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Be The One | Pr Isaiah F. (Singapore) · Generations Church

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Hello and welcome to the Generations Church podcast. We're so excited to have you
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here today. It is our prayer that God's word will inspire and help you
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grow in your faith. Now let's get right into it. Good afternoon,
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Good afternoon, Good afternoon. Am I on right, thank you again,
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past the and d thank you again. Generations Church is interesting. You know.
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It's interesting that the first ministry or the first youth ministry that was involved
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in it's also called Generations, right. And what's amazing is that the story
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of Generations Singapore, which is was a youth ministry of Connerstone Community Church,
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started with forty nine young people who have eventually exploded to become seven hundred.
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You know, what I want you to know is that God loved to do
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the great things. He likes to take the small thing, and he likes
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to bless it, and he likes to grow it. So I believe that
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if I even as I'm standing here, I sense in my spirit God is
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going to explode Generations Malaysia, you know, and I think that this place
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is going to be too small for what God is going to do in your
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life. Amen. Amen, thank you again for the privilege of inviting me
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here. I brought with me my wife who travels with me, my wife
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Carol, and together we have three beautiful girls. Three beautiful girls. And
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what's interesting is that their names are interesting. The first girl is sixteen years
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old and the youngest is actually ten years old. The first girl has a
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name that is German, right, and my second and my third child are
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Hebrew Hebrew names. And one day someone asked us, you know this question.
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It says, why a Hebrew name for the younger one and why German
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name from the I mean the oldest one. So we could not understand.
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I know, we cannot find a reason. But God gave us the wisdom.
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So we answer this particular person and says, maybe God is trying to
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reconcilet the Germans with the Jews. Right, that's the So we came to
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that conclusion. That is the answer why God gave us the name for our
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children. Three beautiful child amazing. My eldest daughter hope to one day become,
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you know, a doctor. You know, if you are praying for
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my family, please pray for my daughter that she one day become a doctor.
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She's like like a teacher, that she's a student, like any teacher
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that would love. Okay, I have a problem with my eldest daughter is
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that one of the problems is to stop her from studying. She loved to
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study. She she spends most of the time studying and I have to stop
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her from studying. So what a beautiful daughter to have. Amen. But
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today my sermon for this evening isn't about my daughter, my family, but
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it's about you guys. You know, I have a word that God put
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in my heart, you know, and the word is be the one.
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You know thirty your neighbors says, be the one. Interestingly, even as
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we talk, I shared the story of how Generations Singapore from forty nine exploded
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to become seven hundred in matter of you know, of years. You know.
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I want you to know that God wants you to be that one that
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will bring change. Someone says this. In fact, Mark Twain says this
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that the only person who like change in the world or in their life is
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a wet baby, right, a wet baby. You know. I have
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three children. I go through the grind. I mean, I remember how
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you know, when they were young, you know, when they are wet
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in their diapers. The first thing that they want to do is cry because
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they want to be changed. And here Mark Twain says, the only person
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who likes change is a wet baby. But the thing here is this has
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Christian or has the Church? One of the things that we should love is
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change. We should love change. Act Chapter seventeen is the testimony of the
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Church, or the Book of Acts, and the Bible says that the early
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Church loved to change things for Jesus. The Bible says this does. In
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fact, the testimony of the Book of Acts was this, that this who
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had turned the world upside down has come here too. And I believe that
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God has put you here because God is about to turn things upside down on
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the right side up for Jesus here in Malaysia. Amen see, someone says,
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is the truth is this? You either make history or your history.
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If you have your Bible, please turn to Second Kings, chapter five,
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verse one to verse ten. It's a very famous, familiar story for most
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of us. I'm not gonna read. I'm just going to put the word
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on the slide, but I'm going to give you a paraphrase of what the
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whole story is all about. It's a story about a very famous general his
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name is Namon and he was known to be one of the most successful Syrian
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general in his days. But at the end, not only he was a
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good commander, but he was also a person that had a problem. He
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was a leaper. And if you know anything about leposine in the days that
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they were living in, you know what what happen is that you are you
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are cut off from society. Can you imagine he had a lot of success,
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He has a lot of look I mean positions, a lot of power.
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But yet one problem with him is this he cannot be where he wants
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to be, and that's with the people that he is appointed to and he's
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cut out from society. His start history says this that what happened is that
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if you are a person with leposy, you are supposed to stay far away
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from all the rest of community because leposie was considered something that was contagious in
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that time. If you come into contact with someone like with like Nayman,
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who is a who is a leaper, chances out maybe you may even get
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leposi yourself, and then he would then he what happened is that he is
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told to be away from the people that he loved. Can you imagine a
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well known general, full of successes, full of victory, but the only
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problem is this he cannot enjoy the fruit of his victory. Can you imagine
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having all the wealth, all the victories, but yet not enjoying every single
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moment of it. And that was a problem for Naemon. There was no
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solution in those times. But the story of Second King's chapter five had a
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very powerful conclusion. We know that at the end of the day they found
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a solution, and the solution was given to him, and eventually he met
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the prophet Elijah, you know Elijah. And then the next thing you know
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that he was deeping in the river and he got well, right, all
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his leaposy. This is the cure. Right, you go and dip yourself
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in the lone time, seven times, but in the word of God.
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You must have listened to the instruction from the Word of God. And that's
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what happened. He went into the river that was one of the dirtiest in
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that region, and he went into the river and he dips himself seven times,
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and seven times at the word of God, he stands up and he's
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now completely healed. Wow, what a story, what a miracle. In
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fact, the Gospel mentioned of how Naymon was hell off his leprosy. But
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today I'm not going to talk about Naymon. I'm gonna talked about someone that
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is found in this passage of scripture that doesn't even have a name. But
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she is the one that brought change in the society and in the life of
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Nayman in those days. The Bible calls her, in fact, the Bible
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calls a young girl from Israel. That's all her name. For all that
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she did in the Bible, for all that she did for the kingdom,
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for this well known man. The Bible just mentioned her to be just a
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young girl from Israel, a young girl. Can you imagine where she was
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in a place that is so foreign. She was a captive. Let me
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just give you an idea what this this girl or the background of this girl.
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She She was a captive. She was taken, you know, as
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a rap, as a captive when the Syrian came came over to the land
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and took all the possession of the land. And what happened was that through
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the raids and or the looting, they brought her back to the kingdom and
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to become a slave girl. Two, Naman's miss wife. That was a
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that was a story. In short, she was a nobody. Let me
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just give you very quickly what her situation looked like. Number one, she
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was a captive. Can you imagine being young and being a captive. I
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don't know, but the last time I read about some people who are in
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captivity, it can actually make you live in a place where you're traumatized.
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You lose your rights, you have no opinion about the circumstances because you are
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a prisoner. You are forced to do what you don't want to do.
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You're a captive. The Bible also described this girl to be just a nobody.
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She was not an intelligent person. If not, the teacher would have
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loved her and call her teacher's pet. She was not someone from the best
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colleges of Israel. She was nobody. The Bible described her just as a
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young Jewish girl, a girl Jewish girl, so no background, where the
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father is, somebody who owns this? And that it wasn't. She was
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just a nobody. Nothing was mentioned about her, about her past or where
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she's been. There was nothing. All we knew in plain she was just
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a young girl, nobody, not only that she was ordinary. There was
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no special skill. She can't jump from one mountain to the night mountain.
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She doesn't have special move you know. She doesn't have ability. The Bible
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says, doesn't have ability that is extraordinary. She just normal, ordinary girl.
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The Bible calls her young. I want you to know, young in
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those days can be perceived as someone that is inexperienced, maybe if even foolish,
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not of good use. What can you do when you bring someone from
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another land to be a slave? No ability? Young, don't know anything?
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Right? You remember once upon a time, maybe your parents are angry
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with you, and their description of you is you don't know anything. Have
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you heard that before? At last I have when you're young, don't know
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anything? Her idea, her knowledge and wisdom was limited because she was young.
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The next thing called from a land to be a captive. Not only
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that, to be a slave to Nayman's wife. That means she belongs not
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only she's taken out of a comfort. She now belongs to the lowest bracket
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in all society in Syria. A slave. Her job was to do what
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nobody wanted. To do. Anything that is asked for her, she will
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need to do whether she feels like it or she don't like it. She's
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a slave. Can you imagine for a few moments being taken away from home,
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from your family, from your community, for your country. He was
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forced to work. He was still young. Maybe she had dreams For many
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of us. The conclusion is this, Maybe what we'll do is that when
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we end up in that whole new place, a new new environment, we
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will spend many years or many months crying, afraid, distress and feeling homesick.
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But what's amazing is the story of this young girl who the Bible don't
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even give a name for. And instead of feeling sorry about herself and upset
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about what had been gone, that her life has gone, the things that
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she has gone through through her life, at that point of time, she
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changed the situation around She became the one that changed the nation and changed the
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life of Damon. Can you imagine must be very challenging. Came from a
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place where, maybe in Israel, where God is something that is well converse.
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From young you hear about people talking about Torah, talking about the Lord,
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talking about Richeal, And here you come to Syria, where the culturally
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is anti God. Grew up in a culture that the law of God governs
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people's life, and now comes to a culture that's totally different. He worshiped
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the God of Israel, and here he comes to this place, and now
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she no longer am able to identify what she worshiped before. All these things
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could have destroy and hurt a young lady, but instead she turns it all
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around. This evening, whatever that we have been through, God is asking
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us to be the one to change the things around. If you have your
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Bible, as we read Second Kings chapter five, I'm just gonna read two
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verses, and these two verses will give you three points of how we can
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become that one. Second Kings chapter five, verse two to verse three the
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Bibles. Now the band of raiders from Aram has gone out, has taken
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captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Nayman's wife. Verse three.
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She said to her mistress, if only my master will see the prophet
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who is in Samaria, he would cure him of his leprosy. Two words,
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two verses that change the whole Kingdom of Israel and the situation between two
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nations, two scriptures. Church, It's time to be the one and to
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be the one. We need to do three things that the Bible tells us
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that the girl did. Number one, we need to act from the place,
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from the current position that we are in. No matter whether you are
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in the mountain right now or you're in the valley, whether you're the top
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in your organization or in the bottom of your organization, it doesn't matter,
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because this girl know how to act from her current position. The Bible says
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in verse two, she was taken and she served as a slave, but
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from a current position, she changed the whole nation around. She acted even
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though she was small. She was just a slave, she was just a
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youth, was just a foreigner. She had no power or position. She
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accepted her situation without any sense of bitterness. You see, I want you
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to know all these things doesn't stop us from changing what the world is putting
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on us if we learn how to act from our current position. You know.
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First timately chapter four, Us' job is a very famous scripture that we
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always use in you Can, You Can. But it's not just for you
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can. But he's the He's a scripture for our life. He's a scripture
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that was given from Paul to his spiritual son Timothy, who took over a
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church from an apostle John, And can you imagine the kind of shoe that
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he had to fit in. And as he was trying to fit into that
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whole shoes of leading this church, all of a sudden, Paul gave Timothy
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an instruction that we all should learn, because he says this to Timothy in
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First Timothy chapter four, bust job, to not let anyone think less of
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you because you are young. Sometimes we limit what God has given to us,
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we belittle ourselves. Well, God look at us and says, well,
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I put enough in you to change the world. And here was Paul
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telling Timothy, do not be afraid. Don't let anyone think less of you.
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Don't let anyone think less of you. You are more than what you
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think you are. If that girl decided that day that all she is a
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slave for the rest of your life, let me tell you that she will
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not even open her mouth to give that suggestion to the wife of Naman.
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She could accept that she's a slave, and that's it. A slave.
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I have no rights and no influence, no words to say to Naman.
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So what I would do is this, I'll just keep my mouth shut and
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continue on with my life and just be like everyone else instead of being the
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one. Paul begins to say, be an example to all believers in what
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you say, in the way you live, in your love, in your
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faith, and your purity. She retained the faith in God. She does
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not curse God for placing her in that situation. In fact, the Bible
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said that she displayed God's strong faith, knowing that God is going to turn
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the situation around with her action. The question at the end of the day
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is that are we willing to make lemonade of the lemon that's been thrown at
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you? A lot of things can be thrown at you. My journey of
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faith has so many things, and I believe Pastor and you will share a
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lot of things of his own personal journey at the age of seventeen, having
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a knife on my throat saying renounce Jesus, h I kill you. That
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was my journey of faith and living seventeen years old with ten dollars in my
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wallet, ten dollars in my will, two pairs of follow things, one
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pair of jeans, and the mocazins was opening his mouth. Was my journey
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of faith to follow Jesus for the rest of my life. But God can
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use that ten dollars in your wallet, and God can use that knife on
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your throat, and God can use that choose that was opening up to bring
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you to places that you never imagine. The story of Joseph was a story
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that inspires my life. God use him while he was in prison. God
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use him when he was in Partifir's house. God uses him because he was
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willing to work or to be God's God's vessel wherever or whatever that's been thrown
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at him. Church, God wants us to take our position. Maybe today
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you are in school, something might have happened. But if you trust God
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and you allowed God to use you and be that one, you will never
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know what can happen in that school. Maybe you are in a company and
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you look around. Everything is just difficult and everything is just going south.
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But if you allow God to use you as the instrument, you will never
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know how He can open doors and bless you and see how the company can
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turn around and your life can be transformed. My question to you is this
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what you do the things of God even at your current position. The second
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thing that the girl did was this, she acts, even if the action
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was small. Sometimes we like the big things, right, we like the
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big things. We like the big stage, We like the big thing.
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We like to do the things so big that everybody will know what we are
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doing. But the Bible tells me this that all she did, or she
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said to her mistress one thing, one small thing. She said to her
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mistress, her boss, And she said this to her boss. If you
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could only tell my master where she can find her healing, he's healing,
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he will, he will be healed. If only, ma'am, you tell
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master to go and find that profit, he will be cure of his leparsy.
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One action, simple action. All she did was sin when she could
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just give me in quiet, she acted even when she should should not.
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Oh just could have just minded her own business. Christine Taught white Man says
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this. Anyone who think that they are too small to make a difference has
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never tried to fall asleep with a mosquito in the room. Can you imagine?
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Most of ours have sleeped outside. And I'm not an outdoor person.
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Maybe Jake is because he comes from New Zealand. I'm a city boy.
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When I go holidays from shopping center to another shopping center, I know might
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have friends who would hike up a heel. I would rather see a video
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or a picture of it, thank you very much. Part of that reason
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is I don't want to find myself in the situation when I'm in a room
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with a small mosquito. I had no choice. I have to serve my
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military, and to serve my military in the nation I come from, we
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have to go to the jungle. And when let me tell you this,
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when the mosquitoes are around, it's not a pleasant experience. Well, you
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don't need a lot of mosquito, you just need one that as you close
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your eyes, he's always talking to you in your ears, and you slapt
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yourself right instead of the mosquito hegg and you slap yourself again. Somehow,
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you will never get the mosquito until it bites you. Then you know it's
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that he's completed. Then comes another mosquito. That small act from that mosquito
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is enough to keep you awake the whole night. What more, a small
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act from this woman changed the world that she lives in. But the question
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that we all have to ask is this, why would the high level officer
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listen to a slave? If you ever wonder why would a high level listen
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to a slave, right, he would be listening to the wise man in
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his cabinet or the people around him. The generals is lieutenant, people who
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have proven to him to have been loyal to his projects and is an assignment.
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But why would you listen to a slave woman? Let me tell you
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the answer is simple. There's something about this slave girl that's worth listening.
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I believe the word is credibility. Something about her life that may not be
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mentioned a lot, but I think the way she has lived her life with
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the mistress and in the house of naymen that causes Namen to want to listen
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to this woman and something that we all need to think about. The small
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thing that we do must be credible. It makes a big difference when you're
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credible one word from this servant having the position of a CEO or a manager.
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Yet again, the top official would listen because this woman had proven herself
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to be worth listening, trustworthy. His action was so remarkable that a general,
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a five star general, would listen to a slave to find a solution
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for his problem. Think about that, but we must act small. Even
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though the action is small, we still must act on it. The third
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and the last point is this, she acted at all costs. She acted
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at all costs. Verse three says this not only she said to her mistress,
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But the sentence go on by saying that if only, my master,
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if you listen to that word that was said by this woman, if only
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refers to a suggestion, that it can and it will happen if you take
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this solution that I'm suggesting. She basically was giving Naman a guarantee. Can
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you imagine she was basically giving Naman a guarantee to his problem. If you
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only you go to that prophet, you all your problems will be gone.
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If only, my master, if only let me tell you why it caused
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her why the cause of her suggestion is expensive, For a reason, both
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countries were at wars. Seria was at war with Israel. The stake was
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not small. Can you imagine if what she said and was listened by name,
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and and it was not fulfilled, what would Naman do? Definitely destroy
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her village right, definitely destroyed. But the the suggestion wasn't small. He
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was a guarantee that this woman gave to Naman. The stake was very high,
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though the action was very small. He might have caused more harm if
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he didn't come to pass. But somehow this woman had faith in God and
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she knew that her suggestion would bring solution in both countries. Can you imagine
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Naman after getting her getting himself healed from leprosy. I think he would think
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twice. He would think differently when he approached his enemy Israel, because he
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has seen the God of Israel healing his condition. I think the situation is
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very similar to as four verse sixteen. In this book, we hear how
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Esther was put in a place, and her response was, this is go
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together together all the Jews who are in sussa fast for me, do not
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eat, drink for three days and night. This was what will happen.
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But when we go and read further, this is what happened. When this
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is done, I will go to the king. And even though it's against
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the Lord, if I perish, I perish. Her action was all in,
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There was no holding back. Can you imagine the kind of responsibility and
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risks that she was putting in for the sake the only of the fire of
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the solution for Naman, but for her country too. And she put it
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all there, and she said to naman mistress or the wife, if only
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my master would listen and go to the prophet, then he will be a
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leper. Normal think for a moment that is high rich, high rish.
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I don't know why. I think credibility is one, but I think the
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sentence that the woman said to the mistress had more than just a suggestion,
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but it also reflects her desire to see her master be well. I think
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her concerns and her love that was displayed in that conversation with her mistress convinced
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that great general to go and see the prophet. If you look at the
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sentence carefully, and you find if only my master and he will cure him
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of his leprosy, there is the desire of that servant girl. Her desire
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was to see her master get well. And because of the love and the
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concern that the servant girl had for her master, the Bible tells me this.
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The respond of Nayman was that he took that solution and he went to
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see that prophet. It's interesting sometimes we look at people who are very significant
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to make a big difference, But throughout the whole Bible, I found out
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that people with no names, who are faceless who only have a few sentences
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to acknowledge that they ever existed. Are the people who make big changes and
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history for the Bible and for the Gospel. Today this afternoon, my question
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to general this, would you be the one that will bring change in your
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school? Would you be the one that bring change in your community? Would
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you be the one that will transform your officers for Jesus Christ? Would you
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be the one you don't have to have all the cvs behind you, because
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this woman did not have anything except when she was young. Love to be
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young. I'm forty four. I love to be young again. In fact,
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I'm getting younger. The truth is we all think that sometimes because our
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gender, whether you're a boy or whether you're a girl, they have advantages
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and disadvantages. Oh that will limit me because I'm a girl. I cannot
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do it because I'm a girl. My boss only listens to men. I'm
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a boy, because my boss only listen to women because at home she listened
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to the women and then come to office, so so listen to women.
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Men cannot he bully men, but submit to women. You know, it
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doesn't matter what your gender might be. At the end of the day.
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The Bible tells me this that you can make a difference. It doesn't matter
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what race you come from, whether you're Chinese, Chindian, a more,
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where you're tied. What are the race is here representative you're Filipino, whether
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you are my race, which I'm not gonna mention. At the end of
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the day, it should not limit you to bring change where God is need
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you. I love what Mother Teresa say. You say that we can do
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no great things. I mean we can do no great things, only small
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things with great love. Mean can do no great things, but we can
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do what smoth things with great love. Thank you for joining us on the
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Generations Church podcast. We trust you've been blessed by the message today. Remember
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to stay tuned by subscribing to this podcast. For more inspiring content, do
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you share it with your family and friends. Follow and tag us on social
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slash Generations Mind.