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#270 Revival Ready: Building for Revival Alongside Others · The OneCry Podcast

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Speaker0: The rebuilding work of God starts and is sustained and brought
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Speaker0: to completion through a praying people. And I am begging
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Speaker0: you to believe something. Your prayers matter.
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Speaker0: I'm begging you to believe something. Your cry matters. Your plea matters.
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Speaker0: Your begging God matters.
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Speaker0: That God has set watchmen on the walls of this city To
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Speaker0: not merely do the work, but do the work of prayer first before
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Speaker0: we do the work. Welcome to the One Cry Podcast,
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Speaker0: a nationwide call for spiritual awakening.
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Speaker0: The goal: accelerating the movement of God through sharing revival
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Speaker0: truth, stories, and reports.
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Speaker1: Well, hello, and once again, welcome to the One Cry Podcast. My name
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Speaker1: is Ben Dishner. I'm the Global Ministries Director for One Cry. And we are currently
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Speaker1: in a series on being revival ready.
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Speaker1: We're replaying some messages which Pastor Kyle
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Speaker1: Reno, who is one of our hosts on the podcast, has recently preached
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Speaker1: at his church, Crossgates, in Mississippi.
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Speaker1: Kyle is sharing this week on how we can continue
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Speaker1: to orient our lives in a practical way to be
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Speaker1: revival ready, and that is as the body of Christ,
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Speaker1: how we orient our lives within a faith community
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Speaker1: within a local church and how we can invite God's
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Speaker1: presence in even more practical ways. So take a
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Speaker1: moment, listen, and, and take notes on what
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Speaker1: God speaks to you through this message.
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Speaker1: Thanks again for joining us.
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Speaker0: Now, as we dive into the Word, listen, we've been on a powerful journey and
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Speaker0: we're starting to get super practical this week. If we want
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Speaker0: to be a people that are revival ready, meaning personally that your position,
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Speaker0: that God might move in you in such a way that you might find
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Speaker0: yourself a part of something that's bigger than just you. That God
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Speaker0: would so rightly knit a family together that you and I
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Speaker0: could be a part of the rebuilding, establishing of God's kingdom right
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Speaker0: here on earth. At some point— listen, this has got to get personal.
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Speaker0: At some point our awareness has to move us to alignment.
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Speaker0: And that's what you see today in Nehemiah chapter 3. Let me give you 4
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Speaker0: verses real quick. And then Elishib the high
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Speaker0: priest rose up with his brothers and the priests,
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Speaker0: and they built the Sheep Gate. So see it. Here's this one man and his
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Speaker0: brothers, his family. They built the Sheep Gate. They consecrated
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Speaker0: it, and they set its doors. They consecrated as far as the Tower
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Speaker0: of the Hundred, as far as the Tower of Hananel, and next to
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Speaker0: him the men of Jericho built.
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Speaker0: And next to them, Zaccur the son of Imri
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Speaker0: built. And then the son of Hazaniah built the Fish
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Speaker0: Gate. And then they laid its beams and set its doors
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Speaker0: and its bolts and its bars. And next to them,
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Speaker0: Meremoth the— Man, don't name your kids this, by the way. Can we just clarify
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Speaker0: real quick? This is not the section you pick new names out of, right?
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Speaker0: The son of Uriah the Son of Hakkoz. That's just fun
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Speaker0: to say. Hakkoz. That's really
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Speaker0: how you say it, right? That's where it started. Hakkoz. And repaired.
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Speaker0: And next to them, Meshullam and that guy and the son of that
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Speaker0: guy repaired. And next to them, Zadok the son of Benaiah
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Speaker0: repaired. So here we are 14
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Speaker0: more times. Do you want me to keep going?
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Speaker1: No.
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Speaker0: 14 more times in chapter 3,
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Speaker0: this is what it says, and next to them, and next to him,
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Speaker0: and next to them, and next to them. For 14
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Speaker0: more times, Nehemiah in his journal entry makes sure
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Speaker0: that we know which families, which people, what place,
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Speaker0: what tribe, who was where.
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Speaker0: For 14 exchanges here, Nehemiah wants us
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Speaker0: to know who was where. Simply put,
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Speaker0: who was working next to them.
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Speaker0: They didn't know everyone, but they knew at least a few
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Speaker0: families that were working near them. Now, they had been
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Speaker0: living near these people most, if not all,
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Speaker0: of their lives, but they had never been a part of building a future
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Speaker0: together. In this moment, what God is aligning is strategic
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Speaker0: assignment in light of his rebuilding work. They're about to
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Speaker0: go to work. Hear me now. You got to see this. They're about to go
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Speaker0: to work in building the wall around Jerusalem again, a wall
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Speaker0: that represented the protection of God. They're building— and it's in
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Speaker0: other places in the Scripture— the temple of God that represents
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Speaker0: the presence of God. And in 52 days,
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Speaker0: God's going to do a supernatural miracle through physical
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Speaker0: labor and reestablish a nation,
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Speaker0: reestablish a people, reestablish generations of
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Speaker0: the faith in 52 days. days. But what he wanted everyone
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Speaker0: to know from the front side is this: where's your place and who's your people?
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Speaker0: Where's your part and who's your people? Have you found your place?
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Speaker0: Do you know what family that you're laboring beside?
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Speaker0: So I want to ask a really practical, important question.
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Speaker0: Who are your next-to-them families?
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Speaker0: In light of the work of the kingdom of God,
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Speaker0: Who are your next-to-them families? Who are you
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Speaker0: living alongside in light of the advancement
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Speaker0: of God's kingdom? See, let me tell you something about the local church.
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Speaker0: The local church is a representation of God's forever
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Speaker0: family. God's not— listen to me— building
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Speaker0: worship services. He's building a family. Amen. See,
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Speaker0: Crossgates is not merely a service to attend.
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Speaker0: It's a people to be a part of. It's what Ephesians
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Speaker0: 2:19 says. So now you Gentiles are no longer
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Speaker0: strangers. And give you a new covenant picture of this. You're no longer strangers
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Speaker0: or foreigners. You're citizens along with all of God's holy
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Speaker0: people. You are members of God's family.
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Speaker0: See, what happens the moment that we believe, you and I, and if you haven't
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Speaker0: yet, you can today, that at some point in your life you come to realize
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Speaker0: that we were foreigners, that we were aliens, that we were Sojourners.
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Speaker0: That we were outside of the fold and the faith. That we
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Speaker0: didn't have a family. We didn't have a heavenly Father.
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Speaker0: But Christ came. Come on. And that Christ came,
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Speaker0: listen, to live perfectly. To die sacrificially.
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Speaker0: So that at some point— 19 for me. At some point in my depravity
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Speaker0: and my sinfulness that I could look up and see the sufficiency of
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Speaker0: Jesus through his perfect life.
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Speaker1: Amen.
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Speaker0: sacrificial death,
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Speaker0: powerful resurrection, and reach out by faith and receive the gift of
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Speaker0: salvation, and not be made merely better, be made alive.
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Speaker0: And not— listen to me— not be made a part of a club or a
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Speaker0: worship service, but to be made a part of a family.
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Speaker0: And that in the family there's others that are serving next to me.
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Speaker0: There's in my family other families that are knit together in
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Speaker0: this bigger family called the family of God.
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Speaker0: 50-plus years ago,
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Speaker0: Jesus started something in this one little expression called
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Speaker0: Crossgates. And a few families started.
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Speaker0: And I look across the room and see many that have been here a long
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Speaker0: time that have been a part of it. And what God intended was that through
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Speaker0: few, many would be reached. Hallelujah. Right? And let
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Speaker0: me tell you the story of God from God's perspective. In the same way all
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Speaker0: those crazy names back then, If God was writing a letter
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Speaker0: about Crossgates, he was saying, here's the Callahan family, and next to them is the
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Speaker0: Reno family, and next to them is the Edwards family, and next to them
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Speaker0: is the Miller family, and next to them is this family, and next
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Speaker0: to them is this family, and next to them is this family. And that fam—
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Speaker0: those families represent one big family.
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Speaker0: So, what was true for them is true for us.
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Speaker0: And that each family has a part in advancing the work.
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Speaker0: We— listen, here's the beautiful thing. We got a Father and we're
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Speaker0: part of the family business, y'all.
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Speaker1: Yes.
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Speaker0: Not in the Godfather kind of way,
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Speaker0: but in the good Father kind of way. Guys, listen to me. We got
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Speaker0: a family business. And our— and listen, our family's business is the advancing
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Speaker0: of our Father's kingdom.
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Speaker1: Yes.
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Speaker0: The advancing
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Speaker0: of our Father's kingdom here on earth.
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Speaker0: And that's why knowing you're a part of this family matters.
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Speaker0: I'll say this, membership matters. Not so that
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Speaker0: you could say you go to Crossgates. So that you could say, I'm a part
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Speaker0: of that local expression of God's family. Let's go back to Hebrews 13:17.
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Speaker0: Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over
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Speaker0: your souls As those that will give an account. We don't like the first
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Speaker0: word when it says obey and submit. And all that means is alignment.
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Speaker0: That at some point we need to rightly identify what local expression
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Speaker0: of God's forever family are we identified with. Because here's
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Speaker0: a crazy thought. One day I'm going to give an account
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Speaker0: for you. And one day you're going to give an
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Speaker0: account for your part in this.
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Speaker1: Amen.
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Speaker0: That we're not just floundering around as family, that we're
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Speaker0: intended to be a part of a family and we got a work to do.
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Speaker0: We got a kingdom to advance.
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Speaker0: So for some of us in this room, if you want to be a part
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Speaker0: of a real revival, a practical step, I'm going to say it
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Speaker0: again, is foundations. It's obvious that our work is— we're
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Speaker0: not going to walk out of this room and go build a literal, literal wall,
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Speaker0: are we?
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Speaker1: No. Right.
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Speaker0: Our work as the people of God in the Old Testament,
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Speaker0: God often gave us a physical expression of
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Speaker0: spiritual truths. And so what we have to ask in a new covenant way,
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Speaker0: if we're a part of this thing together, what does next
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Speaker0: to them— here's a question— what does next to them work look like for us?
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Speaker0: What does next to them work look like for us?
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Speaker0: And so I'm going to give you 3 ways if we want to be revival
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Speaker0: ready. I'm gonna give you 3 ways that we do this
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Speaker0: work together. Here's the first way, and each person,
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Speaker0: each family has a part. The first is you gotta
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Speaker0: pray your part. You gotta pray your part.
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Speaker0: I'm gonna give you one of my favorite passages of scripture. You've already heard me
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Speaker0: quote several times before, and if you stick around, you're gonna hear it some more.
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Speaker0: Isaiah 62:6-7 says, on your—
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Speaker0: what does it say?
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Speaker1: Walls.
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Speaker0: On your walls,
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Speaker0: O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen all the day and all
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Speaker0: the night, and they shall never be silent.
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Speaker0: It's speaking to prayer. And you who put the Lord in remembrance—
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Speaker0: don't be silent, put the Lord in remembrance. I'm not just merely throwing words
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Speaker0: into the sky. That prayer is me having a conversation with God.
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Speaker0: You who put the Lord in remembrance, take no rest and give
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Speaker0: him no rest. I love that. What the Scripture is saying,
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Speaker0: pester God in prayer. Come on now. Some of y'all like to pester people.
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Speaker0: You know what I'm talking about, right? That's one of my mom's favorite statements
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Speaker0: to me. She'd look at me and go, Kyle, you are pestering me.
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Speaker0: Right? Because I'd be like, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom.
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Speaker0: You know what I'm talking about? What God is
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Speaker0: saying through prayer is, listen to me. I want you to pester me with your
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Speaker0: prayers. Keep walking through it. It says, give him no rest
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Speaker0: until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in
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Speaker0: the earth. Now, we talk about prayer
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Speaker0: a lot around here. What I hope is,
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Speaker0: it's not merely talk. It actually lends itself to more people praying more.
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Speaker0: More people praying more.
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Speaker0: That when God put us together— get this now— when
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Speaker0: God weaved us together, he knew that every part,
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Speaker0: every person, every family had a place and a— listen to me— a responsibility
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Speaker0: in prayer that nobody else can
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Speaker0: pray. That God has placed you in
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Speaker0: light of the kingdom work in Rankin County, in light
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Speaker0: of the kingdom work in the Jackson Metroplex. God placed you on
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Speaker0: a street. God placed you on a— in a family. God placed
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Speaker0: you near a school. God placed you at a workplace.
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Speaker0: That God placed you there to pray to him For him
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Speaker0: to establish his kingdom right there. And that
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Speaker0: you have a perspective in prayer that I don't have. You've got people around you
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Speaker0: that you can pray for that I don't even know.
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Speaker0: You got neighbors, man. You got work. You got coworkers.
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Speaker0: That you got schools. That's why I say never miss a chance to pray for
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Speaker0: the city God's placed you. Never miss an opportunity to pass by a water
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Speaker0: tower and say, Lord Jesus, would you bless Brandon?
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Speaker0: Lord Jesus, would you bless Pearl? God, Lord Jesus, would you bless
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Speaker0: Flowood? Would you bless the Crossgates community? Lord Jesus,
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Speaker0: would you pour out your Spirit on Jackson?
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Speaker0: God, would you bring businesses? Would you bring things that help this city flourish?
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Speaker0: That the rebuilding work of God starts and is sustained
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Speaker0: and brought to completion through a praying people.
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Speaker1: Amen.
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Speaker0: And I am begging you to believe something.
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Speaker0: Your prayers matter. I'm begging you
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Speaker0: to believe something. Your cry matters. Your plea matters.
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Speaker0: Your begging God matters.
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Speaker0: That God has set watchmen on the walls of this city
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Speaker0: to not merely do the work, but do the work of prayer first
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Speaker0: before we do the work. To pray our way into
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Speaker0: the future. Listen, prayer paves the way to reaching more people.
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Speaker0: Prayer paves the way to impacting generations.
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Speaker0: Prayer positions us for revival.
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Speaker0: Not a few people praying, every person praying. Every person
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Speaker0: in this room. Can you imagine if you took the divine assignment to pray your
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Speaker0: way toward work every morning, to pray your way through the city God placed you
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Speaker0: in, to pray your way through the classroom hallways?
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Speaker1: Amen.
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Speaker0: Jeremiah 29:7 says, but seek the welfare of the city where I've sent you into
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Speaker0: exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf for its welfare,
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Speaker0: for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
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Speaker0: Let me tell you what, the way God intended it,
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Speaker0: God would never want us to imagine that the church would thrive
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Speaker0: and the city would fail. You hear me?
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Speaker0: The way God intended it— listen to me. He plants the church,
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Speaker0: and the church brings flourishing to everyone everywhere.
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Speaker0: That I bring about a people. I place my presence and my power.
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Speaker0: I give wisdom to leaders. I put them forth, and that great
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Speaker0: kingdom businessmen and women are in every realm,
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Speaker0: and wherever they go, they bring the kingdom.
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Speaker0: That they bring change.
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Speaker0: And how do they do it? First, that they pray their part.
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Speaker0: To pray our way into the future. God has
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Speaker0: sovereignly sent you, placed you to pray over
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Speaker0: your neighborhood, to pray— listen to me— to pray for your coworkers,
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Speaker0: to pray for your businesses, to drive by and see places going, God,
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Speaker0: reestablish that. God bless that. I am watching that. Is anybody else seeing
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Speaker0: that happen around here?
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Speaker1: Amen.
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Speaker0: Like, I see
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Speaker0: that God is actually a prayer-hearing, prayer-answering God. He's doing things in our city.
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Speaker0: He's doing things in our region, man. He's establishing things for future generations.
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Speaker0: But there's just always more with him. Come on now.
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Speaker0: There's always more with him. And there is a war.
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Speaker0: And what the enemy would love for us to do right now is to
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Speaker0: back up. And what the scripture's
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Speaker0: calling us to do is to believe more. So what does next to them work
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Speaker0: look like for us? Well, the first, you pray your part. The second
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Speaker0: is you got to play your part. You got to play your part.
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Speaker0: 2,000-some-odd people will gather in the presence of the Lord
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Speaker0: today. Can you imagine if God mobilized an army of praying people
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Speaker0: that are looking, saying, how can I play my part?
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Speaker1: Amen.
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Speaker0: Meaning each
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Speaker0: person, each family says, we got a section of the work,
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Speaker0: that we got a part to play in the establishing of God's kingdom in
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Speaker0: this region, that we got a role to play in
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Speaker0: seeing the advancement of the kingdom of God. And so, I know I got to
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Speaker0: pray first, but then I got to actually follow my prayers. Let me
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Speaker0: tell you what the Lord never intended for us to do, to stop at the
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Speaker0: end of our prayers. Listen to me, where our prayers are
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Speaker0: being uttered, our feet have to follow. Come on, right?
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Speaker0: Like, I believe you can do it. Here I am. Use me.
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Speaker0: I think you can change lives. And so I'm going to move toward living people.
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Speaker0: I think you can bring about restoration in cities. So I'm asking you to use
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Speaker0: me there to find your section on the wall.
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Speaker0: Your part will only accomplish— hear me, Crossgates.
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Speaker0: We'll only accomplish in the work of the kingdom the sum of
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Speaker0: our parts.
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Speaker0: Meaning it won't be about the preacher. I promise you, if that's the case,
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Speaker0: we're in trouble. Right? It won't be about the style.
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Speaker0: It won't be about the brand. It won't be about— you can build some things
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Speaker0: around there. You won't be the true church. That if we want to see real
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Speaker0: life change, it's going to be to the measure in which every man or
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Speaker0: woman that identifies a part of this local church says,
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Speaker0: God, use me. God, use us.
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Speaker0: God has decided— this is a crazy part about the kingdom,
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Speaker0: which is an invitation to a life that matters.
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Speaker0: God has decided that the primary way that he will advance his
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Speaker0: kingdom is through his kids.
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Speaker0: Hallelujah! Like, you want a life purpose? There it is. God said,
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Speaker0: the way I'm going to make my glory, my power, my presence,
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Speaker0: my rule, my reign, what I care about known
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Speaker0: in the world is through his kids.
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Speaker0: And that you have a part to play in that. In a new covenant way,
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Speaker0: that's what Ephesians 4:16 tells us. From whom the whole body joined together.
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Speaker0: We're joined. We're family.
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Speaker0: Held together by every joint with which it is equipped
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Speaker0: when each part is working Properly.
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Speaker1: Makes what?
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Speaker0: The body grow. So that it
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Speaker0: builds itself up in love. Let me tell you one
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Speaker0: of the harsh truths about the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Speaker0: For a long time, a lot of times it had a big mouth
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Speaker0: but no moving body.
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Speaker0: It loved to shout stuff. You just didn't do stuff.
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Speaker0: Come on now. Tell the
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Speaker0: world a lot of stuff. Didn't show the world much of anything.
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Speaker0: And what God has done is weaved a body together and placed that body
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Speaker0: all over this place, man. He's placed us on different streets
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Speaker0: and different neighborhoods and different relationships. And he says, y'all are
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Speaker0: joined in this thing. Represent me there with wisdom and creativity
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Speaker0: and innovation and decision-making and bring about change everywhere.
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Speaker0: More people plowing more kingdom fields.
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Speaker0: More people impacting other people.
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Speaker0: More people bringing about the influence of the kingdom of God in every realm
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Speaker0: and sphere of influence everywhere.
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Speaker0: To make a kingdom difference in every place God has put
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Speaker0: us. You say, Kyle, how's that play out? Can I give you 2 practical ways?
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Speaker0: 2 practical ways that you can play your part? One is on
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Speaker0: mission in this community. On mission in this community.
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Speaker0: On mission in the community. To realize— and I'm going to say
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Speaker0: this again. Hear me now. Everywhere you are already
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Speaker0: living is somewhere God sovereignly sent you. Come on.
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Speaker0: You ain't got to go to the mission field. You're living there.
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Speaker1: Amen.
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Speaker0: Amen. That when Jesus saved you, if he hasn't
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Speaker0: yet, he wants to today, he'd already placed you.
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Speaker0: And the gospel of Jesus was never intended to stop with anyone, but to spread
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Speaker0: through every one of his kids. You love this
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Speaker0: passage. Matthew 5, verses 13 and 14, you are the salt.
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Speaker0: You are, you are, not a few.
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Speaker0: If you're a follower of Christ, you are the salt of the
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Speaker0: earth. But if you've lost— but
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Speaker0: if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It's no
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Speaker0: longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
22:07
Speaker0: You are the light of the world, a city set
22:11
Speaker0: on a hill that cannot be hidden. It goes on to say that should never
22:14
Speaker0: be put under a basket, that should never be tried to diminish or dim.
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Speaker0: Let me tell you what Jesus is saying about us.
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Speaker1: Yes.
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Speaker0: Saying about
22:22
Speaker0: you, not saying about a preacher standing in the power of the Spirit. He's talking
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Speaker0: about his people, that you're salt, you're light,
22:31
Speaker0: that you make— you and I, because of the gospel of
22:34
Speaker0: Christ, because of the power of the Spirit, that we should make everything better
22:39
Speaker0: and everything brighter. Salt makes it
22:43
Speaker0: better, does it not? You know what I'm talking about? Anybody ever had some bland
22:46
Speaker0: food? You just— somebody's like, this is so good. You got some salt?
22:51
Speaker0: Help!
22:52
Speaker1: Help!
22:52
Speaker0: That's funny right there.
22:59
Speaker0: Salt makes it better. Light makes
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Speaker0: it brighter.
23:07
Speaker0: If I was sitting at coffee with you right now,
23:11
Speaker0: if I was sitting at a cup of coffee with you right now, I'd say,
23:13
Speaker0: hey, listen, do you know for certain that that Jesus
23:17
Speaker0: Christ has saved you? I'd look you right in the eyes and say, do you
23:20
Speaker0: know for certain that Jesus has made you a part of his forever
23:25
Speaker0: family? And if your response is, no doubt, dude. I know I've been made new.
23:28
Speaker0: I'm a child of the kingdom of God. Then I would look you in your
23:31
Speaker0: eyes and say, well, wherever you are,
23:35
Speaker0: you're salt, you're light. That God has placed
23:39
Speaker0: you on that street to make it better. God has put you on that street
23:42
Speaker0: to make it brighter. God's put you in that workplace not
23:46
Speaker0: to just be mad at the boss all the time, but to make it
23:50
Speaker0: better, to make it brighter. If you are the boss,
23:53
Speaker0: it's not to be frustrated at your employees all the time.
23:57
Speaker0: Make it better, 'cause it's either one or the other.
24:01
Speaker0: But to make it better, to make it brighter. If God has placed you in
24:04
Speaker0: Brandon, or placed you in Pearl, or placed you in Jackson, it's not to
24:07
Speaker0: complain, it's to make it better, it's to make it brighter.
24:10
Speaker1: Amen.
24:12
Speaker1: Amen.
24:12
Speaker0: It's to bring about difference and change. You say, how, Kyle, how do
24:16
Speaker0: you do that? Well, you pray first and then you
24:20
Speaker0: go to work.
24:24
Speaker0: And the primary way that we work is as
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Speaker0: His ambassadors. 2 Corinthians 5:20,
24:32
Speaker0: therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through
24:36
Speaker0: us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, Be reconciled
24:40
Speaker0: to God. Living on
24:44
Speaker0: mission in the community, 2 primary ways we do that.
24:47
Speaker0: We pray and we proclaim. We make known the
24:51
Speaker0: excellencies of him who has saved us, who took us from darkness and brought
24:55
Speaker0: us into his marvelous light. You say, well, Kyle, how do you do that?
24:57
Speaker0: Well, we'll show up to serve. Let me tell you a secret.
25:01
Speaker0: Let me tell you why we do pine straw days and we put pine
25:06
Speaker0: straw, 2 tractor-trailer loads, We're at the Pine Straw in our
25:09
Speaker0: Crossgates community. Let me tell you why we do that. Let me tell you why
25:12
Speaker0: we partner with our city and with great organizations to throw big
25:16
Speaker0: Freedom Fests and see thousands of families have a safe environment.
25:20
Speaker0: You want to know why we do benevolence ministry and feed on Thursdays
25:25
Speaker0: hundreds of families? Because of your faithfulness.
25:28
Speaker0: You want to know why we do all these kind of activities that we'll show
25:31
Speaker0: up and serve? So that we might get a chance To stand
25:34
Speaker0: in front of as many people as possible and say, be reconciled
25:39
Speaker0: unto God through Christ. That's why we do
25:42
Speaker0: it, 'cause we're building a bridge.
25:45
Speaker0: We're showing who Jesus is, and then we're sharing what Jesus wants
25:53
Speaker0: So, that's us as the big C church, but you as a follower
25:57
Speaker0: of Christ Christian, That's you in everywhere God's placed you.
26:03
Speaker0: To make it better. To make it a little bit brighter.
26:07
Speaker0: So how do you play your part inside of that? Whatever you do, do it
26:11
Speaker0: with excellence. Do it with integrity. Do it with passion. Do it with purpose.
26:17
Speaker0: So on mission in the community. And second way that you do it.
26:21
Speaker0: Second way that you play your part is on a team in the church.
26:24
Speaker0: Amen. I'm looking out at a lot of team
26:28
Speaker0: members already. People that serve somewhere, somehow.
26:32
Speaker0: Can we just talk for a second? 50+ years ago, some people said
26:37
Speaker0: yes to Jesus on this corner. And the reason
26:41
Speaker0: we're in this room is that a lot of people have served somewhere, somehow for
26:44
Speaker0: a long time. Hallelujah. Right? Amen. Many of
26:48
Speaker0: which have already stepped into heaven. Many of which that died
26:52
Speaker0: serving Jesus. Literally lived,
26:55
Speaker0: served, stepped into the presence of Jesus Christ.
27:02
Speaker0: And the church that we're believing to become in
27:05
Speaker0: the future calls for— hear me— not
27:11
Speaker0: some of the same people serving more places. It calls for
27:15
Speaker0: more people serving in more places. Amen.
27:19
Speaker0: It calls for every generation to make a decision on
27:23
Speaker0: when will you show up to serve. But the level to which we have
27:26
Speaker0: laborers is the level to which we can move.
27:30
Speaker0: Same was true when they built the wall. Imagine if sections
27:34
Speaker0: of them said, nah, I'm good. Third way.
27:39
Speaker0: Third way.
27:43
Speaker0: What does next to them work look like for us? So you play.
27:46
Speaker0: You pray your part. You play
27:50
Speaker0: your part. And then you bring your portion.
27:55
Speaker0: You bring your portion. You say, oh,
27:59
Speaker0: preacher, you gonna talk about giving? Nope.
28:03
Speaker0: I'm gonna talk about bringing. You say,
28:06
Speaker0: what's the difference? Well, you can't give something
28:10
Speaker0: that's not yours. You can only bring
28:14
Speaker0: it. And I want to say something
28:18
Speaker0: to us because I— again, let me tell you the kind of church we're going
28:21
Speaker0: to be. Never going to be a church that begs you for money.
28:25
Speaker0: Never. Matter of fact, that's a travesty.
28:30
Speaker0: But we will always be a church that tells you first fruits are
28:35
Speaker0: his. They're his.
28:38
Speaker0: Let me tell you this. If you want revival,
28:41
Speaker0: if you really personally and as a people, it always,
28:44
Speaker0: always, always touches our giving practices.
28:50
Speaker0: Listen what it says, Nehemiah 10. I'll skip ahead a little bit. Verse 35
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Speaker0: through 37. We obligate ourselves to
28:59
Speaker0: bring the first fruits of our ground and the first fruits of all the fruit
29:03
Speaker0: of every tree. year by year to the house of the Lord,
29:06
Speaker0: also to bring to the house of our God, to the priests who minister
29:10
Speaker0: in the house of our God, the firstborn of our sons and our cattle,
29:13
Speaker0: as it is written in the law. Miss Laura, you can go ahead and come.
29:16
Speaker0: And the firstborn of our herds and of our flocks, and to bring the first
29:20
Speaker0: of our dough and of our contributions, the fruit of
29:24
Speaker0: every tree, the wine and the oil, into the priests, into the
29:28
Speaker0: chambers of the house of our God, and bring to the Levites, as That's the
29:31
Speaker0: priests. The tithes from our ground,
29:34
Speaker0: for it is the Levites who collect the tithes in all the towns where
29:38
Speaker0: we labor. Here's a principle of the kingdom of God,
29:41
Speaker0: and this plays out personally and it plays out by family.
29:47
Speaker0: The first tenth of what we receive, it belongs
29:51
Speaker0: to the Lord.
29:55
Speaker0: I'm going to say something about first fruits.
29:57
Speaker0: Amen. It's not a decision to be made.
30:01
Speaker0: It's a declaration. First things
30:05
Speaker0: are God's. They're God's.
30:11
Speaker0: Now the only decision we have, will we bring
30:14
Speaker0: it or will we keep it?
30:18
Speaker0: If you bring it, it blesses the 90.
30:23
Speaker0: If you keep it, if you keep it, the scripture makes
30:27
Speaker0: it explicitly clear, it's cursed.
30:29
Speaker0: It's not Kyle's word,
30:34
Speaker0: God's word. Let me
30:38
Speaker0: tell you what would attract the presence of God in your family.
30:41
Speaker0: Let me tell you what would attract the presence of God to this church family.
30:44
Speaker0: Let me tell you what God genuinely does see and care about.
30:48
Speaker0: Are we the kind of people that return
30:52
Speaker0: to the Lord what's His?
30:54
Speaker0: It's a crazy thought, and I'm just talking to you this morning because
30:58
Speaker0: I believe God's Word.
31:03
Speaker0: If we want to see real revival,
31:06
Speaker0: by family, we got prayers to pray.
31:10
Speaker0: We got a part to play. Listen, we have a portion to bring. Amen.
31:14
Speaker0: We just do. Let me give it to you one more time. What does next
31:18
Speaker0: to them work look like for us? It's that you, you pray
31:22
Speaker0: your part. You play your part.
31:25
Speaker0: And you bring your portion.
31:29
Speaker0: I got a promise for you. And I'm done. If those 3 things
31:33
Speaker0: are not in alignment,
31:37
Speaker0: to believe for revival is ridiculous.
31:42
Speaker0: But if those things are aligned, be ready for the fire.
31:51
Speaker0: It's great to hear those practical tips from Nehemiah chapter
31:55
Speaker0: 3, and as Kyle pointed out, we all have
31:59
Speaker0: a goal to pray our part,
32:02
Speaker0: to play our part, and to give toward what God is doing
32:06
Speaker0: in To bring our portion. And so may
32:09
Speaker0: the Lord convict our hearts in those areas and show us what
32:14
Speaker0: he wants us to do. Let me encourage you to take this message,
32:17
Speaker0: take your notes, and pray these things in, asking God
32:21
Speaker0: to do a great work in your life, in your faith community,
32:25
Speaker0: in your city. And let's continue to orient our lives
32:30
Speaker0: toward what God desires so that he may visit and do
32:33
Speaker0: an amazing thing. Amen. So thank you for joining
32:37
Speaker0: again this week. God bless you. Join us again next
32:41
Speaker0: week as we continue to share stories,
32:45
Speaker0: reports, and messages which honor the Lord
32:49
Speaker0: and help us to orient our lives toward Him in revival
32:53
Speaker0: and spiritual awakening. God bless you. God bless
32:57
Speaker0: you.