Latest / Wave Point Jbay / Alignment — “How Long Will You Waver?” | 1 Kings 18 Ps Natalie Jansen

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Alignment — “How Long Will You Waver?” | 1 Kings 18 Ps Natalie Jansen · Wave Point Jbay

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Hey podcast fam, CJ Janssen, the pastor of WavePoint
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Church. Thank you so much for joining us today.
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We love you and we pray that this message will
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build your faith and empower you to share the
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message of Jesus to the world. Enjoy. So this
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morning we are starting our series on aligning
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our hearts and minds. And I'm telling you, church,
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you want to be challenged, then preach about
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something. Last week, who was here last week?
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Okay, if you weren't here, you better listen
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to the message because it was Vision Sunday and
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Seja was speaking about alignment. But he spoke
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about, he's made peace with the process of the
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healing of his back and his leg. Do you remember
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that? And this week, every day he's been challenged.
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Doesn't want to take his anti -inflammatories
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anymore. Then he thinks he can do a few extra
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more stretches than what the doctors told him.
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I said, CJ, you are being tested because you
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said on Sunday to the church, you're making peace
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with the process. And now you're breaking the
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process, right? So last night, he said something
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else about this is the last time he's taking
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this medication. I said, no, it's not. I'm gonna
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phone Dirk and I'm gonna phone Sophie who's your
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physio and he started laughing but what I wanted
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to bring back to you is when we start making
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declarations over our life bet your bottom dollar
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the enemy is gonna come that straight after you've
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said it especially if you said it in a public
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place and he's gonna say did you really say did
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you really mean and so I'm cautioning you church
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that as we speaking on alignment As we're positioning
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ourselves in alignment with the Lord and everything
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that He's telling us to do and everything that
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we have to do, you're going to be tested. Amen?
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So, put your army boots on. We have to get aligned.
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Amen? Okay. The title of my scripture today is,
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How long will you waver? And our key scripture
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is 1 Kings 18 20 to 39. We'll get to reading
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that now, but I want to ask, You a question as
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we start this morning's a message. I don't need
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an audible answer. I just want you to let this
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question sit in your heart. And my question is
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how long will you waver between two opinions?
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So let's read together in 1 Kings 18. It's a
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long portion of scripture but it's very, it's
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powerful. Let's go. So Ahab sent to all the people
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of Israel and gathered the prophets together
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at Mount Carmel. And Elijah came near to all
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the people and said, How long will you go limping
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between two different opinions? If the Lord is
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your God, follow him. But if Baal, then follow
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him. And the people did not answer him a word.
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Then Elijah said to the people I even I only
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am left a prophet of the Lord, but Baal's prophets
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are 450 men Let two bulls be given to us and
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let them choose one bull for themselves Cut it
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into pieces and laid on the wood, but put no
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fire to it and I will prepare the other bull
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and lay it to the wood and put no fire to it
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and You call upon the name of your God, which
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was Baal And I will call upon the name of the
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Lord. And the God who answers by fire, He is
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God. And all the people answered, it is well
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spoken. Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal,
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Choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it
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first for you are many and call upon the name
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of your God but put no fire to it. And they took
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the bull that was given them and they prepared
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it and called upon the name of Baal from morning
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till noon saying, Oh Baal answer us. but there
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was no voice and no one answered and they limped
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around the altar that they had made and at noon
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a larger mocked them saying cry loud for he is
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a god either he is musing or he is relieving
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himself or he is on a journey or perhaps he is
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asleep and must be awakened and they cried aloud
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and cut themselves after their custom with swords
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and lances until the blood gushed out upon them
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And as midday passed, they raved on until the
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time of the offering of the oblation, but there
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was no voice, no one answered, no one paid attention.
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Then Elijah said to all the people, come near
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to me. And all the people came near to him, and
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he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been
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thrown down. Elijah took 12 stones according
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to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob,
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to whom the word of the Lord came saying, Israel
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shall be your name. and with the stones he built
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an altar in the name of the Lord and he made
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a trench about the altar as great as would contain
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two seers of seed and he put the wood in order
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and cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the
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wood and he said, fill four jars with water and
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pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.
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Why would you pour water on wood and an offering?
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Right? It's definitely not going to catch fire
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but you should proving a point and he said do
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it a second time and they did it a second time
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and he said do it a third time and they did it
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a third time and the water ran around the altar
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and filled the trench also with water and at
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the time of the offering Elijah the prophet came
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near and said oh Lord God of Abraham Isaac in
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Israel Let it be known this day that you are
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God in Israel and that I am your servant and
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that I have done all these things at your word
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Answer me oh Lord answer me that these people
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may know that you oh Lord our God and that you
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have turned their hearts back Then the fire of
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the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering
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and the wood and the stones and the dust and
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licked up the water that was in the trench and
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when all the people saw it they fell to their
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faces and said the Lord he is God the Lord he
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is God and Elijah said to them seize the prophets
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of Baal let not one of them escape and they seized
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them remember there were 450 of them and Elijah
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brought them down to the brook and slaughtered
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them there This is a powerful portion of scripture.
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And Elijah standing before the people of Israel,
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and remember the question he asked, that confronting
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question, he said, how long will you go limping
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between do two different opinions? He isn't speaking
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to atheists here. He's speaking to the people
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of Israel. So they still believed in God, but
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they just weren't aligned with him. Like many
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of us today, they hadn't walked away from the
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faith. They were still serving God, but they
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were simply trying to hold faith in one hand
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and comfort in the other. And if we go back to
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the question which says, how long will you waver?
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The Hebrew word for waver literally means to
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limp, right? When you picture somebody limping,
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somebody is often walking with one leg shorter
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than the other. It could be a picture of spiritual
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exhaustion of trying to walk in two different
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directions at once. Where I'm walking one foot
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toward God and one foot toward something else.
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And when Elijah challenged him, the Bible says
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the people said nothing. They didn't have anything
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to say. In church, there are moments where God's
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silence is not because he's absent. He's always
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present. But maybe it's because our hearts are
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too divided to actually hear what he's having
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to say. So I want to share a personal testimony,
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the personal cost of alignment. Nine years ago,
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when God spoke to my husband about coming to
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plant this church, we knew it would require full
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surrender, not partial obedience, not comfort.
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comfort -based faith, but full surrender. And
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when he shared the vision with people that we
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respected, our leaders, good men of God, they
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rejected it. Not because the vision was wrong,
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but because it didn't align with what they saw
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for our lives. They wanted us to conform to their
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alignment, right? And my husband stood at a crossroads.
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Was he gonna stay? for their approval or was
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he going to be obedient to the Lord? Was he going
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to choose comfort or was he going to choose the
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calling? He was told that should we leave that
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ministry to come to Jeffrey's Bay to plant this
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church, thank you Jordan, that we will end up
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with vagrants on the streets. Now, did we choose
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to follow what God spoke or did we just choose
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to stay So and in fear of what was being spoken
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over our lives But as you know because we yeah
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we chose to follow what God spoke To align ourselves
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even though it cost us everything Church when
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we said no to our pastor and not in rebellion
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like the world was told When we said no we're
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going to be obedient to what God has told us
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it cost us everything It cost us every single
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relationship that we had been building over six
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years. Every church in this country received
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a letter that they must have nothing to do with
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CJ because he's stepping out in rebellion. It
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cost us everything. Children in the same school
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as my kids were told not to greet my children
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because we are in rebellion. Right? That is because
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we didn't want to align ourselves with what other
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peoples View of alignment was for our lives.
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Do we love them? Yes. Have we seen them? Yes.
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Do we bless them? Yes, but it's still a journey
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that we had to walk and Seven years later CJ
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says He is more alive than he's ever been I say
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I'm more tired than I've ever been but nevertheless
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He's more alive than he's ever been because he
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chose obedience over approval he chose To to
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the cost Over comfort we could have stayed we
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could have still been working in that church
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But that's not what God had for us. That's not
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the call that God had for our lives. Amen So
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alignment didn't make our lives smaller, but
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it made our lives come alive And we live in a
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place Often you walk around Jeffery's Bay. What
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is the the famous thing that we hear from people?
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God sent me here. Yes? Have you had conversations
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with anyone in Jeffrey's Bay that have told you
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God sent them here? But if we honest, sometimes
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our rhythms, our priorities and our sacrifices
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don't reflect that calling. We love the blessing
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of where God has put us. Who doesn't love living
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in J -Bay? But have we aligned with the purpose
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of why He put us here? Has comfort slowly taken?
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the lead over our calling. I believe the question
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Elijah asked then to Israel is the question that
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God is asking us today. Who is shaping your decisions
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right now? What did God speak to you that you
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are no longer aligned with? When obedience costs
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you comfort, which one have you been choosing?
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Church alignment is not good intention. Alignment
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is a decision. And power follows alignment, but
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it's never gonna follow indecision. It's very
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easy for us to stand in church, and I've said
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this before, singing, Lord send me I'll go. It's
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very easy to quote that scripture, ask of me
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and I'll give you the nations. But then when
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God calls us, are we gonna go? When God says,
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leave everything that you have built behind and
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go, are we gonna go? And it's not always that
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drastic. Maybe God's asking you where you are
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every day in your everyday life. Hey, Natalie,
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you have to leave that second job. Are we going
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to be obedient or are we going to align ourselves
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and just stay where we supposed to be because
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we don't want to step out in fear? Indecision
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is the thief of the miraculous because it delays
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God's move. There's certain things that God can
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only do in our lives, release in our lives when
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we step out in obedience. In Hebrews 3 .15, the
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scripture says today, if you hear His voice,
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do not harden your heart. Joshua 24 .15 says,
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choose for yourselves this day whom you will
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serve. Church delay is just a platform of disobedience.
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So let's look at what alignment really requires
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and the power that flows from it. Number one,
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an aligned heart. Alignment is a heart condition.
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Before it becomes a lifestyle change. Our hearts
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need to be aligned before anything will happen
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or take place externally. In 1 Samuel 16 verse
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7, the Lord looks at the heart. If we go back
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to our portion of scripture in 1 Kings, Israel's
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problem wasn't their theology. They believed
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in God, but it was their affection. They believed
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in Him, but they didn't belong to Him. Their
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hearts were not aligned to Him. And in James
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1 verse 8, just write these scriptures down,
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you can read them at home. A double -minded man
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is unstable in everything. You cannot build a
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stable life on a divided heart. So church God
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is after our heart not our performance and Alignment
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is always begins internally Alignment is a decision.
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Yes, Lord. I'm gonna align with what you've told
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me to do. Yes, Lord. I'm gonna align with your
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word Maybe God isn't calling you to something
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specific right now, but he's asking us for obedience
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to his word Simple things. Do you know that in
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Proverbs it says you can't call people an idiot?
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Align yourself with that. Don't call people idiots.
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Yes? Even the taxi driver, dancing, Francis Road,
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whatever that road is to them all. Don't call
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people idiots. It's a simple thing, in obedience
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to the word. When the Lord says, give, do we
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have to bargain with God every month? Um, Lord,
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well, you know. No! It's not yours to decide.
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God says, give. He gave you that money in the
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first place. He gave you that job in the first
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place. He gave you that seed, that resource in
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the first place. Now every month we sit here
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because let me tell you, when you up here and
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you speak about money, you feel the church. It's
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like breaks. Come on guys, let's get over that.
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God says, let's give. Go back to the church of
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acts. Would you sell your house because someone
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else didn't have a home? That's what they did
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in the book of acts. They sold what they had
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so that everybody could have. Now we're questioning,
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Lord should I be, I don't know, look Lord, we
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don't really know about this land down the road.
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I want to say something. You're going to come
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into that new building and sit on a chair. Make
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sure you were obedient to the Lord and what He
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told you to give. If He tells you to give two
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rent, give two rent. If it tells you to give
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200 ,000 rand, give 200 ,000 rand and do not
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delay in your obedience to the Lord. If you walk
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out here today and God tells you to bathe lunch
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for somebody, be obedient. And don't go to shop
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rat. No Lord. No! If the Lord says go out here
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and bathe somebody KFC, go and bathe them KFC,
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it's not your money to begin with. Church obedience
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to the fullest degree. Or are we gonna choose
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comfort? No Lord, okay, so you said I must buy
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Gary lunch, but let me quickly just buy him a
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50 yen lunch so that I make sure I have a 50
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yen. What happens if on the other side of your
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obedience God is gonna give you the greatest
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blessing? You know I was reminded We for four
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months listen here listen. We also have gone
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through tough times Okay, we didn't just arrive
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in Jeffries Bay We had to walk a long road. So
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even in our obedience, there was still a lot
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that had to go. Water under the bridge, so to
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speak. There were four months that we didn't
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have a car in Jeffries Bay. We were running a
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church. And we didn't have a car. One day I'm
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walking home. down the Gomer Road and I've got
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my checkers bags and it starts raining and it's
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raining in direction of my face. I'm like Lord
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are you serious? Can you just turn the direction
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of the rain? Please! And I'm mad! And I get home
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that afternoon and now my washing's wet and I'm
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pulling my washing off the line and I'm very
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frustrated with the Lord. And the Lord shows
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me a car key. I was like okay Lord, I'm really
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upset. Now please, not a carrot in front of me.
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And that night, CJ has a dream. And the Lord
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says to him, CJ, you need to phone that pastor,
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the one I just spoke about. And you need to say
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thank you to him. The next day, CJ had to pick
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up the phone. He hadn't spoken to that pastor
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for five years, picked up the phone. And he said,
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I just want to say thank you for everything you
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taught us. Thank you for everything you did for
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my family. Do you know what happened that Friday
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evening? Do you want to know? We got given a
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car. So church, on the other side of your obedience
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could be the breakthrough that you trust in God
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for. But are you willing today to align yourself
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with what God is telling you to do? Are you willing
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to be obedient and align yourself to what God
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is telling you to do? It costs this Christian
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life. It's not easy being a disciple of Jesus
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is not easy It's not a bunch of roses that people
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want to make us believe it costs to be a disciple
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of Jesus. Amen Number two with alignment We need
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to have a repaired altar and what is that it's
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a posture of surrender Elijah didn't just pray
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but he repaired the altar first. And fire didn't
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fall until the altar was restored. The altar
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represents our devotion church. Is our altar
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broken down by the busyness of life? Is our altar
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just broken down because we're just pursuing
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stuff? And I'm not talking just about material
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stuff. Sometimes we get so consumed with just
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daily living. God didn't come and fix the fire
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problem. He fixed the altar problem first. And
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fire only falls on what is fully laid down. So
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spiritually speaking, the altar wasn't just broken
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stone. It was a broken heart posture. And that's
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what needed to be repaired. That's what needed
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to come back into alignment before the fire could
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fall. And number three, remember we talking about
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what alignment really requires? It requires the
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right time. In 1 Kings 8 36 we read, at the time
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of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah
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the prophet came near and prayed. Church, there's
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Kronos time. That's time that we used to. It's
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the clock. It's the minutes. It's the hours.
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It's the years. It's time that can be measured,
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right? It's very methodical. We know after 10
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comes 11. But today I want to speak to you about
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Kairos time. And this is God's time. This is
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an opportune moment. It's a season of visitation.
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Kairos is very different to Kronos. Kairos is
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about moments, not about minutes. Often it is
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used to refer to the right moment, the opportune
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moment, or a defining moment. And Kairos is time
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judged, not by its duration, but by its importance
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and its value. Karras also refers to a period
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of time that is significant and therefore is
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sometimes translated to season. Isn't that Christianese?
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It's my season. It's not my season. Right? But
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we're talking about Karras' time. And Karras
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is a window of time that requires an intentional
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purposeful response. It is a time in which life
22:26
-shaping decisions are made. It's a defining
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moment. Why is people recognize and respond to
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Kairos moments? Because we know what kind of
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time it is. In Luke 19 .44, Jesus wept because
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the people did not recognize the time of their
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visitation. So the truth is, Kairos moments demand
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discernment and alignment. It's not accidental.
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Kairos is not accidental. It's encountered by
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aligned hearts. When our hearts are aligned to
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it, we cannot see When our hearts are not aligned
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We cannot see the seasons and moments that God
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is leading us into Because we too busy with everything
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else that is happening around us In this season
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that we walked through when God called us to
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Jeffrey's Bay We were going through the mole
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rat in one meeting both post season I lost our
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jobs And so for six months we had no employment.
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It was wild. And all because we were saying yes
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to Jesus. And in this time, I was called into
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a meeting and it was said to me, well, you don't
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have to go with your husband. Red flag. Like,
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sorry. If your husband is stepping out and rebelling,
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you don't have to follow him. I'm like, sorry.
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And that night we went home. And I didn't even
23:56
tell CJ about this. But he had a dream. And in
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the dream we were standing in this massive warehouse.
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And the pastor had called me aside and he was
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trying to convince me of something. And as Parseje
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looked to the left, he just saw roller doors.
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You know these garage doors that make so much
24:14
noise? Coming down, doof, doof, doof, and they
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were closing. And he grabbed me in the dream,
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Amber and Josh, and we started running. And we
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made it out the smallest door that was left.
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on the right hand side there was just one small
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door we made it out and the door closed behind
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us and we were standing at the zebra crossing
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in front of the tasty table so the next morning
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he woke up and he said to me we need to go church
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I want you to understand that God can lead you
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to significant things, but if you miss the Cairo's
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moment, you're gonna miss what he's wanting to
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do. Had passed the siege and I in that moment,
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God was showing us this was our last chance to
25:04
get out. If we were not obedient to God in that
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moment, I promise you, we would not be standing
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here today. I don't to credit the success of
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Waypoint Church to us. I don't. But God asked
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us to come. We were His second choice. There
25:28
was somebody He asked before us and they said
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no. Had we said no, would you be sitting here
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today? Would countless lives have encountered
25:38
Jesus? And so I'm encouraging you church today.
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Do not just get lost in time and making life
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happen. Align your hearts with Jesus today completely.
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Full obedience. Yes Jesus, here I am. What are
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you calling me to do? And do it. Who is on the
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other side of your obedience today? I stand this
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morning and I look around this church. I'm humbled.
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I am so humbled. I look at this worship team
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and I say, Jesus, this is what we prayed for.
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Dear Lord, is who's past CJ prayed for? Chantal
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is who past CJ prayed for? She keeps us on her
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knees. Jordan, could it send to say every single
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one of you sitting here are people that we prayed
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for? There's some of you sitting here today in
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my heart breaks because the first time I met
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you, to where you are now it's just alignment
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to get back to the person that I know who God
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has called you to be I know the anointing that
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rests on your life you're out of alignment can
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I say to you as your pastor today get back into
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alignment get into everything that God has called
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you to it's not worth the disobedience it's not
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worth the yes Lord I'll do it but when if let
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me just catch one more serve Lord Church, who
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is on the other side of your obedience today?
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Ephesians 5, 15 to 16 tells us to love wisely,
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making the most of every opportunity. Let me
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read it, look carefully, then how you walk, not
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as unwise, but as wise. making the best use of
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the time because the days are evil. Therefore
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do not be foolish, but understand what the will
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of the Lord is. Church, if we align ourselves,
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if we align the posture of our hearts, if we
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repair the altars, if we step into the chorus,
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time of the Lord, the result is the fire is going
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to fall. And in scripture fire is never random.
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It's God's signature. It represents God's presence.
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We look at the burning bush in Exodus 3. His
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approval. It's the consuming the sacrifice in
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Leviticus 9. His holiness. He's refining us all
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the time and his power. If we go back to this
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scene here on Mount Carmel. The contrast is that
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Bol's prophets, they were shouting, they cut
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themselves, they made noise, they tried to manufacture
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fire through human efforts, noise and manipulation.
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But Elijah, what did he do? He simply aligned
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the wood, he repaired the altar and he prayed.
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And then church, he waited for the revealed fire
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through alignment and surrender. The lesson here
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is we cannot manufacture what only alignment
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brings. So stop trying to work for what you just
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need to align yourself with. Fire falls after
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alignment, not before. So church, let me be honest
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with you, alignment is not easy. It often costs
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something. It's not always comfortable. It will
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cost you the approval of people. Because they
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aren't going where you're going. I've shared
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our testimony and so we know what that feels
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like. When we first stepped into this director
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from the Lord, he called us to full surrender.
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It's scary. It's scary to say, okay Lord, we'll
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leave. We'll pack up our lives in Joburg. We'll
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leave our family. We'll take my 12 and 13 year
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old. Joshua had just been announced the prefect
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for grade seven, and here I'm having to tell
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my son, it's okay, we're going to Jeffrey's Bay.
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Because we're a family on mission. And I shared
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with you that had we come later, or even earlier,
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we would have missed the chorus moment for what
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God was calling us to. And church, the only thing
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that we had in that moment was the Lord. You
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know, no matter what happened with that church,
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no matter what happened with those leaders, as
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I said, love and bless him. But I believe that
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was a setup from the Lord, because no man can
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take glory for what God has done. We had to be
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on our own, fully dependent on him. And you know,
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as much as our hearts were breaking, as much
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as it was like, We're stepping into the complete
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unknown. There was a settlement on the inside
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of us because we know God to be faithful. So
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I can promise you, church, that when God has
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called you to something, it's going to cost you,
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but he is faithful on the other side. So today
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I want you to take a real look at your life.
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Look at this year ahead. We're already into the
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second month. But what has God spoken to you
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that you've lost your way on? Not because you
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don't love Him. Where have you started to limp
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because the comforts have crept in? Compromise,
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bad habits, or the noise of others has pulled
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you into? I believe today, church, is a carous
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moment. Stop shouting like the prophet of all
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trying to make things happen in your own strength
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Instead repair the altar Step into alignment
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and submit to the process It's your moment to
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align or maybe for some of us to realign It's
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a moment to let heaven respond to the posture
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of our hearts So my question remains how long
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will you waver? Today, you need to make this
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choice. When your heart is aligned, heaven is
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going to respond. The fire is going to fall and
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the multiplication will begin. Ask yourself today,
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am I truly obedient? Am I willing to surrender
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the opinion of others? And follow Jesus in all
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that he is asking of me. Make that choice today.
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Let alignment be your path and watch what God
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will do. Can you just bow your heads where you
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are? I'm gonna pray for us. Father, we stand
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before you today. Not as people who are perfect,
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but father people that are hungry. We thank you
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for the confrontation of your word, Lord. Because
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your correction is a sign of your affection and
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your love for us. Lord, we repent for the limp.
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We repent for the moments we've tried to balance
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your calling with our own comforts. We repent
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for seeking the approval of man while drifting
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from the assignments of heaven. We recognize
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that our indecision has been a barrier to your
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move. And today, Father, we bring that indecision
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to an end. Right now, we repair the altar. In
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the quiet of this room, we lay down the broken
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pieces of our devotion. We lay down our J -Bay
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comforts, our excuses, and our divided loyalties.
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We bring our hearts into alignment with you,
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Holy Spirit. We declare that you are not just
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a God that we believe in, but you are the Lord
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that we belong to. Holy Spirit, fall like fire.
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Not because we've earned it and not because we've
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manufactured it, but because we're aligned with
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you. Let your presence consume every compromise
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father Let your fire purify our hearts our vision
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and refine our purpose today Father I pray for
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every single person standing at a crossroads
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today Give them the courage to choose obedience
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Full obedience Lord full surrender over approval
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Let the vagrant spirit be broken and let the
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spirit of sonship let the spirit of purpose arise
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As we leave this place father, we don't just
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leave with a sermon but we leave with a mandate
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And may our lives be so aligned that your power
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becomes visible in our homes in our families
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in our businesses in this town Lord Father we
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step out of Kronos and we step into a Kairos
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moment with you We will waver no longer Lord
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Today we choose we choose we choose to align
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with you and today we follow In the mighty name
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of Jesus we pray Amen