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Do Not Be Stagnant - Apostle Joshua Selman · Selah Media House

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I have seen people rise mightily, so mightily used by
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God. But the surprising thing is, as
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frequent as I have seen people rise, I have also seen people
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fall. And I have seen others who did
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not fall but stop rising. I have seen people plateau at
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dimensions, accessing the anointing, the prophetic, the
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gifts of the Spirit, ministry, growth, finances.
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There are two dangers that the Bible warns about #1 is
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retrogression #2 is to plateau and to limit yourself at a
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level. There are many people who
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believe that just because you are not going down, it means
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that is the best of you. The Bible declares that the path
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of the just, that the path of the just is as a shining light
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that shines ever brighter even onto the perfect day.
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So, so many people are not able to make sustainable advancement.
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And the reason is because many have neglected some of the
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truths that you'll be learning. Others may have been ignorant of
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some or even all of these truths.
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And so conferences like this, number one would challenge those
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who have gone down to show you that there is a road map.
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The Bible says rejoice not over me, my enemies, that though I
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fall, I will rise. Elevation is still a possibility
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in this Kingdom that no matter how low nobody can get lower
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than Jesus went down to Hades, yet he came up again and is
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exalted at the highest position. That already is a pattern for
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us, that no matter how low you get, there is a power.
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That same power that raise Christ from right where He was
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and took Him and elevated Him for someone.
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That same power is lifting you from where you are to where you
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need to be in the name of Jesus Christ.
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Hallelujah. And then for those who have
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plateaued at A level, now, please listen.
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Let me teach you something upfront.
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We advance in this Kingdom by light, and life is in faces and
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dimensions. That means the dimension of
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light you need to access stage A or a level in your life may not
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necessarily be the only dimension of light and truth you
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would need to access another level.
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Let me tell you what limitations are.
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Limitations are a letter from your future telling you I am
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there, but your current level of knowledge cannot take you there.
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Are we together? When you face limitations that
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inhibit your progress, see them as letters from your future
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coming to you to verify that that future you desire is
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actually there. But this current version of you
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cannot go there. So when you start out in life,
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the level of knowledge that brings you to level A or stage A
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spiritually, financially, ministerially and otherwise, you
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will need more than that to shift to a new season.
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Now the challenge is that most people, they stop learning and
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they stop opening up themselves to new superior dimensions of
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truth. And you will find out that even
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though they may not backslide the plateau at A level and it is
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dangerous. It is dangerous for your
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yesterday to look better than your today.
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Hallelujah. Are we learning?
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I want to share with us 2 keys that I've learned as a price for
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new dimensions. And it's a charge.
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And then we pray and I trust that God will grant us grace
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even if he's in a few minutes to just pray.
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While I was at the office, I, I heard the man of God just
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speaking and prophesying and declaring.
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And for me, I think that you'll be good to just follow along
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that line to also speak over our lives when we're done.
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Praise the name of the Lord. One of the ways that the Lord
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helps us to grow and to access light in the Kingdom is to
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personify His thoughts and His intents using men.
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That means it is consistent with God's character that every time
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God wants to establish a modus operandi that means a pathway to
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achieving certain things spiritually, He will usually
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find a man and then model that part with that man and keep that
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man as a reference, as his recommendation that every time
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you want to access that dimension, you study that
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individual. For instance, every time you
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want to study on encounters, you want to know God, you want to
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press towards the things of God. The biblical figure that is
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recommended is the man Jacob. Jacob is God's idea of the
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protocol towards an encounter, how that he encountered the
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Lord. You see that in Genesis 28.
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Then in Genesis 32, the Bible records his failure, records the
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consequences for his failing to discern the Lord's presence, and
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then now records an opportunity that God gave him again and how
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that he wrestled with that man to a point that God named that
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dimension after Jacob. He calls himself the God of
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Jacob. He said who shall ascend to the
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heal of the Lord and who shall stand in his holy place.
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He that had clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted
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up his soul onto vanity nor sworn deceitfully.
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He says that he will receive a blessing from the Lord and
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righteousness from the God of his salvation.
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Then he says this is the generation of them that seek
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your face or Jacob. King James says the original
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translation is O God of Jacob, that means we seek your face
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after the pattern of Jacob. Are we together?
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When you want to study on prevailing prayer, the kind of
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prayer that produces results, the individual that personifies
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that dimension is Elijah James chapter 5.
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When you read from verse 13, he begins by saying that the
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fervent is any man afflicted. He said let him pray.
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He says let him call upon the elders.
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And then he says the fervent effectual prayer of the
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righteous man are veiled much, but he does not leave us in the
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dark. He now says Elijah, that means
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this is my idea of fervent effectual prayer.
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Elijah was a man of light, passion just as we are, but he
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accessed certain keys and he prayed that there be no rain for
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a period of 3 1/2 years. And to show you he was not
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trying, he engaged that same principle again.
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Again means mastery. When you do something again you
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have gain mastery. And the Bible says he that
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strives for mastery is not crowned except his tribes
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lawfully. Are we learning now?
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There are individuals who are God's idea.
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When God wants to caution you, He can use certain individuals.
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For instance, remember Lord's wife, there is a lesson.
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Instead of telling you the whole lesson, it just tells you.
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Take note of this woman. If you understudy the woman in
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that study is the lesson God's idea of what it means to be
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blessed in the Kingdom is personified in the man Abraham
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are we together? He called an idol worshipper
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from all of the Chaldeans and and began to give him
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instructions from Genesis chapter 12.
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In fact that destiny was supposed to be for his father
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terror, but he could not make it.
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He did not meet the requirements and God would call Abraham and
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now began to tell him that if you follow in keeping with what
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I'm giving you. I will bless you this and that
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would happen to you in you will all the families be blessed
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Hallelujah. By the time you study Abraham we
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get to Isaiah chapter 51 from verse one and two particularly
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verse 2. It says look on to Abraham your
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father and to Sarah that boy you for I called him alone keyword
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alone. I didn't call him with wealth.
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I didn't call him with wisdom. I call him alone.
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So find out how wealth came to his life.
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Find out how wisdom came to his life.
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He says. I called him alone and blessed
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him and increased him. Hallelujah.
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Are we learning now? Yes.
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So you see that all through Scripture you find individuals
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who represent the thoughts of God, US touching certain areas
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every time we look at a lesson from a doubter.
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If I ask you who in the Bible is your lesson for doubting God,
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you will shout Thomas without even if you are not serious
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spiritually, you may shout Thomas because for some reason
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that individual. So this is how it is in
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Scripture. One of the ways that we study
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Scripture is to look at men who have passed through a process
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and at the end of their lives they did not just get results
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that they they became God's idea of that pathway.
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That means in studying them, you can learn the pathway that leads
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to that result. And right now we want to study
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one person in the Bible who gives us an idea of the price it
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takes for a new dimension, the price it takes to go forward.
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Are you ready? Georges chapter 6.
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Was studying the man called Gideon Georges chapter 6 for
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reference when you start from verse one, our full text is 6
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and seven. The Bible says that the children
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of Israel did what was wrong in the sight of God and then he
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handed them over to their enemies for a period of seven
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years. The medians now, and they
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punished them. They tortured them.
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When you read on a prophet came and began to speak cautioning
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the people of God because that is usually God's pattern.
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That's how he leads men to repentance.
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We see that pattern consistent especially in the Old Testament.
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Every time people forgot about God, He handed them over to
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their enemies for a period. And in the midst of their pain,
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He will send a prophet to tell them This is why this is
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happening. Now I leave you with an option.
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Are you ready to repent or remain slaves?
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And they would come and say, God, we are ready.
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Then he would send a man to command deliverance for them.
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They will enjoy the blessings of obedience, then disobey again.
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Then the cycle repeats itself like that.
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We're together. Now let's start from verse 11,
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forsake of time. The Bible says there came an
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Angel of the Lord and sat under an oak, which was in offer that
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pertained unto Joash and all of that.
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And his son Gideon trashed wheat by the wine press to hide it
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from the Midianites. Verse 12 The Bible says, We are
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reading to 16 And the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and
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said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of value.
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And Gideon said unto him, O my Lord, if the Lord be with us,
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why then is all this befallen us?
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And where be all his miracles, which our fathers told us,
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saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?
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But now the Lord has forsaken us, and delivered us into the
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hands of the Midianites. 14. And the Lord looked upon him,
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and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from
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the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent thee?
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15 And he said unto him, O my Lord, wherewith shall I save
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Israel? Behold, my family is poor in
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Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.
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Last verse And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with
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thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianite as one man.
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So here we see an encounter, a young boy called Gideon
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threshing and hiding the products that he has from the
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Midianites because they will usually come to bully them and
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collect everything. And an Angel appears to him and
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begins to speak to him about his prophetic destiny.
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It is interesting to know that God never calls you by what you
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are or what you wear. He calls you by your prophetic
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destiny. He's seen a man hiding and he
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says thou mighty man of valor because he's in his character to
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call things that be not as though they were.
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Are we together now. So the young idiot just like
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Jeremiah is now complaining. Look at the understanding that
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kept that guy. You see one of the reasons why
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they were slaves was not just that they were weak people.
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There was an understanding that encouraged that slavery and as
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soon as God approached him to talk to him.
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Listen to his complaint. He said, I am the least and then
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I am from the list family. Don't come and flatter me with
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such an elaborate and ambitious agenda that I will go to save
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the nation of Israel from the Midianites.
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And God encouraged him and he said, well, I have a problem.
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Our fathers once told us that they advanced, they did this,
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they conquered nations, they saw miracles.
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Why have we not seen this kind of thing?
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And he told him, go in this your might.
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You know what he was telling him, he said this ability to
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begin to probe into why the miracle stop is strength for
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you. Don't stop thinking, don't stop
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pondering. Start asking that question
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because there is a secret in it. The might.
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There was his understanding. Understanding is might.
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It was not just an impartation. He says go in your might.
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I have seen that you sustain another kind of spirit.
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Because most of the people kept being slaves, not asking why the
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miracle stopped. They didn't ask why the miracles
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happen in the first place. So he's saying, Gideon, there is
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something happening to your understanding that is equal to
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might. You are probing into why things
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that were happening now stopped. Do you know most people do not
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have disgrace? This might of superior
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understanding. Even if you do not have result,
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the ability to start vetting why it stopped and why it happened
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is power. Are we together?
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So you find out that in January every day was favor and then
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February it stops and you do not ask a question.
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The first question is why did it happen?
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The second question is why did it stop?
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Once Upon a time in my life everybody would call me and
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bless me, but now it looks like the same people are still around
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my vicinity. But no one seems to beckon on me
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in this thy might the courage to ask questions, to say, our
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fathers told us. I've not forgotten.
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It is still in my memory that the time came in the history of
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Israel. They were invincible.
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Their enemies will see them and begin to shake.
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Because there was a hand that was with them.
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Why have we not seen it? He was asking the Angel.
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I remember it's out of the abundance of the hearts that the
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mouth speaks. That means that as he was
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trashing in that weakness and that limitation, his mind was
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rejecting that level. He was asking a question, Why am
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I like this? Can I tell you this?
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I'm sorry to say, but respectfully speaking, it is one
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of the reasons why many people in Africa don't move forward.
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We don't ask questions. Why am I like this?
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No favor, no grace. Why is ministry not growing?
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Why is my spiritual life not growing?
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Can I tell you, one of the most superior knowledge that you can
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have is how to learn what you don't know how to find out, and
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how to learn what you do not know.
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How to ask the questions that bring the right answers.
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Most believers accept status quo and give it some superstitious
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explanation. Well, I'm sure God just wants it
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to be that we all. Well I'm sure he's the devil,
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but that in itself is not enough answer.
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Are we together? I just thought this is not even
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what I'm talking about. I just thought to draw a lesson.
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I didn't want to just allow the issue of Gideon to pass because
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many of us here seated looking at me.
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You once heard my grandfather was a wealthy man.
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He was a blessed man. He was the greatest in the
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village. But now the family is the
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poorest and no one you have not access that might that give your
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heart to ask questions. What did he do that made the
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results happen? What did he stop doing that made
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the results stop? What was I doing that made me so
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powerful that my spiritual life kept growing from level to level
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I could? It was palpable that I was
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growing. The Bible said how shall we
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escape if we neglect carelessness, so great is
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salvation. Many people who fail do not ask
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what they are doing or not doing.
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Many people who succeed short time don't study their results,
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they only celebrate it. Can I tell you this?
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Celebrating success without thoroughly understanding the
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dynamics around it, you are only implicating yourself for
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casualty. And it is painful to 1's was
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there. It is painful to 1's rejoice.
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It is painful to 1's taste of the grace of God.
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Are you learning something tonight?
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So when he said going up your might, Most people think awesome
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impartation had happened. The might there is not yet an
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anointing no the might there is the construct, the understanding
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that courage and fortitude to start probing what took the
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presence of God away from you, Gideon what took the presence
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away from from the nation of Israel?
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How could God's covenant people? These guys didn't need to lift a
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finger for Jericho to go down. Now the media Knights were
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oppressing them and Gideon had to hide.
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The Angel said you've gotten a key, don't lose it.
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And God is handing that key over to someone tonight.
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What is the key? Listen, what is the key?
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The courage to probe into why results are happening or why
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results are not happening. Whether you are succeeding or
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failing, both of them deserve your study.
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What am I doing that is making my promotion happen every year?
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Don't just say thank God promotion is happening.
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No, what am I doing? Can I tell you this?
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When your results come by mastery, you do not fear.
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Again, it is possible that you can activate laws, the laws of
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the Kingdom and the laws of the Spirit, and in truth, by luck
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you can access something that works and then you find out that
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it does not work. Again, conferences like this
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bring us to a point of mastery where you can defend your result
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with your understanding. Before you graduate a student
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from a College of education or a university, usually there is
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something called a defense. Is that true?
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Where he comes before a parliament and they try to vet
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and probe into his understanding so far doesn't matter the topic.
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They are not necessarily just looking at the topic of
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discussion, his acumen, his understanding, his ability to
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argue out in defense of the degree or whatever certification
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he wants to have, and on the strength of what he
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demonstrates, they can now say no.
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You are qualified. Life will ask you what makes you
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think you will be anointed for 30 years.
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You can enjoy your anointing for two years while it lasts.
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What makes you believe that in the next 10 years you will still
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be relevant in ministry? What gives you the audacity to
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believe people will still place a demand on your life?
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Go in this thy might. The ability to probe into why
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things happen and the ability to probe into why things don't
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happen. You go and read your Bible.
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In the earth walk of Jesus, every time people came and
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asking questions he respected them.
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Read your Bible, whether it was the woman at the well, whether
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it was John chapter 3. I hope you know it was this
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probing that better the scripture we use for salvation
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now for God so loved the world. He started as a man's asking a
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question. Nicodemus came to Jesus by
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night. John 3 and verse 1 he said,
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Rabbi, we know that thou at a man sent from God, for no man
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can do these signs and wonders except God be with him.
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And then Jesus said, now that you've gotten my attention, let
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me begin to talk to you. Verily, verily I say unto you,
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except a man be born again. Then he asks another question.
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The woman at the well, she began to ask the question and he
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answered, because the seed for an answer is a question.
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There is no reason why you should have an answer if you're
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not asking a question for as long as you are not asking why
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your life is where it is, for as long as you are not asking why
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you are making tremendous impact.
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Before you celebrate results, be sure you can reproduce it.
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In my opinion, one of of all the dominion instructions that were
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given to man, more than being fruitful, the most powerful for
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me is Replenish. Replenishes where true authority
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and master lies the ability to produce that result again and
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again and again and again and again.