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Trusting in God to manifest His Kingdom · Near East Christian Fellowship Sermons

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  Hi there, welcome to NECF.
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  We're excited to share today's message with you.
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  Don't go anywhere, stay with us to the end for some valuable resources to enrich your
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  faith.
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  Here's today's sermon.
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  John 14, verse 1 says, let not your heart be troubled.
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  You believe in God, believe also in me.
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  The me there is Christ.
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  Jesus Christ is the one speaking.
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  Just stay there, let not your heart be troubled.
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  This is Jesus Christ's admonition, his disciples, because there are things that will cause you
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  to be troubled.
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  There are things that will cause you to be worried.
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  There are things that can cause you to be stressed.
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  But the focus is that you want to place that trust, that belief and confidence in the one
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  who is instructing you.
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  Praise God.
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  I'm saying this, I think we've already gotten that charge and there's a whole lot that has
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  been said that you will see it always point down to your trust, your trust.
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  The reason why you stay in on something is because you're persuaded.
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  The reason why you start your first year, you want to run away, but you're persuaded
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  or you'll be persuaded.
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  Praise God.
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  You'll be persuaded too.
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  There's something that keeps you in there.
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  There's something that keeps you running.
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  There's something that keeps you going.
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  There's something that encourages you to stay strong, to stay true.
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  And it's hard, praise God.
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  It's difficult.
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  When everybody was sharing four years at first, I was concerned people, what helped them
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  through is that they were not sure what was happening before they could get a grip of
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  themselves.
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  They were already in the middle.
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  Praise God.
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  But things will get us to be troubled.
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  But the encouragement here is to believe in God, believe in God, believe in God, believe
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  in God, believe in God.
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  I'm saying this again and again so that it will resound to you.
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  And that word believe is the Greek word pistuo.
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  I'll spell it.
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  P-I-S-T-E-U-O.
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  P-I-S-T-E-U-O.
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  It's pronounced pistuo.
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  And that word is used a lot of times in scripture.
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  It's used scattered all through scripture.
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  You see the word believe, believe, believe.
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  Even in today's day and age, we call ourselves believers.
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  Praise God.
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  Believers.
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  Believe, believe, believe.
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  The word pistuo means to be persuaded of, to think of to be true and to place confidence
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  in.
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  To place confidence in.
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  Be persuaded of to think of to be true and to place confidence or to place confidence
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  in.
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  That is what the word there means.
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  And when it says believe in God, it says, it means place your confidence in God.
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  Be persuaded of.
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  Know Him to be true.
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  Praise God.
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  Know Him to be true.
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  Know God to be true.
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  Because one thing that stays consistent is God.
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  Every other thing will change.
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  Career will change.
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  The way the world is moving, it will change.
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  Seasons, times will change.
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  The word stays consistent is God.
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  He says believe in God.
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  This is Jesus Christ speaking.
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  Believe in God.
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  And if there's anything that sounded so strong for most of the persons that are speaking
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  or most of the persons that spoke or shared testimonies, is the fact that when they were
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  troubled or they weren't sure, they sought God.
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  They didn't just seek.
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  And seeking God, seeking people, all of those things are very interconnected.
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  You showing up here on a Sunday, something has to persuade you.
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  Right?
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  There's some things you do because of habit.
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  Oh, you're persuaded.
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  I don't believe.
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  If I come to service today, I'll be blessed.
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  I can't help but just go to what one of the sisters said.
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  I think that is it?
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  N-A-R-H-E, your name sounds very...
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  She said she had gone to places where her heart wasn't there.
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  She was persuaded.
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  Her heart wasn't there.
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  And we use words and that's one of the things we want to.
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  And that's what showing up in church teaches us to do.
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  It teaches us to learn, to be trained.
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  We come to church service to be taught and we are also trained.
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  And that's why when you skip services, you are missing an opportunity to grow.
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  You're missing an opportunity to be trained.
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  You're missing an opportunity to learn.
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  I've seen many persons come.
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  You can never stay the same when you're in an environment where you're being trained.
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  Because every now and then something is dropping.
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  Even those that show up and they're not participating, but you're learning something, praise God.
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  You're growing in some shape or form.
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  How you used to see God's Word before changes over time because you are continually...
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  It's not a one-time event.
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  You don't come to school one time and graduate.
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  If that was it, most of us would have just been taking degrees, falling in and out of
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  degrees.
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  But you stay through it, even when you don't feel like it, you still stay through it to
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  the very end.
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  But this is what you are called into for the long haul.
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  Praise God.
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  Believing in God, staying in Him is what you are called into for the long haul.
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  If you call yourself a believer, there's responsibility, there's commitment, there's trust.
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  But sometimes we...
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  Circumstances and situations around us will make us lose trust, lose confidence in.
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  And the apostle John, who wrote the book, uses it much more times than any other.
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  John uses the word a lot of times and is used.
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  Note that if I'm talking to someone who is not a believer and I'm explaining to them
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  the Word of God, what I'm trying to get them to do is to be persuaded of what exactly it
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  is I'm saying.
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  I'm talking to someone who doesn't believe, I am talking to them so that they can become
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  what I am, which is a believer.
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  Note that if I don't teach you, if I don't explain to you, you can't just fall into this
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  thing.
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  You can't fall into a relationship with God.
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  Something persuades you that this is true, this is real, there's something in this.
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  Praise God.
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  The same way I'll be encouraging someone, you will not make any progress if you're not
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  persuaded.
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  Praise God.
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  You will never make any meaningful or substantial progress if you're not persuaded.
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  Just imagine, you enter, you sign up for the course, you start the first day, you're not
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  interested, you're not even confident in what you're going to become after you're at the
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  other end of the certificate.
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  You will just be falling in and out of it, your studies will stop at some point and sometimes
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  some people are very drastic, you just end it and move on.
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  Some people will have to do several to get there but note that there's something about
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  believing that ensures that you stay true to what exactly it is you are in.
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  Praise God.
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  And believing is very key.
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  We started this year, we said the team of the year is manifesting the kingdom of God,
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  the team of this year is manifesting the kingdom of God.
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  You can't even manifest what you don't understand.
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  That's why we started off by helping us to understand what the kingdom of God is.
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  And yes, you know that coming into the kingdom there's the union you have, that's what brings
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  you into this kingdom.
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  That's what brings, we understood from the teaching and I want us to go there very quickly
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  so that I will, we'll start from there in Luke 17 verse 20 to 21.
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  Luke 17 20 to 21.
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  It says, now when he was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, when the
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  kingdom of God will come.
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  Note that you asking somebody of something means that there's a bit of, yeah, we're
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  curious, we want to find out, there's an expectation.
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  Want to find out.
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  And he answered them and said, the kingdom of God does not come with observation.
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  Other translation would say it's not something that is visible.
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  It's not something that you can see going to the next.
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  It says, nor will you, will they say, see here or see there for indeed the kingdom of
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  God is within you.
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  In other words, the kingdom of God is among you and we're taught that first and foremost
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  for you to be able to not misunderstand what has been said, you have to understand what
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  has been said.
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  Praise God.
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  And the understanding there is that when you hear the word kingdom, what comes to mind?
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  This we are in this earth, physical is what hits you first.
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  Kingdom we should be speaking about a physical location.
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  That's basically what comes to mind.
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  But what he was saying there is not because we look at the word, we're taught that the
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  word there is the word Basilea, right?
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  Which means what?
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  Which could mean authority, which could mean dominion, which could mean rule or royal power.
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  Praise God.
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  So that in itself gives you an understanding of what is being said.
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  Means that if you're talking about a kingdom, you will not be expecting to see a physical
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  location.
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  And that is basically one thing that has been established and one thing that you should
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  bear in mind.
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  It says you can't, it's not something that is physical.
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  It's not something that is physical, but note that the influence can be seen.
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  Praise God.
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  The influence can be seen.
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  And believing the same way when we talk about believing in God.
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  Not that when somebody says you can't see that belief, there's no way it registers
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  in your forehead and percentages and then you can be able to see where exactly it is
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  to scale it.
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  But note that a person that believes there is a result, there's an action.
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  There's the things that he do that say this person is truly a believer.
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  And let me put it to you.
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  You start your first year, a strong part of you believes that this course, I'll see it
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  to the very end.
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  But there's the responsibility you have to stay to the very end.
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  And once you finish that, note that there's the confidence that you can take on anything
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  else after that, right?
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  But there's also the fear of what to do next.
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  But for someone that doesn't just believe in the course that they studied, but believe
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  in the God that has seen them through that four years.
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  And I think I was just writing to Pastor Fred that during the graduation, he said something,
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  I think the picture of his own graduation way back.
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  And he said that looking at the picture, there's a lot of memory that runs through.
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  And then the other brother that was there with us, that the picture carries a lot.
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  It's sweet, sour, a mixture of things.
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  And some of them were sharing tears, because there's a lot that you had to go through to
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  get to that very finish line.
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  But you were persuaded that we will see this thing to the very end.
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  Does that believe, that trust?
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  And note that you don't trust in those, like courses will change, all of those things will
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  change, but you trust in the God that has seen you from that time to this very point.
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  And you're trusting in him for what to do next.
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  And we have been saying this in this church, don't just do life aimlessly.
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  If you want to get something done and done properly, you want to trust God for how to
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  do it.
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  You don't just go and say, oh, and most of the times we have good ideas.
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  We have a lot of things that want to do.
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  Most of the times it doesn't work.
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  You have everything you have planned it out.
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  Sometimes the plans fail.
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  But what shouldn't fail is your faith and your belief and your trust in God to see most
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  importantly, his kingdom manifested through whatever it is that you do.
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  Because you are a conduit.
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  You are not living for yourself.
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  You know, what used to happen is that we turn God to an ATM, right?
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  When we need something, we go there, you know, you know, you put in the codes, the amount
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  of money you want, it comes out, you collect and then you move.
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  You only think of money, when you think of money, you think of ATM, you think of bank,
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  all of those sources and you go there because you need that.
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  But it's going to be hard for you when it's like that, because now you have nowhere else
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  to go to, right?
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  Then he becomes an option.
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  But for a believer that has always been there, he knows what to do.
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  He knows what to do.
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  He's not confused.
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  He's sure of what exactly.
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  In fact, he's confident in the fact that the direction, he has it already.
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  What he will be doing now is knowing what the direction is.
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  He's confident because he knows that he has the God that has brought him in at first and
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  he's confident that same God is going to lead him through to what should be done next.
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  And please, please don't follow the crowd.
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  You are not the crowd.
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  Your name is not crowd.
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  Please God, praise God.
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  Your name is not crowd.
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  You have a name.
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  You have something that, yes, if it so happens that the direction you're headed is the direction
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  of it, go for it.
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  You don't go to the bus stop and then just say any bus, any bus, any bus.
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  When you go, when you do life like that, you will land anywhere.
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  Praise God.
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  So you want to pray about what you need to do and become, because when you pray, you're
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  not telling God what should happen.
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  What is, you are now confident of what God, because you're, you know, some people say
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  I'm praying to hear what the will of God.
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  No, you're, you're praying to listen, right?
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  To listen and have direction.
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  The direction is there all along.
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  You're just not paying attention.
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  Praise God.
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  And you want to be able to do that and be convinced.
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  Don't jump into the next thing, not being convinced.
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  Praise God.
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  And this applies to everything that we're going to be doing this year.
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  You don't want to jump in and look confused.
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  Even if you're confused, let, just shorten the, the time frame of your confusion.
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  And the only way you can shorten the time frame of your confusion is by going to God,
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  trusting Him and believing in Him for direction.
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  So let's look at John.
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  John 20, 31.
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  Remember I said that John uses the word believe a lot.
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  And it says, but this are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ.
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  Believe what?
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  What are we believing?
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  That Jesus is the Christ.
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  So it means that the things that we're reading, God's word is written that we might believe
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  that Jesus is the Christ.
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  And it says the son of God and that believing, that believing you may have life in His name.
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  This is very important.
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  Two things I want you to take.
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  That what is written, God's word, what it leads to is to us believing.
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  That's why I say that first.
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  Someone that's not saved hears the word of God and then becomes saved.
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  Praise God.
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  And then it says, and note that in that believing you'll have life.
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  And we know that if I'm talking to someone that's alive and I'm telling them that they
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  will have life, what it means is that there's something about the life that you now have
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  that's different from the life that you once had.
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  Praise God.
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  There is a big difference between the two lives and have life in His name, that's in
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  His authority.
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  Praise God.
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  And He uses that word like that there because if you look at it now, this whole thing will
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  be speaking to a believer or non-believer.
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  Because if I'm talking to you now, I'm saying that, okay, this is written for you to believe,
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  right?
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  For somebody who has believed, will that be an information to them?
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  Would that be news?
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  That will not be news, right?
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  Because they know and they have.
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  Praise God.
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  They know and they have.
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  But look at how John uses it in 1 John 5 verse 13.
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  I want us to see it in NLT, because of New King James, NLT 513, but we can go back to
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  New King James later.
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  So in NLT he says, I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of
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  God.
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  Now he says, so that you may know, so that you may know, not so that you will believe
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  again.
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  He says, so that you may know.
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  So when you believe, what keeps you going is the knowledge.
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  And that's why fellowship is important, because no matter how you know, you know what's happened,
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  you can forget.
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  You know when you blink, you're like, I'm not sure.
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  You know, there are things you are very confident, you think you have it all together and then
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  all of a sudden you seem like you're forgotten.
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  You know when they say, what's your name?
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  You have put your watch together, you know, you have said, okay, my name is this.
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  They give you the microphone.
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  But there's how you have known something to the point where even when they wake you up,
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  you're very sure.
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  You know, there are some people that you don't even mess with them when they're sleeping,
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  because when they wake up, they are still alert.
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  They can put their watch together.
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  Some people are very good like that.
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  They are very, it's almost like they were never sleeping.
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  Praise God.
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  He says, so that you may know, not, and he, even the first line tells you that I'm writing
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  this to you who believe in the name, who is not like the first one where he says that
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  you may believe.
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  He says, who believe in his name?
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  And the reason why I ask that we see from any of these that in the New King James is
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  longer, in New King James is longer.
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  And in this church, I think we have taught us about majority texts and NU and all of
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  that.
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  So we know that in this, this is the NU while in the majority texts, it adds something.
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  I just want to show just so that we, you know, you're not wondering what happened to your
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  Bible or why, why didn't we read it to that end?
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  So just go to the King James of the same text.
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  So now it says, these things I written unto you, sorry, New King James, I was wondering
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  where I was saying unto.
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  So these things I have written to you who believe in the name of the son of God, that
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  you may know that you have eternal life.
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  And then the and now is what we know that is omitted in because it says and that you
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  may continue to believe in the name.
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  That's why that now is saying because, because note that what happens afterwards is that
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  you have believed what you just now need to do is to know.
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  And guess how we know.
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  And that's why what we have been, all that has been happening is just reemphasizing the
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  importance of training, the importance of showing up.
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  And he didn't even know that that was even part of what I was going to say.
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  He says it a lot of time, Pastor Victor says a lot of times.
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  How why are you surprised that someone that spent a number of years in the seminary should
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  know more than someone that has spent all their life studying the same exact thing that
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  the person in the seminary should be?
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  Why should that be?
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  It's because we have gotten it wrong.
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  We actually have gotten it wrong.
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  And some of us that are reading the book that has been shared or the other book, not the
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  book, there's in any safe train set of you know, there are books now and there are books
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  coming.
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  Praise God.
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  And that is what training is.
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  Praise God.
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  Some of us we show them we have never read, we have never read a book before.
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  And I'm like, this is new to me.
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  But guess what happens when you read?
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  You grow.
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  You know, when brother kindness was talking, I was like, let this boy not go and say, and
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  you know, everything.
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  See, I have, I don't use the library because the library doesn't work for me.
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  If I go to the library, I end up greeting everybody in the library.
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  So because because I will enter the library and say, hello, sir, and there's some and
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  some people don't understand that you want to concentrate.
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  They will still come and say, okay, sir, how is it?
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  And then you like, can't you see it's in the library?
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  Wait for me.
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  I'll say, oh, let's just do it quickly and then move on.
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  So library doesn't work for me.
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  So I can't I've never if I go to libraries, because I have to maybe pick a book or use
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  or there's I want to see the information decks or something, but I don't use the library
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  because I will always see the young man at the other at all the times I've entered the
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  library.
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  We just seemed that was even how I knew he uses glasses, because I never knew he uses
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  glasses.
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  I was like, oh, you use glasses.
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  I was like, some people they just hide uses when they want to.
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  And as I knew, he's business.
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  Praise God.
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  There's work for any good thing you see.
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  There's work any solid believer you see.
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  There's work and you're not doing it because you saw somewhere that you're going to be
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  a past.
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  No, most of us didn't get that memo.
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  Praise God.
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  You're training yourself so that you'll be solid.
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  You know, when a person is solid, when a person is solid, in fact, that should be the testimony
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  of everyone that calls themselves a believer because you have no choice but to be.
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  Praise God.
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  And it's very important that we understand that the this action is consistent.
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  You show up not because you feel like it.
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  You are tired.
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  You still come because teaching is not a single event.
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  It's continuous and it is a comprehensive process because you're hearing it here.
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  You're hearing it again.
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  And some of the things you'll be hearing, you've heard it before, but you're hearing
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  it differently and it just keeps coming to you, coming to you until you know for a fact.
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  And you know, you can have a knowledge of something here, but there's there's how when
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  it hits you again, it's like, I didn't understand this thing until now.
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  Praise God.
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  And that is why coming and and he says, and where else can you grow?
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  You can't grow.
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  And I want us to just read first Timothy, first Timothy 3, 15 and then we'll see 16.
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  First Timothy 3, 15, 16.
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  I'll just find somewhere and then we'll close because that's not even I'm not going anywhere.
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  Just find somewhere we're close.
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  So first Timothy 3, 15 and 16 and he says, but if I am delayed, I write.
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  So if you notice, there's the uses you see this write, write, this write is you see it's
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  kind of you.
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  That was a means of communicating, right?
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  You write to assure the person to be confident.
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  You know, there was no, you know, when you say someone should come and see you, you know,
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  if you don't know where the person should come and see you want to be confident where
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  you're going.
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  So there's this communication that you have to do to pass information in to and fro so
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  that you can be able to get clarity.
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  So you're sure because you know that you're sure that the person is in this building.
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  That's what even gives you the confidence to go at first.
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  But if you're not sure you'd be like, I'm not, you just be wandering around except if
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  someone leads you or someone guides you.
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  Praise God.
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  And that is why writing is done so that you may know.
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  And you see that word that that communication so that you may know communication so that
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  you may know because communication for you to know helps you to be confident, to be persuaded
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  of something.
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  Praise God.
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  And then it says that you may know how you ought to conduct yourselves in the house of
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  God.
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  It says which is the Church of the Living God, the pillar and ground of truth, the pillar,
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  the other word there is the foundation of truth.
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  So it means that if there's anywhere that you as a believer would grow is in that place
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  where the truth is being taught.
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  How many of you know that there's lies that is taught even in the same because and we
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  and one thing I will explain to us is going back to what our sister said is that when
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  you're reading a text of scripture, you want to be very, you want to take your brain along
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  with you because sometimes we can read things mindlessly.
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  When you look at the text, you want to understand, okay, why, what, what does this mean?
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  How does this apply?
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  What is the person trying to say?
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  Those things will avoid, will make you avoid making mistakes, right?
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  Will make you avoid it making mistakes because if you go back to that text we read, it says
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  if a kingdom is coming to you, if that kingdom is a physical location, how does it move from
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  where it is to where you are?
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  Praise God.
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  Thinking is what will get you to come to that place where you, okay, what's going on here?
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  This will not be speaking of something physical, right?
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  Because in the text of scripture, we'll see, I don't know whether we will be able to stop.
• 24:54
  We see that even Jesus Christ in, let's just look at it very quickly, Jesus Christ in Luke
• 24:58
  and John, John 15 verse 25.
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  I just want us to see 25 and 29 because Jesus Christ speaking to his disciples, he used
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  figurative language and if you're, yeah, so it says, but this happened that the word might
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  be fulfilled 16, not 15, 16, 25, John 16, 25.
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  He says, these things have spoken in, spoken to you in figurative language.
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  If you look at the NLT, it will say it's figures of speech.
• 25:28
  We use figurative language that you, that by the time is coming that you may no longer
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  speak Ramayana no longer, that says I will no longer speak in figurative language, but
• 25:38
  I will tell you plainly about the father.
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  Go to 29, just jump to 29.
• 25:42
  It says his disciples said to him, see now you are speaking plainly, plainly using no
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  figure of speech.
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  Praise God.
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  Because if someone is using a figure of speech and I'll give you some for you to, when someone
• 25:55
  is speaking metaphorical, metaphorical means that it's not literal, means that if I tell
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  you of, if I'm, I can use the word there, but what I'm saying is not something that is literal,
• 26:06
  not something that should be taken literal because if I said that, like take for example
• 26:10
  this, I think I was looking at my time, this and I think I was Mark 3 25, that was the,
• 26:14
  that was the Bible verse for this that flashed to my, okay.
• 26:18
  It says, so if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
• 26:24
  So just think about this.
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  If a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
• 26:28
  Is it a literal house?
• 26:29
  Is it a house that the house just start dividing against itself?
• 26:32
  So, so obviously the house is divided against itself.
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  The house definitely wasn't the house in the first place.
• 26:38
  Praise God.
• 26:39
  He's, the house there will be pointing off and that word there is okia, which is what
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  we look, what we'll see, like just give you a slip.
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  So, so you understand that certain words shouldn't be taken literally.
• 26:49
  Let's say I'll give you the keys.
• 26:51
  How many of you have keys?
• 26:52
  Yeah, yeah, so you have, yeah, yeah.
• 26:54
  So your house keys, as your house keys.
• 26:57
  So when it says I'll give you the keys, so you don't want to be reading, let's go back.
• 27:03
  So it means that when Jesus Christ was speaking to his disciples, he said certain things that
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  if you take them literally, you'll be lost.
• 27:09
  You will still keep asking questions until you understand what is being said.
• 27:12
  And he was speaking to them and say, oh, now I get you now because you're not, you're not
• 27:16
  no longer speaking.
• 27:17
  So it means that even us now, when we are reading, we don't read it.
• 27:21
  We really wouldn't understand that this can be figurative, right?
• 27:25
  The one that is very interesting is in John, right?
• 27:29
  Still John, I think was John, is that scripture again?
• 27:34
  Yeah.
• 27:35
  Look, look 1426, look 1426 says, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and
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  his mother, wife, children, nobody's left out in this.
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  Children, brothers and sister.
• 27:50
  Yes, I see even yourself and his own life also.
• 27:54
  He cannot be my disciple.
• 27:55
  So now you read this and then you go, is this Jesus speaking or someone else?
• 27:59
  He says hate, he means just be a hater.
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  Just everybody knows, some people they say they have enemies, enemies, enemies.
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  You just hate everybody and then come and follow me.
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  Is that what he's saying here?
• 28:12
  No, but what he's saying there, the word there hate is Miseo.
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  The word means the hate is hate.
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  It's not something else.
• 28:23
  Praise God.
• 28:24
  The hate, that word hate is the word hate.
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  But what if you now decide that you're going to be hating everybody?
• 28:30
  You see family, you will not have it.
• 28:31
  Are we clear?
• 28:33
  So what it means there is that it's a metaphor for you to, he's saying in essence that you
• 28:40
  love less and make this more.
• 28:44
  The same way somebody says you go to the market and you choose to pick water.
• 28:47
  I think Pastor Victor has said this before.
• 28:49
  You go to the market and the fact that you chose water doesn't mean you hate Jews.
• 28:54
  Some people's juice is their standard temperature and pressure.
• 28:57
  But thank God you got some insights into what the Jews companies are doing to you and then
• 29:03
  you say, no, they will not chop my money anymore.
• 29:06
  And then you know, but not that something informed you, right?
• 29:09
  And then you decide it doesn't mean that you hate it, but now you have made the choice
• 29:12
  to prioritize this over that.
• 29:15
  So he says, what he's saying there in essence is that love them less than you do me.
• 29:19
  And if you thought, if you're in doubt that that's what he's saying, let's look at Matthew's
• 29:22
  account of the same account.
• 29:24
  Matthew 10 37.
• 29:26
  And that is how you clarify that what he's saying is that it doesn't mean hate your family
• 29:30
  members because you'll be family less.
• 29:33
  There's any word like that.
• 29:34
  So it's 10 37.
• 29:36
  10 37.
• 29:37
  10 37 says he who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.
• 29:46
  The week, the week get that it says you're loving your father and mother more than me
• 29:50
  is that you should prioritize him overdose.
• 29:53
  Do you notice that your father and your mother are there?
• 29:58
  You see them every day.
• 29:59
  You deal with them.
• 30:00
  You know, that is going to be hard for you to just sit daddy and mommy.
• 30:04
  I will choose God over you.
• 30:06
  God you cannot see.
• 30:09
  You know that that takes some level of trust to be able to say, I see you.
• 30:14
  I know you have best interest for me, but I know I'm persuaded that this is what I need
• 30:21
  to do.
• 30:22
  So the thing is, it's like your parent tell you don't go to church or just go to like
• 30:26
  what God was saying, where you say, don't do it.
• 30:30
  You know that that is not the problem, right?
• 30:33
  You know that that's not the problem.
• 30:34
  The problem is not just I had, I was speaking to someone who said, see, you know, the reason
• 30:38
  why I'm not committed in church is that, you know, I'm very busy.
• 30:41
  You know, I'm doing biomedical engineering and I have certain responsibilities.
• 30:48
  He's here.
• 30:49
  He's here.
• 30:50
  I think he's here.
• 30:51
  I have certain responsibilities.
• 30:53
  And I looked at him, I say, if I use me as an example, the example will not make sense.
• 30:58
  But we have medical students.
• 30:59
  We have people that are doing multiple degrees.
• 31:02
  And they are serving, you know, they're not just, they are serving.
• 31:06
  You know, when you're the head of department or you're, these guys, they're not, you know,
• 31:10
  we're just saying, just serve in church.
• 31:12
  We're not saying be the head of the department.
• 31:14
  Praise God.
• 31:15
  And know that in all of these excuses you're making, I told him one thing.
• 31:18
  I say, see, if your house is flooded, no matter how busy you are, you will mop the house.
• 31:25
  You say, I'm very busy.
• 31:26
  I don't have time.
• 31:27
  But because your house is important to you, you will do what needs to be done.
• 31:31
  Praise God.
• 31:32
  You will do what needs to be done.
• 31:33
  Praise God.
• 31:34
  So, let's not make excuses.
• 31:36
  The fact that you are not confident in something doesn't mean that it can't change.
• 31:41
  What you must seek to do is to trust God and trust that you are in his family.
• 31:46
  You are a member of his family and he will not leave you stranded.
• 31:50
  All that you need is in his word.
• 31:53
  Trust his word.
• 31:54
  In this season we are saying, read your Bible.
• 31:57
  We are forcing you.
• 31:58
  You know, some people, they say we are forcing you, say, sir, this thing is hard.
• 32:00
  Read me the Bible.
• 32:01
  Now we have entered the book, now that the part of the Bible where it's not, it's not
• 32:04
  even, I was enjoying Genesis.
• 32:06
  We enter Exodus now.
• 32:07
  We're not going to all those things.
• 32:09
  But it's Exodus now.
• 32:10
  I don't, I don't really understand what is going on here.
• 32:12
  You have not even started.
• 32:14
  When you get to Numbus, Lewis Coast, you, you, it will need, you will need the grace.
• 32:21
  You need grace and you're not, it's not, you need great grace to be able to pull through.
• 32:26
  But you know the beautiful thing is that, you know, those of us that ended it last year
• 32:30
  were like, I did it.
• 32:32
  Finally, I was able to complete it.
• 32:35
  You are a believer.
• 32:36
  You have never read, you have never read your Bible from, and then you're wondering why
• 32:40
  or what, why certain things are flying over your head.
• 32:43
  Praise God.
• 32:44
  So I want us to be confident in what the church is doing.
• 32:47
  Please trust not just God, but also the leaders that God has given to you.
• 32:52
  Know that we have your best interests at hand.
• 32:54
  Some people were sharing, they were like, ah, they heard it, but they still grew.
• 32:57
  And now their growth is going with them.
• 32:59
  I was telling our brother, I say, you know how to take pictures now.
• 33:02
  Not that the pictures you can take, you will not drop it.
• 33:04
  You will not pass it.
• 33:05
  You will not carry it and just give it to somebody and then leave without it.
• 33:08
  You're going to go with it.
• 33:10
  Any job you're getting, when you tell them, I have a BSc in this, but I also have an experience
• 33:15
  in photography.
• 33:16
  You know, when you add that to your, you know, yes, that's to, to pad it.
• 33:20
  Even if, even if you did not get the three point that we've been telling you to get,
• 33:23
  to get, to get, to get, you know, not to offset certain things.
• 33:26
  Praise God.
• 33:27
  We have to offset certain things because you are going to add value.
• 33:30
  Praise God.
• 33:31
  So know that in this church, we encourage you and we keep encouraging you.
• 33:35
  Don't just be a passerby, right?
• 33:38
  Don't just be someone that shows up and just marks attendance and services.
• 33:42
  We have midweek services.
• 33:43
  We have cell meetings.
• 33:45
  All of those are avenues for you to grow.
• 33:47
  Praise God.
• 33:48
  I want you to just close your eyes and just thank God and just give God all the glory,
• 33:51
  give God all the praise.
• 33:52
  Thank Him for, just say, God, I trust you.
• 33:57
  Thank you for listening to today's sermon.
• 34:00
  Your journey matters to us.
• 34:02
  Let's keep walking together.
• 34:05
  Visit our website for more resources and follow us on social media to stay updated.
• 34:11
  Feel free to check the show notes for additional insights.
• 34:15
  If today's message was a blessing, share it with a friend.
• 34:19
  Until next time, be blessed.