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Morning Devotion from John: Our Nation Over God · The BLAZE (Bible Study)

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Speaker 1: We're going to continue in the book of John doing
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Speaker 1: some morning devotions all through the book of John. The
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Speaker 1: idea is to take a couple of verses from every
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Speaker 1: chapter of the book of John and we're going to
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Speaker 1: devote some time. Today is John chapter 11, verses 47
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Speaker 1: and 48. I'm calling this one, Our Nation Over God.
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Speaker 1: And you got to wait because it sounds like, what?
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Speaker 1: What are you talking about? Your nation over your God. Well,
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Speaker 1: I'm going to explain that through the scriptures in a
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Speaker 1: couple of minutes. So let's go straight to the scriptures.
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Speaker 1: My apologies for the tech issues. But it looks like
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Speaker 1: we're okay now, hopefully. Amen. Tech is only good when
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Speaker 1: it works. I always tell people that. So listen, let's
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Speaker 1: read the scripture. John chapter 11, verses 47 and 48.
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Speaker 1: The Bible says, Then the chief priests and Pharisees convened
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Speaker 1: the Sanhedrin and said, What are we to do? This
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Speaker 1: is the chief priests and Pharisees asking this question. What
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Speaker 1: are we to do? This man is performing many signs.
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Speaker 1: Verse 48. If we let him go on like this,
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Speaker 1: everyone will believe in him. And then the Romans will
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Speaker 1: come and take away both our place and our nation. Wow.
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Speaker 1: That's what these people were worrying about. The chief priests,
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Speaker 1: the religious leaders of Jesus' time, Pharisees, right? Had this
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Speaker 1: meeting and said, what are we going to do? Jesus
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Speaker 1: is performing all these miracles and signs. If we let this,
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Speaker 1: as if they had control over the God-man, but we're
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Speaker 1: going to read or we're going to study this further
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Speaker 1: out or devote this time to the Lord and really
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Speaker 1: dig into why this happens. Because it's still happening now,
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Speaker 1: ladies and gentlemen. That's a disclaimer. It's still happening now.
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Speaker 1: People are putting their nation, America, They're not putting Jesus first.
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Speaker 1: They're putting the nation first, their country first, their finances first,
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Speaker 1: their children first even. That sounds noble, right? Their marriage
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Speaker 1: sounds noble. They're putting that before God. The religious leaders
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Speaker 1: had a big problem. And I think religious leaders today
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Speaker 1: have the same problem. It's not because Jesus is doing
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Speaker 1: something wrong. Jesus has been never recorded to do anything wrong.
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Speaker 1: He's the perfect God-man. It's because people are afraid, religious
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Speaker 1: leaders are afraid, and during Jesus' time this was happening,
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Speaker 1: they were afraid of what might happen to their nation, right?
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Speaker 1: Their position and their way of living, their way of life.
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Speaker 1: They didn't want anything to change. They wanted to be
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Speaker 1: in the comfort zone that they were currently in. Not
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Speaker 1: understanding that the nation that they were in really didn't
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Speaker 1: like them. Right? They saw the miracles. They knew Jesus
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Speaker 1: was doing extraordinary things. Extraordinary things, right? Extraordinary. And they
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Speaker 1: were intimidated by that. Some people right now are intimidated
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Speaker 1: by me and intimidated by you because we serve the holy, living, loving,
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Speaker 1: righteous God. And because we serve the holy, living, righteous God,
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Speaker 1: they see that we're not going to be intimidated. We're
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Speaker 1: not going to be forced into a corner where we
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Speaker 1: have to lash out Like, our peace comes from God.
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Speaker 1: If you're a child of God, your peace comes from God. Really,
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Speaker 1: nobody could really antagonize you or me to step out
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Speaker 1: of character. Let the evil do what evil does. Let
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Speaker 1: the unwise do what the unwise do. Let the unsaved
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Speaker 1: do what the unsaved do. Right? God knows all things.
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Speaker 1: He knows our heart. He knows our position in Him. Amen?
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Speaker 1: And as long as we put in Jesus Christ first,
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Speaker 1: as long as we put in the Lord first, amen,
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Speaker 1: God first, and everything else will follow. Nothing wrong with
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Speaker 1: what Jesus was doing, right? Instead of surrendering to God,
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Speaker 1: people tend to surrender to their circumstances, right? I'm going
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Speaker 1: to say that again. Instead of surrendering yourself to God,
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Speaker 1: people surrender themselves to situations. So they saw miracles. They
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Speaker 1: knew Jesus was doing things. Instead of surrendering to God,
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Speaker 1: they became more concerned about protecting what they already had.
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Speaker 1: We don't want this to change. We're Roman citizens, and
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Speaker 1: the government, they thought, was on their side. They were
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Speaker 1: being used just to control. They would damage control. They
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Speaker 1: didn't want this religion that the Pharisees, Sadducees, and all
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Speaker 1: these people, they didn't want it to spread that much unregulated.
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Speaker 1: They wanted to regulate the spread of The faith that
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Speaker 1: the Jews, Pharisees, chief priests, right? They said, you could
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Speaker 1: do your stuff in the corner. Sounds familiar? In America,
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Speaker 1: they tell Christians that you could do that, but just
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Speaker 1: don't spread it amongst the workplaces. Don't spread it in
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Speaker 1: the marketplace. Stay in your own little corner. Stay in
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Speaker 1: your own little churches. We don't want people to come
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Speaker 1: out and experience what you guys are experiencing. Because if
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Speaker 1: it's true, then they know there's going to be a
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Speaker 1: change in the nation. It's not going to be, I
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Speaker 1: don't think it's going to be a theocratic nation or
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Speaker 1: theocratic rule here because of us. It's not going to
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Speaker 1: be a Christian nation like people say that America was.
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Speaker 1: But what's going to happen is that religious people are
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Speaker 1: going to stand against the true believer in Christ. Why?
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Speaker 1: They saw everything. You could see plainly that there's a
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Speaker 1: difference between a churchgoer and a born-again believer. You can
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Speaker 1: see the difference between someone who leads a religion than
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Speaker 1: someone who has a relationship with God. It's a difference.
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Speaker 1: So they feared Jesus in a way because Jesus was
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Speaker 1: revealing the truth of the gospel. Right? They fear change.
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Speaker 1: People fear change. So their fear revealed something deeper. They
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Speaker 1: were willing to put the nation... above the one who
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Speaker 1: created it. Man, I wish I had a mic. I
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Speaker 1: would have dropped it right there. They wanted to put
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Speaker 1: their nation above the one who created the nation. Now,
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Speaker 1: isn't that something? That's the mic with Jakes. Good morning.
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Speaker 1: God bless you. Got you in my prayers, my friend
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Speaker 1: and my bro. Amen. Heartfelt post that I read that
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Speaker 1: you posted. So, we can make the same mistake today
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Speaker 1: if we're not careful And we're not focusing on the
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Speaker 1: purpose of why we are here. Some people see everything
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Speaker 1: that they have and look at their possessions and like,
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Speaker 1: I'm blessed. Yeah, you're blessed. Amen. Remember who the blesser is.
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Speaker 1: Remember those possessions were placed or given to you or
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Speaker 1: you were entrusted to steward over those possessions to do
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Speaker 1: kingdom work. It's not for us to hoard money, hoard possessions.
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Speaker 1: It's me, me, me, like an opera singer, right? It's
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Speaker 1: not all about what we can do. It's all about
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Speaker 1: what God has done and what he wants to do
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Speaker 1: through you and me. That's what happens. So we're never
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Speaker 1: going to put the nation over our God. But we
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Speaker 1: can plainly see that these chief priests and Pharisees in
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Speaker 1: the scripture, in John chapter 11, 47, 48, they were like,
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Speaker 1: what are we going to do with this man, Jesus?
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Speaker 1: Because He's doing all kind of signs. And if we
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Speaker 1: let this go on, everyone will start believing in him.
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Speaker 1: I don't know if that's a hyperbole, everyone, because we
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Speaker 1: obviously know that it wouldn't have been everyone, because obviously
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Speaker 1: the chief priests and Pharisees weren't going to believe. Some
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Speaker 1: of them probably did, secretly, because they didn't want to
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Speaker 1: get thrown out of the Sanhedrin. But anyway, the Romans,
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Speaker 1: they felt, the government, they felt, will take away their rights.
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Speaker 1: and their nation, right? And their citizenship. Whatever they were
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Speaker 1: worrying about, I think that was fueled by fear. And fear,
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Speaker 1: we know, is not the spirit of God. God didn't
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Speaker 1: give us the spirit of fear. So where did that
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Speaker 1: spirit come from? There's nothing wrong with loving your country,
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Speaker 1: first and foremost, right? A lot of people love America,
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Speaker 1: love wherever you live, right? Whatever country you're from, your nation.
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Speaker 1: There's nothing really wrong, kind of, you know, as long
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Speaker 1: as you don't put that love over it. God. See
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Speaker 1: you little. God bless, bro. Good morning. Good morning. And
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Speaker 1: he has the never forget on his profile picture, man. Yeah, 9-11, man.
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Speaker 1: We will never forget that. Rocked my world. Rocked my nation.
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Speaker 1: Rocked everybody, man. And praying for all those families who
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Speaker 1: were affected, man. It's just tough. Seeing that on our
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Speaker 1: soil in New York, that was crazy. So, America is
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Speaker 1: not God, though. That's the point. It's not. It's OK. OK.
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Speaker 1: You love America. Amen. But America is not your God,
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Speaker 1: not my God. Our political party, whichever one, whatever side
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Speaker 1: you stand on, even if you're independent or whatever the case,
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Speaker 1: it's not your savior. Right. Our leaders that we are
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Speaker 1: told to pray for wherever you're from, if you're following
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Speaker 1: the scriptures, we're supposed to pray for our leaders, wherever
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Speaker 1: nation you're living in. It's not God. Our culture, although
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Speaker 1: like me, I'm part of the hip hop culture. You
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Speaker 1: might not notice it anymore, but I am. Amen. I
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Speaker 1: can't hide that. First generation of hip-hop, you know, all
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Speaker 1: that stuff. But it's not my God. It's not my Savior, right?
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Speaker 1: God must remain first in my life and in your life.
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Speaker 1: What about that? And to some people, that's challenging. You know,
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Speaker 1: we got a lot going on. Very busy, right? I'm
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Speaker 1: always on the move personally. Amen? I got something to
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Speaker 1: do right after this. But God is first. as long
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Speaker 1: as I keep that perspective and you keep that perspective,
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Speaker 1: I believe, although life is going to life, right? Life
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Speaker 1: is going to keep on lifing. We're going to have issues, trials, tribulation.
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Speaker 1: Jesus even promised that we're going to have trials and tribulations, right?
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Speaker 1: But he said, but be of good cheer because he's
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Speaker 1: already come to this world system, right? Overcome the world system. Amen.
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Speaker 1: So that way we can have a life and a
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Speaker 1: life in abundance. He would never leave you. He would
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Speaker 1: never leave me. He would never forget about us. Amen.
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Speaker 1: And We're in good hands when it comes to the Lord.
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Speaker 1: We're in good hands. You're in good hands. Trust him.
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Speaker 1: So Jesus calls us to what? He calls us first
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Speaker 1: to seek his kingdom and his righteousness. His kingdom and
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Speaker 1: his righteousness. Why would he tell us to do that?
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Speaker 1: It's because he knew that we're going to get distracted
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Speaker 1: by the glamour, the glitz, the fame, the fortune, right?
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Speaker 1: The relationships, the social media, the trolls, right? And I'm
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Speaker 1: starting to notice a lot of people have this vocabulary
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Speaker 1: now that you only see on social media. I look
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Speaker 1: at my daughter. She's going to be 12. And she
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Speaker 1: says these words. I said, what is that? What does
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Speaker 1: that mean? You know, all these words. I'm not even
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Speaker 1: going to repeat it. To me, I know where it's
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Speaker 1: coming from. It's not in the dictionary. It's not really
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Speaker 1: a slang. It's a made-up social media, social media-type word.
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Speaker 1: You know, you're probably thinking of some now. But we
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Speaker 1: never spoke like this before. So there's a new language
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Speaker 1: being spoken through social media that we're starting to repeat
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Speaker 1: and making these words up that if you look them up,
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Speaker 1: they don't mean nothing. But now on social media and
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Speaker 1: on Google and on these platforms, they're making definitions for
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Speaker 1: these words that are around social media. God firsts. Seek
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Speaker 1: the kingdom of God first and his righteousness and the
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Speaker 1: Bible promised that everything else will be added on to us.
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Speaker 1: Matthew chapter six, verse 33 for reference. So our ultimate citizenship,
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Speaker 1: our ultimate citizenship is not determined by a flag, ladies
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Speaker 1: and gentlemen. Whatever flag you raise is all good. We
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Speaker 1: had a flag ceremony, I think last week and I
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Speaker 1: wasn't there, but I saw the pictures and a lot
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Speaker 1: of people I knew were in the flag ceremony and
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Speaker 1: they were raising the flags for the country and praying
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Speaker 1: for those countries. Nothing wrong with that. Right. But our
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Speaker 1: ultimate citizenship is not determined by a flag, not determined
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Speaker 1: by a border, a political party or government. Our identity.
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Speaker 1: We raise the banner of Jesus. Right. Our identity is
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Speaker 1: found in Christ. If you belong to the Lord, your
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Speaker 1: identity is in the Lord. And it's OK. I know
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Speaker 1: it's unpopular. I know this is very unpopular. This message,
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Speaker 1: what I stand for, what I believe, very unpopular. Listen,
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Speaker 1: I had some popularity in my life before when I
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Speaker 1: was younger. Amen. I'm not looking for that now because
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Speaker 1: there's too many people involved and you can't tell who's
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Speaker 1: who when you're in that popularity cycle. You don't know
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Speaker 1: if they really love you, if they're really for you,
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Speaker 1: if they just want something from you. Are they backbiting?
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Speaker 1: Are they going to talk about you? Are they going
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Speaker 1: to help you? Are they going to hurt you? You
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Speaker 1: know what I'm saying? Skip all of that. Jesus first.
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Speaker 1: The question isn't how can I protect my nation at
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Speaker 1: all costs? The deeper question is, am I willing to
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Speaker 1: follow God even when following Him challenges my nation, challenges
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Speaker 1: my culture, challenges my politics, or challenges my personal comfort? Now,
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Speaker 1: that's when you're going to know what you're really all about.
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Speaker 1: As soon as these things start challenging your comfort, your nation,
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Speaker 1: your surroundings, what you're doing right now, because God first
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Speaker 1: is becoming a challenge in your life, you just need
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Speaker 1: to relax, breathe a little bit, and realize that Jesus
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Speaker 1: is worth putting first. Amen? The religious people at the
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Speaker 1: Lord's time, and I believe the religious leaders of our time,
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Speaker 1: fear losing their position, their nation. They completely will miss
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Speaker 1: out on what the Messiah, the Lord Jesus, standing right
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Speaker 1: in front of them at the time and is evident
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Speaker 1: in our time, who the Lord is, right in front
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Speaker 1: of them, they're going to miss the message. Amen? And
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Speaker 1: the message is love, grace, mercy. The message is of hope,
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Speaker 1: eternal life. The message is of the promises of the
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Speaker 1: Lord Jesus. Don't make the same mistake. Right? Don't make
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Speaker 1: the same mistake. It can happen to anybody. But listen,
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Speaker 1: this is the tough part of the Christian life, at
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Speaker 1: least in my opinion, when you have to do these
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Speaker 1: things according to the scripture. You could love your country
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Speaker 1: but don't worship the country. Worship God. You can honor
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Speaker 1: your nation, but don't put the nation before your obedience
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Speaker 1: to Christ. You can pray for your leaders. We're commanded
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Speaker 1: to pray for our leaders. That's a beautiful thing. Let's
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Speaker 1: pray for our leaders, good or bad, left or right,
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Speaker 1: you know, depending. Pray for your leaders and trust God
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Speaker 1: that God will take care of the leadership. You know
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Speaker 1: what I'm saying? Like, I don't know why people take
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Speaker 1: this so personally. Oh, this president and this governor, and
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Speaker 1: they act like they are really being controlled by these people.
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Speaker 1: But actually, you're not if you're a Christ born again believer, right?
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Speaker 1: We're not. Amen? You trust in God, we continue moving.
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Speaker 1: God bless you. See you later. Have a great day.
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Speaker 1: Love you too, man. Thank you for coming through. So
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Speaker 1: defend what is right, but never replace God with anything.
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Speaker 1: that you think is right or I think is right.
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Speaker 1: I know we all want to be right, right? I
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Speaker 1: want to be right. I want to win arguments, but
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Speaker 1: more so I want to win souls for the Lord
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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. So we're told to love our enemies, right?
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Speaker 1: Not to hate our enemies. We're told to do these
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Speaker 1: things that if you think about it, Jesus always shows
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Speaker 1: up and tells us to do things that are contrary
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Speaker 1: to the current culture or to the norm. So when
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Speaker 1: Jesus shows up, He's basically challenging the religious leaders of
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Speaker 1: his time and still challenges the religious leaders of our time.
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Speaker 1: That who are we going to put first? Right? Is
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Speaker 1: it government over God? Right? Is it the nation over God?
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Speaker 1: The country over God? Your comfort over God? Or your
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Speaker 1: comfort over Christ? What is it? And I know that
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Speaker 1: Holy Spirit right now is challenging us. Right? He is
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Speaker 1: actually examining us right now You allow the Lord Jesus,
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Speaker 1: you allow the Holy Spirit to examine your heart. Amen?
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Speaker 1: That's a challenging thing. And although he'll challenge our way
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Speaker 1: of thinking, he's always right. He's always going to be right.
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Speaker 1: Follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Get on the path of righteousness.
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Speaker 1: You're going to find out that it's not a popular thing.
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Speaker 1: It's not a wide road. It's a narrow road to
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Speaker 1: the truth. But it's so worth it, right? Your circle
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Speaker 1: probably will shrink, or maybe not. In your situation, your
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Speaker 1: circle might grow. You might be on a path of
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Speaker 1: unrighteousness right now and people are just like disappearing out
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Speaker 1: of your life and then you trust in God. Now
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Speaker 1: you have a family, right? Now you have a gathering
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Speaker 1: of people who really trust Jesus, who love God, so
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Speaker 1: therefore they could truly love you and love me. So
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Speaker 1: we make these decisions daily, right? And we know that
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Speaker 1: without God, nothing. But with God, we can do all
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Speaker 1: things through Christ Jesus who gives us the strength to
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Speaker 1: get it done, right? I hope you know that. But
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Speaker 1: I'm out of time. Amen. Thank you so much for
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Speaker 1: hanging out with me for the morning Devo. Lord willing,
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Speaker 1: we'll get back together soon and we'll get into the
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Speaker 1: next chapter of the book of John. Lord willing. Amen.
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Speaker 1: Pray for me and my family. I'll continue to pray
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Speaker 1: for you and your family. This prayer request already this
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Speaker 1: morning that I had. Amen. Heartfelt prayer request. Thank you
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Speaker 1: for trusting me with your prayer request. Amen. So God
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Speaker 1: bless you all. God keep you all. And remember always
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Speaker 1: that God is good. Peace.