Latest / Pst T.D Jakes -The POTTER'S HOUSE / How to See Gods Hand at Work in Your Most Difficult Moments _ T.D. Jakes Sermon

Transcript

How to See Gods Hand at Work in Your Most Difficult Moments _ T.D. Jakes Sermon · Pst T.D Jakes -The POTTER'S HOUSE

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Speaker 1: Life doesn't stop for you to hurt. It doesn't stop
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Speaker 1: turning because you lost a loved one. It doesn't stop
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Speaker 1: because you don't feel good. It's still happening. The bills
0:11
Speaker 1: are still coming. The problems are still coming. This is
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Speaker 1: not the end. Don't run from it. Don't hide from it.
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Speaker 1: Don't duck from it. Don't dodge from it. Don't run
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Speaker 1: trying to get away from it because you are not
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Speaker 1: being buried. You are being planted. So I was building
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Speaker 1: my church. The church of my dreams. The church beyond
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Speaker 1: my dreams. The church that I never thought I would
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Speaker 1: ever get to build. The church that was valued out
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Speaker 1: at millions and millions of dollars that I didn't have.
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Speaker 1: But I had the faith to believe that God did.
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Speaker 1: And it was going up and it was happening and
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Speaker 1: I was seeing it right before my eyes and it
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Speaker 1: was like being at the Red Sea when Moses stretched
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Speaker 1: forth his rod and the bills parted. And the contractors
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Speaker 1: got paid and the building was erected and it was
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Speaker 1: standing there. And the only bad thing about it, amidst
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Speaker 1: all of the pews and the colors and the picking
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Speaker 1: out of the architect's designs and going through proofs and
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Speaker 1: looking at materials and concepts, the only bad thing about
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Speaker 1: it is while the church was going up, my mother
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Speaker 1: was going down.
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Speaker 2: And you have to have.
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Speaker 1: Taken care of somebody with Alzheimer's to know that they
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Speaker 1: go away in layers. It's not like a car wreck
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Speaker 1: and they go all at once. It's not like a
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Speaker 1: heart attack and you find them and they're gone.
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Speaker 2: No, no, no, no.
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Speaker 1: She died a little bit every day. And every day
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Speaker 1: they were bringing me reports about what materials came in
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Speaker 1: and the pews are going to come in on Saturday
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Speaker 1: and the carpet is coming in and at the same
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Speaker 1: time the doctor was saying she's getting worse. And she
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Speaker 1: had lost the ability to remember to swallow and holding
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Speaker 1: food in her mouth And I would come home from
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Speaker 1: preaching and ministering and have to stick my finger in
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Speaker 1: her mouth and remove her food and take care of her.
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Speaker 1: And all kinds of articles were being written about the
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Speaker 1: smart church and what was going on. And they were
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Speaker 1: talking about what was going right. And they never saw
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Speaker 1: what was going wrong. They saw the wine and I
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Speaker 1: saw the crushing. I really saw the crushing You see,
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Speaker 1: my mother was not just my mother. She was my
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Speaker 1: best friend. She was my secret keeper and my confidant.
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Speaker 1: I knew everything about her and she knew everything about me.
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Speaker 1: And losing her was like losing me in pieces because
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Speaker 1: we were almost the same person. Even through Alzheimer's, we
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Speaker 1: could still continue to communicate. And when she lost her
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Speaker 1: ability to speak English and started speaking gibberish when I
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Speaker 1: would walk into the room, she'd look at me and say, hi, baby.
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Speaker 1: And I watched her fade away until she died in
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Speaker 1: my arms. And I held her until her body got cold.
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Speaker 1: And it was painful. And it was tough. And I
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Speaker 1: still had to teach Bible class. And I still had
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Speaker 1: to run revival. And I still had to preach on
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Speaker 1: Sunday morning. And I still had to conduct business. And
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Speaker 1: I still had to negotiate the affairs of the church.
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Speaker 1: And I was writing a book by her bedside while
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Speaker 1: she was in the hospital. I was writing while she
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Speaker 1: was dying in the room with her, right by her side.
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Speaker 1: You can't let go of one thing for the other.
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Speaker 1: You have to do both simultaneously. Life doesn't stop for
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Speaker 1: you to hurt. It doesn't stop turning because you lost
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Speaker 1: a loved one. It doesn't stop because you don't feel good.
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Speaker 1: It won't give you a leave of absence so that
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Speaker 1: you can get away from everything and shut it all down.
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Speaker 1: It's still happening. The bills are still coming. The problems
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Speaker 1: are still coming. I'm talking about crushing people. I'm talking
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Speaker 1: about pain. I'm talking about suffering. I'm talking about where
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Speaker 1: the rubber meets the road. I'm not talking about church.
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Speaker 1: I'm not talking about religion. I'm talking about life. Jesus
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Speaker 1: didn't say, I come that you might have church. He said,
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Speaker 1: I come that you might have life. And sometimes we're
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Speaker 1: great at having church, but we're having a terrible time
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Speaker 1: having life. We know how to clap. We know how
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Speaker 1: to sing. We know how to shout. But do we
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Speaker 1: know how to live? And God won't just be a
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Speaker 1: church experience. He's going to get in your life experience
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Speaker 1: to validate your church experience. So I asked myself, what
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Speaker 1: does this mean? How would I get through this? Can
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Speaker 1: I get through this? I have never had to get
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Speaker 1: through this before. I have never lived a day that
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Speaker 1: she wasn't in it.
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Speaker 2: Not one.
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Speaker 1: I have never been abandoned like that in my life.
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Speaker 1: And even though I was 40, for the first time
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Speaker 1: in my life, I was an orphan, a preaching orphan.
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Speaker 1: a teaching orphan, a traveling book writing orphan. And though
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Speaker 1: he slay me, yet shall I trust him.
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Speaker 1: Demolition is a messy thing.
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Speaker 1: If you get ready to remodel your house, expect to
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Speaker 1: have some mess. And when God gets ready to recycle you,
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Speaker 1: he does it through the things you suffer and the
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Speaker 1: things you endure. In the gospel of St. John, Jesus
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Speaker 1: identifies who he is. And he says, I am the
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Speaker 1: vine and ye are the branches. And every branch in
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Speaker 1: me that bear fruit, I purge it that it might
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Speaker 1: bring forth more fruit. That's the sentence that gets me
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Speaker 1: because it would seem like to me that if the
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Speaker 1: branch was doing good, you would leave it alone. But
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Speaker 1: he says every branch in me that beareth fruit.
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Speaker 2: I cut it back.
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Speaker 1: I cut it back not because I'm a serial killer,
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Speaker 1: not because I'm out to destroy the bush, not because
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Speaker 1: I hate grapes, not because I don't want it to win,
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Speaker 1: but I cut it back so that it might bring
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Speaker 1: forth more fruit. So we don't go through these crushings
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Speaker 1: because we are not his and we don't go through
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Speaker 1: these crushings because he doesn't love us and we don't
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Speaker 1: go through these crushings because we're not fruitful. He cuts
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Speaker 1: us because we are fruitful. Because as fruitful as we are,
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Speaker 1: he knows the potential of what is yet down inside
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Speaker 1: of us. And he knows how to get you to
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Speaker 1: that potential. And he stops you from being safe. And
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Speaker 1: he stops you from being satisfied. You have to give
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Speaker 1: up safety if you're going to walk with God.
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Speaker 2: Amen.
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Speaker 1: You have to trust him that he is the farmer,
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Speaker 1: that he knows what he's doing. And when he says
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Speaker 1: that I am the vine and you are the branches,
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Speaker 1: he says, my father is the husbandman and the husbandman
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Speaker 1: is the farmer. He's the vintner. He's the one that
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Speaker 1: controls the process. He knows exactly where to cut to
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Speaker 1: make you more fruitful. When I was a little boy,
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Speaker 1: I went out in the yard trying to do like
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Speaker 1: my mother who pruned the rose bushes. I decided I
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Speaker 1: would help her out and go prune the rose bushes.
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Speaker 1: And when she came home from work, I had almost
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Speaker 1: killed the bush. I had almost killed the bush. I
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Speaker 1: was a bad little boy. You can tell. Can't you imagine?
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Speaker 1: Just shrink me down to about eight years old. You
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Speaker 1: got trouble on your hands. I was a bad little boy.
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Speaker 1: I tore the bush apart. And she was furious with me.
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Speaker 1: And I said, why are you furious with me when
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Speaker 1: I'm only doing what you did? She said, no, you're
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Speaker 1: not doing what I did because I know where to cut. See,
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Speaker 1: the vintner knows where to cut. It's not the cut alone.
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Speaker 1: You can't just cut it anywhere. He knows where to
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Speaker 1: cut and he knows when to cut and he knows
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Speaker 1: how to cut to bring you to the place that
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Speaker 1: you can be more fruitful because ultimately he wants you
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Speaker 1: to have enough fruit that we can become wine. That
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Speaker 1: we can enter into that state of being that lasts
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Speaker 1: for years and years forever. and hundreds of years as wine.
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Speaker 1: But if I remain, the grape power will go bad.
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Speaker 1: So it is the only fruit that is raised to die.
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Speaker 1: It is raised to be crushed. It is meant to
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Speaker 1: be stepped on. It is meant to be bruised. If
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Speaker 1: grapes could scream, they would cry out from the pain
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Speaker 1: of becoming wine. But if they can endure the pain
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Speaker 1: of the crushing and trust the vidner who is God
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Speaker 1: our father to take me through this process, my latter
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Speaker 1: days will be greater than my former days. And finally,
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Speaker 1: I'll be more valuable and I'll be worth more. And
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Speaker 1: I may get shipped abroad and I may be served
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Speaker 1: to kings and princes and set before great men only
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Speaker 1: because I've been crushed. I may be served at the
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Speaker 1: finest tables. I may be used in the greatest restaurants
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Speaker 1: only because I endured the crushing. Jesus connects us to
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Speaker 1: the Father by helping us to understand what his role
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Speaker 1: is in our life so that we won't misunderstand the knife,
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Speaker 1: so that we will understand that the knife is in
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Speaker 1: the right hand. That sometimes when God approaches you, he
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Speaker 1: approaches you and he looks like a slayer because he's
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Speaker 1: coming with something that hurts. And you have to trust
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Speaker 1: his character when you don't understand his methods. You have
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Speaker 1: to understand his acts by believing in his ways. Because
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Speaker 1: the husbandman is our father. He cuts us in all
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Speaker 1: the right places. And we can do nothing without him.
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Speaker 1: We can be nothing without him. We cannot reach the
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Speaker 1: height and the hope of the purpose of our calling
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Speaker 1: without him because only the manufacturer knows how fast the
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Speaker 1: car will go. He has built it and designed it
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Speaker 1: to accomplish more than the foot that's got its pressure
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Speaker 1: on the pedal. He has designed the car to exceed
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Speaker 1: the pace that you may be willing to drive. And
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Speaker 1: so if you want to know how fast it can go,
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Speaker 1: you have to talk to the manufacturer because he designed
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Speaker 1: it with enough horsepower to do more things than you
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Speaker 1: may even be capable of doing. And God pushes us
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Speaker 1: out of our comfort zone by crushing us. Jesus became
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Speaker 1: human so that he could understand what it was like
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Speaker 1: to be human. He experienced our trials, our temptations, our heartaches,
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Speaker 1: our pain, so that he would be an example for us.
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Speaker 1: He is the fruition of God's word. He proves himself
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Speaker 1: in us. He walks it out right in front of
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Speaker 1: us to show us that it can be done. He
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Speaker 1: allows himself to be beaten right in front of us.
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Speaker 1: And we got to see him be beaten. And we
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Speaker 1: got to see him be ridiculed and laughed at and
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Speaker 1: be popular and then unpopular and loved and then hated
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Speaker 1: so that we would understand that all of this is
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Speaker 1: part of becoming wise. My wife is a neat freak.
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Speaker 1: She wants everything in place. I think the house is
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Speaker 1: clean even when she says it's not. And she'll be
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Speaker 1: complaining about stuff that I think is no big deal.
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Speaker 1: Because she likes everything nice and neat. Now don't get
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Speaker 1: me wrong, I'm not a messy person. Well, maybe a
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Speaker 1: little bit. But I like it nice even though I'm messy.
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Speaker 1: I like it nice and neat. I like life nice
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Speaker 1: and neat and packaged and beautiful and smelling good.
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Speaker 2: And that's not how it happens.
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Speaker 1: Any winemaker will tell you that making wine is a
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Speaker 1: dirty business. It's a messy business. It's a business that
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Speaker 1: leaves stains in your clothes and scratches in your skin.
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Speaker 1: That making wine happens in dirty places, not nice places. Neat, comfortable,
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Speaker 1: lazy boy chair, laid back remote control places. That's not
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Speaker 1: how you become wine. We have a God who works
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Speaker 1: in dirty places. From the very first time we meet
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Speaker 1: him in the book of Genesis, we see him stooping down,
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Speaker 1: playing in the dirt. This is the first indication that
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Speaker 1: God is not afraid to work in dirty places. Amen.
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Speaker 1: Over and over again, we get the metaphor of him
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Speaker 1: being a farmer of seed, of seed time and harvest,
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Speaker 1: of sowing and reaping.
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Speaker 2: To let you know that God works in the dirt.
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Speaker 1: And when you pray to stay out of the dirt,
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Speaker 1: you're praying to stay away from God because he stoops down.
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Speaker 2: To the dirt.
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Speaker 1: And he makes you in the dirt and he shapes
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Speaker 1: you in the dirt and he forms you in the
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Speaker 1: dirt and he matures you in the dirt and he
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Speaker 1: stabilizes you in the dirt like any wine dresser would.
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Speaker 1: If a wine dresser is not willing to get dirty,
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Speaker 1: he'll never have the grapes. And if you don't have
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Speaker 1: the grapes, you won't have the wine because the wine
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Speaker 1: means that you got to step on it and you
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Speaker 1: got to crush it and your feet are stained with
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Speaker 1: the pressure. Until both the winemaker and the grape have
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Speaker 1: experienced the same stain. And he was wounded for our transgressions.
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Speaker 1: And he was bruised for our iniquities. And the chastisement
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Speaker 1: of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes,
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Speaker 1: we are healed. Jesus became human so that he could
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Speaker 1: be stained with the stain that we experience. So that
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Speaker 1: when we cry out to him, he can be touched
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Speaker 1: by the feeling of our infirmity. He wanted to know
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Speaker 1: what that was like. God had never slept, not one night.
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Speaker 1: Until he came in the form of Jesus, he didn't
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Speaker 1: know what tired felt like. He didn't know what sleep
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Speaker 1: felt like. He didn't know what fear felt like. He
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Speaker 1: didn't know what stress felt like. And he came so
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Speaker 1: he could answer his own question, Adam, where art thou?
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Speaker 1: And so he came walking down from time, from eternity
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Speaker 1: into time, so that he could have a human experience
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Speaker 1: so that we could have a conversation. He is the
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Speaker 1: seed of Abraham. Amen. And God knows how to develop
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Speaker 1: that seed. He knew how to take it through 42 generations.
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Speaker 1: And you're trying to get there in 42 days. And
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Speaker 1: Jesus came through 42 generations. And you think you're late
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Speaker 1: and you think you're behind and you think you're off
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Speaker 1: schedule and you.
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Speaker 2: Think you missed your mark.
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Speaker 1: Jesus came through 42 generations to be the seed of Abraham.
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Speaker 1: He grew and matured. He started as a baby. And
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Speaker 1: most people don't want to start small. The Lord of glory,
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Speaker 1: the King of glory, the great I am, the mighty one,
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Speaker 1: the holy one, the consolation of Israel came in a
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Speaker 1: form of a baby. He came small. He came smaller
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Speaker 1: than the mother he would redeem. He came smaller than
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Speaker 1: the people that he would deliver. And it is no
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Speaker 1: accident that he was born in a manger because he
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Speaker 1: was a lamb. Where else would a lamb be born?
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Speaker 1: And he teaches us as he grows and as he develops.
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Speaker 1: The opportunity to grow happens in your life, in your home,
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Speaker 1: in your heart, in your spirit. And you are being planted,
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Speaker 1: but you feel like you're being buried. Have you ever
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Speaker 1: noticed that there is no difference in the motion between
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Speaker 1: planting and burying? When you plant a seed, it feels buried,
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Speaker 1: but it was planted to rise again. The fitner understands
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Speaker 1: that he is not a mortician. And even though he
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Speaker 1: takes the seed and digs a hole and puts the
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Speaker 1: seed down in the hole and covers it up with dirt,
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Speaker 1: he's not a mortician. He's planted it and not buried it.
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Speaker 1: And most of us think we are being buried when
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Speaker 1: in fact we are only being planted. And when you
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Speaker 1: are planted, that means you're going to get up again.
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Speaker 1: And when you are planted, that means you're going to
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Speaker 1: come forth again. And when you are planted, that means
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Speaker 1: that this is not how the story ends. This is
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Speaker 1: not the end. Don't run from it. Don't hide from it.
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Speaker 1: Don't duck from it. Don't dodge from it. Don't run
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Speaker 1: trying to get away from it because you are not
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Speaker 1: being buried. You are being planted. And to God be
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Speaker 1: the glory. For the things he has done. Even when
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Speaker 1: it hurts. That's crushing. This is the end. You're going
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Speaker 1: to lose everything. You won't come out of this. You're
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Speaker 1: not smart enough. You're not bright enough. You waited too late.
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Speaker 1: You should have started younger. Those are the kind of
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Speaker 1: voices that we all live with. For me, our ministry
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Speaker 1: was growing. We lived in a nice house, nice house
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Speaker 1: we'd ever had. Driving a nice car. Living from paycheck
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Speaker 1: to paycheck, making it. Every night. I lay down at night.
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Speaker 1: After she goes to sleep, I hear the voices. Those
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Speaker 1: voices are the kind of voices that stop you from
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Speaker 1: buying into your own life. Stop you from enjoying the
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Speaker 1: good times and believing that they will last. The anxiety
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Speaker 1: and the pressure and the strength that it took to
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Speaker 1: get from where you were to where you are doesn't
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Speaker 1: go away so you don't. really believe it's yours. You're
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Speaker 1: driving it but you don't really believe it's yours and
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Speaker 1: you're scared to relax and really rest in whatever it
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Speaker 1: is or whoever it is because everything else went away.
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Speaker 1: Maybe this will go away too. We talk about faith
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Speaker 1: for bad times but you also need faith in good times.
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Speaker 1: to actually believe the goodness of God is not going
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Speaker 1: anywhere to silence the voices they keep saying you'll never
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Speaker 1: make it you're about to lose everything fear gets in
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Speaker 1: your heart see see I know what it's like to
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Speaker 1: be poor And I know what it's like to be without.
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Speaker 1: And I know what it's like not to have dinner
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Speaker 1: for my kids. Returning to that, the idea that that
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Speaker 1: could happen is terrifying. And the enemy always has some
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Speaker 1: sort of tool or memory or situation that he uses
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Speaker 1: to terrify you, even though the good times are here
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Speaker 1: and the dream is there, the blessing is there and
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Speaker 1: the goodness is there. But there's always this haunting, nagging,
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Speaker 1: defiance that says, don't you relax. You're not worth it.
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Speaker 1: You don't deserve it. And it's not going to last.
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Speaker 1: Resting in what God has done is often more difficult
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Speaker 1: than receiving what God has done. To rest in it.
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Speaker 1: To believe that it will last. To believe that you
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Speaker 1: will last, that love will last, that life will last,
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Speaker 1: that good times will come, that things will be better.
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Speaker 1: It's difficult because of the voices. And you are what
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Speaker 1: you eat, and the voices are the food that feeds
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Speaker 1: your faith or fear. So if you want to change
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Speaker 1: your diet, you can change your outcome. But you have
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Speaker 1: to stop talking to yourself the way you do. Because
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Speaker 1: if you continue to talk to yourself the way you do,
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Speaker 1: you will always be where you've always been. It is
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Speaker 1: what you say within yourself that heals you. The woman
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Speaker 1: with the issue of blood said to herself, if I
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Speaker 1: can but touch the hem of his garment, I'll be
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Speaker 1: made whole. There was no scripture to validate that. She
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Speaker 1: could say, she wasn't quoting Deuteronomy or numbers or anything
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Speaker 1: like that. It's just something she said to herself. There
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Speaker 1: was no doctrine around it. We've never seen that happen before.
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Speaker 1: But she said to herself, if I can but touch
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Speaker 1: the hem of his garment, I'll be made whole. And
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Speaker 1: all the while she was crawling, she kept saying over
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Speaker 1: and over again, if I can just touch, if I
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Speaker 1: can just touch, if I can just touch, if I
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Speaker 1: can just touch.
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Speaker 2: The hem of his garment.
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Speaker 1: And without Jesus' permission, And without the support of the disciples.
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Speaker 2: She creeped up on him and snatched a miracle. Snatched it.
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Speaker 1: Snatched it because of what she said to herself. You
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Speaker 1: see those voices that say what you can't do, what
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Speaker 1: you can't have, what you can't be, what's not going
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Speaker 1: to last, what's not going to work is how the
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Speaker 1: enemy pulverizes the promises of God in your life. And
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Speaker 1: it takes word to combat word. That's why when Jesus
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Speaker 1: was in the wilderness and Satan was throwing word at him,
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Speaker 1: he was throwing word back. And what we have to
23:09
Speaker 1: do is put word on word. I'm blessed. I'm blessed
23:15
Speaker 1: in the city. I'm blessed in the field. I'm blessed
23:17
Speaker 1: in my uprising. I'm blessed in my down setting. I'll
23:20
Speaker 1: be blessed into my old age. I'll be blessed when
23:22
Speaker 1: I'm an old man. My grandchildren will be blessed. My
23:26
Speaker 1: body is blessed. My body is, my mind is blessed.
23:29
Speaker 1: My head is blessed. I got this. I can handle it.
23:32
Speaker 1: I can do it. Bring it on.
23:34
Speaker 2: Here it is.
23:36
Speaker 1: That kind of talk saying that to yourself drives back
23:41
Speaker 1: the other voices of negativity that we all have creep
23:45
Speaker 1: up behind us and tell us that we're not capable
23:49
Speaker 1: and we're not competent and we're not gifted enough and
23:53
Speaker 1: we're not good enough or we waited too late or
23:55
Speaker 1: God is punishing us to talk back to those voices
24:01
Speaker 1: shuts the enemy down the pressure I was going through
24:07
Speaker 1: I was causing because the pressure I was going through
24:12
Speaker 1: was coming from the things that I allowed to reverberate
24:15
Speaker 1: in my head. And I'm wondering if there are things
24:18
Speaker 1: echoing in your head right now that are stopping you
24:21
Speaker 1: from living your best life because you will not silence
24:25
Speaker 1: them by speaking back. You shall have whatever you say.
24:35
Speaker 1: So says the word of God. you shall have whatever
24:39
Speaker 1: you say. If it's betrayal, you shall have whatever you say.
24:45
Speaker 1: If it's a life without love, you shall have whatever
24:49
Speaker 1: you say. It doesn't just work positively. It also works negatively.
24:53
Speaker 1: You shall have whatever you say. She touched him and
24:56
Speaker 1: she was made whole. And he says, who touched me?
25:03
Speaker 1: Which means he's oblivious to what's going on. This is
25:06
Speaker 1: all happening in her head. The whole thing happened in
25:10
Speaker 1: her head and the Lord who is omniscient asked a question,
25:14
Speaker 1: who touched me? And the disciples wanting to be important
25:19
Speaker 1: answered him, said everybody touched you. He said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
25:23
Speaker 1: That's not what I'm talking about. Everybody around me don't
25:25
Speaker 1: touch me. Everybody around me don't touch me. You've been set.
25:29
Speaker 1: Everybody around me don't touch me. Just because you're around
25:32
Speaker 1: me don't mean you touch me. Somebody touch me. Somebody
25:35
Speaker 1: touch me. And she came out from the cross sheepishly
25:38
Speaker 1: and said it was me. It was me. She got
25:43
Speaker 1: a miracle while Jesus wasn't looking because of what she
25:49
Speaker 1: said to herself. That's what I want you to see.
25:53
Speaker 1: And stop letting those other words crush you. When I
26:01
Speaker 1: say excellent, you say excellent.
26:03
Speaker 2: Excellent.
26:04
Speaker 1: Excellent.
26:05
Speaker 2: Excellent.
26:06
Speaker 1: Excellent. The problem is, we all said the same word,
26:12
Speaker 1: but we don't all mean the same thing. Because what
26:16
Speaker 1: you call excellent, what I call excellent, may be two
26:19
Speaker 1: different things based on the lives we've lived, the things
26:22
Speaker 1: we've experienced, the places we've been exposed to, our ideas
26:28
Speaker 1: of excellent may vary drastically based on how we define excellence.
26:34
Speaker 1: The problem with the English language is that it is
26:37
Speaker 1: limited to interpretation. So how do you know when I
26:42
Speaker 1: say I love you that I mean what you meant
26:43
Speaker 1: when you said you love me? So we're having a
26:48
Speaker 1: conversation and I'm making an assumption that your love is
26:51
Speaker 1: my love and it may not be at all. Or
26:54
Speaker 1: we're planning a banquet and I make an assumption that
26:58
Speaker 1: your excellent is my excellent and it may not be
27:02
Speaker 1: at all. Because the reality about it is your definition
27:09
Speaker 1: of excellent rises no higher than your level of exposure.
27:16
Speaker 1: Whatever you've been exposed to, that becomes the new paradigm
27:20
Speaker 1: of what excellent is to you. And it shifts from
27:24
Speaker 1: day to day. And the hardest thing in the world
27:27
Speaker 1: is to have a conversation with somebody and all you
27:30
Speaker 1: have to use is words. Because I'm not sure that
27:36
Speaker 1: you mean what I mean when I say excellent. I'm
27:40
Speaker 1: not sure that you mean what I mean when I
27:43
Speaker 1: say love. I'm not sure you mean what I mean
27:46
Speaker 1: when I say loyal. I'm not sure you mean what
27:51
Speaker 1: I mean When I say hurt, because all we have.
27:59
Speaker 2: Is words.
28:02
Speaker 1: The reality is we have to make up in our
28:06
Speaker 1: mind that whatever our definition of excellence is, it's going
28:12
Speaker 1: to change. It's going to get higher. It's going to
28:17
Speaker 1: get broader. It's going to get better. It's going to
28:19
Speaker 1: be different or it's going to go down And a
28:24
Speaker 1: lot of it depends on who you hang around and
28:27
Speaker 1: what you're exposed to. There are people that take you up.
28:29
Speaker 1: There are people that bring you down. They bring you
28:31
Speaker 1: down to their level of excellence. That's what a job
28:35
Speaker 1: description for a hater looks like. The job description of
28:39
Speaker 1: the hater is to bring you down to the level
28:43
Speaker 1: that they are on. So that while they're trying to
28:47
Speaker 1: pull you down, I'm trying to get up. And if
28:51
Speaker 1: I'm going to get up, I have to know that
28:52
Speaker 1: there's going to be a cost in getting up. I'm
28:55
Speaker 1: going to have to put my back to it or
28:57
Speaker 1: it's not going to happen. God wants somebody to work
28:59
Speaker 1: with him and give what it takes to make it happen.
29:04
Speaker 2: Is it worth it? Absolutely.
29:09
Speaker 1: I do not want to die. Let me explain. I
29:14
Speaker 1: was born in between two dead babies. The baby before
29:17
Speaker 1: me died, the baby after me died. I was raised
29:20
Speaker 1: by a dying father. And I do not want to
29:25
Speaker 1: live my life and die. And at the last moment
29:29
Speaker 1: of my life, ask this question, wonder what would have
29:33
Speaker 1: happened if I'd have pushed a little harder. I don't
29:38
Speaker 1: want to get down to the end of the road
29:40
Speaker 1: and wonder what would have happened if I'd have pushed
29:44
Speaker 1: a little harder. I don't want to wonder that. I
29:47
Speaker 1: want to get down to the end of the road
29:49
Speaker 1: like Paul and say I fought a good fight. I
29:52
Speaker 1: kept the faith. I finished my course. And now laid
29:55
Speaker 1: up for me is a crown of righteousness in the heaven.
29:58
Speaker 1: I don't want to get down to my last breath
30:00
Speaker 1: and wonder what would have happened if I went back
30:03
Speaker 1: to school, if I took a course, if I worked
30:05
Speaker 1: a little harder, if I changed the way I dress,
30:07
Speaker 1: if I changed the way I talk to people, if
30:09
Speaker 1: I forgave somebody, if I released somebody.
30:11
Speaker 2: I don't want to wonder about nothing. Because that is excellence.
30:22
Speaker 1: Excellence is to come out with the conclusion, I have
30:28
Speaker 1: no regrets. I have no.
30:35
Speaker 2: Regrets.
30:38
Speaker 1: The wine he is producing is greater than the pain
30:41
Speaker 1: you are experiencing. And if you allow him to take
30:46
Speaker 1: you through the process, when he says excellence, And you say, excellent.
30:53
Speaker 2: They will mean the same thing.
30:59
Speaker 1: The dying words of the thief on the cross was
31:02
Speaker 1: remember me. The words of Jesus at the last supper
31:09
Speaker 1: is as often as you do this, you do this
31:12
Speaker 1: in remembrance of me. What does remember mean? Remember, re-put
31:22
Speaker 1: back together again. Remember me. When we remember what God
31:32
Speaker 1: has done, that becomes the foundation on which we build
31:35
Speaker 1: our lives. Now, a house is not a foundation and
31:40
Speaker 1: nobody can live in a foundation, but it has to
31:42
Speaker 1: have a foundation in order to be a house. And
31:45
Speaker 1: I'm not suggesting that your life begins, ends, and all
31:49
Speaker 1: through the middle It's nothing but.
31:50
Speaker 2: Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
31:51
Speaker 1: Because you got to take out the trash. You got
31:53
Speaker 1: to brush your teeth. You got to comb your hair.
31:55
Speaker 1: You got to get your nails done. You got to
31:56
Speaker 1: get your feet done. Or you're going to cut your
31:58
Speaker 1: blankets when you're laying in bed at night. All of
32:00
Speaker 1: that happens. But I am saying that God is the foundation.
32:06
Speaker 1: When God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt,
32:09
Speaker 1: he did it as a foundation for them to remember.
32:12
Speaker 1: And all through the Old Testament, he says over and
32:14
Speaker 1: over again, am I not the God who brought you
32:17
Speaker 1: out from the Red Sea? Am I not the God
32:20
Speaker 1: who brought you out by my own hand and my
32:23
Speaker 1: strong arm? It becomes a point of reference to which
32:26
Speaker 1: you face the future. Remembering what he did in the past,
32:30
Speaker 1: remembering it, putting it back together again, again and again
32:34
Speaker 1: and recreating it. as a point of reference to fight from,
32:38
Speaker 1: to stand from, to drive from, to preach from, to
32:42
Speaker 1: teach from. What do you have to remember? It's important
32:47
Speaker 1: that you have something to remember, something on God's resume
32:51
Speaker 1: that you know, that you know, that you know that
32:53
Speaker 1: he did for you. And it tells you that if
32:55
Speaker 1: God would do that, he can do this. If he
32:59
Speaker 1: can drive back the Red Sea and bring me across
33:01
Speaker 1: on dry land, then he can fight you off. He
33:04
Speaker 1: can deal with the Amalekites and the Hittites and the
33:06
Speaker 1: Jebusites and the Gerashites. God does certain things so you
33:10
Speaker 1: will have something to remember, a point of reference through
33:13
Speaker 1: which you build your life upon. And you stand on
33:16
Speaker 1: it and you say, I'm not sure about this and
33:18
Speaker 1: I'm not sure about that. But this one thing I
33:21
Speaker 1: do know. You have to know this. You have to
33:24
Speaker 1: know this in your knower. You have to know this
33:27
Speaker 1: when your girlfriend doesn't know it. When your prayer warriors
33:29
Speaker 1: don't know it. When your children don't know it. When
33:31
Speaker 1: your mama doesn't know it. Something that you know, that
33:34
Speaker 1: you know, that you know. becomes the catalyst against the trials,
33:38
Speaker 1: against the traumas, against the sleepless nights, against the virus,
33:43
Speaker 1: against the crisis, against the times that we're living in.
33:46
Speaker 1: We have been living in the most perilous times that
33:49
Speaker 1: we have seen in a hundred years. We are fighting
33:52
Speaker 1: an invisible enemy. And that enemy has friends that has
33:57
Speaker 1: created trauma and distress until we are overwhelmed even when
34:02
Speaker 1: nothing else is going wrong. Just the feeling that other
34:05
Speaker 1: people are going wrong gives us a certain degree of
34:08
Speaker 1: stress and trauma. How do we stand up against this
34:12
Speaker 1: unseen foe we fight right now? I'm talking about your emotions,
34:16
Speaker 1: your will, your spirit, your fight, your drive, your tenacity,
34:20
Speaker 1: your sense of normalcy, your courage to get out of
34:23
Speaker 1: the house, your courage to get out of the bed,
34:25
Speaker 1: the courage to continue when there's a threat requires that
34:33
Speaker 1: there's something about God that you have to remember. For
34:38
Speaker 1: the children of Israel, it was the blood of the
34:41
Speaker 1: lamb that was painted on the doorposts. And the angel
34:45
Speaker 1: passed by and said, when I see the blood, I
34:47
Speaker 1: will pass over you. It was walking out to the
34:51
Speaker 1: Red Sea and hearing 600 chosen chariots coming with Pharaoh
34:55
Speaker 1: chasing them down, saying, I'm going to get you back.
34:59
Speaker 1: He was going to get them back. But let me
35:00
Speaker 1: tell you a secret. He was also trying to get
35:02
Speaker 1: back the wealth they'd taken. For the wealth of the
35:06
Speaker 1: unjust had been laid up for the just. And they
35:08
Speaker 1: had borrowed all the gold and all the silver and
35:10
Speaker 1: they had broken the GDP of Egypt. It wasn't just
35:14
Speaker 1: the slaves he wanted. He wanted the money back. He
35:17
Speaker 1: wanted the jewels. He wanted the gold. He wanted the silver.
35:20
Speaker 1: He wanted the things that the tabernacle would actually end
35:22
Speaker 1: up being built by. He was trying to get it
35:24
Speaker 1: all back. He could have got some more slaves anywhere.
35:27
Speaker 1: He was trying to get what they had borrowed. They
35:29
Speaker 1: had borrowed the whole economy of Egypt was running through
35:33
Speaker 1: the Red Sea. For the wealth of the unjust is
35:37
Speaker 1: laid up for the just. And when God brings you out,
35:40
Speaker 1: he brings out enough for your children. The Bible says
35:43
Speaker 1: that God put so much wealth on them that their
35:46
Speaker 1: children had to carry on their backs the wealth that
35:49
Speaker 1: God placed on them. I want the kind of blessing
35:51
Speaker 1: that affects my children and my children's children and my
35:55
Speaker 1: children's children's children. I want my grandchildren to blow kisses
36:00
Speaker 1: at my picture when I'm dead and gone. I want
36:02
Speaker 1: them to be able to say if it hadn't been
36:04
Speaker 1: for that old man, I'd have never been able to
36:06
Speaker 1: go to college. I'd have never been able to get
36:08
Speaker 1: a job. I'd have never been able to work for Google.
36:11
Speaker 1: I'd have never been able to work for Xerox. I'd
36:12
Speaker 1: have never been able to preach the gospel. I would
36:14
Speaker 1: have never been able.
36:15
Speaker 2: To do it.
36:17
Speaker 1: I want that for them. So I have to have
36:20
Speaker 1: something to remember that I can count on that won't break.
36:26
Speaker 1: And I want to ask you, what do you remember
36:30
Speaker 1: when life get hard? When things get tough, when friends
36:35
Speaker 1: get few, there ought to be something in your life
36:39
Speaker 1: that you remember God brought you through or brought you
36:42
Speaker 1: from or brought you out of that feeds you. That
36:48
Speaker 1: is the foundation that makes you to rise above the
36:52
Speaker 1: crushing and turns grape juice into absolute wine. Let's talk
37:05
Speaker 1: about the historic feast and parties of ancient Israel and
37:10
Speaker 1: understand that the harvest seasons were huge events, not just
37:14
Speaker 1: work events. They were moments of elaborate celebrations and people
37:18
Speaker 1: would come from miles and miles around to appreciate what
37:22
Speaker 1: God had done because they so recognized that the harvest
37:25
Speaker 1: was at the mercy of God sending the rain. And
37:30
Speaker 1: the big parties that they would have would last for
37:32
Speaker 1: days and days and days because they had experienced drought.
37:38
Speaker 1: And nothing causes you to enjoy harvest like having experienced drought.
37:46
Speaker 1: It gives you a spirit of gratitude and appreciation. If
37:48
Speaker 1: you've never been through a drought, you'll think you did
37:50
Speaker 1: it because of your own goodness. But once you've been
37:53
Speaker 1: in a drought, you know that you're at the mercy
37:55
Speaker 1: of the Lord. Amen. Usually representing a key moment in
37:59
Speaker 1: Jewish history was symbolic of the fact that we are
38:03
Speaker 1: dependent upon God to meet every need. Our harvest depends
38:08
Speaker 1: on Him. Our increase depends on Him. Our growth depends
38:13
Speaker 1: on Him. Our promotions depend on Him. Our businesses depend
38:18
Speaker 1: on Him. The health of our children depend on Him.
38:21
Speaker 1: Our livelihood. And so we give Him the glory. And
38:26
Speaker 1: particularly in Israel, these were robust parties. Huge celebration. The
38:33
Speaker 1: Master Venter is celebrating today. You as well. He's celebrating you.
38:39
Speaker 1: He's got a plan for your life. You're not an afterthought.
38:42
Speaker 1: You're not an accident. You're not an incident. He has
38:46
Speaker 1: a plan for you. So imagine the collaborative effort of
38:51
Speaker 1: God celebrating his children while they're celebrating him. It's much
38:56
Speaker 1: like praise and worship that we can praise until God
39:00
Speaker 1: turns around.
39:00
Speaker 2: On his throne. Yes, sir.
39:04
Speaker 1: Dance till God dances with you. That's a celebration. In Israel,
39:09
Speaker 1: they had seven different kinds of feasts. And I just
39:12
Speaker 1: want to name them quickly so that you might know
39:16
Speaker 1: them and remember them. You've got the Feast of the Passover.
39:19
Speaker 1: You've got the Feast of Unleavened Bread. You've got the
39:22
Speaker 1: Feast of First Fruits. You've got the Feast of Weeks
39:26
Speaker 1: or Pentecost. Rosh Hashanah, which is the Feast of Trumpets.
39:31
Speaker 1: The Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. The Feast of Tabernacles.
39:36
Speaker 1: All of these feasts point to different attributes and aspects
39:41
Speaker 1: of their faith and their trust and their collaborative living
39:45
Speaker 1: with God. It is no incident that the first miracle
39:50
Speaker 1: that we see Jesus do occurs.
39:52
Speaker 2: At a party.
39:54
Speaker 1: After John 1, 1 and talking about in the beginning
39:56
Speaker 1: was the word and the word was with God and
39:58
Speaker 1: the word was God. All things were made by him
40:01
Speaker 1: and without him was not anything made that was made.
40:04
Speaker 1: In him was life and the life was the light
40:06
Speaker 1: of men. And the light shined in darkness and the
40:08
Speaker 1: darkness comprehended it not. Now there was a man who
40:11
Speaker 1: was sent from God. His name was John. He was
40:14
Speaker 1: not that light, but he was sent to bear witness
40:16
Speaker 1: of that light. saying there is one coming after me
40:19
Speaker 1: who's mightier than I, whose shoes I'm not worthy.
40:21
Speaker 2: To latch it.
40:23
Speaker 1: I will indeed baptize you with water, but he will
40:25
Speaker 1: baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. And
40:29
Speaker 1: finally at 114, and the word was made flesh and
40:34
Speaker 1: dwelt among us. And we beheld the wonder of his
40:37
Speaker 1: glory that only begotten of the Father, full of grace
40:39
Speaker 1: and truth. The word was made flesh. The abstract was
40:43
Speaker 1: made concrete. The invisible was made visible. The intangible was
40:47
Speaker 1: now touchable. Christ materialized matter, materialized. And we beheld the
40:54
Speaker 1: wonder of his glory, the only begotten of the Father,
40:56
Speaker 1: full of grace and truth, just so that he could
40:58
Speaker 1: hang out with you. They talk about that in John 1.1.
41:02
Speaker 1: And the moment they get through telling you that Jesus
41:05
Speaker 1: is God in 1.1, By the time you turn the
41:09
Speaker 1: page to chapter two, he's.
41:11
Speaker 2: At a party. Amen.
41:15
Speaker 1: You would think that after you got through going through
41:17
Speaker 1: all of this elaborate introduction to teach me that Jesus,
41:20
Speaker 1: the word was made flesh, that Jesus is God, that
41:23
Speaker 1: he would go out and do some God stuff. But
41:25
Speaker 1: John two, he's at a party.
41:27
Speaker 2: Hey, what's up? He's chilling.
41:30
Speaker 1: He's at a party with his disciples. And the biggest
41:34
Speaker 1: problem he solves is not a withered hand. It's not leprosy.
41:39
Speaker 1: It's not a woman with the issue of blood. It's
41:42
Speaker 1: that they run out of wine. And all of a
41:46
Speaker 1: sudden he solves the problem by taking the mundane waters
41:50
Speaker 1: of Cana and turning it into the blissful, powerful, fragrant
41:57
Speaker 1: wine of a wedding whose guests were so appalled that
42:02
Speaker 1: they said you have saved the best wine for last.
42:05
Speaker 2: Come on.
42:07
Speaker 1: How do you celebrate God? How do you celebrate God
42:11
Speaker 1: fulfilling his promise? Now that we know that God can
42:15
Speaker 1: be holy in one and party in two, how do
42:19
Speaker 1: you celebrate God? All I have to do is remember
42:23
Speaker 1: the times when I had no electricity or no running
42:26
Speaker 1: water and look back over my life and see where
42:28
Speaker 1: God has brought me from and I celebrate God. I
42:32
Speaker 1: honor him and I worship him and I appreciate him
42:34
Speaker 1: and I know I didn't get here by myself I
42:38
Speaker 1: know I didn't deserve to be where I am. To
42:41
Speaker 1: God be the glory for the things he done. I wonder,
42:45
Speaker 1: did God also celebrate Israel during these feasts in the
42:48
Speaker 1: same sort of way, just like a parent celebrates the
42:51
Speaker 1: accomplishments of their children? Often the giver, the parent receives
42:57
Speaker 1: as much joy in the giving as the child does,
43:00
Speaker 1: sometimes more. In Matthew 25, it talks about a very
43:05
Speaker 1: interesting story. where Jesus in a parable talks about the
43:09
Speaker 1: talents that he has given out to various ones of
43:11
Speaker 1: his servants. And to one he gave five, and to
43:15
Speaker 1: one he gave two, and to one he gave one.
43:18
Speaker 1: Each with the expectation that you would do something with
43:21
Speaker 1: what he gave you. Because that's really what life is
43:24
Speaker 1: all about, doing something with what God gives you. The
43:29
Speaker 1: master leaves the three servants in charge of the possessions
43:32
Speaker 1: that he has placed to their hands. Now bear in mind,
43:35
Speaker 1: The servants are now in charge. I don't want you
43:39
Speaker 1: to miss that. That these people who were subservient are
43:44
Speaker 1: now in leadership. That they have been moved into a
43:48
Speaker 1: position so powerful that now they're accountable to the owner himself.
43:53
Speaker 1: I just want to stop a minute and praise him
43:55
Speaker 1: for that.
43:56
Speaker 2: Yeah.
44:01
Speaker 1: You can be a slave one minute and a master
44:04
Speaker 1: the next. That's kind of good stuff to me. Yeah,
44:08
Speaker 1: things can turn a man. That's why you have to
44:10
Speaker 1: be careful how you treat people because the person you
44:13
Speaker 1: met down might end up up and the person who's
44:16
Speaker 1: up might end up down. You never know how it's
44:18
Speaker 1: going to go. When he returns, he awards the servants
44:21
Speaker 1: who produced more with what he had. The servant who
44:24
Speaker 1: buried his talent, everything he had was taken away from him.
44:29
Speaker 1: If the master venter celebrated Israel, then I believe he
44:34
Speaker 1: celebrates you. He celebrates you by becoming all that he
44:39
Speaker 1: has labored for you to become. He celebrates you because
44:43
Speaker 1: you have become all that he has labored for you
44:46
Speaker 1: to become.
44:47
Speaker 2: When you win, he wins.
44:51
Speaker 1: The Bible said that God is so interested in you
44:54
Speaker 1: being fruitful that it pleases him that you bring forth
44:58
Speaker 1: much fruit. So shall you be my disciples. As you
45:03
Speaker 1: move beyond your crushing and fermenting, God sets the table
45:08
Speaker 1: for his royal wine tasting. This celebration is a celebration
45:13
Speaker 1: for all of eternity. To understand that everything that God
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Speaker 1: has laid out on the table, he has done it
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Speaker 1: without hiding it, even from your haters. He has done
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Speaker 1: it openly and publicly and that he is not ashamed.
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Speaker 1: of the journey he took you through. So sit back
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Speaker 1: and take the white napkin and put it in your
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Speaker 1: collar if you please and allow the very angels themselves
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Speaker 1: to pour you the first glass of success and enjoy
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Speaker 1: the nectar that comes from obeying him and recognizing that
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Speaker 1: he doeth all things well.
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Speaker 2: Amen.
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Speaker 1: There are some places in God that are reserved only
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Speaker 1: for those that he chooses. He that dwelleth in the
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Speaker 1: secret place, secret place of the most high shall abide
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Speaker 1: under the shadow of the almighty. There are some places
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Speaker 1: that God will take you into that are only a
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Speaker 1: celebration of your intimacy with him. That only you and
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Speaker 1: he alone can enjoy. The inner sanctum. My favorite scripture
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Speaker 1: in the Bible, Psalms 27, the Lord is my light
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Speaker 1: and my salvation. Of whom shall I fear? The Lord
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Speaker 1: is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I
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Speaker 1: be afraid? When the wicked, even my enemies and my
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Speaker 1: foes came upon me to eat up my flesh, they
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Speaker 1: stumbled and they fell. Though a host should encamp against me,
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Speaker 1: my heart shall not fear. And though war should rise
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Speaker 1: against me, in this will I be confident. One thing
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Speaker 1: have I desired of the Lord, and that will I
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Speaker 1: seek after, that I may dwell in the house of
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Speaker 1: the Lord all the days of my life. All the
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Speaker 1: days of my life. To behold the beauty of the
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Speaker 1: Lord and to inquire in his temple. Check this out.
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Speaker 2: For in the time of trouble, he shall hide me
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Speaker 2: In his tabernacle.
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Speaker 1: In the secret of his provision shall he hide me.
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Speaker 1: He shall set me upon a rock. Now shall my
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Speaker 1: head be lifted above my enemies round about me. And
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Speaker 1: I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto my God. Hear,
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Speaker 1: O Lord, when I cry with my voice. Have mercy
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Speaker 1: also upon me and answer me. For when thou saidst,
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Speaker 1: seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, thy face, Lord,
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Speaker 1: will I seek. Yes, Lord.
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Speaker 1: It's so wonderful to be in a
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Speaker 1: place with him, to be around somebody with whom you
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Speaker 1: have nothing to hide. The Bible said all things are
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Speaker 1: naked before him with whom we have to do. There's
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Speaker 1: nothing about you that he doesn't know. Not just what
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Speaker 1: you did, but what you think, what you thought, what
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Speaker 1: ran through your mind, what you would have done, what
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Speaker 1: you could have done, what you're capable of doing, what
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Speaker 1: you dreamed about, what you think about. All things are
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Speaker 1: naked before him. So there is no need to be pretentious, important. Self-righteous, spectacular, impressive.
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Speaker 1: You can be your authentic self because he already knows
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Speaker 1: who you are. And what makes it even better than that?
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Speaker 1: You are accepted in the beloved. You are accepted in
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Speaker 1: the beloved because your life is hid in Christ with God.
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Speaker 1: When you come before God, you come before God in Christ.
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Speaker 1: In him I live, in him I move, in him
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Speaker 1: I have my being. If anybody if any man be
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Speaker 1: in Christ he is a new creature all things are
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Speaker 1: passed away all things are passed away and all things
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Speaker 1: have become new why because of my position not my
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Speaker 1: condition my condition is a working process but my position
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Speaker 1: is complete it is finished it is total it is
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Speaker 1: done it is absolute I'm already in the holies of
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Speaker 1: holies that's right I got the hook up. I'm straight
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Speaker 1: in the presence of God. That's why when Jesus died
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Speaker 1: on the cross, the veil was rent from the top
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Speaker 1: to the bottom so that I would have no restrictions.
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Speaker 1: That's why Hebrews says that I can come boldly to
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Speaker 1: the throne of grace and obtain mercy and find grace
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Speaker 1: to help in the time of need. There is nothing
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Speaker 1: restricting me from being able to access him anytime, any
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Speaker 1: place at any time, at any moment in my life.
50:07
Speaker 1: I don't have to be in a sanctuary. I don't
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Speaker 1: have to be in a pulpit. I don't have to
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Speaker 1: be in a choir stand. I don't have to put
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Speaker 1: on a certain outfit. I don't have to wear anything special.
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Speaker 1: I can access him in my shower. I can access
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Speaker 1: him in my bathtub. I can access him on my
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Speaker 1: way to work. I can access him because he has
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Speaker 1: taken me through the process that brought me to a
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Speaker 1: place that I am the wine at the table of
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Speaker 1: shoe bread. I am the smell of burning incense in
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Speaker 1: the holies of holies. I am the pot of manna
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Speaker 1: that did not ferment. I am the wood that he
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Speaker 1: covered with gold. I am the sheepskins that surround the tabernacle.
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Speaker 1: I am the bowls and vials that are in the
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Speaker 1: most holy place.
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Speaker 2: Amen.
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Speaker 1: Only because I am in him. Only because I am
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Speaker 1: in him. Only because I stood with him in the question.
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Speaker 1: He said, if you suffer with me, you will reign
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Speaker 1: with me. If you go down with me, you'll come
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Speaker 1: up with me. If you are buried in the likeness
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Speaker 1: of my depths, you shall be in the likeness of
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Speaker 1: my resurrection. Do you hear what I'm saying to you?
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Speaker 1: The pain only lasts for a season and then it's over.
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Speaker 1: The joy lasts for a lifetime. Take heart, my friend.
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Speaker 1: Have hope. Be filled with trust. God is working in
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Speaker 1: you to transform and prepare you for this eternal feast.
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Speaker 1: And if you think we're partying over here, You just
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Speaker 1: wait till we get over there. You just wait. You
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Speaker 1: just wait. You just wait till the trumpet sounds and
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Speaker 1: the skies roll back and the clouds move out of
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Speaker 1: our way and the angels bow and welcome us into
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Speaker 1: the eternal presence of God. Everything that we have taught
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Speaker 1: on this side is only the pattern of the dress.
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Speaker 1: It is not the dress itself. We are wearing a pattern.
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Speaker 1: But when we get there, we're going to put on
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Speaker 1: the real thing, the real feast, the real celebration. That's
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Speaker 1: why Jesus said, I will drink no more wine until
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Speaker 1: I drink it new with you in the kingdom of
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Speaker 1: our God.
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Speaker 2: So save the best drink.
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Speaker 1: There are moments and times that the enemy would come
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Speaker 1: in my ear and sit on my shoulder and whisper
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Speaker 1: audibly almost so much that I could discern his voice
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Speaker 1: itself in trying to convince me that because of something
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Speaker 1: that I'm going through or facing or feeling or thinking,
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Speaker 1: maybe I am not blessed.
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Speaker 2: Maybe I'm not.
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Speaker 1: Blessed because I've still got a mountain to bring down.
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Speaker 1: a valley to forge, a river to cross, a problem
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Speaker 1: to solve, a weakness to overcome. Maybe I'm not blessed
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Speaker 1: because I've got a problem in my family or my
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Speaker 1: finances or my job or my situation. Maybe I'm not
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Speaker 1: blessed because I gained too much weight or lost too
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Speaker 1: much weight or didn't do something that I had set
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Speaker 1: up as a goal for me to do. And then
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Speaker 1: I have to remind him That I am not blessed
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Speaker 1: because of what is on me. I am blessed because
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Speaker 1: of what is in me. I am blessed no matter
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Speaker 1: where I go. I am blessed no matter what I wear.
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Speaker 1: I am blessed in the city. I am blessed in
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Speaker 1: the field. I'm blessed in my going in. I am
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Speaker 1: blessed in my coming out. I am blessed in my
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Speaker 1: uprising and I am blessed in my down setting. If
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Speaker 1: I don't do nothing but sit here, I sit here blessed.
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Speaker 1: If I stand here, I stand here blessed. I have
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Speaker 1: been blessed with these feeble lips of clay and these
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Speaker 1: human hands I hold and these clay toes that are
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Speaker 1: in these shoes. I have been blessed to see drug
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Speaker 1: dealers turn into deacons. I have been blessed to see
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Speaker 1: winos turn into choir members. I have been blessed to
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Speaker 1: see convicts turn into converts. I have been blessed to
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Speaker 1: see the power of the gospel change deadbeat dads into
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Speaker 1: responsible fathers. I have been blessed to see people go
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Speaker 1: back to school and get their GED and continue to
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Speaker 1: get their Ph.D. I have been blessed to see the
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Speaker 1: downtrodden uplifted. I have been blessed to see homeless people
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Speaker 1: buy their first house. I have been blessed to see
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Speaker 1: families reconcile. And I have performed weddings for people who
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Speaker 1: had divorced and walked away and decided to come back
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Speaker 1: together again. I have seen God do the impossible. I
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Speaker 1: have seen God do the amazing. I have seen him
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Speaker 1: do the spectacular. I have seen him do the supernaturally.
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Speaker 1: Through these humble eyes and these weary, feeble lips, I
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Speaker 1: have seen God move mountains too big for me to climb.
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Speaker 1: And you cannot tell me that I am not blessed.
55:29
Speaker 1: Because what makes me blessed is that I have access
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Speaker 1: to him. Anytime, anywhere, any place that I can come
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Speaker 1: before the king without ceremony, ritual, or routine, that I
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Speaker 1: need not change my garment or shave my face or
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Speaker 1: go through any kind of ritual or routine, that I
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Speaker 1: am accepted in the beloved and I can come into
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Speaker 1: his presence and access is granted because I got it
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Speaker 1: like that with God.
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Speaker 2: And you got it like that with God.
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Speaker 1: You got a relationship with God like that. Jesus took
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Speaker 1: for us what we would never be able to handle
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Speaker 1: on our own. He took our griefs. He carried our sorrows.
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Speaker 1: He took our weaknesses. He took away our excuses. But
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Speaker 1: the master was not content with just saving us. No,
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Speaker 1: he wishes us to be like him. He desires to
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Speaker 1: refine and transform us. And every little step I take,
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Speaker 1: every little step I take, I'm inching a little bit
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Speaker 1: closer to being like Jesus. Every little step that I take,
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Speaker 1: I can see his nature coming out in me. Even
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Speaker 1: when I don't want it to. Even when I want
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Speaker 1: to stay mad. Even when I want to hold a grudge,
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Speaker 1: even when I want to get even, I see little
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Speaker 1: pieces of Jesus showing up in my speech because he
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Speaker 1: is carnate in my own humanity. He is realized in
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Speaker 1: my own personality. And it is because of him that
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Speaker 1: I rejoice in the crushing. I celebrate the crushing because
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Speaker 1: I have no hope to be his glass of wine.
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Speaker 1: And be held in his hand. If I had not
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Speaker 1: been his great. And been crushed by his feet.