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Relentless Faith | Ps TeeJay Davidson · Citipointe Church Caboolture

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Hey, welcome to the City Point Church podcast.
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Thanks for joining us. Every day is an opportunity to
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take hold of. So we hope this message inspires
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you and build your faith that it helps you have more of a God
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perspective for your day. Enjoy.
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As we raise our hand to heaven, can we just open up our hands
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and lift our hands to heaven? And Father, we just thank you in
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this meeting right now. You've been moving in this place
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already. And God, where the Spirit of the
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living God is, there is freedom. Today we take up that freedom,
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but also we invite you in today to our hearts, our minds, our
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ears and our eyes for the revelation of the Word.
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Help us to apply it today. We thank you Holy Spirit, as you
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take over right now. In Jesus name we said Amen.
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You may be seated in the wonderful presence of our living
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God. Today I'm going to talk about
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the subject of faith. Faith.
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Not just a wishy washy faith, but a faith that would hold on
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to the hem of Jesus, a faith that would breakthrough as
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friends and lower them down to get their friend healed.
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That sort of faith. Not a wishy washy faith when
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circumstances and life get in the way and you decrease, but a
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relentless faith. And that's the title of my
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message today that we're going to speak about is a relentless
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faith. We're going to go through the
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story of the Centurion and look at the application of the faith,
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but also the hero of the story, Jesus Christ.
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Everyone all over the world puts their faith in something.
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Some people put their faith in sport, some people put their
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faith in work, some people put faith in money.
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But let me tell you today that where our faith belongs only in
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one person, and that's Jesus Christ.
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The effects of us putting faith in things that are dead, that
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will wash away one day, that will perish, and that our faith
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will perish with it, but our faith in Christ will never
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perish. Amen.
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Every time I get in my car, I have faith that it's going to
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go. Every time I know I have faith,
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I get in and I go. You know what?
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This is going to take me to my destination and it's going to
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bring me back home. And if it didn't, I wouldn't
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have it. I'd boot the car and get another
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one. We are designed as people to
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have faith and live by faith as the world taught at the Word
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tells us that we shall live by faith and not by sight.
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And that is what the Word see. Some of us, we have little
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faith, but you see it through the Bible.
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Some have a little bit more faith and some people have a
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little bit more faith. Some have medium faith and some
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have great crazy, relentless faith.
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You could see this when Jesus was in the boat with his
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disciples and the waves, they hit the boat, the wind come, the
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situation had turned dire. They thought they were going to
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die in the boat and they cried out and Jesus responds in
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Matthew 8 chapter 8 verses 26 in the NIV version says this as he
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replies you of little faith, why are you so afraid?
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And see, Jesus makes this connection with little faith and
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being afraid. You see, this is the problem why
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when a fear comes in and and people start to freak out and be
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afraid and go, oh, look at that life situation or look at this,
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this problem, this financial hardship.
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This person said this to me. That person said, so you
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couldn't believe it and they become afraid instead of holding
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on to the faith of the word and says, God, I remember you said
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you'll never leave me nor forsake me.
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It doesn't matter what people say, but what you say, God have
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faith in that. And all of a sudden fear and
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that afraidness grows strangely dim.
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See, it's by the word of God that we gain our faith because
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what does the word say? Faith comes from hearing and
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hearing the Word of God. That's where faith comes from.
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But doubt and and and and struggle and fear comes from not
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hearing, not being in the Word, not knowing the Word, not not
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knowing that God says what He said He would do when His
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promises are His promises. I know from the Word of God that
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no weapon formed against me shall prosper.
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Some of us need to capture that today when the winds and the
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waves of life come about, we need to say, you know what, God?
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I know I can see in the physical what's going on because I don't
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live by sight. I live by faith.
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But I'm going to stand on your word, God.
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I'm going to stand on this promise to say, yes, I'll go
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again. Yes, you're for me, God.
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If you're for me, who can be against me?
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Who can be against me? God, I have faith in that and a
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trust in that. But beloved, we can't get faith
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from something else unless we're in his word, unless we're of his
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word, unless we are with Jesus, because he is the word.
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And as I continue on, it says, and then he got up and rebuked
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the winds and the waves and it was completely calm.
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Completely calm. That's what happens when you
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take up the word of God. You could walk into the worst of
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worst situations and you go, God, I'm going in with your word
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in the faith. That relentless faith.
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This isn't going to push me back, but it's going to propel
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me. For the very storm that the life
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has stirred up has only made me soar higher.
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Oh God, I could walk into any situation and God Almighty, your
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word in the faith, it's completely calm.
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There could be chaos, but God, in my mind, the storm is still.
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The storm is still. We need to have that relentless
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faith. That's the faith I want.
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I'm preaching to myself here today, relentless faith, faith
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that doesn't pull back in, in circumstances and situations.
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It's the hardships but relentless faith that pushes
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through. And as we go through the story
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of the Centurion, I want to lay a foundation of context of this
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story. We're going to go through
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Matthew 8, but before we get there, just want to show you
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that the Centurion is a, a commander of a Roman army in
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charge of a round of 100 men. And in this story, in this
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event, we see that he was most likely in charge of that region
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there, a gentile like us, like you and I.
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And in the parallel story, you see in Luke 7, you see that
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there was a report. He had a good reputation, this
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centurion. He was a man that loved the
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nation and he helped build the synagogue.
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The parallel story here, and this is very rare because
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usually the Roman soldier, they're very like you got me
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shield. You know, you got me sword, get
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out of me way. Come here.
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You help me walk a mile. You can carry my stuff.
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But this man was different as you'll see the story unfold in
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Matthew chapter 8 and we'll start at verses 5.
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Ready. Follow me.
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Open up your Bibles and get ready to receive from the Word.
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And it says this. And when Jesus had entered
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Caperna, a centurion come to him asking for help.
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Who knows when Jesus enters a region, there isn't a great
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disturbance. It's like, you know what?
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The region just received healing.
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You know when Jesus enters a place, people are getting free.
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You know, when Jesus enters a place, demonic is gold, you
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know, restoration, you know relationships are going to be
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restored. You know that there's
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redemption. You know that there's
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reconciliation. And that's for you and I,
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beloved, that's for you and I today.
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When he enters a place, let me tell you, the greatest place
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Jesus has ever entered is in the heart of humanity.
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In the heart of humanity, because the Bible says that our
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hearts are wicked. But when Jesus is the Lord of
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our heart, that's when he starts to reign in your life.
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Have I got some reigning Christians here today?
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Have I got some people with the living God in them?
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Come on, raise up a shout. Give him the praise.
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Like Pastor John said. So this centurion comes to him
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asking for help. In verse 6, he says Lord.
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See, he calls him Lord, not just Savior.
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We've got a lot of people just calling him Savior and they can
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do whatever they want because they're like, you know, I'm
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saved, I'm good, but not Lord. We've got to have Jesus as our
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Savior and Lord, Lord and Saviour, the Saviour.
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You know that Christ has broken off the power of sin.
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He's got you free. But Lord means you've got to
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action that faith out now. Lord means, oh God, not me, but
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you. Oh God, send me over there and
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the places maybe I don't necessarily want to go, but I'm
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going to go because you're the Lord of my life and his servant
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is at home. He said my servant lies at home
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paralyzed, suffering terribly in verse 6.
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Did you know that in the Roman law there, if a soldier in his
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what he was under, he could kill that man for being sick?
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It was in his right to do so because he wasn't fit.
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However, you see this centurion was concerned for a servant that
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could have been easily replaced. You see the heart of the man and
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let me tell you, that's for us here today to take up for our
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community because there's people who are lying sick, there's
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people who are paralysed in our community from this thing called
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sin. That's the effect of brokenness.
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Would we be like that servant and be like Jesus?
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Jesus, give me eyes to see the harvest field because you said
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it's plenty and I'm a Co labourer.
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You said there's few labourers. I don't want to be the few, I
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want to be the one that goes into the harvest field.
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God give me eyes to see. It's not just for the
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evangelist, it's for everyone here.
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You've got the hope of glory in you.
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Don't let people walk past you in the shopping center without
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saying God give me a word to encourage that person.
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God that kid there, he needs life spoken into him.
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That single mum over there. God, how can I be a blessing, a
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generous blessing? Could I pay for someone shopping
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today? Oh God, give me a now word
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everywhere I go. I've got to be a blessing.
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I've got to be a blessing. Our heart cry to God is for this
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community. Our hearts must break for this
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community, for people to know Jesus.
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That's our prayer, that's our heartbreak, that's our cry.
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That's why we do faith, love, hope for the benefit of the
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community. That's why we put up here every
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time. It's not for us.
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We're put on this earth not for us, but for God and for others.
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What do we put here on earth for for God and for others?
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Verses 7 says this. And Jesus said to him, and as
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what I noticed before I go on is as I observed the text and I
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stared at it and I stared at it and I stared at it to ponder on
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Scripture and it started to come alive in me.
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You know, that's the enemy. He's he's frightened of that the
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the word become flesh in US, not just on the book, but when the
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word becomes flesh in US and we action our faith, we don't just
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read it, we're action it. We go, oh God, I can apply this
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now. This is the faith in what you
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say. I heard Pastor John say it last
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week in his preach. Faith is the substance or the
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evidence. Is that right?
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Faith is the evidence of things not yet seen.
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Faith is the sorry. Faith is the evidence of things
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hopeful and evidence of things not yet seen.
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I correct myself. Sorry about that.
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Verses 7 And Jesus said to him, shall I come and heal him?
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What a question. As you look through these
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scriptures, you start to see the thread of prayer.
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The centurion comes to Jesus. He asked for help and Jesus
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response. But we've got to listen, we've
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got to speak, we've got to pray, but also listen to the response
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of God. And here's the response.
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Shall I come and heal him? If it was me, I'd be like, yes,
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please, this way. Here he is.
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And I'd be like, Jono, he's not a doctor.
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He's homeless. He's turned water.
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He said he turned water into wine.
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And he said that he's born a virgin.
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I think he's good. And if I was Jono, I'd be like,
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brother, please give me a doctor.
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But this response of the centurion is not like mine.
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He says something so incredibly like crazy, relentless faith,
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the centurion replied in verses 8.
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He said, Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof.
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Back then they, the Romans, they thought it was the opposite.
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You don't deserve to come under my roof.
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That's what he's saying. Sorry, I said.
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I do not deserve to have you come under my roof.
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But it was usually flipped the script.
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They thought that they were above had this authority ready.
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But just say the word and my servant will be healed.
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Just say the word. Where did he pick that up from?
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You know, I started to wonder in the scripture, where did he get
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this from? This is incredible.
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And I started to think and ponder, not trying to add stuff
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in the text, but was it because he was around the synagogue?
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Did he hear something? Did he hear the word of God
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maybe from Genesis where it said and God said, let there be light
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and there was light. And God said he hears something
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around the region that stirred up his faith and heard about
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this Jesus. And he took this word and said,
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you know what, man? I'm going to go to him.
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I'm not going to allow doubt from going from my servant to
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talk to Jesus to get in the way. I'm not going to walk along the
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way and say, oh, what if he rebukes me?
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I'm under 100 men. God, what if this, what if?
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What if? What if?
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What if it happens? What if it does?
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What if you pray for that person and they get healed?
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What happens if you invite that person and they come to church?
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What if verses 9 for I am myself under a man, a man under
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authority with soldiers under me.
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I tell this one go, and he goes and that one come and he comes.
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I say to my servant, do this and he does it.
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He says, I myself and my man under authority recognizes Jesus
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authority. See, there's something about
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faith and authority. See, when you have faith in the
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Word of God and you go God, and you see that your healing is in
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there, you have authority over that.
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Let me tell you, wherever you go, you have authority over your
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doubt. You have authority over it.
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Oh, doubt, you must go. You don't belong here.
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You don't belong. Fear, you must go.
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I got the faith for the Word of God says this and it's given me
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authority to do that. It's giving me the authority,
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God, faith and authority. Let me tell you, talk about
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faith and authority over life situations that could pop up all
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throughout the way of the centurion.
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But he didn't let hardships, he didn't let the rocking of the
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boat sway him. He didn't let the waves of the
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wind, He went and He sought after the one, the one that we
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call Lord, the one that we call King, the one just with one
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touch, the one that bring life, the one that came fully God in
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the flesh to example His Father in heaven.
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What an example that we have. But let me tell you, beloved,
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don't let the winds and the rocking of the waves and the
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bashing of the boat stop you today from having that faith,
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that relentless faith. If you've had a word spoken over
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your life, if you've had prophecy, if you've got vision,
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don't you dare let time take that away from you.
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Don't you dare let winds and waves and situations of life
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dare make you fall back. No, that means there's a storm
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coming for you to rise up to the equation, for you to have faith
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and authority in that situation. To soar.
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To soar, to soar over every doubt.
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Because that's what Jesus has done for us.
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He died on that cross and rose above every disease.
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He rose above every sickness. He rose above all of those
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things so that way we could have victory in him.
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Verses 10 says this. When Jesus heard this, he was
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amazed and he said to those following him, truly, I tell
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you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.
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You notice this centurion he went to Jesus, asked him, he got
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a response, but he he doesn't respond directly to the
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centurion. He starts talking to those
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following him. That can be like our prayer life
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too. Sometimes we talking to God,
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we're getting response and sometimes you feel like there's
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radio silence. And I ask God, Oh my God, you're
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always speaking. I know that.
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I know I'm the deaf one. I know that God, you're always
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speaking. You're speaking through your
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word. But sometimes it can be like
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that. And we could feel, oh God's not
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answering my prayer. Why?
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And we lose faith in the word that He's given us.
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Beloved, please, if it feels like radio silence, don't put
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down your faith in Him. Don't put down your faith in the
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word that's been spoken. Don't put down that vision.
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Don't put down those eyes for the community.
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Don't put down believing for that family member, for that
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friend. Pick it up and go.
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Pick it up and go. Pick it up and go.
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Beloved, don't let the radio silence pull you back.
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May it propel you forward to a deeper level of intimacy with
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him. And see, Jesus was amazed 2
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times in the Holy Bible. You see this here in the text
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with the great faith of the centurion.
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And the other one was in his own hometown where there was a lack
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of faith and he could only do a few miracles.
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And a Mark 6/6 in the NIV says this, and he was amazed at the
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lack of faith. He was amazed at that since the
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lack of faith is a disease and a sickness.
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It stops the very miracle of Christ, the work in our life and
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work in our community. We have a greater hope than
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that. And I'll tell you, I've got
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something I wrote down and got from the Lord and I just want to
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declare and decree over this church, beloved.
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So I want you years to be open to receive this right now
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because This Is Us, the body of Christ, the church.
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I declare and decree, beloved, that this church will not be
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found in a lack of faith, but a church that amazes the living
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God with it's incredible love for others and it's action faith
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to see this community to come to be in relationship with Jesus
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and receive freedom. This great Church of City Point
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N, which we call home, will be known for it's great faith, It's
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relentless faith. It's relentless faith.
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It's relentless faith. Come on City Point N, come on,
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speak it over yourself. I have relentless faith.
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Come on, speak it out. Ready on the count of 3123.
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I have relentless faith. So good.
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Verse 11 says this and I say to you that many will come from the
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East and the West and will take their places at the feast with
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Abraham, Isaac, Jacob in the Kingdom of heaven.
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What this means is Jesus has come.
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It's for everyone now. Doesn't matter if you're Aussie
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bogan, doesn't matter if you're esche, doesn't matter if you're
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rich, medium or poor. It's for everyone, everyone who
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believe and have faith in him and it would be the best gift
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you'd ever received called the gift, the free gift of grace of
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your life. It's for everyone here today as
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I sow into you today, I'll give you a little secret just between
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you and I that in the as I start to land the plane very shortly,
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I'm going to ask you today for those who don't know Jesus,
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would you action your faith? Then as a respond to that call,
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I'm going to give you an opportunity.
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But I just want to say this right now because as I was
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praying, I believe that the Holy Spirit is knocking on your door.
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For those who don't know Christ today, don't you dare leave this
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place without knowing him if you're not right with him
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because this is what will happen in verse 12 it says, but the
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subjects of the Kingdom will be thrown outside into the darkness
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into the darkness, the absence of light because God is light
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where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth or trying to
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fear someone into that place. But I'm trying to tell you a
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love story that God sent his only begotten Son to die on that
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cross for you and I because the the sin over our life caused
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brokenness that caused the effects of you see it, marriages
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broken, children broken to brokenness from this thing
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called sin and death. But Jesus come and knelt himself
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on the cross for you and I so that anyone who believe in him
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shall not perish but have eternal life.
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Let me tell you this eternal life here today, He's in the
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building. Take up him and you will have
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it. The gospel is for everyone.
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Verses 13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, that's the reply, Oh
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God, we've been waiting for a while.
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You finally replied, my face back up again.
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No, I had faith before that in the silence, God an actual fact
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you were strengthening me. Go, let it be done just as you
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believed it would. And his servant was healed at
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that moment. You know what I found in the
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Bible? That word go all throughout.
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You see David, he said, shall I go up there?
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And God says, go, Let me tell you, if you've got faith for
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something, don't wait, go. Go, beloved, go into the
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community and make disciples. Go.
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If God's been asking you to do this, go.
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If he's been giving you the faith to do that, go.
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If he's been calling you to evangelize, go.
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If he's been calling you to teach, go.
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If he's been calling you to serve in this great Church of
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city Point N, don't wait, go, don't wait, go.
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And his servant was healed at that moment.
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That's the God that I serve. He's still a healer today.
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This isn't just Jesus of the history, a good man who come and
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died. No, this is the living God who
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died and rose again in three days.
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He said just as you believed it would.
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See, the Holy Bible talks about belief and it's powerful.
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It says in Mark 1617, it's not up there, but it says miraculous
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signs will accompany those who believe miraculous signs.
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God. I'm a believer.
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Miraculous signs will follow me today.
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I pray that prayer all the time, God.
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Wherever I go miraculous signs will happen God because I'm a
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believer today and that's for you today beloved that you're a
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believer in this house today miraculous signs will break out.
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You will see miracles, healing, physical and spiritual, family
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restoration, stand on the word of God, salvation, personal and
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others freedom from addictions etcetera etcetera etcetera.
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Marriage is restored, things that were lost in the thief that
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that come to kill, steal and destroy will be taken back and
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added unto you. Miracles, miracles, miracles.
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Wonderful. And as I go to the food bank,
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there's a story about a man that I go to the food bank.
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And because I help run Global Care over at Bribie Island, I go
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there every Tuesday. And every time I go there, oh
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God, I'm going to be a blessing today.
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I see that woman over there is maybe a little bit upset.
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I've got a word for you. Maybe I see a young man down
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sitting there. He's got his head down.
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Man, do I have a word for you? Man, do I have life for you, The
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one that gives me life, I'm going to extend it to you.
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God, would you use me as a vessel?
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And I speak to this man, Ricardo, and I say, Ricardo,
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tell me a story. I want to hear a testimony.
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He's a Christian man for 20 something years, come from
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Italy. And he said I can't do his
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accent. Who teach you?
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You know, I said Ricardo and he's a great friend of mine over
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there. And he's begins to tell me how
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we come to Australia. Is he?
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Him and his family heard the word of the Lord to say go to
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Australia. Yeah, this was difficult because
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they didn't want to come to Australia, but they heard the
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word of the Lord tell them to come to Australia.
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So what they did is they got together as a family and they
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would come around together and they'd pray.
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And God showed them a house and they begin to pray around this
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house and they got the kids and they go, what do you see?
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And they started out in detail as that photo comes up.
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Now if it does, thank you Lord in faith, that's relentless
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faith. That is.
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You could see the top hat there on the House.
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This is what God showed them, the full post little triangle
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thing. There's a pot plant that they
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begin to see a pool area and God was showing them this house.
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This was done in 1994 and anyway, they end up coming to
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Australia a year later. They packed up and come and they
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went to go have a look at houses because they didn't have a house
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at that time. This is in 1995.
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And they went around, they went to see this house and it was an
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auction and something got mixed up.
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Something happened and he went there and they put it for sale.
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They put a sold sign on there and they thought he brought the
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house, but it actually was it. They mixed him up and Ricardo a
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bit. Ricardo, he said he speak little
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English at the time. He said OK, and he brought the
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house. This is picture #2 which house
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he brought. You can see the similarities.
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They actually forgot about this house.
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They forgot about They drew it. As they unpacked, they start to
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weep and cry over what God had showed them, and they believed
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it, but they forgot about it. Don't forget about it, church.
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Don't forget about God. Don't forget about the vision
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He's given for your life because this is real.
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This is real. Don't forget about it, Beloved,
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we won't because we're praying over all year long.
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The things that you've written down here aren't just on paper,
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but they're a declaration of your relentless faith to God.
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Don't forget about a church, miracles, miraculous science.