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The Fruit of the life in the Spirit · Near East Christian Fellowship Sermons

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Hi there, welcome to NECF. We're excited to share today's message with you. Don't
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go anywhere, stay with us to the end for some valuable resources to enrich your faith.
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Here's today's sermon.
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I want to thank God for this opportunity to stand before you. I don't take it for granted
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and I want to thank God for the wonderful privilege I have to be part and parcel of
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this great church, the NECF, and thank you to the leadership for this opportunity. I
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think this week I was, until this week or last week or so, I was looking at the news
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and then I think it was very funny because I was thinking to myself, like they say it's
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on parts of the world that people are lonely, that the government is trying to create systems
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to help people that are suffering from loneliness. And then I was thinking to myself, I was like,
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thank God for the life that we have in Christ, thank God for the fellowship and I really
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want to thank God for the gift of brethren and also thank God for, I think this morning
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as I was looking at the canonical, I think we're reading, we read John 16, 17 and 18.
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And then I was looking at John, I think something just jumped out to me when we got to 32, John
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16, 32. I want us to just see it there. And this is Jesus Christ speaking. He says, indeed
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the hour is coming, yes, the hour has come, but you will be scattered each to his own
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and I will and will leave me alone, praise God. Then the last part, the part that I want
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you to look at and look very keenly is the fact that he says, and yet I am not alone
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because the father is with me, praise God. And this is our Lord Jesus Christ looking
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at the fact that his disciples who desert him, but yet he doesn't have physical persons
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around him. And I want to say this to someone that is here that, you know, we can, we're
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in a world where people can be around people and still be lonely, praise God. We can be
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in a world where people can have housemates, but they are still strangers and they are
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very lonely. But that is not the life you're called into, right? The life they were called
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into is the life of Christ, the life of Christ. I mean that you can be physically without
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anyone around you. And this was a time where he was going to go into the sufferings that
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he had to take on for us, praise God. But he still knew the presence, the company of
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his father. And I want you to know that same presence even right here and right now. I
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want that to be more, I want you to be more confident of that reality, praise God. So
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the topic is the fruit of the life in the spirit, the fruit of the life in the spirit,
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the fruit of the life in the spirit is an outfood, but it's the fruit of the life in
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the spirit. And we're going to be reading 2 Corinthians, our key texts, 2 Corinthians
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5, 16, 17, and Galatians 5, 22, 225. 2 Corinthians 5, 16, 17, and Galatians 5, 22, 25, those
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are our key texts. And I'll just read 2 Corinthians to us, yeah, making things good. 16, it says,
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therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ
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according to the flesh, yet now we know him tossed no longer. Therefore, if anyone is
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in Christ, he is a new creation, all things are passed away. Behold, all things have become
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new. Behold, all things have become new. And he started off by saying, we regard no man,
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no one according to the flesh. And when I was meditating, thinking about it, I said,
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it's not just we regarding others, we too can regard ourselves, praise God. We can regard
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ourselves. And I love the fact that when you move to the 17, it says you are, we are a
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new creation, praise God. We're a new creation. And the old can be conflicting with the new,
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because it's still, it's almost like you're still in this physical body, but something
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supernatural has happened to you, praise God. And I want you to be confident in what Christ
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has done, praise God, be confident in what Christ has done. And all that we are seeing
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or all that is, that all that makes us a new creation is what Christ has done in his death,
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burial and resurrection. And all of these things is encapsulated in that one word, the
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Spirit, praise God. In that one word, the Spirit. What is summarizing is in that one
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word, the Spirit means that at salvation, we receive his life, at salvation, we receive
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his Spirit, praise God. And when he says new creation, it means brand new, praise God.
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And sometimes it might not feel like the life that you have is brand new, praise God. It
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doesn't feel like that because you're still dealing with the same old stuff, you're still
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dealing with the same realities that are around you, praise God. But know that you're not
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looking at it physically, praise God. You're looking at it through the lenses of his word,
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what the word of God says we, you are, what the word of God says we are. And it's very
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important that we note this. I think I was sharing at the cell that I was, I was, I had
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to rethink, like, my students, on Friday, we had our last class before the exams that
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started yesterday. And when the class was teaching, and then the students said, Sarah,
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that I've learned so many things, and I'm able to, if there's an insurgent, now I'm
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able to take out the insurgent. And then I was thinking, oh, wow, I have somebody in
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the class that has like paramilitary or military training, and everything. And in my horror,
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he was like, I've watched several movies. And I was like, movies, movies is what, that
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is what you're going to, that's the premise of you taking out the insurgent is from movies,
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you are able to take out the insurgent. And I'm running, what is running quickly through
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my head is how many movies had he watched that gave him the confidence to say, Sarah,
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right now he was looking at the door. So if anybody comes through that door now, I'm able
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to, I was like, then when he now entered movies, I was like, is basing off his ability on the
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things, maybe movies, if you add video games, all of those things, then you now feel that
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physically you can take down. So I was like, that's so much confidence on something that
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I, you know, you can, you can, you know, when theory is very beautiful, people talk about
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a lot of things that they can do. And then when you, when it's time to walk, there's
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no show, praise God. What it means is that a person can program themselves because they're
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taking a lot of information about stuff that they think that in the face of when it's time
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to act, it will just come upon them. And when a world where movies can, when you watch a
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lot of movies where people fight, kill people, you can't think that this is very easy. One
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man goes, he takes down a whole building of people. And then you think that, yeah, they
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just don't know how to do it. Well, if I step in there, I will do it right. We can make
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have those. That's because something has conditioned you to think that after you have done this
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and this and this, and let's bring it down, let's bring it home for you for something
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to be so real to you means that you have engrossed yourself in that thing to the point where
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you believe so much in that thing. There are people that believe in things that are false.
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There are people around the world. They believe that this thing is like this. This is like,
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and it's all based or anchored on something that is error. But we have something that
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is true. We have the word of God that is true and we don't engross ourselves to the point
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where we can see a difficult situation and believe God over the situation that we that
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has faced before us. Praise God. When he says we are a new creation, it means brand new.
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It's not based off how you feel because we're in a world where if you don't feel it, it's
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not it. And if we're doing most of our things or the things that we do based on feeling,
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some of us will not even be here for short service. Praise God. Because the way the weather
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is what you feel more to sleep back to extend your sleep hours. You just look at the time
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and the alarm rings and rings and rings. You snooze it, snooze it and get tired of snoozing
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just off the phone. There are some phones that can come back on because it's Sunday. Praise
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God. So if it's if you're living your Christian work, anything based on feeling, you will
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not go anywhere. Praise God. And for most of us, it has to be easy for us to follow
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through with it. But when he says new creation, the word there in the Greek means brand new
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and means entirely transformed. Praise God means entirely transformed. And what this
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means is that what Christ has done takes us from that place to the place where he has
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placed us. And the word there is where we have a new nature. Praise God. What it means
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is that we have a new nature. When he says new creation, it means that this individual
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has a new nature. And that new nature is not a physical nature. Praise God. It's not physical.
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It is spiritual. It means for you to come to a place where you believe that something
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that happens supernaturally is real. It means that communication had happened to the point
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where you believe that thing. Praise God. Serious and series of communication will happen.
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That's why in the church, we come back to God's word on our daily work, we come back
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to God's word to remind ourselves to encourage ourselves. In the book of Luke, when Luke
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was writing the Theophilus, he says that he will be established, that he will be confident
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in the things that he already knows. For some of us, we know. But sometimes we are faced
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with difficulty and we doubt. Going back to the scripture in John 16, Jesus Christ was
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very confident in the fact that even though people will not be around him, he's confident
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that his father will not leave nor forsake him. Praise God. And we should have that same
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confidence. Praise God. And that word, because we say this, is the fruit of your life in
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the Spirit. And what we're going to be taking our time to look at for the introduction is
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the life in the Spirit. Your life in the Spirit. And we say this is a new creation, right?
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And you are born of the Spirit. Born of the Spirit. And Jesus Christ teaches this concept
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of being born of the Spirit in John 3. I want us to go there. It's still in the book of
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John. If we're there, just go to John 3. He was speaking to Nicodemus and it's John 3,
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3 to 8. But what our focus will be on is, let's just do 5 and 6. Let's see. 5 and 6.
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So Jesus answered, Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water, which is
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the Spirit, which is the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6. He says, that
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which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. That
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word born of the Spirit. And in John, you see him write born of the Spirit, born of
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the Spirit, born of the Spirit. And in 1 John, we see him talks about the same thing. What
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he says is born of God. 1 John 5. It's scattered around John, but we'll just look at 1 John
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5.1. The same idea. He says, whoever believes that Jesus is Christ is born of God. And everyone
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who loves him, who begots also loves him who is begotten of him. 2. He says, by this we
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know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. That's
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3. Let's pay attention to 3. He says, for this is the love of God that we keep his commandments
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and his commandments are not burdened some. His commandments are not burdened some. Then
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4. This is where we're going to be stopping. He says, for whatever is born, whoever is
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born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world.
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Our faith introduces the element of faith. And what is that faith based off? That faith
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is based on Christ. That faith is based on Christ. So we have born of the Spirit, which
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is the same as born of God. So when you see the same, when you see that across, it's meaning
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the same thing. It means that we have a new creation and the Spirit resides within us.
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Praise God. The Spirit, the Spirit resides within us. And it's very important that we
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remind ourselves that the old is gone. The old is gone. And I know we still have memories
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of our past and that is the problem. We have memories of the things that we used to do,
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the way that we used to live our lives. And we feel like, no, there's no way. There's
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no way. We don't sometimes remind ourselves all the things I've done. There's no way.
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There's no way. Know that you are not the one that saved yourself. Praise God. The one
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who saves you tells you that you are a new creation and you want to take what he says
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seriously because he's the one that has done what he has done in your life. Praise God.
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He says we are a new creation. We have God's Spirit reside in us. And that will be something
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that changes the way we live our lives going forward. In case that reality has not sinked
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in, you want to know that you have a new identity. You have a new identity. What is in the past
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is in the past. And what you have right now in Christ is something new. Praise God. I
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want us to look at Ephesians 4.24. It speaks about being a new man. It says, and yeah,
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thank you. And that you put on the new man, which was created, look at the word, which
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was created, according to God, in truth, in true righteousness and holiness, which was
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created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. Okay, let's just just go back.
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Let's go back. Let's stay there for a bit. It says the new man, new man was created.
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It means that we're no longer defining ourselves on our past. What I said earlier, we're no
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longer defining ourselves on our past sins, past weaknesses, past failures. You don't
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define yourself based off that because it's now in the past. What you're doing now, according
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to what we read in first, first John, in first John five, we're now empowered to live a life
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of victory. We're empowered to live a life of victory. And what we're doing now is that
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we're reflecting the nature that we now have. Praise God. We're reflecting the nature that
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we now have and we're reflecting the glories that follows that nature. Praise God. We're
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no longer doing things like we do them in the past. Now there's a, there's a, there's
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a new operating system. If I will use that, there's a new operating system that you're
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running with that influences how you move. There's the indwelling of a spirit that produces
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a character that is identical to the one which you have received. Praise God. And the spirit
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within us is the source of that new identity. It's not ourselves that generate the new identity.
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It's the spirit, the life that we have that gives us that new identity. And in case you
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are vacillating between what was and what is, I want you to remember that what is is
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true, what is is founded in something much, much solid than what was the past, what was
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in the past. Praise God. I want us to see the same or something similar in Colossians
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3 10. Colossians 3 10. Yeah. Thank you. Colossians 3 10. And it says, and have put on the new
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man who is renewed in knowledge. It adds something to buttress what I've been saying. Renewed
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in knowledge according to the image of him, who, him who created him. Praise God. Maybe
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a couple of him. So it says renewed in knowledge. Remember what I said about the student that
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as like, you know, you know, he wasn't like that until he did what he did to the point
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where he is confident and you need to see I can't dramatize how he said it that I first
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thought, Oh, because he's a, he's a, he's a old student. So he has been out of school
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for like seven years. I felt maybe had some during that course of the time, some paramilitary
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training and all of that until he said movies. And then I was like, no, I had to now start
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counseling explaining how movies like really is a movie. They act those things. They have
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cast. In fact, they have stunt men that do certain parts of the thing that the real actor
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cannot do. So if you want to go for it and show that you have proper training, physical
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training, not virtual training. That's why we say you cannot take a course virtually
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and assume that you can do it. And you wouldn't even trust someone to do something practical
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that got the training virtually. Praise God. But some of us speak if it's cheap and it's
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good, we can go for it. But if it's life threatened, if it has to do with life, like, yeah, you
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don't want to do that. Praise God, because it's very important. And knowledge is very
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important. So, so as believers, what believers what should tell us how we live our lives
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is the knowledge that we have that is founded on the truth that is given to us. Praise God.
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And we say these things to say that the spirit that we have, praise God, the spirit that
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we have is not a spirit that is, you know, you know, when you are, you are processing
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something and then there's a person, you know, some of us, those of us that are doing our
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student permit, you know, at some point in time is 10%. And then yes, at least you're
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on your way to the end. What is rendering when you do a couple of things, you pay tax
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or you do medicals, it will move. It should just be moving till it gets to 100%. Then
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you now have it. Know that salvation is not like that. It doesn't render and then render
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20%. The next minute it renders 40%. Then it finally renders 100. Then you now know
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you have it. Praise God. It's not what you do that is what Christ has done and he did
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it complete. Praise God. Because sometimes we can convince ourselves just came to is
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I just said yes and I believe that and then then doesn't like I need to work for it. I
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need to add more. You know, it doesn't feel real. If you know, some people will give them
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give this just like that. It's almost like you want the okay. Okay. Yes, you give it.
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Okay, work for it. Just work for it. They just do a bit of claiming and everything to
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be fully yours. No, no, no, no, no. God is not like that. You shouldn't put God in the
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same WhatsApp group with those people that have done that. Praise God. Praise God. Even
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if he shows up in the WhatsApp group, it will change the whole WhatsApp group. Praise God.
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Praise the God that we serve. Praise God. So in this we know that is the spirit because
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of the presence of the Spirit of God, we that that comes and we know that what needs renewing
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is our mind is our minds that needs to catch up with what our spirit, what the spirit that
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we have. I think it's very important that we understand that what God deposited in us
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doesn't like we have it. We have it. We're not walking to it. Praise God. The work that
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we do is that we catch up here, we able to understand what has happened because your
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understanding shapes the way you do things. If you don't understand, you don't understand.
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Somebody will try and the moment you get it, it's like, it's like every light comes on
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and you feel foolish because you just think about all the things misunderstood. And now
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that you understand, like what exactly was informing you that it was ignorance. Praise
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God. And that is why we engage the word we grow, we come around, we make sitting on his
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word a priority. Praise God. And that understanding shapes our identity. Praise God. That understanding
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shapes our identity. And that transformation keeps going on going on. And we call that
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thing one thing, it is spiritual maturity. Because in your mind being renewed and renewed
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and renewed and renewed, people start seeing the real you that has always been there from
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the beginning. Praise God. The real you that has always been there from the beginning.
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And it takes you obey because you saw it, you believe it. When we sang the song, I can
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see and I know is you see and you know that in itself should demand a response to work
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in what you have seen and what you know. Praise God. And then we have that fellowship that
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ensures that we keep growing. That's why we're in church, we fellowship together. You cannot
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you cannot fellowship in your house. Praise God. You cannot as bedside or bedside a minister,
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you can't grow in that there's no pressure. You are sleeping, you are just chilling. And
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some people say and they say it confidently like like I worship online. Like I don't miss
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a service. I don't I never miss a service. At the click of a button now, there's no stress.
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You don't you don't do anything you just and it's the same laptop you watch movies, you
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do all of those the same same device and your brain will not be telling you this is one
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of those and then you just boring can skip and and you even have so much flexibility
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you know you can't skip this one. You can't skip like I don't like this I want something
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more so that I will shout I'll sweat. Praise God. You don't grow like that. For a believer
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to be spiritually matured, he had gone through process. Praise God. You don't skip classes.
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You have to show up every time. No matter the number of Sundays you attended church,
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there's still another Sunday. Praise God. There's still another Sunday. And if you're
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not growing, someone can come and lie to you and tell you that you pay for something that
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you have for free. Praise God. And that's one very important thing that what we have
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in Christ was freely given. There was no you paid. God brought 50%. You brought 50% and
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then you put the 50% to become 100 and then transaction complete. Praise God. That was
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not how that was not how it happened. Let's see that some scripture. Romans 832. Romans
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832. New King James the Roman. Yeah, thank you. He says, he who did not spare his only
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son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not give also freely us all things?
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How shall he not give us freely all things? It means that he didn't hold back. God did
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not hold back his son for us to have what we have in him. I mean, the gift that we have
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was freely given. And, and it's free that even in scripture when you have an incident
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when Simon the sorcerer was trying to buy it with money, Peter was like, What are you
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trying to do? He says your money perish with you. I want us to see that. Let's see that
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in Romans 8. Thank you. Romans 8. I want us to go to Roman. Sorry, Acts, Acts 8, Acts
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8, 18. Acts 8, 18 is still 8. Acts 8, 18. We'll just read 18, 19 and 20. So, and when Simon
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saw that through the laying of hands, the apostles, through the laying on of the apostles'
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hands, the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money. 19 saying, Give me this power
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also that anyone on whom I lay my hands will receive the Holy Spirit. 20. Peter's response.
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He said to him, Your money perish with you because you thought that the gift of God could
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be purchased with money. Note that you, even now we have people peddling what they have
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received freely for money and ignorance will, as man of God will say, will make you a candidate,
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a strong candidate for deception because you don't know. Somebody else capitalizes on the
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things and there are many things in life that you paid for and then when you now discover
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how they did the thing, you will now be feeling, because I did not know, I paid this money
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and when I saw how they now do it, I'll be like, why did I even pay him? I will just
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sit down and take like one hour, two hours of my time and I will feel done the same thing.
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Praise God. And it's the gift of God. Praise God. It's the gift of God. The key word there
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is that it's the gift of God and it's given freely because if we were to pay for it, if
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we were to pay for it, your dollars, pounds, euros, tele, mixed with whatever, whatever
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your local currencies will not be able to afford it. Let's see that also in Efficience.
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Efficience 2.8. It says, for by grace you have been saved through faith. That is not
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of your works. It is a gift of God. It is not of your works, but the gift of God and
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what made that possible is the faith. What we use to purchase it is just placing our
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faith and believing in what has been done and then we receive. Praise God. Because it's
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freely given. What we do is that we don't attach any cost to it. We just freely receive
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that which has been given to us. And it means that everything that we have, everything we
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have, the spirit also which has been promised, we receive freely. We receive freely. Let's
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look at Galatians 2, establishing that by the hearing of faith, not by works that we
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receive. Galatians 3. Galatians 3. We look at Galatians 3.2. 2, 3, 2, 3. Yeah. So this
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only I want to learn from you. Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by the
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hearing of faith? This is a question. Did you receive, this is a possible accent, did
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you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? 2 and 3. It
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says, are you foolish? Are you so foolish? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the spirit,
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are you now being made perfect by the flesh? 5. Just jump to 5. Yeah. So it says, therefore,
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he also supplies the spirit to you and works miracles among you. Does he do it by the works
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of the law or by the hearing of faith? Then let's jump to 14. Okay. It says, but that
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the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive
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the promise of the spirit through faith. Note that the premise by which we do it is through
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faith, through faith. You see the hearing of faith, we hear it and faith is that currency
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that plugs us into the identity that we now have in Christ Jesus. It is not what, it's
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not the things that you are able to do. And mind you, how much can you do in your own
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physical strength and ability? Note that it's by his help, we're able to do and do well.
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Praise God. It's not by our own and we can be very, we can plot, craft, compute. Note
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that it's not by works we receive, what we receive is by the hearing of faith. And Paul
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greatly emphasizes that the spirit is a gift and the result of all of that is what Christ
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has fulfilled by the law or of the law. Praise God. And he establishes that and note that
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he says, every one of us is included. It's not to a certain group of people. So it means
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that it's not, there's no, Romans talks about, there's no class, there's no gender, there's
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no class. Everybody is able to receive that thing that is given freely to all of them.
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And speaking about the promise fulfilled means that there was a promise and there's a fulfillment
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of the promise and Christ is the one that fulfills it. Let's see Ephesians 1, Ephesians
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1, let's see, let's see that 1.13. It says, in him, and you'll notice that he keeps using
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in him, in him, in him, in him. There's nowhere else but in him. It says, in him, you also
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trusted after you've heard the word of truth. Praise God. After you've heard the word of
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truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also you have believed, you are sealed with
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the Holy Spirit of promise. Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of
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the purchase possession to the praise of his glory? Praise God. It says the guarantee.
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Who is the guarantee? And we say it is the Holy Spirit of promise. We're sealed with
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the Holy Spirit of promise. It says the guarantee and that word guarantee is a word that we're
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kind of familiar with because the Greek word there in English, in the word there means
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deposit, down payment, N.S. They call it N.S. money. Praise God. They call it N.S. money.
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And most of us, if you've been around here, I think for most of us, you know, back in
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our countries, we don't even know what deposit is because our parents, if you stay in your
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parents' houses, they're not dealing with deposit. But when you come to the island,
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when we came to the island, newly, I think it was the house I got, the guy just took
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me to the place and I was the one that said, for your troubles, take 50 tele, for your
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troubles. And 50 tele was a big money back then. Back then, in 2013, it was, it was,
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in those years, 50 tele was a big money. So I said, for your troubles, take 50 tele. That
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was then. But now, you don't, it doesn't work that way. It doesn't work that way. It's
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almost like the money, the house rent. And I don't want to talk too much because people
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are looking at me like, what are you talking about? Yeah, you came in the time where things
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have changed. This is the new. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. But what it means
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here is that, you know, when you go and you see a house, because everybody's looking for
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that house, I think the people that do real estate or the agents will know this very well.
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Because there are a lot of people that can come and then you will not find the house.
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So you have to give something to show the landlord that you are serious about it. Because
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some people is all talk and no show. Praise God. So let it not be like you are like one
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of those people that came around and they are, you keep a house and then later on the
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person says, sorry, sorry, I, I got something better. Or they will never even tell you like
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that. They'll say, sorry, we don't want the house anymore. Meanwhile, they have gotten
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somewhere else. Praise God. So to show that the person is serious, the person that's wanting
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the house or the place is serious, you give a certain amount of money and we're familiar
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with that. The same way you do that is the same way God himself gives us a spirit as
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a down payment. Praise God. The spirit that we have is a down payment. And that is not,
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it makes us confident that if he has something of his with you, he's not going to leave
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you. He's not leaving. In fact, he has not left you. Praise God. Because he has something,
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you know, the way you give, you know, your money is with the landlord. You cannot run
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away. You cannot decide to change your mind. And some landlords, even when you change your
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mind, they will take part of the money for making them think that you are serious when
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you are not serious. And some landlords, if they get a better deal, maybe your own was
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three 50, they found 400 or 450. They will keep your money for you and tell you, sorry,
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my friend, my friend, sorry. And then you have to now, the set still continues for you.
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Praise God. We know that that's what, at the human level, that's what we do. We're not
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truthful. We're not honest. That's the nature. But in Christ, it's very different. With God,
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it's very different. Because he bought us with a price, he secures his investment. He's
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not thinking he doesn't run losses. Praise God. And the same way he does his own bargain,
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and he makes sure that he sets it up in such a way that you must just be mindless to lose.
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Praise God. You must you must not be paying you will not pay attention to miss out on
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what exactly he has done. Reminding us that what he has done is fool and need another
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we talk about the house down payment, you're given part of the actual payment, right? Note,
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but for him, he gave us the full thing. So it's not as you can't compare what we do to
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what he has done. Praise God. Because when he does something, he does it in full. I said,
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it's not rendering your salvation is no rendering rendering. Then when you now get it completely,
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it's now 100%. Then you now see you have it. Because it's not even something physical that
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you can see. Some of us we wish it was like that on your forehead, you'll be seeing yourself
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to check. Let me check. I think I did something that's gone back 20%. You know, we can we
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can be we can we can actually, sometimes we think things funny in our mind that is inconsistent
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with what the Word of God says. Because you you just need to converse with somebody that
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is a believer and then you'll be wondering what are they reading? We have been there.
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You know, when you when you come and then you are now reading, you now look stupid.
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Like how on earth did I read this thing wrong? That's because of that's because most of the
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times we just superimpose, we just infuse what we thought was what it was. Praise God.
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And that's why teaching helps us to recalibrate. Understand, because it really will affect
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the way we do things. If we thought wrongly, our lives will be moving in the wrong direction.
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So what Christ has done for us and what the the Spirit of God that we have guarantees
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both on the part of the fact that what he has promised he will deliver and what he promised
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he has already delivered. Because if somebody delivers on his promise, you don't doubt whatever
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other promises that they will make to you. Praise God. Because you know that this person
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has a track record to the song. He has a track record of keeping his word. Means that his
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commitment to us is on is not hinged on any he stays committed and he stays true to us.
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So his spirit is not temporal. His spirit doesn't come and go. And then the Old Testament
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where it can come upon you then later on you'll be looking for it. Like you got lost. So you
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don't you don't even say things like take not your spirit from me. Because that's not
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where we are. Praise God. That was sometime in the past. But you want to be working in
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what we have right here and right now. So it means that his intention for us is solid.
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He's not changing. He's not going back on his word because he keeps his true to his
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word. So the spirit doesn't just dwell in us. Because yes some of us will say yeah spirit
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dwells in us. But note that the spirit has a work that he does in us. The spirit has
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a work that he does in us. And that work as I've said earlier is a work of transformation.
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Is a work of transformation. Is a work of equipping. And it's to the end that we are
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manifesting the character of Christ. It's to the end that we are living like our father
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because he has given us the person to empower us to do that which he has said that that
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which he wants to see may manifest here on earth. Praise God. So let's look at 2 Corinthians
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1 19 to 22. 2 Corinthians 1 19. It says for the son of God. Okay thank you. For the son
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of God Jesus Christ who was preached among you by us by me Silvanus and Timothy was not
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yes and no. But in him look at the in him was yes 20 for all the promises of God in
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him are yes and in him amen. To the glory of God through us. 21. Now he who establishes
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us with you in Christ has anointed us as anointed now him who establishes us with you in Christ
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and has anointed us as God. 22. Who also has sealed us the word that we sealed us and given
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us the spirit the spirit in our hearts as a guarantee we see the same word as before
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given as a seal as a guarantee. I want you to go back to day 21. Using the word establish
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establishes that word we'll see it again in in Romans 15 8 that word also means to confirm
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that word also means to bring to pass that word also means to make true we'll see that
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we'll see that very shortly I've explained that before so it means that what he has guaranteed
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what he has stamped what he has confirmed he's going to do means that we're not in doubt
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of what he's going to do let's look at Romans 15 verse 8 I'll just read very quickly says
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now I see that Jesus Christ has become a servant of the circumcision for the truth of God to
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confirm that word confirm establish to bring to pass to make true the promises made to
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the fathers promises made to the fathers mean that this was promised to the father and it
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was fulfilled remember we said Christ is a fulfillment of that which was that was promised
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his burial his death his resurrection so means that Christ embodies all of that promise and
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then he's the one that is confirming it and confirming them and he had confirmed them
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through what he had done in the physical that is death barrier and his resurrection and
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I want us to see where I was setting parts of the scripture where that promise was made
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and I just want us to do just two so we'll see Ezekiel 36 yes I just want us to this
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Ezekiel 36 there's 24 to 28 and then jewel to 28 32 but that's for us to read let's
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just write it down for us to read but we'll just focus on Ezekiel 26 and 27 but I'll read
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I'll come I'll come again Ezekiel 36 24 to 28 and jewel to 28 to 32 so I'll just read
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Ezekiel 36 26 to 27 it says I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you
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I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh 27 I will
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put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my status and you will keep my commandments
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and do them praise God and remember when we read that was first John five verse three
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he says his instructions are not boredom some right instruction is not not again why now
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again are we doing this today his instructions are not boredom some but that's because there's
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a change he says a heart of stone a heart of stone would be a heart that is not responsive
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praise God and a heart of flesh know that I mean we know that your heart is not stone
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the one the physical one that you have you know if it's stone there will be a problem
41:20
because you know the main responsibility of it is to spread for blood move and then if
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it's now you know stone means that is rigid you know some people no matter what you do
41:31
they can't move when they say you they are not they don't move and when they are not
41:35
God do praise God so means that the new heart and new spirit will chain the responsive will
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make the person responsive because he's the one that is doing the work he says I will
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I will I will not not it's not we that is doing it is him that is doing it praise God
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and this is Ezekiel saying something that wasn't a norm in his day and his age you know the
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example I just gave about how back then you know when I was giving the guy 50 TL and telling
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him thank you I didn't know that there will be a time where the whole rent is what you
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give to the agent I didn't I didn't if someone had told me I'll say come on how can we get
42:22
there somebody that I even it was out of my own this and I even told you the guy did not
42:26
even ask for it I just but who knew that there was going to be a system in fact yeah yeah
42:34
actually that was back then actually what will happen is that the landlord will tell
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you thank you for bringing the person because houses were there and people are not even
42:42
looking in fact how would they know if the agent didn't say that there's a house but
42:48
now there's connection on whatsapp group everything you can some people even get and the other
42:52
person will get what they get like several ten people will get one house and then they
42:56
will not be cutting it into bits and things have really moved things are really so know
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that you know when when you are in the past and somebody is telling you of something that
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will be happening you know you you can be in denial because if you are if you can't
43:11
see it you can't believe it praise god if someone like to explain to you say this is
43:16
the system they're going to use and then be collecting it you'll be like let them stop
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that thing that is it will not work in fact you because you know what is working you know
43:24
that that one will not work but same way Joe was talking about something that the people
43:29
of his time and his age it wasn't a reality to them praise god it wasn't a reality to
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them so it means that people will just be hearing that say okay we're looking forward
43:39
to the looking forward to the time when this will be a possibility praise god and know
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that Ezekiel was saying these things not of his own you know if you if you think like
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if i sit down at my house and think about okay there will be a time you know everybody
43:55
is waiting for me or waiting for when i say to happen because if i put a timeline to it
44:00
it will be when it passes and then nothing happens we now know that it was just i was
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just pulling but Ezekiel makes a statement because it's not him or the prophet is prophesying
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praise god the prophet is prophesying of what god is going to do praise god and it's not
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just Ezekiel Joel makes the same prophecy but not with the depth that Ezekiel's prophecy
44:24
comes and and jewels on i will just read jewel 228 it says and it shall come to pass therefore
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that i will pour out my spirit on all flesh Ezekiel's own is i will put within i'll put
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my spirit within you when you pour something and when you put you know they are two different
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when you drink water you pour water not the same it's not the same thing praise god not
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the same thing so and we see that even is and by the way understand that the first is
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there and the second because we know that there's the indwelling i think those of us
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that are familiar or those of us have been around any say this has been taught but i'm
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doing this and explaining so that we will follow know that there's the indwelling that
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we experience as a result of what christ has done before christ had died buried and what
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usually will happen is that it comes upon and people prophesy praise god people prophesy
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for it to be that we now have a time where his spirit now resides in us certain things
45:38
have to have been done and that is what that's the promise that christ came to fulfill praise
45:42
god that's the promise that's what he came to accomplish because in his accompli in him
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accomplishing those things we now have we're not now like them in the past we are now in
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a time and in the season where you believe and you receive his life and it resides in
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you and then out of that you are able to birth forth you are able to prophesy you're able
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to do the activities of the spirit and and acts two we know that on the day of pentagos
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we see peter also clarifies and makes reference to the fulfillment of the prophecy that we
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see in joe so acts two the whole thing is acts two sixteen to twenty one acts two sixteen
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to twenty one i want you to read that all right we will not take the long i just want
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us to start from just 16 we'll do 16 and 17 and then 33 so 16 says but this is what was
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spoken by the prophet jewel that is what we read that's what we read prophet and please
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sometime when you read your bible you think that you know one prophet said it this year
46:58
and then the other prophet now sees it happen next year that's not how it is if you in fact
47:04
if you look at the space between jewel the book of jewel and then the book of acts it
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will give you an idea but it's not even it's not even accurate to give you an idea that
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a lot of things that happened before we got to that part so 17 says and it shall come
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to pass in the last day says god that i will pour out my spirit on all flesh your sons
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and daughters shall prophesy and your children your young men shall see visions and your
47:39
old men shall dream dreams so just just go to 33 33 and this is peter speaking says therefore
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be exalted to the right hand of god and having received from the father the promise of the
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spirit he poured out this which you now see and hear and this speaking about what happened
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on the day of pentacles praise god so it means that what the people what they they saw and
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they heard is a fulfillment of the prophecy of jewel praise god the fulfillment of the
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prophecy of jewel and we know that before that one is fulfilled there's also the promise
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of the spirit of god in dwelling the believer praise god so that that had been fulfilled
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for this to have been fulfilled praise god that had to have been fulfilled for this to
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have been fulfilled so know that the prophecy in jewel is not external praise god the prophecy
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in jewel i'm sorry ezekiel is not external the prophecy in ezekiel is not external because
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it's not the and when we say external it's not the external outpouring that that results
48:56
in manifestations that you can see but the root of it is the indwelling right of the
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spirit indwelling of christ and the believer praise god and that's that was what ezekiel's
49:07
prophecy was anchored on that now the spirit of man god's spirit will be one with man praise
49:15
god that god's spirit will be one with man and as we said god promised and he kept his
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word and we now can say that we are the permanent dwelling place of a spirit praise god we are
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the permanent dwelling place of the spirit and and that truth in itself should shape
49:36
the way we carry ourselves the way we look at ourselves the way we think of ourselves
49:42
the way we identify ourselves the way we the nature that understanding of his nature and
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it will enable us to actually live a life that is consistent with our identity as believers
49:55
praise god because if if you if you doubt this you will have struggle if you doubt this
50:04
you will struggle to leave out the reality that you have already if you doubt this you
50:11
will just be outside the door and watching what is going on here praise god i know that
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as i said it is free it doesn't cost you anything what it will cost you is your ego your pride
50:24
those things that yeah you just let it go and then you have you receive the life of
50:29
god praise god and i i when we started this and i was talking about lonely i just remembered
50:36
it and then i remember that in john 16 god himself was saying jesus himself was saying
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that that yes he will not be without anybody but he knows that he's not alone and if you
50:47
are here and you are not sure or you know that you feel this sense of loneliness feel
50:54
the sense of yeah i have friends but they are still strangers to me or i have family
51:00
and by the way i'm imagining how someone will have a physical family but it happens but
51:05
you have a physical family but you're still distant from them but the good thing about
51:09
what god calls us to is that we have a spiritual family a family that transcends the physical
51:16
praise god a family that you can leave your country and you're somewhere in another part
51:21
of the world and you can look at someone and call them brother look at someone and call
51:24
them sister and it's true it's not you know just the typical one way people say bro bro
51:30
bro that's not that's not it you you you know when you say something and it's not a cliche
51:36
you see something you call the person my brother my sister and you mean it because you have
51:41
something in common you have the same spirit that resides in them in you praise god that
51:49
is something powerful and that should shift or that should make you see yourself differently
51:54
and if you are feeling lonely the very quick cure for that will spend time with god's word
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just read god's word as his communication to you read it and see parts of it where he
52:05
tells you that he will never leave you in a forsaken and even as we said spend time
52:11
to do what his will is which is give thanks for the things that you know you do have praise
52:15
god and let the things that you don't have sort themselves out on the way praise god
52:21
because whether you like it or not there's going to be something you don't have that
52:24
will get you worried but what you want to do is because you have control of what to
52:29
say put your mind on what to fix your heart on what to fix your thought on what to fix
52:33
your gaze on and we fix our gazes on things that the songwriter says slowly shape and
52:39
and he says the things of this world grow strangely deep in the light of his glory and
52:45
grace means that when you're looking at him when your faith because you're you're looking
52:52
at him in faith in the wilderness when he did when moses did the bronson sapin what
52:58
they needed to do was to look and leave praise god they looked and they were here and the
53:04
same way the same imagery the same is what you want to do look to him that gives you
53:12
that life eternal that life that is abundant that life that is not just the bios they're
53:18
living every day you know some people are just leaving they're living like they're
53:22
just living from today tomorrow they're just waiting for what life is going to do to them
53:27
praise god but as believers we're leaving in excitement we're leaving rejoicing we're
53:34
living with the joy that we can't explain i do you see christ is my firm foundation
53:43
says he says he says i've got peace it doesn't make sense but you have something that is
53:50
regardless of your external circumstances it just comes from within that is because
53:55
there's something in you that produces that peace that you cannot explain you can't even
54:01
tell someone the person is like you know some people see people see see your smiling
54:06
let me see don't you have problems actually like don't you have problems like like what
54:10
they are going through like are you not in the same like this economy like are you not
54:16
feeling the heat of the economy praise god we are feeling the heat of economy but we
54:21
choose to channel our attention to what we know will change us praise god what we know
54:27
because the economy will keep going the way it is praise god but we know that regardless
54:32
of what is happening to the economy our faith should be rock solid on the one whose economy
54:38
stays stand sure praise god so that should give you confidence that should not allow
54:43
you to be somebody you know it's we have a victory in him we don't look we don't move
54:48
around like people that beat down people that life has done them over and then there's nothing
54:53
there's nothing you don't there's there's no hope there's no you we have a hope because
54:59
we have something that money cannot buy we have something that was freely given to us
55:05
and we freely receive that thing and we're working in the light of what we have received
55:10
we're working in that identity we're working in that reality and i want you to just rise
55:15
up and just open your mouth and thank god just say father i thank you for what it is you've done
55:23
i walk i walk i walk in the reality of my identity just open your mouth and say father thank you
55:36
thank you for listening to today's sermon your journey matters to us let's keep walking together
55:43
this is our website for more resources and follow us on social media to stay updated
55:49
feel free to check the show notes for additional insights if today's message was a blessing
55:55
shared with a friend until next time be blessed