Latest / Heart Check Podcast / Bible Study with Pastor Los | The Gospel of John (1:6-13)

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Bible Study with Pastor Los | The Gospel of John (1:6-13) · Heart Check Podcast

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  Yo, what's up, everybody? Welcome back to Heart Check
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  podcast. I'm your host, Pastor Los.
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  Yeah, let's go. And we're going to continue on
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  our Gospel of John's series. But today we are going to be in
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  chapter 1 still, but we're going to go through verses 6 through
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  13. So if you'd like to follow
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  along, I'll have the I'll have the verse right here below me.
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  Or you can pull out your Bible, your journal and follow along
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  with me. Thank you for being here with
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  me. Again, if you have not
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  subscribed, subscribe below. Go give us a follow on our
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  We love you guys. Thank you so much for your
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  support. It's incredible to see what God
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  is building here in the heart Check community.
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  Hey, you ready? Let's get after it.
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  So John chapter one verse 6 starts like this.
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  God sent a man, John the Baptist, to tell about the light
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  so that everyone might believe because of his testimony, John
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  himself was not the light. He was simply a witness to tell
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  about the light. The one who is the true Light,
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  who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
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  He came into the very world he created, but the world didn't
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  recognize him. He came to his own people and
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  even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and
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  accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.
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  They are reborn not with a physical birth resulting from
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  human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
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  I love this passage. So we're going to kind of go
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  back through this. We're going to go verse by verse
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  here. So in verse 6, John the Apostle
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  starts. It was saying that God sent a
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  man, John the Baptist. John the Baptist, if you did not
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  know, is Jesus's cousin. And in the other gospels, you
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  can read about John the Baptist's story.
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  Luke kind of goes a little bit more into detail about John the
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  Baptist's story, and we learn about him being Jesus's earthly
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  cousin from his mother's side, from his human side.
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  And John the Baptist has this call to be the one who's
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  shouting in the wilderness to repent and to believe in Jesus,
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  that he's the one witnessing to people to tell them about
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  Christ's coming, that the Kingdom of God is near and at
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  hand. And so we learned this story of
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  John the Baptist in detail. If you did not know the Gospel
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  of Luke, Luke interviewed Mary the mother of Jesus.
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  So he got kind of this insight from Mary of her experience.
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  And I love and Luke when he describes that when John the
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  Baptist when was in his mother's womb and Jesus was in the womb
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  of Mary, that when they came together, there was a a leaping
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  of joy through the Holy Spirit in the womb.
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  That John the Baptist recognized Jesus in the womb and was
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  excited and was leaping and moving in his mother's tell me,
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  which is incredible, just that even John the Baptist in the
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  womb of his mom recognized him. But as we just read, read the
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  people who were supposed to recognize God in flesh,
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  Emmanuel, God with us, Jesus did not recognize him.
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  So John the Baptist being Jesus's, Jesus's cousin, but
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  more specifically, he had a calling on his life to announce
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  the coming of Jesus Christ, that God had a will for his life that
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  he called John to be the one to let people know to come and put
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  their faith in Jesus. And I love how it goes on to
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  verse 7. It says he was sent to what to
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  tell about the light so that everyone might believe because
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  of his testimony. And when I was praying before
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  this episode and even sitting on that word testimony, I just had
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  a conversation with my amazing son the other day.
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  My son's going to be getting baptized this Sunday, which is
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  incredible. I am shouting to the heavens how
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  excited I am that my son will become my brother in Christ,
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  that he's officially declaring for everyone to know that he has
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  put his faith in Jesus. And now to be baptized and
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  welcomed into the family of God is an incredible thing,
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  something I pray for, for all my children for that day to come.
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  But I was talking with him that day because for our church, we
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  make testimony videos before they're baptized.
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  And so my son was asking me, well, what am I supposed to say,
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  Dad, what does this look like? And I wanted him at first I
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  asked him. I said, well, someone came up to
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  you at school And he goes, oh, they do already.
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  I said someone comes up to school and says, why do you
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  believe in Jesus? What would be your answer?
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  And you know, first he responded with well, because he died for
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  my sins that and I said, well, yeah, of course I said that that
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  is that is a biblical truth 100%.
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  But I wanted to get a little bit beneath the surface with him.
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  I didn't want him to just repeat what he's been taught.
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  But what does it mean for him to personally know Jesus, to follow
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  Jesus? What's his testimony?
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  And when we read this, a biblical definition of testimony
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  is a is a declaration or a witness to the truth, character,
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  and saving power of God. It is a personal faith story.
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  And the New Testament, the Greek word martyria, translates to
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  witness or testimony. It represents an eyewitness
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  account of God's miraculous intervention, forgiveness, and
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  transforming power in a believer's life.
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  So when I asked my son, what is your testimony?
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  What's your personal walk with Jesus?
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  What does it mean for you as to why you believe in him?
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  You're putting your faith in him that you're going to declare to
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  the church and world that I'm an unashamed follower of Jesus.
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  And his answer was incredible. I'm excited for what he shared
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  to be shared in Sunday morning. But again, John, this was
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  personal to John. He knew Jesus and he knew who
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  Jesus was. And so now he's proclaiming,
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  he's telling everyone about the light that's come to earth and
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  he is hoping that they might believe because of his
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  testimony. He's saying this is the Messiah,
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  this is the light of the world. This is the one we were promised
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  long ago in the Old Testaments that the prophets prophesied
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  about. He is here, and I know this
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  because I know him. And I want to encourage you
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  today, if you've put your faith in Jesus, that you're a follower
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  of Christ, your testimony only matters that you can share with
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  people your personal relationship with the, the God
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  of the universe, who you know, who lives inside of you, that
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  you can tell people. Again, I want to encourage you
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  if you feel like, well, I haven't studied the Bible
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  enough. I went to Bible school.
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  I don't have a Bible theology. I I need to learn more, listen,
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  be discipled, learn more about Jesus, get in the word, feast on
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  his word, grow in your knowledge and understanding that is
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  biblical. That is a good thing.
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  But if you are a believer that just became a believer today,
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  guess what? You can tell others about Jesus.
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  Guess what? It's the power of God within you
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  who works through. It's the Holy Spirit who reaches
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  people, who changes their hearts.
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  You get to just witness to them through your testimony.
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  What has Jesus done in your life that's made you put your faith
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  in Jesus? How has He transformed your
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  soul? How has he taken you from who
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  you were to who you are now? What is it about Jesus that
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  you've encountered that you've learned about, that he's
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  impacted you on in your walk with Him?
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  Tell people about that. The power of your testimony is a
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  powerful thing that others can hear your personal faith story
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  and say man, this God must be real and I want to know who he
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  is. So tell anybody, tell everybody,
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  be a witness for Christ just like John the Baptist was.
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  And in verse 8 it goes on to say John himself was not the light.
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  He was simply a witness to tell about the light.
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  John was not the light, John the Apostle who wrote this gospel.
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  John wanted to make sure to remind us, 'cause John the
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  Baptist would have wanted us to be reminded of this, that he was
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  not the Messiah, That there was kind of this, you see in the
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  Gospels, people asking or saying, oh, Jesus, is this John
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  the Baptist is this prophet that we were promised to come.
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  And John the Baptist like, whoa, no, no, no, no, I am not.
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  I am not him that as John will say later, I'm not even worthy
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  to tie the the his sandals. I'm not even worthy to tie
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  Jesus's sandals. He is the Messiah.
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  He's the one who's promised long ago.
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  He is the light of the world. He is the Son of God.
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  It is him. And so this reminder in verse 8
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  that John himself was not the light.
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  He was simply just a witness to tell about the light.
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  I'm not Jesus, I'm a follower of Jesus and I will witness and
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  tell my testimony about him, but I am not him.
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  He lives in me and I want to tell others about him.
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  And just again, we're being reminded that John himself was
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  not the light, but he was witnessing to tell others about
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  the light of the world, who was Jesus Christ.
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  And verse nine goes on to say the one who is the true light,
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  who gives light to everyone was coming into the world.
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  Wow. And I was sitting on this, I
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  don't know about you, but when I read that verse 9, the one who
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  was the true light, who gives light to everyone was coming
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  into the world. That might make you pause for a
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  second and say, so Jesus came and maybe someone could twist
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  the Scripture and say, see, he was the true light and he gives
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  light to everyone. So everyone is saved.
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  Everyone, everyone's going to be in heaven, see, because Jesus
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  gives light to everyone. Let me break this down a little
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  bit. This isn't saying that everybody
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  saved because Jesus is light is given to everyone.
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  What this really is saying, and if you haven't heard this
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  theological term before, you maybe heard the word grace.
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  But a theological term we use is called common grace.
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  And common grace is the theological concept referring to
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  the unearned universal favor of God bestowed upon all humankind
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  regardless of their faith or moral standing.
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  So basically everybody who's alive right now gets their
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  unearned universal favor of God over them, that they are
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  experiencing God's goodness and his light and his joy and, and
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  his creation. When you go and you walk past
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  that beautiful waterfall, when you look up in the beautiful
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  sky, when that beautiful day with the rainbow showing and,
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  and the raindrops coming down, when you see and even experience
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  creation, you are experienced. The God who created everything
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  that his goodness, his light, his favor is over everybody.
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  That when you are alive, you are still connected to God, that
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  you're still connected to him, that you're experiencing him
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  even through creation. As Romans, one says to us that
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  there is no excuse to not have faith in the One who created us
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  in everything. Because you're experiencing them
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  through that love of your relationship, that love of your
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  spouse. The love of when you look at
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  your child, the joy you get when you see them.
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  The joy you get when you hear your child laugh.
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  The the joy you get when you look up into the sky and see a
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  beautiful rainbow that formed when the rain stops coming.
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  That is you experiencing God's favor, the unearned goodness of
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  God that He gives you. It's His common grace over all
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  of this fallen world. No matter if you believe in Him
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  or not, Guess what? You're still experiencing Him
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  because the things you enjoy, the things that are good comes
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  from Him because all good blessings come from above.
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  And so we have this common grace.
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  There's a verse that touches on this.
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  So as Jesus gives light to everyone, Matthew 544 says this,
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  and Jesus says this, but I say, love your enemies.
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  Pray for those who persecute you.
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  In verse 45, He goes on to say in that in that way you will be
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  acting as true children of your Father in heaven.
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  What is it goes on to say in the passage we just read in John
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  that we are now deemed children of God after we put our faith in
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  Jesus. But he's saying Jesus in Matthew
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  545 that you will be acting like children of God.
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  You will be looking like him because he gives sunlight to
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  both the evil and the good and he sends rain on the just and
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  the unjust alike. So Jesus is saying you love your
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  enemies, you pray for those who persecute you, because again,
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  verse 46, if you love only those who love you, what reward is
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  there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors,
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  even people who don't believe in God, people who are wicked, who
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  are evil, they do that much. People who don't know Jesus,
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  people who are, who are wicked people, people who don't know
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  God, they love the people who love them back.
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  That's easy. But us who are children of God,
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  we love our enemies. We pray for those who persecute
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  us because in that same way we're reflecting the Father to
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  this world because he gives sunlight to both evil and good.
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  He brings rain on the just and the unjust.
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  He shows common grace to anyone and everyone.
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  If you are alive and you're walking on this earth and you're
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  experiencing good things, that's from God.
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  He's the one who created you, man.
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  How much, how good of a God He is that He brings goodness to
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  all. Even the people who reject him,
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  who spit upon him, who mock him, He still reigns on them.
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  He still gives them. He still gives them good things
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  because He's a good father. That's who He is.
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  It's in his character. But again, I say this to follow
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  that up. So while you're alive, you can
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  experience His common grace, but if you do not put your faith in
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  Jesus before you die, you will be separated from Him forever.
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  That is hell for eternity, unending flames, unending
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  separation from God. Everything that was good,
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  everything that brought you peace and joy and love in this
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  world, that was from the Father, you will be separated from
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  forever. That is hell.
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  That is torture. And so here and right now, if
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  you're listening to this and you have not put your faith in
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  Jesus, my prayer is that you do because the God who created you
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  and loves you and has purpose for you, He's already showing
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  you His common grace even in your day-to-day.
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  The breath in your lungs that you're breathing is from Him.
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  He is good and He loves you. And I pray that you put your
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  faith in Jesus so you can have a relationship, a saving
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  relationship that gives you eternal life that can be found
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  in Jesus. And so John 1, getting back to
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  it goes on to say in verse 10, he, Jesus came into the very
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  world he created, but the world didn't recognize him.
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  And verse 11, he came to his own people and even they rejected
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  him. So Jesus comes, comes home,
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  comes to the place he created. And Jesus literally came into
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  the very world that he created, but the world didn't even
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  recognize him. That people, this verse, excuse
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  me, verse 10 is speaking towards non Jewish people that he came
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  into this world, He created everybody and everything, but
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  they didn't recognize him. Nobody knew who he was.
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  They didn't know Jesus. But then it goes on to even
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  saying verse 11, he came to his own people.
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  So now we're talking about the Israelites, the Jewish people,
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  God's chosen people, even they rejected him.
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  So now even his own people, God's chosen people, they, they
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  reject Jesus that they don't believe he is who he is.
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  The Messiah that was promised long ago for them that was going
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  to come and was going to save them.
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  Because again, they had an expectation of what the Messiah
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  was going to do and who he was going to be.
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  And Jesus turns the world upside down that we're going to learn
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  more about throughout this gospel story.
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  But then it goes on to say in verse 12, But to all who
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  believed him and accepted him, here it goes.
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  He gave the right to become children of God.
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  And I want to sit there real quick.
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  I've said this, I actually said this in a sermon a few weeks
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  ago. I was preaching.
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  Sometimes we will throw that out there.
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  I've seen this in Christian world or even just I've seen it
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  in videos that people will look at people when they're, when
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  they're witnessing to people trying to reach them for Christ.
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  They'll say, you know, you're a child of God.
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  God created you. And I'm like, I, I, I know their
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  heart behind it. Everyone is created in God's
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  image. Genesis 1, everyone was created
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  in God's image. So everyone's an image bearer of
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  God, which is incredible. Again, even if you don't even
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  believe in Jesus, you bear His image 'cause He created you in
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  His image. But not everybody is a child of
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  God. Listen to these words again in
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  verse 12. But to all who believed him and
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  accepted him or received him, He gave the right to become
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  children of God. You are not a child of God if
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  you have not put your faith in Jesus.
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  That the family of God consists of those who have put their
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  faith in Jesus, that believe in Jesus, that have received Jesus,
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  that declare him with their mouths that He is Lord of their
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  lives, that they believe in their heart, that God raised him
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  from the dead. Those are children of God.
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  That you are not a child of God if you have not put your faith
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  in Jesus. You were made in His image, but
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  you are not in the family of God.
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  You are not, again, have His light that saves you, but His
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  light does fall over you because of His common grace.
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  But you are not given that identity.
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  You are not in the family of God if you have not put your faith
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  in Jesus. So that was more so for my
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  brothers and sisters in Christ. Just to be careful sometimes
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  when we're teaching and preaching things, I know the
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  heart posture is to love people and to reach them for Christ.
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  So I encourage that. I cheer that on always, 'cause
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  that's what we're here for, is to be disciples of Jesus and be
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  disciple makers. But nobody who's not put their
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  faith in Jesus is a child of God, only those who have put
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  their faith in Christ. And in verse 13, we'll wrap it
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  up with this. John says they are reborn not
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  with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan,
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  plan, but a birth that comes from God.
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  That when you become a child of God that you are reborn
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  spiritually, not with a physical birth, not in the way that we
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  see somebody born into this world through a mother and
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  father who loves each other. The birds and bees conversation
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  that that I that we have with our children.
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  But this is reborn spiritually by the Holy Spirit as Jesus will
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  have this conversation with Nicodemus that you must be born
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  of spirit, that you must be reborn.
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  And people don't understand what that means, that it sounds
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  foolish. But we talked about this last
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  week in in our passage that we read through that everybody has
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  physical life, that if you're breathing right now, that is
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  God's common grace over your life, that you have breath in
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  your lungs. But to be spiritually alive, to
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  be spiritually reborn, the only way that eternal life comes is
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  through faith in Jesus, that you are now a child of God, that
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  you're welcomed into the family of God because of your belief
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  and your receiving of his Son, Jesus Christ.
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  And so my prayer is that you are reborn today, that you put your
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  faith in Jesus, that you believe he came and lived a perfect
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  life, that he died a death that you and I deserve for our sins,
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  and then three days later rose from the grave.
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  And now anyone who puts their faith in Him will receive
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  eternal life because of Christ and what He accomplished on the
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  cross for you and me. And you will be reborn
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  spiritually, that you will receive a new life, that the old
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  you is dead and gone and a new creation and Christ will come
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  alive and will be inside of you, changing you, molding you,
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  transforming you more into the likeness of Christ.
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  I love you guys so much. I hope this episode blessed you.
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  Share it with someone who wants to even learn more about God's
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  Word, wants to walk with you, walk with someone else through
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  these episodes. I thank you guys so much for
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  your encouragement and for continuing to go along this
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  journey with me. I pray that God's favor and
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  blessing is over you. I pray that you continue to
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  trust Him and walk with him. I pray that you continue to put
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  Him first, to give Him all the glory, to honor Him with all
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  your life, that you trust him, that you don't just say you
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  believe, but you follow Him every day that your faith
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  transforms into action for the Kingdom.
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  Be a witness for Christ today. Let me pray.
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  Lord Jesus, we love you and God, we thank you for who you are.
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  Continue to lead us, continue to guide us, continue to be the
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  focus of our lives and continue to fill us with your spirit so
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  we can be a witness for you. That we can tell people our
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  personal faith stories to tell of our testimony so others come
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  to have faith in you as well. We love you and we pray all this
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  in Jesus name, Amen.