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Transcript

Finding Your True Purpose · Faith at Work

• 0:00
  We're going to start with a little throwback for me to junior
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  high school.
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  SPEAKER_00: I was actually in high school, 1981.
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  SPEAKER_00: And like most of us in high school, I was TBD.
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  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't cool.
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  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't funny.
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  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't snack.
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  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't part of a smart team.
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  SPEAKER_00: I was definitely not athletic.
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  SPEAKER_00: And if we're being real, I was pretty invisible.
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  My only flex that I had was that I was pretty good at D&D,
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  but please do not judge about that.
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  SPEAKER_00: But then, one day, I did something wild.
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  SPEAKER_00: I auditioned for the lead in West Side Story, okay?
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  SPEAKER_00: And my parents were like, they gave me this like, are you sure look?
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  SPEAKER_00: Because I hadn't touched choir, I hadn't touched drama club.
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  SPEAKER_00: But guess what?
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  SPEAKER_00: I got the lead part in that.
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  SPEAKER_00: And opening night, I killed it.
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  SPEAKER_00: And suddenly, people were noticing me.
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  SPEAKER_00: It was a little weird.
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  SPEAKER_00: And frankly, for me, it felt a little bit sus.
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  SPEAKER_00: Folks who never looked at me suddenly wanted to be my friend.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I had a decision to make.
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  SPEAKER_00: ride the popularity wave,
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  SPEAKER_00: conform and go full DeLulu,
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  SPEAKER_00: or stay loyal to my fan,
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  SPEAKER_00: the ones who had been real with me from the start.
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  SPEAKER_00: In GL, I waffled.
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  But eventually,
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  I stuck with my fam who were real with me from the beginning.
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  SPEAKER_00: But here's where I experienced my personal glow up.
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  SPEAKER_00: I found a gift.
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  A gift of taking the words on a page that somebody else wrote
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  and bringing them to
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  SPEAKER_00: life on the stage,
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  SPEAKER_00: whether that was through acting or singing.
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  SPEAKER_00: That was it.
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  SPEAKER_00: That gift gave me direction,
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  SPEAKER_00: it gave me purpose,
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  SPEAKER_00: and it helped me find my identity in what was the chaos of high school.
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  SPEAKER_00: And now,
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  SPEAKER_00: years later,
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  SPEAKER_00: I am still using that gift,
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  SPEAKER_00: only now I'm bringing the words of a different kind of script to life.
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  SPEAKER_00: Today's words were written 2000 years ago by a guy named Paul.
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  SPEAKER_00: Some days, if I'm honest, I'm bringing words to life from 3000 years ago.
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  SPEAKER_00: And though these words today are 2,000 years old,
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  SPEAKER_00: the words from Romans here get hard,
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  SPEAKER_00: especially for y'all that are going into a next season of life,
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  SPEAKER_00: to college or trade school or the workforce or just into the unknown.
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  SPEAKER_00: Paul says in this scripture,
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  SPEAKER_00: do not conform to this age,
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  SPEAKER_00: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
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  SPEAKER_00: Translation, cancel culture.
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  SPEAKER_00: Don't let the old heads, the algorithms, tell you who you are.
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  SPEAKER_00: Don't shape yourself into mainstream expectations.
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  SPEAKER_00: Be you.
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  SPEAKER_00: Do you, but be the real you, the one that God created you to be.
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  SPEAKER_00: Glow up.
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  SPEAKER_00: Paul wasn't talking about TikTok trends or sneaker culture.
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  SPEAKER_00: And truth be told, many of those can be really, really basic.
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  SPEAKER_00: He was talking about Rome.
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  SPEAKER_00: He was talking about the Roman Empire that was founded on power worship,
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  SPEAKER_00: on status gains and fake friendships,
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  SPEAKER_00: wealth flexes and clout chasing,
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  SPEAKER_00: violence and revenge as normal.
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  SPEAKER_00: objectification and exploitation of people,
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  SPEAKER_00: pride,
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  SPEAKER_00: comparison,
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  SPEAKER_00: and always climbing the social ladder.
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  SPEAKER_00: Does this sound familiar?
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  SPEAKER_00: Sure it does, because that age didn't end.
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  SPEAKER_00: It didn't finish with Rome.
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  It's still here,
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  just with Wi-Fi and better filters,
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  because the human condition hasn't changed.
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  In verse 4 through 8,
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  which the group chose,
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  Paul drops the ultimate group project metaphor.
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  SPEAKER_00: We are not part of that body.
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  SPEAKER_00: We are part of a new body, the body of Christ.
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  SPEAKER_00: And we've all got different gifts.
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  SPEAKER_00: And we all need to be the part of the body that the body needs.
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  SPEAKER_00: And he gives us this list.
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  And I want to try to translate that a little bit into Gen Z and
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  Gen Alpha language.
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  SPEAKER_00: He says, prophesy.
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  SPEAKER_00: In other words, you speak the truth even when it's hard.
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  SPEAKER_00: No cap.
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  SPEAKER_00: Serving, you show up and do the work.
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  SPEAKER_00: MVP energy.
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  SPEAKER_00: Teaching, you explain things so that people actually get it.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's a W.
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  SPEAKER_00: Encouraging.
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  SPEAKER_00: You send the you got it text when shumble and spiraling.
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  SPEAKER_00: Hype squad.
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  SPEAKER_00: Giving.
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  SPEAKER_00: You share what you've got.
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  SPEAKER_00: No flex, just love.
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  SPEAKER_00: Leading.
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  SPEAKER_00: You don't ghost responsibility.
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  SPEAKER_00: You lead with heart.
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  SPEAKER_00: And showing mercy, you care deep.
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  SPEAKER_00: And you show up when everybody else taps out.
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  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
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  SPEAKER_00: Paul's saying, God gave you something on purpose.
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  Please don't waste it trying to be what the system or the old
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  heads or the
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  SPEAKER_00: algorithm on their mainstream tell you to be.
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  SPEAKER_00: Instead,
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  step up and go extra for your bro and your sis who needs your
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  gift to help them
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  SPEAKER_00: make them 100.
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  SPEAKER_00: Glow up so that the church can glow up as well.
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  Grads,
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  you're stepping into a world that will scream to you,
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  chase money.
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  SPEAKER_00: Go viral.
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  SPEAKER_00: Curate your life so that it fits into the feed.
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  SPEAKER_00: And if you're not winning, well, you're just irrelevant.
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  SPEAKER_00: But Paul and Jesus are saying, nah, don't conform.
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  SPEAKER_00: Be transformed.
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  SPEAKER_00: Glow down.
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  SPEAKER_00: Don't live to impress, live to impact.
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  Now,
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  let me say something that might be big yikes,
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  but it is high key necessary.
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  SPEAKER_00: I had to study through all this.
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  SPEAKER_00: Some of you are called to ministry.
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  SPEAKER_00: Maybe all of you.
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  SPEAKER_00: For real, IRL.
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  SPEAKER_00: Not as a side hustle.
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  SPEAKER_00: Not as a fallback.
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  SPEAKER_00: As a calling.
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  SPEAKER_00: As a vocation.
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  SPEAKER_00: The Church of the Brethren needs pastors.
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  SPEAKER_00: We need youth leaders.
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  SPEAKER_00: We need creative voices and servant-hearted souls who get it.
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  SPEAKER_00: People who speak Gen Z fluently.
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  SPEAKER_00: unlike me, who has got a boomer energy vibe.
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  SPEAKER_00: More than I like to admit, but I am not salty.
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  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
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  SPEAKER_00: It is what it is.
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  SPEAKER_00: But we need young people,
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  SPEAKER_00: people like you,
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  SPEAKER_00: who are willing to stand for justice and stand for Jesus.
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  SPEAKER_00: who know how to build real community,
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  SPEAKER_00: not just an online following,
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  SPEAKER_00: and aren't afraid to bring a fresh approach to the church.
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  SPEAKER_00: We need people like you to lead the church forward,
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  SPEAKER_00: not with just smoke machines and hype alone,
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  SPEAKER_00: but with authenticity,
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  SPEAKER_00: with love,
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  SPEAKER_00: and with purpose.
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  SPEAKER_00: So now what?
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  SPEAKER_00: Well, grads, discover your gift.
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  SPEAKER_00: Scott, what is my role in this body?
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  SPEAKER_00: Don't conform to the lies, to the pressure, to the filters.
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  SPEAKER_00: Renew your mind in Christ.
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  SPEAKER_00: Write your own algorithms.
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  SPEAKER_00: Be transformed and help transform the world to glow up.
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  SPEAKER_00: Use your gift in your field, your campus, your job, and the church.
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  SPEAKER_00: And please, please, please consider ministry as a vocation.
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  SPEAKER_00: Don't sleep on the idea.
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  God might be calling you to lead,
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  to preach,
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  to serve,
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  to create in ways that change lives.
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  SPEAKER_00: You do not need to be the goat at everything.
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  SPEAKER_00: You just need to know your gift and use it.
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  SPEAKER_00: And use it for the one who gave it to you.
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  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, do you...
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  SPEAKER_00: but make sure it's the you that God made you to be.
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  SPEAKER_00: Amen.