Latest / The BLAZE (Bible Study) / Morning Devotion from Ephesians: Imitators of God

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Morning Devotion from Ephesians: Imitators of God · The BLAZE (Bible Study)

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  Speaker 1: Good morning, family. Good morning. God bless you. Welcome back
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  Speaker 1: to the Morning Devos. Your bro, Sam Lopez, a.k.a. DJ
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  Speaker 1: Sam Rock. SoWinnersWithAZ.org is the website. Click the live stream
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  Speaker 1: tab if you're with the website. And also live.SoWinnersWithAZ.org. We're
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  Speaker 1: streaming on social media platforms as well, but we're here.
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  Speaker 1: We're trying our best, amen, to be in the studio weekdays, 5.30 a.m.
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  Speaker 1: Eastern Standard Time. Actually, starting at 5 in the morning,
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  Speaker 1: we have a radio program that goes throughout this whole
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  Speaker 1: thing for five hours at soulwinnerswithaz.org, Cellular Radio Network. So
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  Speaker 1: if you're here with us listening or watching or both, amen,
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  Speaker 1: welcome back. This is the Morning Devo. We're taking the
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  Speaker 1: book of Ephesians this time, and we're going chapter for
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  Speaker 1: chapter through chapters, amen. And today, actually, I put the
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  Speaker 1: wrong scripture here. I just noticed that. But we're actually
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  Speaker 1: in Ephesians chapter 5. I think, let's see. I put
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  Speaker 1: the wrong scripture here. So when you saw the banner,
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  Speaker 1: it's 5, 1, and 2. Amen. So let me go
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  Speaker 1: ahead and fix that on the main thing. Ephesians chapter 5,
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  Speaker 1: verses 1 and 2. Amen. And we'll be in there today.
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  Speaker 1: But we're going to pray first. Amen. We had an
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  Speaker 1: amazing weekend of victory. Amen. That's all I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: say for now. Going to the streets, highways, and byways
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  Speaker 1: of the Lehigh Valley. Amen. It's a privilege and honor
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  Speaker 1: when you're on the right side. of the tracks. Amen.
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  Speaker 1: Because God is faithful to his word. He would do
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  Speaker 1: exactly what he said he would do. Amen. In my
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  Speaker 1: life and in your life as well. So let me
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  Speaker 1: just quickly fix this, edit this real quick because we're
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  Speaker 1: not having any kind of discrepancies with the scriptures here
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  Speaker 1: as long as I'm aware. Amen. And I'm able to
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  Speaker 1: do these things in excellence. So I believe that's it.
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  Speaker 1: Ephesians chapter five, verses one and two. Ephesians 5, verses
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  Speaker 1: 1 and 2. That's where we're going to be. Amen.
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  Speaker 1: We're going to pray. So thank you, Lord Jesus, for today.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for victory. Thank you for purpose. Thank you
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  Speaker 1: for your perfect plan. And thank you, Lord God, that
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  Speaker 1: as you gave this word to the Apostle Paul, you're
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  Speaker 1: giving this word to us as well, that we are
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  Speaker 1: to be imitators of God. And though that might sound
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  Speaker 1: blasphemous or that might sound incredibly impossible to many people,
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  Speaker 1: we know by the Spirit, that what you say is
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  Speaker 1: what you mean, and what you mean is what you say.
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  Speaker 1: So we're to be imitators of God according to your
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  Speaker 1: scriptures in the book of Ephesians, chapter five, verse one
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  Speaker 1: and two. Thank you, Lord God, for giving us that
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  Speaker 1: opportunity to become more and more like our creator, to
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  Speaker 1: become more and more like our savior, and to be
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  Speaker 1: guided and reminded by way of your spirit, Holy Spirit,
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  Speaker 1: Ruach Elohim, to move forward day by day, step by step,
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  Speaker 1: knowing that you are with us, that you are in us,
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  Speaker 1: and you're available. Every single one of us who said
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  Speaker 1: yes to you and just move forward by faith. Thank you,
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  Speaker 1: Lord God, for today. I pray, Lord God, a hedge
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  Speaker 1: protection over myself, over my family, our children, my grandchildren,
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  Speaker 1: my whole entire bloodline from the very youngest to the
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  Speaker 1: very oldest family member and every single person in between.
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  Speaker 1: I pray favor over every single person that's listening and
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  Speaker 1: watching right now in the powerful name of Jesus. Also,
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  Speaker 1: I had your protection over them and their families, their household,
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  Speaker 1: their businesses, their schools. Every single place where we go,
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  Speaker 1: Lord God, remind us that we are protected and we
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  Speaker 1: are guided and guarded by the arcane angels that you
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  Speaker 1: assigned to us because we love you. So I pray
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  Speaker 1: this by faith, knowing that you hear our prayers and
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  Speaker 1: you answer them according to every individual situation right now
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  Speaker 1: in the powerful, holy name of Jesus. I pray this
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  Speaker 1: by faith. And those who agree, we say amen to
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  Speaker 1: the amen. All right, let's go for it. Let's go
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  Speaker 1: for it. Let's get into these scriptures for this morning. Amen.
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  Speaker 1: Very powerful way to start the day, right? I always
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  Speaker 1: say the way you start the day usually is how
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  Speaker 1: you end the day. You started with the Lord. Amen.
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  Speaker 1: Let's end it with the Lord and vice versa. You
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  Speaker 1: might be watching or listening right now with us live,
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  Speaker 1: but you also might be listening or watching on the replay,
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  Speaker 1: which is all good. Guess what? The word of God
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  Speaker 1: is still relevant, whether it's in the morning or in
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  Speaker 1: the night. or any part of the day. Every time
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  Speaker 1: you read the word of God, you're going to be
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  Speaker 1: impacted by the spirit and move of God as well. Amen.
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  Speaker 1: So this is amazing, an amazing opportunity that we have
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  Speaker 1: as brothers and sisters in the Lord to get into
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  Speaker 1: this word. Amen. And to do exactly what the Lord
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  Speaker 1: wants us to do with this word. Ephesians chapter number five,
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  Speaker 1: verses one and two, the apostle Paul inspired by the
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  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. Amen. Holy Spirit of God says this, Be
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  Speaker 1: imitators of God. It's right there. Amen. I'm not making
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  Speaker 1: this up. Therefore, as beloved children and walk in love,
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  Speaker 1: just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for
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  Speaker 1: us as a fragrant, sacrificial offering to God. Get that?
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  Speaker 1: So if Paul, inspired by Holy Spirit, telling us, listen, man,
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  Speaker 1: Y'all got to step your game up. I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: tell you, God, we need to move accordingly. We need
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  Speaker 1: to move accordingly. We need to be doing exactly what
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  Speaker 1: the word of God wants us to do, inspires us
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  Speaker 1: to do, created us to do. We're created to worship
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  Speaker 1: the Lord, right? So let's move according to that scripture.
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  Speaker 1: Let's move according to this powerful way of living, man.
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  Speaker 1: I know a lot of people are not down with
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  Speaker 1: what we're down with, right? But I don't move because
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  Speaker 1: of people in the direction of God. I didn't get
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  Speaker 1: saved by a person that's a human being, right? Jesus
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  Speaker 1: himself revealed himself to me in a powerful way. And
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  Speaker 1: in counsel with God, you would never forget and you
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  Speaker 1: would know that it is God. It is God. It
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  Speaker 1: had to be God. There's no other explanation, I tell people,
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  Speaker 1: because how I was living before, right, and how God
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  Speaker 1: transformed the life that I was living into the life
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  Speaker 1: that I'm living now, had to be supernatural encounter. Could
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  Speaker 1: not be human beings debating with me or arguing with
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  Speaker 1: me to get right or my own self to change
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  Speaker 1: my own self. If that was the case, then I
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  Speaker 1: would have did that years ago prior to when I
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  Speaker 1: had the encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ. So we
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  Speaker 1: have an opportunity. Don't waste opportunities. Amen. Just move with
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  Speaker 1: the opportunity that the Lord gives you. Right? So Paul
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  Speaker 1: gives us the ultimate example when he's talking about imitate God.
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  Speaker 1: He gives us an example of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen?
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  Speaker 1: The perfect living, holy sacrifice, perfect sacrifice. Amen? Sacrificial offering
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  Speaker 1: to God was made through the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus
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  Speaker 1: didn't just talk about love. Right? We see him in
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  Speaker 1: the scriptures preaching, teaching, performing miracle signs and wonders. Amen?
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  Speaker 1: Forgiving people of their sins and all of that. But
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  Speaker 1: He demonstrated it through sacrifice. He sacrificed himself. He gave
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  Speaker 1: himself up for us. That's right. For you in the mirror.
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  Speaker 1: When you look in the mirror, just remember that Jesus
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  Speaker 1: sacrificially gave himself up for you. And guess what? This
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  Speaker 1: is where it hits me all the time. We didn't
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  Speaker 1: deserve it. That's love. Giving up himself for me and
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  Speaker 1: for you. Knowing that we did not deserve it, that's
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  Speaker 1: an example of pure sacrificial love. That kind of love
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  Speaker 1: challenges me to look beyond myself. And hopefully it'll challenge
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  Speaker 1: you to look beyond yourself and ask. Ask this question.
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  Speaker 1: Does the way I live reflect the God I say
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  Speaker 1: I follow? Right? This is a very timely word for me.
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  Speaker 1: And I know it's a timely word for you. Am
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  Speaker 1: I living the right way? According to the scriptures, not
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  Speaker 1: according to the world standards. Yes, I'm always on the
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  Speaker 1: world standards, man. I'm doing good, right? My morality and
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  Speaker 1: all that stuff, according to the world standards is good.
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  Speaker 1: But according to the standards of God, which the Bible
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  Speaker 1: clearly says, humble ourselves, right? Because we all fall short
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  Speaker 1: of the glorious standards of the kingdom of God, of God. Amen.
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  Speaker 1: Yet in his love, yet in his omniscience, yet in
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  Speaker 1: his all-knowing, all-powerful way, he has a way of humbling
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  Speaker 1: us and keeping us humble so we can stay the course,
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  Speaker 1: knowing that we are available, able to do exactly what
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  Speaker 1: he calls us to do, living a life of righteousness
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  Speaker 1: and holiness, not because of anything we did. We can't
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  Speaker 1: boast about anything we're doing, but we can boast about
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  Speaker 1: the fact that the Lord Jesus has changed us, transformed us.
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  Speaker 1: We boast in God. And therefore, when we're boasting in God,
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  Speaker 1: we could actually imitate God because we are part of
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  Speaker 1: what he's doing on this side of eternity. If that
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  Speaker 1: don't inspire you, I don't know what will. Because we're
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  Speaker 1: actually doing the will of God when we humble ourselves
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  Speaker 1: and just let God move us and move through us.
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  Speaker 1: Let him use you. Let him use me. Amen. And
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  Speaker 1: touch somebody else. Touch another life with the gospel. Touch
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  Speaker 1: somebody's life with the love of God. Touch somebody else's life.
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  Speaker 1: It could be a family. It could be your children.
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  Speaker 1: it could be your spouse, it could be your boyfriend,
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  Speaker 1: your girlfriend, it could be your co-workers, your boss, your employees.
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  Speaker 1: Everywhere you go, remind yourself that you move with the
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  Speaker 1: kingdom of God and you have a purpose and plan
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  Speaker 1: that God has for you and God has for me.
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  Speaker 1: So being an imitator of God doesn't mean being perfect.
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  Speaker 1: I'm continually saying that all the time because people try
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  Speaker 1: to put so much pressure on themselves and say, man,
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  Speaker 1: I got to be perfect. I got to get everything right.
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  Speaker 1: Don't put that pressure on yourself. You all know and
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  Speaker 1: I know that we can't get everything right all the time,
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  Speaker 1: but we do have the one, the perfect example, the
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  Speaker 1: one who sent himself in the form of a Holy
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  Speaker 1: Spirit God living within us that gets it right all
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  Speaker 1: the time. And that's a God move. It's not a
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  Speaker 1: human move. That's a God move. It means, when you
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  Speaker 1: imitate God, it means allowing God's character to become visible
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  Speaker 1: through your life. Remember, God is an invisible God. He's spirit.
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  Speaker 1: He lives inside of us. No one can see him. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: there goes the Holy Spirit. Let me make a picture
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  Speaker 1: of the Holy Spirit. No, no one can see Holy Spirit,
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  Speaker 1: but he's doing an invisible work, a visible work, Entity,
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  Speaker 1: a visible being doing a visible work through me and
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  Speaker 1: through you. Amen? So we can see God moving through
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  Speaker 1: people when he demonstrates, when we allow him to demonstrate
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  Speaker 1: his love, his grace, his mercy through us. Because we
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  Speaker 1: know that's not natural. When somebody shows me kindness, love,
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  Speaker 1: and offers me a gift, a sacrificial gift from their
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  Speaker 1: self or from their ministry, I know that's a move
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  Speaker 1: of God. Because humanly speaking, I don't think any one
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  Speaker 1: of us could do good things without the goodness of
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  Speaker 1: God working through us. Now, people could do good deeds.
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  Speaker 1: I see religious people doing good deeds, and that's fine.
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  Speaker 1: But a pure deed that's offering to someone because of
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  Speaker 1: what God inspires us to do, that's a God thing.
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  Speaker 1: That's not a human thing, right? When the goodness of
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  Speaker 1: God flows through you and flows through me, people realize, wait,
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  Speaker 1: where's this kindness coming from? This person don't know me.
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  Speaker 1: This person don't know me. Why is this person acting
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  Speaker 1: this way towards me in such a kind way. It's
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  Speaker 1: not normal, especially, unfortunately, the world that we're living in
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  Speaker 1: right now, amen, everybody is looking at each other funny.
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  Speaker 1: Everybody's suspect because no one really is used to, or
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  Speaker 1: at least me, I don't know about you, I'm not
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  Speaker 1: used to being spoken to kindly. I'm always on guard
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  Speaker 1: because of this world system, fallen people, fallen world, right?
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  Speaker 1: My own self-guard and my own heart, right? So I'm
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  Speaker 1: always looking at people like, what's your intention, right? But
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  Speaker 1: when you see somebody literally purely doing something for the
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  Speaker 1: Lord because they love God and they love people, that's unusual,
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  Speaker 1: but I welcome that. Hopefully you could welcome that too.
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  Speaker 1: And you could be a part of that. You could
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  Speaker 1: be a part of someone's experience. You could be an
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  Speaker 1: answered prayer. Somebody's probably praying right now to God, God,
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  Speaker 1: I need people to surround me with love, encouragement, right?
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  Speaker 1: I need inspiration. I need X, Y, Z. And then
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  Speaker 1: someone shows up that God appoints to your situation, to
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  Speaker 1: your prayer, and then boom, it's like an answered prayer. Actually,
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  Speaker 1: it is an answered prayer. God will move things in
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  Speaker 1: your direction. He will move things around, rearrange things to
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  Speaker 1: get his word accomplished through your life. So when you
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  Speaker 1: pray to God, you're actually asking your father in heaven
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  Speaker 1: to do something in your life that will actually help
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  Speaker 1: you and others. Notice that when God blesses you, And
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  Speaker 1: when God blesses me, it's not for just us, for
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  Speaker 1: us to hoard the blessings. It's actually for us to
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  Speaker 1: move and in those blessings and help somebody else so
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  Speaker 1: they could be blessed. And therefore, they'll glorify God and
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  Speaker 1: they'll start blessing others as well as they move forward.
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  Speaker 1: This is a continuous cycle, cycle of love, grace and
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  Speaker 1: peace and mercy. And we could do that because we
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  Speaker 1: have the power of God doing it through us. Brother Maurice,
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  Speaker 1: I see you. God bless you. Good morning. Blessings to
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  Speaker 1: you and your family as well. It's good to see
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  Speaker 1: you in the morning, Devo, my bro and my friend.
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  Speaker 1: So today, make a choice to pick love over bitterness.
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  Speaker 1: Bitterness will cancel love. Love will cancel bitterness, right? Choose
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  Speaker 1: forgiveness over revenge, right? Vengeance is the Lord's, not ours.
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  Speaker 1: So I know people did me dirty. They do me dirty.
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  Speaker 1: They do you dirty. And we want to get revenge today.
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  Speaker 1: It's the natural instinct. I want to get that person back.
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  Speaker 1: But when you're in Christ, we need to rethink that, right?
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  Speaker 1: And know that God is going to take care of it.
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  Speaker 1: You've been done wrong. I've been done wrong. God's going
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  Speaker 1: to take care of those people. You've been spoken about, slandered,
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  Speaker 1: gossiped about. God's going to take care of those people.
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  Speaker 1: It's not in my hands. It's in the hands of God.
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  Speaker 1: Notice that when God moves in his ways, amen, his
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  Speaker 1: ways are not like our ways. So you might be thinking, God,
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  Speaker 1: how are you letting those people get away with it?
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  Speaker 1: God is saying, who said I let them get away
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  Speaker 1: with it? You're just not seeing or I'm not just
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  Speaker 1: seeing what he's actually going to do. But he's waiting.
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  Speaker 1: God is a loving God. He's waiting for us to repent,
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  Speaker 1: turn from any kind of wickedness and turn back to him. Amen.
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  Speaker 1: He's patiently waiting, right, for us to repent. Choose humility
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  Speaker 1: over pride. And right now in the United States of America,
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  Speaker 1: pride is a big word that celebrates botchery, sin, and
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  Speaker 1: all this other stuff, celebrates autonomy. How would they want
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  Speaker 1: to frame it? But pride all over the scriptures is
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  Speaker 1: not a good thing. God resists the proud, right? But
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  Speaker 1: he goes to the humble, right? He's close to the humble.
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  Speaker 1: So choose humility to live a humble, quiet life over
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  Speaker 1: a prideful life. Proud, always, you know, acting humble, out
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  Speaker 1: there and saying, I'm this and I'm that and sticking
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  Speaker 1: chest out and all this stuff. I want to TikTok
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  Speaker 1: videos doing X, Y, Z. That's a lot of pride
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  Speaker 1: out there, right? And if I'm not careful, you know,
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  Speaker 1: my brother in Christ the other day told me, I
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  Speaker 1: see a little pride in you. Amen. So you have
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  Speaker 1: to surround yourself with people that will check you in love.
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  Speaker 1: So that way you don't get too far out of
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  Speaker 1: the direction that God wants for you. And I'm grateful
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  Speaker 1: that I have a brother in Christ that will confront
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  Speaker 1: me with the truth in my life. What about you? Amen. Hopefully,
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  Speaker 1: You could have people surround you too that loves you,
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  Speaker 1: that love God first and foremost and love you and
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  Speaker 1: will be courageous enough to confront any issue that they
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  Speaker 1: see in your life. Because remember, people are watching us.
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  Speaker 1: They're seeing things from the outside in. I can't see
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  Speaker 1: everything about myself. You can't see everything about yourself. Surround
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  Speaker 1: yourself with people who really love you and you'll see
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  Speaker 1: that God will continue to build you up and not
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  Speaker 1: to break you down. Amen? Not to destroy. God wants
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  Speaker 1: to give you life. not to take your life. Choose
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  Speaker 1: obedience over compromise. And this is where the stubbornness is good.
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  Speaker 1: When you're stubborn to follow the Lord, except other than
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  Speaker 1: following the flesh and the world system. Be obedient. Obedience
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  Speaker 1: over compromise. It's so easy to compromise, man. This whole
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  Speaker 1: thing about, oh, just do that. Nobody's, oh, no, all
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  Speaker 1: that stuff. It's very easy to do. Amen. I think
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  Speaker 1: the hard part is resisting that, resisting the fleshful desires.
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  Speaker 1: And just moving with God. But once you feel the
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  Speaker 1: flow when you're moving with God, when you're doing his work, amen,
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  Speaker 1: it's not hard. People say it's hard to be a Christian. No,
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  Speaker 1: I think it's hard to be a Christian to fight
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  Speaker 1: the flesh. But when you're in the spirit, there's nothing hard.
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  Speaker 1: When you're following the true Lord Jesus Christ, his yoke
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  Speaker 1: is easy, his burden is light. He wants us to
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  Speaker 1: walk on water. He wants us to walk on light.
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  Speaker 1: Light walkers, sky walkers, he wants us to be. Amen. Amen.
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  Speaker 1: He doesn't want these extra rules and burdens placed upon ourselves.
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  Speaker 1: Notice that we're placing these rules and burdens on ourselves
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  Speaker 1: a lot of times. God never even said to do
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  Speaker 1: all these rules. And we're putting these rules because of tradition,
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  Speaker 1: man-made tradition, man-made rules. And it's adding to the stress, right?
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  Speaker 1: It's adding to life that we shouldn't be adding onto ourselves.
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  Speaker 1: Live free. The Bible says who the son Jesus sets
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  Speaker 1: free is free indeed, right? Your mind is free. You
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  Speaker 1: can do anything you want to do. The Bible says,
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  Speaker 1: but not everything we want to do will be beneficial.
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  Speaker 1: So do what he wants you to do. Do yourself
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: a favor today. Just ask God, what would you have
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: me to do today? And do that one thing. Start,
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: start there. Amen. Um, when I'm driving, I drive a lot.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: I'm always asking God, protect me, guard me, guide me. Um, Hopefully, like,
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: I could get back home safely because you never know, right?
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: But I'm always praying at the same time as well
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: that I could speak to whoever gets in the vehicle
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: about God. Maybe just share a kind word, encouragement. I
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: want to do something that's going to impact another life
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: for the glory of God. I don't want to do
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: something that's going to destroy a life, hurt a life. Amen.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: I want to be a part of the plan of
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: God over someone's life. What about you? Amen. So... Let
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: your life become a reflection of the one who first
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: loved us, of the one who first loved you. I
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: didn't know what love was until I met the one
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: who loved me first, right? I didn't know what true
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: love was until God, who is love, met me where
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: I was. I had this idea of love, but my
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: idea of love before Christ was based on circumstances, was
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: based on fleshly desires, was based on Give and take.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: You give me something, I'll give you something. You take
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: away something from me, I'll take something from you. You
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: do right by me, I'll do right by you. You
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: do wrong by me, I'll do wrong by you. That
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: was the kind of system I was in. And some
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: people right now are in that system continuously, not understanding
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: that that's not love. right? Those are options. Those are opinions.
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: Those are fleshly desires. That way of living, oh, if
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: this person does me dirty, I'm going to do them dirty.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: That's an eye for an eye. Mind you, that's the law, right?
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: That's the mosaic law. That's the law that was written.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: And then Jesus shows up and says, you've heard it
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: said eye for eye, but I say love your enemies,
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: pray for your enemies, right? Love your God with everything
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: you have. Amen. And love yourself like you love others.
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: Love others as you love yourself. Do unto others as
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: you are done to yourself. I'm paraphrasing all these ideas
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: and principles of God that is popping up in my head.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Holy Spirit. So let your life become a
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: reflection of the one who first love you. So I
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: wrote a challenge today and I posted it up on
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: social media. Amen. And a challenge for today, if you
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: accept the challenge, amen. Before you respond to somebody today,
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: ask yourself, am I responding in a way that reflects
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ? Am I going to respond in a way
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: that's going to glorify God? Am I responding in a
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: way that's going to really place the Lord on high
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  Speaker 1: as a good example through us. Amen. And we're going
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: to respond today to something or someone. I can guarantee
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: you that we're always responding to something or someone. Amen.
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes we have to speak to our own body and
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: be like, you better line up to the word of God.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: Sometimes we have to speak to our own mind and say,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: you better be obedient to Christ. Sometimes we have to
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: look at our eyes and be like, you better Right?
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: Glorify God with what you're watching, what you're listening to. Amen?
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: Definitely what you're speaking through. I could tell who you are.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: You could tell who I am by what comes out
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: of our mouths. I could be all my life saying,
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: I'm a Christian, I'm a Christian, and then start speaking
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: curses out of my mouth. You'd be like, what's in
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: your heart? That's not Christ. Right? Because the Bible says,
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth, what? Speaks.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: So we tell on ourselves a lot. When we get angry,
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: if somebody's angry, if I'm angry, and you hear me
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: spewing out curse words and this, that, and the third,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: that was in my heart. Didn't come from the air. Amen.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: That was in my heart. So I thank God for
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: his resurrection power. I thank God for his transformation power
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: that when I get angry, really hardly ever, and people
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: could testify I've been angry, Amen. I've been yelling. I've
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: yelled before. Believe it or not, right? Very few curse words,
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: if any, come out of my mouth. Why? Because I
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: believe the washing of the word. Amen. When you believe
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: that what you take from God's word and you react
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: to it, you respond to the word, you apply the word,
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: that word of God really resonates in your soul. Because remember,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: he saved our soul. Jesus is a soul winner. He
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: saved our soul. Now, Holy Spirit who lives in us
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: is going to wash out all that vocabulary that doesn't belong. Amen.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: And he's going to change our vocabulary. And we're going
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: to be speaking understandingly, wise. We're going to be speaking
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: words of wisdom, words of hope, words of encouragement. We're
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: going to be speaking differently. So every now and then,
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: the flesh will wiggle its way in and remind you
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: of some things that are embedded in your mind of
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: words that you know you don't say no more, but
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: yet You're maybe in a surrounding of party goers or
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: people who don't love Jesus, or maybe you find yourself
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: in a family environment that people are always cursing, swearing, drinking, smoking,
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: and now you're in that environment. And because of the
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: flesh being kind of like fed on that, feeding off
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: of that, you maybe might spew a couple of words
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: that you normally wouldn't say. That happens and you feel
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: that feeling of being overwhelmed, get out of that situation, right?
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: Ask God to help you. Go back in that situation
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: as a brighter person, as one that's carrying the light
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: of Christ because you are. So trust me, I've been there.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: Situations where you're like surrounded by darkness, surrounded by just
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: naysayers and people who are mocking my own God right
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: in front of my face. And you have to brace
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: yourself and ask yourself, am I going to respond in
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: a way that reflects the Lord Jesus Christ or am
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: I going to respond in a way that reflects the world?
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: Are you going to be influenced by the world or
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: are you going to be an influencer for the kingdom
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: of God and influence someone into a relationship with the Lord? Right?
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: This is a day-to-day thing. I'm not the only one
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: that has to answer to the Lord. You have to
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: answer to the Lord too. Amen? But it's up to you.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: It's up to me. How are we going to do this?
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: Are we going to do this empowered by Holy Spirit
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: or empowered by our own desires and our own opinions?
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: I don't want to live on opinion. I want to
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: live off the word of God. So that way, when
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: something happens in my life and when something happens in
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: your life, you know and I know God allowed it.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: He's the one who decides the outcome. He has the
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: final word because he is the living word of God.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: That's the Lord Jesus Christ. So we have a lot
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: of work, right? I know I have a lot of
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: work to do, amen, for the kingdom of God and
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: for myself and for my family. But I'm not going
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: to put pressure on myself. I have to get this
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: perfect every single time because that's an unreasonable goal to
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: set for my life and to set for your life.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: This world is falling, broken. If we lived in a
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: perfect world, it would be easy for us to be
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: perfect people. But God is perfecting you. He's perfecting me. Amen.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: No worries. Don't put a lot of pressure on yourself.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: I always tell this, especially to the younger generations. Don't
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: put a lot of pressure on yourself. Day by day,
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: trust God. Move accordingly. Surround yourself with people who love Jesus.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: Surround yourself with people who love God, right? And move accordingly.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: You're not going to be always in a controlled environment
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: like a church or a ministry. You're not always going
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: to be surrounded by Christians. You're in a world just
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: like I'm in a world that's full of people who
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: are walking in darkness, just like we were before Christ
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: opened up our eyes and and brought us out of
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: the darkness into his marvelous light, just like we were.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: So therefore, we can't judge outsiders. Amen. The Bible says
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: judgment comes to the house of God first. We are
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: to encourage one another. We're supposed to disciple people. We're
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: supposed to gather and worship together. We're not supposed to
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: forsake the fellowship, the Bible says. We're supposed to be
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: together in this, man. And pray for each other. Really
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: be there for one another. Amen. And just move forward, man.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: Sister Joanne, good morning. Where you been? I've been here
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: for a little bit. I'm back. Good morning to you.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: Finally get to see you. Yes, it's a blessing to
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: see you too as well, my sister and my friend.
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: God bless you. Yeah, we're back. We've been back for
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: a little bit. Amen. I guess like two months now. Amen.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: And it's all glory to God. He gave me another
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: opportunity to do these morning devotions again. So I took
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: that opportunity and said, thank you, Lord. Let's do it.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: Another round, right? As long as I have breath. that
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: God gives me, amen, on this side of eternity, I'm
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: going to try my best to represent him, represent him well.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: And I hope you do the same. So listen, I'm
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: out of time. We were in Ephesians chapter five, verses
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: one and two, but go ahead and read the whole
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: chapter for yourself and make sure that I'm not taking
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: this out of context, amen. Sometimes I could do that
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: just because what God has given me just for this
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: specific verse might not be the entirety of what he
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: wants to say. And it can't be the entirety because
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: this is a little snapshots and little morning devotes. Brother John,
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: I see you. Good morning. God bless. Great teaching. Have
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: a wonderful day. I'm going to try my best. Thank
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: you for the encouragement about the teaching. God is faithful
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: to his word, right? And he will perform his word.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: His word will never return to him void. So trust
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: his word. Amen. So God is good. Yes, Sister Joanne,
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: but I'm out of time. God bless you all. Thank
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: you so much for hanging out with me and giving
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: me me your time and your listening ears and your
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: eyes to see. Amen. You have a blessed day too,
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: Brother Maurice. God bless you all. God keep you all.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: And remember always that God is good. Peace.