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1 John 4 · Outcast

0:33
All right. Welcome back.
0:35
Amen. We're.
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Going to be reading first John chapter 4.
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But before we even start reading that, obviously we're going to
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pray. So thank you Lord, for allowing
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us to be here. Guide us and lead us, O Lord, to
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the absolute truth. For I know, Lord, that your
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words are deeper than what we think.
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And I just pray, O Lord, that you guide us and that we do not
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discern with our our own understanding, but rather, O
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Lord, you guide us. For your word says deny
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yourself. And I pray, O Lord, that I
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continue in that washing off the robe daily, O Lord, and You
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always keep my eyes open to what is truth, for You are the one
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true living God, and there is no other God who is greater than
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You. Amen.
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Amen. So as we start, we're in this
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series of first John 123. Here we are in 4.
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This one is an interesting one, especially in the days, the
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times that we're living in, not just because there could be
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false leaders, false prophets. And may I say this in a very
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bold way, when they refer to false leaders, false prophet
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prophets, it's because it's coming from within the Church.
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I got you right. Yeah, absolutely.
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You cannot say false prophet if they've never known the truth,
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right? Nothing to do with God.
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Yeah. Now what we're about to read is,
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yeah, it could be challenging. That depends on the person, but
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the reason why I say it in our time, because as everybody
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knows, it's getting, it's blowing up apparently even more
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that the the last Prophet has arrived, the Mahdi, whatever
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that means. Oh, the Mahdi, Yeah.
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So yeah. I just want to say that they
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are, they're going to be people out there.
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They're not from the from the body of Christ.
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We're going to claim to be the last prophet or the last Messiah
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or whatever, or that might be other people there with a new
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revelation of having access to frequency, high frequency and
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higher power and all, right. Yeah, no, I've been seeing a lot
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of like podcasts of people. I'm going into that frequency
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frequency. Like channeling, channeling,
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projecting, all that and it's all real.
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It is real. Yeah, but that's for another
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conversation. What I'm trying to say is that
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what we read, it is within the context of of them in the
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church. Right, Right.
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Yeah. Absolutely.
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And so I just want to it just clarify there's many things
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going on in their time at that time, what's going on in our
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time within the body of Christ. Everybody at this point knows
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what Christianity is, what it is, what it is, Right, Right.
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Yeah. An atheist already knows,
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Agnostic already knows. They already know what the
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Christian faith is because Christmas.
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Everybody celebrates Christmas. Yeah.
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Right. Absolutely.
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So as we read this, we're going to know what's going on within
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the context of of what's going on.
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And then we're going to relate it to our time.
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What does that mean? So you can start, you can start
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reading. OK, so it says right here.
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That this road is going to be heavy.
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Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the
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spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets
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have gone out into the world. This is how you know the Spirit
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of God. Every spirit that confesses that
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Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every
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spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.
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This is the spirit of the Antichrist which you have heard
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is coming even now. It is already in the world.
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You are from God, little children, and you have conquered
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them because the one who is in you is greater than the one who
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is in the world. They are from the world.
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Therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens
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to them. We are from God.
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Anyone who knows God listens to us.
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Anyone who is not from God does not listen to us.
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This is how we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of
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deception. All right, should we check your
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breathing? No, up until that point, that's
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pretty, it's pretty good. So what's going on here?
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He he's, he's distinguishing the Spirit of God that's within US
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versus the spirit of error, right, right.
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If you read in the beginning, he says false part.
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So, dear friends, do not believe every spirit.
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Yeah, OK. But test the spirits now by
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spirits that's also saying we need to discern one another as
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well because we have a spirit. Yeah, you're a spiritual being,
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right? Right.
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But equally, we also carry the Spirit of God.
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Yes. Because he and in US, right?
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Because we, if we are born of him, you know, we have proof
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that this, the testimony of him is in US, right.
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But also equally there's that wicked spirit, demonic or
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whatever. Yeah.
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Influence you to think a different way.
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So there's already 3 being involved here.
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Yeah, yeah. And that's within the context.
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And then it says if they are from God, OK, because many false
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products have gone out into the world, right.
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So now we're now we're saying he's he calls them false
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prophets had gone out. Yeah, yeah, They were in the
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church. They were in there.
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Exactly. Amongst.
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Them. Yep, because you know, before
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that he does talk about they came from us and they left and
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became Antichrist, right? Yeah.
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Now he then makes a distinct, A distinction which can equally be
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also the the the Spirit of God confesses that Jesus is the Son
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of God, that the Son of God is the Father, Father is the Son.
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They're both one. This, this, the spirit of error
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denies that. No, what that what that means is
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it doesn't deny the fact that Christ has no power.
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No, it recognizes that. It recognizes that it is a
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prophet. What it fails to want to
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recognize is that he comes from the Father.
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But. Because because if he was born
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of flesh, then how can then he be divine, right, Right.
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But you and I know that he became flesh to take upon sin,
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the death of sin, right? The wages of, of sin.
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So that's the spirit of error, that he comes and tells you
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otherwise of the divinity of God, his deity, how he, or at
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least how it was presented to us.
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Yeah, yeah, there comes someone and says no, not necessarily.
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Right. He is the Son of God, but he is
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not God. Right.
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But to confess that Jesus is the Son of God, you also are
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implying that he is also God. Yes, absolutely.
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And we live in a time, obviously they, they were in a time where,
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remember, wisdom and knowledge for them that was like divine.
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Yeah. Evidence that divinity was with
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you because you were able to acquire knowledge, intelligence.
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Yeah, Yeah. So by that, This is why John was
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writing to them. There's a group of people
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thinking this way, letting them know that, yeah, Christ is the
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Son, but. But he's flesh.
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He's not necessarily one with God.
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Right, Right. Do you know what I mean?
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Yeah, Yeah. Yeah.
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So I bring this up because we live in a time that the Jews
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don't believe that Jesus is the Messiah.
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They're still waiting for their Messiah, the Muslims, 600 years
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later after Christ. Then they come up with a
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compilation of, of, of the Torah in in Christian books, letters,
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if you will. And then now all of a sudden,
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the Angel Gabriel coming to Muhammad.
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Yeah. Right, Paul said.
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If an Angel was to come with another message, this is how
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confident Paul was, This is how confident he was in his
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discernment of the of the spirits.
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He said if an Angel, you know what that means, implications of
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that. Yeah, if an Angel.
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If an Angel came from heaven, right?
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With a different message. Let him be a cursed.
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A cursed, yeah. Right.
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Absolutely. That's how confident he was.
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Now why did why so confident to say if someone from heaven was
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to come with another message, right, Let that person be a
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cursed? Is the person receiving it will
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be cursed because can a different message come from
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heaven? See, that's a very good
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question. And you know what?
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We might have to hop to the first kings.
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But before we get to that, OK, so let me just finish this
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section. This is the spirit of the
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Antichrist, which you have heard is coming even now, and it is
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already so look, what is this? The spirit of the Antichrist,
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which is you have heard is coming even now.
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It is already in the world. Interesting.
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The Antichrist is already coming, and even now it's
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already. In the world, In the world.
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Interesting. Do you know what I'm saying?
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Yeah. So there's something that
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withholds that that. That spirit from.
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That Antichrist, the one right, Right.
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But we can all be Antichrist. Right.
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Absolutely. And to be an Antichrist would
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mean that you would have to deny the truth after you know the
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truth, right? You have to deny.
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It. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
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You struggle with the idea that that Jesus is the Son.
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He came in flesh, right? That you want to deny that for
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the sake of your sins, right? That's what he came for.
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Absolutely. So before we get to 1st Kings, I
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don't want to forget that you are from God, little children.
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You have conquered them because the one who is in you is greater
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than the one who is in the world.
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Yes, they are. From the world, Therefore what
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they say is from the world, and the world listens to them now.
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Wisdom, knowledge and intelligence can be acquired in
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the world, Absolutely. Those are the things of the
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world. Yep.
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But remember what James speaks about.
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There is wisdom that comes from above.
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Yeah. Right, and there's earthly
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wisdom. Correct.
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Absolutely. So John is in accordance with,
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with, with, with James. Amen.
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We are from God and anyone who knows God listens to us.
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And by us He means the body, us, the church, what we say.
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They listen to us. This is how we know the spirit
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of truth and the spirit of deception.
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The spirit of deception is this. If the message that we come with
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with truth and they hear it, that is the spirit of truth,
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right, Right. If we then come with another
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message, right? It's tricky because we say, look
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what he says. Anyone who is not of God does
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not listen to us. OK, but what if you came with
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the word of deception and they do listen to you?
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What does that mean? That those are of the world as
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well, right? Right, because it's he's saying
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is it because if they anyone who knows God.
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Right, exactly. Listens to us.
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Yes, exactly. So anyone?
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Anyone who does not know from God does not listen to us.
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If they don't know God, they're not going to listen to the
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truth, they're going to listen to the deception.
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Deception. Absolutely.
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Because they don't know God. Yes.
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Even though he's speaking to a believer right here.
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Yep, who has gone out to the world?
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He's he's, he's basically underlining once again what he
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said in Chapter 3. They were not of us, of us.
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They came from us, but they were not of us, exactly.
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So, so that's where we are. This is how we know the spirit
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of the truth and the spirit of deception.
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Now let's pause there and let's go to, to because I said, can a
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message from heaven come with an essential truth?
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You and I might know it as a deception, but it's an essential
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truth. And and we just, we, we've
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spoken about this before and I just want to bring it up again.
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Yep, I can't remember. There's no, there's many things
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going on. John is speaking to the to that
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church here, and most likely probably to the Church of
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Ephesus and maybe the neighbor ones to the to them.
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They were supposed to discern the spirits between the Spirit
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of God, their own spirit, and the spirit of error.
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Meaning of the Antichrist, if you will, or demonic forces.
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But there's many other things that you also need to discern.
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There are many things you need to.
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Do those are not just the only three, right?
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There's many, many other things, yeah.
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Yeah, no, it's a discern. Exactly.
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And the perfect examples of that are in the Old Testament.
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And a lot of people are afraid for some reason to read the Old
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Testament, but I think it's great.
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Yeah. So, yeah.
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So we're gonna go to 1st Kings chapter 13.
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Now the story was about a, a young prophet.
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You know, he had to go do something.
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And then, you know, the word got around that he was around and
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there was this old prophet that had kids and the kids were like,
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oh, this prophet of God is here. And he did he, you know, he did
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some amazing things. And and then the old prophet was
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like, oh man, like lead me to him.
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I want to go speak to him. So we're going to start here.
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So first Kings chapter 13, verse 11, right?
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OK, ready now. A certain old prophet was living
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in Bethel. His son came and told him all
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the deeds that the man of God had done that day in Bethel.
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His sons also told their fathers the words that he had spoken to
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the king. Then their father asked them,
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which way did he go? His sons had seen the way taken
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by the man of God. He had come from Judah.
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Then he said to his sons, Saddle the donkey for me.
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So they saddled the donkey for him and he got on it.
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He followed the man of God and found him sitting under an oak
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tree. He asked him, Are you the man of
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God who came from Judah? I pause.
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So this is the old guy speaking to the young.
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Prophet. Yes, correct.
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The young prophet sitting under the tree and the prophet just
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came right now with the document.
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Absolutely. Yep, and then he responded with
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I am, he said. Then he said to him, come home
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with me and eat some food, but he answered, I cannot go back
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with you or accompany you. I will not eat food or drink
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water with you in this place, for a message came to me by the
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word of the Lord. You must not eat food or drink
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water there or go back by the way you came.
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Correct. Read that one more time.
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Just that last section. The the, the, the, the order,
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the order land that yes, that God gave that young prophet, the
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young prophet that's under the tree, yes.
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This is the command that God gave that young prophet for a
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message came to me by the word of the Lord.
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You must not eat food or drink water there, or go back by the
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way you came. Then the old prophet said this.
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He said to him, I am also a prophet like you.
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An Angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord.
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All right, here's the difference.
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The young prophet says a word came from the Lord.
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The prophet receives a message from an Angel from the Lord.
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Yes. So it was now second handed.
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Right. Second handed.
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Right. Exactly.
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Still from God. Yep, still from God.
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But who's delivering it? An Angel.
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OK, OK this. Then he says this.
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Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat food
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and drink water. The old prophet deceived him.
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No, the whole prophet didn't deceive him the reader.
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That's right, the no the writer is writing deceiving because he
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knows. Right.
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What happened? What happened?
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To let the reader know that there was deception.
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Yes, exactly. The deception is not the lie,
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the truth itself, right? Was the deception for why
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deception? Because it was to test the young
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prophet. Yes.
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To test the Spirit. Exactly.
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So the writer is saying deception, Yeah, for us to
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understand, to understand the deception in which he's writing
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about. But it's not really a deception,
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No, it's a truth. Yes.
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To test the young prophet, which now then you would come to read
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and say there seems to be deception here.
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The deception is the test. The test?
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Yep, now because he said right, the old prophet said, bring what
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what the Angel said to the old prophet, Bring him back with you
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to your house so that he may eat food.
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And water keyword is may. May.
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In other words, the young prophet was supposed to discern,
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right? No, I'm not going.
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Yeah. Now he says he may because of
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the probability that he will go. Exactly.
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And the man of God went back with him, ate food at his house.
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And so the man of God being the young prophet, right?
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Yes, correct. So they went back, they ate.
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While they were sitting at the table, the word of the Lord came
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to the prophet who had brought him back.
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This is the old prophet. And the prophet cried out to the
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man of God who came from Judah. This is what the Lord says.
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Alright, so now originally the message the old prophet received
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was a message from the Angel, yes.
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From God, yes. Now this message is directly
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from God. Exactly.
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It changed. It changed.
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Now this is what he says, right? And the prophet cried out to the
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man of God who came from Judah. This is what the Lord says,
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because you rebelled against the Lord's command and did not keep
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the command that the Lord your God commanded you.
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But you went back and ate food and drank water in the place
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that He had said to you, Do not eat food and do not drink water.
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Your corpse will never reach the grave of your ancestors.
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So to cut it short, on his way back, there was a lion and the
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lion killed him. But the lion did not eat him.
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It it just killed him and then sat next to him.
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Yeah, so. And the old prophet cried out,
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meaning he felt so bad, yes, 'cause he if, if it was true
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deception, he would know what he was doing.
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Oh yeah, absolutely. No, no, no.
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The writer once again wrote that to let the reader know that
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there is deception and by deception is the test.
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Yeah, OK. The old prophet cries out
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because he then feels bad because it was about to happen
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now. No, keep this in mind.
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This is amongst. Two prophets there are from God.
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Amen. Now this is what the old prophet
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did. After that, after you know that
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and everything, then the old prophet instructed his sons,
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saddled the donkey for me, they saddled it.
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And by the way, this is verse 27, if anybody wants to know.
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And he went and found the corpse thrown on the road with the
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donkey and the lion standing beside the corpse.
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The lion had not eaten the corpse or molted or mold the
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donkey. So the prophet lifted the corpse
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of the man of God and lead it on the donkey and brought it back.
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The old prophet came into the city to mourn and to bury him.
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Then he laid the corpse on his own grave and they mourned over
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him. O my brother, that's what he
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said after he had buried him. He said to his sons, When I die,
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bear me in the grave where the man of God is buried.
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Lay my bones beside his bones. For the message that he cared,
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that he cried out by the word of the Lord against the altar in
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Bethel and against all the shrines of the high places in
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the cities of samurai is certain to happen.
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So that means that young prophet had a big task.
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Yeah. Was that was that old prophet
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after him with deception? No.
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Does that sound like a prophet really trying to deceive?
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No way. He was like, bury me next to
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him. Yeah, when I die.
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It was God testing the young prophet.
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Exactly. What test that when I give an
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order, you obey it? Obey it no matter what and.
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Remember. Yeah.
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Now, fun fact, it it it really depends how you read it in the
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translation. You could be on Naz, but the
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original order he had given, he kind of kind of tells him what
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Oh yeah, his future is. It's like a double meaning at
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the same time. And if you want, I can read it
22:16
right now. Read it one more time, he says.
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OK, they said, come home with me and eat.
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So he says, I cannot go. This is the young prophet
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speaking to a prophet. I cannot go back with you or
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accompany you. I will not eat food or drink
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water with you in the place. For a message of God came to me
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by the word of the Lord, you must not eat food.
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This is what God said. You must not eat food or drink
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water there or go back by the way you came.
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Right there. By the way, you came.
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Or come back. By the way.
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In other words, it's saying or. If you do that, you won't come
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back. Exactly.
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He's. Literally giving it to him right
22:54
then and there. The Prophet, what he was paying
23:00
attention to, was the first part of the.
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Right, right. Should have paid attention just
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a little, slightly more, yes. Right.
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And when the old prophet spoke to him when the message came
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from the Angel originally, Yep, he should have paid attention to
23:13
the keyword may. May that was a keyword, right?
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Yep. Now then, the old prophet
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receives another message that, but that one comes directly
23:21
from. From God.
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Right directly. So this is true prophet.
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He's not a false prophet. Mm, hmm.
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Yep, exactly. And the old prophet recognized
23:32
that he was a man of God. Of course he knew.
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He knew he was a man of God. Exactly says when I die, bury me
23:37
in the grave. Word the man of God is buried.
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That's what he said. Now there is another story
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between Ahab and Jehoshaphat, the king of the South and the
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king of the north of Israel. Right, Right.
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That's a, that's a little bit more longer, right, Right.
23:53
Yeah, yeah. Basically, the whole purpose of
23:54
that is that there's also too a conversation in heaven that
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happens, right, yes, so exactly I know it's it's it's.
24:05
It's very extensive, yeah. It's very extensive.
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And if you, if you did find it, I just want to just like kind of
24:12
just go over it quickly. Yeah, yeah, basically
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Jehoshaphat. Ahab asked Jehoshaphat for help.
24:17
Right. And Ahab had many prophets
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telling him one thing, to go, to go, Yeah, Jehoshaphat was like,
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right, that's great. Do you have another prophet in
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which we can hear from another one, a second opinion?
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Remember for them this was very common.
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Yeah, exactly. They look for the other prophet
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and he's like, I don't like that prophet.
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That prophet always speaks against me.
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He doesn't he doesn't like me, never says anything good about
24:42
about it yet. But he's like, let's hear him
24:44
out. So he didn't bring them.
24:46
Then he speaks. And yeah, you see, he's always
24:49
saying something against me. But then this, this little small
24:52
prophet, you know, insignificant, lets them know
24:54
what's really going on in the heavenly realms.
24:58
Yeah, exactly. He's letting them know what's
25:00
going on the heavenly realm because someone in heaven or God
25:03
asked who will go with a what is it?
25:06
Who will go? And I don't know, I think, I
25:11
don't know if he said, I don't know if God said who would go
25:13
with a lying? I have it right here if you.
25:15
Want to read it? I guess I.
25:16
Don't want to misquote it. So it says right here, right?
25:18
This is Mikaya's. Explaining to them what's going
25:21
on, yeah. What, what he saw, because I'm
25:23
pretty sure, if I'm, if I'm not mistaken, the one, I think one
25:26
of the prophets was somebody because there were 400 prophets
25:28
there that were like, like telling Mikaya, like, oh, you
25:32
know, like please the king, you know, please the king say
25:34
something. He's like, Nah, I'm going to
25:35
speak with God showing me. Remember 400 verses 1.
25:39
So this is what he says, Micaiah said.
25:40
Therefore hear the word of the Lord.
25:43
This is what he said. I saw the Lord sitting on His
25:46
throne, and the whole heavenly army was standing by him at His
25:50
right hand and on His left hand. Listen to that had the heavenly
25:54
army sitting on his right and on his left.
25:57
Yep, and the Lord said who will entice Ahab?
26:02
OK, so who is he? He's asking to who?
26:04
To who is God asking to the army?
26:07
That's on his right and on his left, correct?
26:09
Yes, yeah, basically just saying yeah, yeah, yeah.
26:14
So he's like, who will entice Ahab to March up and fall to
26:18
Ramoth Gilead? So one was saying to this and
26:22
another was saying that. Then a spirit came forward.
26:27
A spirit, not AI don't think it's a demonic spirit.
26:30
No, it's a spirit. It's a spirit, right?
26:32
Came forward, stood in the Lord's presence and said, I will
26:37
entice him. And the Lord asked him how?
26:41
He said I will go and become a lying spirit in the mouth of all
26:47
his prophets. Then he said, You will certainly
26:51
entice him and prevail. Go and do that.
26:53
Who said that? Who gave him the order?
26:55
God, you will certainly entice Him and.
26:58
With Sterling, Tyson and Prevail.
27:00
Keyword prevail. Yes, he's letting him know you
27:02
will get victory for that. Yes, you're going to take.
27:05
Exactly. And then he commands him go and
27:09
do that. So in order, in order right
27:12
there established, go and do that, you see, the Lord has put
27:16
a lying spirit into the mouths of all these prophets.
27:19
Exactly. Now the writer is saying that
27:21
that is the lying spirit, right. So that you and I as a reader
27:24
can understand that. Yes.
27:25
But this, this spirit who came in and gave them the plan, gave
27:30
God the plan. Yeah, Yeah.
27:32
He was come. He was going to come with a
27:33
truth because God gave him the order and he will prevail.
27:35
Yes. So that's not a if he was going
27:38
to prevail. The what?
27:41
The information he was coming with wasn't a lie.
27:44
It came to pass. If he was going to prevail, that
27:46
means it was going to happen. So the writer is letting us
27:49
know, for us to understand. Yes, exactly.
27:53
So you see, the Lord has put a lying spirit into the mouth of
27:57
all these prophets of yours and the Lord has pronounced disaster
28:01
against you. Then Zedekiah the son of Chenna,
28:05
I can't even say that. Yeah came up and hit Makayah on
28:09
the cheek and demanded, did the spirit of the Lord leave me to
28:12
speak to you? Makai replied, You will soon see
28:16
you when you go to hide in in in an inner chamber on that day.
28:21
Then the king of Israel ordered take Makai and return him to
28:25
Amon, the governor of the city and to Joash the King's son and
28:30
say this is what the king says, put this guy in prison and feed
28:35
him only a little bread and water until I come back safely.
28:39
This is what Makai said after that.
28:41
But Micaiah said if you ever return safely, the Lord has not
28:46
spoken through me. Now you see how confident
28:48
Micaiah is. Yep, he was confident enough to
28:51
say if you come back, God did not speak.
28:55
Exactly what did Paul say to to to his writers if an Angel?
28:58
Were to come down. With another message.
29:00
Let him be what? Let him be accursed.
29:02
That's how confident these guys were, exactly.
29:04
And their discernment, yes, OK. And keep in mind, this is
29:08
Micaiah versus the Kings and the 400 prophets.
29:11
That were saying a truth. They were, absolutely.
29:15
Because it does, it does fulfill itself.
29:17
If it was a lie, it would have not fulfilled.
29:19
It. Yes, exactly.
29:20
It's just Micaiah put the other part to it, the ending part.
29:23
That's what the other 400 prophets were not doing.
29:26
They because they didn't know exactly Micaiah knew what.
29:28
He meant yes, exactly. So I I cannot say that those 400
29:33
prophets were not of God. They were of God.
29:35
You know what I mean? They were getting caught up on
29:37
teasing the king too much. Yes, while Mikhail was like.
29:40
So keep in mind in that time, just remember it's like what God
29:45
told Elijah. What Man up.
29:47
Yeah. 1000 prophets. Yeah, yeah.
29:49
When on a retainer, Yeah. When Elijah, you think you're
29:51
the only one? Yeah.
29:52
Yeah, Oh, yeah. When Elijah was upset and the
29:55
Angel came, brought him bread and then what?
29:57
He oh, yeah, he, he went to go hide in The Cave.
29:59
Yeah. Yeah.
30:00
And then God is like, what are you doing here, Elijah?
30:02
What are you doing here? You know, he asked him a good
30:04
three or four times, I think. And then and then God was called
30:07
him out. He was because like, you know, I
30:09
have like 1000 more prophets. You're not the only one.
30:11
So go back and I think that the the mountain like Split or the
30:14
rocks. Split so so it in the ancient
30:18
times it should be also in our time, but unfortunately probably
30:21
not Maybe I don't know right. God knows yeah there's it was
30:26
coming for many many to be prophets.
30:28
Yeah. Used by God.
30:29
Yep. It was very common to have that
30:32
ability of hearing his voice. Yeah, I don't know about now,
30:37
but. Now it's it's kind of, I don't
30:42
know how to explain it, but. So going back to discerning the
30:46
spirits, right? Yeah, yeah.
30:48
Here we have the young prophet and the old prophet.
30:50
The young prophet should have discerned because God was
30:53
testing him with another prophet of his.
30:56
Exactly right. Exactly.
30:58
Then we have here a makaya, someone who's discerning versus
31:03
all the prophets that are not false.
31:06
They're saying a truth. They are being used.
31:08
Yeah, God gave the task, and he also gave the victory for them.
31:12
Yeah, because in the end, Ahab dies.
31:15
Yeah. So what the 400 prophets say
31:17
came true, and also what Micaiah said also came.
31:19
True came true. Yeah, exactly.
31:21
All because Ahab was playing backstabbing.
31:24
He wanted Jehoshaphat to get killed.
31:26
Yeah, and God, God had. He had his back, yes, in order
31:29
to have his back, obviously. The only one who's able to pass
31:34
the the test game at its finest is God.
31:36
Got it. Whether you like it or not, He
31:38
is in absolute control. He is the master, yeah.
31:41
So why do we bring up these stories from the past?
31:44
To have a little bit of insight that when we are asked to
31:48
discern it is really to discern properly.
31:51
Amen. Because there are things
31:53
happening in the spiritual realm that we do not understand.
31:55
Yeah. Right, exactly.
31:57
And so that's just insight of what happened to just these are
32:01
two stories. There's many others.
32:03
There's many, many more in. There.
32:04
Oh yeah, absolutely. So much like really cool
32:06
insight. Absolutely.
32:08
This shouldn't. This shouldn't discourage you to
32:11
think that oh, then what's the point if God knows everything,
32:13
Listen, listen, because God knows everything is the reason
32:16
why you should trust in Him, in the. 1st place.
32:17
Amen and. So continuing to finish the the
32:22
reading, dear friends, let us love one another because love is
32:25
of God and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows
32:29
God. Jehoshaphat.
32:32
He was with love. He wanted to help his king.
32:34
Yeah, he was like they. Were brothers.
32:35
They were the same. They were the same people.
32:37
Pretty sure he said to to him he was like, what's mine is yours.
32:40
Yeah. Like we're brothers.
32:41
Let's go, let's go. Right.
32:42
Yeah. So he knew, God knew that he
32:44
loved. Yeah, right.
32:46
OK, absolutely. The one who does not love does
32:48
not know God, because God is love.
32:51
God's love was revealed among us.
32:53
In this way. God sent his one and only Son
32:57
into the world, Amen, so that we might live through him.
33:01
Amen, Love. So now in our time, if we know
33:06
that through Christ, we live through Christ, Yeah, Yeah.
33:09
The Spirit has to tell you otherwise.
33:14
Absolutely. That deception that might will
33:16
come as truth, you won't know it as deception is going to, is
33:20
going to come like with a truth to let you know otherwise, to
33:24
challenge you. This commandment, this what God
33:30
has commanded. Amen.
33:32
Amen. And then it says, dear friends,
33:35
if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another.
33:39
No one has ever seen God. This is true.
33:43
If we love one another, God remains in US and His love is
33:47
made complete. Remember, he's quoting chapter
33:49
one. This is how we know that we
33:52
remain in Him and He in US. He has given us of His Spirit,
33:59
and we have seen and we have testified that the Father has
34:03
sent his Son as the world's Savior.
34:05
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in
34:12
him. And he and God and we have come
34:16
to know and to believe the love that God has for us.
34:20
God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God,
34:24
and God remains in him. In this love is made complete
34:30
with us, that we may have confidence in the day of
34:35
judgement, because as He is, so also are we in this world.
34:41
There is No Fear in love. Instead, perfect love drives out
34:46
fear because fear involves punishment.
34:50
So the one who fears is not complete in love.
34:55
Interesting. Yeah, that part is very
34:57
interesting. Yeah, man, it's, it makes sense
35:01
because a lot of people are scared of dying, bro.
35:05
A lot of people, yeah, I mean, don't get, of course it's an
35:07
intense thing. But like like for example, I
35:10
know that there are people out there that that die for the sake
35:13
of Christ. And in other countries.
35:15
In other countries because bro they have their confidence in
35:18
God. Exactly.
35:19
You know what I mean? So we love God because He first
35:25
loved us. If anyone says I love God ready
35:30
and yet hates his brother or sister, he is a liar.
35:37
For the person who does not love his brother or sister whom he
35:41
has seen, cannot love God who he has not seen.
35:47
Wow. And we have this command from
35:50
him. The one who loves God must also
35:53
love his brother and sister. Remember that commandment.
35:57
Love your neighbor. As you love yourself, As you
36:00
love yourself. Amen.
36:01
Love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.
36:05
And the second one is the same as the first.
36:06
Yes, love your neighbor as you love yourself.
36:08
And these two hold the rest of the commandments, Yeah.
36:11
Why? Do you think the old prophet
36:13
cried out? Bro, Bro, he felt so bad.
36:16
Yeah, man. Because in his case, he didn't
36:18
know that God was testing. Him, yeah, he didn't know.
36:21
He was just genuinely doing what God, you know, like what?
36:23
He heard what he heard, Yeah. And he literally said, you know
36:26
what? Like he even called him my
36:28
brother and he said bury me next to him because this is a man of
36:32
God. OK.
36:33
And in the case of Jahab and Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat really
36:37
loved. Yeah, wanting to support him,
36:39
Yeah. He knew that they were family
36:41
because of their, you know, they were brothers.
36:43
Amnesian, yeah, but Ahab had hatred.
36:46
Had hatred. He had this absolutely,
36:48
absolutely right. Yeah, he wanted.
36:50
He wanted him dead. You could see that both both
36:55
stories there was a testing being involved.
36:58
Amen. And it's funny, I went to visit
37:02
a church with my brother and he just say somethings like there's
37:06
no perfect church, there never will be, right?
37:09
You might have gotten used to one type and then you go visit
37:11
another church. Different business.
37:13
Yeah, yeah. And then I said with the church
37:16
that I would ever want to be, and it doesn't exist.
37:18
It's like in the first second century, It's like, right, It
37:22
would it? He then says, well, then start
37:25
it. I was like, that's impossible
37:28
because then I'd be the one who says, oh, well, this is just
37:30
another guy starting another thing, right, Right.
37:33
You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
37:34
Because this is something after that he said, yeah, we can't go
37:39
around picking cherry picking. We can just go and hear the word
37:45
of God that because that's what nourishes us.
37:47
Yeah. And so absolutely, at its core,
37:52
God is love. Amen.
37:54
But God is love also doesn't just mean rainbows and roses.
37:59
Yeah, this one means judgement. Yeah, just.
38:01
What happened to the young prophet?
38:03
It also means warning. Yeah, right.
38:05
Yeah. This one means condemnation
38:07
also. Absolutely.
38:08
It's all those things. God is love.
38:11
Amen. And because he is love, we
38:13
should test all spirits, right? Because God is a jealous God.
38:18
Amen. Amen.
38:20
Much more is given to you. Much more is required of you.
38:23
Exactly. Always keep that in mind.
38:24
So to wrap it up, because you know, this was a short one and
38:28
obviously chapter 5 is the one that literally adds cherry on
38:32
top to 1-2 and three and four. Do you?
38:34
Absolutely. It's crazy.
38:36
You could literally just read first John 123 and four and five
38:42
and you could literally just have those like 5 chapters and
38:44
nothing else. Yeah, yeah, it's very deep.
38:48
You can meditate on that day and night.
38:50
You know what? I mean, it's deep, absolutely.
38:52
And so why is it so important to discern in our time?
38:58
Huh. There's so much things to
39:01
deceive you nowadays, and we always got to keep in mind we're
39:04
still in this flesh. Always keep in mind.
39:07
That's why John says in chapter 4 number by chapter 3, do not
39:12
let your heart condemn you because it will.
39:15
It will throw that wind of thoughts into your mind and you
39:18
will take action if you're not like firm.
39:21
Exactly, exactly. So be strong.
39:24
So first, true deception will come from you, You will deceive
39:29
you, so your own heart will deceive you.
39:31
But if you will have confidence in God, then the enemy is going
39:36
to come with other things. Amen.
39:38
Right. Amen.
39:39
So this just means that we need to be in a firm foundation now
39:42
more than ever, especially in our time.
39:44
Yeah, things are going way too fast at a rapid paced.
39:50
Things are changing very quickly.
39:52
Things are moving very quickly. Times are really, really,
39:55
really. They feel like they're being
39:56
shortened. Yeah.
39:58
And we're moving now. Yeah.
40:00
The the last hours coming to attend.
40:03
Amen. Wherever, whenever that that end
40:05
is. Amen.
40:06
And so the advice, at least from my my, is keep your eye always.
40:14
Keep your eyes always on the one for the reason for all of this.
40:18
Amen. Amen.
40:20
So we'll finish it up with a prayer.
40:23
Thank you, Father, once again for this opportunity, despite
40:28
sometimes we don't. We might not have the energy, we
40:31
might feel exhausted, but there's always that fire within
40:34
us to want to keep going and forgive us for our trespasses,
40:38
for iniquities, for our bad thoughts.
40:40
We come to you, Father, because we have now access.
40:43
You, Your Son provided that access for us to to come and
40:46
confess our sins before you and help us every day to practice
40:50
that truth every day and to always give our allegiance to
40:53
you. Always give us the strength,
40:54
you, your strength to keep moving forward in this broken
40:59
world and chaotic Dark World. May your light that's within us
41:05
as well shine brightly. Although it might be exposing to
41:10
them, but it is a blessing. Amen.
41:14
This is Oscar once again. This is Brian.
41:17
Stay strong and we will continue this.
41:44
The.