Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20250427 - Joyful In Every Season - Philippians 4:2-9

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#20250427 - Joyful In Every Season - Philippians 4:2-9 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word recorded live at Calvary
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Church in Aurora, Co. To learn more about the many
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resources available through Abounding Grace Media or to tune
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into our live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co
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dot Church or download our free Calvary Church app.
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Now let's open our Bibles and study God's Word.
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Amen. All right, so Philippians 4/2
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through 9, the message titled a joyful in every season.
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And this is the the heart behind the message.
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I do believe as Christians we should be the most joyful people
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on the planet. Amen.
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We have so much to be grateful for.
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If you don't know what you have to be grateful for, if you're a
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believer, you're, you need to be grateful that your sins have
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been forgiven. Amen.
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That Jesus died on the cross in your place for your sins.
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Three days later he rose from the grave and conquered sin,
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death, and Satan. You who used to be separated
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from God have now been reconciled to God through the
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blood of Jesus Christ. And for that we should be
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grateful and thankful. Amen.
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Now that doesn't, you know, prevent, that doesn't, that
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doesn't keep us from having difficult days.
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My salvation, my forgiveness, my reconciliation to God doesn't
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guarantee me a life of ease. And so even as a believer, we're
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going to have trials, challenges, difficult times,
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sometimes terrible times. And even in that season, I need
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to learn how to be joyful. It's easy to be joyful when
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everything is going the way I like it to be going.
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But I was a believer. I think it's important that we
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learn how to be joyful even when things aren't necessarily going
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the way we would like 'cause even in a bad season, we have
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reason to be joyful. Amen.
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So I believe that Paul, in this letter to the church in
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Philippi, gives us some insight. Anybody know where Paul was when
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he wrote this letter? He was in jail, right?
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He's in jail for doing what God called him to do.
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And while he's in jail, he says, I'm, I'm a write a letter to
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encourage the believers in Philippi.
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One of the themes of the book, all the way through the book of
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Philippians is joy. And so to me, Paul is uniquely
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qualified to speak about having joy in the midst of difficulty
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because he's been joyful in the midst of difficulty.
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Sometimes we have a hard time hearing somebody that we feel
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like hasn't had our same experience.
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You know that, that you, you haven't struggled like I've
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struggled. So I can't, I can't receive what
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you're saying. Well, Paul was uniquely
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qualified to tell believers, you can still be joyful.
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You can still give thanks in this season.
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And so again, I pray that this will help some of us this
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morning. I don't know you, I don't know
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everybody here. I don't know every situation,
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but I believe the Lord does. And I always believe God has a
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word for us when we come together and open up this book.
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So with that, look at Philippians chapter 4, verse 2,
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it says I implore Yudia and I implore, and I've been
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struggling with this name all weekend.
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It looked like Cintichi or I call her Cynthia.
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I just renamed her because it's easier for me.
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But if you can pronounce it, you go ahead.
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But I'll get the gist of it, right?
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I implore Yudia and I implore Cynthia.
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I'm going to call her Cintichi whatever to be of the same mind
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in the Lord. So first one, number one, this
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is our this is our our, our outline.
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The first thing that can rob you of your joy in the Lord as a
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believer is personal conflict, having issues with other
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believers having conflict. This these two women their name
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is in scripture for all eternity for having skirmish and have
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whatever their beef was whatever they got into it about Paul is
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writing this letter. He's in prison.
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He said, man, tell Yudia and Cynthia knock it off right that
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you guys be of the same mind in the Lord stop fighting with each
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other. So let me say this, anybody here
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that's experienced conflict as a believer with other believers,
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because I've been in the church for a long time and I've seen
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believers get mad at each other. And you might be here this
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morning sitting on this side of the sanctuary because you saw
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them sit over there and you don't want to be you don't want
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to, you don't want to be nowhere near them.
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Get get the cooties on yet. You know, so it happens.
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It shouldn't happen, but it does happen and people get into it
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and things happen and and we have strife and and difficulty.
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But what it does, it hinders the work of God.
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Because the way this reads, Paul says, I implore Yudia and I
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implore since Cynthia to be of the same mind in the Lord.
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And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who
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labored past tense with me in the gospel with Clement also
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when the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the
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book of life, these women used to be doing the ministry
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together. They used to be helping me out
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with the ministry, but now they're fighting.
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And so the, the work has ceased. So if I can encourage you this
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morning, if you were here and got some personal conflicts, I
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want to really encourage you to deal with that, that that's not
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what the Lord wants. How many guys know that it takes
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energy to, to have a, a, a argument or a fight with
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somebody. And it's not the, that, that's
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the energy that we should be spending in a forward motion to,
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to, to do the work of God. That's a ugly energy.
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That's not what you want to, it's not how you want to live
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your life, especially not coming into the House of God.
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So we'll, we'll get some principles of how we can avoid
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that, how we can overcome it. But I want you to know that it's
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not God's heart that we be in the House of the Lord with
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people we don't like. And here's the crazy thing,
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right? This is, this is the family of
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God. God, you know, God picked the
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family. I have a church in Inglewood.
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I visit church. I've been a part of the church.
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They're going to be people in your family.
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That's not your favorite type of people, but you got to love them
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anyway. Amen.
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I got people in my real family. I'm not going to they not my
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favorite kind of people, you know, I'm saying, but they're
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family. So within the family of God,
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they're people that that that the Lord says, Hey, that's
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that's my son, though, that's my daughter or I would like them to
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be. And so I got to learn how to
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deal with people that are not like me.
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Everybody's not like me. I'm, I'm a unique individual,
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right? So everybody's not like you
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either. And so God would have us to work
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on these things. So they're being exhorted to do
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this. I thought this is interesting,
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right? They got pretty names, right?
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Udia means prosperous journey, Sintichi or Cynthia, her name
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means pleasant acquaintance. And it looks like they're they
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got these beautiful names, but they got behavior that doesn't
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match their names. And this can be true about us,
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right? What is the Bible called?
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Believers calls us Saints, But maybe your behavior don't match
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up with that, right? We call ourselves Christians,
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which means Christ like. And I hope that you carry that.
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I hope that as you go to work and in your community and
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wherever you are, that people would look at your manner of
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life and say, man, that brother's Christ like that
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sister is that that that name is befitting of our behavior.
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But if it's not, I would challenge you today that we
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would line our behavior up with what God calls us and what we
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identify as as his children. Amen.
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Next it says in verse 3, verse three said Paul said, I urge
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you, true companion, help these women who who used to, you know,
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serve in the gospel, these women who labor with me in the gospel
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with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are
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written in the book of life. And so whoever his true
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companion was, Paul said, hey, help these women out.
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And I'll say this, maybe you're not in conflict in the body of
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Christ, but maybe you were aware of conflict.
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Be a peacemaker. Help him out.
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You'd be the one to help grab this brother and grab that
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sister, whoever they are, and bring them back together.
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Help them resolve the issues. Sometimes people need someone a
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little bit more mature to step in and help them resolve some
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things. I love Galatians 6/1 It says,
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brethren, if any man is overtaken in a trespass, you who
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are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of a spirit of
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gentleness, considering yourself at least you also be tested and
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so tempted. So this could be dealing with
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someone saying, but it could also be dealing with conflict.
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You who are spiritual, you step in there and see what you can do
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to help people resolve the conflict and the issues that
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they're having next. It says that they're to be of
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the same mind in the Lord and two things that God has given us
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to help us to be of the same mind in the Lord.
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One, we all got the book, the word of God, Amen.
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This should help us resolve most issues right here.
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This, this should put us on the same page in most situations.
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God's given us his word. If we would just do what God's
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word says when challenges arise, we could be back on the same
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page. The Bible says when you have
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conflict, if I got an issue with somebody in the body, it says go
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tell five of my best friends what they did.
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Does that what it says in Matthew 18?
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No, it doesn't say no. It says go to them.
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And people would rather do anything else, right?
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When there's conflict, people will go to, I'll tell 10
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pastors, 4 friends, a prayer group, I'll do anything except
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go to them. But God says go to your brother,
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go to your sister, go with a heart to see reconciliation.
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So many things can be solved that we would just do what the
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word says do. And so I would exhort you if you
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got personal conflict that's robbing you of your joy in the
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Lord and even your fruitfulness, go fix it.
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Go do what God says do about it. Here goes another thing that
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I'll just throw this out to help us to help us get on one accord
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if maybe we got difficulties. Let me ask how many, how many
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guys are married? If you're married, raise your
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hand, all right? Keep them up.
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Keep them up. If your hands are you're
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married, your hands are up. How many guys since you've been
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married have had strong disagreements about things?
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I have. I saw one brother put his hand
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down. He got punched, right?
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So if you've been married for any amount of time, you're going
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to have disagreements, right? So I don't like to argue and
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fight with my wife. Thankfully God gave me a wife
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that's really peaceful and she don't like to fight.
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So we come up with a way to get on the same page and we are both
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very strong minded. When I put my foot down, I put
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my foot down through the flow. Hard to pick it back up.
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But this is what we've discovered over many, many
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years. I've been married 28 years in
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May that we'll have disagreements and rather than
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fight and let the tension in the house be all funky, we'll say
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let's do this. If a decision doesn't need to be
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made today, you, you go, you pray about it.
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We'll set a date, we'll say, hey, till Sunday, we'll talk
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about this on Sunday, you pray about it and journal with the
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Lord speaks to you as you spend time with the Lord praying about
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this, I'll do the same. I'll pray about it, I'll journal
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with the Lord speaks to me. We'll come together Sunday and
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talk in the meanwhile. We're not going to talk about
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this until Sunday. So it's out of the way and we're
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not going to be talking to anybody else.
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We're just trying to get a word from the Lord.
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What is God saying to us? So when we come back together
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Sunday, the rules are you can't show up to the meeting Sunday
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talking about what I feel and your feelings are irrelevant.
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My feelings are irrelevant. Didn't know I asked you what you
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felt. We asked you what did God say
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about it? Here's a a miraculous thing
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because God is not the author of confusion.
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If we both hear from God, we'll be on the same page.
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And I'm telling you guys that there have been strong
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disagreements my wife and I've had where we take time to just
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you pray, I'll pray. Let's come back together and
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I've been wrong. I've had times where I go to
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pray and the Lord just spanks me wrong, wrong, wrong and I'm like
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I I got to go and and and and I got to go pick my foot up and
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humble myself and and and now we're we're on one accord again.
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There been times where I pray and God said no, you right on
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brother, hold your ground. She going to have to bend on and
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and and it it's amazing how that works.
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We've avoided war doing this so that any married couple that's
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for free. I hope it helps y'all out
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getting on one accord, God's word and sometimes just praying
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and listening to the Lord can help us if it's your desire, if
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the goal is I don't want my way, I want God's way.
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That's what it comes down to Most conflict is not that we
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want God's way. We want our way and if we'll lay
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down our way for God's way, we can get back on the same page
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pretty quickly. Hey man, and so moving on.
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These two women have been exhorted and challenging be back
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be on get get on the same page in the Lord.
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Next it says well before I move on a few a few verses to help
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you with personal conflict. Just write these down.
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Have them for your help for later.
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Ephesians 426 and 27 it says be angry and do not sin.
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Do not let the sun go down on your wrath nor give place to the
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devil right, so you could be angry, but don't sin and then
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God says you, you can't just be mad forever.
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Some of y'all be mad and harboring it for months and
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weeks. God says no, you got to deal
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with that quick. Don't let the sun go down.
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That means how long can you be mad about this before you deal
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with it? But the day of you don't get to
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go you if you have it's tomorrow, you'd already went too
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long, right? It says don't let the sun go
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down on your rap then it says nor give place to the devil.
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Think about this, if you harbor bitterness and you don't deal
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with it like God tells you to him, it's it's nobody would
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willingly give the devil a place in your life, but it's giving
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Satan a place. It's like saying devil, you can
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move in here and lodge with me, cuddle with me.
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You know, we trying to kick him up out of here.
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Hey, man, so so if you've made a habit of harboring things, I
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could, if I could exhort you today, don't do that.
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Repent of that. Deal with it right away.
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Let it go right away. Don't let the sun go down on
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your rap. Don't stay mad about something.
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I've had people come up to me and they were mad about stuff
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for weeks and it had they just come to me, we could have solved
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it right? I've had people mad about me.
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It was a total misunderstanding. I shared this with the other
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service. You know, I'm I'm as a I'm a I'm
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very one track minded. My wife hates this about me.
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But if I'm doing something and there's talking in the
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background, I'm used to noise in the background.
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I don't hear you. So if my wife starts talking to
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me, but I was doing something, I don't hear, and then she'll say,
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did you? Are you listening?
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I'm like, no, did you? You got to Call My Name, babe.
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You got to say Bill, yes, now talk.
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And I'm you got my whole attention.
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You've arrested my attention. But if you don't do that, I
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don't hear you. And I've had people talk to me
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and I'm I'm just, it's just background noise.
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I don't know, they're talking and then they they be mad at me.
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A month I had I saw you over there and I said something and
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you didn't say Sir, ma'am, I forgive me.
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I you mad. You been mad at me for how long?
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You should have just you should have.
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You should have stopped being the hallway.
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You know, I wasn't ignoring you. I just I can't hear you if I'm
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already doing something. So I just encourage you guys
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don't don't harbor these things and let them damage
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relationships in the Lord. And so moving on from here,
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Hebrews 12/14 and 15 pursue peace with all people and
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holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
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Looking carefully, at least anyone should fall short of the
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grace of God. At least any root of bitterness
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springing up cause trouble and by this many become defiled.
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You pursue peace with all people and know that if you let
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bitterness grow it, it's like growing a tree.
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And eventually it begins to defile others because when
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people grow bitter, it starts to come out of their mouth, starts
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to it becomes it's the overflow just flows out.
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And so, you know, one way you can know you're angry or bitter
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with someone is if you can't say nothing good about them, even
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worse, if you hear somebody else say something good about them
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and it bothers you, you know, just somebody else talks good
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about them. And it's like, I don't think so,
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you know, you bitter, you need to knock that off, right?
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That's not helpful in the body of Christ.
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And so lastly, Ephesians 432 and be kind to one another, tender
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hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave
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you. Remember that one day you were
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really unlovely and God loved you anyway.
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And he, he, he forgave you. He was tender hearted, not hard
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hearted, but tender hearted. God says we need to be tender
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hearted towards one another. Remember that in the body we're
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dealing with broken people that are going through different
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things and they're going to, we're going to be offended
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sometimes. But if we can be tender hearted,
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remembering how God forgave us, God says forgive them just like
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Christ forgave you, right? I've been forgiven for a whole
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lot and I'm grateful for it. And so there are times where God
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says just release them and forgive them.
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Let it go you, you'll be better for it.
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It'll set you free, it'll keep the spirit moving in your life
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that you just can forgive and release and and be tender
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hearted to people. Get this and we'll move on.
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You are never more like Jesus than when you're loving someone
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unlovely, someone that don't deserve it, someone that hasn't
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been they, they weren't good to you first.
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That's they've been bad to you. When you're good to those that
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are bad to you, when you love the unlovely, you're being like
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Jesus. And so if that, if that could
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help you make that a goal. I want 'cause I do want to be
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like Jesus. Amen #2 Something that could
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hinder me from they can rob me of my joy in the Lord is having
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a bad attitude. Look at verse four and five.
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Paul says there, rejoice in the Lord always.
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Again I will say, rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to
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all men, for the Lord is at hand.
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So here we're commanded to to rejoice in the Lord always.
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And then it's emphatic. Again, I say rejoice.
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God says as a believer, I want you to.
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I want you to rejoice always, all the time.
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And here's the thing, what about on a bad day, Lord?
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What if I crash the car, lose my job and the dog died?
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You know, on that day I'm going to rejoice.
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He said rejoice all the time. How do I rejoice on a day like
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that? How do I rejoice when things are
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going poorly, when I'm having a terrible time or or difficult
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season? How do I rejoice in that?
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And I want you to note the phrase it was rejoice in what in
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the Lord. I can rejoice in the Lord on the
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worst day of my life because on the worst day of my life, the
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things that I have from the Lord cannot be taken away from me.
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Amen. I have the forgiveness of sins,
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I've been reconciled to God. I have relationship with the
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Lord through Jesus Christ. No matter what else happens to
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me, those things are all still true about me.
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And those are the most important things.
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You guys, everyone in this room is going to die one day, unless
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we're here for the rapture. In that case I got, I got a
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rapture pose, you know what I'm saying?
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But we're going to die one day. And the Bible says in Hebrews
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927, it's appointed, the man wants to die.
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And after this, the judgment, you're going to live one life,
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you're going to die one death. And we're going to stand before
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God and give an account. You're not going to come back as
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an orangutan, a pit bull, a cockroach.
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You're not going to get a redo on this life.
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We're going to live, die and give an account to God for what
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did we do with his Son Jesus? And they'll come a day where all
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that matters is, do I know him and am I known by him?
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They'll come a day where we finally understand that's the
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only thing that ever mattered. That's the most important thing
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in my life and it in the things that have grieved us and hurt us
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down. They'll pale in comparison.
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In that moment, all that's going to matter is this.
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Do I know him and am I known by him?
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And they'll, they'll be days in this life where horrible things
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are happening right in front of us, painful things, difficult
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things in an old on those days, I need to be able to tap in and
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say, Lord, even though that's happening and it's difficult and
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I may be grieving and hurting those things.
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I can still rejoice in your goodness.
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I can still rejoice in your forgiveness of my sins.
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I can still rejoice in the fact that I have relationship with
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you. I can rejoice that I'm not going
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to go through this alone. I can rejoice that I have access
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to you and you're a supernatural comforter.
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You're of ever present help in my time of trouble.
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I got to I got to always find a way to rejoice in the Lord a
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man. And if you can't rejoice in the
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Lord, you guys in difficult things can really pull us away.
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This is where I I've seen people that fall into depression and
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things they just can't shake it off.
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They can't get out of it. I'm not saying that we don't
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grieve and have difficulty. For me, this is this is this has
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been ministering to me recently, like from January to current.
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My life has been unglued with the the just the things that
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have happened. My father has passed away,
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someone very close to me and my family is, we're dealing with
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cancer. We've had the death of two of my
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2 church members. It seems like from January to
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March, it's been boom, boom, boom, boom.
21:21
And the Lord has been ministering this to me that I'm
21:24
not joyful about what happened, but I'm joyful in this season.
21:28
I need to be able to be joyful in this season.
21:31
I don't want my joy to be stolen away.
21:35
And joy is it's it's it's, it's something that God makes
21:37
available to the Saints. So if I'm not joyful, I got to
21:42
say, God, I need, I want my joy back some somewhere along the
21:45
way I got robbed. I got I let I let joy slip out
21:48
the window. I need it back because joy is
21:50
mines in my relationship with Jesus Christ.
21:53
And sometimes I got to be mindful about what I'm thinking
21:56
about and what I'm focusing on that I might enjoy what God has
21:59
made available. And so rejoice in the Lord
22:02
always again, I will say rejoice.
22:04
And so rejoicing is something that we, if we can choose to do
22:09
and, and we're specifically rejoicing in the Lord, not in
22:12
the difficult circumstances of the things that happened.
22:15
I had a brother in our church a while back that came to me, had
22:18
a really terrible weekend. His son was murdered on a Friday
22:22
night and he showed up the church that Sunday out, as you,
22:26
as you might imagine, broken. And I think one of probably the
22:29
worst levels of grief is, is probably the loss of a child.
22:33
No parent is prepared for that. Most of us prepare to, you know,
22:38
even when our parents get old and they die, death still
22:41
stings. They could be 99 years old and
22:43
it still just seemed like it wasn't enough.
22:45
Now 99 years meant I had longer time to get up, you know, get
22:49
get to be connected to them. And so death is difficult at
22:54
every phase. But this brother showed up that
22:56
morning and he wanted to, he asked me.
22:58
He said I'm, I'm wanted. He had, he had the 1st
23:01
Thessalonians 518. He said it says that in
23:05
everything, give thanks. So this is the will of God in
23:07
Christ Jesus. How do I do that in, in, in, in,
23:10
in this season? How do I give thanks and
23:12
everything? And obviously I was, my heart
23:15
was broken for him and pray with him and weep with him and hug
23:19
him. But I said it's, it's, you know,
23:21
we're not giving thanks for everything.
23:25
It's in, it's in every, it's in the midst of everything.
23:28
So we're not thanking God for the tragedy that befell your
23:31
son. And you're going to grieve that
23:33
and you're going to need the Lord to comfort you and walk
23:36
with you through that. However that, that difficulty
23:41
being there, you can still rejoice in who God is to you.
23:45
You can still give thanks. And in the midst of this, we can
23:47
thank God for, for the relationship that we have with
23:50
him. Are you guys following what I'm
23:51
saying? It's, it's in everything we can
23:53
still God, I, I'm still thankful for you.
23:56
I'm thankful that I'm not going to go through this without you
23:58
and, and, and, and in those moments, I need the Lord like
24:01
probably never before. You need his, his inner, you
24:04
need his help. You need his comfort, you need
24:05
his, his peace, all of a supernatural nature.
24:08
And so I just want to remind us that as believers, we're going
24:12
to, we're going to be challenged at times, we'll go through
24:15
difficulty and it's not foreign. I, I, I'm so sorry that some
24:20
churches, I think some of the Word of Faith churches have
24:22
people think that if you love God, everything is going to go
24:25
your way. If you love God, no bad things
24:27
will happen. Your marriages will all be good,
24:28
your kids will all be obedient. Your job you're going to have,
24:31
they're going to give you a promotion and a raise.
24:33
And the Bible just doesn't teach that, right?
24:37
As believers, we going to go through difficulties.
24:39
You follow through Scripture. It seemed like those that the
24:41
Lord used the most suffered the most and went through the most.
24:46
And so godly people will have times where we go through it.
24:50
And so we need to learn how to praise God in the midst of
24:54
challenges. 2 circumstances I thought of and Paul and Silas,
24:58
these guys were, you know, jailed.
25:00
They were beaten and then jailed for proclaiming the gospel, for
25:04
doing God's work. And they were put in the bottom
25:06
of the prison, in, in, in, in, in a dark area.
25:09
And it says when in the middle of the night, midnight, these
25:11
brothers said, let's let's sing some songs, man.
25:14
And they start worshipping the Lord in that moment.
25:17
And I, I think to me that's supernatural praise.
25:20
I think that that was probably a witness to all the other
25:22
prisoners. I think the guards that were
25:24
standing by had to be blown away.
25:26
Like what are these brothers saying?
25:27
We beat them earlier. I'm tired from whooping on these
25:30
fellas, you know, and they, they're worshipping God.
25:32
They're, they're, they're singing praises to the Lord in
25:35
the mix of what they're going through.
25:37
That's supernatural. I also think of Job in the book
25:41
of Job. And if you guys are familiar
25:42
with this, in chapters 1 and 2, the Bible says that Satan showed
25:46
up with the other angels in the presence of God and God said to
25:50
Satan, I paraphrase, but God said, Satan, where you been?
25:52
What you been doing and say, you know, I've been going to and fro
25:55
up and down the earth wrecking lives.
25:57
You know how I do it. Didn't say those words exactly,
26:00
but that's what it means. And so God said, God bragged on
26:06
Job to Satan. God said, have you considered my
26:09
servant Job? That word considered means study
26:12
for war. God said there's none like him
26:15
and all the earth upright blameless fears.
26:17
God shuns evil. Have you considered him?
26:20
Why you going to and fro? And Satan had considered him
26:24
because Satan said, well, there's a hedge around him and
26:27
all that he has on every side. I can't get to him.
26:30
And so but then Satan accused Job to God.
26:34
He said, Job don't love you for nothing.
26:36
Job, look how blessed he is. Job is rich.
26:38
He got 10 kids. He got all this stuff.
26:41
Job only loves you because you bless him.
26:42
Let me take away his stuff. And Satan said he'll surely
26:45
curse you to your face. And so God said to Satan, OK,
26:50
you can touch his stuff, but you can't touch him.
26:52
And Satan went, it was, it was, it was, it was brutal.
26:57
One thing after the other. Satan removed all of Job's
26:59
wealth, you know, and that day wealth was in your, your cattle,
27:03
right? All of your oxen were taking Job
27:05
and I alone escaped to tell you. And This is why he was still
27:07
speaking. Another guy came and said, all
27:09
your camels were taken away. There was a raid and I alone
27:12
escaped to tell you. And one by one, these guys came
27:14
one after the other, say, man, Job, you're broke.
27:17
And then the last guy came and said, hey, all 10 kids were
27:21
fellowshipping at the oldest brother's house celebrating.
27:24
And a wind blew the roof off and all 10 kids died.
27:29
I've, I've literally, I've cried reading that before all 10 kids.
27:33
That's devastating. I, I got 4 kids.
27:36
I don't want to lose one of my kids, all 10 in a day.
27:41
And instead of cursing God, which is what Joe, which is what
27:45
Satan wanted Job to do, the Bible says that Job tore his
27:48
clothes and he worshipped. It was like a big it was in your
27:52
face to the devil. He did that he the Hebrew words
27:56
are curse and worship or praise of the exact opposite words.
27:59
He does the exact opposite of what Satan said he would do.
28:03
And in that moment of difficulty he worshipped.
28:05
Then it got worse because God came back to Satan and said what
28:10
happened. Job still holds fast integrity
28:12
even though you incited me against him.
28:14
And Satan said I know what men really care about.
28:16
They care about themselves. Skin for skin.
28:19
So he said, let me touch him and he'll surely curse you to your
28:23
face. And God said you can touch him,
28:25
but you can't take his life. And Satan struck Job with some
28:28
satanic illness that caused him to have boils from the top of
28:32
his head to the soles of his feet.
28:33
He was laid out in ashes. He had boils all over his body,
28:39
was just sick. And then Miss Job was tripping.
28:43
We don't have her name. So Miss Joe came over.
28:46
Somehow the word of Satan got in her mouth and she came over and
28:49
said, do you still hold fast your integrity?
28:51
Won't you just curse God and die?
28:54
Somehow Satan got his words into her mouth.
28:56
I give her a pass because she lost all her money and all her
28:59
kids too, and they made-up later.
29:01
But Joe said, you speak as one of the foolish women.
29:04
Shall we accept good from God and not adversity of the Lord is
29:08
given, the Lord is taken away. He said blessed be the name of
29:11
the Lord and Job worship them. That have to be the worst day of
29:15
your life right there. All your money, all your kids,
29:19
all your health and your wife is tripping.
29:22
I just you don't get a worse day than that, do you?
29:26
And on a day like that, this is supernatural because Job didn't
29:30
know that Satan was in the background saying I'm going to
29:32
make this man curse you that I'm trying to make.
29:35
I'm trying to turn this man against God.
29:37
I want to just say this because maybe you've gone through some
29:40
terrible thing, and rather than turn to the Lord, you turned
29:44
away from the Lord. Don't do that.
29:46
Don't get mad at God, because if Job had got mad at God, God
29:51
didn't do this to him. Satan did it.
29:53
If you're going to be mad at somebody, be mad at the devil.
29:55
Hey, man, in a time like this, if you turn away from the Lord,
29:59
you're turning away from the only one that can help you.
30:02
You want to turn to the Lord with everything you got.
30:05
The Bible says that we can, we can access God that, that, that
30:07
in our time of need that we can, we can come, you know, we can
30:10
seek him for grace and for mercy and grace to help in our time of
30:14
need because he's he understands what we're going through.
30:16
You want to turn to the Lord. Sometimes it's the trick of
30:20
Satan that devastating things happened and then you turn away
30:24
from God. And now Satan's like now I got
30:26
you because now over here you would have had supernatural
30:29
comfort, but you won't have that now because you, you mad at God
30:33
over here. You would have, you would have
30:34
had comfort. You would have strength.
30:35
God would have. God could have helped you
30:37
through this, but you turned away from them.
30:40
If you're here today and you've been mad at God, I hope you'll
30:42
turn back today and realize you got nothing to be mad at God for
30:46
God never promised that we wouldn't go through hard times,
30:48
difficulty. He promised he'll be with you
30:50
through it. The only promise God makes us is
30:53
this, that if you believe in me and I died on the cross in your
30:57
place for your sins, when you die you will have everlasting
31:01
life. That's the promise that God
31:02
made. God didn't promise me a perfect
31:05
life, good obedient kids, awesome marriage, a good job, a
31:10
whole bunch of money. God promised me that I took care
31:13
of your biggest issue because you were Sinner.
31:16
And when you die you will be accepted by God because you put
31:20
your faith in my son Jesus that died on the cross in your place.
31:23
That's the promise that God did make.
31:25
Amen. That's the one you want to cling
31:27
to. Don't get mad at God for not
31:30
keeping promises that he never made.
31:33
I think that's one of the one of the things I've seen in the
31:36
church where believers get tricked out of their
31:39
relationship with the Lord, just like Saint Joe was Satan was
31:42
trying to do in the book of Job. Now verse 5, he said let your
31:46
gentleness be made known to all men, but the Lord is at hand.
31:51
That word gentleness means to be not being unduly rigorous.
31:56
It says a good definition of it is a is a sweet reasonableness.
32:02
The idea is that you you're easy to be with.
32:04
You're easy to work with when it says let your gentleness be made
32:07
known to all. And I hope that that
32:09
characterizes every believer in them that you're easy to work
32:11
with, you be good on a team. And it says for the Lord is at
32:15
hand. The reminder that the the Lord
32:17
is present and he's coming back should help me to treat people
32:22
in a in a right kind of way. The Lord is at hand, the Lord is
32:25
coming back. I need to, I need to watch how I
32:27
treat people #3 on the list that can rob you of your joy in the
32:30
Lord. Verse 6 and 7 be anxious for
32:33
nothing, but in everything by prayer, with supplication and
32:37
Thanksgiving. Let your request be made known
32:40
to God and then the peace of God, which passes understanding
32:44
will guard your hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus.
32:48
Anxiety can cause you can rob you of your joy in the Lord.
32:53
And so he says here, don't be anxious about anything.
32:55
Instead of being anxious about anything, pray about everything.
32:59
How do people get full of anxiety and worrying these
33:02
things today? One way people end up with
33:06
anxiety is worrying about things that you have no power over.
33:11
Give that to the Lord there. There are things that I have no
33:13
power over. I shouldn't worry about those
33:15
things out. It'll make me anxious thinking
33:18
heavily on things that we need to give to God.
33:22
There's some things that I just got to give to the Lord and if I
33:26
don't give to the Lord, I'm I'm going to be full of anxiety,
33:28
full of worry and fear and doubt and all these God, I got to give
33:31
it to you. This this bigger than me.
33:35
Sometimes we're full of anxiety because we're irresponsible with
33:39
our thought life, just letting our thoughts go wherever they
33:41
want to go. I could be full of anxiety
33:44
because I'm listening to the wrong people.
33:46
Some I've, I've seen believers listening to the news and stuff
33:50
like that. They'd be, they'd be, they'd be
33:51
afraid of everything. No, I was, no, I'm afraid of the
33:55
air. They're afraid of the dust, the,
33:56
the water, the chicken, the I'm like, man, this.
33:59
You might want to turn some of that stuff off, man.
34:01
Pray about some of these things, but just listening to things.
34:06
The, the world uses fear to do a lot of things.
34:10
And so, you know, just listening to the wrong people can have you
34:13
full of anxiety. Walking by sight instead of
34:16
walking by faith can have you full of anxiety.
34:19
And so God doesn't want us to be anxious, full of anxiety.
34:23
I've made a rule in my life. I won't let people press me and
34:26
rush me about stuff. I know sales people love to do
34:29
this. You know, you look at something.
34:31
Well, I can make you a deal right now, but you got to do it
34:33
today. If you need to answer today, the
34:35
answer's no, Sir. I do my when my kids were
34:39
little, we did me and my wife did the kids the same way in
34:41
order for my wife to maintain a united front.
34:44
If the kids ask me something, I'll tell them I'll get back to
34:47
you. And what that meant is me and my
34:49
wife will chop it up later on. We'll make a decision in private
34:53
together. I'll come back and let you know
34:55
what the decision is. So they don't get to know who
34:58
said no. If somebody say no or who said
35:00
yeah, they don't get the, they don't get the workers against
35:03
each other. They go to my wife, my wife tell
35:05
them same thing. I'll get back to you and once we
35:07
talk in private without they little ears present, we'll come
35:10
back and let them know what's going on and my kids learn,
35:13
right? If you come back, don't come
35:15
back to me, I'm going to come to you.
35:17
But y'all know how kids do they come back in 10.
35:20
Did you guys get to talk yet? I said, and this is what I would
35:23
tell them you you need to answer right now.
35:25
Do you get if you get if you need to answer right now, the
35:28
answer's no. And so they learn to be patient.
35:31
You, you come back again. I'm you, you, you come back and
35:34
ask me again before I come to you.
35:36
The answer is no. You walk by a room and they're
35:38
looking at you or bug eyed. You know you, you can tell me
35:43
something, but they nobody don't ask.
35:45
He asked me again. The answer's no.
35:47
You not going to make me anxious in my house by by going
35:50
somewhere doing something. God doesn't want me to be
35:53
anxious. There's a peace that God wants
35:56
to give us. So he says, hey, here goes the
35:58
remedy. Be anxious about nothing.
36:00
Instead, pray about everything with prayer, supplication, your
36:05
own needs. And he says with Thanksgiving,
36:08
don't forget that one. Sometimes we forget to offer
36:11
thanks with our prayers. And I think that sometimes we
36:15
miss out right there when I give thanks in my prayers, it also
36:21
it, it builds up my faith for my new prayers, right?
36:23
Because I'm reminding, I'm thanking God for the stuff he
36:26
already answered in the, in, in the, in the, you know, in the
36:29
positive things that God has already done while I'm asking
36:32
God about new things. And so make sure you get thanks.
36:36
I find that often times believers, we're never as
36:40
fervent and faithful in our thanks as we are in our asking
36:45
when we need God to show up big, we're fervent in prayer.
36:48
We're every day beating down the door of the of prayer.
36:52
And then God comes through and when he get a little
36:55
lightweight, Oh, thank you, Lord.
36:56
You know, just, you know, or or or nothing, you know, you just
36:59
move on and and don't give him thanks.
37:01
Make sure you give God thanks for the things he's done.
37:03
You guys remember the 10 lepers was 10 lepers in Luke's gospel
37:08
and they, you know, that disease, a disease you would
37:10
ultimately die of and they saw Jesus afar off and they yelled,
37:13
Lord, Master, have mercy on us. And Jesus heard him and he and
37:17
just because they asked him, he healed him.
37:19
He said, go show yourselves to the priest.
37:22
And it says as they went, they were healed.
37:24
All ten were healed. Life changing miracle.
37:27
Now you can go back to your community.
37:29
Now you can go back home. Now, you know, now you're not
37:32
going to die of this ugly disease.
37:34
I mean, God came through and it says just one, one of them guys
37:37
came back and he says he fell down on his face and with a loud
37:41
voice he glorified God and he gave thanks to the Lord.
37:44
And you know what Jesus said? Where your homies at?
37:47
He said he said, where are the 9?
37:49
Right? There's 10 of y'all.
37:50
There were. Jesus had an expectation.
37:52
I expected all y'all to come back and thank me.
37:55
Only you came back and the one that came back received
37:58
something even greater. He said, Son, your, your, your,
38:01
your faith has made you whole. So he didn't just get healed of
38:05
his leprosy. He was spiritually made whole.
38:07
So he came back. It was faith that brought him
38:09
back. But I, I just want us to
38:11
remember to give thanks to the Lord in the midst of all our
38:14
asking. Be anxious about nothing, but
38:16
with prayer, supplication, with Thanksgiving, let your requests
38:20
be made known to God. Here's the promise and the peace
38:24
of God which passes understanding will guard your
38:27
heart, which is the seat of your emotions and your mind, which is
38:31
your intellect in Christ Jesus. So if you're an emotional person
38:34
and you find that you make emotional decisions, you're,
38:36
you're moved emotionally. God's, I got you.
38:39
As you pray, instead of being anxious, you pray, I'll guard
38:42
your emotions. Maybe you are an intellect,
38:45
you're a thinker. You'd be overthinking
38:46
everything, staying up all night, letting running thoughts
38:49
all through your mind. God, I got you, I'll guard your
38:51
mind. Maybe you got a double whammy
38:53
and you emotional and intellectual, God said, I got
38:56
you as you pray, I'm a guard your heart and your mind through
39:00
Christ Jesus. And so you don't have to be
39:03
anxious and let that rob you of peace and rob you of joy.
39:06
God says bring it to me in prayer, leave it with me.
39:09
And the key is this, if I give it to God in prayer, I got to
39:12
leave it with the Lord, Amen. Don't, don't, don't lay it on
39:15
the altar and then pick it back up and run with it.
39:17
Leave it with the Lord who can handle it.
39:19
And God says, I will give you peace.
39:22
I'll, I'll restore peace to you. And so I would encourage us that
39:26
we would, we would come to the Lord with these things.
39:28
Let him take these things. Let him take the things that are
39:30
too much for us to handle that we wouldn't be anxious and
39:33
worried and fearful about everything.
39:36
Next it says in verse in verse 8.
39:40
And this is the the fourth thing that can rob us of our joy in
39:44
the Lord is meditating on the wrong things can rob us of our
39:48
joy in the Lord. And so verse 8 says finally,
39:51
brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble,
39:54
whatever things are just, whatever things are pure,
39:58
whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good
40:01
report, if there's any virtue, and if there's anything
40:06
praiseworthy, meditate on these things.
40:10
And I'll just say this, meditating on the wrong things,
40:13
just giving your mind to stuff that doesn't edify you could
40:17
have a negative or a difficult thing take place.
40:19
It's a choice to choose to focus on that all day.
40:23
So I got to choose this. I'm responsible for my thought
40:26
life. I got to be a steward of my
40:28
thoughts. And Paul says, look, I'm telling
40:30
you meditate on the I'm telling you what to meditate on.
40:33
You don't know what to meditate on on a rough day, a tough day,
40:36
when stuff's happen, It's not that bad things aren't
40:39
happening. I'm just not meditating on all
40:42
the bad things. And so he looked find you
40:44
something that a virtue, something praiseworthy,
40:48
something lovely, something pure, something you can give
40:50
thanks to the Lord about meditate on these things.
40:54
As I told you in my, in my personal life right now, in my
40:56
family, we've had death and my family other deaths.
41:00
My wife is, is battling with breast cancer.
41:03
This is a, there's so many things right now where it's a
41:07
for me. I'm, I'm before the Lord saying
41:09
I've never been. I'm, I've not been this way
41:11
before. And my wife and I both are
41:14
having to choose to look to the Lord, choose to focus on the
41:18
Lord, choose to keep our eyes on the Lord where they belong.
41:22
That's where they should be. And in the midst of all that
41:25
this is happening, the enemy would trick me into just
41:28
looking, look at all this is happening.
41:29
It's terrible. But you know what happened that
41:32
was so wonderful? In December, God gave us a
41:35
grandbaby right granddaughter. My daughter was well we're
41:39
praying that she would get pregnant.
41:40
There was challenges there. She got pregnant yay.
41:42
Then we prayed that it would go all the way through.
41:43
She went all the way through. Then in the hospital while
41:46
giving birth, I got a text prayed the baby is stuck and I
41:51
was I'm in my just in the room. I got on my face and I just
41:54
cried out. I prayed until I got the next
41:57
text saying it OK, that everything's OK.
42:00
But I remember crying out to the Lord saying God, please, please
42:03
don't let this don't let anything happen here.
42:05
Please bring this baby. Let let everything be be whole.
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Everything worked out right. I got my little chocolate drop
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my little I call her my little Angel baby.
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And I got that's that's a choice.
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I could choose to meditate on that God we I'm thankful for.
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That's this answer to prayer. And while we got these other
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things that are amiss and they're we're waiting on you to
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move. I got this thing over here I
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could be thankful for. I'm not going to be walking
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around bummed out. I'm not going to be walking
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around kicking hands. And if I didn't have a
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grandbaby, I have to praise God for something else.
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If, if, if, if there was nothing else physical to praise God
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about. I got saved in 1995 and I'm
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still thanking God for that because I didn't deserve it and
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I didn't earn it. And somehow in God's mercy, He
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sought me out. I wasn't even mindful to look
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for the Lord. I didn't grow up in church.
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I didn't know to look for God. And God sought me out and found
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me and saved me. And my life has never been the
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same. And if I have nothing else that
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I can be thankful for that in the deepest way every single day
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that I'm I'm in the Lord, I'm going to heaven.
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I know him and I'm known by him. Amen.
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And and if you're a believer, that is true for you as well.
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Here go to the last one, verse 9.
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The last thing that can rob you of your joy in the Lord is
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following wrong examples. Paul says in verse 9, the things
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which you learned and received and heard and saw in me.
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These do and the God of peace will be with you Paula say look,
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if you guys follow my example, I'm following the Lord and if
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you follow my example got to be with you.
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That's a that's a bold statement.
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Paula said I know that I'm following Christ.
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So tough. If you guys have followed the
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example I laid out for you guys and you'll be following the Lord
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God will be with you when the same way if I'm following
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someone that's following the Lord, I'm I'm going to enjoy the
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spiritual benefits of following the Lord.
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God's going to be with me got the the God of peace is going to
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be with me. What happens if I'm a believer,
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but I'm following people that don't know the Lord?
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What happens if I'm a believer, but I'm I got all these people
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that I'm listening to that that are not, they're not they're not
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operating on God's principles. They're not led by God's word.
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They're not filled with God's spirit, but I'm letting them
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leave my life. We have to be so careful
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Christians, because the world is talking.
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Everybody's counseling us all over the place.
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You got the television, you got radio, you got podcast.
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You got everybody in a Mama is a is a is a influencer today.
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You know, want to tell you how to do marriage and how to do
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this and how to do that. You need to be real careful that
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you don't listen to people that to me, if you don't know the
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Lord, you can't be my counselor. The Bible say blessed is a man
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who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly.
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And so if you ungodly, you don't know God, you can't give me
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godly counsel. I know you mean well, you might
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have a couple little Nuggets or whatever, but I need, I need to
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talk. I need to listen to somebody to
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know the Lord. And so be careful who you
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follow, who you let become leaders in your life, voices
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that that you take heed to. I'm I'm I've made a rule.
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I'm I'm listen, I'm listening to, I will not listen to people,
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but they won't listen to God and I will listen wholeheartedly to
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people that listen to God. So the men in my life that I go
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to for counsel, they, the counsel usually sounds like,
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Hey, let me show you this bro. Nick, we go to God's word.
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These are men that are listening to God that that's, that's why
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I'm listening to you. And, and I would encourage you
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guys that we would be following the Lord and we find leaders
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that are following the Lord and that you be a leader that's
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following the Lord because there'd be somebody looking up
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to you. Amen.
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And so as we wrap this up today in conclusion, in each of these
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areas we had that the each of the areas that could rob us of
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our joy in the Lord. First, it was personal conflict
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in verse two and three, I encourage you to work to have
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peace in your relationship as much as it depends on you bad
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attitudes in verse four and five, I encourage you to be
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joyful. It's a choice.
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You're in control of your attitude.
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So choose joy anxiety in verses 6 and seven.
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Don't worry, but pray. Don't worry about anything
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instead of pray about everything.
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Verse 8, meditating on the wrong things.
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You're in charge of what you meditate on.
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To be a good steward of your thought life and worship would
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be a good thing. If you want to find some worship
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music that really resonates with you, that'd be a good way to
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help take your mind and help help you to get your mind and
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your thoughts on things above and not on the things that are
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on the earth. Lastly, verse 9, following wrong
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examples, follow people that have the qualities that you need
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to follow that you need and follow their examples.
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People that are following the Lord as Paul was here and as we
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wrap this up, maybe today you need to make peace with God.
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Maybe the reason that you don't have the peace of God is because
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you're not at peace with God when we're when we're
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unforgiven, when we're separated from God by our sins.
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The Bible says I'm a lack, I'm not at peace with God.
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I need to make, I need to make peace.
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I need to be reconciled. And maybe God and his grace has
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brought you here today that you could listen and hear.
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And maybe for you today is the day of saying I need to be, I
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need to begin a relationship with the Lord today.
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I want to make peace with God. I want to ask him to forgive me
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in my sins. I want to maybe you need to
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return to the Lord. And either case, I want to pray
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that if that's what you need, that today would be the day that
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you receive what God has for you.
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So would you guys pray with me now?
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Father, we thank you for your word this morning.
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Thank you for the challenge and the encouragement from Paul to
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us. God, I pray that all believers
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here we take these things to heart.
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Pray would help us to have a more joyful life that we would
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enjoy what you provided for us, Lord, that our lives would be be
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a better reflection of of who you are in each of our lives.
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So God, thank you for speaking to us.
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God, I pray if there are any that are here today and for day
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to for them, today is a day of, of reconciliation.
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Today is a day for them to come to you to be forgiven by you,
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our Lord, to have have their sins washed away.
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They can make peace with you. God, I pray you would give them
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courage and boldness. I pray you would open blind eyes
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and soften hard hearts they got. No one will walk out of this
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building today outside of a right relationship with you.
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And I want to give just a moment, if you're here and the
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Lord is speaking to you, that you should come to the Lord
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today. You should return to the Lord.
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You should come for his forgiveness, that you should be
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reconciled to God today. I'm going to invite you to raise
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your hand. And in raising your hand, you're
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just saying, I want to say yes, Lord, I'm, I'm, I'm responding
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favorably. I'm saying yes, Lord, I want to
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receive everything you died on the cross and rose from the
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grave to make available and I want to I want to pray for you.
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God bless you. I see you in the front here.
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God bless you way in the back. Anybody else that God is
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speaking to you this morning that you should surrender your
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heart to the Lord. I want you to really think about
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it right. One day they'll come a day you
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guys, God bless you. I see your hand.
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They'll come a day when this is all that's going to matter is am
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I right with God. Do I know him and my known by
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him and if God is speaking to you today if you if you if
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you're convicted that you should surrender.
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I see you way back there. I would encourage you don't
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leave this building in the way you came.
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Receive him. God bless you over there.
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I see you wonderful all around. All those that are that are that
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are surrendering to the Lord. He loves you.
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He loves you so much. He sent his Son to die on the
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cross in your place. And the Bible teaches if you
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would believe in him, if you put your faith in him, his finished
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work on the cross, he died in your place and he rose from the
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grave, that he would forgive you and receive you, that he would
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put his Holy Spirit in you and begin a relationship with you.
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And so I want to lead you in a prayer.
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We're going to pray a prayer of confession, the Bible says in
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Romans 10/9 and 10. If you would confess with your
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mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has
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raised him from the dead, you would be saved.
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For with the heart 1 believes, and with the mouth confession is
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made under salvation. So we're going to pray this out
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loud to the Lord. You can pray this wherever you
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are Saints, we can pray this out loud with them.
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Say this to the Lord. Say God, thank you for loving
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me. Thank you for sending your Son
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Jesus to die on the cross for my sins.
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Thank you that he rose from the grave and conquered sin, death
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and Satan for me. Jesus, I confess you to be the
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Lord of my life. I ask that you would forgive me
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of my sins, that you would fill me with your Holy Spirit and
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give me strength to walk with you from this day on, in Jesus
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name, Amen. We pray that you've been
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encouraged by this Bible study delivered live from the
51:05
sanctuary of Calvary Church for prayer.
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Call us at 87730 grace that's 877-304-7223.
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51:20
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Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.