Latest / Near East Christian Fellowship Sermons / The Supernatural Nature of the Christian Gathering (Part 3)

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The Supernatural Nature of the Christian Gathering (Part 3) · Near East Christian Fellowship Sermons

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Welcome to the NECF podcast, where we share our
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weekly sermons and faithfully interpret the Bible
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to encourage and direct you on your spiritual
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path. We're our devoted pastors and special guests
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diving to the depths of the Bible, exploring
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its profound lessons and useful applications
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for your day. Praise the Lord. So today we're
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going to continue with what I was teaching from
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the last time I was here, which is the supernatural
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nature. of the Christian gathering. We're going
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to continue with that. And I believe that we'll
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be blessed. Amen. Matthew chapter 28. Matthew
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chapter 28, verses 18 to 20. Matthew chapter
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28, verses 18 to 20. And Jesus came and spoke
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to them, saying, All authority has been given
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to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore,
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and make disciples of all nations, baptizing
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them in the name of the Father, the Son, and
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the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe
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all the things I have commanded you, and lo,
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I am with you. always, even to the end of the
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age. Amen. Praise the Lord. So, we have been
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taught several times from these scriptures, and
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we know it is what we call the Great Commission,
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right? A thing that Jesus has called us to do.
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He has given us a mandate to go and preach the
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gospel, to go and make disciples of all nations.
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So, we have been given these mandates by God.
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to go and make disciples, to go and teach. This
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is a mandate that every believer, every person
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that has come to the knowledge or have come to
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God, has and will continue to do. Praise the
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Lord. We have a mandate as believers to do the
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will of God. Praise the Lord. So we cannot have
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God's will outside of this mandate. You cannot
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have God's will. for your life outside of this
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mandate to go and make disciples, to go and preach
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the gospel. Praise the Lord. It is God's mandate
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to us. It is for every believer. It is not for
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a season. It is not for in the summers when the
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weathers are good or when people are outside.
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It is for every season, for the winters, for
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when there is rain, for when there is no rain.
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For when things are going on as you expect them
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to go, and when things are not going on as you
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expect them to go, it is a mandate of every believer
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to go and preach the gospel. Verse 19 tells us,
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it says, To go and make disciples of all nations,
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baptizing them in the name of the Father and
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of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Praise the
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Lord. So the word to make disciples is a Greek
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word, matatio, Right? Which means to teach. This
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is to go and teach. Praise the Lord. To make
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disciples is the word, M -A -T -H -E -T -E -U
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-O. Right? It's the word to teach. Praise the
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Lord. And so we have, and somebody might be asking,
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why does this church try their best to always...
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spell a Greek word to us or always tell us what
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is these things about these Greek words that
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we need. Why do we need them? Because as we know
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and as we have been taught, the Greek word helps
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us to know the intention of the writer. Praise
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the Lord. Because as we know, the Bible was not
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written in English. Praise the Lord. The writers
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of these scriptures did not speak English. Matter
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of fact, English was not in existence. as it
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was written or as it was given. Praise the Lord.
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So we go to this Greek word to help us understand
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the intention of the things that was written,
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to better help us understand. And why do we also
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need to do that? Because when you have the translations
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or when the Bible is translated to English, it's
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not just translations. Praise the Lord. It is
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also a... the translators trying to interpret.
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Praise the Lord. They are also interpreting what
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is written or the version that you have. So we
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go to the Greek word to understand the intention
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of the writer. So matateo is not just to teach.
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It's not just merely to teach somebody. Praise
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the Lord. It's not merely like the way your teachers
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will come to class and they try to teach you
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a subject. Praise the Lord. You have your responsibilities.
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You have the things you have to do. And they
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come to teach you. To tell you this, this, this,
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that and that. Prepare for it. It is going to
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come out as an example. It is not just that.
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It is deeper than that. Praise the Lord. So to
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go and make disciples is just deeper than us
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coming on Sunday and teaching you the word. Or
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preaching to you. Praise the Lord. It is deeper
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than that. We have so many other Greek words
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that... Talks about teaching. Praise the Lord.
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Talks about teaching. One of them is didaskalia,
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right? Which means doctrine. Which is doctrine.
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Didaskalia. D -A -D -A -S -K -A -L -I -A. Didaskalia.
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Right? It means doctrine. We have another one
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called didaskalos. D -A -D -A -S -K -A -L -I
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-A. Sorry, D -I -D -A -S -K -A -L -O -S. Didache.
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We have another one as didache, right? D -I -D
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-A -C -H -E, right? This word, they convey teaching.
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Praise the Lord. They tell us about teaching.
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We have these different words that talk about
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teaching. It conveys teaching or a teacher, right?
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He talks about a teacher or the kind of teaching
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or the type of teaching. Praise the Lord, right?
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But this is not the same word that we see in
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verse 19 of Matthew chapter 28, to go and make
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disciples. That word that is there is mathathio,
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is deeper than just teaching, like I said, right?
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It means to train, right? It means to... it is
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very practical praise the lord it means to train
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right somebody who if you have a trainer for
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example people that go to the gym if you have
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a trainer they they are although you have a target
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you have they have a target for you you have
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a target for your life the trainer is very well
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experienced and he knows exactly the kind of
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exercise you should do and how many of them you
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should do in a session. Praise the Lord. He knows
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whether you are, whether to push you to a particular
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limit because of the things that you are trying
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to achieve. Praise the Lord. So he's not just
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telling you, do this, do this, do that. They
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also monitor you as you do the things. Praise
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the Lord. So he means to train. And he's very
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practical, right? To model something. Praise
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the Lord. To model something by teaching or by
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exercise. To model something by practice. Praise
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the Lord. So this is the mandate that every believer
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has. This is the mandate that you and I have.
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This is the mandate that we are all to carry
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out. So it carries a wider intention than just
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teaching. Praise the Lord. So to make disciple
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is not... So for somebody to be called a disciple
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or somebody to have gone through... discipleship,
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it is not just that you came to church and the
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pastor preached and you wrote down and then you
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go home. Praise the Lord. There is a place that
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it is being modeled by practice, by teaching.
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Praise the Lord. Like the way Pastor Kostin told
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us last week, to pray and to give word to one
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another. Praise the Lord. That is making disciples.
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That is, by practice, you are able to do these
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things. And he monitors that. Did you give what?
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Praise the Lord. That is making disciples. Praise
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the Lord. And so this is not just the practice
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of pastors to say, oh, do this or do that. Praise
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the Lord. It is the practice that every believer
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should embody. This is a practice that every
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believer should participate in to make disciples.
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Praise the Lord. That you know somebody. who
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is not born again and you preach to them and
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they believe the gospel and so you make you help
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them you teach them how to pray praise the lord
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and you pray with them praise the lord you will
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not just say did you pray today did you read
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your bible today praise the lord you teach them
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how to pray you teach them how to read the word
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you teach them and you pray with them so if you
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say okay let's pray for 30 minutes okay stay
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in your place pray for 30 minutes No, you also
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pray with them. Praise the Lord. Because you're
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more matured and you know the mind of God concerning
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what a disciple should be. So, you see, it is
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God's intention that he has people that are trained
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so that they can train others. Praise the Lord.
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He has people that are trained so that they can
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train others. So some of the things that we do
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in church, it's not because we're trying to stress
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you. It's not because we're trying to see that
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you are, you don't, let's say, enjoy yourself.
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Praise the Lord. It's not that we're trying to
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see, where is that your free time? Let's collect
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every free time from you. Remember some teachers
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in secondary school, when they find out that
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your class, the class is making noise, they will
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just come in and say, ah. This class, what do
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you have? Say, free time. They will go and bring
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their notes. No, they will not even go and bring
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their notes. They will say, somebody should go
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to my office, get their notes. They will come
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and they will start teaching you. Because some
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of them is because they want to teach you. Some
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of them is because you're making noise. And they
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want to tell you that there's no free time here.
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Praise the Lord. That's not the pastor's intention.
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Our intention is not to say, oh, okay, from Monday
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evening, you actually have nothing to do. So,
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come. Come and sit down for three hours. Let's
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teach you something. Or come and pray for this
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long. No, that's not the intention. The intention
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is that you are trained so that you can train
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others. Praise the Lord. That you are not a child
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in the things of God. That you are not... You're
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very matured. Praise the Lord. You're very matured.
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So that also your children... A lot of us give
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our life to Christ. We believe the gospel. Right?
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because we left our parents. We came somewhere,
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somebody preached to us. We had the gospel first.
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We understood it first from somewhere else, not
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because our parents taught us, right? Maybe they
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took us to church, they did their best. They
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did their very best. A lot of our parents, maybe
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you're not seeing it now, but you soon see it,
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that they did their best. Praise the Lord. They
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did their best in all that they gave us. Praise
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the Lord. But we discover that, you know, we
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begin to know more about God. Improper understanding
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when we are outside of them. That's not the intention
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of God. Praise the Lord. It's that as a mother,
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as a father, your children know the Lord because
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of you. Praise the Lord. The people in your office,
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the people in your community know Christ because
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of you. Because you model it by practice. Praise
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the Lord. You show them the things of the Lord.
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They will not hear the things of the Spirit after
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a while. Praise the Lord. Oh, they will not say,
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growing up, you see people praying in tongues.
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People say, what are they saying? Praise the
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Lord. And so we just say it. That's not what
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God wants you to be like. He don't want you to
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be saying, just do it. No, we're not Nike. Okay?
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We'll not just do it. We'll explain to you why
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you should do it. Praise the Lord. We have a
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reason. We'll explain to you why you should do
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it. So it's God's intention that he wants disciples
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that are trained. That is believers who will
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train others. Praise the Lord. Who will train
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others. Which means that the church is an ongoing
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training. Praise the Lord. Which means that this
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church, what we have here, is an ongoing training.
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Every day that we gather, every time that we
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gather, it is a training session. Praise the
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Lord. It is a training session. So that's why
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we say, are you with your pen? Are you writing?
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Because it is a training session. We're trying
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to model something by practice. Praise the Lord.
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We're trying to model something by practice.
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That's why we asked you to come with your pen.
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That's why we want to know if you attended the
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schools, whether you attended the cell meetings.
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That's why we say you should attend Foundation
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School. Praise the Lord. Because the church is
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an ongoing training. We want you to attend the
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meetings because... We want you to be trained
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and that is the will of God. So that's why you
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will discover that you don't have comedians coming
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to make you laugh. Praise the Lord. We laugh
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in the Holy Ghost. Hallelujah. Do we laugh in
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the Holy Ghost? Can somebody laugh in the Holy
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Ghost? Praise the Lord. So instead of having
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people coming to tell us jokes, We know that
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joy comes from where? It comes from inside. Praise
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the Lord. Isn't there somebody coming to tell
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us something that will just make you start laughing?
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Joy comes from the inside. You don't need that.
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Praise the Lord. You have joy from the inside
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of you. Praise the Lord. I'm sure some of your
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friends, maybe who are drinking, who are partying,
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they will ask you, is your life very boring?
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What are you doing? How do you get joy? How do
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you get away? What is your get away? activity.
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Praise the Lord. Where do you go to ease off?
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To, you know, to ease your stress. Are you in
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the club? Are you drinking? What are you doing?
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Praise the Lord. You will tell them that way,
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that joy comes from the inside. Praise the Lord.
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You're not looking for external things to give
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you joy. Praise the Lord. You're not looking
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for external things to give you joy. So the church
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is an ongoing training. It is not a place of
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entertainment. Matthew chapter 13. See looking
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at to betraying Matthew. Matthew chapter 13 verse
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52. Then he said to them, Therefore every scribe
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instructed consigning the kingdom of heaven is
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like a householder who brings out his treasure,
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new things and old. Praise the Lord. Every scribe
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instructed. That word instructed is the same
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word as to be trained. Praise the Lord. It's
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the same word there. So scribes, as we know them,
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are people who are scholars. People that know
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the scriptures. People that are scholars. Praise
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the Lord. People that are scholars. They know
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the scriptures. They know the scriptures. So
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by saying that the scribe is instructed into
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the kingdom of God, he's saying that they are
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what? They are retrained, right? They are learning
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and relearning. Praise the Lord. He's saying
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that they are learning and relearning, consigning
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the kingdom. Matthew chapter 27. Matthew chapter
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27 verse 57. So now came, sorry. Now when the
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evening had come, there came a rich man from
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Arimathea named Joseph, who himself also became
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a disciple, who himself had also become a disciple
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of Jesus. Praise the Lord. So we see here that
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a rich man. He's also a disciple of Jesus. Praise
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the Lord. He's a man of influence. Praise the
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Lord. So what this man was able to get, right,
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from the authorities concerning the Christ, he
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cannot get it if he's not an important person
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in the society. Praise the Lord. He cannot get
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it if he's not an important person in the society.
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So he was a man of influence. He was a wealthy
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man. Praise the Lord. He was well regarded in
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the society. Praise the Lord. But he's a disciple
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of Jesus. You see, who himself has also become
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a disciple of Jesus. This tells us that to be
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a disciple of Jesus, wealth and age is not a
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factor. Praise the Lord. Wealth and age is not
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a factor. Whether you're a wealthy, whether you're
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a person of influence, whether you're the governor
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or the president of your country, it does not
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matter. Praise the Lord. He himself has become
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a disciple of Jesus. And how he has accomplished
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that is because for him to become a disciple
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means that he has the attitude of a child as
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Jesus would encourage. Praise the Lord. To learn
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and relearn. Praise the Lord. To sit in the place
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of training. To be instructed. Praise the Lord.
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This is so important. So that you don't have
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people in your life, for example, let's say you
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know somebody who maybe his father is the maybe
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a military officer in your country and there
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he's your friend. Praise the Lord. You are now
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Instead of you to think of, and the person does
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not know God or is not discipled or is not trained,
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instead of you to be looking and say, ah, this
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person, you know, their father is rich, you know,
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what can I tell them? All of this. Praise the
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Lord. You will have this attitude that it does
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not matter the influence that they have. It does
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not matter the age that they are, their age,
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right? They have to be discipled. They need discipleship.
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They have to be. instructed. Praise the Lord.
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So you don't be one of those people that are
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just following them and say, ah, this person,
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who knows? If I tell him about Christ now, you
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know, say, I need to try to organize my future.
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Maybe he would, if he does not accept now, or
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maybe if he does not like what I'm saying, he
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might just block the way for me in the future.
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Praise the Lord. No, you don't think about things
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like that. Praise the Lord. You think as the
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person needs to be discipled, the person need
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to be trained. Again, sometimes people who are
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advancing in age will also think that they don't
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need discipleship. Praise the Lord. They don't
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need to go through the same process that every
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other person is going through. This is where
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there are young people. That is not the thing
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that Christ intends. Praise the Lord. It does
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not matter your age. You are supposed to be trained.
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Praise the Lord. As you are in church, you are
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supposed to be trained. You are supposed to be
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going through the same process as every other
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person is going through. They need discipleship,
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irrespective of their age, irrespective of their
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influence, irrespective of the things that they
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have acquired. Praise the Lord. Are we learning
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something? So Jesus is saying, go and train and
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retrain people. Praise the Lord. Go and train
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and retrain people. When you see somebody that
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is not trained or you feel like the person is
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not trained properly, retrain the person. Praise
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the Lord. That's what we're doing as a church,
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right? You came with some knowledge. You came
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with this and that. You receive a retraining.
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Praise the Lord. You learn again. You learn again.
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Some of the testimonies that people have, that
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they have this attitude of, you know, it is you
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alone. I don't really need anybody. But he found
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out that they need people. Praise the Lord. He
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found out that people are there to ensure that
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they get to the level in which they ought to
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get. So for us to get to the level at which God
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intends for us, we need to be trained. We need
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to go out there and train and we train people.
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Praise the Lord. So how are we going to train
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people? How do we train people? What is the process
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of training? If you like. So in Matthew 28, it
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tells us in verse 20, it's a teaching them to
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observe all the things I've commanded you and
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lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the
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age. So the process of training, how we do training
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is by teaching. Praise the Lord. The process
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of training, right, is what? By teaching. Praise
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the Lord. This word is the word didasko. It is
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by teaching. D -I -D -A -S -K -O, right? Which
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means that discipleship involves teaching. Praise
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the Lord. Discipleship is not... Okay, please,
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get me water. Please go and iron my clothes.
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Is the car ready? Go and turn the car and bring
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it closer. Praise the Lord. Discipleship involves
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training. It involves teaching. Praise the Lord.
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What are we teaching? We are teaching the Word.
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Praise the Lord. So that you will not grow and
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then you say you have a disciple and then the
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disciple is like boy boy for you. Or he's ironing
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your clothes and he's running around for you.
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And he's not receiving any, he's not growing.
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He's not receiving any word from you. Praise
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the Lord. Discipleship involves teaching, to
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instruct, right? It means to educate, right?
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Didasko means to instruct. It means to educate
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someone. It means to educate. So we can call
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the church, or we can say that the church is
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a Bible school. Praise the Lord. The church is
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a Bible school. The church is a Bible school.
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It is called or should be a Bible school. Every
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church, every gathering of believers ought to
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be a Bible school. Praise the Lord. It ought
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to be a Bible school. The Bible is where we get
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our information. Praise the Lord. It is where
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we get our wisdom. It is where we get direction.
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Praise the Lord. It is where we get wisdom, where
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we get understanding, where we get instructions
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for our lives. Praise the Lord. So the church
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ought to be a Bible school, where you come to
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receive teaching. Praise the Lord. To receive
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teaching, to be educated. Praise the Lord. To
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be instructed. So, it means that the church has,
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or when you come under the Bible school, you
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are ought to be taught the proper subjects. Praise
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the Lord. You are ought to be taught rightly.
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Praise the Lord. You are ought to be taught the
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right things, the right way. Praise the Lord.
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So imagine this is a civil engineering department.
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Imagine a second year, first semester, first
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year, second semester student, and all they were
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teaching you, henceforth, was chemistry. Praise
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the Lord. Chemistry is good, but at that stage
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of civil engineering, you do not need chemistry.
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Praise the Lord. So imagine you come to church
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and then you are... You just come and you don't
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receive the word. You're not being taught. That's
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not what you need. Praise the Lord. What you
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need at this stage is not other things. You need
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teaching. Praise the Lord. So the church ought
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to be a place, a Bible school. Praise the Lord.
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So the way Jesus is saying, teaching them to
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observe all the things I've commanded you and
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lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the
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age. Verse 20. Praise the Lord. He's saying that,
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or Jesus is saying that you cannot develop your
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own curriculum. Praise the Lord. You cannot develop
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your own body of knowledge. Praise the Lord.
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He's saying to teach them all the things, right?
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Teaching them to observe all the things I've
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commanded you. So he had taught them something.
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Praise the Lord. He has taught them something,
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right? Something in which they also have observed.
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That is, they have lived that also. Praise the
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Lord. Something, he has taught them something.
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So you cannot develop your own curriculum. This
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is what we are teaching. This is our area of
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focus. This is what we are going to do in this
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church. Praise the Lord. So as we go, as we leave
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this place, right? And you have the opportunities
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to teach, right? You are teaching the things
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that Christ has taught. Praise the Lord. You're
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not developing your own body of knowledge. You
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cannot say that maybe as you are starting a new
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work, that your focus is the worship of God.
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Praise the Lord. Your focus. is how to help people
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utilize their potential as a church. Praise the
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Lord. You cannot say that your purpose or your
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focus as a church is helping people discover
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purpose. Praise the Lord. There are purpose for
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their lives. Praise the Lord. You're supposed
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to do what? Teaching them to observe all the
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things that Christ has commanded. Praise the
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Lord. Thank you for listening to our sermon today.
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We hope you were blessed by this teaching. If
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you want to learn more about our church, please
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visit our website or follow us on social media.
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We would love to connect with you and hear your
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feedback. Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast
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channel and share it with your friends and family.
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You never know who might need a word of encouragement.