Latest / The OneCry Podcast / #201 The Divine Journey (Part 2) "Embracing our Divine Purpose"

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#201 The Divine Journey (Part 2) "Embracing our Divine Purpose" · The OneCry Podcast

• 0:02
  You know, in all these moments of revival in history, don't you know that God was seeing?
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  Don't you know that God was hearing?
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  Oh, yeah. That God knew the state of the people.
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  Welcome to the One Cry Podcast, a nationwide call for spiritual awakening.
• 0:23
  The goal, accelerating the movement of God through sharing revival truth, stories, and reports.
• 0:34
  Welcome to One Cry Podcast. We say that every week, and we're excited to say
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  it because we're thrilled that we get to come into your lives,
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  into your homes, wherever you are.
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  You may be in a car, or you may be on some roller skates somewhere. I mean, who knows?
• 0:54
  Be careful. Yeah, right.
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  So, but I'm Bill Elliff, and this is Kyle Reno.
• 1:02
  And we are in a little journey here with a guy named Moses.
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  And I tell you, a big Mo. I mean, he was a dude, wasn't he? He was a dude.
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  He was amazing. I think sometimes about sitting in heaven sometime and just, you know,
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  talking off the cuff with these guys for eternity about these different moments they had.
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  What an amazing, amazing man of God.
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  And he's teaching us about how we live in God's presence because that's what he needed.
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  He didn't really know how to live there, did he, Kyle, at first?
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  But then the Lord kind of began a journey teaching him how to come into God's
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  presence and then what would come out of that, the purpose that would come out of that.
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  So what are you seeing in there right now?
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  You know, Bill, walking with the Lord, the longer that you do,
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  things become more clear, specifically as you get to know some of these characters
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  in the Bible, man, and how they learned how to walk with the Lord. So last week...
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  Learning how to live in his presence. I mean, Moses didn't know this moment
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  was coming, right? But now it's here.
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  And the Lord is telling him, come in, come in. That repetition of endearment.
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  I want you, Moses, Moses.
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  But then, hey, Moses, when you get here, take off your shoes, son. I'm holy.
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  And so there's the welcome, but there's also the acknowledgement that God is totally other.
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  He is holy, holy, holy. It's going to continually call for sanctification and
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  right confession and cleansing.
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  You don't have to be afraid of God, but you do need to be aware of your brokenness
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  and your sinfulness, which is, hey, learning how to live in His presence.
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  But then the other side of it is to know that you have a purpose and that Moses
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  is about to find that out.
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  And I love how God strings him along here. So let me give you a couple passages
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  and we'll talk about it. Verse seven.
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  So here he is face down in the presence of holy God.
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  Then the Lord says to Moses in this moment, I have surely seen the affliction
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  of my people who are in Egypt.
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  So catch these descriptive where I've surely seen the affliction of my people.
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  I have heard their cries because of their taskmasters and I know their sufferings.
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  Man, this is such an encouragement to me when we're walking through hard seasons of life.
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  So a few things that the Lord never lost sight of Israel. Never lost sight.
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  There was never a moment in these 400 plus years, you know, where the Lord like
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  turned his face away from their affliction.
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  That he didn't see what they were going through. And not just that he saw them, he heard them.
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  That God has been gathering all
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  those cries in those big old bowls for all these years. So I've seen you.
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  I've heard you. I know. And man, the language, if you could really spend some
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  time around it, it's not just a knowledge of.
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  It's that God felt for us.
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  So what it means is, hey, your suffering, God is saying, has broke my heart.
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  God's leaning over it, which you got to think Moses is thinking, this is awesome to know.
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  For all these years, God has been seeing us.
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  All these years, God's been hearing us. All these years, God's been feeling
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  this before on our behalf.
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  And Bill makes me think about, you know, in all these moments of revival in
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  history, don't you know that God was seeing?
• 5:01
  Don't you know that God was hearing?
• 5:03
  Oh, yeah. That God knew the state of the people.
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  When you think about it, does anything come to mind even looking back over revival history?
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  Well, and just, you know, what's interesting, Kyle, is if you study it,
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  if you study just the five, what I'm hoping now is the sixth nationwide movement of revival,
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  starting with the first great awakening, second great awakening.
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  Revivals are movements like that happen in cycles.
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  And so there's a period where a great revival comes. We're walking with the
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  Lord and then we always fall away.
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  And the reason we fall away is the world of flesh and the devil.
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  Right. I mean, it's a constant pulling us away from God.
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  And then and then we, you know, in the next 30 years, 40 years,
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  we will get to some dark places, dark places, governmentally and education.
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  Education, our churches lose their fire and it grows cold.
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  You know, this is a if you don't believe that's true, then just read the first
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  four chapters of Revelation.
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  Because Jesus is coming to the churches and saying, you guys have grown cold.
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  You left your first love. And so those periods, if you have a hot heart for
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  the Lord and you want God's glory and you want his presence,
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  you get really discouraged.
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  And you think, man, I've been I've been praying. It will seem to you like your whole life.
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  I've been praying for this my whole life. And yet I haven't seen revival of my day, you know.
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  Well, you're just back the picture up. That's right.
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  And you're going to see that God is always hearing. He's always listening.
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  And, you know, all those that beautiful picture in Revelation where the bowl
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  that holds the prayers of the saints.
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  Yeah. And it's just accumulating these prayers. And you just think,
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  okay, one of these days, there's a prayer that's just going to tip that bowl over.
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  And we'll see the glory of God come in an extraordinary way.
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  So he is listening, and we need not to be discouraged.
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  And there's always a preparatory, about a 10-year period right before most Great
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  Awakenings, where all of a sudden we see this desperation that comes. Yeah.
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  And then this prayer began to come and increase measure.
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  And then the glory of God comes. Yeah.
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  Yeah, man. 100%. And I'm looking at this and this is this statement God put
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  in my heart in light of this moment in the lives of the Israelites.
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  And now he's sharing it with Moses that God wants them to know that he is keenly
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  aware and deeply cares about their pain.
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  And I would just I would say to us, even those that have been waiting for God
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  in a personal way or on behalf of your church or your area, it's just that, listen,
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  God has been keenly aware of everything that we've experienced,
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  felt all those things. And he cares.
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  He deeply cares about that. And in light of that, this is the next thing that
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  he says. I mean, the part that cracks me up, Bill, is here's Moses listening
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  to God saying, he's like, man, that's some great news.
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  Yeah. Appreciate you sharing that with me, that this is how you feel about that.
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  And then he says this, verse 8, and I have come down.
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  To deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians,
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  to bring them out to the land, to a good and broad land, a land flowing with
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  milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites,
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  Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, Jebusites, which is, man, take some perspective.
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  Here he is, he's going, Moses, I've deeply cared.
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  I've been absolutely aware. But now I've come down.
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  Now, hey, what he's saying is, let me give you a few promises.
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  My presence is about to be made known.
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  I've been everywhere. I've not lost sight or not been a part of,
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  but now I'm coming in power.
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  And I got some awesome promises for you.
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  I'm going to lead them out of this captivity to a broad and beautiful land,
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  a land flowing with milk and honey.
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  You know, later, as Moses is writing this, I'm the Holy Spirit's inspiration.
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  And he's promising them, I'm walking you right into enemy territory.
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  I'm walking you out of bondage and slavery. And I'm walking you into conquest.
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  I'm walking you into the advancement of my kingdom in a powerful way.
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  But don't worry, I've come now.
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  Which a few things that I think, Bill, you've said this so many times about God's promises.
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  He's giving Moses promises to believe for the journey ahead.
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  He's like, son, take note of what I'm saying. I've seen, I've heard,
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  you know, I've been aware of all the suffering I felt for you.
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  But now something's changing. I've come down and I've come down to deliver you, deliver.
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  Yeah, to take you to this right toward it.
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  So you need to lay hold of this. And I think how many times,
• 11:00
  Bill, do we need to lay hold of a promise from God about where we're going?
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  Well, and I'm telling you, the promises of God, we kind of throw that phrase around.
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  It's a big deal. In fact, I remember so vividly, Kyle, early on in my Christian
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  life, when I realized there were 7,000.
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  You know, I'd heard that, but then I studied it, and it's true.
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  There are 7,000 promises in this book right here, this Bible.
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  This Bible, mine is, this one happens to be 1,000 pages long.
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  So just do the math, right? I mean, that's the equivalent of seven promises per page on average.
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  And when I saw that years ago, I realized, you know, this is God's operating system.
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  God says, I'm going to tell you something, and it's something I'm going to do
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  for you and promise to you. And by the way, I'm God.
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  But then I'm going to see if you will trust me.
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  That's exactly right. Because I'm trying to bring you back to faith.
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  I'm trying to make you a man, a woman of faith, but this is the way we're going to do this.
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  And if we don't choose to believe him, then we'll never see those things the
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  way some things God's going to do, whether we believe him or not.
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  But most of the promises are conditional.
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  And they were here with Moses. You know, if Moses shrugged his shoulders and
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  just walked away from the bush and said, well, I'm not going to cooperate with that. Right.
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  Then we wonder what the rest of this story. Well, one thing we know,
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  Moses wouldn't have been used. That's right.
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  He would have been somebody else. Right.
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  So how beautiful. And he and he leads him to trust him through these promises.
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  Now, on the front side, which is just it is the operating system of God that
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  God lets us know to the extent he wants to.
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  You know what I'm about to do. Will you believe me for it?
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  Will you believe me for it? Will you cooperate with where I'm taking you?
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  And then he comes back to, and I want to get us somewhere.
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  Verse 9, he says, and now he comes back to this, like he wants us to know this
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  again. He could have just said, I heard their cries, but he comes back to this again.
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  Verse 9, and now behold the cry, which is, hey, by the way, this whole thing's called one cry.
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  The cry of the people of Israel has come to me.
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  And I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.
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  And here's the statement that's just in my, our collective cry matters.
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  Yeah. And I'm telling you, Bill, I believe this more and more and more and more.
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  One person praying can change the world, no doubt.
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  And one person's prayer matters. So I'm not underestimating that at all.
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  Like, there's no way of measuring the power of even one person praying.
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  But I'm trying to find the best way to say this.
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  But more people praying matters, too.
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  Like, he says, the cry of the people of Israel.
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  Like, there was power in that more people were praying.
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  He wants to make sure. And so I'd say to us, if we want to see a real move of
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  God, a real deliverance, man, a real setting us free from cultural,
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  societal issues, all those things, that one way God,
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  one thing that moves the heart of God is more people praying.
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  More prayer. You know, one man said a little prayer, little power,
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  more prayer, more power.
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  Great prayer, great power. And I'm just sitting here thinking about your five kids.
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  You know, if one of your kids came up to you and said, Daddy,
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  I want some ice cream, you can blow that off. You know, you can.
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  But then two. And then the girls. I mean, you know. It's over then.
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  And if all of them jump all five of them jump on you and you have only got five now right?
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  I do, that's five and they're screaming ice cream ice cream,
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  we all scream for ice cream you know, where are we going?
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  They get ice cream bro it's happening they can never listen to this podcast
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  because I don't want them to know that but think about why it's the heart of their dad Right.
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  It's just the heart of their dad.
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  And there's something about when God's people pray collectively and cry.
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  And then even that word cry, Kyle, you mentioned there is a different word than pray.
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  Right. Cry means desperation. You think about these Israelites in bondage for
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  400 years. They are, at the end, they are desperate for deliverance.
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  And they cry out to God, and God hears and says, you know what?
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  Their cries come up, and I'm coming down, and I'm going to take them out.
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  And it's on.
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  Yeah, and I just I'd say to our listeners again to that represent churches and
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  regions and like the collective cry of your church matters.
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  So so help help lead people to pray.
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  The collective cry of your region matters. Find as many ways as possible.
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  New wineskins of prayer, new ways to get more. I'm constantly asking on behalf
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  of our church, how can I get help empower more people to pray?
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  I'll use any tool, any way, just to get more people vertical because I know
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  that that collective cry matters.
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  So all that and then we'll land here. This is awesome.
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  So you got to think, I just, I'm visual and I'm thinking about if I'm Moses,
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  I'm face down for the Lord.
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  The Lord's sharing all this stuff. Like, hey, you need to know this.
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  I've seen, I've heard, I cared about it, I felt it.
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  Man, their cries have been coming up before me. I have come down.
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  I'm going to deliver them, bring them to promised places, all that.
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  To which, if you're Moses, you're like, hallelujah, amen.
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  Like, Lord, man, wait till Pharaoh finds out what you're saying to me.
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  He's toast. And then verse 10, and this is the thing that we need to embrace.
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  Come, I will send you to Pharaoh so that you may bring my people,
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  the children of Israel, out of Egypt.
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  To which, you know, Moses said, of course, we're not going to get into it all day.
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  He's going to struggle with us with this thought big time. Big time. Big time.
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  But it's teaching us something that is from front to finish in Scripture,
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  that God will so many times promise us his presence, promise us what he's going
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  to do, what he's going to accomplish.
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  And then he's going to look to us and say, so come play.
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  Mm hmm. Come be a part. You got a role.
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  You know, Moses, you're so happens to be this role pretty distinct,
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  but there's going to be so many others that are going to have a role as well.
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  And so I would say to our listeners and to each one of us, if you're a part
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  of God's family, if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, the Lord is promising so many things.
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  Hey, you can't name a zip code on planet Earth that the name of Jesus is not going to be exalted in.
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  He's going to glorify his name, that he's going to advance his kingdom,
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  that he's going to build his church, that he'll never leave us or forsake us,
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  all these different things.
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  And then the Lord is going to look at each one of us in the eye individually
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  and say, son, daughter, now I'm sending you.
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  Now I'm sending you. It reminds me of John 20, 21, when Jesus says to them again,
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  peace be with you as the Father has sent me.
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  Even so, I am sending you.
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  God has a plan.
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  God has a plan. God has a redemptive plan. God has a waking,
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  revivalistic plan, desires and stuff.
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  But this is the part that's hard. And you have a part.
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  You have a part. And at some point, you've got to embrace that.
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  You've got to embrace that. You've got to cooperate.
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  You know, Kyle, I've been studying for several years and writing this book we've
• 20:10
  talked about here. We're all the present-centered life.
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  And one of the things that I saw is that God, everything God has done in the
• 20:24
  scripture is to invite us into his presence.
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  And one was the way he made us. And look at this.
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  It says, God said, let's make man in our image and let him rule.
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  In other words, what he says is, and let them multiply and subdue the earth.
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  So what he says is, look, I want you with me. Yeah.
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  And I want you, I made you like I am so you could join me in what I do.
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  Right. And I got stuff to do. Right. So that means, and every time I think about
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  this, I'm maybe talking to a group or something.
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  Right. I just think, man, if these people only knew how each one of them has
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  been fearfully made, and they have a domain.
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  They have an area that God has given them to rule and reign and to be a part,
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  a mighty instrument in the hands of God.
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  But they just don't think that's possible for them.
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  They think, well, that's for the Kyle Rinos of this world. That's for the,
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  you know, the pastors or somebody else.
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  No, no, everybody's got their spot and everybody's got their place.
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  And most of the time, it takes a lot of time.
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  Chipping away by God to get us to the point where we're ready for that took Moses 80 years.
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  But what was fascinating, Kyle.
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  Is that the very ground that he drug those sheep around on for 40 years was
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  the exact ground that he was going to leave the children of Israel on. That's so right.
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  Exact ground. And so God, God just, I mean, God's so smart.
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  He just knew exactly what he was doing. He knew exactly what he had to build
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  into Moses, what he had to chip away from Moses.
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  And he's doing that with you. And every one of our listeners,
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  you are to be a mighty instrument of God's presence and power in this world.
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  But you've got to see that and embrace it, not in a proud way,
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  but in a humble way. and say, here am I, Lord, send me.
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  Wow, isn't that, you know, something the Lord over time has put way down deep
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  in me is, one, you know, God's never been looking for a capable person.
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  Yeah. He's looking for a usable one. Yeah.
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  And, but I have a responsibility in that, that I have to allow the Lord.
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  I do, we do, to break us of all pride and desire to be known,
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  all those things, and get to the place where you're going, like,
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  Lord, I don't want to be known, but I do want to be used.
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  And if you can get to sincerity in that place, there's this awesome right confidence
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  that comes with, you know what, God don't have to use me.
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  But here's the thing, in humility, He's choosing to right now. He's choosing to.
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  And like nobody else can be you where God has placed you like you.
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  And so there is that in humility, there is embracing also that God has given
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  me the authority to stand in this moment, to be used as a vessel.
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  And so this ain't about me, but I'm here right now.
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  I'm here right now. And so, Lord, use me.
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  And that's the most liberating thing in the world to get to the point where
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  you're like, Lord, here I am.
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  Use me where I am as long as you want to in a way that glorifies your name.
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  And then I'll just be grateful that I get to be a part of this thing.
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  And there's what you said, and we'll pray here, but I think...
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  What you said is so important, particularly for young leaders and stuff.
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  You know, there's this process we all have to go through to be broken of our
• 24:39
  will, to be broken of our pride, to
• 24:41
  be broken of our desire for fame and reputation, all that kind of stuff.
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  I mean, it's just it's in all of it.
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  And we have to go through that breaking and developing process.
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  But if we will, the quicker we cooperate with God about that,
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  he is just waiting to use us in extraordinary ways.
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  And then we can step into that, not with pride. And you just said it with authority,
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  with spiritual authority.
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  It's like, I'm not, I'm a nobody.
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  I'm here by the grace of God, but I am here and I've been fearfully and wonderfully
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  made. The other day, I was going to minister at this particular place.
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  I have never had this thought in my life.
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  And I've been thinking about all this.
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  And the Lord just said to me, Bill, this place where you're going right here, that's your domain.
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  Go for it. Go for it. I've made you to rule and reign right here with this particular
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  gift that I've given you.
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  And it's been shaped through the years.
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  But this, I do want you to stand up and realize this is your spot and this is
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  your gifting and go for it.
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  You know, just go for it. What a liberating thing.
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  And God wants to use us all there, doesn't he? Sure does.
• 26:09
  Sure does. Well, man, let's pray for, I would say,
• 26:14
  man, Bill, why don't you pray for our listeners, you know, and that each of
• 26:19
  us individually would have those moments in God's presence where we embrace our purpose.
• 26:26
  Yeah. God's got a way that he wants to use this in us. So lead us in that.
• 26:33
  Father, we're so grateful for the Bible and that it's a living word.
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  It's not some dead history book. But, Father, you're talking to us.
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  And your spirit takes your word and speaks to us.
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  And, Lord, like this morning, you come to us and say, look, I had a purpose for Moses.
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  And I was preparing him for that purpose. And it had to be in my presence.
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  He had to learn how to live in my presence and to walk with me.
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  But in the right time, I said, I'm going to come down to take my people out and deliver them.
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  And I need Moses. I want to use Moses.
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  And Moses finally said, Lord, here I am.
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  And so, Lord, I pray for every one of our listeners. They would we would just
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  all realize God's called us to something great.
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  I don't care if we're Lord, if we're throwing papers somewhere or we're the
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  CEO of a company or we're out in a rice field or whatever we're doing.
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  Lord, you have a domain for us and you have gifting you've given us.
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  And then you fill us with your Holy Spirit if we'll let you.
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  And Lord, you give us the power of your presence.
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  And the whole purpose of that is because you have sheep that you need to seek and save and bring home.
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  And and help them realize their purpose, their destiny, their calling.
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  So, Lord, help us just to I pray that that would just rumble around in our soul
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  and we couldn't get away from our calling and our purpose.
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  And, Father, it would begin to be a new day for some of our listeners in a very significant way.
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  We love you and we thank you for this time together in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.
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  Well, as always, thank y'all for time today. Man, it's so privileged to be a part of this.
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  Bill, it's fun doing this with you, man. And always encourages you.
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  If it's a help to you, man, send it to somebody. Take a few seconds and say,
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  hey, listen, I just listened to this.
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  And maybe share something that
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  spoke to you that y'all can start a conversation around and encourage.
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  Because revival and the real move of God, even in you, is never intended to
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  stop with you, but spread to others. And we look forward to that.
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  Music.