Latest / Brandon Fogal Evolution / #71 - What Is the 'State of The Union'...Your Union With God?

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#71 - What Is the 'State of The Union'...Your Union With God? · Brandon Fogal Evolution

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  What is the state of the union? More specifically, what is the state of your union with God?
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  We just had this week, we had President Trump. He gave the state of the union
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  address to the American people.
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  And there was a lot there. You know, everybody took it the way they took it, you know?
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  So, but if we, if we remove all the fluff, if we remove all the, the controversy,
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  the polarizingness of, of Trump, and maybe even step back and get away from
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  politics, Let's maybe put politics to the side, even though everybody sometimes
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  sees everything through the lens of politics.
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  They judge you by the state of your political leaning as opposed to the content of your character.
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  But let's remove all that. Let's actually go back to something a little bit
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  deeper, a little bit more personal.
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  And what is the state of the union, your union with God?
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  We're going to take a look at that in this episode. My name is Brandon Fogel. This is Evolution.
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  I've wanted to do this a long time, a long time in talking about,
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  and we're going to look at the book of second Corinthians, a few passages from
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  there with the apostle Paul.
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  Now you want to see a guy that was misunderstood and that was not well received whatsoever.
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  A lot of it he brought upon himself, but he was a guy that was fiery.
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  He was the guy that he had something in him that I don't know if any other person
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  on the planet has had ever since then, or maybe ever will be because the apostle
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  Paul completely flipped and changed the world.
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  And he does describe it in some instances, the book of Colossians.
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  He says, there is in God's grace, which works mightily in me.
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  He says that about himself.
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  He understands and he even says, I can get why some of the other apostles didn't
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  like Paul because there were disagreements there were like almost coming to
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  fist and fighting and splitting apart you know that they they didn't agree even
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  when he became an apostle and a legit apostle and an apostle that they recognized.
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  That they validated and said that, yes, he is a true apostle.
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  There were times because he said, I worked harder than them.
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  And he points to the other apostles.
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  And you can understand that even like the Peter and James, they might like,
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  okay, Paul, man, cool it a little bit.
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  But Paul had something in him that he, wherever he went, people were going for his throat.
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  And in second Corinthians, we're going to take a look at, he gives basically
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  a diatribe of all that he's went through, and we look back 2,000 years later
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  when we read this, and you might have never heard this before.
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  This might be completely new to you.
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  Some people might have heard this, his kind of account of his whole sufferings.
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  In that century, at that time, it would have been so dishonorable,
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  the things that he was saying, the Apostle Paul.
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  It would have been not a badge of honor. Christians today, we think,
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  oh my God, I wish I had that testimony. I wish I was suffering for Christ like that.
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  I wish I was out there with my faith that people were wanting,
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  because if you put the light of the gospel and you just, because you don't need
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  to make the gospel offensive.
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  The gospel in itself is offensive because it says that we are all sinners.
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  We are all in a condemned state and we need forgiveness.
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  We need to come to a peace agreement with God. And it takes humbling. It takes surrender.
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  But the apostle Paul, he lays out what he's went through and what he has suffered,
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  we're going to switch screens real fast, in the book of Corinthians.
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  And he says, and people back then, they would have thought it was stupid.
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  And people today, we think it's a badge of honor, but in his day,
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  it would have been looked down upon.
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  And he treats it as, this is my validation of who I am as an apostle for Christ.
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  And we're going to get into a little bit why this can have very.
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  Impactful ramifications for our lives because we need to seriously self-evaluate
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  who we are because daily,
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  and we're going to talk about that in a second, but Paul in second Corinthians,
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  this is chapter 11 verse chapter, yeah, chapter 11, verse 22.
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  And he says, talking about these guys that are against him.
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  You could say the deep state in his time, but Paul, he's talking about these,
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  what he calls super apostles. And he's not talking about the real apostles.
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  These are guys that are not true apostles, but are just always at his heels,
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  always just pecking at him and always trying to destroy him and destroy his
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  ministry and discredit him.
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  And Paul says, are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites?
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  So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham?
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  So am I. Are they ministers of Christ, I speak as a fool.
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  I am more in labors, more abundant in stripes above measure in prisons more frequently in deaths.
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  Often from the Jews, five times I received 40 stripes minus one,
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  three times I was beaten with rods.
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  Once I was stoned three times. I was shipwrecked a night and a day.
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  I have been in the deep in journeys, often in perils of waters.
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  And when he says perils. Perils is dangers.
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  In perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles,
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  in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea,
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  in perils among false brethren,
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  in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst.
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  In fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
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  Besides the other things, what comes upon me daily, my concern for all the churches.
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  Who is weak and I am not weak? Who was made to stumble and I do not burn with indignation?
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  He says, if I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity.
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  The God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever.
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  Knows that I am not lying. And this is the real kicker.
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  This is one that tops it all off. In Damascus, the governor under Aretas,
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  the king, was guarding the city of the Demacines with a garrison, desiring to arrest me.
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  But I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped from his hands.
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  It's like, they can't take you that seriously. like you you're
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  having to escape in a basket out of the
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  city wall paul you don't
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  have that much clout i mean because we think a superman like a a
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  badass person right now can just walk in and just get respect
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  you walk in the room you get respect paul didn't get no respect paul did not
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  get no respect at all they want they want went for his head they wanted to destroy
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  him but paul but god would not let paul be destroyed so i say all this to bring
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  up the fact that we're all going through something and we all have our own journey.
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  We all have our own testimony and witness that we're living out daily in front of people.
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  Not all of us are missionaries, you know, not all of us are missionaries or
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  that are on the front line.
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  I like, and I mean, like I fall into that trap out on the front line.
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  Like we go, we are out on the front line every day in our encounter with every
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  other person we run into.
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  We are to be a light to every person that we run into, a light and a fragrance of Jesus.
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  So you don't have to be a missionary in India to be serving God and to be doing
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  mighty things for the kingdom.
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  The apostle Paul, he probably suffered more than any other Christian.
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  You know, it's debatable and only God knows. And really, we only know the suffering
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  that we go through ourselves.
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  We can't really compare ourselves to anyone else. So it's like the suffering
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  that you're going through is the suffering.
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  You know, but if you feel like that you are off the table,
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  unusable by God, that you have a, because this is a litany of,
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  of, of events that would have been so beneath anybody that was a Roman at that time,
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  anybody that was a sophisticated philosopher, that's going to take Paul seriously,
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  because if God is for you, you should be blessed.
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  You shouldn't be having to be lowered out of a wall of a city in a basket to escape somebody.
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  You should be blessed. Your bank account should be just booming.
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  You should have power and influence.
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  You should be mighty in whatever you're doing. Because that's what God cares about, right?
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  And he's going to bless the people that are his people, right?
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  And if you're not being blessed and if you're suffering, you sure God's on your side?
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  You sure God's on your side? We all have to take a self-evaluation of why we
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  are doing what we are doing every day.
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  Every day. Because it doesn't change. We still have to get up.
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  We still have to put our pants on one leg at a time.
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  And there are going to be people that are out there that are going to want to
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  destroy us when we step out into the real world.
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  People are going to, I mean, and the more that you are being a light for Christ,
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  the more persecution that's going to come your way.
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  The more out front, open and honest, that doesn't mean you have to beat everyone
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  over the head with Jesus, but you have to be willing to.
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  Not, I guess that does sound good. You have to be willing to give a defense
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  if someone asks you, why do you do the things you do?
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  Why are you living the way you're living? Why are you believing fairy tales? Why are you deluded?
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  Because God, there can't be a God. We don't see him. We don't see him.
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  And there's evidentiary explanation for everything in this universe.
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  You know, we evolved from apes. We evolved out of the soup, the very beginning
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  soup of composition of all matter. We are stardust.
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  We are stardust. And that's all we are. We are just random evolutionary events
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  in motion. and we have to have an answer for that.
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  We have to have an answer for that because we can't just sit back and take it.
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  You know, we can't just sit back and take it. Christians, we need to be on the front line.
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  You know, Satan and his minions, they are the gates of hell.
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  We are storming the king. We are storming his gates and his boundaries.
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  We are punching through. We are tearing through.
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  We are not to be stopped. We are not on the defense. Satan is on the defense.
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  He's defensive. We are on the offense. We are offensive.
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  And the gospel is going to be offensive. but we can't back down ever.
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  And it's, and every Christian does it differently. Some Christians do,
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  they have the bravado and they're confident and some are just downright humble
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  and downright meek. Everybody's doing it differently.
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  And that's between you and God. And
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  this is where it comes to what is our self-evaluation of where we stand.
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  And we're going to skip to the last chapter of 2 Corinthians.
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  In 2 Corinthians 13, where Paul, because he's talking to, He's talking to people.
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  He's got those super apostles that want to destroy him and discredit him and
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  make fun of him in every possible scenario that they have.
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  And he's away from them. All he can do is write letters.
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  We're reading a letter that he wrote, just a letter, a correspondent.
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  He's not in person with them. That's why he's writing the letter.
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  And these super apostles want to destroy him.
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  And he's telling them, do I need to come to you and demonstrate my power?
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  Because God definitely, he can demonstrate the power of me being an apostle.
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  And should I come strongly and powerfully to you? Or should I come meek and mild as Christ?
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  Because Christ, there is a difference. I mean, there's a huge difference between
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  Christ's first coming and his second coming. We think.
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  If the Messiah would come, he would have to come as a king.
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  He would have to come in power and glory. And so it couldn't have been Jesus
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  2000 years ago. So like he didn't upturn the world completely.
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  He didn't overthrow the Romans completely and immediately, but there is always two sides of the coin.
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  And in Jesus's first coming, it's that meek and mild to pay for our sins.
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  In his second coming, it's going to be with a sword and in power and in glory.
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  And that's the same with Paul.
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  Paul's like, do I need to come to you and be, have the power of Christ,
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  like just basically radiate out of me and just miracles upon miracles.
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  I mean, people would die in their tracks instantly.
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  And sometimes like if, if the power of the apostles, you know.
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  Ananias and Sapphira died immediately because they sinned against the Holy Spirit
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  on the spot, God could stop us on the spot, stop our heartbeat immediately.
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  So Paul's asking, do I need to come to you in the power of Christ in like, or do you, with a rod?
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  Or should I come to you meek and mild? And then he gets personal.
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  Because, and this, this is something, this can resonate with Americans.
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  With Americans, this can resonate.
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  Because Paul, Paul actually goes into the individual. Because a lot of times, a lot of times,
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  In that culture, in a lot of the other cultures around the world,
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  as opposed to American, it's a lot of collectivism.
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  It's the people that matter as opposed to the person.
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  So, because there is always this balancing act between the people of God and
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  everyone, you know, we are all saved together.
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  But then there's the personal where we're saved individually.
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  We're a member in the body of Christ. And Paul goes down to the personal element
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  of it. And he talks about, are you listening to these super apostles?
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  Are you discrediting me? do you not validate and understand that I am a true apostle?
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  And he tells them to evaluate themselves, to self-reflect, where do I stand with God?
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  Where do I stand in my own faith? Where do I stand with Christ?
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  And I think this is the state of the union that matters for every person out
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  there. This is the state of the union that matters for every person out there.
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  Where do you stand with God. And Christians, we daily need to evaluate.
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  Self-reflect where we stand.
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  Are we in the faith or are we not in the faith? So 2 Corinthians 13,
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  verse 5, Paul writes to them, he says, examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith.
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  Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you?
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  Unless indeed you are disqualified. But I trust that you will know that we are not disqualified.
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  Now you say, I would think only an actual Christian themselves,
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  a person that, if you're a person that wants to evaluate yourselves,
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  where do I really stand with God? Where do I stand with Christ?
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  That might be a better indicator of where your soul is at and where your heart
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  is at, as opposed to a person that doesn't care one way or the other and thinks
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  this is all nonsense and stupid.
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  They're immediately going to brush it off. They're immediately,
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  but if you, but if you have that inkling in you and that really,
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  it matters to you, then I would say you are.
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  That is a grace to show that you are in the faith.
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  And that's why, so Paul lays it out there. He puts it out there.
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  Are you in the faith? Examine yourselves.
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  Now, Christian, take it. We do with it what you think and run with it.
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  And the Christians are going to do that.
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  People that are in Christ, people that are in the faith are seriously going to examine themselves.
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  They're not going to say, I have arrived. I have arrived. I am in Christ and think I'm good.
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  I don't need Jesus. Me and Jesus, we got a good thing going.
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  We got a good thing going. And if you are in that, I would appeal to you to
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  seriously self-evaluate.
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  But the Christian out there, the person that is in Christ, you are going to
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  always feel that because that you have a daily ongoing conversation with God going.
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  It doesn't stop. You know, he's right there with you every moment of the day,
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  which is amazing and incredible.
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  We don't ever have to fear. We don't ever have to fear.
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  But we do have to take seriously as self-evaluating where we stand and what
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  is our state of the union of our soul. We have never arrived until we arrive
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  in the kingdom of God and with Christ. So, all right, we'll leave it at that.