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God's Not Done With You Yet — A Comeback for the Broken Ep: 2186 · HAVE FAITH LET IT BEGIN®

• 0:44
  So today's service is entitled, God's Not Done With You Yet.
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  So have you ever felt like you've messed up, messed up so badly that you think
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  that maybe God has just finished with you?
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  Maybe it was a mistake that you made. Maybe you did it as a parent, a moment of weakness.
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  Or maybe you wish that you could just erase that mistake. Or a certain time
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  in your life where your faith felt dry and distant.
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  I've had those moments. times where I thought, Lord, I've disappointed you way too many times.
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  You must be done with me. But I've learned.
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  And what I've learned is that what I want to remind each and every one of you
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  is that failure does not disqualify you from God's plan.
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  Sometimes it's the very thing that God uses to redefine your calling.
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  And if you don't remember anything else today, remember this,
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  you're still breathing so if you're still breathing
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  god is still building so let's
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  look at like let's take a look at one of the greatest comeback stories i
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  think in the bible it's the story of peter and i
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  broke it down into like three little chapters so chapter one the obvious peter's
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  denial when faith falters i call it peter was a bold one wasn't he he was one
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  of the disciples who told jesus that even if everyone else falls away he i he
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  said i never will and he meant it.
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  He loved Jesus very deeply. But when the pressure came and the soldiers came
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  and they arrested Jesus, fear took over his faith.
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  In chapter 18 of John, Peter follows Jesus from a distance and a servant girl
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  asks, aren't you one of those disciples?
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  And Peter says, I don't know him. Three times he said that.
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  Three times. He denied Jesus.
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  And then the rooster crows.
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  Bible says Peter went out and wept bitterly.
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  Peter, the man who walked on water and had just fallen flat on his faith.
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  So here's my question to you this morning. Have you ever had a rooster moment?
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  I know I have. I had a time in my life when I let the wrong people get close
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  to me, people that I thought I could trust.
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  They took advantage of my kindness and slowly pulled me away from who I really was.
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  I started to act differently. I talked differently.
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  And deep down, I knew that wasn't me.
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  So one day, I finally had enough, and I stood up for myself,
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  and I walked away from my friends.
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  I told myself, I will never do that again.
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  But when you know, a little while later, I found myself walking right back into.
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  Another group of friends who were just the same.
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  You think I would have learned from the first time, right?
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  Yeah, I know I blew it. But here's what I learned. Even when we repeat mistakes,
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  God's grace still meets us there.
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  He doesn't walk away from us. He walks with us until we find our way back to him.
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  Over time, I found that God had put the right people in my life who inspire
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  me, who relate to me, who believes in me as I believed in them.
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  Some of them are watching from home today, from different states.
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  And I wanna acknowledge them because this is the first time they're listening to me preach.
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  This is also the very first time they've been to church in a very long time. So praise be to God.
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  These people have been in my life for two years and where social media sometimes
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  gets a bad rap, sometimes you find the right people at the right time.
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  People like Aaron and Mandy and Ryan, just to name a few.
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  People like Yolani and Nick who you'll meet soon.
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  So back to Peter's story. Can you imagine the weight of that moment?
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  The sound of the rooster reminding Peter what he had just done.
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  But there was good news because Peter's story didn't end there.
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  And it's not where yours ends either, if you had a rooster moment.
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  So let's go to chapter two, the restoration, or I call it grace by the fire.
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  Let's fast forward to John chapter 21, where Jesus has risen from the dead,
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  the disciples are out fishing, and Jesus appears on the shore.
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  They didn't recognize him at first, but then John says, isn't that the Lord?
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  Peter, as impulsive as he always was, he jumps into the water and swims directly to him.
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  When he gets there, Jesus already has breakfast cooking.
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  Think about that. The same Peter that denied the Lord Jesus Christ is now being waited on.
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  And the same Jesus that Peter denied is now waiting with a meal.
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  Grace is already on the shore before Peter even arrived.
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  Now, here's what I love about this story. The last time Peter was near a fire,
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  he denied Jesus three times.
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  Now Jesus brings him back to a fire, not to shame him, but to restore him.
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  Three denials, three questions. Peter, do you love me?
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  Lord, you know I love you. Then feed my sheep.
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  Each question undoes a failure. Each answer replaces guilt with grace.
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  And Jesus didn't sit him down and say, Peter, let's talk about that night. No, he didn't do that.
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  He said, Peter, let's talk about your future.
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  So all of you today, as you do fellowship later or as you drive home in your
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  morning or late afternoon, think about this.
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  When Jesus looks at you, he's not fixated on your past mistakes.
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  He focuses on what he can still do through you.
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  Maybe the enemy has been whispering to you. You're too broken,
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  too far gone, too damaged.
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  But Jesus is whispering something different.
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  Do you love me? Because if you do, I still have work for you to do.
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  And chapter three, the promise, or as I say, God finishes what he starts.
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  That brings us back to Philippians chapter one, verses one through six,
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  where Paul writes, being confident of this, that he who began work in you will
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  carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
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  God doesn't start something that he can't give up halfway through.
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  He's not a God of unfinished projects.
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  If he started shaping you and molding you and working through you, he's going to finish it.
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  So you may not be where you are or where you want to be today,
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  but yet if you're struggling, if you're unsure of where you need to be,
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  you're not where you used to be because maybe you're just feeling like someone has forgotten you.
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  Look straight up. look ahead of you, look behind you.
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  You're still under construction and construction sites are messy.
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  There's dust, there's noise, there's progress you can't even see, but there's a builder.
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  It's all about the builder. It's all about the part of the process.
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  So maybe right now you feel stuck, like God's forgotten about you.
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  Maybe you're thinking, but remember this, you're thinking Peter,
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  the greatest ministry, came after his biggest mistake.
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  So when was the last time you made your mistake? Doesn't mean that it's over.
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  It just means you're ready to take on what's next.
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  The same man who denied Christ became one of the, one who preached at Pentecost
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  and over 3,000 souls were saved.
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  Why? Because failure wasn't final and grace had the last word and grace still
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  has the last word over you.
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  You know, to be very honest with you, it took me a long while to find out and
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  discover that God was my builder.
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  It took a while for me to realize that my failures and my inability to believe
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  in myself, the negativity and the negative things that were around me,
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  the people that I trusted and loved who consistently let me down,
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  those who I love dearly with all my heart, who betrayed me, who broke me, who broke my heart,
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  None of that could be defined and none of that could define me,
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  There's only one person There's only one builder who has seen me for who I am
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  and who sees who you who you really are The one who allowed me to realize that
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  grace did not have the last word,
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  That the grace still had the last word over me So when I finally realized that
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  god was my builder I knew he wasn't done with me So here I am standing in front
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  of all of you this morning.
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  25 years later after that huge mistake And the many mistakes that continue to follow,
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  God has brought me here He placed me in ministry school He's called me to spread
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  his word And I am committed to do that for the rest of my life.
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  So, if you've been doubting, if you've been weary, if you've been wondering
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  whether God could still use someone like you, hear this truth.
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  God is not done with you yet.
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  God is still writing your story. God is still shaping your heart.
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  He's still preparing you for something greater that you can even imagine.
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  So maybe you're like Peter, standing by a fire of regret.
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  But Jesus is standing there too.
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  And he's saying, come have breakfast.
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  Let us eat together. So tomorrow or this evening, when you have your moment
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  with God, say to him, I got today's message.
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  I am Simon Peter. I was Simon Peter. I have made mistakes.
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  But one thing I've learned is that I will have faith and I'll let it begin. Let's pray.
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  Heavenly Father, thank you for never giving up on us. Thank you for our failures.
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  Don't define us. Your grace does. For every heart here that feels broken,
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  remind them that you are still building them.
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  For every person who feels like they're gone too far, draw them close and whisper,
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  I am not done with you. I am not done with you yet.
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  Help us to rise again, to trust again, and to walk in the purpose that you still have for me.
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  In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
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  Alani, I wanted to thank you. So let me really quickly share the story.
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  I have been battling with my health, and I was told that I was diabetic.
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  So I decided to change my life. And I've lost 44 pounds and continue to stay out of, yep.
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  I wanted to stay out of any type of insulin. So I joined the gym.
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  And I never, because I work in Middletown at the Garden Health Medical Center,
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  I don't ever get a chance to go to the Newburgh one. I go to the Middletown
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  one. It's just more convenient.
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  Well, it just so happened that my wife had, we had a scheduling conflict with
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  babysitting. So I decided to take a day off.
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  So I decided to go to the Newburgh branch, which is the Newburgh Gold's Gym.
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  And after my workout, I decided, you know what? I'm going to get one of those
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  smoothie drinks. I think I earned that shot.
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  And there was this nice young lady who I look up and, you know,
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  have you ever been to these gyms? There's like 30,000 drinks to pick from.
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  And I said, can you pick something for me? And she says, yeah,
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  Pink Paradise. I said, I got it. All right. It's called Pink Paradise.
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  And she makes it. And as we're talking, there was this gentleman to my right.
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  And he was sharing a drink.
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  And I was wearing my hat that has a cross. And I was wearing my crosses.
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  And I always tend to compliment people that have her cross. She had a cross.
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  But she complimented me first and said, I like your crosses.
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  Well, thank you. I like yours.
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  And the gentleman next to us says, yeah, the cross is good. Next thing you know,
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  we're in a discussion about Jesus Christ.
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  And that's a cool thing. And as we're talking in this triangle,
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  we find that the gentleman to my right knows my brother.
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  And he is a deacon at the church that my brother does the audio, video, and sound.
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  So now there's a connection. But then God speaks to me.
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  And I hear Yolani say, my father is a traveling pastor.
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  And I says, okay, now I know where we're going here.
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  So I don't know, something spoke to me and I said, where do you work if you're not just doing this?
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  And she says that she works at this musical location and it hit me right off
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  the bat. I went, do you sing?
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  And the biggest smile that Yolani has, she says, yes.
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  And that feeling of somebody that loves to sing, that feeling of the Holy Spirit struck me.
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  And I says, well, then you're gonna come sing on November 16th at my church. And she said, yes.
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  And for the record, I did not hear her sing until today.
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  And I want to also share with you that every time I come up here,
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  we get together as a team.
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  And Joe with the praise team and Bunny, we don't know what we're going to come
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  with music. So you know what we've done.
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  I always say, let the Holy Spirit guide us. So Bunny picks out the music.
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  It doesn't even know what my sermon is. We get shout to the Lord.
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  Joe doesn't know what Yolani is going to bring to the table and she bring Jesus is Worthy is your name.
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  And then Joe picks out his song. What was the song? I forgot.
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  What was the song that you guys did earlier though?
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  Always the Lord of God. That's not an accident. That's God working through us.
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  So I wanted to share that with you. I think that's a blessing.
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  So thank you for always supporting me.