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Gen Youth Camp 2023 - Session 2: Who Do You Think You Are | Yap Ken-ji · Generations Church

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  Hello, and welcome to the Generation's Church Podcast. We're so excited to have
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  you here today. It is our prayer that God's word will inspire and help
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  you grow in your faith. Now let's get right into it. So a
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  few weeks ago, a few weeks ago, if you have your Bible,
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  you can take it out right now. But before I turn to the scripture
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  and stop with a quick experience of mind. A few weeks ago, I
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  was having a conversation with my wife. She came and asked me. She
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  said, Dear, do I look good in this outfit? So she was
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  she bought some new clothes. She said, do I look good in this
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  outfit? And then I looked at her with complete honesty and conviction in my
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  heart because I prayed about it. I prayed about it. Amen. So
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  I looked at her. I said, yes, dear, you look good.
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  And then then she looked at it. And then she looked at me
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  and said, you're a liar. I don't believe what you say. You
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  say it's not true. And then she walked away, and I go like
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  why. Then she said, everything you say it's not true because everything I
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  wear. Also, you say, nice, hey, bro, seriously as
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  a guy. Right, that is definitely true, because I definitely believe that
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  she looks pretty. That's why I marry her, right, But for some
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  reason, she just find it so very hard to believe that. And for
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  me, let me, I'm puzzled. So I went to the toilet,
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  I sat on a toilet bowl and scrowed my phone to think about why did
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  wrong? But how many times have we actually looked in the mirror and you
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  judge yourself so very harshly? I doubt anybody here When you looked in the
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  mirror you go like, hey, that's the Riis Master right there. Man,
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  You actually do that? How many if you actually do that? Yeah,
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  I mean actually do that. You go in the mirror in the morning,
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  you dressed up right, they look in the mirror. So you look
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  in the mirror, you go like, whoa, that's the Riiz Master right
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  there. Man. Yeah, So I believe I believe not everybody does that.
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  I believe that most people, including myself, when looked at the mirror,
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  you kind of don't like what you see. A man, Oh,
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  sorry, many powerful stuff. Ah, you got it right. Yeah.
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  So you look at the neighborhod and go like, uh, I mean sorry,
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  you look at the mirror and you go like you don't like what you
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  see, Like maybe you feel your hairs a little bit too long. You
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  look like, oh man, why is so geeky? And it looks so
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  nerd you and maybe Isaiah go like, oh why is so tall? One?
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  If I wish I was shotter, you know what I mean? If
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  a girls, you're like, oh, why my nose look like buttoned on?
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  It can be sharper or not. So you kind of don't like so
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  regardless any what anyone tells you, no matter what anyone tells you. So
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  flight. For my worst's example, no matter how pretty I say she is,
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  and she looks at the mirror she has she has, she would think
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  that, oh okay, maybe I can do better. But for me,
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  it's like, oh wow, it's already he's already perfect. So no matter
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  how so, no matter what people will say to you, you have your
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  own perceptions of yourself. Amen. So uh for me myself, when I
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  look in the mirror, I see this, I see that I'm a pimple
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  faced guy, shot guy with a balding hit yeah, don't check my head
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  later, but it's boding on the top here. You can pray for my
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  hairlater, prayer it will grow. So when I see that, I see,
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  I see that. But my wife she calls cute. Yes, she
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  calls me cute. And I'm actually not very sure about that, but I
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  just have to believe her, so you see, no matter what she tells
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  me. Right and to today, when I look in the mirror, I
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  go like, okay, man, this you have a lot of pimples,
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  you're bowling, and you're really short. So today so today, in relation
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  to that, for you think about that, we're gonna talk about who do
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  you think you are? Okay, So in the Bible, we all turned
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  to the Bible. Now, if you have your Bible, let's turn to
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  Judges chapter six as we start this conversation about who do you think you are?
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  Judges chapter six. All right, so before I read this scripture,
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  I'm gonna give you a little bit of context of what's happening here. This
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  story is about Gideon. So basically this is a story about the Istraelites.
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  They were already conquered by their enemies, so they are like sort of oppressed,
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  and then the whole nation was crying out to God for help. And
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  then in that situation, God actually appeared to Gideon. Let's start with the
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  scripture. So this is when God actually appeared to Gideon and the Angel of
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  the Do you just have the sixth verse eleven? It says, then the
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  Aga of the Lord came and sat behind the great tree at oprah Am I
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  right oprah Okay, which belonged to joe Ash of the clan of Alzheimer Noding.
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  Gideon, son of joe Ash, was trashing wheat at the bottom of
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  the wine press to hide grain from the Midia Knights. The Injury of the
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  Lord appeared to him and said, mighty Hero, the Lord is with you.
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  Sir. Gideon replied, if the Lord is with us, why has
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  all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told
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  us about, didn't they say? The Lord brought us up out of Egypt.
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  But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midian
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  nights. Then the Lord to him and said, go with strength and rescue
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  Israel from the Midian knights. I am sending you, But Lord gidn't reply,
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  how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole
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  tribe. Of Manessa Manassa, and I am the least in my entire family.
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  The Lord said to him, I will be with you and you will
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  destroy the media nights as if you were fighting as one man. Let's put
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  the past there, Ali Loujah, Well, yes, cool. So it's
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  the first point, and we're gonna share. So we're gonna learn a little
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  bit from the life of Gideon, and then this will actually help us to
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  understand who do we think we are? Amen. So now number one,
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  don't let facts blind the truth. So Gideon, he was doing his own
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  thing at that time when God appeared to him. He was trashing with he
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  was having fun. He was doing his own thing, and God did And
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  then Giden actually didn't know that God was God. It was God who appeared
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  to him. So he actually told God, he said, hey, hello,
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  sir, you know, we talked to like Jihan. He always say
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  yes, sir, you know. So that's how Gideon actually replied to God.
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  If he actually knew it was God, he actually be different. For
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  some reason, there's this lack of awareness in God in their own lives.
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  I believe it's exactly like us when we go through our everyday lives. When
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  you actually on the toilet ball, when you're actually in your classrooms, when
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  you're actually talking to the girl you like, when you're actually fighting your friend,
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  we're actually gossipping about other people. The presence of God is actually right
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  there. God is actually watching. God is actually with that with you.
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  God has never left you. That's what the Bible actually says. But sorry,
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  right, oh, praise God. But but he's just so caught up
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  with all these things that's around him. All these things just went over.
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  He said. God actually said two things to him. Two things. Number
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  one, God said, hey, Gideon, mighty hero. That's why God
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  called Gideon mighty hero. And the second thing that God actually said is that
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  do not be afraid. I am with you. That's what God said to
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  him. This is the God that created the universe. Okay, this is
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  the God that created everything. This is the God all powerful. God actually
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  said, mighty hero, I will be with you. But Gideon, he
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  actually didn't buy it because of how he sees himself. He actually didn't care
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  the facts of around it, the facts of everything. Actually says that he's
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  actually the weakest in his whole clan. He say his clan is the smallest
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  he say he's the youngest one in the family, but he views it as
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  the weakest in his family as well. So when God says that, you
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  know, you're supposed to go out there, you're a mighty hero, you're
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  great. But the facts around him, he was under oppression, he was
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  under a lot of attack. A lot of people tell them to stay down.
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  Because of all these things, they blinded him from the truth. The
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  God that created everything actually said that he is a mighty hero. He is
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  promised that God will always be with him. So I think it's the same
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  for me as well. If God actually appeared to me at that point of
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  time, I will be feeling exactly he feels how he felt. He lived
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  in the environment for a very long time. Maybe he had no friends,
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  maybe no family. I don't know about his parents, but maybe his parents
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  already been divorced. Maybe didn't nobody like him. Maybe his brothers are always
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  holding him all the time. And suddenly God actually appeared to him and said,
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  hey, you are a mighty hero. Hey, I'm with you.
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  Doesn't seem like it doesn't seem like it because of the whatever that's happening.
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  So whatever that's happening to him actually blinded him from the truth. The truth
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  is God was there all along. God was there talking to him. God
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  was there referring to him as mighty hero. God already gave him all this,
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  all this, all these, all these things, God never left him.
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  But circumstances in your life, in his life, actually stop him from
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  believing that, because because the facts has blinded the truth from him. But
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  the truth is the truth in all this is that he was never left alone.
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  God was there. And also God has already called him and made him
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  a mighty hero. Imen. All right, good, let's go to the
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  point number two. Don't let looks blind the purpose for cool. I don't
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  why for you by my stuff. He look at your neighbor, and then
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  just tell them they look really good. Hey, save a convision if they
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  really think so. He amen. God's purpose for Gideon was very clear.
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  It made a lot of sense. Like I said, just now, God
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  created Gideon from the start. I mean, it's from when Gideon was actually
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  in the modest womb. Gideon was in like modest stomach. God already created
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  Gideon, and God already knew that he was supposed to go and win the
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  war, already supposed to tell him to read. Know already that he's gonna
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  go out there and do great things and go in safe. He so entire
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  nation, But Gideon didn't know because he let looks blind the purpose. In
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  Someone nine thirteen to fourteen, it says this, you made all the delicate
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  inner parts of my body and need me together in my mother's womb. Thank
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  you for making me so wonderfully complex. Your work, maxship is vounded,
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  marveless, and how well I know it. And there's another verse in Jeremiah
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  twenty nine to eleven. I think this is a famous verse, for I
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  know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. There are plans
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  for good and not for disaster to get I feel a future and a hope.
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  God already knew that Gideon was made to lead Israel to miss to victory.
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  The purpose was very clear. However, he didn't actually have the opposite
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  response. He looked at himself and he says that I'm actually very weak.
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  I'm actually a noup. I can't really do this because I'm not strong.
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  But God already knew that he can actually do it, because Gideon was letting
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  the looks how he looked blind him from his purpose. So when I was
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  younger, well, do you guys know what is digimon? Oh? Really,
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  I want to give you a part. And I was just kidding.
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  So how many of you know the first digimon ever created? All right,
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  So it's actually a toy, tamagochi toy where you take care and then the
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  digimon kind of like grew up to be stronger. So when I was younger,
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  my uncle bought one for me. It's very cool. So what I
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  did was that when I took it off of the packaging, I was like,
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  hey, this is a really cool toy. And then it didn't turn
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  on. And then it's this piece of plastic. The plastic was sticking out
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  of it. So I pluck out the plastic and it turned on. Im
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  Yes, it works, and I threw the plastic away, and then I'm
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  like, whoa. I went about my day. I went over. I
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  went over to the park where all my friends were there, right, and
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  then I saw them. I saw them like putting the plastic in the digimon
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  and then taking out the plastic and then keep doing that over and over again.
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  So I went there and asked them, like, hey, what's going
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  on? Why are you doing this? They say, this plastic actually can
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  help you and can help your digimon grow five times faster. You just need
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  to keep doing that and eventually digimon where actually grow. And then I looked
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  at them, I'm like, oh, I threw my plastic away already,
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  And then they all after me and I went home crying. I was very
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  young, so I let the look because it just looked like a simple plastic.
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  It just looked like this thingy that you're supposed to just pull out and
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  throw away. But I didn't know the purpose of it. The purpose of
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  it is that you can actually use it to cheat. Yes, you can
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  actually make it digitmon grow faster. You can actually make it digimon grow stronger.
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  But I did not know. I took it out and I threw it
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  away because I thought it was useless. Just because we think we look weak,
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  just because when you look into the mirror, you go like you got
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  no ris at all. Just because you look in the mirror, you go
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  like, oh, you're a shot fat guy, or you're like, you
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  know, you're a fat lady. Just because you look in the mirror and
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  you feel that way, doesn't mean that's who we are. Just because we
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  think we're useless does not mean that there is no real real purpose for us
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  in this in this world. Just because we think that that we don't look
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  the part doesn't mean that doesn't mean that all of that is true, because
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  the truth is, like I said just now, God already has the purpose
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  for each and every single one of us. Amen. And this is the
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  point I'm retrieved before we move on for a little bit. I think this
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  point where I was actually praying for you guys and really asking God what they're
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  actually slinging cam, I think God is ready impressed on my heart and it's
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  like specific things that he wants to actually share with you guys. And I
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  hope, I hope that you actually hear what I'm about to say here.
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  So this is it. This is it, Number Tree. Don't let fear
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  the victory. Everybody say, don't let fear blind the victory. Again turned
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  to another neighbor and tries saying that the turn not a neighbor, say that
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  one more time. Ha ha. If you can say three times fast,
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  I'm gonna give you a sharp points not just kidding, Okay. So in
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  verse seventeen, he didn't reply. After God has given him the promise,
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  God has said that you're supposed to go and say for all this nation,
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  these people. So he didn't reply, and he said, if you truly,
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  if you are truly going to help me, send show me a sign
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  to proof that it is really the Lord who is speaking to me, don't
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  go away until I come back and bring my offering to you here. And
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  then the Lord answered, I will stay here until you return verse nineteen.
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  He didn't hurried home. He cooked the goat with the basket and a flower.
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  Then after he carried everything, and then he brought them to He brought
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  them out to God and presented them who is waiting under the tree. The
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  Anger of God said to him, place the meat and the unleavened bread on
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  this rock, and pour the broth over it. And Gideon did it,
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  it was told, and the Anger of Lord touched it. And then he
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  touched the meat and the bread with the tip of his staff, and fire
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  flamed up from the rock and consume all the high hat. And then the
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  Anger of the Lord disappeared. So at this point I altually believed that Gideon
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  already started to believe after this conversation with God, maybe he said, maybe
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  that's true. So maybe you're hearing why I'm saying today, and maybe you
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  said, oh, keg, maybe that's true. Because I'm growing up a
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  Christian, I understand all these things going through that made a lot of sense.
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  Maybe what you say is true. I have purpose. You know,
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  God really loves me. And the truth is that God called me who i'm.
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  God called me a mighty warrior and all that's true. But but I'm
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  still not sure of that, just like Gideon, because it's actually a very
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  big thing. When I actually say that, hey, you're gonna win a
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  million ring it tomorrow, for example, it's very hard for you to believe.
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  You go like, hey, Keng, you's such a liar. But
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  then actually you say, what if it's true? So you kind of want
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  to test it? Right, So this is actually the part where Gideon actually
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  starts to try and find out and ask God for confirmations. That's what we
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  all do in our lives when God gives us a big dream, when God
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  gives us a big purpose, when God gives us something powerful to go go
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  like, is that really you God? So Gideon actually brought a sacrifice to
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  God and he said, you know, if you're a God, then you
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  know why not you, just show me you are and God actually send fire
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  down. So here's the thing. Everybody here is doubting what everybody here will
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  have some form of doubts, but only the person that can confirm it.
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  It's not me, it's not pastor d is not your parents and whoever.
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  This journey about, this whole new adventure of who you are, this journey
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  about you discovering who you are, this journey about you discovering that you're a
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  mighty warrior. It's only between you and God. It's only between you and
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  God. So don't let the fear of don't let the fear of this big
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  thing and go and shut back and realizing that everything is actually leads to a
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  victory. Don't let fear blind the victory. God is always there to encourage
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  us. Amen. God has never left or forsake because God really loves you,
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  and God really wants to show you what He has built you to be.
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  God really wants to show you what you can do. God really want
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  to take you to your real purpose. Amen. And God is always there
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  to actually encourage you. So all you need to do, all you need
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  to do is take the first step and ask. All you need to do
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  is ask. And this is actually a really important thing. I believe the
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  Bible has already spoke to you. I believe you, guys, really know
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  that there's a great purpose for your life. All you need to do is
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  ask. You feel that you have no purpose in this life, that you
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  are actually ready to die. This is actually I'm taking this really seriously because
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  I know that there are people here who feel that you are not worth living
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  for, there's nothing to live in this life. You are you have been
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  thinking about taking your life. I know there are people here who feels that
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  unwanted because or maybe I don't know, maybe your parents, your parents are
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  separated, or maybe your friends don't like you. I know there are people
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  here who feel lonely because whenever you talk to somebody, they get pissed off
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  at you. I know there are people here who feel that there's actually nothing
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  for you here. But I'm here to tell you that don't let the facts
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  blind the truth. God actually loves you, and God is actually there for
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  you. God actually has a great purpose for you. Thank you for joining
• 17:47
  us on The Generation's Church podcast. We trust you've been blessed by the message
• 17:51
  today. Remember to stay tuned by subscribing to this podcast. For more inspiring
• 17:56
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