Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20240807 - Just Passing Through - 1 Peter 2:11

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#20240807 - Just Passing Through - 1 Peter 2:11 · 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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Thank you, Pastor Ed. So tonight I'm so honored to be
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here. It's so nice to be home.
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It's nice to be here to to kind of just share a little bit about
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what I've been doing with my family for really the last eight
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years. Plus the last time I was in this
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building with my son, I think is when we were sent out because
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it's either him and his family have been here or we, my wife
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and I, So we've been kind of, you know, because someone had to
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watch the dog. We still had a dog in Africa.
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So the grand puppy. And so pastor had asked me if I
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had something on my heart that I could share.
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And it's, it was a quick yes, because hey, when we're in the
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Lord, man, he's always doing something, He's always saying
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something, he's always changing something in US.
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And so I'm, I'm just so happy to be here to share that.
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And so the title of the message tonight is just passing through.
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And if you have your Bibles, you can turn to one Peter.
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That's how we say it in the South Africa one Peter 211.
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But before we get into that, I want to, I want to just say that
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even since we've been here, we we were here in June, that we've
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been to Florida, we've been to Missouri and now back here.
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And then we head back for Africa on the 12th.
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In every message that I'm hearing in my daily Bible
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reading, the Lord is just presenting something really cool
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as a theme in my heart and getting me excited about the
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idea of coming back here someday.
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Because the truth is, and I've lived this, experienced this,
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that no matter where you are, there's something the Lord would
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have you to do. So yeah, it's kind of cool that
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we can be missionaries in South Africa.
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A long way off. But you know what, right in your
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own family, right in your own backyard, in your neighborhood,
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your community, there's something the Lord wants to use
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you for and it's always going to be for his glory.
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Amen. And so it, my experience was
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really good Bible teaching churches, especially like this
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one. I don't last very long because
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I'm, I'm taking notes and the Lord speaks to my heart and I'm,
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I've had times where I'm looking behind me.
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Are you guys getting this? Are you hearing this?
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And I realized, no, the Lord is speaking to me.
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And so I don't last long in those churches because I'm, I'm
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generally sent out. And so, you know, when disciples
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send, so this church specifically didn't win me to
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the Lord. This church didn't specifically
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at the beginning of my walk with the Lord disciple me, but this
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church sent me out and this church, you, this, this body of
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the Lord, this bride of Christ right here that I'm looking at,
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you've been a part of that, whether you know that or not.
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And so where we live in South Africa, it's a small surfing
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village, the geography is beautiful.
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God's creation is a mountains to the sea.
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And you know, it's a lovely place to live, but you know,
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it's the people. And that's really true.
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Wherever you go, it's going to be people.
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The Lord is wanting us to connect with people, to listen
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to people, to even maybe have a broken heart for people as they
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tell their story of what's happening in their life, to pray
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with people and hopefully to be connected with people to the
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point where they enter into the Kingdom of heaven that lasts
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forever and ever because the King that we serve is sovereign
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and Provident and eternal, right?
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And so, so the title is just passing through, but I want to
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connect some dots with what the Lord's been telling me just
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since I've been here so recently.
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Pastor Ed, I think it was last Wednesday night, you know, the
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song of Moses, and he mentioned the radio in Southern
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California. K Wave.
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Well, for me, I'm in a church in Las Vegas of all places.
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It was a denomination and I was just seeking the Lord.
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I couldn't get enough of the word.
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And I turn on the radio and there's Christian radio.
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I didn't even know Las Vegas had that.
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In Las Vegas, it was called Calvary Satellite Network.
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And I turn it on and here's this guy teaching and I just, I hear
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grace and it's just a simple gospel message.
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And this guy is actually teaching through a whole book of
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the Bible, verse by verse. I never heard of that before.
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His name's Chuck Smith and so that's how I even heard of Chuck
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Smith. I didn't know about Calvary
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Chapel. This was in the 90s in Las
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Vegas. I didn't know that there were
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five really good Calvary chapels in Las Vegas.
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So we were going to a Church of that's a denomination and that's
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that's how I heard about an experience.
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Wow. It's the whole council of God,
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just like Pastor Ed teaches about often Genesis to
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Revelation. It's all the word of God and in
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there is absolute truth. So I wanted to connect that dot
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for me personally and what I've been hearing as as far as the
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full counsel of God. I've already mentioned a little
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bit, but I had a friend in air traffic control in the control
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tower in Las Vegas, Mccarran International, He was Mormon.
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He invited my family to Thanksgiving and we get there
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and it's very family values and they even hold hands and pray
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before the meal. But the mom, my friend told me,
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I just want to tell you my mom, it is about her faith in our
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religion and and she'll be glad to answer any questions.
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So people came in from all over the, the country actually for
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Thanksgiving in this large family, just one husband and one
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wife, by the way. And they come in, they say, man,
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I need a Coke, you know. And so I'm scratching my head.
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I thought that you guys couldn't drink that.
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I asked the question and they said, oh, yeah, we're allowed to
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now. So I found out this was a
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religion that is ever changing as opposed to me growing up in
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church. And I, I was actually saved at
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age 5 in Germany at a retreat. My dad was military stationed
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there, and when I was five years old, I heard a preacher speak of
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heaven and hell and sin and that we're all born in sin and we're
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automatically on our way to hell if we don't get right with the
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Lord. You need to believe in in the
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finished work of the cross. So at five years old, I'm in
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tears, my mom saying, Kirk, what's going on?
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I couldn't verbalize what was happening, but the truth came
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in. So Fast forward to the 90s and I
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was doing my own thing like the prodigal son and I knew from
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this experience with my friend and Thanksgiving and and their
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faith I needed to find my Bible. And so I get back to our home.
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We still haven't unpacked everything from our move from
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Saint Louis to Las Vegas and in the garage boxes from floor to
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ceiling. And I knew my Bibles when one of
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those boxes but none of them were marked.
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So I said, OK, Lord, here we go. I'm going to find my try to find
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my Bible. So I get the ladder out.
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I, I grabbed the box in one row on the very top and I pull it
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down and not only was my Bible in that box, but it was on the
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very top. And I grabbed my Bible and I
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started reading it and I promise you, I haven't stopped.
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There's words of life in here. This, this is the foundation,
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This is the word of God. It's the authority that we need.
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It's the absolute truth. It's not just, oh, Kirk, I'm so
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glad you found the truth that works for you because I heard
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that often. No, this is the only truth.
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And that truth is Jesus. Amen.
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And so, you know, and in the word of God, the whole council
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of God can be milk. Peter talks about let pure milk,
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like when you're a babe in Christ, you need that to grow,
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but it can also be like solid food.
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We we see that in one Corinthians.
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You know, Paul speaking to the Corinthians, he wanted to give
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them solid food. I call it a steak dinner.
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But so, but whatever you need, you get into the word.
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And like Pastor Ed said last week, we're not going to
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understand everything, but read until you do.
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There's going to be things that will jump out of the page and it
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will be just for you. It's going to be that nugget
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that you need to move on and to grow in who Christ is.
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Also recently Pastor Ed talked about Paul on the beach at my
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elitist and he's speaking to the Ephesian elders and he gives a
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warning, a stern warning that when I leave there's going to be
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an attack from within and without.
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And I've experienced that in our ministry in Las Vegas.
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It started as an outreach to the homeless and the street people,
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the people that a lot of them were addicted and it kept
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growing and growing. So the Lord decided to make it a
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church. We were Calvary Chapel downtown
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Las Vegas. But through my life and
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ministry, especially as a pastor, there's, there's almost
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this continual attacks and it's a spiritual battle.
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Remember, it's not people it it's the dominion that's dark.
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But you know what the light of Christ supersedes any darkness.
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So you might feel like your light is just a little bitty,
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but I promise you from experience, if you're
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surrendered to the Lord and you're, you're just seeking his
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face like you hear a lot from this church as you're walking
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about, that little bitty light will supersede any darkness,
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even the scariest thing, because why?
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Perfect love that's from Christ will, will supersede and and
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override any darkness. Amen.
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And so, so these are all things that I related to.
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And then specifically in Las Vegas, the reason I became a
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pastor, a senior pastor for the first time at age 49.
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I retired from air traffic control after 30 years.
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And, and for years before this, my pastor there of, of the
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Calvary outreach called me his assistant.
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And I thought, man, don't put a label on me.
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Don't put a trip on me, but when he was gone, I would teach.
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So I've always loved teaching. As soon as I started reading the
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Bible, the Lord started opening opportunity for me to teach the
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Word. And I love that.
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I love to study. I love to just dig in.
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And I have found after all these years, now you can't get to the
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end of this Word of God. It's too big, it's too strong,
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it's too deep and wide. It's so powerful.
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And so it's a journey and I love that, you know, I think one day
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when we're face to face with the Lord in our new bodies, which I
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can't wait for, I'm interested to see if I'm going to have hair
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again, at least on top of my head.
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I think we're going to have perfect understanding.
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So there's many things I still don't understand, but I can tell
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you, I've walked so many different paths that this is
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where I find where I can walk and I can grow in grace and
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knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
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And so in our little church in South Africa, one of the main
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things themes the Lord's put on my heart is Jesus, I trust you.
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And I'm very honest with our congregation.
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I can be honest to say, just like King David, sometimes I'm
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just muttering that Jesus, I trust you, you know, and really,
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maybe my heart's not quite there, but just like King David
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said, bless the Lord, O my soul. I kind of sense that he's
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talking to himself. He's talking, you know, bless
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the Lord. Meanwhile, he's sometimes hiding
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in a cave, he's dodging Spears, all the stuff that, you know,
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you couldn't live through without the Lord.
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But but we can, we can talk to ourselves, Lord, I trust you.
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And sometimes our faith will even be lacking.
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But as we keep surrender to the Lord and we're walking in faith,
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OK, Jesus, I trust you. He's going to honor that, He's
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going to bless that. And he's he's going to let that
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grow because you know, he's the God who does that.
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He's the one that reaches down and he lifts up.
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And so as soon as our pastor died in in Las Vegas, well,
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actually this is before he died, but he was very sick with
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cancer. A guy shows up with a guitar
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from Florida and he, he said that he was a worship leader at
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a Calvary Chapel that was very large.
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And if I gave you the name of the pastor, you would know who
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that is. And so our pastor was not only
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the pastor, but he was the worship leader.
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And so he couldn't do that anymore.
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He had terrible cancer throughout his whole body.
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And so we had this guy from Florida come to my pastor's
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living room and almost like an interview we've been praying
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about, you know, and we all had kind of a thumbs up.
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Well, it turns out that this guy was a wolf.
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And so that was an experience that, you know, helped me grow
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as a soon to be senior pastor. And then also in that same
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church in Las Vegas, the went from an outreach to a church.
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There was a guy, I won't give his name, but, but he, he was on
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a roller coaster ride with his faith.
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If he would have mountaintops and he would have Lolo valleys
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and he was one of the street people who got saved.
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He, he did so well that we sent him to Bible college there in
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Marietta. And, and then he, all of a
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sudden he's missing in action. And so one Sunday I'm teaching
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one Corinthians and I'm thinking about this guy.
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I, I would always just sit in the car and pray and, and just
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be prepared. And I asked the Lord, Lord,
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would you just show me a glimpse of how much you love this guy?
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I won't say his name. And I all of a sudden I had this
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very weighty, like heavy sense of how much the Lord loved him
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that I almost felt like I was going to die.
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I can hardly breathe. Just like I am now at high
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altitude, I was weeping and the Lord showed me just a glimpse of
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how much he loved him. I'm saying all of this to
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connect with where we're going to go in Scripture.
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But I can tell you right now that the Lord loves you and he
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loves that person in your life that you maybe can't stand.
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He loves the person in your life that maybe knew him and has
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tried to run from him. See, that was me at one point
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and and we can pray, you know, Lord, show me how much you love
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that person. Be specific and keep that person
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in prayer. Pray for, OK, if it's not going
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to be you that turns that person around, put someone in their
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path that will do that. Let's get to the Word.
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By the way, Jesus is good and He's the center of everything.
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That's important. And so that's the whole premise
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and foundation of my life right now.
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Let me read one Peter chapter 2, verses 11 and 12.
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The Bible says, Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims,
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abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having
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your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak
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against you as evil doers, they may by your good works which
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they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.
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Lord, I lift up your word and I thank you that you promised it
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will not return to you void, but it will accomplish perfectly
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exactly what you sent it out to do.
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I pray for maybe someone listening either in this
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building or on the radio or or however they hear that person
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who's running from you or maybe that person who doesn't really
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know you yet. Lord, I pray by your spirit and
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by your word, you would break into their life, into their
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heart, into their mind, Lord, that they would have an about
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face that they would leave their path and join the path that
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you've made for them and eternity past.
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Lord, so we give this time to you.
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We thank you for your word that's perfect in Jesus name,
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Amen. So let's break this down a
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little bit. First of all, notice the first
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word beloved in King James is dearly beloved in other
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translations, maybe maybe good friends.
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But my first point so far is that beloved connects with our
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identity in Christ. We need to know that he loves
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his church just like Pastor Ed. It was explained the other day.
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He looks at his bride with affection, with a love that we
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can't even be define. It's a special love.
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And so we need to know as we're walking about following the Lord
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or released, desiring to, that we have an identity now in
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Christ. Remember, we've had a past, you
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know, we were away from the Lord and then the Holy Spirit now
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opens our eyes and spiritually our eyes are open and all of a
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sudden we are brand new and one of the titles we have now from
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the Lord is beloved. I'm saying that in the old
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fashioned way, like dearly beloved, like a wedding, but
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your beloved. And that is so important.
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So many Christians in my life through the years, we lose sight
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of who we are in the Lord. We need to know our identity in
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the Lord because see, in the Lord, worldly definitions go
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away and there's new definitions.
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For example, a man of God is going to be a man that's humble
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and yet bold. See, we're going to be a bold
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witness for the glory of Christ and for who He is, and we're
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going to do that with boldness, but yet with humility.
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See, now the new strong man in the Lord is one who is humble.
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See, that way He as the Potter can work in our hearts.
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He's always wanting to mold and shape us even into His image.
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And so when we become brand new in the Lord, we are identified
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in the Lord. Many, many ways to look that up
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in Scripture, let me give you a couple in Ephesians 210, Paul
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says, for we are his workmanship.
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That word is Poema, the same title of ministry that Bob Clay
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Camp is in, where his like poem were like his fabric.
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I'll talk about that in a second.
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We're created in Christ Jesus for good works which God
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prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
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And so we're a new creation. This workmanship can be like
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this fabric that the Lord is weaving together, and I think
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it's cross stitch. I don't know because I don't do
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that. But on one side you see this
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beautiful work of art, but on that, on the other side, it's a
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mess. So sometimes I look in the
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mirror, I know who I really AM, and it's a mess.
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But the Lord, as I'm surrendered to him, he's doing this work.
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And so, so he's turning ashes into beauty, you see.
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So my first point is we need to know who we are in Christ.
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He's our identity. For your notes, for your
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homework, look at Ephesians and Colossians.
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You're going to see phrases like in him, in Christ, with him.
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All these things connect with who we are in Christ.
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Ephesians and Colossians will give you a great head start in
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that homework. So we're identified in Christ
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where his beloved. Also Psalm 13913 and 14 in
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Colossians 127. The Bible is full of how we can
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be identified in Christ. Notice also in verse 11, I beg
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you as sojourners and pilgrims, I want to, I want to point out
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something here. When you think about your new
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life in Christ and we're identified in Christ, we now
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have a past and a present and a future.
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I think of Abram who became Abraham.
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Remember he was called to leave his country or of the Chaldeans.
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The Lord said, I'm going, I'm going to bring you to a place.
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He didn't say where. And so Abram packed up with his
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wife and some family members and he started moving.
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So then he had a past. He had a a past homeland.
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And so we see that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and many people in
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the Bible, they had a past place that they lived, but they become
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sojourners. So the word sojourner can be
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translated as stranger, but in some ways that means where
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you're from. So when we're new in Christ,
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this world is no longer our home.
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That's kind of the main point of the message I'm just passing
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through. But now we become pilgrims and
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we see that connected with Abraham and others in the Bible.
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You know, like John Wayne would say Pilgrim.
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He had that part, right? I don't know about his life in
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Christ or anything like that, but we have a past.
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We're sojourners, and now we're pilgrims.
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That's our present and our future.
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And I want to point out some verses that would help us along
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in that. We're on a mission and we're in
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a foreign country. In Matthew 2535, Jesus says, for
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I was hungry and you gave me food.
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I was thirsty and you gave me drink.
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I was a stranger and you took me in that word.
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Stranger can be translated Sojourner and then Ephesians
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219. Now, therefore, you are no
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longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the
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Saints and members of the household of God.
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So, so not to be confusing, but we have a past now Christ comes
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in, we are identified by him, and now we're moving on a new
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path. Originally it's a narrow gate
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and the Bible says Jesus says that it's a difficult path, but
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that's the path that he has for us.
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And it's so worthwhile to walk this path to trust Jesus on this
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new journey. And I can tell you from
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experience, most of my life now is this question mark, and I
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call it the blessed question mark.
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When I moved to South Africa, I knew that the Lord would find
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something for me to do for His glory, but I didn't know what
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that was. When I moved to South Africa was
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really under the calling an umbrella of my son.
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What a blessing that is to say, you know, and, and I give all
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glory to the Lord because see, there were things that I did,
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choices I made in my son's life in the past that that for him to
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be who he is in Christ. It's not because of me.
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It's it in some ways in spite of me, but that's true for all of
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us. It's Jesus.
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It's the Holy Spirit who does the work.
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But, but, but we're on this beautiful path.
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We're on a mission and and so we're in a foreign country.
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I have more to say about that in a minute.
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Back to our verse though as abstain from fleshly lusts which
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war against the soul. I call them distractions as a
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Christ follower. The enemy is always attacking
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and he wants us to be distracted.
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He wants us to to be sideways is how we set it on the streets of
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Vegas. You know we want to be vertical.
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See when I get sideways now my focus is down below the eyes of
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the Lord. I am now distracted and and so
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I'm going to make choices in my flesh, but when I'm reporting
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for duty or if I'm looking up, I'm going to find grace in the
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eyes of the Lord, just like Noah.
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Did you read that in Genesis? And and so we need to watch out
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for for distractions and traps and and weights and snares and
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two Timothy 226. The Bible says in that we may
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come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having
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been taken captive by him to do his will.
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See, when we're distracted, then, then the the enemy's going
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to, you know, come in and and do his work.
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Hebrews 12/1 and two. Therefore we also, since we are
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surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside
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every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us and let us
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run with endurance. The race that is set before us
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in verse two is I mean, it's one of those wow verses, looking
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unto Jesus, the author and finisher, the starter and the
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finisher, that the beginning and the end of our faith, who for
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the joy that was set before him endure the cross, despising the
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shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
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Wow. And then we need to see also in
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that verse that there is a war raging for your soul.
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In Luke 22 verse 31, remember Jesus is speaking to Peter and
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he says, Simon, Simon, indeed, Satan has asked for you that he
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may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you that
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your faith should not fail. And when you have returned to
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me, strengthen your brethren. We need to know and I, I know
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you hear that from Pastor Ed and other teachers here often
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there's a war raging, but it's a spiritual battle.
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It's it's not a human, it's not a face.
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It's going to be, it's going to be bigger and deeper than that.
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But you know what, in Christ, we don't walk in fear.
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We, we are walking very boldly by the strength of the Lord.
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It's all him. So if it were just in the flesh,
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we don't have a chance. But if it's the Lord working in
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US and through us, if his Spirit is upon us to overflowing, then
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look out. And, and so just so we know,
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just as a reminder, you know, I come back after lots of years
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and I'm intentionally not involved in, you know, I don't,
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I'm not aware of politics, except for South Africans, my
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friends, they love America and they love to catch me up on all
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the stuff. And sometimes if we're not
27:09
careful, we do get sideways and, and all of a sudden those, the
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thing that's going on, those distractions that kind of weighs
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us down. But see, we can be assured, we
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can rest assured that the Lord is in control and that he is the
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beginning and end for us and that this world is no longer our
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home. We're just passing through.
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And so we know the end of the story.
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We know that our Lord and Savior Jesus, the King of kings and
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Lord of Lords, he, he, he's going to reign forever and ever,
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and and so all other kings and kingdoms will fall away.
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So we don't have to live in fear.
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We don't have to be angry. We don't have to be bitter.
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Those are just distractions. Let's keep our eyes on the Lord
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and, and what's important. And he wants to use us, among
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many other things, to be a light and a dark place and
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specifically for people. See, whether you know it or not,
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or whether you want to or not, you're all missionaries right
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here. I was a missionary in inner city
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Las Vegas. I was a missionary in Denver for
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five years. I am a missionary now in South
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Africa. That's just our life among many
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other things, but it's all Jesus.
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OK, let's move on. Verse 12, having your conduct
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honorable among the Gentiles. This idea that our contact, our
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conduct, especially when it's honorable, it speaks of our
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character. We might even say our integrity.
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We might even connect with Scripture and say, you know,
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Jesus taught let your yes be yes and your no be no.
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That might even break out revival if we just all started
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doing that. If it's like we're in the word,
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we're being led by him and I'm going to do what I say because
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it's the Lord telling me he's giving direction by his word and
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I'm going to let my yes be yes. And so honorable contact conduct
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speaks of our character moving on, it says among the Gentiles.
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Now, in context, Peter's writing to Jewish believers, remember
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there was this scattering of Jewish people from Jerusalem to
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the whole world. And he's writing to them and
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he's trying to encourage them and to to build them up.
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And so in this case, the Gentiles would be unbelievers.
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So here we are. We're not of this world any
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longer. We're passing through, but the
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Lord is going to put unbelievers in our life.
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So with our honorable conduct, our integrity, we can actually
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be a vessel of God that would draw people into the Kingdom of
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God, where Jesus is king. Let's keep moving.
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So it says that when they speak against you as evil, do doers
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notice the word? When it's going to happen,
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people will be people unbelievers, they don't know any
30:12
better. We there's no room for us to be
30:15
mad at unbelievers when we're sharing the gospel.
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The Bible is very clear in one Corinthians that they're not
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they can't even discern spiritual things.
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We need to be born again to understand those things.
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So our our orders from the Lord is just be obedient to the
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faith, walk and trust. But as they speak evil against
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us, they may by your good works which they observe, glorify God
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on the day of visitation. So let's connect some dots here.
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So we're we're walking among those without faith. 2
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Corinthians 215 and 16 says, For we are to God the fragrance of
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Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are
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perishing. So we are the fragrance of God
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regardless of who they are. Verse 16 to the one we are the
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aroma of death leading to death. In other words, many times when
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we're encountering unbelievers and we're reaching out and you
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know, like sharing about Christ, we're kind of stinky to them
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until they get saved. And to the other, the aroma of
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life leading to life. Who is sufficient for these
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things? Question mark none of us are.
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It's all from the Lord. And so just want to finish up
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real quickly. We're running out of time.
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But this day of visitation, we see in Scripture that the Lord
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has visited this earth and he's done that in many ways and he's
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done that in in special, beautiful ways, including in
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Luke chapter one, verse 68. This is the account of the
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father of John the Baptist. He says blessed is the Lord God
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of Israel for he has visited and redeemed his people later in
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that chapter and verse 78 through the tender mercy of our
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God, which with which the dayspring from on high has
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visited us. I'm just showing some verses
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where the Lord has visited his people.
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Jesus says in Luke chapter 19 verse 43 and 44 for days will
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come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around
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you. Speaking of Jerusalem, surround
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you and close you in on every side and level you and your
32:29
children within you to the ground and they will not leave
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you will they will not leave in you one stone upon another
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because you did not know the time of your visitation.
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There's this idea that the Lord has visited specifically you
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visited Israel and the Jews. Remember Jesus was a Jew and in
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some ways they said no thank you.
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But there's going to be a final visitation.
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In fact, it's in two parts. He's going to visit us in the
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clouds for his church, and we're going to be snatched up with him
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as his body, as his bride, and then he's going to return with
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us. He's going to lead us on white
33:09
horses. And we see that in Revelation
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Chapter 9. If you're taking notes, verses
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11 through 16. So.
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So what's the point of all this? I wanted to connect the dots
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real quick. We're almost out of time.
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But what? Especially when I've moved to
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South Africa, there was lots of changes.
33:28
First of all, you're you're sitting on the other side of the
33:30
car when you're driving. You're driving on the other side
33:33
of the road. Their English, which there's
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eleven official languages, they all speak English.
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They speak that better than I do.
33:42
But it's the UK form of English, so it's different and there's
33:46
accents. Everything is new.
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When you're driving down the road, you have to consider that
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there's going to be pedestrians on your left side, there's going
33:57
to be bicycles, there's going to be small motorcycles delivering
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food in between lanes because that's legal.
34:05
It's two way traffic where we live, very small town, but it's
34:08
busy. So all these changes help me to
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see that. Wait a minute, I already knew
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that this world's not my home. But when you're in a foreign
34:18
country and there's so many different changes going on in
34:21
your life, that helps me to consider, oh, wait a minute,
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since I'm just visiting and I'm actually an ambassador for
34:29
Christ, for his glory, I'm representing the king, the only
34:33
king. I don't have any right to change
34:36
policy. I'm just representing the king
34:38
in his policy. It's it's so now gas is called
34:43
petrol and it's not gallons, it's liters and it's centimeters
34:49
and not inches. All these changes is like, OK,
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now I get it, Lord, what it means to be I'm just passing
34:57
through this world's not my own. So, so as a foreigner in a
35:03
foreign country, I really, I don't have many rights.
35:07
In fact, I signed away some rights, you know, I will not
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earn wages and which I'm glad not to.
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The Lord's blessed me with a retirement and so I wanted to
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connect out for you in application here.
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We are in Denver, Co, so living in South Africa for eight years.
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When I come back here, it's like a whole different foreign
35:27
country again. And so even at my older age,
35:31
it's easy for me to change sides in the car and drive on the
35:34
other side of the road. That's easy.
35:36
That's like second nature. If you can drive, you can.
35:38
Everyone in this room can do what I'm talking about but.
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But this idea now is really ingrained in my heart that, for
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example, our church here loaned my wife and I had the church van
35:52
for a couple days. And so today we took our
35:54
grandkids for miniature golf and we did some bowling.
35:58
But we're out and about in the van and stuff happens when
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you're driving. Amen.
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And I'm thinking, OK, not only is this idea of a foreign
36:07
country, but now I'm in a church van, I better be very careful
36:11
what I'm doing, how I'm driving. I better obey the rules.
36:15
When someone honks at me, I just wave at them and say, sorry,
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It's a whole different. It's that's just the way of to
36:22
think now. And I think it's a spiritual
36:25
thing. I think it's a scriptural way to
36:27
go, a way of life that now I'm just passing through.
36:31
And now my prayers, Lord. OK, I'm excited.
36:34
You know, at my age, I do an inventory.
36:36
Can I get out of bed or not? And I, you know, I'm doing like,
36:39
oh, yeah, that works. OK, I can move about.
36:41
OK, Lord, what do you have for me today?
36:44
Give me something fresh from you.
36:46
Put someone in my path today that I can just reflect your
36:50
love and let me do it in a way that doesn't disrespect you,
36:55
Lord. So it's way bigger than driving
36:59
a church van. It's way bigger than living in a
37:01
foreign country. It's now I'm representing my
37:05
King of kings, the one who loves me, who I'm identified with that
37:09
now I'm a sojourner. I have a past, and now I'm a
37:13
Pilgrim moving forward. And in this idea that our God is
37:18
a God of now, he's always doing something right now.
37:21
He's not trapped in our calendars and schedules.
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Amen. And so, so my prayer would be
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that that you got a nugget from this and that maybe maybe you're
37:33
being distracted, maybe, you know, the enemy's kind of
37:36
messing with you, maybe just life in general.
37:39
I mean, Denver is way bigger and busier than when I moved away.
37:44
And a lot going on worldwide. I've been to Jacksonville.
37:47
That's a busy city. Saint Louis is a mess.
37:50
Always love the Cardinals. Go Cardinals anyway, there's
38:02
grace in there. But my heart would say trust
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Jesus. If you've heard nothing else,
38:14
start this, this motto. Jesus, I trust you.
38:18
If I would get a tattoo and I'm too chicken too, and I whatever
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I would, I would probably put on there, Jesus, I trust you.
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I don't know where I would put it, but but, but it's so
38:27
important. We need to trust Jesus.
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He, he has proved himself worthy of our trust.
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Amen. So let's pray.
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Lord, I thank you for your word. I thank you that you speak to
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us. I thank you that you're our
38:42
identity. I thank you, Lord, that you've
38:45
given us precious promises. Peter would say, and I thank
38:49
you, Lord, that you promised that one day you'll return for
38:52
your church. And so Lord, I, I pray that you
38:54
would help us to be ready. And if there's someone listening
38:57
that they don't know you yet, Lord, I pray your spirit would
39:00
breakthrough right now that they would have this experience in
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their heart and their lives, Lord, that that they would find
39:08
you as the answer to everything that you are the way, the truth
39:12
and the life. And no one can go to the Father
39:14
except by you, Lord. And so we just thank you that we
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can trust you and we love you in Jesus name, Amen.
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We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study
39:25
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39:28
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39:33
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39:40
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39:43
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39:49
Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.