Latest / Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services / Living Waters of Grace, February 17, 2026

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Living Waters of Grace, February 17, 2026 · Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services

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This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark
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Waffer, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland, County
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of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he
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continues teaching through God's Word.
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God has created you and I in a way that once we come to know
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Him, that He wants to have continual union with us,
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continual relationship with us moment by moment.
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That's not on Sunday for a few hours, or on a Wednesday, or
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when you open your Bible in the morning, but He wants to be
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communing with you moment by moment.
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And so we keep ourselves in remembrance of God's presence
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24/7. That's what God's desire is.
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That's the absolute picture of a perfect kind of humility.
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My father was always working on some project around the house,
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the yard or in the garage. He would always request my help
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in these projects. I would often join him, albeit
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reluctantly at times. I learned that it wasn't my help
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that he desired, as I often slowed things down, but my
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presence and relationship that he enjoyed.
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Pastor Clark reminds us in today's message that God has
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created us for constant communion with Him.
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When we understand and submit to His design, we are far more
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satisfied now. Here's Pastor Clark in
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Revelation chapter one with today's edition of Living Waters
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of Grace. Revelation chapter 1.
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We'll start with where we left off.
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The lesson is he who reads and those who hear the words of this
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prophecy and keep those things which are written in it for the
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time is near. The importance of reading the
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Book of Revelation and not only reading it, but listening to it
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and doing the things it says is promised blessing.
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And so I want to encourage you guys as you're here to realize
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that this is a very, very special book.
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The whole book, the whole Bible is special, but there's a
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uniqueness to the Book of Revelation that God has promised
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to implant in your lives, a degree of blessing that is
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unlike any other blessing that you will get in any other book.
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And it has to do with revelation, illumination, wisdom
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that God gives you as your life changes as you study this book.
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And the word blessing comes from the Hebrew word that means more
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to be guided, not so much to what I'm going to get out of my
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life or what do you have for me, God.
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But it's the privilege to be guided on the narrow path away
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from all the lies of the philosophies of man in this
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world that we Live Today. All the confusing things that
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are being taught in colleges and high schools and on TV in The
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History Channel, all these things that come across to
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basically denounce the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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We're guided on this narrow path away from these kind of in the
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modern times so that we won't be deceived into following
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darkness, deceptions of the evil 1 and the allures of this fallen
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world. The Book of Revelation
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captivates you when you are walking in continual remembrance
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of God. And that's the biggest thing I
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think that we all struggle with every day.
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How can I keep God in my thoughts all day long, moment by
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moment? Someone called me recently on
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vacation and they said, you know, I was doing really good
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for three days, keeping my mind on the Lord in the Word.
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And then all of a sudden the 4th, 5th day came.
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I just thought I needed a diversion, watch some TV, just
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chill out. And the person admitted that
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they started forgetting about God a little bit.
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And as they started forgetting about God, their lives began to
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unwind and go back into old patterns and old places, old
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sinful impulses and temptations. And so God has created you and I
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in a way that once we come to know him, that He wants to have
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continual union with us, continual relationship with us
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moment by moment. That's not on Sunday for a few
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hours, or on a Wednesday, or when you open your Bible in the
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morning. But He wants to be communing
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with you moment by moment. And so we keep ourselves in
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remembrance of God's presence 24/7.
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That's what God's desire is. That's the absolute picture of a
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perfect kind of humility when I realize I want to be with the
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Lord, that I realize I need to be with the Lord, that He wants
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me to be with him and I want to be with Him.
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And we have this community, him and I together, this
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relationship of love and friendship and closeness, that
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there isn't anything I want to do in my life that ignores him
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or puts him out of the picture. Now whenever we want to take our
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lives in a way and just have it our own way, so to speak, and
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think our own thoughts and our own ways, what's that an example
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of? That's an example of pride.
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And that's the thing that the Lord detests the most, a proud
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heart, an arrogant heart. And our minds are like that
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whenever we stop thinking about God.
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And we're not usually wired to think that way, but that's how
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God, God has created us so that we would need Him all the time.
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That's the way it was in the Garden before the fall.
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Adam and Eve were able to speak with God and they were able to
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hear God's voice back to them. They were aware of God's
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presence all the time. So this is the purpose of this
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book, to get us more geared in the sense of walking with the
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Lord. The Bible says walk in the
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Spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
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So being with the Lord is a walk moment by moment, step by step,
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to abide in the vine, to be connected to the resource of
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Jesus Christ 24/7, abiding in him, receiving our nourishment,
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our spiritual strength, our food from Christ himself.
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He said, abide in me and I and you, and you'll bring forth much
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fruit, for without me you can do nothing.
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Walking, abiding, repenting, continual repentance, metanoia,
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the present verb tense of always submitting and repenting before
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the Lord. That's why the psalmist said,
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let the words in my mouth and the meditations of my heart.
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He was so in tune with God's presence that he was aware that
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God saw every thought and was able to determine every motive
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of the human heart and then to humble ourselves.
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We're told in James for us to humble ourselves under the
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mighty hand of God, that we're told in Romans to yield
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ourselves not as instruments of unrighteousness unto evil, but
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yield ourselves as members of righteousness unto God.
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It tells us in Romans chapter 12 we're to present ourselves a
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living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.
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It tells us in Psalm 139 to let God search your heart, to let
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Him try your thoughts, and to see if there's any wicked way in
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you and to lead you in the way everlasting.
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So this is the desire of this blessing that God wants to give
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you. When you read this book and you
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participate in it and you meditate upon it and you think
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about what it's teaching, it's preparing you to have a deeper
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walk with the Lord. That's the intention of the Holy
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Spirit as we study this book together.
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In verse 4 it says John to the seven churches which are in
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Asia, grace to you, and peace from him who is and who was and
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who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his
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throne. As we talked last week and we
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saw the map, John is speaking to the seven churches in Asia
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Minor. The number 7 reveals
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completeness or perfection. There was more churches than
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thus 7. But the concept of the writer
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and the Holy Spirit was that as we think about this seven, it
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refers to every church, just not the ones that are listed here.
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And this book, as we said last week, was written between 94 and
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96 AD during the reign of Domitian, who was an evil empire
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in Rome, who had tremendous influence around all the regions
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and who was very prone to persecute Christians.
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He was an idolater. He spent about $22 million in
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developing places of idolatry to worship false gods, and he
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wanted to get rid of everyone that proclaimed this message of
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Jesus Christ. He put John the Apostle out in
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the Isle of Patmos, which is about 37 miles off the coast of
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what is today modern Turkey. It's a island that you wouldn't
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want to go to. It's not a Paradise Island.
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It's not like going to Hawaii. It is a rocky terrain, very dry
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place, only about 10 miles long, about 6 miles wide.
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And they use this place to send people who needed to be
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isolated, people who were considered possible threats to
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the government of Rome. And of course, all Christians
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were considered that at that time.
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And so he tells us as he begins to write this book, and he's
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writing it to those who are going through persecution at
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this time, through this evil empire.
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He's telling them that grace and peace be given to them from him.
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Capital H, who is and who was and who is to come.
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The Hebrew word for God in the Old Testament is Yahweh.
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You remember God said to Moses. Moses says, who should I say
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sent me? He says, I am that I am.
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God is fully everlasting and eternally existing.
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He is the one true God, the everlasting Father, Son, and
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Holy Spirit. And He speaks in this fourth
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verse. Also, interesting comment here.
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He makes this word here regarding the seven spirits who
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are before His throne, a mystery verse, but again, referring to
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completeness, and a lot of the commentators see this as being
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the first of the sevens in the Book of Revelation.
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It's a key number, as I said, signifying God's perfection, His
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completeness, and it is believed that this is a reference to
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Isaiah Chapter 11, verse 2, where the Holy Spirit is
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described in this section of Scripture.
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They are called the Spirit of the Lord Prophet Isaiah Speaking
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of the Spirit coming upon the Messiah, upon Jesus.
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It says the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him.
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That's the first aspect of the completeness of the person.
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The Holy Spirit says the Spirit of wisdom, the second
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characteristic of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of
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understanding, The third aspect of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit
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of counsel, the 4th, the Spirit of power, the 5th, the Spirit of
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knowledge, the six, and the fear of the Lord. 7 the Holy Spirit
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and his complete fullness. And so he gives us greeting that
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goes out from the Father Himself, and eventually now we
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begin to speak of the person of the Holy Spirit.
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And the next few verses will speak on the person of the Son.
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So in the Book of Revelation we see very clearly manifest the
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Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit, which is
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very, very important to affirm and to believe and to understand
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and to know. And as he begins to give this
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greeting, the greeting then begins to go from the Father to
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the Holy Spirit. And as I said now as we begin to
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look at verse 5, to the Son and from Jesus Christ, the faithful
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witness, the first born from the dead, and the ruler over the
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kings of the earth, to Him who loved us and washed us from our
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sin in His own blood. We see in this section of
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Revelation the manifestation of Christ in His priestly office
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and His prophetical office and His kingly office.
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Jesus Christ is prophet, priest and king, and the three titles
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which will comfort these people who are reading this time, we're
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reading these letters or hearing these letters as they're read in
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their fellowships who are undergoing difficult
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persecution. It says he's the faithful
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witness. Now you think about Christ when
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he was on trial before Pontius Pilate, he witnessed a good
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confession. Pilate at the point of hearing
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the declarations and the accusations of Christ, said I
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find nothing wrong with this man.
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He's done nothing wrong. We should let him go and he
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basically, you know, washed his hands of the whole thing because
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there is no sin that could be pointed out in the person of
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Christ. What he says, what Jesus says is
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always true. You can count on Christ every
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day of your life. He's the one that gives you
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absolute reality and he's the one that's promised you.
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I am the way, I am the truth. I am the life.
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No man comes to the Father but through me.
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And we're living in a time, folks, where the world and the
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school systems are trying to invade your mind to tell you
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that Christ isn't the true one. Every assault of hell is against
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the forces of the Kingdom of God in these days that we live to
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dismantle and diminish the authority and lordship of Jesus
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Christ. There's a attack against the
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sovereignty and the holiness of God and the days that we live to
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try to dismantle your faith and mine.
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But Christ is the one that overcomes all the ideologies of
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man. The ones that conflict with the
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truth is always going to be present because that's the way
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it's been since the beginning of time when the devil said to Adam
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and Eve hath not God said trying to distort the truth of the word
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of God. But we can rest in the person of
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Christ because he is the faithful witness.
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People might laugh at you because you believe what he says
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and you follow what he teaches, but don't worry about that.
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Your reward will be great in the Kingdom of heaven when he says
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to you, well done, good and faithful servant, you want to be
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a faithful witness as well. This like Christ has been a
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faithful witness on our behalf. And then it says he's the first
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born from the dead. Interesting definition there.
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But this is reflecting on his resurrection.
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There was other people that Christ rose from the dead.
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Think of, you know, those in history that even didn't have to
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go through death, like Elijah and Enoch.
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But Christ is the first one to rise in glory from being once
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dead. All the others that rose at the
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time from the dead were returned back to their earthly life.
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But Christ was glorified, and the same life that he received
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through His resurrection is a life that He provides you and I,
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that we also receive. It's an everlasting life.
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It's a life that's given to us by the only life giver.
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And then it says that He's the ruler of the kings over the
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earth. What a comforting word this is
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to me this day and I hope to you.
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Our confidence, I hope, is not in the political rulers of this
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world. They all fail.
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They all pass on and they all eventually die, But this roller,
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the Lord Jesus, the King over all the earth, he's the
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sovereign King. He's the one that appoints and
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takes down according to his plan and be encouraged.
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As I said, the earthly leaders of this world are slowly fading
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away. That's a blessing.
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It's a blessing that that evil roller in roam that empire
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eventually was taken down. All those ungodly rulers that
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persecuted Christians were all eventually destroyed and they
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eventually died. Adolf Hitler, the one who
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created the persecution for the Jews, is dead.
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Stalin and Lenin are dead even though they created great havoc.
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God is merciful and history moves on.
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We look back in history to remember the horrible things
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that happened and to understand that with the wrong kind of
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leaders, terrible things can happen in this world.
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But Christ is the one who sits on the throne, so nothing's out
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of control, even though at times you might think it is.
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He's allowing these things to happen, to come to pass, so that
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one day he can soon return. This is the one Jesus who loved
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us and washed us from our sins in his own blood.
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Well, I'll tell you, it doesn't get any better than that, does
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it? The one who loved you and washed
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you in his own blood. I'd underline that circle with
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highlighted can be reminded of it frequently.
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Because no one could have done this for you but Him.
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To him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own
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blood, the greatness of our Lord.
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Amen. No one but Jesus can do this for
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you and for me. We can't earn it, we don't
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deserve it, but He did it for us because He loves us.
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Perfect love. When you consider this and you
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think about this, this price that He paid for you, I'll tell
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you guys, I mean, I need to repent daily.
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Why does our minds forget so easily the sacrifice that Jesus
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paid for us? Why the times that we take it so
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lightly? This death of Christ died for
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you and me. It shows that our hearts are
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still hard at times and they still are indifferent.
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And I think that's a good verse to get on our face before the
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Lord at times privately and review it and then allow your
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heart to pour out to Him. Lord, I'm so thankful that you
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love me, that you do love me, and that You have shed your
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blood for me. You have washed me from all my
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sins, not just a few of them, that He's washed me from all my
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sins. In the picture of the cleansing
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of sin, the purification, the covering of the blood, there's
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no medium or product given upon the face of the earth through
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modern technology that can cover sin.
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Only the blood of Jesus can cover our sin.
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It breaks the bondages in our lives.
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It breaks the habits and the life besetting sins, the things
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that before we gave our hearts to Christ, the things that
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mastered us and controlled us, we were slaves to their control.
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And the good news is when the blood is shed and it's covering
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us of our sins, we are set free and we don't have to live the
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way we used to live. And some of us are deceived
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thinking that, well, yeah, I know I'm saved and I know you
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know, Christ did all this stuff, but I still have this desire and
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I still have this attitude, and I still have this want and all
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this. All I can encourage you is get
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on your face before God and proclaim the truth that Jesus
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has washed you from all your sins.
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And that means he's broken the bondage, the power for sin to
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reign and roll over your life. Let's go back to the Word and be
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reminded of what is true and turn your back away from the
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lives I know in your lives. As you're walking before the
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Lord, you're changing little by little.
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And I am too. And I look at my life back all
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those years I've lived so far, and I marvel that I'm not the
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same person I used to be. I'm sure you marvel when you
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look at your own life. I know I'm not perfect yet, but
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I know that I'm not what I used to be and I can't get over that.
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It blows my mind that I don't want to do this anymore.
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I don't want to do that anymore. I'm not interested in, you know,
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so many things that used to captivate me.
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And it's the work of God's Spirit.
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It's the work of His grace. It's the work of the power of
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His blood in my life and in yours.
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It washes us. It frees us from selfish hearts,
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from hot tempers, from lustful passions and self-centered
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living. That's what the blood does.
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When you look at someone and you say, boy, you know, they seem to
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have a servant heart. They care about people more than
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they care about themselves. But don't give that person the
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credit. Give Jesus a credit.
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He's the one through his blood that's done that in that
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person's heart. The person used to flip out and
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say all kind of angry things and had a temper that was always
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unruly and volatile. The person's life changes and
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now they're peaceful. They don't respond the same way.
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Why? Because of the blood of Jesus,
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the man or woman or teenager that used to find their kicks on
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pornographic imagery and sexual immorality and fornication and
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all the evil things that we're all capable of and many of us
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have committed. The blood washes us and frees us
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from lustful passions. The focus isn't upon you or me
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anymore of what I can get out of life or what's best for me, but
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what can I do to give my life away for the sake of Christ and
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the sake of others? Christ's blood transforms us,
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doesn't it? It changes us.
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And if you're still the same and you haven't changed and
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something's wrong, either you haven't really been converted
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yet and you haven't really repented, and you haven't been
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born again yet and you haven't been saved, or you have had some
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bad teaching and you understand all the promises that are yours
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in Christ Jesus. But Christ himself, He's the one
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that has loved you and has washed you from your sins in His
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blood. I remember that old song.
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Would you be free from your burden of sin?
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There's power in the blood, power in the blood.
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Would you do service for Jesus your king?
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There's wonderful power in the blood.
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There is power, power, wonder, working power in the precious
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blood of the lamb. There is.
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There's power, wonder, working power in the blood of the lamb.
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Really, really powerful guys. In verse 6 it says, and he's
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made us kings and priests to his God and Father, to him be glory
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and dominion forever and ever, Amen.
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Do you know today that we are kings and priests of the most
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high God? And He's made us this way so
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that you can represent Him to others, so that they can come
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and get healing from their brokenness and their ruined
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lives. That people you run into who
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know they're sick and need a physician will come to you to
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find out about the Savior so He can cleanse them and heal them
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and deliver them and save them, just like He's saved and healed
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and delivered you. Amen.
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The function of the priestly office in the Old Testament was
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a mediator role where the Old Testament Jews had to deal with
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a priest who went in and made intercession for them and made
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atonement on the ark for their sins.
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In Hebrews chapter 10/19, though it says Now we having boldness,
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brethren, by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which
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is consecrated through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, we
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can enter in boldly by the blood of Jesus.
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We are digging into the Book of Revelation here on Living Waters
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of Grace. Pastor Clark is tackling this
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challenging book as we try to discern the messages that are
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within its pages. There's so much imagery, and at
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times you're not always sure what's literal and what's
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metaphorical. At one point, there's a
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reference to an adulterous woman riding on a beast.
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And as someone else mentioned, at one point it almost sounds
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like a rodeo from hell. And in actuality it kind of is.
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You learn about the downfall and demise of a sinful and
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rebellious world, falling down in worship to someone who is the
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anti hero, the enemy, Satan working his insidious ways into
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the minds of fallen people. It's sad and it's heartbreaking,
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but it's a classic story of good versus evil.
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Thankfully, we know how this story ends.
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Jesus wins, Jesus reigns, and evil is conquered once and for
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all. We pray and trust you've
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received Jesus as your savior. But if you haven't, don't wait
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until the events in Revelation become what's happening on the
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streets. None of us wants you to be there
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at that time. Instead, we'd love for you to be
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with us in heaven as we celebrate the marriage supper
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with Jesus as his bridegroom. To get a better understanding of
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where we are in the Book of Revelation, to listen to any
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messages before or after this one, you can find them at our
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website, calvarychapelonline.com.
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That's it for today's edition, but we hope you'll want to hear
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Pastor Clark teach more from the Book of Revelation.
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It can be exciting to think about the future for believers,
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but it can feel a bit harrowing for those who don't believe.
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Come here more next time on Living Waters of Grace.