Latest / End-Time Revival Ministries, USA / ‘No Division’

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‘No Division’ · End-Time Revival Ministries, USA

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All right, God bless you once again. We welcome you to this another
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edition of End Time Revival Ministris USA podcast. For those of you who are
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listening by way of audio, and for those of you who are viewing by
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way of our YouTube channel one Voice in the Wilderness, we welcome you as
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well. And we thank God again for this another opportunity to a man dev
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into the Word of God and hopefully a man see and get some understanding and
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wisdom and knowledge that the Word of God has for us. And so today
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we're going to be going to the letter of First Corinthians. And before we
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begin, of course, I just want to say by way of introduction that
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I am just again grateful to the Lord for all of his blessings that he
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has bestowed upon me. How he has a man allowed me, a man,
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a privilege, this privilege, a man to be an ambassador, to
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be a spokesperson, a man, a spokesman, a preacher of the gospel.
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Amen. And I'm just thrilled a man for all of the blessings that
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God is bestowed upon me. And I'm as the Apostle Paul said, i
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am constrained, Amen, by this great Gospel. I am compelled a man
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to a man, speak the word of God in truth and in love,
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and to hopefully compel men and women everywhere to a man turn Amen to the
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one and the True and the Living God, the only hope of salvation that
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we have in this world. Because we are fighting against an adversary, a
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wicked, evil adversary. We just complete it. We've never finished, of
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course, but we just completed a series on the problem of evil in our
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world. And we need to understand that we are wrestling not against flesh and
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blood, but against principalities and powers, against the wicked rulers of this world,
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darkness. Amen. And we need to be equipped as the people of
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God to engage in battle. And we need to also understand what the tactics
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of the enemy are. Amen. We need to understand what and how what
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he uses and how he uses Amen, the weapons that he deploys Amen against
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us. Amen. If we take our focus off of him and put it
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on people, we're going to miss it. If we take our focus,
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Amen, off of his devices and assign them to something else other than what
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it is. The wickedness of Satan in his again attempt to a man stifle
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to set back to a man stop. If he could a man the progress
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of the Kingdom of God, he would do that. And we need to
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know, we need to know, we need to be aware when we're not
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to be a people as the Lord said in the Old Testament of his people,
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my people being destroyed for the lack of knowledge. There's no reason why
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we should not be knowledgeable of a man the devices of the enemy. And
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so today we're going to take a look at one of the main devices that
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he uses attempts to use against the Church. And we just want to as
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the people of God, a man always be a man on guard, as
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the Bible tells us, to be vigilant, to be sober, because your
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adversary, who is the devil, He goes about as a roaring lion,
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seeking whom he may devow, so whom he may take advantage of. Amen
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destroy Amen. And so if you have your Bibles, go with us to
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the letter First Corinthians, the letter First Corinthians, and we're going to begin
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a short amen, or a series rather in that particular letter. Now,
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this first epistle, by the way, is Paul's lengthiest epistle to the church.
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And for those of you who are for me. I'm going to close
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with prayer on today. So we as we have already a man blessed the
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Lord and invoked his presence, and we are dependent always upon his power.
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Amen. So I'm going to close Amen with prayer after we conclude this session
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on today. But this first epistle or first letter that the Apostle Paul wrote
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to the Corinthian Church is the lengthiest of all of the letters in the New
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Testament a man in acts eighteen. Of course, if you read in the
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History of the Church, it records the birth of the church, or the
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beginning of the church in corinth where the apostle Paul along with some of his
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traveling companions, where they are preaching the Gospel, and Paul stayed there for
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about a period of eighteen months, it is believed, and one of the
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primary purposes for him writing this letter. One of the primary purposes was because
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he had received of very disturbing news, particularly from the House of Chloe.
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That he mentioned in the letter, that there was division in the church schisms,
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if you will, sex, And as the Bible makes clear, no
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house that is divided can stand, not even the kingdom of darkness. Amen.
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That is led by Satan stand as a divided house. And that's what
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Jesus said. If Satan is casting out Satan, he is divided against his
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kingdom because they accuse Jesus. Of course, if you know your Gospel or
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familiar with some of the gospel narratives, you know that they the some of
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the Jews, accuse Jesus of casting out devils by the prince of the devils.
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And Jesus said, no, no, no, no, no,
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no kingdom, no house divided against itself can stand. And so not even
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the kingdom of darkness is divided. And of course we must understand that there
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is unity in heaven. Uh. If you're going to be in heaven,
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you're going to be in You're going to be united. You're going to be
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in you. If you don't like unity, you don't want to go to
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heaven. And also there there's unity in hell, at least amongst the demons
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and the devil a man, they are united. And uh. And there
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is a kind of unity in our world in which we live by the way.
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And the unity that is in the world is the opposition a man against
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the Church of Jesus Christ. The world. Make no mistake about it.
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The world is united united a man in opposition against the Church of Jesus Christ,
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and the world, please understand, is not against the religion. The
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world is not in opposition to religion. The world is not in opposition to
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churches. But the world is in opposition to the Church, the True Church
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of Jesus Christ, the Kingdom of Heaven. Because world has always been saturated
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in religion, a man in religious fervor ever since a man, the fall
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of man and Satan has seen to it that there is religion of plenty in
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our world. And it is a man. And there's never been a shortage
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of idols. There's never been a lack of idolatry in our world. Man
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and his fall of nature is idolatrous at heart. We are idolatrous creatures from
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the heart. And all men are worshipers, by the way, whether you
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believe it or not, whether you understand it or not, whether you acquesced
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to it or not, all men are worshipers. And there's this strong tendency
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for man to worship another human being. And we do this continuously. And
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this is the history of man. Even if you say, you can say,
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oh, I don't bow down to an idol or graving image or but
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there's this this, this, this pool, if you will, this gravitational
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pool of of of idolatry within the heart of man, that he will he
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will, if he will not acquiesce to the True in the Living God,
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He's going to bow down to someone or something. He's going to worship someone
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or something that is a man to take the place of God. Amen.
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And what we're going to see, if you have your bibles again, go
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to First Corinthians, chapter number one. What we're going to see is the
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tactic of division that the enemy sought to use against the Church. And Paul
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writes this letter again and one of the main he addresses. He addresses a
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lot of things in this letter, but first and foremost, we're going to
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look in the very first chapter where he looks at this huge, gigantic problem
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of division, and the Church must be united a man in the doctrine of
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Christ, in the core principles of what the Bible teaches. Amen. And
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we must as the church. And I'm talking about the true Church. And
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I know there are all kinds of churches, if you will, there are
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all kinds of denominations, organizations, and places of worship that are called churches.
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But I'm not talking about those things that have been made by man.
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I'm talking about the thing that was instituted and ordained by God, that he
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amen a man, has establish and is still adding to a man to this
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very day, to this very hour, Jesus said again upon this rock,
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I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail.
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And if you read again in the history of the Church that we have a
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man, in the book of the Acts of the Apostles, you will see
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how it was the Lord, by the power of the Holy Spirit, who
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added to the church daily such as should be saved. And he is still
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at work in this world during this time of the Gentiles, adding to his
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church. So the apostle Paul, verse number one, First Corinthians, chapter
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number one writes these words. Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ
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through the will of God, and Sustenes our brother unto the Church of God
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which is at Corinth. To them that are sanctive find in Christ Jesus.
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Let me say, listen to this introduction part here. Don't miss that.
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Amen, if you are in the Church of Jesus, Christ. You are
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sanctified. That is, you are set apart. That's what the Church is,
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the set apart, called out ecclesia. If you will, of this
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world, out of this world. Amen. And so the Church of Jesus
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Christ. Amen. Those who are in the True Church of Jesus Christ,
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a man are sanctified. In Christ Jesus. We are set apart, not
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only in Him, but for Him. And it is through Him that we
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operate, and we are called to be saints. Amen. He says with
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all that in every place, call upon the name of the Lord Jesus,
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both theirs and ours. Grace be unto you and peace from God I will
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father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always,
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he says, on your behalf for the grace of God, which is given
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you by Jesus Christ. Thank God for grace. Amen. And it comes
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by Jesus Christ. Amen. A man. Don't want to come by Jesus,
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you are spurning the grace of God. Verse five. That in everything
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you are enriched by Him, in all utterance and in all knowledge, even
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as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, make no mistake about it.
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If you are saved, there is confirmation that comes from and by the
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Holy Ghost. Amen. The testimony of Christ. Amen, Amen, is
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confirmed in every true believer Verse number seven. So that you come behind in
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no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And ah,
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there it is again. Let me just pause one more time and hopefully
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verse number seven listen, and I hope that we can have going forward in
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our world today, a people that are I mean in the Church, that
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are truly waiting and anticipating the coming of Jesus Christ, who are truly praying,
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even soul, Come, Lord Jesus. That's what Listen. We are
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the bride of Christ, Amen. And we are to be preparing ourselves,
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adorning ourselves a man, making ourselves ready, a man for the marriage supper
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of the Lamb. Amen. And this is what we are called to be
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in this world, the Saints of God, the Church of the Living God.
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And we are to be waiting in anticipation for the coming of our Lord
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Jesus Christ, not a man again being caught up ensnared in all of the
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things of this world or things of this life, but living in anticipation of
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the coming of Jesus Christ. Verse number eight. He says, who shall
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also confirm you unto the end. Amen, confirmation all the way until the
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end. Amen. Paul says that you may be blameless in the day of
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our Lord Jesus Christ. And he says, God is faithful by whom you
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were called unto the fellowship of His son Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now
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that's his introduction the first nine verses of chapter one of this first letter to
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the Corinthian Church. A man greets them, and he confirms them, and
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he assures them of their status. And that's what we need, Amen,
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is people of God, to know who we are, whose we are,
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in whom we should be trusting and believing. And again anticipate painting a man
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the return of Amen. Verse number ten. Now he gets to a man
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this problem, this major, this first major problem that is in the church.
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Amen, verse number ten. Now, I beseech you, brethren,
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by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same
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thing, and that there be no divisions among you a man, no divisions,
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that is, no dissensions, No a man schisms as it were,
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a man, not this party and that party. Amen. But that you,
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he says, be perfectly joined together. In the same mind and in
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the same judgment. In other words, we must agree with God period Amen,
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no matter where what our background, perspectives, a man ideas are,
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you know, past teachings, or whatever we think we may or may not
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have learned, especially and particularly as it pertains to religion. Amen, when
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it comes to the doctrines of the Bible, we must, as the Church
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of Jesus Christ, be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the
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same judgment, because truth matters. This is what he says for it hath
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been declared unto me of you, my brethren. Now he doesn't disown them.
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He doesn't a man cast them away because of their a man straying away
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from a man the way that they should be walking in. But he still
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calls them brethren. Amen. But you know this is the beauty of Amen,
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the power of the Holy Ghost, and the love that God has for
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us a man, even when we stray, even when we falter, because
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we are His children. Amen. He disciplines us, he chastens us,
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he corrects us. And that's one of the reasons why we have the Bible,
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the Word of God, Amen, Amen, the word that is a
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lamp unto our feet, and a lighten too our path. Amen. And
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we do ourselves a grave disservice when we don't read the Word of God and
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take heed to it. Amen. Because the same type of issues that we
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see in the Bible, amongst churches, amongst people, individuals, and so
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forth and so on, the same things happening today. Amen. This division
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that we have in the Corinthian Church is alive and well today. It is
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alive and well today because it's the same enemy. It's the same devil,
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a man Satan, who is still prowling and going around again as a roaring
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lion, seeking whom he may devow, seeking whom he soon whom rather he
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may take advantage of. And so Paul was made aware verse eleven a man
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by them which he says are of the House of Chloe, that there are
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contentions among you, contentions, contentions in the church. Now we're gonna always
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have problems. We're gonna have disagreements a man, But a man they cannot
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be of the variety of the nature. Where a man there is disagreement when
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it comes to what the Bible is crystal clear about. We must agree with
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God. And when and when these things happen. And again, this is
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why we've had church splits. This is why certain churches, organizations, or
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whatever can't get along. A man can't even fellowship together. It is because
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a man of doctrinal disputes and disagreements, and these things again will happen.
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And so there were contentions in that church that Paul had to address, because
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again, no house divided can stand. A divided house will fall. Amen.
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So he says in verse twelve. Now this I say that every one
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of you said, this is the problem that they had. You had one
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group of people who were saying, I am of Paul. In other words,
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they were going to be Paul's disciples. They were a man brought into
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the church through the preaching of Paul. They were so they were therefore perhaps
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going to only follow the leadership of Paul, the apostleship of Paul, the
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pastoralship of Paul. And so you had another sect who says, I am
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of Apollos. Now Apollos was also a minister, a eloquent man in the
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scriptures the Bible tells us. And so a certain group or faction inside of
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the church decided that they were going to be disciples as it were, of
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Apollos. And then you had a group that said I am of Cephus,
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and I believe that it's referring to the apostle Peter who was called Cephus,
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or there is another Cephis. And then there were those who says, well,
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I am of Christ. So here named at least we have, at
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minimum we have at least four distinct or separate, if you will, sex
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or groups of individuals who were saying that they were or disciples of Paul.
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You had others who says I am of Apollos. You had others who says
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I am of Cephist, and then you had at least one other group that
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says I am of Christ. That's a problem. That's a problem. That's
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a problem. And again, if you don't think that this same kind of
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schism is in the church today, you are either completely ignorant of churches and
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how people have a tendency to gravitate towards certain ministers or ministries based on whatever
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preferences. And it may have absolutely nothing to do with the truth, nothing
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to do with the Word of God. It sometimes simply has to do with
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preference of style or perhaps charisma and things of that nature that people will gravitate
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toward one individual over another. And again there's nothing wrong with it. We
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all can, and we do, not only can we do, make choices
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as to churches where we will worship and tend and fellowship and the things of
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that nature. But when it comes to the doctrines again, and I'm talking
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about the Bible, the Word of God, I'm not talking about organizational doctrines.
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I'm not talking about church doctrine. I'm talking about Bible, the Word
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of God, Bible doctrine. When it comes to Bible doctrine, amen,
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the doctrine of Christ, the teachings of the scriptures, the Bible says,
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we are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself
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being the chief cornerstone. He's the head of the church. And the church
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cannot be divided. The church cannot be a man. And this is again,
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this is a tactic, this is a scheme. This is something that
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the devil uses to a man bring in a divided house. And again what
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a house divided cannot stand. So Paul addresses this. Look at verse thirteen.
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He says, is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you or were
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you baptized in the name of Paul? A man. Listen, one Lord,
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one faith, one baptism, one God, one savior, one way
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a man to be saved, salvation and no other. It's all in and
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buy and through Jesus Christ, through his blood that he shed the atonement at
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Calvary, a man. There's no other salvation and there's no other way.
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So Paul says, Christ is not divided. I was not crucified for you.
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Amen. There's only one who died. There's only one who gave himself,
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a man for the church, a man and only one who could,
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only one who qualified. Amen. As we'll see and do see rather in
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the Book of Revelation, a man when we get to glory, A man
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who is worthy to loose the seals and open the book. Amen. Only
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the Lamb of God, who was slain from the foundation of the world is
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worthy. Amen, because only his blood sacrifice can take away sins. Amen.
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So Christ is the one who died. Christ is the one who gave
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himself. Christ is the one who a man instituted the church, gave birth
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to the church. Is the builder and architect of the Church, is the
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one who adds to the church. Amen. And so the church belongs to
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him. He is the head of the church, and all the rest of
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us are simply a man members of his body. Amen. And so Paul
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makes it crystal clear here that there is no division in Christ. Amen.
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I was not crucified for you, Paul says, Amen. And you were
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not even baptized, certainly in my name. And he said that, goes
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on to say Verge fourteen. Look what he says, I thank God that
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I baptized none of you but Chrispus and Guias, lest any should say that
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I had baptized in mine own name. And I baptized also, he says,
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the household of Stephanus. And besides, I know not whether I baptized
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any other, he says, because Christ verse seventeen sent me not to baptize,
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but to preach the gospel, the Gospel and not, he says,
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with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none
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effect. All right, I'm gonna hold it right there, because listen,
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Amen, this is a very very, very a man cunning tactic, that
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the devil uses a man again to bring down the house, as it were,
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and I've seen it. We've all seen it, those of us who
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have been around long enough and known of history, church history in general,
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and also of churches and organizations. A man that have suffered because of division,
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a man because of division. And again sometimes it is very very necessary
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when it comes to a man doctrinal beliefs a man Bible, I mean Bible
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doctrine, when it comes to biblical doctrines of the faith, there will be
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times that we must part ways because there can be no compromise on biblical truth.
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If there's a church, for example, or sect of people or a
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group of people that do not believe in the virgin birth, we don't.
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We cannot, we cannot compromise that. That can't. If you don't believe
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in the resurrection of Jesus, that's that's that can't be compromised a man in
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any way, we cannot a man. Uh, we cannot, pardon,
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we cannot. We can't get along with that. Okay, that's that's that's
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church doctrine. If you don't believe that, first of all, you don't
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believe that Jesus came into this world died on the cross, I mean all
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of the fundamental foundational things of the Gospel, a man. We have churches
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today so called that don't believe those things. We have preachers and pastors don't
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believe those things. Are they, in my humble opinion, in the church,
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No, absolutely not, because you cannot be in the true and Living
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Church of God if you don't believe the Gospel, if you don't believe who
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Christ is, if you don't acquiesce to one Lord, one faith, one
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baptism, one God, a man, one savior, one mediator between God
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and man. If you believe their multitude avenues or avatars and ways to get
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to Heaven. Amen, you are calling Jesus a liar, a man.
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He said, I am the way, Truth and the Life. And no
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one comes to the Father but by me, he said, I'm the door,
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and you must come by me. And if you try to climb up
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any other way, you are the same as a thief and a robber.
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Amen. And this is exactly, this is precisely a man the kind of
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thing that the adversary wants to do in our world and especially in our churches
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today. Amen. He wants to take the focus and the object of worship,
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of true worship, away from the true and the Living God, away
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from the Christ, a man who gave himself for us, Amen, and
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redirect it toward men and man. This is the only reason why they had
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these schisms in the church is because people are now looking at Paul. People
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are now looking at Apollows. People are now focusing their eyes and their attention
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on Peter or as it was in the Old Testament of Moleses. Because moles
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is delayed, because Moleses is gone, because Joshua isn't with us no more.
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Now we're gonna turn away from the truth, turn away from the God
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who brought us out, who is our savior, who is our Amen,
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Deliver, listen, keep your eyes on the prize, on the mark,
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on the one with your eyes lifted up toward him, a man who is
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the author and the finisher of your faith, a man again, because there
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is a tendency of you know, people wanting to a man place their faith,
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their faith, Amen, their hope, their salvation in Man. Amen.
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And this is an egregious, a man thing that is happening in our
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world. And it's the work of the enemy, it's the work of the
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devil. Amen, to take our were worship and redirected away from God,
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redirected away from the One, a man who gave himself for us, and
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pointed toward a man men, a man to a man, gravitate toward men
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who came from the dust of the earth and who are going back to the
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dust. Amen, what happens? This is why so many people by the
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way, and I've seen it. I've seen it. Nobody said, tell
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me, I've seen it. A man over decades of being in the church,
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a man when you know their preacher dies or their preacher falls. Amen,
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there goes their faith, There goes their salvation, as it were,
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Amen, there goes their church attendance, there goes their worship, because why,
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why why did it leave? It was all invested in this personality,
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in this individual. It was directed toward him instead of Christ. Amen.
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And so again we got to be very careful about this. Amen. It
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has caused all kinds of divisions, it has caused all kinds of strife,
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it has caused all kinds of schisms in the body. And this is exactly
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what was happening with the Church at Corinth. And the apostle Paul would not
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let it stand, would not let it go. Unaddressed a man again,
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because no house divided can stand, no house, no divided church can prosper.
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Amen. Again, there's one Lord, one faith, and one baptism.
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We are all baptized into the Body of Christ by Jesus Christ, through
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the power of His Holy Spirit, by one spirit. The Bible says,
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we're all baptized into one body, one Lord, one faith, one baptism
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in Jesus coming back by the way for one church. He's coming back for
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one church. And he said, abundance Rock I be a my church.
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The gates of hell shall not prevail. So again, Lord, we just
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want to thank you for the Church of Jesus Christ that is still yet thriving
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in this world today. And we know that you have your people a man
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and there is division, there is opposition, There is a man trickery of
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the enemy who seeks to steal, keeling to destroy. But Lord, we
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know that you've come to we might have life. We have it more abundantly.
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And again we are in your hand. We know that you're able to
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keep us from falling a man, and no one can pluck us out of
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your hand. And so Lord, we just simply pray today that you will
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strengthen us, and keep us, and guide us, and direct us,
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and make us all a man as one aware of all of the schemes of
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the enemy. As the Bible says, we are not ignorant of his devices.
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Lord, keep us keep that which we have commit admitted unto you against
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that day. In Jesus' name, we praying your thanks. A man and
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a man right bless your