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Authentic Imitationology #72 [Morning Devo] · The BLAZE (Bible Study)

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Hey man, Amen and a man. God bless your family, God bless
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you. Welcome back to the morning Devo to your brother San Lopez. And
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it's Friday, and on this particular Friday, at the time of his recording,
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it's Good Friday. Good Friday. Believers all over the world celebrate the
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Friday that Jesus was crucified. So it doesn't even sound right that we celebrate
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or that we acknowledge that and that we come to remember that in such a
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positive way. It's just because we know what happened three days later. But
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what was really good about Good Friday? The only thing I could think of
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when you look at the scriptures reading it, if you were reading it for
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the first time, you notice that the only thing good about Good Friday was
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God. He's the only one good. He was still forgiving people on the
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cross, he still allowed people into paradise on the cross. He showed his
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humanity and divinity at the same time. God is good all the time.
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Even in the worst times of our life, when it seems like it's we're
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out of here, it seems like we're done, it seems like there's no
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hope, God is still good and he's always working good for all those who
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put their faith and hope and trust in Him. Authentic Imitationology, this episode
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number seventy two. I'm calling this one Count the Christ Cost for Christ.
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Count the Cost for Christ. You know, this is not about you know,
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our fruit ribe in life, and it's not about you know how easy
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it is in life. This is about how God works in our lives if
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we allow Him to do the work in our lives. So count the Cost
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for Christ on this Good Friday edition of Authentic Comentationology Friday from the time of
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this recording, right So, I know I would like to date these things
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because I know some people will probably watch this or listen to this maybe months
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from now, years from now. Amen. I'm just letting you know,
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from the time of this recording right now, this is good Friday, Amen,
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And man today it's exciting because, like I said, we know the
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end of the story. We have the scriptures, and we know what happens
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three days later. But man, what a Friday. To call it a
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good Friday doesn't make any sense to a person who doesn't know what happened three
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days later. So it's an amazing day in history for a believer. Amen.
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Brother banding. God bless you, man, God bless you. Welcome
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to the morning, Devo, my bro, it's good to see you.
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So listen. Let me get to my notes here real quick before I get
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too excited and be like, let's go right into it. But let me
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share with you what God put on my heart. The question is are you
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willing to count the cost for Christ? So this is where the rubber meets
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the road. This is where people are either real or not. This is
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where you put your feet to your faith, amen, because we have facts
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about our faith. It's not about pine dis guy, it's not about wishful
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thinking. It's about what God has done in your life and in my life.
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Are we willing to count the cost for Christ? Because you know,
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just like other systems of belief out there, you'll be cast aside sometimes.
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So if you're in the world and you're doing everything the world wants you to
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do, you're famous, you have money, girls, fast cards, or
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whatever the lifestyle you're living, and then you get you have an encounter with
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the living God. You'll notice right away, you know, at least in
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my experience, you notice right away that the people that used to be your
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writer or dies they were day ones. They no longer want to be around
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you because now they think that you're in some kind of cults or some kind
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of religion. They don't understand what God has done in your life. Amen,
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And sometimes you be cast aside. That's what I mean by counting the
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cost for Christ. It's part of what I mean. Are you willing to
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let everything go and move forward in victory? Actually, and you're not crazy,
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And this is not wishful thinking. There's fact connected to our faith.
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At what point will you stop trying? Will it get too hard for you?
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Will it get too hard to be a Christ's follower? For you when
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you feel the pressures of life, the peer pressure of your friends and your
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family, You know, these are real things that we all go through.
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Amen. I'm in my fifties and I still get peer pressured by people.
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Well, listen, we have to continue to move forward. Stop count the
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cause for Christ. Today on the morning DEVO, Good Friday Edition, Good
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morning since the Joye, I see you, Good morning, God, bless
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you, blessings on this good Friday. Yes, blessings to you as well.
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It'll be the Second Corinthians, Chapter twelve, Verse number ten, Second
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Corinthians, Chapter twelve, verse number ten, Count the Cost for Christ.
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Let's pray first. After we pray, we'll share this out for like sixty
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seconds. So if you have any questions, comments, concerns, pray requests,
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or anything along those lines, don't hesitate to leave it on the live
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chat. That's what we're here for. Sister Jouayne, Good morning, I
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see you, God bless you. Welcome back to the Morning Devo the Good
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Friday edition. Count the Cause for Christ a man, So let's pray.
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Amen, And anytime, Dorian the Devo a man. If you're listening on
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Soul Winners with a Zeita Org, there's a way you could connect with me
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on the website as well. Celebrate a network. Anytime something comes to your
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heart a man, just share it and we'll get to it. So Father,
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I thank you, Lord God for the many, many ways that you
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have blessed my life and the lives of every single person that knows you,
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that has a personal relationship with you, and even lor God, those who
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have yet to put their whole faith in trusting you, they're starting to realize
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that it was you that protected them, it was you that made a way
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when it seemed to be no way. It was you, Lor God that
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is calling them to yourself. Give us the strength, Lord God, to
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continue, even when we feel weak, even when we're distracted, even when
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life hits us so hard that we're wanting to give up. Give us the
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strength to continue moving forward. Lord God, we see a perfect example in
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you, Lo God, that you went to the cross, and even on
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that cross you were forgiving people. Even on that cross you were saving people.
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Even on that cross you were showing you your humanity and divinity and divinity.
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Even on that cross you were hoping in the Father. Even in the
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cross you even asked, Father, wife you feel Even on that cross you
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said it is finished. And even on the cross you committed your spirit see
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the Father for the cause, for the love of your creation. Thank you,
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Lord God for doing that. And we come to your, Lo God,
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counting the costs, and we know that even though sometimes the burdens are
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heavy, but we know that we could go to you with all our heavy
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burdens and give them to you. And you said that you want those burdens
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because you want to take them from us, because you care for us.
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Thank you, Lord for everything you have done. Thank you Lor God,
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for everything you continue to do. I pray hope, forward, faith forward
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to every single listener and every single person that's watching. I pray, Low
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God, I had to protection over myself, my family, my household.
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I Praelod God, that you would cover our minds physically, emotionally and spiritually,
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and that you will bless our homes. That I set forth arkwing angels
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right now to every single household, every single room, every single hospital room,
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every single place where your children reside, where your children are, by
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the power of your Holy Ghost, by the power of your name, by
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the power of your spirit. I pray those things forward. Uh life.
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I prayed life, not death over any single person that's listening and watching.
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And I speak life according to your word and purpose in your word for our
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lives. So I prayed, Lord God over my tired blood line, that
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you would save every single one of them, Lord God, and Love God,
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that we would come to you willingly. I like the deaf from the
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cross that did a shotgun, I had a shotgun opportunity, even though the
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grace of God shows there. I pray, Lord God, that we will
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not wait any longer. That everyone who is not saving will put their whole
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faith in trust in you today. And not only would you be their savior,
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but you will also be their Lord. I prayed. This's by faith
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in Jesus name. Amen and Amen. So let's go for it sixty seconds
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to shut this out. When we come back and get right into Second Corinthians,
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chapter number twelve, first number ten, I'll be right back, Amen.
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Amenutes. Go for let's see what the Word of God has for us
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today. We're gonna be reading what Apostle Paul, who was inspired by Holy
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Spirit and write down what he wrote here a man of what he was going
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through, a possible Paul. If you know anything about Apostle Paul, he
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was on a mission, Amen, and he dedicated his whole life to spread
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the Gospel. But he wasn't always that person who wanted to spread the Gospel.
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He wasn't always on the side of believers, Amen, of right followers.
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He was actually a persecutor of Christianity, a persecutor of the Christian Church,
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a persecutor of those who followed the Lord. And then he had a
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personal encounter on one on one encounter with the Lord himself, Amen, and
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literally was knocked off his high horse and literally was blinded, and God did
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a work in his life that we read about all through the New Testament,
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Amen, all through his letters to the church and his journeys. He was
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locked up so many times he was pursuing righteousness and preaching the gospel to his
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very own people. Amen. And all of that did apostle Paul countercause yes
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he did. Amen. And at the end of his life, you hear
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him saying that he ran his Amen. And I want you to know that
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you're running your race. I'm running my race, and we're all at different
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paces, but we're all going in the same direction as believers. Right.
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It's not hard. I heard them saying, it's not how you start,
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it's about how you finish, right, And let's finish well. And man,
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we're on this journey. And man, it's not just for us.
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This gospel message is for us to share it with as many people as possible.
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So as an evangelist, I'm all about that life, sharing the gospel
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so as many people as possible, in season and out of season. Right
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times. It's heart for his world is so broken and falling, and everyone
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is mocking out of God. Not a lot of people are mocking our God.
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And they have just so many things to say negative about the scriptures and
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about this not being real and that not being real. And you know,
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we have to pray for people like that because we well me, I was
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once like that myself. Man. You know, some people say, oh,
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you wasn't never a bad guy. I'm like, man, you don't
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know what was going on in my heart. It was only seeing what was
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going on externally. You were not realizing what was going on internally. God
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sees the heart. Amen. So that's why I don't really judge people like
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that, because I don't know exactly how moving in their hearts, and I
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don't know exactly what they're going through. You will never know what people are
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going through unless they share what they're going through. So that way, we
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should have listening ears. We should be quick to listen and slow to speak.
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That's what the scriptures say. Right, Let's go for it. Let's
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see what God has for us today on today's morning, DEVO. Count the
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cause for Christ's count the costs for Christ. Amen. And we have the
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scripture here, second Corinthings, chapter the number twelve, verse number ten,
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for the sake of Christ. Then I am content with weaknesses insults, hardships,
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persecutions, and calamities. But when I am weak, then I am
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strong. I know you've heard the scripture a lot, and you might be
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saying, why is he mentioning this on Good Friday. Well, the reason
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why I mentioned this on Good Friday. First of all, is the Lord
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led me to the scripture. That's number one. Number two. Amen,
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I see all of this on the cross. Jesus the Christ himself, Amen.
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Willfully, willfully laid down his life. I know a lot of people
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like to say that he was murdered, and there's you know, people passing
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around on posts on social media saying, oh, he was murdered. He
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was murdered. Jesus laid down his life. Let's get that fact straight.
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No one killed Jesus. Amen, he laid his life down for us.
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Amen. Just remember what the Lord said. He said, if he wanted
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to, he could have called the Legion of Angels to get this done with.
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The little God was not murdered like, he was not a victim,
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Amen, And he was enforced on the cross. He wilfully went to that
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cross. He said, not my will, Father, but jo will be
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done for the sake of Christ. Then I'm content with weaknesses. At Jesus'
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weakest point, the enemy couldn't do nothing for him. Remember the forty days
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the fast that he did, and when he was in the wilderness and the
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devil came and tempted Jesus. He tempted his humanity because he can't God.
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God cannot be tempted, nor does God tempt. But he tested his humanity.
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He tested to see what this man, Jesus, the Christ, was
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made of. And by the word of God, the enemy was defeated.
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So we see that through weaknesses insults. How many times did they insult our
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Lord Jesus a man? How many times did they mock them, accuse him
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falsefully a man, mock trials, beat them, scourge them, you know,
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whip them, just said all kind of nasty things about him. He
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was going through insults and hardships and persecuted for him saying that he was the
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son of God. Persecution was coming to him, calamities, and when he
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was weak, Amen, God showed them to be strong. We see that
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on the cross. We see that on Good Friday when we look at the
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crucifixion again. Even though it's a gruesome thing to see it's not pretty,
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it's very ugly, it's very challenging to on mindset. Amen. But we
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see the strength of God on that cross. That's why I came here.
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I believe that's why the Lord let me hear, because we could see that
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all up in the scriptures, Amen, And we don't have to make anything
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up about it. We could just literally see it in the world. We
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could literally see it in the scriptures. And we know now that Christ did
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that for me, and Christ did that for you. You know the reason
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why I wasn't born again years ago, Amen. I came to the Lord
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at thirty years old because I never thought none of this was for me personally.
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I always thought the Gospel was for other people, the people who were
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already in church. For whatever reason, I thought it was just not for
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me. So that's cool. You know, you follow Jesus, that's for
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you. You go to church, that's for you. You're part of that
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community. That's for you. Man. I always had that feeling. I
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never made the connection until one day I realized and said, I'm tired.
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I'm tired of hearing everybody talk about this Jesus, how they're born again,
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how they saved and I said, listen, Lord, you know it's good
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for them, but what about me. If you're real, come and handle
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my life, Come and change my life, and the rest is history.
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Ever since then, I've been count of the qust know that it wasn't It
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wasn't received well by a lot of people. Let's just say it like that.
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Some of them still think I'm nuts for doing what I'm doing and following
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Christ. But listen, I have never been more satisfied in my soul by
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following the Lord. I did so many things in the world that were kind
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of like temporary fixes. We actually they were temporary fixes. You know,
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sin is temporary, Amen. And even though sin is temporary, it will
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have an eternal consequence if you don't turn to the Lord Jesus. Imen.
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So at what point will you give up? You counted the cross from Christ?
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Amen? But at what point would you give up? Is it because
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the hardships? Is it because the insults? Is it because the mockery?
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It is because your weaknesses are exposed. Listen, I suppose my weakness to
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many people. Amen. I just did it the other day a man showing
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weaknesses. Amen, But letting people know although I might be doing things that
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might seem weird to some people. Amen. I do it for the cause
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of Christ. I do it because I know how far the enemy will go
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to make us think that we're all alone, that we can't be delivered from
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this, that and the third. No, let's keep it one hundred with
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ourselves, because God's keeping one hundred with us. Amen. So at what
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point will you give up? When will you stop trying? Listen, if
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you're trying to be a born again believer, if you're trying to be good,
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if you're trying, stop trying, right because our efforts. I'm not
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the issue here, Amen, I'm not saying because if anything I've done other
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than knowledge who I was in the past and man, the only part I
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had to play with being saved is that I had to be honest with myself
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and acknowledge that I need a God, the God, to save me and
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rescue me and transform me and renew me and restore me. Amen. Before
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I even knew any scriptures, I did what the Bible says. I called
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up the name of God, even though I just said God. But God
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knows who you're calling. This whole thing about all of you, say Jesus
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and you don't say Yeshua and yesh youah, then you're not calling on the
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right Jesus. That's the American European g All that stuff is nonsense. God
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knows who's calling him, Amen, because he sees our heart. He doesn't
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only hear our voice. He doesn't only read our mind. He sees the
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heart. So we're calling on the true, living, holy, righteous,
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loving God. He knows who we're talking to. Amen. So don't get
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caught up in the semantics. And then the whole you know thing about debate
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about or what is his name? There was no jade in the language at
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the time to stand the third. Don't get too caught up in that.
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Amen. That's just a distraction and it won't lead you anywhere. So let's
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speak on what the word says. So it depends on a lot. If
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you're giving your life to the Lord right and you count on the course,
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it depends on a lot, And it depends on what you're trying to do.
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Are you trying to be a good person on your own strength or you're
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allowing Holy Spirit, God who lives in you, if you're born again,
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to do the work through you. Amen. That's why I do what I
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do, Amen, and people who probably won't understand it or they might take
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it wrong. I literally had to remind someone and said, listen, are
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you okay? Are we okay? Because I had to The devil does extreme
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things to try to wipe us out. He wants to kill, stealing,
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destroyer. So I tend to do extreme things for God for the purpose of
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soul saving. Amen, But I have to make sure everybody's okay with that.
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At what point will you give up? When you watch a reality TV
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show? Right? They ask these questions because they do extreme things to the
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people on the reality TV shows, even though a lot of it is scripted.
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Amen. So say that someone was offering you a million dollars to do
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something extreme, You're not going to really well, at least me in my
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way of thinking. I want to see what do I have to do to
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get that Maillon dollars because I know it's going to be a catch to it.
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So how are you? How extream are you willing to go for that
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Maion dollars? But let me read this comment first before I go forward.
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Joanne says, I talk to God and a lot of people think I am
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crazy, But I am not crazy. The Lord hears me when I cry
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out to him and I talk to him. Sometimes I go into the closet
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and close the closet and pray to my Lord. He is good with me.
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I am still going back and forth to the hospital. I hope my
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son comes out. They keep on telling me that they're gonna do the surgery,
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but they keep on holding off. I don't know what is going on.
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Amen. Even when we don't know what's going on, sinsigent, where
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God knows all things, continue to go in that prayer closet, continue to
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close the door, continuing to speak to him, to trust him. And
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I would suggest one thing. When you pray, Amen, then stop and
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then listen. Sometimes we go pray and prayer, pray, but we forget
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to listen. That God wants to respond to our prayers and he wants to
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speak to us. Amen, So continue moving forward and faith. My sister,
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God has been doing amazing things in your life. Thank you for sharing.
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So no matter what we have to go through, let's get back to
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this million dollar scenario. What will you are you willing to go through to
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get this million dollars? It's almost like I'll flesh. You're telling us man,
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let's go for it. It doesn't matter what we gotta do on million
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dollars, Let's go for it. But when it comes to counter course for
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Christ, I'm not going through that. I got to be persecuted, I
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gotta be insulted, I have to show weakness, right, I have to
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be content with all of that now. I'm not doing that. What's worth
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more a million dollars or losing your soul? Rather, people don't believe me.
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You give this ministry a million dollars, You're gonna see how I'm gonna
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move that million dollars, Amen, helping people out, help another ministry,
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helping other families. Yeah, well, we have a commercial space with that
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money, absolutely, but we're gonna be putting out as much as possible and
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trying to share that wealth with as many people as possible, and trying to
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get most of the resources that we can as much as possible to get this
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gospel message out because this is worth more than anything out there, at least
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in my humble opinion. I know a lot of people won't agree, but
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the gospel is worth more than a million bucks, trust me, Amen,
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that's my personal humble opinion. So the hardships that you have to face today
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to pay for tomorrow, we'll make it worthwhile. So, in other words,
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whatever you're going through right now, for the cause of Christ. Amen,
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And on Good Friday. We have people that never step into church.
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They're coming. They're coming Friday, and they come in Sunday, on creasts.
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They only come on Christmas in Eastern and if you have a New Years
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service sometimes they do that. But while they're coming, Amen, let's welcome
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them, right because we know life is hard. Let's not be like unrealistic
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people and be like, oh, welcome to the church and welcome to the
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community of Christ. Now everything's gonna be okay. No, welcome them with
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open arms. Let them know this is a safe environment, safe place,
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and show them a man through the scriptures. By the way, the scriptures
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what Jesus went through for us. So as we're kind of the cause a
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lot of people who are unsafe, not born again. Maybe a family member
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or a friend said, man, come to church on Good Friday. They're
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not going to know what to expect other than what we share with him according
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to the scriptures. Now, if people want to do all kind of crazy
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antics and all kinds of stuff that's not biblical, that's between them and the
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Lord. The megachurch is saying, oh, we're not going to talk about
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this. We're not going to talk about that. We don't want to offend
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nobody. That's between them and the Lord. To me, you know,
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judgment, you know judgment is coming to that kind of behavior. But if
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you look at the scriptures, scriptures is clear on what happened on that day
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and what was happening with the people. People were still mocking God, gambling
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for his clothes, all kinds of sinful things were going on, and we
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have the Lord Jesus there a man still demonstrating his own love while people were
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hating on him. He was still demonstrating his own love on that cross,
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dying for us, laying down his life for us. So, if your
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goal is to make millions of dollars, how heart will you push yourself?
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Probably pretty hard. But let's change the question. If your goal were one
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soul saved for Christ, what would you be willing to do? How hard
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would you go for that? Right? I won't leave you with that question.
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But we're in Second Corinthians, chapter number twelve, verse ten, counting
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on the cause for Christ. Amen, It's so worth it. It's so
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worth it. Go for it. Let God move in your life, Let
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them do something incredible in your life. Second Corinth in chapter twelve, read
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the whole chapter for yourself, and I'm out of time. I hope this
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start of the weekend is one of the best greatest encounters you have and experience
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with the Lord Jesus so far in your life. And Jesus name so God,
26:45
bless you all. Thank you so much for hanging out with me.
26:48
Got to keep you all and remember always that God is good. Peace.