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Living Waters of Grace for June 1st, 2026 · Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services

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This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark
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Wofford, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland,
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County of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he
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continues teaching through God's Word.
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I love that word uttermost, don't you?
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Not part way, only maybe. Not real, sure, not complete.
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No. God is able to save to the
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uttermost those who come to Him through Christ.
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And I love the promise Christ is always living to make
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intercession for us. And how much more as we study
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that we need to be making intercession for one another,
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not grow weary in well doing or faint in our mind praying for
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each other by name. Did you know that Jesus prays
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for you? The Holy Spirit dwells within
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you, making Jesus your intercessor.
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Intercessor isn't a fancy word for translator.
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Jesus doesn't just make your prayers sound prettier to God.
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He actually prays on your behalf.
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He prays for you by name to God. Today, Pastor Clark teaches the
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importance of your prayers. You must pray for others by name
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so Jesus can lift up those prayers by name specifically for
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that person. Our prayers have true power when
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given to the Lord. Now here's Pastor Clark in the
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Book of Revelation chapter 21 with today's edition of Living
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Waters of Grace. Revelation chapter 21, we're
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going to pick up in verse 9 and go to verse 21.
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Let's read that. Then one of the seven angels who
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had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to
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me and talked with me, saying, Come, I will show you the bride,
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the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the
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Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the
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great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from
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God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most
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precious stone, like a Jasper stone, clear as crystal.
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Also she had a great and high wall with 12 gates and 12 angels
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at the gates, names written on them, which are the names of the
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12 tribes of the children of Israel, 3 gates on the E, 3
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gates on the N, 3 gates on the South, and three gates on the
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West. Now the wall of the city had 12
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foundations, and on them were the names of the 12 apostles of
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the land. And he who talked with me had a
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gold Reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall.
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The city is laid out as a square, its length is as great
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as its breadth, and he measured the city with the Reed 12,000
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furlongs. Its length, breadth, and height
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are equal. Then he measured its wall 144
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cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an Angel.
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The construction of its wall was of Jasper, and the city was pure
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gold like clear glass. The foundation of the wall of
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the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones.
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The first foundation was Jasper, the second sapphire, the third
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Chaldoni, the 4th emerald, the 5th Sardonics, the 6th Sardis,
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the 7th crystallite, the 8th barrel, the 9th Topaz, the 10th
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Christoph phrase, 11th Jacinis, and the 12th amethyst.
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The 12 gates were 12 pearls, each individual gate was of 1
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Pearl, and the street of this city was pure gold, like
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transparent glass. That sound like a place you want
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to go to? In verse 9, it talks about this
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Angel and this is the same Angel that we remember studying about
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earlier who was involved with pouring out the the bowls of the
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wrath of God, the last plagues upon the face of the earth.
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Now he has this privilege to introduce the apostle John to
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the beauty of this eternal Kingdom that is going to descend
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from the heavens one day, the new Jerusalem.
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The apostle John had the privilege to see this thing
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actually come to pass, to come to being.
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And we see there's a much more detailed gaze as we were reading
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the earlier verses in Revelation, verse one and two of
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chapter 21. This is what he saw.
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I saw this new new heaven and the new earth, for the 1st
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heaven and the first earth had passed away also.
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There was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy City,
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New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a
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bride or dorn for her husband. What a beautiful experience this
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man had. Can you imagine what he saw?
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It would be hard to explain in human terms what he actually was
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seeing because it was something that no one has ever seen
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before. And so in his writings, he's
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going to write about it in ways that we might be able to connect
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with as far as physical matter. But he's seeing something that
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is miraculous and eternal. And what's interesting and how
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John writes this book through the direction of the Holy Spirit
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is similar to how he work with Moses when he put Genesis
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together. But in the 1st chapter of
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Genesis, God works through Moses and gives an overview of the
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creation. And then in the 2nd chapter, he
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goes into great detail as to what it is that he's describing.
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In the 1st chapter of Genesis. We see this also the same kind
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of format that the the Holy Spirit is using with John as he
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is writing this 21st chapter of Revelation.
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Now we understand that what he's seeing here is a glorious
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Kingdom that's coming down out of heaven.
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And if you turn over to Matthew, you think about Jesus when he's
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being tempted by the devil in the wilderness, Matthew chapter
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4, verse 8. And it says again, the devil
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took him up on an exceeding high mountain and showed him all the
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kingdoms of the world and their glory.
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And he said to them, him, All these things I will give you, if
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you will fall down and worship me.
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And Jesus said to him, Away with you, Satan, for it is written,
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Ye shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you
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serve. And the devil left him, and
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behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
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How ridiculous it would be, right?
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When you think about the context of the devil to come to the King
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of Kings and Lord of Lords and tempting him with the puny
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kingdoms of this world that are going to pass away.
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The Lord is omnipresent and he's also omniscient.
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He knows everything. And so his, he's looking at the
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Satan's temptation here. I'm sure he's like, if you could
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only see and realize what is yet to come.
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Whatever you have to tempt me with cannot even come in the
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faintest sense near to what the Father has planned for those who
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love him. And when you think about
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temptation in your own life, we're all tempted, aren't we?
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And the devil is very cunning and he tempts us with very
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beautiful things, things that are very alluring and exciting.
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It wouldn't be a temptation if it was ugly and discouraging,
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disappointing or boring. God the Father allows the devil
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to come with something that's very enticing.
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And when the devil comes, we have to realize that whatever
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we're being tempted with, God has something so much more
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beautiful and so much more wonderful for each of us as we
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walk with the Lord. And so that's why the Bible
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tells us there's no temptation. It's taking you, but such as is
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common into man. But God will provide a way of
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escape from the temptation. You might be able to bear it.
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So I trust as we're being tempted by the devil, we'll be
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like the Lord and we'll tell the devil that this to go away.
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We're not interested in his lies and his deceptions.
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But we see this new Jerusalem through the eyes of the apostle
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coming down suspended over the earth.
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The Bible tells us when the first creation was designed by
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the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It's like a stone cut without
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human hands. There will be no physical
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manifestation of human beings involved in the making and
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development of this glorious new city to Jerusalem.
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It's coming down. We read in verse 11 it says
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having the glory of God. Her light was like a most
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precious stone, like a Jasper stone, clear as crystal.
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And you might want to underline in your Bible that he's saying
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it was like this. He's not saying it was exactly
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that, but he's saying, the only way I can describe this to you
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is that it reminds me of something I saw on the Earth,
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something I saw sometime in my own experience.
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He says it's like, and this comes from the theological term
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called anthropomorphic, and this is a term that means something
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that is described or viewed in terms of the language,
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experiences and knowledge of man.
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And so John is saying this is what the city looks like to me,
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and if you were there, you might have a different way of
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describing it. He talks about this first
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beautiful stone, Jasper. I don't know if you've ever seen
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a Jasper stone. I never have.
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My wife has seen just about any kind of precious stone and
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mineral and gold and silver that exists 'cause she's always
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trying to kind of drag me into jewelry stores.
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They'll look at all these different beautiful things.
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I can't tell one versus the other.
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All I know is when she gets what she has a desire for, and it's
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in our budget and we prayed about it and God permits it, she
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puts it on and she loves it. You know, and women have all
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those different things on. I just have $125.00 silver Kmart
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ring I've had for 40 years now. I wanted to get a, what did I
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want to get? A plastic ring.
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They had yellow, orange, red and green.
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I was a hippie. So I figured, hey, they're like
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2 bucks, put that on. That's good to go.
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Cindy says no way. Then I wanted to get like a
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leather band and she said no, that'll fall apart.
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We can't get that. So we, we made a deal.
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I think they were two for 45. So but, but since that time
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she's upgraded. She's got those things like
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Revelation talks about on her hand now and I'm I'm still
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wearing this, you know, but anyway, I, I think of this
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Jasper and what it reflects the beauty and how excited he is
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about what it is. He's seeing something like he's
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never seen before, clear as crystal.
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And I think about what it says in First Corinthians chapter 2,
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verse nine. I hath not seen nor ear heard
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nor entered into the heart of man the things that God has
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prepared for those who love him. So I, I trust today you're
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getting excited about what we're studying and realizing what God
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has prepared for you. I mean, salvation is a wonderful
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thing. We're going to be saved.
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We're going to be in heaven forever, but it isn't just going
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to be a a normal place that you've seen before.
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I believe when we go there, we're going to be so excited
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throughout all eternity. We're going to say, did you see
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that, Barry? Did you see that?
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Bethany, come over here, look over here, look at this.
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Every day. It's a new discovery, something
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that will just blow our minds. And I think about how difficult
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it must have been for John to be able to express in human terms
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what it was he was seeing. It would be like Baptista.
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Baptista is a former witch doctor in the Yanomano tribe.
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When he became a Christian and he got born again and got saved,
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he began to get discipled. He became an elder in his
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church. And when Mike and Gary would
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come to the US to speak to the major colleges, anthropology
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departments, they would bring Baptista so he could speak to
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them through the communication and the translation of Mike and
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Gary to explain to the people, the listeners, what is life like
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in the jungles with the Yanomanos.
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And of course, he would describe some things to the people here
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that like, man, what's he talking about?
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I never heard about anything like that.
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Never saw anything like that. And he would put it in terms
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through the interpreters that we might be able to relate to.
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Well, when Baptista came to America, Mike told me it was
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wild. He, he first of all, gets a huge
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bird that he never saw in his life called a jet airplane.
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He gets in and he's like, this thing's actually going to fly.
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And Mike's explaining to him how it's going to fly and what the
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wings do and everything. And so he gets in and he's like
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totally stoked. I mean, never, never, never
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comprehended there was such a way of transportation.
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He comes to America and he lands and he gets in these vehicles
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and he sees, you know, cars everywhere and everywhere he's
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looking, large skyscrapers and buildings.
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He, he just can't begin to comprehend everything he's
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seeing. It's like overload, the senses
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of what he's encountering, and that's what it's going to be
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like when we go to heaven. It's going to be sensual in the
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sense of overload. We're not going to be able to be
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able to take it all in. It's just going to be
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overwhelming. But Baptista would have to go to
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eventually back to the jungles and they would ask him what is
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it like there in America? And he would use a term, what we
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would call jungle pocentric, and he would try to communicate in
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terms of jungle life what he had seen in in this culture, in this
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country. You can imagine how difficult
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that would be. He might describe a Boeing 747
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with its flaps down as an elephant flying with people on
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it, a huge elephant flying with people on it.
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But we see here on this day, this heavenly city in chapter
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21, verse four. And we covered this several
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weeks ago. Last week we covered the
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importance of fasting and I trust that God is working in
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your hearts regarding fasting. Something we got to continually
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pray about and encourage each other to do, especially for the
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obstacles in our lives that Jesus said cannot be moved
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without prayer and fasting. But it says in verse 4, And God
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will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
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There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.
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There shall be no more pain for the former things that passed
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away. As a pastor, I sense your pain,
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your sorrow, your heartache many times, and I'm sure you sense
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mine as well as God's servant. But I'm looking so forward to
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that day that I won't have to comfort anybody anymore from the
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horror of tragedy, of the ruination of people's lives
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because of sin and bad choices and mistakes.
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I won't have to be with someone at a Funeral Home.
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I won't have to give a funeral. I won't have to carry the
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burden, nor will you, of the heartache of loved ones who have
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gone into eternity, especially those who have not received
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Jesus Christ and will have to suffer the consequences for all
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eternity. But it'll be so wonderful to be
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able to see you there with smiles on your faces as wide as
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your grin can possibly be. Never discouragement anymore.
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No more sorrow, No more suffering, no more pain or
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anguish. No more hopelessness.
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I mean, what God has planned for us guys is this beyond our
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ability to take in. You won't have your wife broken
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hearted crying, or your husband discouraged or disappointed.
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You won't see your child coming home from school because people
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said mean things about him or a bully beat him up.
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You won't have rejection. You won't have depression.
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You won't have sickness or disease or illness or
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addictions. It'll all be pure and holy and
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perfect. That's what God has prepared for
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those who love Him. John then begins to describe the
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physicality of this incredible holy city of God and verse 12,
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this Great Wall with 12 gates, 12 angels at the gates, and
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names written on them, which are the names of the 12 tribes of
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the children of Israel. The 12 gates represent the 12
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tribes of Israel and the 12 foundations represent the 12
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apostles. And what's beautiful in this
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particular experience here in this place is that the group of
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people that are going to be here, Revelation chapter 15
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verse 3 says they sing the song of Moses, a servant of God, and
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the song of the Lamb, saying great and marvelous are your
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works, Lord God Almighty, just and true are your ways, O King
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of the Saints. So we see in the Kingdom the Old
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Testament Saints that were familiar with the song of Moses
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and the New Testament believers who were or familiar with the
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song of the Lamb. Both groups of people will be
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there because we're all saved by faith in Jesus Christ.
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Those in the Old Testament who trusted in the Messiah to come,
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and those in the New Testament that were able to see the
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finished work of Jesus Christ at the cross, His death, His
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burial, his resurrection, and his soon coming.
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The wall that we're looking at here that's being described
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manifests the eternal security of our God, that only in God's
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family are we secure and safe. I love the word when it says no
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weapon that's formed against us shall prosper.
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That God is our refuge, our strength, our fortress, our
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strong tower and time of trouble.
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God is faithful to protect and to save us to the other most.
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If you turn to Hebrews Chapter 7, I love this verse.
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Whenever things get tough and you find that you're getting
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discouraged and you think, boy, how in the world can I ever
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fulfill the purposes of God in my life?
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And you see the promise of God here in seven 25 of Hebrews.
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Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who
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come to God through Him, since He always lives to make
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intercession for them. I love that word uttermost,
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don't you? Not part way, only maybe, not
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real, sure, not complete. No God is able to save to the
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uttermost those who come to Him through Christ and I love the
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promise Christ is always living to make intercession for us and
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how much more as we study that we need to be making
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intercession for one another, not grow weary and well doing or
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faint in our mind. Praying for each other by name,
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remembering each other's faces is a body of Christ here at
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Calvary Chapel going through the church directory and going name
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by name. You don't know all the details,
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but God does. Having the people in your heart
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and, and praying for God's provision and guidance and
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direction and protection upon their lives.
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And as we do that in our feeble attempt and by the grace of God,
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we try to do these things faithfully daily, to pray for
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the things that God puts in our heart.
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Here we have our Savior who's ever living before the right
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hand of the Father, living to make intercession for us night
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and day. He doesn't stop praying.
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He's praying always for you and for me and the fulfillment of
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His plan in these last days. We need to be reminded of these
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things. First John chapter 5.
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And this is a testimony that God has given us eternal life and
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this life is in His Son. If you're here today and you're
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a child of God and you're born again and you're a follower of
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Jesus Christ, this is to you that God has given us eternal
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life and this life is in His Son.
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He who has a Son has life. If you're here today and you
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don't have Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, this is the
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message to you. He who does not have the Son of
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God does not have life. You might be living, but you're
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not living in God's kind of life.
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You're living in a life that's going to suffer in hell forever
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if you don't come to Jesus Christ today.
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And he said in verse 13, these things I written to you who
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believe in the name of the Son of God.
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I love this that you may know that you have eternal life, that
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you may know that you have eternal life, that you may know
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No, no, no, right may know that we have eternal life.
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Why? That you may continue to believe
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in the name of the Son of God. And I love this.
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Now this is the confidence that we have in Him that if we ask
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anything according to His will, He hears us and we know that He
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hears us whatever we ask. We know that we have the
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petitions that we've asked of Him.
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Go to verse 18. We know that whatever is born of
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God does not sin. So if we're followers of Christ,
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we don't have a desire to live in a habitual sin anymore.
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If you say you're a follower of Christ, turn from sin.
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Don't condone sin. Don't justify sin, don't accept
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sin in your life if you're a follower of Jesus Christ.
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It says if we're born of God, we don't sin.
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That means we have to live in a way that's holy.
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We have to live in a way that's obedient to the Lord Jesus, not
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in our own strength, but by the power of the Holy Spirit.
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Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the
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flesh. The Bible says it says, But he
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who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked 1 does
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not touch him. So often Christians are paranoid
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about the devil. The devil's doing this.
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The devil's here. People talk more about the devil
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than the victory that we have in Jesus Christ.
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I love this promise. If we who have been born of God
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walk with the Lord and stay away from sin, the wicked 1 does not
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touch us. We know that we are of God and
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the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.
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And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an
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understanding that we may know Him who is true and that we are
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in Him who is true in His Son Jesus Christ.
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This is a true God and eternal life.
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Isn't that beautiful? I love the the description
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description here. He's given us understanding that
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we may know him who is true. We are in him who is true in his
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Son. You talk about security and
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protection and peace that we are in Jesus Christ.
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And then the admonition at the end, little children, keep
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yourselves from idols. Do you have idols in your lives
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today, guys and gals, if we have idols, we need to repent of
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those things. Cast the idols down.
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But for followers of Christ, there's no room for idolatry in
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our lives. Foolish focus upon things that
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are going to perish and be destroyed.
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I love the foundation of this particular city.
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It reminds me of what it's tells us over in the book of Ephesians
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chapter 2. If you turn over there for a
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moment, our foundation is not made out of bricks and mortar.
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It says in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 19.
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Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners,
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but fellow citizens, with the Saints and the members of the
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household of God having built on the foundation of the apostles
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and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief
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cornerstone. Isn't that amazing?
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The Church is built upon Christ. On Christ the solid rock I
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stand, all other ground is sinking sand.
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I'm not standing on Calvary Chapel, and I hope you aren't
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either. I'm standing on Jesus Christ.
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Amen. On Christ the solid rock we
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stand, all other ground is sinking sand.
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And what's on top of Christ is the foundation of the apostles
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and the prophets. Thanks for being with us today
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here on Living Waters of Grace. We're in the Book of Revelation,
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and we find it fascinating how influential and involved the
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angels are in this book. They bring about whatever it is
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that God has instructed them to do, but it's through their
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actions that much of the judgements come on the earth.
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The angels are in submission to God as their authority, but He
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utilizes them in unique ways throughout this book.
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Like angels have a specific purpose from God, you have a
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unique purpose and plan too. God wants to use you in your
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life as a testimony to others and to bring others who are
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currently lost into the fold of God.
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God would love more than anything for all who are willing
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to come to Him for salvation, but He wants it to be their
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choice, not a forced situation. This is the way God works, not
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forcing himself on anyone, but giving each person free will.
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If you're interested in learning about this choice that's free
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and that it's a gift, go to calvarychapelonline.com and
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click on the About Us tab and then find the link for what we
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believe. We'd love to be a help and a
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resource for you as you walk through what it means to be a
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follower of Jesus. If you find the contact tab on
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our website, you can get in touch with us or submit a prayer
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request. We'd love to hear from you.
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That's all for today's edition and Revelation, but there's much
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more that Pastor Clark plans to share with us from this
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culminating book of the Bible. Stay tuned for that and make
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sure to mention this radio program to others.
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Invite them to tune into Grace FM 91.7 FM.
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They can stream worldwide at Grace Radio dot FM.
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This has been Living Waters of Grace.