Latest / Pst T.D Jakes -The POTTER'S HOUSE / Strengthen What Remains - Bishop T.D. Jakes

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Strengthen What Remains - Bishop T.D. Jakes · Pst T.D Jakes -The POTTER'S HOUSE

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Speaker 1: Let us go to the best-selling book of all times,
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Speaker 1: the Word of God itself. The Spirit of the Word
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Speaker 1: gives life. Revelations chapter 3, verse 1 through 6. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
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Speaker 1: Love you too. Revelations 3, verse 1 through 6. Y'all
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Speaker 1: sound like you're ready this morning. Here we get to
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Speaker 1: read a personal letter, penned or actually articulated through the
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Speaker 1: pen of John, but they are the words of Christ
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Speaker 1: in resurrection to the church in Sardis. Let us read together.
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Speaker 1: To the angel of the church in Sardis write, these
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Speaker 1: are the words of him who holds the seven spirits
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Speaker 1: of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds.
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Speaker 1: You have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Yeah.
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Speaker 1: Wake up. Strengthen what remains. Strengthen what remains and is
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Speaker 1: about to die for I have found your deeds unfinished
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Speaker 1: in the sight of my God. Remember therefore what you
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Speaker 1: have received and heard and hold it fast and repent.
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Speaker 1: But if you do not wake up, I will come
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Speaker 1: like a thief and you will not know at what
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Speaker 1: time I will come to you. Yet you have a
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Speaker 1: few people, yet you have a few people, yet you
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Speaker 1: have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled
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Speaker 1: their clothes. They will walk with me dressed in white
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Speaker 1: for they are worthy. The one who is victorious will
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Speaker 1: like them be dressed in white. I will never blot
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Speaker 1: out the name of that person from the book of life,
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Speaker 1: but will acknowledge that name before my father and his angels.
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Speaker 1: Whoever has ears, let them hear what the spirit says
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Speaker 1: to the church. Go back to verse one again for
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Speaker 1: just a moment. Go back to the angel of the
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Speaker 1: church inside us, right? These are the words of him
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Speaker 1: who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.
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Speaker 1: I know your deeds. You have a reputation of being alive,
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Speaker 1: but you are dead, gone. Wake up. Strengthen what remains.
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Speaker 1: Not what you lost. Not what you hope to gain.
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Speaker 1: Strengthen What remains? Look at your neighbor and say, strengthen
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Speaker 1: what remains. Go to John for just a moment. After this,
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Speaker 1: you can sit the rest of the day. You can
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Speaker 1: sit all day. Amen. We'll get a chair and roll
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Speaker 1: you out. John 6, 60 through 69. Here we hear
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Speaker 1: the words of Jesus. I will cross pollinate these two
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Speaker 1: texts together that we might extrapolate from it a truth.
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Speaker 1: That the Holy Spirit has planted in my heart for you.
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Speaker 1: I have the sense in my spirit that I am
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Speaker 1: speaking directly and specifically to somebody's life today. And a
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Speaker 1: bit prophetically as it were. And God has used these
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Speaker 1: two scriptures to cohabitate together to give an answer to
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Speaker 1: something you have been praying about. And if you will
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Speaker 1: bear with me as I attempt to coordinate and knit
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Speaker 1: the text together that we might have the profundity of
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Speaker 1: thought to understand what God is saying at this moment
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Speaker 1: in all of the noise that we're hearing in the
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Speaker 1: world today. It's coming at us through our phones. It's
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Speaker 1: coming at us through our iPads, through our televisions. We're
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Speaker 1: bombarded with opinions today. Yet the only opinion that matters
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Speaker 1: is what God is saying. He that hath an ear,
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Speaker 1: let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.
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Speaker 1: When we go to the Gospel of St. John chapter
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Speaker 1: 6 verse 60, we are stepping almost into a war
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Speaker 1: zone of theological debate. It is the moment in Jesus'
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Speaker 1: ministry where he tips over the edge theologically and says
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Speaker 1: something so powerful and yet so powerful. that even many
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Speaker 1: that were with him turned and walked away. Have you
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Speaker 1: ever been left? On hearing it, many of his disciples said,
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Speaker 1: this is a hard teaching. Who can accept it? Aware
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Speaker 1: that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them,
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Speaker 1: does this offend you? then what if you see the
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Speaker 1: Son of Man ascend to where he was before? The
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Speaker 1: Spirit gives life. The flesh counts for nothing. The words
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Speaker 1: I have spoken to you, they are full of spirit
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Speaker 1: and life. Yet there are some of you who do
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Speaker 1: not believe, for Jesus had known from the beginning which
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Speaker 1: of them did not believe and who would betray him.
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Speaker 1: He went on to say, this is why I told
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Speaker 1: you that no one can come to me unless the
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Speaker 1: father has enabled him. From this time, many of his
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Speaker 1: disciples turned back and no longer followed him. You do
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Speaker 1: not want to leave too, do you? Jesus asked the 12.
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Speaker 1: Simon Peter answered him, Lord, To whom? To whom shall
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Speaker 1: we go? You have the words of eternal life. We
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Speaker 1: have come to believe and to know that you are
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Speaker 1: the Holy One of God. Strengthen what remains. Spirit of
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Speaker 1: the living God, fall fresh over your word today. Manifest
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Speaker 1: yourself in the midst of your people. I thank you
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Speaker 1: in advance for what you're going to do. In Jesus' name, amen.
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Speaker 1: You may be seated. Yes, sir, let's go for it.
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Speaker 1: I'm going to do it too. Every time you turn
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Speaker 1: on the TV set right now, there are advertisements and
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Speaker 1: commercials saying, provoking mothers and fathers to rush out to
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Speaker 1: the store to get their children ready for school. I
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Speaker 1: noticed this morning in the pre-show there was a series
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Speaker 1: of prayers prayed over people who are going back to school. Amen.
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Speaker 1: Whether you are in the classroom as a student or
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Speaker 1: as a teacher, we are praying for you because these
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Speaker 1: are difficult times. It was always difficult to be an educator,
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Speaker 1: but it's especially difficult right now. I was raised by
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Speaker 1: an educator. I understand what it's like to be in
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Speaker 1: the classroom. And it was always challenging managing all those
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Speaker 1: different personalities and the principals and the school board and
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Speaker 1: the politics of dealing with what you've got to do.
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Speaker 1: And it is not really a job, it's calling. It's calling.
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Speaker 1: You have to be called to it to do it.
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Speaker 1: Overtaxed and underpaid, challenged by systems that you have to
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Speaker 1: contend with and you're almost parenting while you're teaching. It's
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Speaker 1: a tough job. Going to school now is a tough job.
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Speaker 1: You've got enemies to fight, seen and unseen, not just
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Speaker 1: peer pressure and the conversations we used to have a
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Speaker 1: long time ago. Now it's mask or no mask, mask on,
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Speaker 1: mask off. We don't know what viral infection or what
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Speaker 1: student is going to come in with a gun. We
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Speaker 1: are living in changing times. Everybody who is going back
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Speaker 1: in the classroom, stand up on your feet. Everybody's going
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Speaker 1: back in the classroom, whether you're a teacher or student,
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Speaker 1: going back in the classroom, stand up on your feet.
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Speaker 1: These are sheroes and heroes. Come on, make some noise. Father,
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Speaker 1: cover them with the blood and overshadow them in the
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Speaker 1: name of Jesus.
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Speaker 1: at what they do that you would
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Speaker 1: anoint them with concepts to penetrate even the hardest shell
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Speaker 1: student that change and transformation would happen for that one
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Speaker 1: who's going back and wondering can I still learn I
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Speaker 1: thank you In the name of Jesus, that their thoughts
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Speaker 1: will be clear and their mind will be open. And
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Speaker 1: like a sponge, they will funnel in truth that will
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Speaker 1: change the trajectory of their life. And I believe it
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Speaker 1: and call it done. In Jesus' name, amen. God bless you.
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Speaker 1: Come on, make some noise. Years ago, when I got
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Speaker 1: ready to go to school, it wasn't like the times
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Speaker 1: we're living in now. I wasn't in the place I
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Speaker 1: am now. My parents weren't in the place that they
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Speaker 1: ended up in the latter years of their life. I
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Speaker 1: can remember so well, and my sister sitting on the
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Speaker 1: front row can relate to this. I'm sure my mother
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Speaker 1: took me shopping to buy fabric to make my clothes
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Speaker 1: for school. It wasn't about the latest toys, the latest gadgets,
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Speaker 1: the latest things. Yeah, I know. Yeah, yeah. At that time,
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Speaker 1: she didn't drive. We didn't have much money. I didn't
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Speaker 1: feel the pressure to be fashionable like the children are
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Speaker 1: faced with today. I didn't have to be in with
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Speaker 1: the latest thing. I didn't have to be dressed a
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Speaker 1: certain way. I just wanted to have some clothes. Still
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Speaker 1: going shopping for something other than groceries and carrying bags
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Speaker 1: to the bus stop. because my mother couldn't drive and
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Speaker 1: crossing the railroad tracks where the bus dropped us off
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Speaker 1: only to climb up the path up the hill to
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Speaker 1: get to the house while carrying bags of groceries trying
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Speaker 1: not to break the eggs to get a chance to
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Speaker 1: go downtown meant you had to take another bus and
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Speaker 1: we were headed downtown on another bus and I was
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Speaker 1: glad to be going anywhere other than to the grocery
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Speaker 1: store which was challenging. It is difficult for me to
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Speaker 1: comprehend today what people call tough. I had to go
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Speaker 1: up the hill and across the path and across the
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Speaker 1: railroad tracks and catch the bus with my mother carrying
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Speaker 1: bags to get them home. And you are upset because
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Speaker 1: you can't get a parking space close enough to the door.
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Speaker 1: I won't bother you about that. It's just me. We
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Speaker 1: were headed downtown to go shopping. Charleston, where all the
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Speaker 1: stores were, the real stores, where the Diamond Department stores
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Speaker 1: was and Stone and Thomas was and all those great
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Speaker 1: places of shopping. You know what I'm talking about. Come
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Speaker 1: on with me. And maybe, maybe, maybe if I was lucky,
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Speaker 1: we would get some candy and some nuts at Mr.
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Speaker 1: Peanut's shop. That would be great. We walked past all
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Speaker 1: the beautifully clad windows where rich people shopped. All the
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Speaker 1: mannequins brightly arrayed in the finest decor. Amazing displays opulently
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Speaker 1: displayed to entice people into shop and get their wares.
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Speaker 1: But my mother didn't go there. I didn't even notice
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Speaker 1: that we window shopped but never went in. I realize
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Speaker 1: in retrospect that we were poor, but that word was
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Speaker 1: never mentioned in my house. I remember vividly the smells
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Speaker 1: of the bakery shops, the hot air from the dry cleaners,
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Speaker 1: the smell of pizza, the smell of the bakery stops
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Speaker 1: we walked past, and the tight grip of her hand
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Speaker 1: moving me ever so gently further down the street till
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Speaker 1: we got to Singer's Fabric Shop. where we would go
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Speaker 1: upstairs to find the remnants. You see, my mother, even
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Speaker 1: in the fabric shop, did not buy fabric that was
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Speaker 1: not on sale. And to all of you who do
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Speaker 1: not know what remnants are, as it relates to fabrics,
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Speaker 1: It is the last part of bolts of fabric that
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Speaker 1: was too little to sell in the main department. They
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Speaker 1: were remnants. Somebody knows what I'm talking about. They were remnants.
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Speaker 1: And the reason I went is so that she could
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Speaker 1: see if the remnant was enough. So I was kind
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Speaker 1: of like her mannequin to stretch it out and decide
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Speaker 1: if we could use the remnants. You see, she had
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Speaker 1: caught the bus and walked the path past the stores
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Speaker 1: only to get fabric that was on the remnant table
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Speaker 1: where she planned to dress me and my siblings. She
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Speaker 1: dressed us in remnants. They weren't rags now. They were remnants.
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Speaker 1: Remnants is what's left on the boat. The young people
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Speaker 1: are looking at me like I'm crazy. It's not Gucci, baby.
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Speaker 1: It's remnants. It's not Louis Vuitton, baby. It's remnants. It's
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Speaker 1: not even Nike. It's remnants. It's remnants. It's something that
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Speaker 1: she took, something that almost was forgotten and made something
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Speaker 1: out of it. She valued it. She would make shirts
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Speaker 1: for me and blouses for Jacqueline, a few trousers for Ernest,
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Speaker 1: all from discounted remnants. So today, we go to the
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Speaker 1: remnant table. Today we go to the remnant table to
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Speaker 1: stitch two texts together that are as different as wool
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Speaker 1: from satin or burlap from linen. Two texts that seem
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Speaker 1: like they don't have anything to do with each other
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Speaker 1: and yet it is my responsibility to measure them and
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Speaker 1: stretch them and sew them and stitch them together. What
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Speaker 1: in the world does The St. John text where Jesus
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Speaker 1: is talking about unless you eat my blood and drink
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Speaker 1: my flesh, unless you drink my blood and eat my flesh,
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Speaker 1: you'll have no part with me. What in the world
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Speaker 1: does that have to do with the apocalyptic text of
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Speaker 1: Revelations writing to the church at Sardis where he says,
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Speaker 1: strengthen the things that remain. They are both remnant messages
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Speaker 1: on the table of the carpenter's son. Let's not discount
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Speaker 1: what can be done with the fabric of a theological
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Speaker 1: table of texts bypassed by scholars and ignored by contemporary
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Speaker 1: tailors of texts who like the creativity to see what
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Speaker 1: can be done from God's remnant table. Though it may
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Speaker 1: seem strange to you this morning that I'm talking to
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Speaker 1: you about remnants, it should not be strange. It's unfortunate
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Speaker 1: that only certain texts are preached about in this contemporary
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Speaker 1: society because the truth of the matter is the word
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Speaker 1: remnant is mentioned 540 times in the Bible. And yet
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Speaker 1: you hardly ever hear anybody talking about remnants. This would
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Speaker 1: be a difficult message to preach. It's going to be
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Speaker 1: a hard message to preach because I'm preaching against the
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Speaker 1: trends of the culture we're living in who is racing
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Speaker 1: on the autobahn of technology. To be fast, to be first,
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Speaker 1: to be feverishly, frantically in pursuit of what's next. If
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Speaker 1: you are pursuing, if all that you are pursuing is
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Speaker 1: what is next, you will always find that what's next
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Speaker 1: at the expense of losing what's left. Today I'm going
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Speaker 1: to swim against the current and go against the grain
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Speaker 1: and probably get on someone's nerves. whose only focus is
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Speaker 1: to be innovative, titillating, explore trends, what's new, what's fresh.
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Speaker 1: If you're from the streets, I'm fresh. You don't know
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Speaker 1: anything about remnants. I'm not here to talk to you
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Speaker 1: about the next new and improved anything. I simply want
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Speaker 1: to know if you will grab my hand like I
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Speaker 1: grabbed my mother's hand and take a serious look at
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Speaker 1: why God mentions this word 540 times and mostly in
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Speaker 1: reference to prophetic fulfillment. Why is God in love with remnants?
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Speaker 1: Let's start with the text in Revelations. Are you with me?
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Speaker 1: I love y'all. There is no other place I'd rather
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Speaker 1: preach in the world than the Potter's House, I tell you.
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Speaker 1: This is my church. This is my world. The book
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Speaker 1: of Revelations is penned by John but authored by Jesus.
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Speaker 1: You must understand the book is divided into three categories
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Speaker 1: and it divides itself when it explains itself by saying, John,
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Speaker 1: write the things which thou hast seen and the things which...
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Speaker 1: are and the things which shall be hereafter. So when
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Speaker 1: John writes about seeing Jesus with his hair like lamb's
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Speaker 1: wool and his feet as if they had been burned,
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Speaker 1: he is writing about what he has seen. When he
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Speaker 1: writes to the churches, he's writing about the things which are.
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Speaker 1: And when God says, come up hither, I will show
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Speaker 1: you the things which shall be hereafter. This is the
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Speaker 1: syllabus from which Revelation is written. It is the masterpiece
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Speaker 1: because it is Jesus responding to the question that the
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Speaker 1: disciples ask him, when shall be the sign of your
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Speaker 1: coming and what shall be the end of the age?
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Speaker 1: He said, it is not given to the son to know,
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Speaker 1: but the father which is in heaven because he had
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Speaker 1: not yet been to the cross. But the book of
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Speaker 1: Revelations is him writing back over the balconies of heaven
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Speaker 1: down to John to answer the question. Though John himself
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Speaker 1: is a remnant. John is a remnant because all the
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Speaker 1: other apostles are now gone. And John is all that's left.
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Speaker 1: And Jesus is talking to a remnant about a remnant.
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Speaker 1: I wonder how many of you are the only one
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Speaker 1: left still standing with stubborn, bodacious faith and tenacity, unrelenting, unwavering,
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Speaker 1: standing by yourself, standing in the integrity of who you
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Speaker 1: are in Christ, even when other friends have gone in
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Speaker 1: other directions. And yes, you have suffered some losses along
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Speaker 1: the way, but you are still here. You see, the
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Speaker 1: text in Revelation 3 is largely a clarion call to
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Speaker 1: strengthen the remnant because all that stood around the remnant
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Speaker 1: had really fallen away. They had a reputation that they
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Speaker 1: were alive, but they really were not. They had been
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Speaker 1: so influenced by the culture and the world around them
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Speaker 1: that they had lost their identity in exchange for popularity.
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Speaker 1: If you're not careful, you can lose your identity seeking
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Speaker 1: popularity and lose sight of who you are trying to
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Speaker 1: fit in with who they want you to be. And
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Speaker 1: the church had lost its way trying to pursue the culture.
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Speaker 1: You had to be relevant to the culture. And they
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Speaker 1: were so relevant to the culture that they had lost
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Speaker 1: sight of who they were. And the book of Revelation
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Speaker 1: says that only a remnant was recognizable. I want to
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Speaker 1: be in the number of people who resist the trends
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Speaker 1: and winds of fluctuation and know who I am so
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Speaker 1: that I don't get caught up in the current of
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Speaker 1: who you want me to be and lose sight of
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Speaker 1: who God created me to be. Even if I end
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Speaker 1: up on the table, I would rather be a few
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Speaker 1: in number and know who I am than to be
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Speaker 1: diluted and polluted by by public opinion until I lose
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Speaker 1: all sight and direction and uniqueness of my own self.
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Speaker 1: That means I'll do it if I have to do
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Speaker 1: it by my... That means you don't have to like me,
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Speaker 1: but you do have to respect me. Thank you. You
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Speaker 1: don't have to agree with me but I refuse to
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Speaker 1: let you discard me because I'm willing to be a
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Speaker 1: remnant even if it's at the expense of not being
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Speaker 1: relevant to you because God works with remnants. He says
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Speaker 1: strengthen the things that remain before the influence of the
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Speaker 1: world has taken root. There are still a few people
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Speaker 1: in Sardis that are yet holding on. The tolerance of
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Speaker 1: sin had taken its toll. A deadly spiritual cancer known
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Speaker 1: as complacency had unknowingly made its way into the church
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Speaker 1: and sucked the spiritual life out of it without even
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Speaker 1: a fight. But not the few. They were still holding on.
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Speaker 1: While he rebuked the church in Sardis, he did not
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Speaker 1: rebuke the remnant. Instead, he revived it. And the Lord said,
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Speaker 1: I am going to revive the people who are holding on.
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Speaker 2: Amen.
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Speaker 1: So you might be tired and you might be winded
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Speaker 1: and you might be frustrated and you might be alienated.
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Speaker 1: And you've been asking God, how long? God said, I
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Speaker 1: am going to revive the remnant who are still holding
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Speaker 1: on in spite of the storms and the winds. And
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Speaker 1: he said, I want you to focus not on who left.
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Speaker 1: not on who you lost, not on who walked away.
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Speaker 1: I want you to focus on strengthening that which remains. Ah,
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Speaker 1: this is good to my soul. The letter is harsh
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Speaker 1: and straightforward. It is designed and written to the pastor
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Speaker 1: where to focus his energy, not to focus your energy
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Speaker 1: on trying to get back people who walked away. Let
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Speaker 1: them go. Let me say it louder for the people
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Speaker 1: in the back, let them go. This is a time
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Speaker 1: in your life that you can no longer continue to
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Speaker 1: grieve about who walked away, who abandoned you, who forsook you,
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Speaker 1: who left you, who walked away. You've got to stand
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Speaker 1: up and recognize that God doesn't need anything that you
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Speaker 1: lost to bless you. God will always use what you've
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Speaker 1: got left. I'm talking to somebody I don't even know
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Speaker 1: who it is. But the Bible said, wake up. Wake up.
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Speaker 1: Wake up. Strengthen what remains. Oh, my God. This is
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Speaker 1: challenging because the vast majority of the church had become
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Speaker 1: a victim of the societal culture. Yet there was a
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Speaker 1: minority that was fighting to refrain from the gravitational pull
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Speaker 1: ever downward. Because there's always something to pull you down
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Speaker 1: instead of up and forward. The remnant wasn't perfect. They
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Speaker 1: were almost dead but yet holding on. The power of
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Speaker 1: the sentence in fact is almost dead, but not quite.
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Speaker 1: God said, before death can get you, I'm going to
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Speaker 1: strengthen what remains. Can I talk to tired folks and
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Speaker 1: weary folks and run down people who are at the
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Speaker 1: end of their rope, who have to fight their way
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Speaker 1: through all kinds of storms and all kinds of tragedies
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Speaker 1: and all kinds of adversity just to be who you
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Speaker 1: are and get where you're going? I've got news for you.
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Speaker 1: God is about to strengthen you like you've never been
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Speaker 1: strengthened before. And then let me challenge the thinking people
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Speaker 1: because the great challenge in our lives is how can
28:29
Speaker 1: we be innovative and creative and productive and go forward
28:36
Speaker 1: without losing what we had. Sometimes you become so addicted
28:44
Speaker 1: to what's next that you don't focus on what's now.
28:51
Speaker 1: And if you walk away from what's now, trying to
28:55
Speaker 1: establish what's next, then next will only replace now and
29:00
Speaker 1: you haven't really progressed at all. And the reason you're
29:03
Speaker 1: so tired is because you're so busy getting to next
29:07
Speaker 1: and losing now that you're still at home plate after
29:11
Speaker 1: all of these years. You haven't gained anything because you're
29:15
Speaker 1: just swapping out next with now, now with next, next
29:18
Speaker 1: with now, next with now. All of a sudden you've
29:21
Speaker 1: got to strengthen what remains before you can gain. What's next?
29:31
Speaker 1: So we're stuck in between in this text, two different dilemmas.
29:35
Speaker 1: One is not to try to get back what I lost.
29:40
Speaker 1: And the other one is not to fall in love
29:42
Speaker 1: with where I'm going at the expense of expunging where
29:49
Speaker 1: I'm at. Let me work with this. I'm going to
29:52
Speaker 1: bring it on down home. It is like growing up
29:55
Speaker 1: in a home where the troubled child gets all the attention.
30:02
Speaker 1: And the good child gets none. Because there's so much
30:06
Speaker 1: drama coming from this kid that all the parent's focus
30:10
Speaker 1: is is trying to get back what they lost and
30:14
Speaker 1: they don't strengthen what they have. And if you're not careful,
30:21
Speaker 1: the one who was the good child will start acting
30:24
Speaker 1: up for the attention because you're teaching them that the
30:29
Speaker 1: only way to get your attention is to be bad
30:31
Speaker 1: enough This is the hidden lesson in the prodigal son.
30:40
Speaker 1: It's not just about the boy going and coming back.
30:43
Speaker 1: It is about the neglect of the elder brother because
30:46
Speaker 1: the father is so focused on what he lost that
30:51
Speaker 1: he neglected what he had. Because it's hard to strengthen
30:59
Speaker 1: what remains because what remains becomes common. and normal and
31:09
Speaker 1: ordinary and so predictable and so dependable that you take
31:15
Speaker 1: it for granted until it dies. If you are not careful,
31:25
Speaker 1: you will undervalue who stayed. Trying to get back who left.
31:38
Speaker 1: Or get who's next. Because sometimes there's nothing really sexy
31:46
Speaker 1: about being a remnant. About being dependable, about being stable,
31:50
Speaker 1: about hanging in there, about being by your side. If
31:53
Speaker 1: you're not careful, you will neglect the people that stayed
31:58
Speaker 1: with you. For the people who are next to you.
32:12
Speaker 2: But we serve a God who is talking to us
32:16
Speaker 2: in 540 texts that what he is interested in is
32:22
Speaker 2: the remnants.
32:24
Speaker 1: He always preserves the remnants. His promise is to the remnants.
32:30
Speaker 1: His prophecy is to the remnants. Over and over and
32:34
Speaker 1: over again, the Bible tells us the value of people
32:37
Speaker 1: who stick it out and hang in there and take
32:40
Speaker 1: a licking and keep on ticking and that God has
32:44
Speaker 1: promises that you can only get, come on Bible class,
32:47
Speaker 1: if you abide, if you abide, abide, abide, abide. If
32:52
Speaker 1: you abide in me and my word abide in you,
32:55
Speaker 1: you shall ask what you will. I'm not going to
32:58
Speaker 1: give you nothing if you leave, but if you abide,
33:01
Speaker 1: I will open up the windows of heaven and pour
33:04
Speaker 1: you out a blessing you won't have room enough to receive.
33:08
Speaker 1: If you see me when I'm taken up, you will
33:11
Speaker 1: have a double portion of my spirit, but I can't
33:16
Speaker 1: give this to people who are doing one night stands.
33:24
Speaker 1: Because the anointing falls on people who stay. Let me see.
33:38
Speaker 1: Both texts were written by the apostle John. Both texts
33:42
Speaker 1: have a sinister overtone. Both texts have John reporting the
33:49
Speaker 1: words of Jesus. Both texts... are at inflection points. Both
33:56
Speaker 1: texts speak of separation. Both texts have a sense of cynicism.
34:05
Speaker 1: Both texts are connected to a principle that I am
34:12
Speaker 1: sharing with you. The principle is profound and provocative that
34:19
Speaker 1: you need to focus on what you got left The
34:27
Speaker 1: child that stayed. The friend who stuck. The business you
34:36
Speaker 1: got cannot suffer for the business you're going after. Because
34:44
Speaker 1: if you make that mistake again, you are only replacing
34:49
Speaker 1: what you lost, which means you are not gaining anything
34:52
Speaker 1: at all The real test of relationship isn't when it's easy.
35:04
Speaker 1: It's when it's hard. The second text is interesting. Can
35:12
Speaker 1: I pick it up for a minute and play with
35:14
Speaker 1: this piece of garment? The second text is interesting because
35:19
Speaker 1: it is undeniable that Jesus has changed his message from
35:23
Speaker 1: the kingdom of heaven is this and the kingdom of
35:25
Speaker 1: heaven is that and the kingdom of heaven is like
35:27
Speaker 1: it unto this And that the scriptures might be fulfilled
35:30
Speaker 1: in your hearing. And all of those things were palatable
35:32
Speaker 1: and enjoyable and receivable. And even though the Pharisees and
35:36
Speaker 1: Sadducees resented him, they could not debate against him because
35:40
Speaker 1: he was the word made flesh. And it was all
35:45
Speaker 1: cool until he broke out and started talking about death.
35:51
Speaker 1: And they got quiet. And then he brings up this
35:56
Speaker 1: almost cannibalistic statement. If you're going to be my disciple,
36:02
Speaker 1: imagine now, if I said, if you're going to be
36:05
Speaker 1: a member of the potter's house, you must drink my
36:08
Speaker 1: blood and eat my flesh. You can understand why that
36:15
Speaker 1: would be disruptive. And you say, what? Jesus started talking cannibalistic,
36:25
Speaker 1: drink my blood and eat my flesh to the carnal mind.
36:28
Speaker 1: It was cannibalism. Jesus is actually calling for them to
36:35
Speaker 1: consume him spiritually. Not literally. But when you hear with
36:43
Speaker 1: carnal ears, you draw carnal conclusions. And so this was
36:50
Speaker 1: an inflection point To prove, are you a fan or
36:57
Speaker 1: a follower? And all the fans walked away. And what
37:07
Speaker 1: I got out of the text that was really amazing
37:10
Speaker 1: is that Jesus didn't chase them. Stop chasing people who
37:15
Speaker 1: are needy. Stop chasing people who are offended. Stop chasing
37:24
Speaker 1: people who don't get it. Stop chasing trying to get
37:27
Speaker 1: back in your life people that God is trying to
37:30
Speaker 1: take out of your life. Jesus simply let them go.
37:34
Speaker 1: He didn't go behind them and say, no, you didn't
37:36
Speaker 1: understand what I'm saying. You don't get what I mean.
37:38
Speaker 1: You don't know where I'm coming from. No, let me explain. No,
37:41
Speaker 1: don't go, don't go, don't go. He turned to his disciples,
37:44
Speaker 1: the remnant, and said, will you leave me also? Because
37:59
Speaker 1: what I'm going to invest in is what I've got left.
38:05
Speaker 1: Not what I lost. You see, Jesus is bringing them
38:12
Speaker 1: to a place of inflection. And the Lord told me,
38:16
Speaker 1: whoever I'm preaching to today, you're at an inflection point.
38:21
Speaker 1: You can neither become so engrossed in your future that
38:26
Speaker 1: you do not feed your present. Nor so grieved by
38:32
Speaker 1: your past that you're reaching after what has walked away.
38:38
Speaker 1: The word of God to you is to strengthen what remains.
38:45
Speaker 1: Who am I talking to today? This is not about
38:51
Speaker 1: a monologue about death or drinking blood or eating his flesh.
38:56
Speaker 1: It's much more than that. We've got to turn the
38:58
Speaker 1: page on that. We've got to go to the next
39:00
Speaker 1: level on that. We've got to understand that what God
39:03
Speaker 1: is trying to do is bigger than that. He is
39:09
Speaker 1: trying to do a methodology that creates conflict resolution, which
39:16
Speaker 1: is the test between opportunistic people And covenant people. If
39:24
Speaker 1: you can't. Take a lick. we didn't have covenant in
39:32
Speaker 1: the first place. If you can walk away easily, you
39:36
Speaker 1: weren't meant to stay. Come on. I remember I was
39:47
Speaker 1: sitting on the side of the bed as a pastor
39:49
Speaker 1: and I was crying, over somebody who had left my church.
39:52
Speaker 1: And I was crying because I thought they were going
39:53
Speaker 1: to be there. And I was crying because I thought
39:55
Speaker 1: they were loyal. And I was crying because they had
39:58
Speaker 1: promised my wife and I that they would take a
40:02
Speaker 1: bullet for us. You remember that? I would take a
40:04
Speaker 1: bullet for you. And two Sundays left, they were gone.
40:06
Speaker 1: And I literally sat on the side of the bed
40:09
Speaker 1: in West Virginia and cried. And the Lord spoke to
40:13
Speaker 1: me and said, let this be your last day. Let
40:21
Speaker 1: this be your last day of crying over who walked away.
40:29
Speaker 1: Y'all don't hear what I'm saying? Because all that left
40:32
Speaker 1: you could not stay. And all that stayed could not leave.
40:43
Speaker 1: I feel something about to break loose in this place
40:45
Speaker 1: I feel something about to break loose in this place
40:47
Speaker 1: I don't know who I'm talking to today but I'm
40:50
Speaker 1: breaking the spirit of grief over your life you cannot
40:54
Speaker 1: live in your history and you can't live in your
40:57
Speaker 1: destiny you must live in your reality I am here
41:10
Speaker 1: now Now faith is the substance of things hoped for
41:17
Speaker 1: and the evidence of things not seen. I got to
41:20
Speaker 1: have it now. If I don't strengthen what I got now,
41:23
Speaker 1: I can't get to what I got next. The problem
41:34
Speaker 1: with these people is they were only loyal when they agreed.
41:46
Speaker 1: If you're only loyal when you agree, that's not loyalty
41:52
Speaker 1: at all. Separate in your life fans from followers. Who's
42:02
Speaker 1: with you for the fish and loaves? And who's with
42:06
Speaker 1: you for the long haul? And make sure you don't
42:09
Speaker 1: neglect that remnant who stuck it out with you. trying
42:15
Speaker 1: to get into your next circle of influence. I'm almost done.
42:20
Speaker 1: I'm almost done. I'm almost done. I'm almost done. I'm
42:23
Speaker 1: almost done. I'm almost done. But if you're going to
42:27
Speaker 1: be like Jesus, you will let them go. And then
42:33
Speaker 1: ask the remnant, you going too? And then only invest
42:39
Speaker 1: in people who say, where shall I go? In your
42:45
Speaker 1: hands are the words of eternal life. The people who
42:54
Speaker 1: are not optioning out of your life, the people who
42:57
Speaker 1: have made a commitment to walk with you the rest
43:00
Speaker 1: of your life, those are the people that must be strengthened,
43:07
Speaker 1: not neglected. not taken for granted. Because if you don't
43:18
Speaker 1: strengthen that which remains, you won't get to that which
43:21
Speaker 1: is next. Most people ignore what they have chasing after
43:27
Speaker 1: what they lost or what they want. Jesus strengthens the
43:32
Speaker 1: 12 disciples because they are the remnant from what he lost.
43:40
Speaker 1: What are you going to do with the years you
43:43
Speaker 1: have left type that on the line what am I
43:47
Speaker 1: going to do with the years I have left are
43:50
Speaker 1: you going to spend the years you have left murmuring
43:53
Speaker 1: and complaining about what happened 10 years ago and 5
43:57
Speaker 1: years ago and 12 years ago I don't care if
44:01
Speaker 1: you got 5 years left what are you going to
44:03
Speaker 1: do with the years you have left I don't care
44:06
Speaker 1: if you have one year left. What are you going
44:07
Speaker 1: to do with the year you have left? I don't
44:10
Speaker 1: care if you have the kids in your house just
44:12
Speaker 1: one final year. What are you going to do with
44:14
Speaker 1: that year with those kids before you send them away?
44:18
Speaker 1: Are you going to forever go back in history and
44:21
Speaker 1: rehearse the same things over and over again and miss
44:25
Speaker 1: the fact that every day God gives you is a
44:28
Speaker 1: gift from him to enjoy, to live, to fellowship and
44:33
Speaker 1: have peace? How long? Will you let the enemy steal
44:36
Speaker 1: your day, steal your day, steal your day, steal your moment,
44:41
Speaker 1: steal your hour, steal your second, steal your thought, steal
44:46
Speaker 1: your pulse, steal your wind as you use your breath
44:50
Speaker 1: to rehearse what was? Most miracles were performed with remnants.
44:58
Speaker 1: Have you forgotten the loaves? Have you forgotten Zerubbabel's temple?
45:04
Speaker 1: Have you forgotten that Nehemiah built a new wall out
45:07
Speaker 1: of the stones that remained? What are you going to
45:11
Speaker 1: build with what remains in your life and stop being
45:17
Speaker 1: attracted to what flaunts itself in your life and say
45:24
Speaker 1: what flashes in your life rather than what remains in
45:29
Speaker 1: in your life. I'm talking to somebody, I don't even
45:32
Speaker 1: get it. Have you forgotten the 144,000 that are saved
45:36
Speaker 1: in the tribulation? Have you forgotten the handful of meal?
45:40
Speaker 1: What I'm trying to get you to see is that
45:42
Speaker 1: whenever God stepped into a house, he always worked with
45:46
Speaker 1: what remains. The prophet said, what do you have in
45:51
Speaker 1: your house? I'm not going to use a miracle outside
45:57
Speaker 1: of your house. I'm going to use something that's left
46:00
Speaker 1: in your house. Something you've been walking past and looking
46:04
Speaker 1: over and getting ready to die. There's a miracle in
46:07
Speaker 1: your house. Touch your neighbor and tell them there's a
46:09
Speaker 1: miracle in your house. There's a miracle in your house.
46:13
Speaker 1: There's a miracle in your house. There's a miracle in
46:16
Speaker 1: your house. There's a miracle in your house. There's a
46:20
Speaker 1: miracle in your house. There's a miracle in your house.
46:23
Speaker 1: You've been walking past it every day, but the Holy
46:26
Speaker 1: Ghost told me to tell you there's a miracle in
46:28
Speaker 1: your house. You don't think it's valuable because it's not quantifiable.
46:40
Speaker 1: You think it's just a handful of meal, but God
46:44
Speaker 1: said the miracle is gonna come through the meal. The
46:48
Speaker 1: thing you've been walking past feeling insufficient about is the
46:53
Speaker 1: very thing God's going to use to take you to
46:57
Speaker 1: the next level. Somebody give him 30 seconds of praise.
47:16
Speaker 1: The other widow who is a remnant by virtue of
47:20
Speaker 1: being a widow anyway is about to sell her sons
47:24
Speaker 1: to the creditors because she has overlooked a pot of
47:29
Speaker 1: oil in her house. And God said, I'm going to
47:33
Speaker 1: take what you got left and I'm going to pour
47:37
Speaker 1: out of what you got left even though you think
47:40
Speaker 1: it is inadequate enough. I'm going to stretch what you
47:45
Speaker 1: call inadequate until it is more than enough. Increase is
47:50
Speaker 1: coming out of the seed that remains in your life,
47:55
Speaker 1: in your spirit, in your heart, in your gifting, something
47:58
Speaker 1: that the devil keeps telling you. It has no life
48:02
Speaker 1: in it. God said, I'm going to tip it up
48:04
Speaker 1: and let it flow and flow and flow and flow.
48:09
Speaker 1: You've been walking past it, but it's right in your house.
48:13
Speaker 1: Have you forgotten that the apostle Paul was saved not
48:16
Speaker 1: by the ship but by the pieces of the ship?
48:20
Speaker 1: That all he had was a remnant from the boat
48:23
Speaker 1: but he grabbed a hold to the remnant and made
48:25
Speaker 1: it through the storm and made it safely to the
48:29
Speaker 1: other side because he valued what he had left. Have
48:33
Speaker 1: you forgotten that many will depart from the faith but
48:38
Speaker 1: the remnant will be saved? Jesus is coming back for
48:42
Speaker 1: what's left Jesus always comes to what's left Jesus is
48:47
Speaker 1: coming for what's left and I came to tell you
48:49
Speaker 1: in spite of what the devil told you You still
48:52
Speaker 1: got something left You've been through hell, but you got
48:56
Speaker 1: something left. You've been in a storm, but you still
48:59
Speaker 1: got something left You've had some tough throws and heels
49:02
Speaker 1: to cry, but you still got something left Somebody shout
49:06
Speaker 1: I got something left. I I got something left. I
49:11
Speaker 1: might have an issue, but I got something left. I
49:14
Speaker 1: might have been sick for 12 long years, but I
49:17
Speaker 1: got something left. I may have to crawl. to get
49:20
Speaker 1: out of this but I got something left I might
49:23
Speaker 1: have been bowed over for 18 years but I still
49:26
Speaker 1: got something left Abraham I might be a hundred years
49:34
Speaker 1: old but I still got something left Sarah, I might
49:38
Speaker 1: have been barren all my life, but I still got
49:42
Speaker 1: something left. Lazarus, you might have been in the tomb
49:46
Speaker 1: and started to stink, but your life is not over.
49:49
Speaker 1: The devil is alive. I'm getting ready to roll the
49:52
Speaker 1: stone away and snatch you out of your situation. There's
49:56
Speaker 1: a Lazarus listening at me right now. Everything is corroding
50:00
Speaker 1: around you, but the Lord sent me to tell you
50:03
Speaker 1: that you've got something left. Leap out of your grave.
50:07
Speaker 1: Jump out of your grave. Crawl out of your grave.
50:11
Speaker 1: Walk out of your grave. Touch your neighbor and say,
50:14
Speaker 1: I'm coming out. I'm coming out. I'm coming out of
50:19
Speaker 1: my dry place. I'm coming out of my barren place.
50:23
Speaker 1: I'm coming out of my lonely place. I'm coming out
50:26
Speaker 1: of my depressed place. I'm coming out of my angry place.
50:30
Speaker 1: I'm coming out because I got something good. Today God
50:42
Speaker 1: wants to strengthen what you got left. Today God wants
50:46
Speaker 1: to use what you got left. Today God wants to
50:49
Speaker 1: revive what you got left. Today God wants to prophesy
50:54
Speaker 1: over what you got left. You think it's nothing but
50:57
Speaker 1: there's a miracle in what you got left. You think
51:00
Speaker 1: it's inadequate but God's going to do amazing things with
51:03
Speaker 1: what you got left. I know you're tired. I know
51:06
Speaker 1: you're weak. I know you're frustrated. I know you're ready
51:09
Speaker 1: to just fall out. But God said you're coming into revival.
51:14
Speaker 1: Your gift is coming into revival. Your effectiveness is coming
51:18
Speaker 1: into revival. Your relevance is coming into revival. And God
51:22
Speaker 1: said what you got left is enough. Stand to your
51:28
Speaker 1: feet as I prepare to close today. Don't you dare
51:41
Speaker 1: lose what you have left. But this is a moment
51:50
Speaker 1: to strengthen what remains. The friends you don't call because
52:02
Speaker 1: you kind of take them for granted. Strengthen that. Because
52:10
Speaker 1: the miracle is in the remnants. The little bit of
52:18
Speaker 1: fabric left on the bolt is more than enough to
52:23
Speaker 1: cover you in the times you're living in right now.
52:28
Speaker 1: Go ahead. Think innovative. Be progressive. But don't damage what
52:37
Speaker 1: you have trying to get what you want. You remember
52:50
Speaker 1: years ago when I was teaching the 80-20 rule? And
52:54
Speaker 1: I would say that most married people marry somebody who's
53:00
Speaker 1: 80% of what they want. But 20% looks huge when
53:06
Speaker 1: you're not getting it. And so they leave the 80
53:13
Speaker 1: to get the 20? Only to move in with the
53:18
Speaker 1: 20 and miss the 80? Because the only thing that
53:25
Speaker 1: makes the 20 look valuable is because it supplements the 80.
53:33
Speaker 1: But if you lose your 80 going after your 20,
53:55
Speaker 1: This is a moment in time that the enemy is
54:00
Speaker 1: trying to wear out the faithful. To simply exhaust you
54:12
Speaker 1: with threats and trouble and burdens and distractions. And God
54:19
Speaker 1: said that this morning he wants to strengthen the weary,
54:25
Speaker 1: the tired, the exhausted. And he told me to tell
54:32
Speaker 1: you that he has not forgotten your faithfulness. And you
54:47
Speaker 1: can be tired and still be faithful. You can be
54:52
Speaker 1: exhausted and still be holding on by a thread. The
54:57
Speaker 1: text says strengthen the things that remain that are ready
55:01
Speaker 1: to die. That if they don't get some strength, they're
55:05
Speaker 1: going to collapse. And I want you to take a
55:08
Speaker 1: minute and strengthen the people who are holding on by
55:12
Speaker 1: a thread. It's you that has the promise. That's why
55:19
Speaker 1: he's trying to wear you out. It's you that has
55:26
Speaker 1: the prophecy. It's you that has the inheritance. It's you
55:31
Speaker 1: that God is going to use in a mighty way.
55:34
Speaker 1: And that's why all hell is breaking loose on every
55:36
Speaker 1: hand to distract you from your focus. If I'm preaching
55:46
Speaker 1: to you, holler at your boy. Be strengthened this morning
55:58
Speaker 1: with all might and with all power and with all diligence.
56:01
Speaker 1: Lift your hands up. Be strengthened in this place right now.
56:04
Speaker 1: Be strengthened. Be strengthened right now in your thoughts, in
56:07
Speaker 1: your mind, in your rest, in your body, in your thoughts,
56:12
Speaker 1: in your fervency and in your fire. This is not
56:15
Speaker 1: the time to faint. This is not the time to
56:18
Speaker 1: give up. This is not the time to collapse. You
56:21
Speaker 1: are closer than you've ever been in your life. Wake up.
56:27
Speaker 1: wake up wake up strengthen the things that remain for
56:35
Speaker 1: you are on the precipice of your prophecy and your
56:39
Speaker 1: destiny is in view and if it were not close
56:44
Speaker 1: you would not be attacked so let the redeemed of
56:49
Speaker 1: the Lord say so let the redeemed of the Lord
56:55
Speaker 1: say Let the revived of the Lord say so. Let
57:04
Speaker 1: the relentless remnant say so. Let the determined say so.
57:11
Speaker 1: Let the victorious say so. Let the person who's going
57:16
Speaker 1: to fight your way up and out say so. Let
57:20
Speaker 1: the Lazarus that's coming out of the grave say so.
57:24
Speaker 1: I can't hear you say.