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Max Lucado – Who Do You Say Jesus Is? · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

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  Speaker 1: Hey everybody, Max Locato here from my study in San Antonio, Texas.
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  Speaker 1: I hope you're having a great, great day wherever you are.
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  Speaker 1: It's February 13th and tomorrow in the United States is
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  Speaker 1: Valentine's Day. I want to show you what I've already done.
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  Speaker 1: Please don't tell D-Lon. I've already gone and got her flowers.
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  Speaker 1: Are you not impressed with me? I'm ahead of the game,
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  Speaker 1: and it's not even Valentine's Day. I loved Valentine's Day
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  Speaker 1: when I was at the grocery store. I mean, that's
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  Speaker 1: where I got the flowers. I mean, there's guys everywhere,
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  Speaker 1: and I can't imagine what it's going to be like
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  Speaker 1: tomorrow morning. These guys with their eyes wide looking around.
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  Speaker 1: They don't know how to get through a grocery store.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know how to get through a grocery store,
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  Speaker 1: but everybody was flocking to the flower section. because this
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  Speaker 1: is the time of the year that we think about
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  Speaker 1: the people that we love and give them flowers. Now,
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  Speaker 1: can I tell you another reason that Valentine's Day means
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  Speaker 1: a lot to me? When I was 10 years old
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  Speaker 1: on Valentine's Day, 1965, yeah, I'm 65. When I was
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  Speaker 1: 10 years old on Valentine's Day, I was baptized. I
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  Speaker 1: celebrated my faith in Christ. I had actually given my
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  Speaker 1: heart to Christ the Wednesday night before in a conversation
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  Speaker 1: with my father, sitting on the side of his bed.
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  Speaker 1: And I told him, I want to go to heaven.
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  Speaker 1: That's basically what I said to him. And he said, well,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus can take care of that for you. Loose translation
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  Speaker 1: of what he said. And so he arranged for the
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  Speaker 1: next Sunday for me to be baptized. And I can
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  Speaker 1: recall stepping out after the preacher's sermon into the aisle
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  Speaker 1: and walking up to the front. And the preacher baptized me.
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  Speaker 1: 55 years ago tomorrow. Can I say something? I have
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  Speaker 1: never regretted that decision. Never. I've done a lot of
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  Speaker 1: things I regret. But I have never, never, never regretted
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  Speaker 1: saying yes to Jesus Christ. I love him. I love
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  Speaker 1: him with my whole heart. He's been so good to me.
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  Speaker 1: I've not been faithful to him. I've been hot and cold.
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  Speaker 1: I've been strong. I've been hypocritical. I've been faithful. I've
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  Speaker 1: been unfaithful. But there's not a day in these last
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  Speaker 1: 55 years that His grace hasn't been sufficient for my sin,
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  Speaker 1: that His faith hasn't been sufficient for my fears, that
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  Speaker 1: His provision hasn't been sufficient for my needs. He's been
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  Speaker 1: good to me. And I love Him with my whole heart.
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  Speaker 1: And I believe more than any other time in my
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  Speaker 1: life We really need Jesus. I don't mean we need religion.
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  Speaker 1: And I know it sounds like that because for so
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  Speaker 1: many people, religion, Jesus comes wrapped in this layer and
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  Speaker 1: layer and layer of religion.
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  Speaker 2: And I don't mean we need top-down morality, holier-than-thou, ivory
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  Speaker 2: tower philosophizing.
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  Speaker 1: That doesn't get us very far. And maybe that's the
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  Speaker 1: experience you've had with Jesus. I think what we need, though,
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  Speaker 1: is an encounter with God on earth. God, who became
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  Speaker 1: a human being, walked on this earth to show us
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  Speaker 1: how God loves, who God loves, and what on earth
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  Speaker 1: God is up to. Who came to show us how
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  Speaker 1: much God loves us. Who came to show us how
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  Speaker 1: much God hates the devil. And came to show us
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  Speaker 1: how God can defeat and has defeated and will ultimately
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  Speaker 1: defeat the devil. And how God will bring into this
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  Speaker 1: new kingdom anybody who will turn their hearts toward him.
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  Speaker 1: I love talking about Jesus. I don't really like what
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  Speaker 1: people say about Jesus. And through my many years, I've
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  Speaker 1: had people say, well, I don't believe in Jesus. And
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  Speaker 1: when I ask them about the Jesus they don't believe in,
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  Speaker 1: I say usually, well, I don't believe in that Jesus either.
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  Speaker 1: I believe in a Jesus who loves every person who's
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  Speaker 1: ever lived. I believe in a Jesus who sovereignly protects
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  Speaker 1: and watches over his church. I believe in a Jesus
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  Speaker 1: who took every sin, every ever committed on himself and
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  Speaker 1: died on the cross for our sins. I believe in
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  Speaker 1: the Jesus who was placed cadaver cold, stiff in the
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  Speaker 1: grave of borrowed tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. And yet
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  Speaker 1: on that first Easter morning, he blinked his eyes and
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  Speaker 1: he stood up and he said to the devil, you
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  Speaker 1: mean that's your best punch? That's the Jesus I believe in.
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  Speaker 1: I believe in a Jesus who has circled and determined
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  Speaker 1: and has chosen a date that he's going to return
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  Speaker 1: and make sense out of all this thing we call life.
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  Speaker 1: That's the Jesus we need. And so I just say
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  Speaker 1: thank you, Jesus. Thank you for what you did for
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  Speaker 1: me 55 years ago tomorrow. Thank you that you've been
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  Speaker 1: faithful to me when I've been forgetful of you. Thank you.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you that I have absolute certainty That though there
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  Speaker 1: are many things in this life, I do not know
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  Speaker 1: there's one thing of which I have no question. And
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  Speaker 1: that is that God loves me. God's coming for me.
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  Speaker 1: And that God has prepared a place for me in
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  Speaker 1: the next life. And you can say the same, my friend.
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  Speaker 1: You can say the same. And if you can't, I
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  Speaker 1: hope you will. And if you can, I hope you'll
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  Speaker 1: say it again. I say that all by way of saying,
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  Speaker 1: let's start thinking about Jesus. Some of you really need
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  Speaker 1: to think about Jesus because your life is going pretty cruddy.
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  Speaker 1: It's been a hard stretch. And you're discouraged. Could I
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  Speaker 1: encourage you just to lift up your eyes and think
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  Speaker 1: about Jesus? All of us need to think about Jesus
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  Speaker 1: because this is a rough world. The coronavirus has us afraid.
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  Speaker 1: The political squabbling has us discouraged. Challenges in life. challenges
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  Speaker 1: around life, Jesus is the answer to this life. Now,
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  Speaker 1: if that comes across as religious and trite and like
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  Speaker 1: a bumper sticker, forgive me. But I would encourage you
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  Speaker 1: not to dismiss him. I would encourage you to think
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  Speaker 1: long and hard about the question that Jesus asked the
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  Speaker 1: disciples standing outside the city of Caesarea Philippi. He said,
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  Speaker 1: who do you say that I am? That's the greatest question.
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  Speaker 1: Who do you say that I am? Peter for all
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  Speaker 1: the times he stuck his foot in his mouth that
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  Speaker 1: time boy he opened his mouth and said the great
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  Speaker 1: thing that made the great confession he said I believe
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  Speaker 1: that you are the Christ the son of the living
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  Speaker 1: God I believe that too and I believe that if
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  Speaker 1: you believe in him life begins to their strength their
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  Speaker 1: stability he deposits himself within you in the form of
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  Speaker 1: of the Holy Spirit to give you power and strength.
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  Speaker 1: Here's an idea. It's an invitation, actually. Beginning on March
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  Speaker 1: the 2nd, I'm going to have an online Bible study.
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  Speaker 1: It's completely free. Beginning March the 2nd, once a week
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  Speaker 1: for six weeks, six-week online Bible study. It will lead
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  Speaker 1: right up into Easter, Palm Sunday and Easter. What a
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  Speaker 1: perfect way to lead in through the Lent season, right
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  Speaker 1: up to Good Friday and Easter, I'd love for you
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  Speaker 1: to be a part of this study. We are going
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  Speaker 1: to look at the life of Christ as based upon
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  Speaker 1: a new book that I have called Jesus. Now, my
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  Speaker 1: only hesitation in holding up this book is that somebody
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  Speaker 1: would say, oh, that's the reason he wants me to
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  Speaker 1: be in the online Bible study. He wants me to
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  Speaker 1: buy the book. You don't have to buy the book.
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  Speaker 1: You really don't. The Bible study is free. The videos
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  Speaker 1: are free. The curriculum, it's a simple curriculum, but the
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  Speaker 1: interactive tools are free. There's the opportunity to interact with
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  Speaker 1: people all over the world who are going to be
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  Speaker 1: thinking about Christ. Of course, I think the book would
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  Speaker 1: supplement your study. And you can pick it up online
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  Speaker 1: through any place that you buy a book. But whether
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  Speaker 1: or not you have the book, the online Bible study
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  Speaker 1: is available to you. All you got to do is
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  Speaker 1: sign up. All you got to do is say, okay,
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to take 15 minutes a week and I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to think about Jesus. Better said, 15 or 20
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  Speaker 1: minutes a day. What I'm hoping is that those 15
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  Speaker 1: minutes become hours. He wants to be your friend. You
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  Speaker 1: were never meant to walk through this life alone. And
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  Speaker 1: he will walk with you. I have placed the information
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  Speaker 1: on the Facebook page where you can get information and
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  Speaker 1: also register for the online Bible study. You know, we
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  Speaker 1: already have 20,000 people signed up for this. 20,000 people
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  Speaker 1: and we're still in February. I'm hoping we can get 100,000.
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  Speaker 1: I just think we need a fresh dose of Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: And that's all this is about. Each week, we'll look
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  Speaker 1: at a different characteristic or aspect of the personality of Christ.
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  Speaker 1: I'm opening up the book here to the table of
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  Speaker 1: contents because I forget. We'll look at Jesus, our Emmanuel.
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  Speaker 1: We'll look at Jesus, our friend. We'll look at Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: our teacher. We'll look at Jesus, the miracle worker. We'll
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  Speaker 1: look at Jesus, the Lamb of God. And oh, I
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  Speaker 1: can't wait until we discuss Jesus, the returning King. Well,
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  Speaker 1: we need some Jesus. We do. And I pray that
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  Speaker 1: you'll be open to either a first or fresh encounter
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  Speaker 1: with Christ. And get the word out, will you? To
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  Speaker 1: your family, to your friends. You know, you could turn
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  Speaker 1: this into a group discussion at work or in your
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  Speaker 1: dormitory or in your neighborhoods. You could get some friends
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  Speaker 1: and say, hey, let's just do this together. You could
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  Speaker 1: do it with your family, with your spouse. You could
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  Speaker 1: contact people you know who are passing through a hard
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  Speaker 1: time and say, hey, try this out. Maybe this is
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  Speaker 1: what you need. You can let people know who are
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  Speaker 1: in prison. Let people know who are in the hospital.
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  Speaker 1: Let people know who are just discouraged. Let's do this together. Anyway,
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  Speaker 1: that's all for me. Happy Valentine's Day to you tomorrow. Remember,
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  Speaker 1: don't tell D1. That I got these flowers is supposed
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  Speaker 1: to be a surprise. God bless you. Lord, let your
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  Speaker 1: blessings please be upon all who are hearing this message.
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  Speaker 1: And let us all turn our hearts toward you in
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  Speaker 1: these days. Please have mercy upon our world. Please bring
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  Speaker 1: an end to this coronavirus. Please bring harmony and peace.
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  Speaker 1: But most of all, Lord Jesus, be Jesus in our world.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you. Through Christ I pray. Amen.