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Morning Devotion from John: Spiritual Blindness · The BLAZE (Bible Study)

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Speaker 1: Good morning, and God bless you, family. Good morning, God
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Speaker 1: bless you. Welcome back to The Morning Devote. We're going
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Speaker 1: to continue our morning devotion coming from the book of John.
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Speaker 1: So the idea behind this is for us to take
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Speaker 1: every chapter in the book of John and extract a
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Speaker 1: couple of verses out of there to devote our morning,
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Speaker 1: devote our time, devote set-apart time to get into the
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Speaker 1: Word of God. So we're studying the book of John.
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Speaker 1: We're going to be in chapter number 9 today, verses
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Speaker 1: 40 and 41, today on The Morning Devote. if this
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Speaker 1: is your first time visiting or listening or watching welcome
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Speaker 1: i want to personally welcome you to the morning devo
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Speaker 1: i try to be in the studio lives weekdays mondays
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Speaker 1: through fridays 5 30 a.m we're in the eastern standard
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Speaker 1: time clock our zone is eastern standard time so whatever
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Speaker 1: time zone you find yourself in welcome it could be
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Speaker 1: at night in some places right now welcome amen so
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Speaker 1: um Depending on your schedule, depending on your time zone, amen,
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Speaker 1: I just want to welcome you personally to these morning devos. Amen.
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Speaker 1: So God is faithful to his word, and he does
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Speaker 1: what he says he would do, and he's amazing at
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Speaker 1: everything he does. He's amazing at everything he does. Amen.
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Speaker 1: So let's go forward. Let's pray first. After we pray,
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Speaker 1: we'll share this out for like 60 seconds. I'm not
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Speaker 1: going to put the timer, but I'm just giving you
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Speaker 1: an idea frame. Just share it out while you're listening
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Speaker 1: or watching. Amen. If you can't watch... The beautiful thing
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Speaker 1: about the tech that we have in our society now
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Speaker 1: is that we can do audio or video. So you
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Speaker 1: have an option. I said, man, I'm driving. I wish
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Speaker 1: I could hang out with you guys, but I'm driving. Okay,
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Speaker 1: no problem. So winners with a Z.org or you could
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Speaker 1: click the apps that are available on the website. So
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Speaker 1: that way you could take us with you 247. So
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Speaker 1: let's pray. Father, I thank you so much for today,
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Speaker 1: for right now, for the opportunity that you give us
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Speaker 1: today to get into your word. Your word is truth.
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Speaker 1: Your word is life. Your word is light to our path.
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Speaker 1: I thank you, Lord God, that you have promised in
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Speaker 1: your word so many things, and those promises are available
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Speaker 1: to all your children. I pray, Lord God, specifically for
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Speaker 1: those who are experiencing anxiety right now, that are going
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Speaker 1: through issues that cause worry. I pray that you would
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Speaker 1: help them by way of your Holy Spirit. I pray
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Speaker 1: against fear in the name of Jesus. I pray a
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Speaker 1: hedge of protection over myself, my wife, our family, our children,
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Speaker 1: our bloodlines from the very youngest family member to the
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Speaker 1: very oldest and every single person in between. I pray
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Speaker 1: that hedge of protection prayer over every single person that's
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Speaker 1: watching or listening right now. Them and their whole entire
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Speaker 1: family that you, Lord God, will send your angels on
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Speaker 1: a rescue mission, on a mission to minister, on a
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Speaker 1: mission to annihilate the tactics and plans of of the
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Speaker 1: devil over our lives because you already have conquered the devil.
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Speaker 1: The devil is defeated. And we know that the plans
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Speaker 1: and schemes of the enemy are just thwarted right now
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Speaker 1: by the powerful name of Jesus Christ. 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. Like I said,
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Speaker 1: you can share this out anytime during the podcast. But listen,
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Speaker 1: we're going to get into a word today coming from
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Speaker 1: two verses from This is John chapter 9, verses 40
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Speaker 1: and 41. And always remember to read the whole entire chapter.
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Speaker 1: So that way, if you think it's out of context,
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Speaker 1: it's okay. But as long as you read the whole chapter, amen,
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Speaker 1: God will totally speak to your life, speak to your heart,
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Speaker 1: and give you understanding. If you're a believer in Christ,
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Speaker 1: please believe and follow and trust that the Holy Spirit
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Speaker 1: would do what Holy Spirit God says he would do, right,
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Speaker 1: is to lead you into all truth and lead me
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Speaker 1: into all truth. So wherever you find yourself in your
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Speaker 1: spiritual walk with the Lord, amen. Welcome. Let's start today.
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Speaker 1: If this is your first time ever getting on a
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Speaker 1: morning devotion or ever studying the Bible or ever cracking
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Speaker 1: the scriptures open, welcome. Today is a new day. Thank
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Speaker 1: you for coming through and just being a part of
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Speaker 1: what God is going to do today. John chapter 9,
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Speaker 1: verses 40-41. Some of the Pharisees who were with him
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Speaker 1: heard this. And I'm going to explain to you who
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Speaker 1: the him was. And they asked him, are we blind too?
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Speaker 1: And this is Jesus. Spoiler alert. This is who it
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Speaker 1: is that they asked. If you were blind, Jesus replied,
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Speaker 1: you would not be guilty of sin. But since you Claim,
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Speaker 1: you can see, your guilt remains. Man, that's an ouch.
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Speaker 1: The Pharisees, the religious people of the Lord's time, amen,
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Speaker 1: always had this attitude about who do you think you
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Speaker 1: are to Jesus? What are you trying to say? They
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Speaker 1: had this attitude like this Jesus claims to be God
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Speaker 1: and we're going to debunk that. And every single time,
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Speaker 1: every instance that Jesus was approached by questions, insults, or,
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Speaker 1: you know, indirects, Jesus would speak boldly and clearly back
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Speaker 1: to these Pharisees, back to these religious people of his time.
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Speaker 1: If you were blind, Jesus replied, you would not be
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Speaker 1: guilty of sin. But since you claim you can see,
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Speaker 1: your guilt remains. This is so on time. There's a
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Speaker 1: lot of ministers and ministries out there that claim they
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Speaker 1: could see, claim they could hear from the Lord. And
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Speaker 1: Jesus is like, if you were blind physically, it doesn't
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Speaker 1: mean that you have sinned or your family have sinned.
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Speaker 1: According to this chapter, that was a discussion. So a
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Speaker 1: little background of this chapter. There was a blind man. Jesus,
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Speaker 1: I'm shortening it real short. You have to read the
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Speaker 1: chapter for yourself. Jesus comes in. and gives sight back
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Speaker 1: to this blind man. Yep. They were asking, which one
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Speaker 1: of his parents were sinners, like that he was born blind? Right?
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Speaker 1: The Pharisees and all the religious people at the time said,
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Speaker 1: this can't be. Who is this man? Who gave you
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Speaker 1: back your sight? They were asking the blind man. I
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Speaker 1: don't know. You saw it. You know what I mean?
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Speaker 1: I can see now. Right? But it's a whole lot there.
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Speaker 1: You got to check it out for yourself. It's an
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Speaker 1: amazing story. And it really displays the heart of mankind.
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Speaker 1: Like Jesus performs a miracle and people want to try
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Speaker 1: to say, well, how do you know it was him?
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Speaker 1: What power did he come and perform this miracle? He's
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Speaker 1: dishonoring the Sabbath. There's no way this could be the
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Speaker 1: son of God. So have you ever been convinced? Have
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Speaker 1: you ever been convinced that you were right? Right? Only
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Speaker 1: to discover later on, you find out later on that
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Speaker 1: you couldn't see the situation that you thought. And I
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Speaker 1: thought I was right. You couldn't see it clearly. Right?
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Speaker 1: I've been in those situations plenty of times. Welcome to
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Speaker 1: the land of life. Welcome to the world of living.
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Speaker 1: Welcome to this world system that always tries to destroy
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Speaker 1: something that's good. and replace it with something that's bad,
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Speaker 1: and call that something that's bad, and they call it good.
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Speaker 1: Jesus was speaking to people who thought, these people thought
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Speaker 1: they can see, or they could see spiritually. Jesus was
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Speaker 1: speaking to these people. So mind you, those people knew
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Speaker 1: the scriptures, some of them probably, right? I don't know,
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Speaker 1: I wasn't there, obviously. But some of them probably knew
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Speaker 1: the scriptures up and down, You couldn't tell them nothing
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Speaker 1: to deviate from those scriptures. Jesus was talking to people
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Speaker 1: who thought they could see spiritually, but their pride is
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Speaker 1: what prevented them from recognizing the truth standing right in
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Speaker 1: front of them. How many times does that happen to me?
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Speaker 1: The truth of God is standing right in front of me.
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Speaker 1: And I'm looking around like, Lord, give me the truth.
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Speaker 1: Give me the path of righteousness. Help me. And the
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Speaker 1: Lord is right there. Amen. Amen. Have you been in
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Speaker 1: those situations? I have. Spiritual blindness is not always about
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Speaker 1: what you don't know. Right? Man, Lord, I'm spiritually blind
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Speaker 1: in this area. I don't know. It's not always about
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Speaker 1: what you don't know. Sometimes it's about what we refuse
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Speaker 1: to see, what we refuse to accept. Amen? Certain things
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Speaker 1: in life happen and you're like, man, there's so many
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Speaker 1: red flags. And I know, Lord God, that you're You're
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Speaker 1: showing me this clearly. Clearly, I could see the red
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Speaker 1: flags in this situation. It could be in your relationships.
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Speaker 1: It could be in the way you're handling your finances.
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Speaker 1: It could be your health that you keep on doing.
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Speaker 1: You have these habits of keep on eating the wrong
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Speaker 1: things at the wrong time, right? Greasy food, fried foods.
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Speaker 1: I'm Latino, so I have to watch my diet because
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Speaker 1: our foods are so greasy but good, right? We eat
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Speaker 1: all kinds of different meats, fry all kinds of different meats.
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Speaker 1: It tastes so good, but the body's like, enough of that.
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Speaker 1: And it's clear to see, but sometimes we continue to
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Speaker 1: do the opposite of what God is showing us not
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Speaker 1: to do. Sometimes we continue to do it. It's a
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Speaker 1: battle because we have this thing called the flesh, right?
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Speaker 1: We can't sugarcoat it. I'm born to since 2001. You
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Speaker 1: might be born again right now since how long? I
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Speaker 1: don't know. But you know that we always have this
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Speaker 1: thing called the flesh that tries to take us and
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Speaker 1: steer us in a different direction than what the Lord
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Speaker 1: is steering us, where the Lord wants to take us.
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Speaker 1: So be careful. Spiritual blindness is isn't always about what
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Speaker 1: we don't know. It's not always about ignorance. Oh, I
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Speaker 1: didn't know, so I was blinded in that situation. I
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Speaker 1: didn't know, and this, that, and the third. We can
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Speaker 1: become literally spiritually blind when we allow pride, anger, unforgiveness, selfishness,
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Speaker 1: or our own opinions to become more important than God's word, right? Again,
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Speaker 1: I'm Latino. I'm speaking to my culture. We can be
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Speaker 1: very opinionated at times as a culture. And, you know,
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Speaker 1: whatever culture you are, you know, in your family or
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Speaker 1: with your friends or in your situations, that could be
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Speaker 1: the same. You can make that same statement. Our opinions,
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Speaker 1: in my humble opinion, see that, can never overcome God's word. Like,
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Speaker 1: I can't have such a strong opinion about something in
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Speaker 1: the word that I'm always right. It's impossible. What about you?
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Speaker 1: I have strong opinions, right? And I have strong convictions.
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Speaker 1: I have personal convictions about music, about drinking alcohol, about this, that,
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Speaker 1: and the third. And my personal convictions are placed there,
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Speaker 1: I believe, by Holy Spirit that lives inside of me.
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Speaker 1: The same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead
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Speaker 1: is living inside of me. Why? Not because anything special
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Speaker 1: about Sam. It's all about the special tea and the
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Speaker 1: special love and gift of God that he gave every
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Speaker 1: single one of his sons and daughters who called upon
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Speaker 1: his name to be saved, he got into us. We
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Speaker 1: didn't get into God. God got into us. Amen? And
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Speaker 1: we were willing to have that spirit inside of us living.
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Speaker 1: Same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. Right? I
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Speaker 1: truly don't understand all of what that means, but I
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Speaker 1: know it's in the words, in the scripture. It's true. Amen?
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Speaker 1: And we're experiencing it. the Holy Spirit God leading us
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Speaker 1: into all truth. So spiritual blindness is really not an
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Speaker 1: excuse sometimes because I know we try to say, well, God,
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Speaker 1: you know, I didn't know that. I didn't know that scripture.
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Speaker 1: I didn't know what, I couldn't hear your voice. I
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Speaker 1: was busy. I was this, that, and the third. Spiritual
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Speaker 1: blindness is not always about ignorance. It's not always about
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Speaker 1: what we don't know. Spiritual blindness could be caused by anger, pride,
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Speaker 1: you know, our own evil, selfish desires, things along those lines,
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Speaker 1: if we're honest. So the danger is not just like
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Speaker 1: so simple. Hold on. The danger is not so simple
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Speaker 1: like being blind, caught out there, caught off guard. It's
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Speaker 1: not about that. The danger is believing we can see
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Speaker 1: what we actually need God to open our eyes to see.
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Speaker 1: Think about it. When I got saved, I promise you,
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Speaker 1: I was drunk and high. Some of you guys know
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Speaker 1: my testimony. Year 2001, December, and I'm calling out God,
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Speaker 1: like calling Him out. Drunk and high, I was just like,
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Speaker 1: I was just done. I knew there had to be more,
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Speaker 1: so I'm calling on this unknown God that I didn't
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Speaker 1: know about at the time. I said, listen, if you're real,
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Speaker 1: come and change my life. And do it by tomorrow.
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Speaker 1: This is my testimony. I'm not promoting this kind of
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Speaker 1: language to talk to God, to put Him to a
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Speaker 1: test and give Him ultimatums. I was drunk and high
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Speaker 1: in my situation. And God spared me. He had grace
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Speaker 1: upon me. He knew my heart. He knew what was
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Speaker 1: going on in my life. So I called him and
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Speaker 1: I said, listen, change me by tomorrow morning. If you
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Speaker 1: don't change me by tomorrow morning, when I wake up,
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Speaker 1: I'm going to keep it moving. There is no God.
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Speaker 1: So when I woke up the next day, I felt
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Speaker 1: not only my eyes open naturally, right? I felt the eyes,
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Speaker 1: my spiritual eyes open. And I felt like scales coming
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Speaker 1: off my old natural eyes. And then I could see.
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Speaker 1: So all that time that I was living all the
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Speaker 1: way to the age of 30 years old, I was
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Speaker 1: spiritually blind. I couldn't see. People would literally come up
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Speaker 1: to me and say, Sam, are you okay? And I said,
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Speaker 1: what are you talking about? And they used to have
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Speaker 1: a laundry list. Man, this happened. Your wife left you.
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Speaker 1: You're doing this. You're not paying the mortgage. You haven't
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Speaker 1: paid the mortgage in your house for almost a year. This, that,
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Speaker 1: and the third. They were just reading me, right? And
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Speaker 1: I would look right at them at the time before
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Speaker 1: Jesus said, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm okay, right?
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Speaker 1: Because I was spiritually blind. blind. But man, when Jesus
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Speaker 1: showed up, and that next morning, after I called him out,
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Speaker 1: thinking I'm all tough, shaking my fists at the ceiling
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Speaker 1: and all this other stuff, he opened my eyes. So
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Speaker 1: what I thought I was seeing in the natural, when
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Speaker 1: he opened my eyes in the supernatural, then I was like,
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Speaker 1: oh wow. I was going the totally wrong direction. I
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Speaker 1: was living in all this sin. But I didn't realize
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Speaker 1: that because I was blinded to sin. I was trapped
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Speaker 1: in sin. I was in bondage to sin. I was
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Speaker 1: on the devil's side. I was in the devil's camp.
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Speaker 1: I was being controlled and manipulated by my own evil,
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Speaker 1: selfish desires and everything that the world system threw at me,
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Speaker 1: I was indulging in because I was spiritually blind. Do
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Speaker 1: you know people like that, that are spiritually blind? That
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Speaker 1: you know, man, you go up to them and say, man,
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Speaker 1: are you okay? Because you're doing this too much. Whatever
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Speaker 1: that this is, it could be drinking, It could be
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Speaker 1: having random sex with different people. It could be partying
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Speaker 1: too much. It could be cursing too much. And you're
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Speaker 1: going up to this person in love because your eyes
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Speaker 1: are spiritually open. But you're going to realize that the
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Speaker 1: people who don't trust in the Lord Jesus, the people
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Speaker 1: who don't have their spiritual eyes open, they can't see.
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Speaker 1: So then you have to shift into grace. You have
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Speaker 1: to shift into intense prayer for these people. You have
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Speaker 1: to shift into loving these people. Don't shift into judgment. Amen. Amen.
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Speaker 1: Because we both know or we all know how we
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Speaker 1: were when we were spiritually blind. So don't get into judgment. Man,
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Speaker 1: you better change because if you don't, that's judging based
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Speaker 1: on what? Because we were all blind at one time,
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Speaker 1: but now we can see. And because we could see,
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Speaker 1: now we have the opportunity to help those who are
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Speaker 1: spiritually blind and help them see what God is showing us.
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Speaker 1: But we first have to take them to the Lord.
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Speaker 1: We have to be like those friends in the scriptures
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Speaker 1: that broke open the ceiling, the roof, right? And lowered
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Speaker 1: their friend down. They lowered their friend down to the
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Speaker 1: feet of Jesus, right? Those are friends, man. And Jesus
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Speaker 1: healed that man. And actually, I think if I'm not mistaken,
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Speaker 1: attributed the healing to the faith of his friends. I
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Speaker 1: could be completely wrong, but that just came by my
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Speaker 1: mind just now. So the danger is not just being blind.
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Speaker 1: The danger is believing we can see what we actually
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Speaker 1: need God to open our eyes to see. So let's
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Speaker 1: ask ourselves some questions here, right? We see in John
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Speaker 1: chapter nine, verses 40 and 41, that some of the
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Speaker 1: Pharisees heard, right? Some of the Pharisees who were with
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Speaker 1: him heard this and they asked him, Jesus, are we
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Speaker 1: blind too? Like, We have the Torah. Are we blind too?
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Speaker 1: We have religion. Are we blind too, Jesus? And Jesus replied,
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Speaker 1: you wouldn't be guilty if you were blind, right? Because
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Speaker 1: he knows if you're in sin, you're not guilty with God.
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Speaker 1: You're in sin, right? You're already condemning yourself because the
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Speaker 1: devil is trying to trap you. The devil is lying
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Speaker 1: to you. The devil is trying to lead you to
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Speaker 1: Total destruction. But Jesus said, but if you claim that
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Speaker 1: you can see, but you really can't, your guilt upon
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Speaker 1: you remains. Actually, the wrath of God still remains on us.
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Speaker 1: If we go around saying, man, you know, I could see.
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Speaker 1: I don't need the Holy Spirit. Blasphemy, right? You shouldn't
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Speaker 1: be saying things like, oh, I got this. I don't
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Speaker 1: need God. Atheists say that all the time. It's just
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Speaker 1: that they have a lack of understanding of who God is.
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Speaker 1: It's not that an atheist cannot believe. They refuse to believe.
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Speaker 1: There's evidence all around us. We all, if we're honest,
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Speaker 1: we all could see the handiwork of God every single day.
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Speaker 1: Sun rises, we see the moon, stars. People see the oceans,
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Speaker 1: experience nature, Grand Canyon, stuff like that. We, if we're honest,
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Speaker 1: we have to be like, there's a creator of this.
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Speaker 1: This just didn't pop up out of thin air. And
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Speaker 1: we're just like, presto, here's the world. Here's this beautiful wilderness.
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Speaker 1: Here's these beautiful animals. No. We know deep down inside
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Speaker 1: there had to be a creator that created all these things.
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Speaker 1: It's not an explosion and the explosion brings everything to life.
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Speaker 1: It's not about that. If you're honest, you know that
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Speaker 1: doesn't make any sense. What makes sense is is that
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Speaker 1: someone with a mind spoke things into existence, created things
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Speaker 1: into existence, and it's still here what we can see
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Speaker 1: proving that there is a creator. So ask yourself, are
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Speaker 1: you willing to let God himself correct you when you're
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Speaker 1: saying that you could see something but you know and
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Speaker 1: I know that we need God to open our eyes
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Speaker 1: to see that? How about this? Is there something God
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Speaker 1: is showing you that you and I keep on ignoring. Right?
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Speaker 1: After you ignore something that God is showing you over
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Speaker 1: and over again, I believe that God will be like, alright,
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Speaker 1: I showed you clearly X, Y, Z, and you continue
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Speaker 1: to ignore what I'm showing you. God is not the
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Speaker 1: God that's going to continue to nag you or me.
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Speaker 1: He loves us so much that if we want our
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Speaker 1: will to be done, like, okay, your will be done.
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Speaker 1: And then He'll watch us like a concerned parent that
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Speaker 1: he is, like a concerned father that he is. But
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Speaker 1: that's a dangerous path. Knowing what you know to be
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Speaker 1: true because God revealed something to you and to me,
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Speaker 1: and we ignore it, that's dangerous. How about this? Ask yourself,
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Speaker 1: have I allowed pride to keep me from seeing the truth?
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Speaker 1: Is pride in my life the problem of me seeing
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Speaker 1: the truth? Why I can't see the truth? Is it pride?
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Speaker 1: The Bible has a lot to say about pride, right?
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Speaker 1: So if you're prideful, you're arrogant, say, man, I know
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Speaker 1: this already. I know that already. I've been in Bible studies.
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Speaker 1: I've been in men's groups, and I've been in places that,
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Speaker 1: you know, we're studying the scriptures, and there's usually a
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Speaker 1: person that says, oh, I knew that already. Or kind
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Speaker 1: of like a know-it-all. And you're like, that's a lot.
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Speaker 1: It could be pride. It could be arrogance. It could
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Speaker 1: be whatever. I have a degree in X, Y, Z.
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Speaker 1: That's great. But let's see what the God of heaven
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Speaker 1: and earth, the God of the scriptures is speaking to
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Speaker 1: his people about right now, right? So I might be
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Speaker 1: stuck in a certain translation of the scriptures, right? Like
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Speaker 1: I might be, because I'm in the BSB, the Berean
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Speaker 1: Study Bible. I'm into that a lot. and then somebody
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Speaker 1: read a scripture, the same scripture, just from another translation,
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Speaker 1: I have to be willing to listen to that translation
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Speaker 1: and be like, you know what? That makes sense. And
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Speaker 1: rely on Holy Spirit to teach me the difference between
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Speaker 1: those translations. Not that it's something different, but it's framed differently.
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Speaker 1: It could be read differently, right? It could be coming
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Speaker 1: from a different translated perspective. But the issue is not
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Speaker 1: the translation. The issue is the one who transforms us.
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Speaker 1: Will he teach us what his word is saying. So
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Speaker 1: every individual in that Bible study or men's group or
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Speaker 1: church service might get a different revelation, but the beautiful
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Speaker 1: thing about God is that he will show us all
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Speaker 1: the truth and specifically show it to us individually and
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Speaker 1: corporately at the same time. Brother Maurice, I see you.
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Speaker 1: Good morning. Blessed to see you as well. How about
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Speaker 1: this question? Am I trusting God's word or I'm being
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Speaker 1: like simple-minded trusting my own understanding. When we know there's
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Speaker 1: a scripture in Proverbs that says, lean not on your
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Speaker 1: own understanding. So these are real issues in life, real
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Speaker 1: questions that we could be asking ourselves. Because if you
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Speaker 1: find yourself in a spiritual blind state, right? Knowing that
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Speaker 1: you have the eyes to see now and the ears
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Speaker 1: to hear, just hold on. Don't be too hard on yourself. Remember,
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Speaker 1: we're in a fallen world. Everything that's being thrown and
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Speaker 1: hurled around us is catering to our flesh. It's not
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Speaker 1: really honoring the spirit of God, spiritual things of God
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Speaker 1: in this world system. So just give yourself some time.
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Speaker 1: Get along with the Lord and say, listen, how far
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Speaker 1: am I? Am I really, really, really listening and seeing
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Speaker 1: what I'm supposed to be listening and seeing? Or am
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Speaker 1: I just positioning myself and trusting my own understandings? through experience.
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Speaker 1: Because I know, you know, I've been around a little
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Speaker 1: bit in this world and this earth, and I have
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Speaker 1: some experience in some areas, maybe more than the experience
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Speaker 1: than you have, and vice versa. You might have experience
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Speaker 1: at a certain area of life that I don't have. Well,
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Speaker 1: let's put those things together. Brother and brother, sister and sister,
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Speaker 1: let's share our experiences and let's rely on the one
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Speaker 1: who allowed us to go through those experiences to get
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Speaker 1: us to the truth. So don't ask God only to
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Speaker 1: show you what you and I want to see. You
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Speaker 1: ever pray like that? You want something in life and
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Speaker 1: you start praying specifically for that want in your life.
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Speaker 1: Not realizing that God is not really obligated to give
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Speaker 1: us what we want. God holds to his word and
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Speaker 1: he gives us what we need. He's Jehovah Jireh, the
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Speaker 1: God who sees all of our needs and supplies for
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Speaker 1: each and every one of those needs. He knows your
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Speaker 1: specific individual need right now and he will supply it.
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Speaker 1: He's Jehovah Jireh, the God who sees your needs and
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Speaker 1: sees my needs and supplies for every single one of them.
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Speaker 1: How about that? So don't just ask God to show
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Speaker 1: you what you want to see. Rely on the God
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Speaker 1: that provides for everything that we need. Right? So ask him. Literally,
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Speaker 1: just ask the Lord to open your eyes to whatever
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Speaker 1: he wants you to see. Like, Lord God, open up
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Speaker 1: my eyes to whatever you want me to see. Right?
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Speaker 1: Simple as that. The God who hears is the God
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Speaker 1: who responds. Right? And he's a loving, holy, righteous, just God.
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Speaker 1: He will answer us according to his will for your
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Speaker 1: life and for my life. Sometimes God doesn't change the
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Speaker 1: situation first. You've been in those places that God needs
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Speaker 1: you to change the situation or change this person or,
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Speaker 1: you know, fix the issue. Sometimes he don't always do that.
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Speaker 1: Sometimes he'll just change our vision, how we see things,
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Speaker 1: not what the situation is, right? Let me remind you,
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Speaker 1: I know I said this a lot in the years
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Speaker 1: of podcasting, in the years of doing this ministry. God's
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Speaker 1: not obligated to do anything for us. He's not obligated
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Speaker 1: to do anything. He's obligated himself to his own word.
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Speaker 1: And his word is trustworthy, right? God holds tight to
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Speaker 1: his own word. He even elevates his word above his name,
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Speaker 1: the Bible says. So God's word is good. He trusts
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Speaker 1: in his word. He doesn't owe me. He doesn't owe
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Speaker 1: you anything. Amen? What he has done, he's committed himself
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Speaker 1: to his word. And everything his word says... will complete
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Speaker 1: the task of that word. He changes our vision. So
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Speaker 1: the simple way to know if you're spiritually blind, and
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Speaker 1: this is an open statement I'm going to make, is
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Speaker 1: to realize that your eyes might be open to what
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Speaker 1: you want to see or to what I want to see,
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Speaker 1: but your heart is closed to what God is telling
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Speaker 1: us and what God is showing us. So we have
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Speaker 1: to do consistent heart check. Be consistent about it. Do
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Speaker 1: it daily. Are you going in the right direction? Am
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Speaker 1: I really following what the Lord is saying or am
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Speaker 1: I following my feelings? We have to be honest with
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Speaker 1: each other. Don't ask God for something that you don't
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Speaker 1: want God to answer. Don't ask God for something that
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Speaker 1: you really don't want Him to give you. Amen? And,
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Speaker 1: you know, for me, I'm not really playing a lot
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Speaker 1: of games with the Lord anymore like I used to, right?
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Speaker 1: That's the Michael Jakes. God bless you. It's good to
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Speaker 1: see you in the morning, Diva. But I'm out of time.
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Speaker 1: Thank you so much for hanging out with me. It's
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Speaker 1: been a pleasure. God bless you all. God keep you all.
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Speaker 1: And remember always, remember this, that God is good. Peace,
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Speaker 1: my friends. Have a great day.