Latest / Citipointe Church Caboolture / I Have Determined | Ps Graeme Politanski

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I Have Determined | Ps Graeme Politanski · Citipointe Church Caboolture

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Hey, welcome to the City Point Church podcast.
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Thanks for joining us. Every day is an opportunity to
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take hold of. So we hope this message inspires
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you and build your faith that it helps you have more of a God
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perspective for your day. Enjoy.
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Could you declare out loud today?
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My heart is open. My ears are alert to grow and
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change and never be the same. Who wants to never be the same?
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Yeah. That means you're open for God
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to do something in your life. You know, in my life, I realize
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I look like I have it all together.
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And I I look like the best husband and father that the
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world has ever seen. But the more I live, the more I
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realize I need to change. I need to grow, and I need the
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one who can do that, to do that in my life.
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Amen. And learning, unlearning,
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relearning, that's the way we do the Christian life.
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Why don't we take a seat this morning?
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It's so good. I just want to thank everyone
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for their generosity with faith, love, hope, and thank you for
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your vulnerability to put your praise and your prayer up on the
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cross. And we'll continue to believe
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for miracles in your life throughout the year.
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Today, I want to just talk about David and Goliath for just a
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moment. And it's a classic biblical
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story about David and Goliath. And we, probably all of us have
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heard of it in one way or another.
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And in the Holy Bible, Goliath, the Philistine was against
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Israel and the Israelite army. David, we know him as King
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David, but at that point in history, he was around 12 years
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old of age and he was bringing food out for his brother out on
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the army front lines. And basically you have Israel
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out fighting the Philistines. And they, the Philistines had
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giants and, and Goliath was one of these.
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And Goliath would come out and mock the Philistines and mock
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the sorry, mock the Israelites and mock the God of the
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Israelites. And because of the giants, the
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Israelites were looking with these eyes.
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But who knows that we don't live by these eyes.
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We live with the eyes of faith. And and so David was a shepherd
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out in the field and he really wanted to be out in the battle
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with his brothers, but his dad wouldn't allow this to happen.
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And after a lot of persuasion and and pestering dad and coming
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in from the field looking after the sheep everyday he wanted he
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just kept asking can I go out with my brothers and fight this
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battle? Now there's a reason why David
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wanted to do this. It wasn't just a a young punk 12
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year old who knew nothing about life wanting to go out with his
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Big Brothers. David was fierce for the things
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of God. And David had a fire and a
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hunger for his God to never be mocked or never be put to shame,
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and for the world to see the might, the power, and the love,
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enduring love of his God. And even as a 12 year old, David
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just had such a raw, living fire inside of him that he wanted to
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go out to battle against the ones that were trying to oppress
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the Israelites. And so he asked his dad all the
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time. And finally his dad gave in and
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said, well, why don't you take lunch out to your brothers on
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the battlefield? Now, I think that this is
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embarrassing, not for David, but for the brothers.
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I mean, who's a soldier equipped with swords and Shields, and
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their little squeezely brother comes out.
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Oh, here you go. Dad gave you some sandwiches,
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and you got to eat the sandwiches in front of the whole
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army while they're just pulling heads off deer and eating raw
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meat. You know, maybe I don't think
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that worked because you weren't meant to eat blood.
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But anyway. So it's an interesting,
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interesting moment in the Bible. And David heard while he was out
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there that the king was offering a reward for whoever would take
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this giant. But if you've ever seen the the
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cartoons about, you know, David and Goliath, what you realize is
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that David was there hearing about this reward, but he turns
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around to the army, and they're acting like kids.
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They're too scared to go up against the giant.
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And often we can feel like this as well because we look with our
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natural eyes and we forget who's fighting with us.
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We forget who's in this battle for us.
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We forget whose strength we walk with and what we walk with into
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our battles. And so David turned around and
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he saw the army whimpering at the giants.
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And David was like, what's with everyone here?
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And so he rose up and we're going to pick up the story in
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First Samuel 1728 to 29. And it says this in your, your
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Bible. It says now Ilyab, his oldest
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brother, heard when he spoke to the man.
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And Ilyab's anger was aroused against David because David was
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talking with all the sides. Hey, hey, how you going?
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Why aren't you fighting? And so they were aroused against
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David. And he said, why did you come
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down here? Basically, he's mocking his
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little brother. And with whom have you left
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those few sheep in the wilderness?
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He's trying to degrade his little brother.
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I know your pride and your insolence of your heart, for you
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have come down to see the battle.
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And David said, what have I done now?
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Is there not a cause? In other words, David's saying
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to his his older brother, You always treat me like this, but
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can you not see the greatest 'cause that you are part of you?
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You look at me like your little brother, but I look at you as a
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a brother who should be under the lordship of our king.
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Have his boldness upon your shoulders.
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You know, what have I done now? Typical brothers, right?
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So the the Holy Bible teaches us that David had fire in his heart
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and zeal for his God. David was resolute that no one
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can stand against God and his God's purposes.
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David had determined in his heart beforehand that nothing
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will stand between him and God, that nothing will stand between
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him and God's purposes, that nothing will stand between him
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and God's calling, and that nothing would stand between him
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and God's great cause on planet earth.
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Who's like this today in the House of God?
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Nothing will stand against you, between you and the call that
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God has for you. David had determined this inside
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of him beforehand. Which leads me to the title.
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I have determined. Can you say out loud, church, I
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have determined. I wonder if you have determined
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things. You know the greatest way you
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overcome addictions in your life is to predetermine the the
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greatest way to overcome fear in your life is to predetermine
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anger in your life is to pre Why?
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How do you do this? What is it?
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What am I talking about? So if you're struggling with
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lust, you predetermined that next time I get this thought, I
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will take it captive before it becomes a feeling.
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And because you predetermined, you now know what to do when the
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enemy brings the thought. Because he can.
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He's allowed to do that. You might say, well, I'm a
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Christian, you know, isn't this method?
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No, no, no, no. It's the mind is these
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battlefields. That's how he tries to overcome
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you and I. But because we have the wisdom
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and the discernment of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we have the
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power to predetermine what the outcome will be.
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And we do that by predetermining what your response will be.
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Anger. If you struggle with anger in
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your life, you predetermine what you're going to do when that
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emotion begins to rise up. It might be something like
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sitting down in psychology. You have a rubber band around
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you and you pull it as hard as you can and you flick it.
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And it's like to remind you is to jut you back into reason.
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And so to predetermine is to plan your life or to create
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strategy in order to be a victor.
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Is this good? Nothing to do with my message,
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but I know this is helping you this morning.
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And so when we predetermine things in our life, I look at
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that person and say to myself, that's a person on their way to
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success. That's a person who's going to
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conquer the issues that they're facing that will not be in 20
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years time, still looking at the same issues in their life
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because they acknowledge they bring it before God in prayer
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and they say, Holy Spirit, would you help me?
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And he says, great, I'll give you some ideas to predetermine
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so that when the enemy brings that back up, you know how to
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fight. We don't fight against flesh and
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blood, but against principalities and powers.
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In other the words, we need the Holy Spirit proactive in our
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world, which means we need to be spending time in silence with
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Him, waiting upon the Lord, and so that we can hear His prompt
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things and leadership so that when these things in our life
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arise, we know what to do as a response.
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Does that make sense in in opposition to that?
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The way we often live is the thing comes up and then we try
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to think about your response, but it's too late.
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The bodies reacted, the feelings and the emotions of engaged and
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you are now in a moment of a lack of self-control.
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Does that make sense? So we predetermined David had
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this down in spades in his life. You know what gave David the
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confidence to even stand before a giant when all the trained
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soldiers didn't have the same confidence?
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What gave him the confidence was his pre training.
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And as we know the story, David already fought a lion and
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conquered and fought a bear and conquered.
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But what didn't happen, he wasn't just walking around
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worrying and whinging about being a, a shepherd and going,
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you know, every single day everyone's out doing this.
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You know the heck, I'm so and so's got a motorbike and so and
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so owns a car and, and so and so has this hobby and and so and so
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has the better house than me. And so and so's got like the
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better girlfriend or the better boyfriend, or they might not
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have one, but every girl and every boy wants to be their
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boyfriend or girlfriend. You know, so and so seems to
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always, Ebony always has new clothes when she's on the
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platform. And David, David wasn't out in
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the field and, and looking at life and seeing all the, the,
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the detriment or seeing all the issues or what he was seeing is
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God, if you've got me here, you've got me here for purpose.
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And he realizes that even along a a young boy and so out in the
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fields, he would worship, he would praise, He knew his
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spiritual weapons, He would worship praise.
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He would pray. He would use the time like we
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would dream to have time to, to be able to pray like he did, you
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know, to have that that level of time in our lives.
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He would do these things, and because his heart was so set
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before the Lord, the Lord had him already.
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Because he was in times of waiting, he could hear the the
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voice of the Holy Spirit. His world wasn't so loud.
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His focus was so determined upon the Lord that the Lord was
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easily able to train him in a rock and a little piece of
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leather against a boring tree or a boring Bush or trying to hit.
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You know, I remember when I was young, you can't do this.
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So, so please don't try this at home.
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But we had an air rifle. Does anyone remember having air
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rifles? Yep.
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And I used to sit in the back patio shooting flies.
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And I think now I reflect now and I realize I'm a lot like
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King David. I can see it so clear.
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Yep, still there. And David was practicing on
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flies. He was practicing on hitting,
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you know, leaves and trees from and then practicing on how far
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could he hit the same thing and distance.
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And then if I was really close, what's the effects?
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David, God trained him out in the wilderness for the moment in
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history that would be written down of victory that would lead
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a whole nation into victory towards the King of Kings and
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the Lord of Lords. Isn't it amazing that your
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desert season is what's called to set you up for one of the
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greatest recorded moments in all of history?
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What's an example? Well, in my life, it might be
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the greatest recorded thing that could possibly ever happen with
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my life. For all of history to know and
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for it to be recorded forever and ever and ever would be to
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lead someone to Jesus Christ. And if you're sitting here
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today, would you allow God train you and your life?
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Maybe it's through boldness, maybe through your sickness,
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maybe through your poverty, maybe through your lack of this
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or lack of that or comparisons or whatever it is for you the
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the job you have right now. Rather than looking with their
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natural eyes, why don't you say, God, you have me here.
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What's the purpose? Show me Holy Spirit, because
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through the that understanding, your greatest days are yet ahead
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of you. Amen.
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You believe that today? So David was saying to his
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brother, what is wrong with you? You were worried about a few
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sheep, which he knew they weren't.
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They were just mocking him over the enemy, mocking our gods.
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Do you feel like that in today's world?
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I do, yeah. I'm not a social media person,
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but I am a YouTube, a visual YouTube.
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Don't create content. I'm not a content maker.
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Got no idea what I'm talking about.
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Just know the app YouTube. But I'll watch it and I'm seeing
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too much mockery of my God and I'm not OK with it.
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I'm not OK with it. But what does it do?
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It doesn't drive me onto social media to tell everyone they're
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wrong. It drives me to prayer and to
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witness, to prayer and to witness.
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Let me tell you, church, the end days aren't a long way off.
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They're closer than what they've ever been, which completely
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makes sense. It's always closer.
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But the end days, I believe, are literally around the corner.
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Let's not #1 be called off guard.
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Let's read the Word of God. Read the Ezekiel, read
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Revelations. OK, and let's let's know the
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word of God. But more than anything else,
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let's make sure we have boldness inside of us that we are
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prepared to look to be embarrassed for the the sake of
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the gospel. And let's make sure we are
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always inviting to church because this is where hope is
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found. Let's make sure that we're
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always witnessing to our neighbors, our friends, our
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whoever. If they're living, they're
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beating their hearts, beating either practice of them on them
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because they're a lizard or witness to them because they're
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a human being. But if there is blood pumping in
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their veins, we need to forget the gospel of Jesus Christ out
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there. He literally is the only answer.
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And our world needs Jesus now more than ever before.
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Your neighbor, your needs to know about Jesus and if they're
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your neighbor or your friends, you are the catalyst that God
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wants to use to bring Jesus to them.
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Amen. And so with this understanding,
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we get this sense or we get this prayer of God.
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God, would you instill a new level of boldness?
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This is predetermining the outcome.
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Would you instill a a level of boldness?
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I've never walked in. And then we make partnership
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with God. We don't just wait there and
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say, God give me this boldness and when I my muscles pop out,
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then I'll go and do it. OK.
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You don't know you've got boldness until you find yourself
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in that situation that you need boldness in.
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Because if you had pre boldness, pre muscle, so to speak, then
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it's in your own strengths. But God doesn't want us to
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operate in our strength. He wants us to operate in His
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strength. And why is that?
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Because He has the strength to overcome darkness and
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principalities and powers, and we do not Amen.
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And so when we lean into God more, what happens is He
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empowers you with His Spirit, the understanding of His Spirit,
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and then the outworking of the power and the wonder of His
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Spirit. And then you see boldness
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manifested. You see gladness and joy
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manifested, and you see the gospel manifested, and you will
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reap a harvest. Amen.
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The Bible says we don't pray for the harvest, we pray for the
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labourers. Why?
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Because the harvest is ready, man.
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If this is true, if this is true, our job is so easy and
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there literally is no reason for this church to not be
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overflowing with people next Sunday.
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If we could just, I just want to pause on a moment because this
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is truth. This is reality.
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If the harvest truly is plentiful, they just need to
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hear. They need a witness.
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What this means is if you and I all went out this week and said
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God. I'm not trying to win my whole
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community, I'm trying to win one person.
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And if the harvest is ripe, I don't have to look far.
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One person this week, this building overflows next Sunday.
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One person the following week. We are into multiple services.
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The following Sunday, one person for everyone, then the week
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after that. In three weeks, I don't know
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what's going to happen. I just think it'll be like, I
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don't have leadership yet for that.
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Let's work it out when the problem comes.
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But I think it's a Monday night service.
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I think it's, I think we're looking at revival where people
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just want God more than anything else.
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Let me tell you, if we all did that, if actually, you know
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what, if just this church did it, every church will get filled
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by the Christmas time, if just we did it.
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But I know we're in a great community of churches who think
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the same, who have the same mind as this.
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You know how revival's going to happen.
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You know, I believe that the Holy Spirit will move and just
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do His thing. But I have this real just sense
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through the Word of God that He always wants to do things in
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unity with you and I. I think what really happens out
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of all of this, if the Holy Spirit moves our hearts and we
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go out and do the book of Matthew, the Great Commission,
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go into all the world and share the gospel, share the good news.
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And when that happens, the income, the increase just goes
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crazy. But then when that happens, the
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miracles go to another level because those in need have an
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open heart to receive. Amen.
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Does that make sense? So we must do something.
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Our future is at stake. Is there no determination inside
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of us? I know today that there is in
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this church. These words are just as true
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today. If we don't declare holy values,
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if we don't get involved in the mission, if we don't do
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something as the church, what we believe in and what we stand for
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won't be reinstated through society.
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Let me say that again. What you and I believe in and
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what we stand for won't be reinstated through society if we
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don't give a voice and then the action to it.
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A truth is, evil prevails when good people do nothing.
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However, when we have determined to never stop pushing forward,
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to see revival in the physical and in the spiritual, to grow
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our capacity to be used by God more than ever before, to pray
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until there is an outcome. And we don't stop praying until
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we see the outcome. We are no longer pushed around
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by the giants of this world, the gossip, the pressures, the false
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teachings, the self doubt, the insecurities, the deniers of the
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Christian faith. Because I have determines,
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Church, would you say out loud this morning I have determines.
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Could we say out loud with a bit of fire in our belly?
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Is that all right? I have determined.
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You know what? I love you guys.
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You're great. Feel like I should be in youth
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right now. Can you believe 133 were here at
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you on Friday night? And what's greater than that?
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We had 7 salvations on Friday night.
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You know what our youth have determined, haven't they?
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They're unashamed right now. They're just like going crazy.
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And you know what I believe I'm just saying it out.
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This Graham theology is Graham theology.
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All right, I'll talk to the youth because they accept Graham
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theology really easy. Graham theology is this the
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revival that user allowed the predetermination to just, it's
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not going to stop this time. It's just going to continue and
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continue and roll and roll and roll until our Messiah comes
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back. We cannot afford to not be
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involved. We can't afford this.
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Life is too precious. In fact, your life is so
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precious, it's too precious to not be involved in the greatest
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mission that humanity has ever known.
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This generation and the generation to come are counting
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on us to make a stand and to have a resolve.
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Let me tell you, more than standing, we need to have a
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resolve. A resolve means unwavering.
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A resolve means an assurance that our God is for us.
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So who can be against us? A resolve means that when you
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speak, it will come to place. Why?
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Because you're not speaking idle words.
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You're speaking the word of God. The words of hope, the words of
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faith, the words of breakthrough are overflowing in who you are.
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And so because of this, gossip has no way in your life any
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longer. When you feel yourself, when you
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feel your temple, the temple of the Holy Spirit we are when you
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feel this person up with the promises and the sense of
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revival and the hunger for God and the the desire to see
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people, human beings, individuals come to know Jesus.
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What you will come to realise is gossip loses its place.
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Words of of of damnation lose their place.
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Words that are that form curses, you lose their place.
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Words over people that brings people down.
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Like the Aussie culture loses its place because it's all about
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seeing breakthrough for people. It's all about seeing Jesus for
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people. So we can't afford to not be
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involved. This is what faith, love, hope
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is about for us as a church. It's about for for us as a
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church, uniting as the Church of God.
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And we, we unite through our prayers.
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We unite through our praising the things that God has done,
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but we also unite through our finances.
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Why? Because my life has one purpose.
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It's to see the Church of God grow with new souls, with new
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Christians, with new believers. Listen, listen, I don't care too
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much about the sound desk and the screen.
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That seems to just do its thing. We've tried everything, but it
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just doesn't seem to work. But we do spend finance on that.
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Let me tell you why. This is the House of the Lord.
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You will not come into the House of God and see it neglected,
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uncared for, unloved. When people come to the House of
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God, they see a difference. They should see a difference.
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And right now our shopping centers look better than our
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houses. But that's going to change.
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It's changing, I should say, not because we want glamour and
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performance and lighting and all of that.
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It's not about that. It's literally about this is the
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House of the Lord. This is God's representation on
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planet earth. Not the building, but the people
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who come to it. And, and I don't know about you,
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where do we all go on the hottest day in summer shopping
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centres? Why?
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Because they're icons. Where should we all go on the
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hottest day of the church? Into the House of God to thank
28:41
Him for the air con. You know what I mean?
28:47
My point is, is some of these natural things are natural
28:51
things, but you are human and spiritual, OK?
28:56
And so we do this, but it's not our primary thing.
29:02
Our primary thing is seeing people come to Jesus and
29:06
whatever that takes. And I've come to realize
29:09
everything that takes almost requires finance.
29:13
And we can go, Well, sharing the gospel doesn't require finance,
29:16
No, But you can't walk the streets because you've got to go
29:19
to work. So someone needs to be on staff
29:22
to do that. Does that make sense?
29:24
You, you can't drive somewhere if you don't have a car.
29:27
Well, either can the church. So we need a car.
29:29
We can't deliver food if we don't have trucks.
29:32
So we need trucks to deliver food.
29:35
Does that make sense? They're not cheap.
29:36
They're very expensive. Then there's insurances, this
29:39
and that and everything else. And so just like you running
29:43
your house, the House of God also has to run.
29:46
But we can't afford as the Saints to not be part of this
29:51
great mission. Why?
29:53
This is the greatest mission earth has ever known.
29:56
Amen. So the goal of the Christian,
29:59
the believer, the church, is not just to get to heaven, but to
30:03
help bring heaven to earth. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be
30:07
done on earth as it is in heaven.
30:10
The more of heaven we bring to earth, we know this from past
30:13
the mark, the more of earth we will see go to heaven.
30:17
Let me say it again. The more of heaven we bring to
30:20
earth, not the more of your strategy, not the more money,
30:25
not the better buildings, not the perfect circumstance.
30:32
Not when my husband sorts this out because you'll be waiting a
30:36
long time. It's not when my school's school
30:44
fees are finally paid off, then I'll be part of it.
30:50
It's when I get a heart and a revelation that this is true.
31:01
What do I mean by that? Because I know everyone here
31:03
today believes in the Bible. When you give, the windows of
31:09
heaven will open. You'll be blessed, pressed down,
31:13
shaking together, and running over.
31:16
When we believe that, we have no problem giving into what we
31:21
believe is the best mission planet Earth has ever known.
31:25
When we believe that, and I know that those words right there are
31:31
very strong, because the opposite would be me suggesting
31:37
people don't believe that. But one of the greatest things
31:43
that ever got said to me, it was I won't say the situation, but
31:50
the words that were said to me is because Gray, you don't
31:55
believe. And I was pretty offended.
31:58
I was a 30 year old Christian. Tell me I don't believe.
32:03
Who are you? You know my dad.
32:04
My dad can speak into my life, but not you.
32:09
But I pondered on those words for a couple of years and
32:15
searched my heart took me a long time and I searched and I went.
32:19
You know what? Deep down I don't.
32:25
And when I got that revelation, it wasn't like, oh, you're a bad
32:31
boy. It was Jesus expanding my
32:34
capacity of understanding and faith, expanding my faith.
32:39
This is good stuff. I love it, I welcome it.
32:42
And so while he was doing this in my life and I could identify,
32:48
I actually don't. How do you know if you don't?
32:54
You know, if you don't, if you've heard the truth and you
32:57
don't do, the only reason why we don't do is because we don't.
33:07
If you if you go to Townsville, and I know no one's probably
33:12
going to do that. So let me just tell you the
33:14
story. When you go to Townsville.
33:17
No, no. OK, Let me just, if a person was
33:20
to ever go to Townsville and endure the steam, I mean the
33:26
weather, you just drive about 40 minutes north and there's a
33:32
place called Frosty Mango. All right now they're they're
33:36
actually mounted mangoes. They're not frosted.
33:39
Nothing frost in Townsville. And you only go to Frosty Mango
33:47
for a 40 minute drive in the middle of nowhere, a random shop
33:52
on a highway, because when you get there you know the ice cream
33:57
is worth the drive. And somehow this equals faith.
34:05
I don't know where I'm going with this, but I do because I
34:16
know I do that. I put the family in that I
34:21
don't, but I would if I lived in towns, which I won't.
34:29
OK, you go to Dreamworld and you empty your bank account to do
34:35
that for fuel, lunch tickets, so on so forth.
34:41
It just goes on and on, right? Photos.
34:44
And so you empty your bank account because you know 100%,
34:51
you know that this is a good day.
34:56
It will form memories that your children will have forever.
35:00
It'll it'll do something for you.
35:03
I don't know what that something is, but it will do something for
35:06
you and your family that is good.
35:08
You know when you get there, that ride is worth it because
35:14
it's going to be so much fun. Now that's simple.
35:20
But when it comes to the things of God, we do because we know
35:25
when we do, it happens. We don't do because we don't
35:30
believe when we do, it will happen.
35:34
But if the Bible is the word of God, which it is today church,
35:39
which means it's living, it never returns void, which means
35:44
it never returns unanswered. Let me let me say it like this.
35:48
I'm starting to run out of time and I've only done my first
35:50
paragraph but we'll move on. But let me say it like this,
35:55
just because Jesus doesn't heal you when I pray for you or or I
35:59
lead a praise for you, it doesn't mean Jesus isn't a
36:03
healer. He is the healer and you can
36:07
place your 100% faith in that 100%.
36:12
And if you have 100% faith in that, you'll have no problems
36:16
praying for someone for healing. And it's the same when it comes
36:21
to say, finances. For instance, you might say
36:24
pastor, great, I've tried the tithing thing.
36:27
No, you haven't. You've given 10%, but you
36:33
haven't tried the tithing thing, because the tithing thing is a
36:37
faith step, not an aimless action.
36:44
We can all give money. Rich people give a lot, a lot of
36:47
money. I give a lot, a lot of money.
36:50
You see what I just did? I give.
36:54
I give money, but it's not my tithe.
37:00
Sometimes I give more than 10% of my wage to something, but
37:07
it's not my tithe. Although the word tide means
37:11
10%, it's not about 10%. It's about faith.
37:17
And when you have faith in what you give, you will reap the
37:21
rewards. The windows.
37:23
This is why we say faith is the currency of heaven.
37:26
It's because when you exercise faith in your giving, God goes,
37:31
whoa, did you see that? And he opens up the window to
37:36
have a look. And when he does that, guess
37:39
what happens? He flows out blessing, favour,
37:43
abundance, because it's all who he is.
37:46
Does this make sense? So our Christian walk, whether
37:50
it's prayer, you can pray and you may as well just go to
37:54
McDonald's with your friends. Honest on the is this OK?
37:58
Is this real? The real Christianity?
37:59
Is this alright in this church? It's not OK.
38:02
So I'll just move on. So when you pray, you pray with
38:09
faith, otherwise don't expect a result.
38:14
That's called religion. This is the difference between
38:18
Christianity and religion. Is religions about principles,
38:24
laws and outcomes. Christianity is about faith.
38:31
Abraham, the forefather of our faith.
38:37
Everything in the Bible is about faith and you will never have
38:41
faith until you know Jesus, never have this sort of faith.
38:47
I should say Christian biblical faith without Jesus, and then to
38:53
the depth of your revelation of who he is will be the depth of
38:58
the level of your faith. That was good, what I just said.
39:02
The depth of the revelation you have of Jesus will be the depth
39:07
of the revelation of your faith. Let me say that once more.
39:11
This is a this is gold. I didn't know where this come
39:14
from, but this, this, Yeah. Holy Spirit, let's just go with
39:17
that. The depth of the revelation you
39:20
have of your Savior is the depth of the revelation of your faith.
39:29
If you need more faith, you can ask God for it.
39:32
Did you know that this morning you can actually ask God for
39:36
faith? He won't give you a rock.
39:39
He will give you faith. He will give you faith.
39:44
Why will He give you faith? Because it's the currency on
39:47
heaven. Let it be done on earth.
39:51
As to your faith, let it be done on earth as it is in heaven.
39:57
What's the connector? Anyone got an idea?
40:01
Faith. Let it be done on earth.
40:05
What's the connector when you're praying for someone?
40:07
Faith. It doesn't mean they didn't get
40:11
healed because of a lack of faith that it doesn't work like
40:16
that. It means we pray for them to get
40:18
healed because of an abundance of faith.
40:21
What our Savior does with our Savior is up to our Savior.
40:25
But what we do in relationship with our Savior requires faith.
40:31
Amen. I've got a real cool story, so I
40:34
want to say it, and then we'll finish up.
40:37
When I was young, my brother had a predetermined thing plan for a
40:51
great outcome. This is my brother Stephen, by
40:54
the way. I just want everyone to know who
40:56
it was. You can put it on social media.
40:59
You got permission. My brother Stephen had a
41:03
predetermined outcome of a good time.
41:08
And so we jumped on our skateboard.
41:10
Do you remember those plastic, real skinny skateboards from the
41:13
80s? Nineties?
41:15
Yeah. Lexi boards and flexi boards.
41:19
Is that it? Flexi boards.
41:21
And so we're on our flexi boards and I'm going up and down our
41:27
driveway. And because he was
41:30
predetermined, he had something that I didn't have.
41:34
It was a rubber band, and it was those timber skewers that Mom
41:38
uses for cooking. You know what I'm talking about.
41:41
The sharp ones, they're pretty sharp, aren't they?
41:45
You need to know how sharp they are.
41:47
They're really sharp. So he was predetermined that
41:51
this is going to be the greatest day of his life.
41:53
And so here we are on skateboards.
41:55
I don't know, this sounds so boring, but it was fun back then
41:58
when you had kids, right? He's at that end of the driveway
42:01
about this end, and we're skating.
42:04
That's what you do on a straight driveway.
42:06
And so that was the extent of our excitement.
42:09
Anyway, he's down there, I'm down here, and we're just
42:12
skating past each other like we've done for 10 times.
42:15
He pulls out a rubber band in the skewer because he had it all
42:20
planned, and he fires it at me, and guess where it's stuck out
42:26
of my head. Yeah, predetermined.
42:32
You know what God is after such commitment.
42:43
And then I was in my notes. I've got like David anyway, I've
42:50
just got to skip down to the end.
42:52
I told you I've got a lot like I'm still going.
42:54
Didn't even get my opening. Oh, there we go.
42:56
All right. I wonder if we are real willing
43:06
to bring this into our lives such a predetermined this is
43:14
what the rest of my life is going to look like now.
43:17
You might not be able to, to fulfil that bill right yet.
43:22
OK, But it's the journey of life when you have a predetermined,
43:27
you know what? I am going to be that person.
43:32
Oh, man, I'm so far away from that.
43:33
It's it's, but that's the person I want to be for the rest of I
43:37
want to be a witness, Sir. I want to be unashamed of the
43:40
gospel. But the reality is, is I am
43:42
embarrassed. That's the that's OK.
43:45
But let's predetermine who we're going to be.
43:48
Let me tell you, you're already doing it, but I'm just trying to
43:52
put purpose to it today. The person you are today is
43:56
because of all the decisions you've made in your past, and
44:00
most of them were probably not predetermined.
44:04
How do we change where we will be tomorrow and in five years
44:08
and in 10 years, we predetermined that, and then we
44:13
bring it to prayer and submission before God.
44:16
Mel and I knew that one day we wanted to be in ministry in one
44:20
format or another. So I remember years and years
44:24
ago, like probably 20 something years ago, 27 years ago, we
44:29
always found ourselves not only in church, in every service.
44:34
Why? Because that's where ministers
44:36
are. Why?
44:37
Because that's where the presence of God is.
44:39
Why? Because that's where I get
44:41
trained and equipped, not just by people, but by God himself in
44:45
His presence. And then we always found
44:48
ourselves submitted to leadership.
44:52
Listen, keywords submitted to leadership not trying to tell
44:56
them how they should leave for our generation or how old they
44:59
are, you know how out of date they are or or you know the
45:04
latest craze we were submitted to.
45:06
In other words, whatever they asked, we just did it.
45:11
And we always found ourselves in these situations.
45:14
Because of this, we always found ourselves in conversations with
45:19
people we should never have been part of.
45:22
It was way beyond our abilities or even understanding, but we
45:27
seem to find ourselves there. We'd hop in the car and go, what
45:31
on earth was that? Whoa, this world's so much
45:34
bigger, you know what I mean? And then we always just because
45:38
of this submission and, and saying, God, we, we want this
45:43
world that you have for us. We found ourselves playing as
45:47
the head team at international conferences and I remember band
45:53
directing the team, the music team and going.
45:57
But when I go home, I'm just a assistant in a a church.
46:02
But we found ourselves because God was going well, you partner
46:07
with me. I am going to partner back with
46:10
you. And sometimes all he wants is
46:13
for us to predetermine in our lives.
46:16
God, I'm not yet. God, my finances aren't yet at
46:23
that level that you're placing on my heart to give.
46:27
In fact, this will always be the case in Christianity.
46:33
If you want more for your life, I need to say that again, and
46:36
then we're going to close. It's always the case, always
46:45
that you feel not you are, that you feel less equipped, less
46:52
financial, less whatever for what God's calling you into.
46:59
It's always the case. I've never seen or been heard a
47:06
testimony where it's otherwise. I've never experienced it
47:09
otherwise. Always feel less equipped.
47:14
Finances are always less equipped.
47:17
My knowledge is always less equipped to where I know God's
47:22
taking. My leadership ability is always
47:25
less equipped to where I know we're already going.
47:30
My faith is always less to where I know that what God has shown
47:35
me in my spirit. Sometimes I go, God, I don't
47:38
have the faith, but you do. So I pray for it.
47:44
I ask for it. Let me tell you if God placed on
47:48
your heart and amount for faith, love, hope this year and you
47:52
said no to that, I would urge you, urge you, Oh man, I wish I
47:57
got to the rest of my message. I need to do a point B of
48:00
Timothy and he urged his church. He didn't suggest he didn't.
48:07
He didn't say this is a good idea for your soul.
48:10
He didn't say good Christianity acts like that.
48:12
He urged his church to give money.
48:18
He urged them to. You urge someone to when you
48:22
understand there is a breakthrough for that person on
48:28
the other side. That's why you urge.
48:32
I've lived it. I've experienced it.
48:35
I might not be a millionaire, but that's not what you, that's
48:39
not what you see as the goal. I don't view money as my goal.
48:44
I view faith as my goal and go. God has grown my faith through
48:50
money. He's growing my faith through
48:52
family lack. He's growing my faith when I
48:55
lost my houses. He's growing my faith through
48:59
the the trials. When I had $1.00 to buy a
49:02
chicken wing from Woolworths for for lunch, he was stretching my
49:06
faith. Imagine being a pastor in a
49:08
church and you preach every week about giving and faith and you
49:13
have $1.00 yourself for lunch. That was me.
49:18
But success wasn't what I had. Success was the level of faith I
49:23
had. Because with faith as a mustard
49:27
seed, you can move. Come on church, faith as a
49:31
mustard seed you can move mountains.
49:35
You can do anything with faith, but you can't with money.
49:39
Because what man gives, man takes away.
49:41
What God gives, God sustains. Does that make sense?
49:46
And so this morning, Church, I know we're talking heavily about
49:50
money and faith of hope and all that, but money is the currency
49:57
of earth. And if you're bound by the
49:59
currency, you're bound by Earth. Told you about our soundness.
50:05
That's good, good timing. And so faith is the currency of
50:17
let it be done on earth as it is in heaven.
50:22
Faith. Would you predetermine that if
50:27
you got doubts, fears, if your family's hungry, maybe your
50:32
family's a bit torn in directions, not following Jesus,
50:36
You don't win these battles by anything but faith in your Lord
50:42
and Savior. And today maybe you've been
50:46
living this life and life itself is all consuming.
50:53
Maybe you've been living without Jesus.
50:59
There's a key to faith I didn't mention but I reverted on a bit
51:02
earlier in my message is that faith is a moral faith.
51:13
It is not actually a Christian term.
51:18
Faith is faith, and reason why I say it like that is people.
51:26
I'm just going to give you one example for time.
51:31
If you sow negative words all the time, you'll be saturated
51:35
with negative people and you find yourself in a loop you can
51:39
never get rid of. Why?
51:42
Because you let your faith come out and you sowed seeds and you
51:46
reap the harvest. Does that make sense?
51:52
Into the Kingdom of God, faith is the same, and you might be
51:57
living a life here today where you look at your life without
52:01
Jesus part of it. And the reality is, as much as
52:08
its circumstances, sometimes history, what's happened to your
52:13
life? That's one part, but the other
52:19
part is the acceptance of that. But in Jesus we have a new way.
52:28
You know, in Christianity we call it being born again.
52:32
In other words, it's taking your faith from darkness, the enemy's
52:39
camp, living for self and placement in Jesus and being
52:47
born again, becoming a new creation, being filled with
52:51
life, with light, with hope, with purpose.
52:56
No longer just trying to live life, but trying to now live the
53:01
best you can towards this life.