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Strengthen What Remains Bishop T D Jakes · THE WORLD'S BEST PREACHER

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Speaker 1: Let us go to the best selling book of all times,
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Speaker 1: the Word of God itself. The spirit of the Word
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Speaker 1: gives life. Revelations Chapter three, verse one through six. Amen. Amen, Amen, Amen,
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Speaker 1: love you too. Revelations three, verse one through six. Y'all
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Speaker 1: sound like you're ready this morning. Here we get to
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Speaker 1: read a personal letter pen or actually articulated through the
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Speaker 1: pen of John. But they are the words of Christ
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Speaker 1: in resurrection to the Church in sardess. Let us read
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Speaker 1: together to the Angel of the Church in sordest right.
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Speaker 1: These are the words of him who holds the seven
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Speaker 1: spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds.
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Speaker 1: You have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Yeah,
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Speaker 1: wake up, Strengthen what remains, Strengthen what remains and is
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Speaker 1: about to die, For I have found your deeds unfinished
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Speaker 1: in the sight of My God. Remember therefore what you
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Speaker 1: have received and heard, and hold it fast and repent.
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Speaker 1: But if you do not wake up, I will come
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Speaker 1: like a thief, and you will not know at what
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Speaker 1: time I will come to you. Yet you have a few,
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Speaker 1: yet you have a few people. Yet you have a
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Speaker 1: few people. Yet you have a few people in sardis.
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Speaker 2: Who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk.
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Speaker 1: With me dressed in white, for they are worthy. The
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Speaker 1: one who is victorious will like them be dressed in white.
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Speaker 1: I will never blot out the name of that person
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Speaker 1: from the Book of Life, but will acknowledge that name
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Speaker 1: before my Father and his angels. Whoever has ears, let
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Speaker 1: them hear what the Spirit says to the church. Go
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Speaker 1: back to verse one again for just a moment. Go
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Speaker 1: back to the Angel of the Church in sardist right.
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Speaker 1: These are the words of him who holds the seven
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Speaker 1: spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds.
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Speaker 1: You have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Gone,
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Speaker 1: wake up. Strengthen what remains, not what you're lost, not
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Speaker 1: what's your hope to gain. Strengthen what remains. Look at
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Speaker 1: your naghbor and say, strengthen what remains. Go to John
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Speaker 1: for just a moment. After this, you can sit the
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Speaker 1: rest of the day. You can sit all day. Amen.
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Speaker 1: We'll get a chair and roll you out John six
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Speaker 1: sixty through sixty nine. Here we hear the words of Jesus.
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Speaker 1: How we'll cross pollinate these two texts together that we
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Speaker 1: might extrapolate from it a truth that the Holy Spirit
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Speaker 1: has planted in my heart for you. I have the
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Speaker 1: sense in my spirit that I am speaking directly and
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Speaker 1: specifically to somebody's life today, and a bit prophetically, as
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Speaker 1: it were. And God has used these two scriptures to
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Speaker 1: cohabitate together to give an answer to something you have
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Speaker 1: been praying about. And if you will bear with me
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Speaker 1: as I attempt to coordinate and knit the text together,
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Speaker 1: that we might have the profundity of thought to understand
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Speaker 1: what God is saying at this moment. And all of
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Speaker 1: the noise that we're hearing in the world today, it's
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Speaker 1: coming at us through our phones, it's coming at us
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Speaker 1: through our iPads, through our television says. We're bombarded with
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Speaker 1: opinions today, Yet the only opinion that matters is what
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Speaker 1: God is saying. He that had in year, let him
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Speaker 1: hear what the Spirit is saying to the church. When
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Speaker 1: we go to the Gospel of Saint John, chapter six,
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Speaker 1: verse sixty, we are stepping almost into a war zone
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Speaker 1: of theological debate. It is the moment in Jesus ministry
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Speaker 1: where he tits over the edge theologically and says something
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Speaker 1: so powerful and yet so debatable that even many that
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Speaker 1: were with him, turned and walked away. Have you ever
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Speaker 1: been left? On hearing it? Many of his disciples said,
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Speaker 1: this is a hard teaching.
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Speaker 2: Who can accept it?
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Speaker 1: Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said
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Speaker 1: to them, does this offend you?
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Speaker 2: Then?
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Speaker 1: What if you see the son of Man as sin
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Speaker 1: to where he was before? The spirit gives life. The
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Speaker 1: flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you,
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Speaker 1: they are full of spirit and life. Yet there are
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Speaker 1: some of you who do not believe. For Jesus had
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Speaker 1: known from the beginning which of them did not believe,
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Speaker 1: and who would betray him. He went on to say,
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Speaker 1: this is why I told you that no one can
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Speaker 1: come to me unless the Father has enabled him. From
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Speaker 1: this time, many of his disciples turned back and no
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Speaker 1: longer followed him. You do not want to leave, two,
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Speaker 1: do you? Jesus asked the twelve Simon. Peter answered him, Lord,
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Speaker 1: to whom to whom shall we go? You have the
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Speaker 1: words of eternal life. We have come to believe and
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Speaker 1: to know that you are the Holy One of God.
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Speaker 1: Strengthen what remains spirit of the Living God fall fresh
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Speaker 1: over your word today, manifest yourself in the Misissippi people.
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Speaker 1: I thank you in advance for what you're going to do.
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Speaker 1: In Jesus' name. Amen, you may be seated. Yes, sir,
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Speaker 1: let's go for it. I'm gonna do it too. Every
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Speaker 1: time you turn on the TV set right now, there
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Speaker 1: are advertisements and commercials provoking mothers and fathers to rush
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Speaker 1: out to the store to get their children ready for school.
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Speaker 1: I noticed this morning in the pre show there was
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Speaker 1: a series of prayers prayed over people who are going
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Speaker 1: back to school.
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Speaker 2: Amen.
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Speaker 1: Whether you are in the classroom as a student or
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Speaker 1: as a teacher, we are praying for you because these
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Speaker 1: are difficult times. It was always difficult to be an educator,
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Speaker 1: but it's especially difficult right now. I was raised by
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Speaker 1: an educator. I understand what it's like to be in
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Speaker 1: the classroom, and it was always challenging managing all those
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Speaker 1: different personalities and the principles and the schoolboard and the
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Speaker 1: politics of dealing with what you've got to do. And
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Speaker 1: it is not really a job, it's calling.
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Speaker 2: It's calling. You have to be called to it to
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Speaker 2: do it.
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Speaker 1: Over taxed and underpaid, challenged by systems that you have
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Speaker 1: to contend with, and you're almost parenting while you're teaching.
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Speaker 1: It's a tough job. Going to school now is a
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Speaker 1: tough job. You've got enemies to fight, seen and unseen,
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Speaker 1: not just peer pressure and the conversations we used to
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Speaker 1: have a long time ago. Now it's mask or no
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Speaker 1: mass mask on, masks off. We don't know what viral
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Speaker 1: infection or what student is going to come in with
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Speaker 1: the gun. That we are living in changing times. Everybody
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Speaker 1: who is going back in the classroom, stand up on
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Speaker 1: your feet. Everybody's going back in classrooms, whether you're a
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Speaker 1: teacher or a student going back in the classroom, stand up
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Speaker 1: on your feet. These are heroes, and heroes come on,
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Speaker 1: make some noise. Father, cover them with the blood and
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Speaker 1: overshadow them. In the name of Jesus, I pray in
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Speaker 1: the name of Jesus, that they would be protected from
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Speaker 1: danger within and without on every side. That they would
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Speaker 1: be annointed, That they would be covered, that they would
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Speaker 1: be innovative and creative and effective like they've never been before.
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Speaker 1: That they would feel the reward inwardly for the work
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Speaker 1: that they have done. That they would have the fulfillment
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Speaker 1: that it's necessary to be effective at what they do.
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Speaker 1: That you would anoint them with concepts to penetrate even
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Speaker 1: the hardest shell student. That change and transformation would happen
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Speaker 1: for that one who's going back and wondering, can I
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Speaker 1: still learn? I thank you in the name of Jesus,
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Speaker 1: that their thoughts will be clear and their mind will
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Speaker 1: be open, and like a sponge, they will funnel in
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Speaker 1: truth that will change the trajectory of their life. And
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Speaker 1: I believe it and call it done in Jesus' name. Amen,
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Speaker 1: God bless you, come on make some noise. Years ago,
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Speaker 1: when I got ready to go to school, it wasn't
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Speaker 1: like the times we're living in now. I wasn't in
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Speaker 1: the place I am now. My parents weren't in the
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Speaker 1: place that they ended up in the later years of
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Speaker 1: their life. I can remember so well, and my sisters
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Speaker 1: sitting on the front road can relate to this. I'm
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Speaker 1: sure my mother took me shopping to buy fabric to make.
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Speaker 2: My clothes for school.
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Speaker 1: It wasn't about the latest toys, the latest cadgets, the
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Speaker 1: latest things. Yeah I know, yeah yeah. At that time,
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Speaker 1: she didn't drive, we didn't have much money. I didn't
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Speaker 1: feel the pressure to be fashionable like the children are
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Speaker 1: faced with today. I didn't have to be in with
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Speaker 1: the latest thing, I didn't have to be dressed a
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Speaker 1: certain way.
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Speaker 2: I just wanted to have some clothes.
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Speaker 1: Still, going shopping for something other than groceries, and carrying
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Speaker 1: banks to the bus stop because my mother couldn't drive,
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Speaker 1: and crossing the railroad tracks where the bus dropped us off,
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Speaker 1: only to climb up the path up the hill to
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Speaker 1: get to the house while carrying banks and groceries, trying
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Speaker 1: not to break the eggs. To get a chance to
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Speaker 1: go downtown meant you had to take another bus.
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Speaker 2: And we were headed downtown.
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Speaker 1: On another bus, and I was glad to be going
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Speaker 1: anywhere other than to the grocery store, which was challenging.
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Speaker 1: It is difficult for me to comprehend today what people
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Speaker 1: call tough.
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Speaker 2: I had to go up the hill.
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Speaker 1: And across the path and across the railroad tracks and
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Speaker 1: catch the bus with my mother carrying bags to get
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Speaker 1: them home. And you are upset because you can't get
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Speaker 1: a parking space close enough to the door. I won't
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Speaker 1: bother you about that, just me. We were headed downtown
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Speaker 1: to go shopping Chaucon where all the stores were the
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Speaker 1: real stores, where the diamond department stores was, and Stone
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Speaker 1: and Thomas was, and all those great places of shopping.
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Speaker 1: You know what I'm talking about. Come on with me,
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Speaker 1: and maybe maybe if I was lucky, we would get
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Speaker 1: some candy and some nuts at mister Peanuts shop.
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Speaker 2: That would be great.
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Speaker 1: We walked past all the beautifully clad windows where rich
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Speaker 1: people shop, all the mannequins brightly arrayed in the finest decor,
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Speaker 1: amazing displays opulently displayed to entice people into shop and
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Speaker 1: get their wares. But my mother didn't go there. I
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Speaker 1: didn't even notice that we window shop but never went in.
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Speaker 1: I realized in retrospect that we were poor, but that
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Speaker 1: word was never mentioned in my house. I remember vividly
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Speaker 1: the smells of the bakery shops, the hot air from
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Speaker 1: the dry cleaners, the smell of pizza, the smell of
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Speaker 1: the bakery stops we walked past, and the tight rip
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Speaker 1: of her hand moving me ever so gently further down
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Speaker 1: the street that we got to Singers, a fabric shop
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Speaker 1: where we would go upstairs to find the remnants. You see,
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Speaker 1: my mother, even in the fabric shop, did not buy
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Speaker 1: fabric that was not on sale. And to all of
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Speaker 1: you who who do not know what remnants. Sorry, is
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Speaker 1: it relates to fabrics. It is the last part of
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Speaker 1: boats of fabric that was too little to sell in
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Speaker 1: the main department. They were somebody knows what I'm talking about.
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Speaker 1: They were remnants. And the reason I went is so
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Speaker 1: that she could see if the remnant was enough. So
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Speaker 1: I was kind of like her mannequin to stretch it
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Speaker 1: out and decide if we could.
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Speaker 2: Use the remnants.
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Speaker 1: You see, she had caught the bus and walked the path,
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Speaker 1: asked the stores only to get fabric that was on
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Speaker 1: the remnant table where she planned to dress me and
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Speaker 1: my siblings. She dressed us in remnants. They weren't rags now,
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Speaker 1: they were remnants. Remnants is what's left on the boat.
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Speaker 1: The young people are looking at me like I'm crazy.
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Speaker 1: It's not Gucci, baby, it's remnants. It's not Louis Vatant baby,
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Speaker 1: it's remnants. It's not even Nike. It's remnants. It's remnants.
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Speaker 1: It's something that she took something that almost was forgotten
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Speaker 1: and made something out of it.
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Speaker 2: She valued it.
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Speaker 1: She would make surech for me, and blouse us for Jackal,
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Speaker 1: and a few trousers for Earnest, all from discounted remnants.
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Speaker 1: So today we go to the remnant table. Today we
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Speaker 1: go to the remnant table to stitch two texts together
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Speaker 1: that are as different as wool from satin or burlap
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Speaker 1: from linen. Two textas seem like they don't have anything
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Speaker 1: to do with each other, and yet it is my
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Speaker 1: responsibility to measure them and stretch them, and sew them
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Speaker 1: and stitch them together. What in the world does the
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Speaker 1: Saint John texts where Jesus is talking about unless you
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Speaker 1: eat my blood and drink my flesh, unless you drink
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Speaker 1: my blood and eat my flesh, you'll have no part
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Speaker 1: with me.
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Speaker 2: What in the world does.
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Speaker 1: That have to do with the apocalyptic texts of Revelations
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Speaker 1: writing through the church at Sardis, where he says, strengthen
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Speaker 1: the things that remain. They are both remnant messages on
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Speaker 1: the table of the Coprender's son. Let's not discount what
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Speaker 1: can be done with the fabric of the theological table
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Speaker 1: of texts bypassed by scholars and ignored by contemporary tailors
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Speaker 1: of texts who like the creativity to see what can
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Speaker 1: be done from God's God's remnant table. Though it may
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Speaker 1: seem strange to you this morning that I'm talking to
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Speaker 1: you about remnants.
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Speaker 2: It should not be strange.
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Speaker 1: It's unfortunate that only certain texts are preached about in
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Speaker 1: this contemporary society, because the truth of the matter is,
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Speaker 1: the word remnant is mentioned five hundred and forty times
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Speaker 1: in the Bible, and yet you hardly ever hear anybody
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Speaker 1: talking about remnants. This would be a difficult message to preach.
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Speaker 1: It's going to be a hard message to preach because
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Speaker 1: I'm preaching against the trends of the culture we're living in.
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Speaker 1: Who is racing on the auto bond of technology, to
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Speaker 1: be fast, to be first, to be feverishly, frantically in
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Speaker 1: pursuit of what's next. If you are pursuing, if all
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Speaker 1: that you are pursuing is what is next, you will
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Speaker 1: always find that what's next at the expense of losing
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Speaker 1: what's left.
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Speaker 2: Today.
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Speaker 1: I'm going to swim against the current and go against
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Speaker 1: the grain and probably get on someone's nerves whose only
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Speaker 1: focus is to be innovative, tilating, explore trends, what's new,
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Speaker 1: what's fresh. If you're from the streets, I'm fresh. You
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Speaker 1: don't know anything about remnants. I'm not here to talk
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Speaker 1: to you about the next new and improved anything. I
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Speaker 1: simply want to know if you will grab my hand
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Speaker 1: like I grab my mother's hand, and take a serious
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Speaker 1: look at Why God mentions word five hundred and forty times,
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Speaker 1: and mostly in reference to prophetic fulfillment. Why is God
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Speaker 1: in love with remnants? Let's start with the text in Revelations?
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Speaker 1: Are you with me? I love y'all? There is no
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Speaker 1: other place I'd rather preach of the world at the
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Speaker 1: party's house. I'll tell you, this is my church, This.
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Speaker 2: Is my world.
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Speaker 1: The Book of Revelations is penned by John but authored
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Speaker 1: by Jesus. You must understand the book is divided into
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Speaker 1: three categories, and it divides itself when it explains itself
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Speaker 1: by saying John write the things which style has seen,
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Speaker 1: and the things which are, and the things which shall
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Speaker 1: be hereafter. So when John writes about seeing Jesus with
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Speaker 1: his hair like lamb's wool, and his feet as if
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Speaker 1: they had been burned, he is writing about he has seen.
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Speaker 1: When he writes to the churches, he is writing about
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Speaker 1: the things which are. And when God says, come up hither,
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Speaker 1: I will show you the things which shall be here after.
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Speaker 1: This is the syllabus from which revelation is written.
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Speaker 2: It is the masterpiece.
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Speaker 1: Because it is Jesus responding to the question that the
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Speaker 1: disciples ask him, When shall be the sign of your coming?
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Speaker 1: And what shall be the end of the age? He said,
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Speaker 1: it is not given to the son to know, but
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Speaker 1: the Father, which is in heaven, because he had not
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Speaker 1: yet been to the cross. But the Book of Revelations
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Speaker 1: is him writing back over the balconies of Heaven down
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Speaker 1: to John to answer the question. Though John himself is
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Speaker 1: a remnant. John is a remnant because all the other
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Speaker 1: apostles are now gone and John is all that's left.
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Speaker 1: And Jesus is talking to a remnant about a remnant.
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Speaker 1: Wonder how many of you are the only one left
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Speaker 1: still standing with stubborn, bodacious faith and tenacty, unrelenting, unwavering,
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Speaker 1: standing by yourself, standing in the integrity of who you
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Speaker 1: are in Christ, even when other friends have gone in
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Speaker 1: other directions. And yes, you have suffered some losses along
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Speaker 1: the way, but you are still here.
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Speaker 2: You see.
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Speaker 1: The Texan Revelation three is largely a clarion called to
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Speaker 1: strengthen the remnant, because all that stood around the remnant
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Speaker 1: had really fallen away. They had a reputation that they
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Speaker 1: were alive, but they really were not. They had been
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Speaker 1: so influenced by the culture and the world around them
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Speaker 1: that they had lost their identity in exchange for popularity.
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Speaker 2: If you're not.
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Speaker 1: Careful, you can lose your identity seeking popularity and lose
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Speaker 1: sight of who you are trying to fit in with
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Speaker 1: who they want you to be. And the Church had
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Speaker 1: lost its way trying to pursue the culture. You had
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Speaker 1: to be relevant to the culture, and they were so
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Speaker 1: relevant to the culture that they had lost sight of
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Speaker 1: who they were. And the Book of Revelations says that
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Speaker 1: only a remnant was recognizable. God want to be in
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Speaker 1: the number of people who resists the trends and wins
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Speaker 1: of fluctuation and know who I am, so that I
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Speaker 1: don't get caught up in the current of who you
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Speaker 1: want me to be and lose sight of who God
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Speaker 1: created me to be, even if I end up on
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Speaker 1: the table. Would rather be a few in number and
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Speaker 1: know who I am than to be diluted and polluted
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Speaker 1: by public opinion until I lose all sight and direction
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Speaker 1: and uniqueness of my own self. That means I'll do
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Speaker 1: it if I have to do it by my That
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Speaker 1: means you don't have to like me, but you do
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Speaker 1: have to respect me. You don't have to agree with me,
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Speaker 1: but I refuse to let you discard me because I'm
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Speaker 1: willing to be a remnant, even if it's at that's
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Speaker 1: expense of not being relevant to you. Because God works
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Speaker 1: with remnants, he says, strengthen the things that remain before
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Speaker 1: or the influence of the world has taken root. There
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Speaker 1: are still a few people in Sardists that are yet.
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Speaker 2: Holding a.
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Speaker 1: The tolerance of sin had taken its toll of deadly
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Speaker 1: spiritual cancer known as complacency had unknowingly made its way
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Speaker 1: into the church and sucked the spiritual life out of
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Speaker 1: it without even a fight, But not the few. They
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Speaker 1: were still holding on. While he rebuked the church in soritess,
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Speaker 1: he did not rebuke the remnant. Instead, he revived it.
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Speaker 1: And the Lord said, I am going to revive the
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Speaker 1: people who are.
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Speaker 2: Holding on.
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Speaker 1: So you might be tired, and you might be winded,
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Speaker 1: and you might be frustrated, and you might be alienated,
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Speaker 1: and you've been asking God all along. God said, I
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Speaker 1: am going to revive the remnant who are still holding
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Speaker 1: on In spite of the storms and the winds, and
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Speaker 1: he said, I want you to focus not on who left,
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Speaker 1: not only who you're lost, not only who walked away.
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Speaker 1: I want you to focus on strengthening that which remains. Ah,
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Speaker 1: this is good to my soul. The letter is harsh
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Speaker 1: and straightforward. It is designed and written to the pasture
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Speaker 1: where to focus his energy. Not to focus your energy
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Speaker 1: on trying to get back people who walked away. Let
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Speaker 1: them go. Let me say louder for the people in
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Speaker 1: the back, let them go. This is a time in
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Speaker 1: your life that you can no longer continue to grieve
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Speaker 1: about who walked away, who abandoned you, who forsook you,
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Speaker 1: who left you, who walked away. You've got to stand
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Speaker 1: up and recognize that God doesn't need anything that you
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Speaker 1: lost to bless you. God will always use what you've
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Speaker 1: got left. I'm talking to somebody. I don't even know
26:32
Speaker 1: who it is, but the Bible said.
26:35
Speaker 3: Wake up, wake up, wake up, strengthen.
26:48
Speaker 2: What remains. Oh my God.
27:00
Speaker 1: This is challenging because the vast majority of the church
27:05
Speaker 1: had become a victim of the societal culture, yet there
27:10
Speaker 1: was a minority that was fighting to refrain from the
27:12
Speaker 1: gravitational pull ever downward, because there's always something to pull
27:19
Speaker 1: you down instead of up and forward. The remnant wasn't perfect.
27:27
Speaker 1: They were almost dead but yet holding on the power
27:34
Speaker 1: of the sins. In fact, is almost dead but not quite.
27:40
Speaker 1: God said, before death can get you, I'm going to
27:46
Speaker 1: strengthen what remains. Can I talk to tired folks and
27:54
Speaker 1: weary folks and run down people who are at the
27:58
Speaker 1: end of their robe, who have to fight their way
28:00
Speaker 1: through all kinds of storms and all kinds of tragedies
28:04
Speaker 1: and all kinds of adversity just to be who you
28:07
Speaker 1: are and get where you're going. I've got news for you.
28:11
Speaker 1: God is about to strengthen you like you've never been
28:15
Speaker 1: strengthened before. And then let me challenge the thinking people,
28:26
Speaker 1: because the great challenge in our lives is how can
28:29
Speaker 1: we be innovative and creative and productive and go forward without.
28:36
Speaker 2: Losing what we had.
28:41
Speaker 1: Sometimes you've become so addicted to what's next that you
28:47
Speaker 1: don't focus on what's now. And if you walk away
28:53
Speaker 1: from what's now trying to establish what's next, then next
28:58
Speaker 1: will only replace now. And you haven't really progressed at all.
29:03
Speaker 1: And the reason you're so tired is because you're so
29:06
Speaker 1: busy getting to next and losing now that you're still
29:09
Speaker 1: at home plate. After all of these years, you haven't
29:13
Speaker 1: gained anything because you're just swapping out next with now, now,
29:17
Speaker 1: with next, next, with now, next, one now. All of
29:20
Speaker 1: a sudden, You've got to strengthen what remains before you
29:26
Speaker 1: can gain what's next. So we're stuck in between in
29:33
Speaker 1: this text two different dilemmas. One is not to try
29:36
Speaker 1: to get back what I lost, and the other one
29:41
Speaker 1: is not to fall in love with where I'm going
29:44
Speaker 1: at the expense of expunging where I'm at. Let me
29:51
Speaker 1: work with this. I'm gonna bring it on down home.
29:53
Speaker 1: It is like growing up in a home where the
29:57
Speaker 1: trouble child gets all the attention and the good child
30:03
Speaker 1: gets none because there's so much drama coming from this
30:08
Speaker 1: kid that all the parents' focus he is is trying
30:11
Speaker 1: to get back what they lost, and they don't strengthen
30:15
Speaker 1: what they have. And if you're not careful, the one
30:21
Speaker 1: who was a good child will start acting up for
30:25
Speaker 1: the attention because you're teaching them that the only way
30:29
Speaker 1: to get your attention is to be bad enough. This
30:37
Speaker 1: is a hidden lesson in the prodigal son. It's not
30:40
Speaker 1: just about the boy going and coming back. It is
30:43
Speaker 1: about the neglect of the elder brother, because the father
30:47
Speaker 1: is so focused on what he lost that he neglected
30:53
Speaker 1: what he had, because it's hard to strengthen what remains,
31:00
Speaker 1: because what remains becomes common and normal and ordinary and
31:11
Speaker 1: so predictable and so dependable that you take it for granted.
31:18
Speaker 2: Until it dies.
31:23
Speaker 1: If you are not careful, you will undervalue who stayed,
31:34
Speaker 1: trying to get back who left, or get who's next,
31:41
Speaker 1: because sometimes there's nothing really sexy about being a remnant,
31:48
Speaker 1: about being dependable, about being stava, about hanging in there,
31:52
Speaker 1: about being by your side. If you're not careful, you
31:55
Speaker 1: will neglect the people that stayed with you.
32:02
Speaker 2: For the people who are next to you.
32:13
Speaker 4: But we serve a God who is talking to us
32:16
Speaker 4: in five hundred and forty decks that what he is
32:20
Speaker 4: interested in is the remnants. He always preserves the remnants.
32:27
Speaker 4: His promise is to the remnants, His prophecy is to
32:32
Speaker 4: the remnants.
32:33
Speaker 2: Over and over and over again.
32:35
Speaker 1: The Bible tells us the value of people who's stick
32:38
Speaker 1: it out and hang in there and take a licking
32:41
Speaker 1: and keep on ticking. And that God has promises that
32:45
Speaker 1: you can only get Come on Bible Class if you abide,
32:49
Speaker 1: If you abide, abide, abide, abide, If you abide in
32:53
Speaker 1: Me and my word abide in you, you shall ask
32:56
Speaker 1: what you will. I'm not gonna give you nothing if
32:59
Speaker 1: you leave, but if you abide, I will open up
33:02
Speaker 1: the windows of heaven and pull you out of blessing.
33:05
Speaker 1: You won't have room enough to receive. If you see
33:09
Speaker 1: me when I'm taken up, you will have a double
33:12
Speaker 1: portion of my spirit. But I can't give this to
33:17
Speaker 1: people who are doing one night stands, because the annoled
33:25
Speaker 1: thing falls on people who stay. Let me see. Both
33:39
Speaker 1: texts were written by the apostle John. Both texts have
33:43
Speaker 1: a senator sinister overtone. Both texts have John reporting the
33:49
Speaker 1: words of Jesus. Both texts are at infliction points. Both
33:56
Speaker 1: texts speak of separation. Both texts have a sense of cynicism.
34:05
Speaker 1: Both texts are connected to a principle that I am
34:12
Speaker 1: sharing with you. The principle is profound and provocative that
34:19
Speaker 1: you need to focus on what you got left, The
34:27
Speaker 1: child that stayed, the friend who stuck, the business you
34:36
Speaker 1: got cannot suffer for the business you're going after, because
34:44
Speaker 1: if you make that mistake again, you are only replacing
34:49
Speaker 1: what you lost, which means you are not gaining anything.
34:56
Speaker 2: At all.
34:59
Speaker 1: The real test relationship isn't when it's easy, it's when
35:04
Speaker 1: it's hard. The second text is interesting. Can I pick
35:13
Speaker 1: it up for a minute of them play with this
35:15
Speaker 1: piece of garment. The second text is interesting because it
35:19
Speaker 1: is undeniable that Jesus has changed his message from the
35:23
Speaker 1: Kingdom of Heaven is this, and the Kingdom of Heaven
35:25
Speaker 1: is that, and the Kingdom of Heaven is lacking unto this,
35:28
Speaker 1: and the bet the scriptures might be fulfilled in your hearing,
35:30
Speaker 1: and all of those things were palatable and enjoyable and receivable.
35:35
Speaker 1: And even though the first season sat Sees resented him,
35:37
Speaker 1: they could not debate against him because he was the
35:41
Speaker 1: word made flesh. And it was all cool until he
35:47
Speaker 1: broke out and started talking about death, and they got quiet,
35:54
Speaker 1: and then he brings up this almost cannibalistic statement, if
36:01
Speaker 1: you're gonna be my disciple, Imagine now, if I say,
36:04
Speaker 1: if you're gonna be a member of the Potter's house,
36:07
Speaker 1: you must drink my blood and eat my flesh. You
36:13
Speaker 1: can understand why that would be disruptive. And you say
36:19
Speaker 1: what Jesus started talking cannibalistic, drink my blood and eat
36:26
Speaker 1: my flesh. To the carnal mind, it was cannibalism. Jesus
36:32
Speaker 1: is actually calling for them to consume him spiritually, not literally.
36:41
Speaker 1: But when you hear with carnal ears, you draw carnal conclusions.
36:49
Speaker 1: And so this was an inflection point to prove are
36:54
Speaker 1: you a fan or a follower? And all the fans
37:04
Speaker 1: walked away. And what I got out of the text
37:08
Speaker 1: that was really amazing is that Jesus didn't chase him.
37:13
Speaker 1: Stop chasing people who will need me, Stop chasing people
37:22
Speaker 1: who are offended, Stop chasing people who don't get it,
37:25
Speaker 1: Stop chasing trying to get back in your life, people
37:29
Speaker 1: that God is trying to take out of your life.
37:31
Speaker 1: Jesus simply let them go. He didn't go behind them,
37:35
Speaker 1: say you no, you didn't understand what I'm saying. You
37:37
Speaker 1: don't get what I mean, You don't know where I'm
37:39
Speaker 1: coming from. No, no, let me explain. No, don't go,
37:41
Speaker 1: don't go, don't go. He turned to his disciples the
37:45
Speaker 1: remnant and said, will you need me? Also, because what
37:59
Speaker 1: I'm going to him invest in is what I've got left,
38:05
Speaker 1: not what I lost. You see, Jesus is bringing them
38:12
Speaker 1: to a place of inflection. And the Lord told me,
38:16
Speaker 1: whoever I'm preaching to today, you're at an inflection point.
38:21
Speaker 1: You can neither become so engrossed in your future that
38:26
Speaker 1: you do not feed your present, nor so grieved by
38:32
Speaker 1: your past that you're reaching after what has walked away.
38:38
Speaker 1: The word of God to you is to strengthen what remains.
38:45
Speaker 2: Who am I talking to today?
38:49
Speaker 1: This is not about a monologue about death or drinking
38:54
Speaker 1: blood or eating his flesh. It's much more than that.
38:57
Speaker 1: We've got to turn the page on that. We've got
38:59
Speaker 1: to go to the next level on that. We've got
39:01
Speaker 1: to understand that what God is trying to do is
39:06
Speaker 1: bigger than that. He is trying to do a methodology
39:12
Speaker 1: that creates conflict resolution, which is the test between opportunistic
39:19
Speaker 1: people and covenant people. If you can't take a look,
39:31
Speaker 1: we didn't have covenant in the first place. If you
39:35
Speaker 1: can walk away easily, you weren't meant to stay. Come on,
39:46
Speaker 1: I remember I was sitting on the side of the
39:48
Speaker 1: bed as a pastor, and I was crying over somebody
39:50
Speaker 1: who had left my church, and I was crying because
39:53
Speaker 1: I thought they were going to be there. And I
39:54
Speaker 1: was crying because I thought they were loyal, and I
39:56
Speaker 1: was crying, and because they had promised my wife and
40:00
Speaker 1: that they would take a bullet for us. You remember
40:03
Speaker 1: that I would take a bullet for you. And two
40:05
Speaker 1: sundays left, they were gone. And I literally sat on
40:08
Speaker 1: the side of the bed in West Virginia and cried.
40:12
Speaker 1: And the Lord spoke to me and said, let this
40:13
Speaker 1: be your last day. Let this be your last day
40:25
Speaker 1: of crying over who walked away? Y'all, hear what I'm saying.
40:31
Speaker 1: Because all that left you could not stay, and all
40:35
Speaker 1: that stayed could not leave. Wool. I feel something about
40:44
Speaker 1: to break loose in this clay. I feel something about
40:46
Speaker 1: to break loose in this play. I don't know who
40:48
Speaker 1: I'm talking to today, but I'm breaking the spirit of
40:51
Speaker 1: grief over your life. You cannot live in your history,
40:56
Speaker 1: and you can't live in your destiny. You must live
41:00
Speaker 1: in your reality. I am here now.
41:13
Speaker 2: Now.
41:14
Speaker 1: Faith. It is a substance of things hope for and
41:17
Speaker 1: the evidence of things not seen. I gotta have it now.
41:21
Speaker 1: If I don't strengthen what I got now I can't
41:24
Speaker 1: get to what I got next. The problem with these
41:35
Speaker 1: people is they were only loyal when they agreed. If
41:46
Speaker 1: you're only loyal when you agree, that's not loyalty at all.
41:55
Speaker 1: Separating your life fans from followers. Who's with you for
42:03
Speaker 1: the fish and loaves and who's with you for the
42:06
Speaker 1: long haul, And make sure you don't neglect that remnant
42:12
Speaker 1: who stuck it out with you trying to get into
42:16
Speaker 1: your next circle of influence. I'm almost done, I'm almost done.
42:21
Speaker 1: I'm almost done. I'm almost done. I'm almost done. I'm
42:25
Speaker 1: almost done. But if you're going to be like Jesus,
42:30
Speaker 1: you will let them go and then ask the remnant
42:34
Speaker 1: you're going to and then only invest in people who say,
42:41
Speaker 1: where shall I go? In your hands are the words
42:49
Speaker 1: of eternal life. The people who are not optioning out
42:55
Speaker 1: of your life, the people who have made a commitment
42:58
Speaker 1: to walk with you the rest of your life. Those
43:03
Speaker 1: are the people that must be strengthened, not neglected, not
43:14
Speaker 1: taken for granted, because if you don't strengthen that which remains,
43:20
Speaker 1: you won't get to that which is next. Most people
43:24
Speaker 1: ignore what they have, chasing after what they lost or
43:28
Speaker 1: what they want Jesus strengthens the twelve Disciples because they
43:34
Speaker 1: are the remnant from what he lost? What are you
43:40
Speaker 1: going to do with the years you have left? Tape
43:46
Speaker 1: that on the line. What am I going to do
43:47
Speaker 1: with the years I have left? Are you going to
43:50
Speaker 1: spend the years you have left murmuring and complaining about
43:54
Speaker 1: what happened ten years ago and five years ago and
43:58
Speaker 1: twelve years ago. I don't care if you got five
44:02
Speaker 1: years left, What are you gonna do with the years
44:04
Speaker 1: you have left? I don't care if you have one
44:06
Speaker 1: year left? What are you gonna do with the year
44:09
Speaker 1: you have left? I don't care if you have the
44:11
Speaker 1: kids in your house, just one final year, What are
44:13
Speaker 1: you gonna do with that year with those kids before
44:16
Speaker 1: you send them away? Are you gonna forever go back
44:20
Speaker 1: in history and rehearse the same things over and over
44:23
Speaker 1: again and missed the fact that every day God gives
44:27
Speaker 1: you is a gift from Him to enjoy it, to live,
44:32
Speaker 1: to fellowship and half people? How long will you left
44:35
Speaker 1: the enemy? Still your day, still your day, and still
44:39
Speaker 1: your day, still your moments, still your hours, still your sucking,
44:44
Speaker 1: still your thought, still your pulse, still your wind as
44:48
Speaker 1: you use your breath to rehearse what was. Most miracles
44:56
Speaker 1: were performed with remnants. Have you forgotten the loaves? Have
45:02
Speaker 1: you forgotten zeruber Bell's temple? Have you forgotten the near?
45:05
Speaker 1: Mayah built a new wall out of the stones that remained?
45:10
Speaker 1: What are you going to build with what remains in
45:15
Speaker 1: your life? And stop being attracted to what flaunts itself
45:20
Speaker 1: in your life, and say what flashes in your life
45:27
Speaker 1: rather than what remains in your life. I'm talking to
45:31
Speaker 1: somebody I don't even get it. Have you forgotten one
45:33
Speaker 1: hundred and forty four thousand that are saved in the tribulation?
45:36
Speaker 1: Have you forgotten the handful of meal? What I'm trying
45:40
Speaker 1: to get you to see is that whenever God stepped
45:43
Speaker 1: into a house, he always worked with what remains. The
45:48
Speaker 1: prophet said, what do you have in your house? I'm
45:54
Speaker 1: not going to use a miracle outside of your house.
45:58
Speaker 1: I'm going to use something that's left in your house,
46:01
Speaker 1: something you've been walking past and looking over and getting
46:05
Speaker 1: ready to die. There's a miracle in your house. Touch
46:08
Speaker 1: your neighbor and tell them there's a miracle in your house.
46:11
Speaker 1: There's a miracle in your house. There's a miracle in
46:14
Speaker 1: your house. There's a miracle in your house. There's a
46:18
Speaker 1: miracle in your house. There's a miracle in your house.
46:21
Speaker 1: There's a miracle in your house. You've been walking past
46:24
Speaker 1: it every day. But the Holy Ghost told me to
46:26
Speaker 1: tell you there's a miracle in your house. You don't
46:32
Speaker 1: think it's valuable because it's not quantifiable. You think it's
46:41
Speaker 1: just a handful of meal. But God said, the miracle
46:45
Speaker 1: is going to come through the meal. The thing you've
46:49
Speaker 1: been walking past feeling insufficient about. It's the very thing
46:54
Speaker 1: God's going to use to take you to the next level.
46:58
Speaker 1: Somebody give him thirty second the praise. The other widow,
47:17
Speaker 1: who is a remnant by virtue of being a widow anyway,
47:22
Speaker 1: is about to sell her sons to the creditors because
47:26
Speaker 1: she has overlooked a pot of oil in her house.
47:32
Speaker 1: And God said, I'm going to take what you got left,
47:36
Speaker 1: and I'm going to pour out of what you got left,
47:39
Speaker 1: even though you think it is inadequate. I'm going to
47:44
Speaker 1: stretch what you call inadequate until it is more than enough.
47:49
Speaker 1: Increase is coming out of the seed that remains in
47:54
Speaker 1: your life, in your spirit, in your heart, in your gifting.
47:58
Speaker 1: Something that the devil keeps. I'm telling you it has
48:01
Speaker 1: no life in it. God said, I'm gonna tip it
48:04
Speaker 1: up and let it flow and flow and flow and flow.
48:09
Speaker 1: You've been walking past it, but it's right in your house.
48:13
Speaker 1: Have you forgotten that the apostle Paul was saved not
48:16
Speaker 1: by the ship, but by the pieces of the ship.
48:20
Speaker 1: That all he had was a remnant from the boat.
48:23
Speaker 1: But he grabbed a hold to the remnant and made
48:25
Speaker 1: it through the storm and made it safely to the
48:29
Speaker 1: other side because he valued what.
48:31
Speaker 2: He had left.
48:33
Speaker 1: Have you forgotten that many will depart from the faith,
48:37
Speaker 1: but the remnant will be saved. Jesus is coming back
48:41
Speaker 1: for what's left. Jesus always comes to what's left. Jesus
48:46
Speaker 1: is coming for what's left. And I came to tell you,
48:49
Speaker 1: in spite of what the devil told you, you still
48:52
Speaker 1: got some left. You've been through hell, but you got
48:56
Speaker 1: some left. You've been in a storm, but you still
48:59
Speaker 1: got something left. You've had some tough trolls and heels
49:02
Speaker 1: to Clyde, but you still got something left. Somebody shout,
49:06
Speaker 1: I got something left. I got something left. I might
49:11
Speaker 1: have an issue, but I got something left. I might
49:14
Speaker 1: have been sick for twelve long years, but I got
49:17
Speaker 1: something left. I may have to crawl to get out
49:20
Speaker 1: of this, but I got something left. I might have
49:23
Speaker 1: been bowed over for eighteen years, but I still got
49:26
Speaker 1: something left. Abraham, I might be one hundred years old,
49:35
Speaker 1: but I still got something left. Sarah, I might have
49:39
Speaker 1: been bearing all my life, but I still got something left.
49:44
Speaker 1: Lazra's you might have been in the tomb and started
49:46
Speaker 1: to stink, but your life is not over. The devil
49:50
Speaker 1: is alive. I'm getting ready to roll the stone away
49:53
Speaker 1: and snack you out of your situation. There's a latis
49:57
Speaker 1: listening at me right now. Everything it's corroding around you.
50:01
Speaker 1: But the Lord sent me to tell you that you've
50:03
Speaker 1: got something left to leap out of your grave. Shup
50:08
Speaker 1: out of your grave, Crawl out of your grave, walk
50:12
Speaker 1: out of your grave. Cut your neighbor and say, I'm
50:15
Speaker 1: coming out. I'm coming out. I'm coming out of my
50:20
Speaker 1: dry place, sir. I'm coming out of my bearing place.
50:23
Speaker 1: I'm coming out of my lonely place. I'm coming out
50:26
Speaker 1: of my depressed place. I'm coming out of my angry place.
50:30
Speaker 1: I'm coming out because I got something.
50:40
Speaker 2: Today.
50:41
Speaker 1: God wants to strengthen what you got left today. God
50:46
Speaker 1: wants to use what you got left today. God wants
50:49
Speaker 1: to revive what you got left today. God wants to
50:53
Speaker 1: prophesy over what you got left. You think it's nothing,
50:57
Speaker 1: but there's a miracle in what you got left. I
51:00
Speaker 1: think it's inadequated, but God's gonna do amazing things. Well
51:03
Speaker 1: what you got left. I know you're tired, I know
51:06
Speaker 1: you're weak, I know you're frustrated. I know you're ready
51:09
Speaker 1: to just fall out. But God said, you're coming into revival.
51:14
Speaker 1: Your gift is coming into revival, Your effectiveness is coming
51:18
Speaker 1: into revival, your relevance is coming into revival. And God said,
51:22
Speaker 1: what you got left is enough. Stand to your feet
51:29
Speaker 1: as I prepare to close today. Don't you dare lose
51:43
Speaker 1: what you have left. But this is a moment to strengthen.
51:56
Speaker 2: What remains.
51:58
Speaker 1: The friends you don't call because you kind of take
52:03
Speaker 1: them for granted. Strengthen that because the miracle is in
52:13
Speaker 1: the remnants. The little bit of fabric left on the
52:20
Speaker 1: bolt is more than enough to cover you in the
52:25
Speaker 1: times you're living in right now, Go ahead, think innovative,
52:31
Speaker 1: be progressive, but don't damage what you have trying to
52:40
Speaker 1: get what you want. You remember years ago when I
52:50
Speaker 1: was teaching the eighty twenty rule, and I would say
52:56
Speaker 1: that most married people, there's somebody who's eighty percent of
53:01
Speaker 1: what they want, but twenty percent looks huge when you're
53:06
Speaker 1: not getting it, and so they leave the eighty to
53:13
Speaker 1: get the twenty, only to move in with the twenty
53:18
Speaker 1: and miss the eighty. Because the only thing that makes
53:26
Speaker 1: the twenty look valuable is because it supplements the eighty.
53:33
Speaker 2: But if you.
53:34
Speaker 1: Lose your eighty going after your twenty. This is a
53:56
Speaker 1: moment in time that the enemy is trying to wear
54:01
Speaker 1: out the faithful, to simply exhausts you with threats and
54:13
Speaker 1: trouble and burdens and distractions. And God said that this
54:20
Speaker 1: morning he wants to strengthen the weary, the tired, the exhausted.
54:31
Speaker 1: And he told me to tell you that he has
54:32
Speaker 1: not forgotten your faithfulness. And you can be tired and
54:49
Speaker 1: still be faithful. You can be exhausted and still be
54:54
Speaker 1: holding on by a thread. The text had strengthened the
54:58
Speaker 1: things that remain that are ready to die, that if
55:03
Speaker 1: they don't get some strength, they're going to collapse, and
55:07
Speaker 1: I want you to take a minute and strengthen the
55:09
Speaker 1: people who are holding.
55:11
Speaker 2: On by a thread. It's you that has the promise.
55:19
Speaker 1: That's why he's trying to wear you out. It's you
55:26
Speaker 1: that has the prophecy, It's you that has the inheritance.
55:30
Speaker 1: It's you that God is going to use in a
55:32
Speaker 1: mighty way. And that's why all hell is breaking loose
55:36
Speaker 1: on every hand to distract.
55:39
Speaker 2: You from your focus. If I'm preaching to you.
55:46
Speaker 1: Holler at your boy, be strengthen this morning, with all might,
55:59
Speaker 1: and with all and with all diligence. Lift your hands up.
56:02
Speaker 1: Be strengthened in this place right now. Be strengthened. Be
56:05
Speaker 1: strengthen right now in your thoughts, in your mind, in
56:08
Speaker 1: your rest, in your body, in your thoughts, in your fervency,
56:13
Speaker 1: and in your fire. This is not the time to faith.
56:17
Speaker 1: This is not the time to give up. This is
56:19
Speaker 1: not the time to collapse. You are closer than you've
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Speaker 1: ever been in your life. Wake up, wake up, wake up, strengthen.
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Speaker 1: The things that remain for you are on the precipice
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Speaker 1: of your prophecy, and your destiny is in view. And
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Speaker 1: if it were not close, you would not be attacked.
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Speaker 1: So let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Let
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Speaker 1: the redeemed of the Lord say soul. Let the revive
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Speaker 1: of the Lord say so. Let the relentless remnant say so.
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Speaker 1: Let the determined say so. Let the victorious say so.
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Speaker 1: Let the person who's gonna fight your way up and
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Speaker 1: out say soul. Let the labors that's coming out of
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Speaker 1: the grave say so. I can't hear you