: are around, they'll go to the next level because your
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  Speaker 1: ideology is affected by those with who you associate with.
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  Speaker 1: And whenever God gets ready to change your life, the
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  Speaker 1: first thing he says to you is, Abram, get away
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  Speaker 1: from your country and everything that's kin to what you
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: used to be because I'm getting ready to do something
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: that you can't relate to and your relatives are holding
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: you back. I want to break the system that stops
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: you from being able to go to the next level
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: by exposing you to something else and you got to
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: be willing to let go of them to go to
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: the next level because you think like them and you
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: dress like them and you act like them and you
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: vote like them and you walk like them and you
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: talk like them but you are not them Exposure is transformative.
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: You don't have to own it. Just be exposed to it.
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: Once you're exposed to something, it changes everything. It changes
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: the possibilities. It changes the potential.
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: Just exposure.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: That's how the children of the Hebrew children took over
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: the promised land. After years of wandering around in the wilderness,
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: God exposed them to the promised land before he gave
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: them the promised land.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: He exposed them to it.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: He sent spies over there to get a taste of it.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: And they said, what I'm allowing you to taste today.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: I'm going to give you tomorrow. I don't know who.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: This is for, but God is exposing you to something.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: You feel kind of funny and out of place right now.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: But what he's exposing you to, he's about to release
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: in your life. God exposed the Philippians to the gospel
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ by blowing up the prison, opening up
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: all the doors, breaking all the chains, and finding Paul
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: in there talking about, I'm cool with it because I
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: understand this prison is not about me. Do you understand
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: that your prison is not about you? Do you understand
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: that your prison could be your platform? That creates a
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: platform through which you can have influence with people that
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: you couldn't have influence with if you had not gone
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: through similar experiences with them. That God often transforms us
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: only after he has exposed us. Exposure is a powerful thing.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: In sociological situations we have come to understand that if
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: you put a whole bunch of poor people together the
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: neighborhood no matter how you fix it up will always
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: go down. Society teaches us that mixed income housing stabilizes
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: people because mixed income housing puts poor people and uneducated
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: people in an environment that you live across the street
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: from somebody who went to school and they make it
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: look sexy. And they make it look good. And they
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: make it look possible. And they make it look attainable.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: If you don't see it, you can't be it. But
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: if you can see it, you can become it. Exposure is... Oh,
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: y'all don't hear me. It's the impetus to everything. It's
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: not enough to talk to me about education. If you
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: don't expose me to educated people offering me an education
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: I don't have an appetite for will make me drop
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: out of school. But when the people across the street
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: went to school and when the people over there did
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: this and the people over there did that it becomes
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: possible because I'm exposed to it. And the whole city
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: was transformed just because God used the prison To expose
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: the gospel.
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: Fear not.
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: Do thyself no harm. The jailer comes in. He's ready
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: to kill himself. Paul says chill. Don't kill yourself.
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: We're all here.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: We have not escaped. I'm not leaving this place. Until
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: I get what God intended. Tell death. I'm not leaving
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: this place. Until I get what God intended. Tell them
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: people who hate you on your job. I am not
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: leaving this place until I get what God intended. Tell
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: those people who are trying to get you to drop
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: out of school. I'm not leaving this place until I
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: get what God intended. I am not leaving this city
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: until I accomplish what God sent me here to do.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: I am not going to quit preaching this sermon until
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: I accomplish what God sent me here to do. I'm
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: going to stand right here, get right up in your
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: face and tell you what he said until I get
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: accomplished what he's trying to do because I'm living in
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: his intention. I'm breathing in his intention. I'm moving in
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: his intention. I'm protected in his intention. He will sustain
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: me as long as I focus on what he intended
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: He will make everything work out for the good of
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: them that love the Lord who are called according to
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: his purpose which is intentions. So the safest place in
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: the whole wide world for me to be is in
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: his intentions. He is a searcher and a discerner of
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: the thoughts and the intents of our hearts. Why would
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: God search our intentions while people talk about our actions?
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: Amen.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: Oh, they didn't get that. You got that. I saw
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: that when they hit your head. They talk about my actions,
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: but God's word searches my intentions because my intentions are
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: more powerful than my actions. There is a gulf between
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: my intentions and my actions. While man looks at the
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: outward appearance, God looks at the heart because the heart
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: holds what I intended to be. While people talk about
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: what I did, God judges me by what I meant.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: I meant to be a good father. I'm meant to
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: be a good mother. I'm meant to be a good husband.
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: I'm meant to be a good member. I'm meant to
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: keep my word. I'm meant to be on time. I'm
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: meant to stand up to this test. I'm meant to
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: do it. I might stumble. I might fall short. I
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: may not have attained it, but I'm snatching after it.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: I'm straining after it. I'm reaching after it. I'm falling
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: down and getting back up again. Because I am where
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: I am going through what I'm going through.
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: Intentionally.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: So I might as well calm down. And I might
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: as well stop being restless. And I might as well
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: stop murmuring and complaining. And I might as well stop
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: kicking and squirming. Begging to get out of some place
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: that God went through all kind of trouble to get
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: me in. a lot of times you like people till
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: you meet them the idea of them is better than
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: the reality of them and you might admire them because
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: of what you saw.
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: Them do or what you heard.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: About them or what you read about them and then
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: when you meet them you find out they're not nearly
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: as nice as what you thought because exposure dispels myths
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: laughter You understand what I'm talking about? Exposure is important.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: All my parents in here make some noise. It's nice
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: when you can give your kids the best of everything.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: It's nice when you can send them to the best schools.
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: It's nice if you can buy them the best clothes.
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: But if you can just expose them, if they can
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: visit it, if they can taste it, if they can
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: walk in the room, if you can go to the
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: restaurant and.
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: Just have dessert.
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: Exposing people to the next level. Let's them know that
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: it's possible to go to the next level.
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: God used Paul's.
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: Situation to expose Philippi to a whole new radical idea
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: about Jesus Christ. And the first church started in a prison.
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: Good God of mercy.
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: Exposure.
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: All of them got saved. All of them got delivered
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: through what Paul suffers. It is to that Philippi that
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: he writes. I'm going to share another big word with you.
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: When you begin to understand the power of being exposed,
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: the next thing that I want you to get out
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: of this text is the word experience. Because exposure brought
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: about an experience. Because Paul was in the prison, they
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: had an experience with God. Can you imagine what it
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: would be like to be in the prison, been in
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: the prison for months or years? Everything's normal. Another every
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: day looks like the day before when you in jail,
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: you don't know whether it's Wednesday or Monday. Because the
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: routine is still the same every day. Everything is just normal.
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: No big shocks. No big waves. No big noise. And
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden there.
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: Is an earthquake.
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: And angels are shaking on the rooftop. And all the
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: doors are open up. And they had an undeniable experience
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: with God. That's what we don't have today. We have
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: an experience with church. But we don't have an experience
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: with God. If you have an experience with God. You
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: wouldn't be Christian today and Muslim tomorrow and serving God today.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: Now you're over here with this group over here. You
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: move this way and you move that way. Whoever talks
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: to you, that's what you think this week. But once
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: you've had a real experience with God. You don't need
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: to speak Greek or Hebrew to know that he opened
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: up the doors for me. He broke my chain. He
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: delivered me. He set me free. He healed my body.
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: He brought me through a storm. He delivered my soul.
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: He blessed me when I wasn't worthy.
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: I know that I know that I know. Amen.
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: They asked the blind man, they said, who is this
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: man that healed you? Why did he heal you? I
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: don't know nothing about that.
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: I don't know nothing about who he is. I don't
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: know nothing about whether he should have done that on
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: the Sabbath. All I know is that I once was blind.
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: That's all I know.
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: I'm wondering if there's anybody in this room that's had
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: an experience with God. I said I'm wondering if there's
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: anybody in this room that's had an undeniable experience with God.
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: And experience is.
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: Something that no one can take away from you.
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: I don't care how you laugh. I don't care how
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: you talk.
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: You cannot take away what I know that I know
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: that he did in my life. I know he did that.
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: I know he did that. I know he did that.
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: History people say I had an experience with God. I
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: had an experience with God. I had an experience with God.
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: I'm here to be a witness. I had an experience
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: with God. had an experience with God clap your hands
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: and give God a praise.
• 37:25
  Speaker 4: Right now I said somebody that had an experience with
• 37:35
  Speaker 4: God clap your hands and give him a praise right.
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: Now I had an experience with God. I'm not ashamed
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: to tell you I had an experience with God. It
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: might not have even been at church, but I had
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: an experience with God. It might have been in my bedroom,
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: but I had an experience with God. It might have
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: been in the hospital, but I had an experience with God.
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: I mean, I know God did this for me.
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: I couldn't do this for myself. Mama didn't do it.
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: Daddy didn't do it. God had to do this. If
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: you know what I'm talking.
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: About, make some noise.
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: Oh my God.
• 38:23
  Speaker 4: Oh my God.
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: Oh my God. I had an experience with God. He
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: woke me up in the middle of the night. I
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: had an experience with God. He brought me through something, Jan,
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: that I know I couldn't have got through on my own.
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: I didn't have the strength. I didn't have the resources.
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: I didn't have the contacts. And then all of a sudden,
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: God just opened up a way and made a.
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: Way out of no way. I had an experience with God.
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: I was on the verge of losing my mind, and
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: I had an experience with God. I almost killed myself,
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: but I had an experience with God.
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: Some of you had it in the prison.
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: Some of you had it in the courtroom. Some of
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: you had it in the boardroom. Some of you had
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: it in the hospital. But you had an experience with God.
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: see we don't do church like we used to do
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: church We used to wait around the altar until we
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: had an experience with God. Now we're so busy being
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: cute that we never really get down to have an
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: experience with God because it might mess up my tie
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: and it might mess up my shirt. But every now
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: and then you ought to rip off everything and just...
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: Ain't no way in the world I'm supposed to be
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: standing here. It didn't look like my trajectory didn't look
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: like I would end up right here. It didn't look
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: like I would end up right here, born on the
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: side of a mountain in the hills of West Virginia,
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: eating government cheese and eggs that came out of a
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: can with black writing on them. Y'all don't know what
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: I'm talking about. Dry powdered milk that they milked and put.
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: It in the refrigerator.
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: Ain't no way I'm supposed to be raised off of
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: government cheese and standing where I'm standing right now. My
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: mama wasn't famous. My daddy wasn't famous. My uncles and
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: aunts weren't famous. My grandparents were sharecroppers. Ain't no way
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: in the world I'm supposed to be standing where I
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: am right now.
• 40:50
  Speaker 2: But when you have an experience with God, God.
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: Has a way of taking you places you've never been
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: and showing you sight. I want to talk to some
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: people that where you are right now does not fit
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: your background make some noise where I am right now
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: doesn't fit my background it doesn't fit my situation I
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: should have been locked up I should have threw in
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: the towel I should have had a nervous breakdown but
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: I had an experience with God That experience with God
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: was so radical that they started a church in a
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: jail cell. You don't have to have stained glass windows.
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: You don't need padded pews. You don't need expensive equipment.
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: All you need is a real experience with God. It'll
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: turn your living room into a prayer room. It'll turn
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: your dishwasher into an altar when you've had an experience
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: with God.
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 42:21
  Speaker 3: Sit with me.
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: Give me a minute.
• 42:22
  Speaker 3: I'm almost finished. I got one more big word. Yeah.
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: The experience with God is what calls me.
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: To the next level. I called you. I called you.
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: I snatched you out for a reason.
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: You are here for a purpose. I got a plan
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: for your life. I'm sorry I disappointed you. I'm sorry
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: your dream didn't come true. But I sacrificed your dream
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: because I had a better dream for you than what
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: you had for yourself. And if you trust me, you're
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: going to end up better than you were in the
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: first place because I'm God and I can outthink you.
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: So I'm going to let you cry today so you
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: can dance tomorrow. But don't worry about it. Weeping may
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: endure for a night. But I want to talk to
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: some people who had your plans wrecked.
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: And you don't understand where you are. God has a
• 43:47
  Speaker 2: better plan.
• 43:52
  Speaker 4: Better go a little deeper.
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: I call you.
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: I called you up. No matter who tried to put
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: their foot on you, I called you up.
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: No matter who.
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: Said you weren't qualified, I called you up. No matter
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: who laughed at your dream, I called you up. I
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: called you, I called you, I called you. It was
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: yours before you got there. It was yours before you
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: moved in. I saved it for you. My God, I feel.
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: Like preaching this morning.
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: I want to talk to some people who think you
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: lost some stuff. You've been fishing all night and ain't
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: caught nothing. And God wanted you to have an experience
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: with him. But nothing that you need is going to
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: be lost. The fish are still on the other side
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: of the boat. If you wait on him, he's going
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: to give you back double for your trouble.
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: So let me show you this let me show you
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: this i gotta get to the point yeah i'm trying
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: to hear it but y'all keep shouting i'm trying to
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: hear it but y'all keep dancing I'm trying to hurry,
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: but chains keep falling off. I'm trying to hurry, but
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: doors keep opening up. I'm trying to hurry, but the
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: bounds are getting loose. I'm trying to hurry, but the
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: sick are being healed.
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: Glory! You see, Benny, none of what I said is
• 46:05
  Speaker 2: my point.
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: My point is, number three is evolution. The process that
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: comes after the experience of becoming what he called me to. See,
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: he will call you something on credit. He will call
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: you the head while you feel like the tail. He
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: will call you above while all kind of stuff is
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: over top of you. He will call you a conqueror
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: at the weakest moment in your life.
• 47:02
  Speaker 2: The call is the conflict. The call is the conflict.
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: Because it is the call that makes you grapple with becoming,
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: what do you call you? In 30 minutes, I can
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: perform a wedding. They can put a ring on your finger.
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: I can pronounce you husband and wife in 30 minutes.
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: But it'll take you 30 years to be one. Oh,
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: y'all don't want to hear that. Y'all don't want to
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: hear it. You're not a wife because you wore a
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: white dress and you got your hair done. What are
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: y'all saying? You snatched? I don't care how snatched you are.
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: You're a wife when you run out of money and
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: you still make a home. You're a wife when you're
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: backed in a corner and you're shoved to the wall
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: and you work through problems. You're a wife when you
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: feel like leaving but you don't leave. You're a wife
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: when you put the priorities of others above yourself.
• 48:18
  Speaker 2: You're a husband.
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: When you don't wake up in the morning and say,
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to work, you do what you got
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: to do. It takes you a while to become what
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: they call you. Just because you got a degree don't
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: make you a teacher. Just because you got a desk
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: in the classroom don't make you a teacher. Just because
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: you sit in a big office don't make you a boss.
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: The conflict is in becoming what they call you.
• 48:49
  Speaker 2: I count not myself. Don't get it twisted. I am
• 48:59
  Speaker 2: not there yet.
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: That's why I get away from all the church people
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: who try to tell me how much.
• 49:10
  Speaker 2: They are there.
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: Because if the guy who wrote the book If the
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: guy who wrote the book says. I want to tell
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: y'all something. I'm still working on this. Then don't tell
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: me you read the book. And you leaped ahead of
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: the one.
• 49:32
  Speaker 2: Who wrote the book. Paul says. I count not myself
• 49:43
  Speaker 2: to have apprehended.
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: I'm trying to snatch what snatched me. One of them
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: is over. Oh, that I may apprehend that which I
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: am apprehended of. That which I am apprehended of is done.
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: And I'm still trying to grasp.
• 50:12
  Speaker 2: What's done.
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: That's where I want to spend my last few minutes
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: with you.
• 50:19
  Speaker 2: The struggle is to grasp what he's done.
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: The strain, faith is, the strain is to stretch yourself
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: far enough to close the gap Between. Who he says
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: you are. And how you see yourself. That's the struggle.
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: That's the wrestling match. He snatched me. And I'm still
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: trying to grasp. What he's done.
• 51:12
  Speaker 2: I'm still trying to grasp it in my spirit.
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: I press toward the mark of the prize of the
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: high calling. I'm pressing toward it, but there's still some distance.
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: He's got me in a way that I haven't quite
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: grasped him.
• 51:35
  Speaker 2: Help me, Lord.
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: Somebody was walking me through And we were looking at
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: pictures of Megafest. And they said, that must have been
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: an amazing moment for you. And just tell me what
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: it felt like. I said, it felt like hell. Traffic
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: was backed up everywhere. Had to have police escorts to
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: get in the building. Over a hundred some thousand people
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: in the venue every night. Fire marshal about to shut
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: us down. Three venues filled to capacity. 10,000 children under 12.
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: It felt like hell. It felt nauseating. Budget was $ 10 million.
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: Have to reach it.
• 52:32
  Speaker 2: In a weekend. It felt like hell. Feels good now.
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 52:50
  Speaker 2: But while I'm.
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: Stretching and straining and pulling and reaching.
• 52:56
  Speaker 2: And wondering, can I do it?
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: And do I have what it takes? And can I
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: make it through this alive? It never feels good. People
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: who feel good too.
• 53:04
  Speaker 2: Soon are arrogant. They are arrogant.
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: They are foolish in the time of strain. Nothing feels good.
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: But after you suffered a while, God set out.
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: Do you hear what I'm saying to you? Do you
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: hear what I'm saying to you? Do you hear what
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: I'm saying to you? You ain't married the first year.
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: You're mad the first year.
• 53:41
  Speaker 2: Maybe I made a mistake.
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: This joke is crazy. He's sloppy. She's messy. Her mouth
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: gets on my nerves. You're not married the first year.
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: You ain't seen me sick yet. You ain't seen me
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: broke yet. You ain't seen me hurt shit. You haven't
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: seen me depressed shit. You haven't seen me bury my
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: loved ones shit. Every time you go through something, you
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: strain a little closer toward becoming what God called you
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: to be. It takes time and sweat and blood and tears.
• 54:25
  Speaker 2: And finally you say.
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: You're my wife. You're my wife for life. You don't
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: know that in 30 minutes. You don't know you a
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: mama till your child is in trouble. You don't know
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: what it means to be a mother until somebody attacks
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: your child. And you don't care whether your makeup is
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: on or not or whether your wig is cockeyed on
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: your head and you're driving down the street with your
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: wig on backwards saying, you must be out of your mind.
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: Where my mamas in the house make some noise?
• 55:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: I mean, real mamas. Not people who just had a baby.
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: I mean, real mamas. Make some noise.
• 55:26
  Speaker 2: Oh, my God. I need some real mamas. Let's say this.
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: This evolution is what Paul is talking about. This stretching.
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: This stretching process. This painful stretching process of grasping what
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: has grasped you. Of receiving what has received you. We
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: did the consecration last Sunday and consecrated two new pastors.
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: And it was an amazing service.
• 56:10
  Speaker 2: It was beautiful.
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: And I didn't get to talk to Dr. Anifus as
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: much as I did Pastor Bichon. But I kept asking him.
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: He said, I can't put it into words what happened.
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: I don't know what to say. I can't process it yet.
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: You can't process it yet. The service is over, but
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: I'm still trying to grasp what was that, what happened.
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: happened what just happened in my life that's why God
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: doesn't talk to you every day God went seven and
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: ten year intervals without speaking to Abram because when God
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: speaks to you.
• 56:54
  Speaker 2: It blows your mind.
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: And it takes you years to grasp what he said
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: and walk into what he called you to be. You
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: don't do that in 30 minutes. You don't do that
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: and put it on Snapchat. You don't do that and
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: put it on Facebook. It takes you years to understand
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: and become an all that I may apprehend. That which
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: I'm apprehended of. God brought Jacob up to the mountaintop
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: and told him, I know you spent your whole life
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: being called Jacob, which means trickster or con artist or
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: scam man. But God said, you are a prince. And
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: your real name is Israel. And they wrestled. They wrestled.
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: Because this is a wrestling match to find out who
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: you really are. To find out what you can really do.
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: To find out what you can really reach. It's a
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: wrestling match. It's not a degree. It's not a salary.
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: It's not a car. It's not a brand name coat.
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: It's not stuff.
• 58:07
  Speaker 2: It's not things.
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: That's why Paul said, I count all the things as things.
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: And it's not things. You can wear labels that don't
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: make you any more or any less than what you
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: were before you had them all. Because God said, I'll
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: make your name great. And it takes you a while
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: to understand who you are.
• 58:27
  Speaker 2: Can you grasp it?
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: I apologize to all the people in the room. who
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: are interested or called to go anywhere, this message must
• 58:40
  Speaker 1: be boring you to tears. Because the only people I
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: want to talk to are the people who have this nagging,
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: gnawing feeling that there's something else inside of me other
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: than where I'm at right now. And it does not
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: yet appear what I shall be. I might not look
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: like it right now.