Latest / Citipointe Church Caboolture / Be in the World But not of It | Ps Ryan Brewer

Transcript

Be in the World But not of It | Ps Ryan Brewer · Citipointe Church Caboolture

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  Hey, welcome to the City Point Church podcast.
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  Thanks for joining us. Every day is an opportunity to
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  take hold of. So we hope this message inspires
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  you and build your faith that it helps you have more of a God
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  perspective for your day. Enjoy.
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  Let's pray. Thank you Heavenly Father, we
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  thank you for tonight. We thank you for the words that
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  have been spoken. Father, we pray that you take
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  them and grow them further into where you got them, Lord.
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  And we just pray for tonight, the word, the message that
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  people are able to receive it Lord, and receive what you are
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  speaking into their life in Jesus name, Amen.
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  Awesome. Well, I pray that we are
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  posturing ourselves in a place of receiving like we just prayed
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  and it doesn't matter if you have being in the words studying
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  or this is your very first time. What matters is our heart is
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  open to receive because at the end of the day, this is the word
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  of God word, the Bible, and God speaks through it for the ones
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  that are willing to receive it. So the title of message tonight
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  is called in the world, but not of it, man, I was just spending
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  time with God going what what are you wanting to speak here
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  tonight? And just this thing, just this
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  phrase popped up in the world, but not of it.
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  And, and to live this type of lifestyle is it's easier saying
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  it, but to step into and walking into it is a whole nother thing.
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  And the world doesn't really help with that as well because
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  they are often going in the other direction and it can be
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  tricky. And, but before we dive into
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  scripture, I just, I've got to get it off my chest.
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  I've struggled. I was struggling.
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  I'm not going to say anything ridiculous, but I, I struggled
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  with this simple phrase. And I've chatted with people
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  like, should I actually bring it up?
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  But I want to be vulnerable here tonight.
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  Are you guys OK with me being vulnerable here tonight?
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  So there's a phrase called. It is what it is.
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  Has anyone heard this? I generally my wife can.
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  I don't know what that word is attest to the word to my
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  frustration with that phrase. Every time I hear this, I
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  literally look at the fasno. Uh huh.
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  OK, cool, cool, cool. All right.
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  And I I want to be a good Christian and I love I love you
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  guys. If you have said it, I
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  absolutely love you. I have nothing against you at
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  all. It literally is the conviction
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  of myself. So I actually went to God.
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  I literally had to think about what's going on with you, Ryan,
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  like you got some issue going on.
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  Literally something brought up and draw.
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  I don't know. No, but what it was is there's
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  something in the word of God that I recognize.
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  When I hear this word, I hear a full stop.
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  I hear a full stop in the conversation that or whatever is
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  going on and what I know in the Word and what it says that there
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  is power in the tongue and what we declare that we speak life
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  and death out of the tongue. So when we speak these things,
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  when we say it is what it is, we put a full stop and we stop what
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  God can do in this moment. And I don't know about you, I
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  never want to be in a position when I'm holding back from what
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  God can do because I know what the Word says, that God can do
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  all things impossible made possible through Christ Jesus.
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  When we speak this stuff, when we put a full stop to this
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  situation, to this moment, we can literally withhold what God
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  can do and we stop it and we go, God, why can't you move?
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  Because you stopped it with the words you spoke.
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  So we got to be wary. And I I don't want to kind of go
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  that you guys like, hey, you know, just think I want you guys
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  to be thinking Pastor Andrew Staggs and Bible college says
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  for us to be thinkers, to be doing is to be thinking about
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  what we are saying, what we're speaking in our life now.
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  No, I'm not saying it is what it is, is a terrible thing because
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  you can say it is what it is, like whatever, like ward off a
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  duck's back, like things that actually don't matter.
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  You can go, it actually doesn't matter.
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  Things to worry about, you don't actually need to worry about.
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  You can say, but in reference to what you're talking about
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  matters. But when we speak these words,
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  we can speak life and death. And so I just wanted to let you
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  guys know that. So anyway, so I'm glad that you
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  guys received that, which is great.
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  So we're going to dive into the word, the Holy Bible.
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  So if you guys get your Bibles with yourselves, turn to the
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  Galatians 5 verse 16 to 17. We have our youth here tonight,
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  which is amazing. The huge sounds so good.
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  So Galatians 1617 and 2223. While you guys are getting that,
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  I'll give you a bit of back story to what's going on.
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  This is Paul, mighty Paul. He's awesome.
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  He's a mighty man of God, completely devoted for God and
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  he's having a conversation response back to Galatia.
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  Galatia. So the the we call it the book
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  is called Galatians. So similar to Kabulcha.
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  It's Kabulians. I don't know.
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  It's like those who are understanding what it means, why
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  they say Galatia. That's what it means.
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  It's the place. So they were turning away from
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  God and following the worldly influences at the time.
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  And as any great leader like Paul is, he's addressing the
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  issue, which is really good. So the Galatians, they actually
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  received the good news and witnessed the move of God in
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  their world, but they had become confused by worldly opinions and
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  they were trying to work out their salvation by suggesting
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  they should add rules and legalism of Jewish laws and to
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  the to add to the saving grace in which God offered through
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  Jesus death and resurrection. So Paul reasoned that if
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  believers were required to keep the law and order to be saved, a
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  savior wasn't necessary, which is no really no gospel at all.
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  So they were kind of actually missing the mark.
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  They're missing it. So they're being LED astray, and
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  they're being influenced by the world around them.
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  So now going into Galatians, Yeah, 516 Paul writes here.
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  So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives.
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  Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves.
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  The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is the opposite of
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  what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires
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  that are opposite for what the sinful nature desires.
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  These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you're
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  not free to carry out any of your good intentions.
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  There is a tension between the natural and the spirit.
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  They cannot coexist together. They actually cannot one without
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  the other. It's like you're going, which
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  are you feeding? Which area you're walking in?
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  And these are the things you got to be aware.
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  And this is what Paul's addressing to Galatians going,
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  guys, you are operating in the wrong direction.
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  This is what the fruit is. And then he goes to verse 22.
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  But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives.
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  Lovejoy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
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  faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
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  There is no law against these things.
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  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with
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  its passions and desires. They're not operating out of
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  what the sinful nature desire, but they're operating in the
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  Spirit because they've gone. I believe in Jesus.
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  That means they are going to be called to live in this, and I
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  love this. Since we live by the Spirit, let
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  us keep in step with the Spirit. When He says that keeping in
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  step, it means we're, we're walking, we stumble, but what do
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  you do? You get, you get back up and you
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  keep walking in step with the Holy Spirit.
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  We're not perfect, we are human, we make mistakes.
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  That's why we have Jesus because we're never going to make it on
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  our own strengths. And that's what they're trying
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  to do is they were trying to operate out of their own works,
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  their own strengths that are human, where God has given us
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  Jesus, a grace, a gift that is giving out a grace that we did
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  not deserve. And by grace we have been saved
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  and by faith we are able to receive Jesus.
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  And that's what as simple as it is.
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  But then they twisted and often we can twist things that are
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  actually quite simple. So it's interesting how the
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  influence is influences of the world is pretty much the
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  opposite of what the fruits of the Spirit are.
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  Often you find the things of this world are literally
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  countercultural to what they the spirit is.
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  And for instance, the world will say you need to place yourself
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  first above all things and you deserve this.
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  You deserve this. This is what she deserved.
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  Whereas the word says seek first the Kingdom of God and his
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  righteousness. See, it is better to give rather
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  than to be given to, to serve rather be served.
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  And to live this lifestyles is pretty difficult.
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  And I have a story that I'd love to share.
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  Do you like stories? I love sharing stories that you
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  used to have so much fun. It's anyway I have a story and
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  anyone that's in a trade type of workplace, they have stories
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  because it's interesting. My trade was painting and
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  renovating, painting, decorating, whichever and I had
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  a Co worker, let's name him Davo.
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  So Davo was this Co worker. He was a very quick witted,
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  fast-paced fella. He was very quick with his words
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  and how he communicated and we we worked together for six
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  years. Through those years, there was
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  continual jokes and try and make me snap or react or deny and
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  reject my faith. So I was very young.
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  I was about 15 when I started. And I was also very quiet.
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  My pastors know they've been on the journey with me.
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  And so it was not the most enjoyable time, I can tell you
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  that. But I'm so grateful for the word
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  of God. This is your foundation.
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  Live by it. Oh yeah, and he's stormed by the
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  word of God. Oh yeah.
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  All right. So But during these moments, I
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  would love to share a part because I am human.
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  And obviously there is these moments in your life where you
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  were close to breaking. And so I'll share this one
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  moment in this time, which is fun.
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  But this moment happened when I was over in Red Cliff doing a
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  house and it was smoker, which is what we call a break.
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  And what we go, no one smokes or anything, but we go on a break
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  with word anyway. So we go on this break, this 16
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  year old going on smoker and we go to the Cafe and I get this
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  coffee And I liked coffees during that time as well and got
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  some food. And this coffee was like $8,
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  like it was expensive. So I got, I'm going back and I
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  take a sip and I'm like, it's actually pretty good.
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  It's actually really good coffee.
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  And I was like, this is actually quite nice.
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  So I make it back and what I discovered is my toolbox opened
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  and all my tools, my, we call it keys and a couple of my stuff
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  were completely sprayed by a spray gun.
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  One of the guys decided to open my stuff and spray it all and I
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  was like what? I was like I literally was like
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  Oh my goodness. I was like who did this?
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  And they're like, I don't know. There's literally 2 of them
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  working there and one of them's already holding this.
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  I don't know. How do you respond?
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  So anger started to come in. And with that, you're getting
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  flustered and frustrated. And what happened was I knocked
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  my coffee over. And the worst part is I drank it
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  and it was amazing and it was expensive and I knocked it over
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  and I was like, I'm a very peaceful and calm person.
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  I love everyone knows I'm very patient, but there was a moment
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  when my hands were shaking and I felt my natural flesh taking
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  over and the Spirit was leaving the door and I started feeding
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  the natural by going. Come on man, do one more thing,
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  see what happens, See what happens.
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  I'm young, I'm a fastest kid. I've been holding it back.
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  So in all reality, I wouldn't have actually, I would have
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  snapped, but I would have just grabbed the pole and throw it on
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  the wall and call my boss and go, I'm going to have the day
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  off. But they didn't do anything and
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  then they just went away. I think they could tell by my
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  shaking hand, but but most people would have snapped in
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  that moment. But for some reason, during that
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  whole time, I could have snapped and I could have sorted it out
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  with anger or violence like how often people do.
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  But for some reason, I felt led to live a life where I'm showing
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  patience. I'm showing literally that I can
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  control my emotions, that I can control the way I live.
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  And, and through these conversations, through all these
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  jokes and all these literally like things thrown at whichever
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  ultimately end of all of it, for some reason, this guy Davo for
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  some reason decided to go to church and get his daughter
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  baptized. And I was like, and he told me
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  how they were making fun of it all about the past and
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  everything going on. But in the end, I believe
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  through all the stuff he spoke against me, something shifted,
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  something shifted within. And I, and I hope to believe
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  that was the lifestyle that I was living through just the
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  steadfast conversations and going, I literally have no idea
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  how to answer that. And all these moments, something
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  shifting went maybe he's onto something, or maybe they're just
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  maybe because he, he was baptized and his wife was
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  baptized. And he's like, because I asked
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  him one time, I was like, what if you're wrong?
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  Because what if you, you die and you're wrong?
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  That would be a bit awkward. And he's like, we chatted in the
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  area and he's saying all those things.
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  But for some reason he baptized his daughter.
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  And, and even though he didn't make a decision to believe in
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  God or that I'm aware about, this was a seed moment in his
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  life. And I believe he will remember
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  it and carry it and his daughter will remember the moment and the
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  being baptized as well. And you never know, church, you
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  never know how you're going to be a part of someone's life.
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  Maybe you're the first seed or maybe you're the 20th seed that
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  you've spoken as someone's life and maybe you get to see the
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  fruit of it. But the part of a journey of a
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  Christ well is that we obedient through what God has called us
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  to do in the lane. He's called us to walk as well,
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  that we go, God, you've called me here to just be steadfast and
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  just long-suffering the whole time.
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  But if this was a seed moment that someone down the track will
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  speak into his life and he goes, that's right.
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  This young man, he continued just constantly on fire, just
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  focused on God. And he did not waver.
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  He did not shift. Nothing could shake him or break
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  him. And I could not believe it.
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  And for some reason, that moment from that seed to that seed to
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  that seed, that man's life gets transformed and his family gets
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  transformed. And this is the journey that we
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  never know what these steps that we can make and how it can
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  impact someone else's life because it's not about us.
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  It's about what we are doing for Christ.
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  We are living for God, which is powerful.
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  And so you might think as well, you're too young, you don't know
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  it all and no one will listen or even follow you.
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  But it says here in the Bible that one Timothy 4 verse 12, let
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  no one despise you for your youth, but set the belief as an
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  example in speech, in behaviour, in love, in faith and impurity.
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  When you position yourself in a place, when you position a place
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  of leaning in leaning into the word, leaning to God because
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  being in the world and not all of it can be tricky, but you can
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  make a lot of difference when you go God, here I am.
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  What do you want me to do in this place?
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  I've got a handful of people that don't know who you are.
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  I don't even know how to communicate to them.
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  I struggle with my words. Doesn't matter.
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  Gods will use you. Use your life, use your words if
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  you just trust them and go, God, give me, give me a moment, give
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  me a question. Give me a door that can open up
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  into someone's life that I can speak into.
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  And this can be powerful in there.
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  And so there is this wrestle in our spirit and in our flesh.
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  And often we can think we are operating in our spirit, but we
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  can be misdirected by a decision in our past in a moment, which
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  happened later on. And so going back to Galatians,
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  there's a verse that I, I skipped over many years, but
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  God's highlighted this and I was like, oh wow.
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  I actually didn't really recognize it.
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  And I hope you get a revelation out of it like I have.
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  But we can be operating in our past and where it says here in
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  Galatians 5, verse 7, you were running a good race, who cut in
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  on you to keep you from obeying the truth?
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  And I remember I had, I literally was like, whoa, hello,
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  hello, verse. I didn't see you there.
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  And it kind of hit me and you were running a good race who cut
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  in on you from keep you from obeying the truth?
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  You were you were there, you were doing a great job.
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  Who cut in? Was it someone else?
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  Was it yourself? See, sometimes we can be running
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  our life on our past success, yet we can be further from Jesus
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  than we ever have been. This is a life where we can
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  sometimes be deceived what's happening around us, and we can
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  be operating in what we used to live our life by and what we
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  used to be. I'm a Christian, devoted for
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  God. I've been, people have been
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  saved, miracles has happened. I've been operating, God's been
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  flowing through me. But are you still in that
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  position? Are you still with God in the
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  same way you were, or something happening in your life where
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  your life got busy? Have you yourself got in the way
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  of you and allowing God and you've been pushing God out of
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  the wind, out of your life and you don't even realize it.
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  And that's deception. You don't realize it until
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  something or someone reveals it. And you're like, oh, this is not
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  good. And to help unpack it a bit
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  more, I've been, we call it inspired by our pastor, Pastor
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  Graham. And he's been doing push ups,
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  which has been amazing. I was inspired and to use this
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  as an example, we're not doing push ups.
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  That's all. I don't know, I will probably
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  lose, but to use an example I used to actually, and this is
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  true. I used to do 100 push ups in a
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  minute and my life group boys can testify that because they
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  were there. But this was when I was had my
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  life group boys, which was 10 years ago.
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  Sheesh. It's actually better go.
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  So I used to do it in the mail. I used to boast about and I used
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  to actually keep boasting about it.
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  But did it ever occur to me, could I still do it?
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  Until my pasta started doing pushups and I was like, Oh yeah,
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  I could do some pushups. I start to do pushups.
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  I only got to five. I was like, Oh no, my pasta.
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  I can do more push ups than me right now and I'm younger and
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  I'm like, this is not really good.
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  I can't boast about this anymore.
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  And here we go. Going back to that verse.
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  You were running a good race. Who cut in on you from keeping
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  you obeying the truth? And I in that moment I've
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  realized somewhere on that line I missed the moment.
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  And I used to be doing a lot of push ups.
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  I used to nail it, but some lot in my life I got busy or
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  something happened and I was still operating in that mindset,
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  but my body wasn't there and it was drifting further and weaker
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  and weaker away. Now let's look at in our
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  relationship with Christ. Now when we live our life with
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  God, we can be living a life that we are devoted to Christ.
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  We're operating in it and we've gone.
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  Look at what I used to do. Look at what I've achieved, the
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  fruit of my life. Yes, you were running a good
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  race, but what has happened? What has taken you out from
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  where you were? Because you could be feeding
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  your body, You could be feeding these things like you could be
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  going to the gym and you're like, look at my muscles.
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  I'm so strong, but you've forgotten to feed your spirit.
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  But you're like, I used to be good.
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  Well, cool, that's good. But it's now weak because where
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  are you right now? Where?
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  Where? Where is your spirit right now
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  with Christ? Because I've had to have these
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  revelational moments in my life multiple times.
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  I am human. I literally have gone, oh, I'm
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  doing all great, I'm great. But then there's these moments
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  in my life where I'm like, hold up.
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  Yes, I used to know all this stuff.
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  Yes, I have the knowledge here, but am I actioning it right now
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  in my life? Am I actually putting it to the
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  ground and I'm actually moving it and seeing fruit going out?
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  Or am I just got it all up here because there's no point having
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  all this knowledge yet. You're not using it and you're
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  not activating it in your life. We can read a book, a good book,
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  but if we do not action in our life like the word of God, we
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  can read it all we want, but if we do not apply it in our life,
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  we're not going to see fruit. We're not going to see the 100
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  push ups. We're not going to see that
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  stuff. So this is the what happens is
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  you've got to actually recognize where you're at.
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  So if we want to be in this world, we got to recognize where
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  we're at and we got to go, OK, I'm here right now.
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  I'm up to 1 scripture a day. Let's do it.
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  I'm up to one minute of just silence, just quietness.
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  One minute I can do this and it recognizing that man.
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  And what you do is you recognize and you start to retrain, you
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  start to grow and you start to develop your journey.
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  And before you know it, you start to build these muscles,
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  these spiritual muscles that you once had.
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  And believe it or not, it grows stronger and stronger because
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  now you are where where you are at, because what can happen is
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  we can lose sight of what's happening.
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  And and I love this verse in Matthew, this paragraph in
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  Matthew 26. It's a part where they talk
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  about Peter. He was one of Jesus 12
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  disciples. And Jesus told him that he would
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  actually Peter would deny him three times before the rooster
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  cries. And this is Peter.
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  And he said to him, he's like, I would go to prison.
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  I would even die for you. Jesus, I love you like you are.
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  I'm on fire for you. I'm completely devoted for you.
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  But when the moment came when Jesus was taken away away by the
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  Pharisees, Peter followed from a distance.
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  And this was one of the first moments.
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  See those steps in our life. And there could be good steps
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  and there can be bad steps. And when we take these steps,
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  these steps ultimately, even even if they can be a small
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  steps, each small steps lead to a big impact in the future.
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  And so we got to be wary where we're stepping.
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  And what happened was Peter followed from a distance and
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  distance from fellowship with the Lord is at heart of every 4
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  is that heart of where we fall there.
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  And Peter was still falling from a distance.
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  And even though some of the disciples, they weren't even
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  there, but he was still away. But when you fall at a distance,
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  you increase your vulnerability. Now think about it.
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  If the devil sees everyone moving together, if we are
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  together gone, God, we're all for you.
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  We're side arm by arm, our brothers and sisters in Christ
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  lifting each other. When we fall, whichever we're
• 24:55
  strong, we're held together. But when we separate ourselves
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  from a distance, it can be hard, it can be separating.
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  And what can happen is the things around you can get you.
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  And pity is the one who falls down and has no one to lift them
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  back up. And the next step he did is he
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  joined the enemy's fire, the these guys, he joined this fire
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  while I was having a little, little fire pit going on.
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  And what was happening, he was he in the wrong place at the
• 25:27
  wrong time? He said, Jesus, I'm with you,
• 25:29
  I'm with you. But now he's away.
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  He's hanging out with the wrong crowd of people.
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  And when you hang out with the wrong people in the wrong
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  places, it's just a matter of time before you do the wrong
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  thing. And that's what happened.
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  There was moment after moment someone's like, hey, you look
• 25:44
  like one of those. Sorry.
• 25:45
  It's like, bro, no, no, no, no, no, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not,
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  I'm not. I was like, hey, you got it was
• 25:49
  like, no, I'm not. And then the third time he said
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  no. And just as you're saying, the
• 25:53
  rooster crowed anyway, no, how did this happen?
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  Each one of our steps, each one of our choices that we have make
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  an impact in our life. And I look at Peter and go, bro,
• 26:07
  why'd you like literally why you're with Jesus?
• 26:10
  Like, why are you afraid? But fear can creep in and lead
• 26:13
  us away. When and I thought about it, I
• 26:16
  was like, there's these moments where I've lived my life where
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  I've had these opportunities and to speak into someone's life and
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  fear crept in where I've missed an opportunity.
• 26:27
  I'm like, God, no, how did I do this?
• 26:29
  And that's where it's going. God help to continue sowing into
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  me to give me boldness. Give me the spirit of boldness
• 26:38
  that I can trust you and trust you that you will speak through
• 26:42
  me and and the past can't be changed, but our response to it
• 26:49
  can be. See, God can take what we
• 26:54
  believe is our end and turn it into a new beginning.
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  He can turn all things into a newer beginning.
• 27:01
  What we, what Peter thought was the end, Jesus took it to a new
• 27:05
  beginning and revealed to him the fear that he had.
• 27:09
  Sometimes these things and challenges in our life can be
• 27:12
  just a stepping stone for us to revelation, for us to reveal to
• 27:17
  us an area that we've got to grow in.
• 27:19
  That can be fear. That can be doubts.
• 27:21
  That can be these areas and what it grew for me in the six years
• 27:25
  of trade was developing my foundation and confidence
• 27:29
  through Christ. And then with that as well going
• 27:31
  God, I just trust you. I'm not going to know the
• 27:34
  answers, but I'm going to continue pursuing you and God
• 27:38
  had that moment like why is this happening?
• 27:39
  Why do I have to go through this, but God was revealing the
• 27:42
  strength that he's growing and equipping me for my season ahead
• 27:46
  and the continual to the next and the next.
• 27:49
  See, we need to be spiritually aware of our walk with Jesus and
• 27:54
  Romans 12 verse 2 says do not be conformed to this world, but be
• 27:57
  transformed by the renewal of your mind that by the testing
• 28:01
  you may discern what the will, what is the will of God, what is
• 28:05
  good and acceptable and perfect. Our church vision is to
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  unmistakably influence our world for good and for God.
• 28:15
  This happens by living our life, which is countercultural from
• 28:19
  the world. But to be in the world around
• 28:22
  people who are yet to know Jesus, yet to be free from the
• 28:26
  things that only through Jesus they could be set free.
• 28:30
  We get to be a part of this mission.
• 28:32
  We get to be in the world, but not of it.
• 28:35
  But we get to be a part of the mission of God, to see people
• 28:38
  come to Jesus, to be a witness and to go, God, use me right
• 28:43
  now, partner with me. I want to partner with you, God,
• 28:46
  to see people's lives be transformed, to just direct them
• 28:49
  to Jesus and keep going. Where do you call me right now?
• 28:53
  Because we're a part of this mission altogether in all
• 28:55
  different areas. We're called in all different
• 28:58
  areas, and we're all gifted in different ways to speak
• 29:01
  directly. And so God, what have you called
• 29:03
  me into? What have you called me to do?
• 29:05
  How do you want me to speak into this person?
• 29:07
  Is it the first seed? Is it the last seed?
• 29:09
  What are you wanting to do? And by living that life, God
• 29:12
  will move through those. And, and because the world can
• 29:16
  easily be LED away from the truth and often people are left
• 29:20
  being confused and not confident in what the truth is anymore.
• 29:24
  So if you're here tonight and you're seeking what the truth
• 29:28
  is, I want to let you know. In John 1416, Jesus told him, I
• 29:34
  am the way, I am the truth. I am the life.
• 29:40
  No one can come to the Father except through me.
• 29:43
  That's the truth. It's as simple as that.
• 29:47
  It is as simple as that. That is the answer that we are
• 29:50
  looking. That is the answer that we can
• 29:52
  give, that we can direct them to Jesus, not through, not to us by
• 29:57
  God. Help them help use me as a
• 30:00
  vessel for them to receive Jesus, not receive me in my
• 30:04
  words and how great I, but how great you are God.
• 30:07
  And when we make that decision to follow Jesus and we give our
• 30:11
  heart to God, we have already separated ourselves from the
• 30:14
  world and now we get to be in a relationship with our heavenly
• 30:17
  Father. And I just pray.