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Message from Ben Sargent - Friday Evening Session · Simply Christ Podcast

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Christ podcast. This episode was recorded at the
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Upper Midwest Fellowship Camp. Let's get right into it.
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Thank you, brother. Boy, I sure did enjoy that
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singing that last song I, I sang that I don't know how many times
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I was building my house. And so I'm a painter, so that'll
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tell you what you might be in store for if you come see my
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house. But that song just, it's just a
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blessing. And, and I, I enjoy, I enjoy
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young voices. I love to hear young people
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sing. And I would, I would encourage
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you with this young people sing what you can sing.
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Like you mean, I, I grew up singing, love to sing, but I'm,
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the way I tell the story is I'm closer to 70 than I am 60.
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And so my singing voice is shot. As a matter of fact, I was
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telling somebody last night that I heard my voice a couple of
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years ago. And so I have to be very careful
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with my voice. And so I don't sing when I'm
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when I'm going to preach, which you might find to be a blessing
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at this point. But anyway, tomorrow when I get
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done preaching, I'm going to sing for all I'm worth.
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And it might come out terrible, but the word of God says to make
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a joyful noise under the Lord. And so, so I hope that when
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you're singing, that's what you're doing, You're making a
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joyful noise to the Lord. And and I, I'll say this again
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and I might in say it again tomorrow morning.
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Music was created by God for God.
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It's not for us. That's why we have the privilege
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of singing and worshipping him with our voices.
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We ought to sing like he's sitting right there because he
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hits. So sing like you mean it.
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Sing like it's your heart it ought to be.
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And so thank you for that good music tonight.
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So if you would take your Bibles this evening and turn to the
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book of Luke, Luke Chapter E, I'm going to I'm going to preach
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on one of my favorite subjects, which you may have already
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guessed is the word of God. I love the word of God for a lot
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of reasons, but I think I could say that the biggest reason is
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because when I heard the good news from the word of God, God,
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this wonderful grace allowed me to believe it and him from that
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day until this, I've never been the same.
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And so I do love the word of God.
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I don't apologize to anybody for that.
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And it's interesting. When God first saved me, I was
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20 and I went back to that foreign country I was telling
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you about and, and I start preaching the gospel.
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I started preaching from the minute God saved me and so many
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of my friends back there laughed at me sometimes scorned me.
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But now those same people after a life's beat them up for the
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last 46 years, those same people ask me questions when I go home.
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I want to see those same people them some of them ask me to pray
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about something that a guy asked me number, you know, just a
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couple years back. He said he said how long you
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been preaching? I said, I don't know, over 40
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years. And he just stepped back and he
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said 40 years. And I could tell that the reason
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that that was significant to him was because there was nothing in
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his life that was 40 years old that mattered.
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And yet I had been telling people around the world how they
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could have their sins forgiven for over 40 years.
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The word of God is precious to me.
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It's dear to me. So we'll begin in Luke chapter
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8. You're going to know the stories
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that I tell tonight, and they're very familiar to you if you've
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been reading the scriptures for any period of time, and I hope
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that they're not old to you. Luke chapter 8, beginning in
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verse 5A. Sower went out to sow his seed,
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and as he sowed, some fell to the wayside, and it was trodden
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down, and the fowls of the air devoured it, and some fell upon
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a rock. And as soon as it was sprung up,
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it withered away, because it lacked moisture.
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And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and
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choked it, and other fell on good ground, and sprang up and
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bare fruit in hundredfold. When he had said these things,
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he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
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And his disciples asked him, saying, what might this parable
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be? Jesus is going to go on here and
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he's going to explain what parables are for.
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When I was a kid, I was, I was raised in a dead religion.
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And there were some guys running around in dresses and their
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collars are on backwards. And there's some unfortunate
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females who were black as well and were miserable and and they
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told me that the reason Jesus spoke in parables was to make it
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easier for me to understand. And that was exactly opposite of
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what the word of God says. He says this verse 10 and he
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said unto you, it is given to know the mysteries of the
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Kingdom of God. But to others in parables that
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seeing they might not see and hearing they might not
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understand. The reason Jesus spoke in
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parables was so that the religious crowd would not see
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and they would not understand even though they heard it.
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That's why he spoke in parables. He spoke specifically to conceal
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truth. The Bible is written to reveal
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truth, but it's also written to conceal truth.
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And the only way that the word of God is revealed to somebody
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is when they believe it not to use his illustration.
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Many times when I was doing my undergrad, I had to take some
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courses in nuclear physics and, and if you didn't know algebra,
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you were never going to, you were never going to get through
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that stuff. And, and then we had to study
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calculus and, and you want to talk about something that could
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bore you to death. Calculus is the study of how
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close you can get to something without judgment.
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I don't want, I don't want anything like that in my life.
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I, I like real things. I'm not really thrilled about
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the abstract, but what they told me in those, those classes, and
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it was really, it was an engineering background, was that
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once I understood it, I would be able to believe it.
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And I used to poke holes in all those their theories and carbon
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dating and all that kinds of stuff.
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And I did it by asking questions in which my instructors were not
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terribly thrilled about, but they told me once you understand
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it, you'll believe it. Let me tell you why that that
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doesn't work with the word of God because it's backwards.
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You won't understand this book until you believe it.
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You have to commit to believe in what you're reading.
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And then God, the Spirit of God reveals it to you and teaches it
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to you. And I'll go into further detail
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later, but my, my significant point here is that you have to
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believe it to understand it. You have to believe it first.
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And so he has his disciples here, and they ask him the
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question, and he says unto you, It is given to know the
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mysteries of the Kingdom of God. But to others in parables,
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seeing they might not see, hearing they might not
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understand. Now this, the parable is this.
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I'm going to explain it to him. The seed is the word of God.
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Those by the wayside are they that here then cometh the devil,
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and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should
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believe and be saved. You see that the seed was
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planted and the devil came and took it away because if it
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stayed there and they believed, it was going to bring forth
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fruit. And so the reason the devil came
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and took it was so that they didn't believe.
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But there was nothing wrong with the seed.
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There's nothing wrong with the word.
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Just because somebody doesn't understand it, that's not God's
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fault. They don't understand it because
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they don't believe it. Those by the wayside are they
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that here then cometh the devil taketh the word out of their
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hearts. Out of their hearts.
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So the seed, the word was in their heart, but the devil came,
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snatched it away before they believed, and were saved.
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They on the rock, or they which when they hear, receive the word
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with joy, and these have no root, which for a while believe,
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and in time of temptation fall away.
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See, there was no root there. The problem in the previous
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individual was that that even though the heart was the sea was
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planted in the heart because they didn't believe when that
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seed was planted, it didn't bring forth fruit.
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Here they they don't have a root.
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The root never gets down in there.
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Young people, let me challenge you with this.
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If you don't have a time every single day in your life where
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you get in the word of God, you need to change that.
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You need to change that tonight because the Word of God is the
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thing that's going to impact your life like none, nothing
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else, like no other, but it has to be in a particular
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environment and you're the one that's responsible for that.
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Verse 14, he says, and that which fell among thorns are they
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which when they have heard, go forth and are choked with cares
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and riches and pleasures of this life and bring forth no fruit to
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perfection. So these are people who actually
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have fruit and and I've been a couple of discussions this
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weekend already with people who knew somebody who got saved or
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professed have gotten saved the same time they did.
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And even maybe at at first, they began the end to outrun that
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individual. They had the answers, they
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memorized verses. They fit the part, it seemed.
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But then after a number of years, now they're just running
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with the devil. While they had no root.
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They had a show, they had a practice, they had religion, but
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they had no root. And so that fruit that started
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fell to the ground and became rotten fruit.
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And so when people tell me I saw the fruit in their life, you
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didn't see the fruit to perfection.
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You didn't see the fruit when it came forth and was complete and
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full and whole. What you saw were early sprouts.
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And so young people, I'll challenge you tonight.
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Get in the word of God, create the environment that God wants.
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And here's that environment, but that on the good ground are
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they, which in an honest and a good heart, having heard the
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word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience, an honest
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and a good heart. That's where the seed thrives.
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That's where the seed can bring forth fruit or affection.
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There are a number of here, I, I've already talked to a number
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of us. I've heard a gentleman out of a
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number of gentlemen's testimonies that a God saved him
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from drunkenness. Other things that I'm, I don't
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want to mention right now, but maybe you're a kid or a young
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person and you've grown up in this lovely, wonderful, loving
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Christian home and you can sing all the songs and you know all
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the verses, but Jesus isn't real to you.
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He's just a practice. He's just a religion.
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He's just what my family does. Because you haven't had an
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honest and a good heart. And the seed that's come there
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hasn't brought forth fruit to perfection and isn't on the way
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either. And you know it.
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And God's been dealing with you and you know that God wants to
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save you, but you just keep saying no because it'll be
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embarrassing. Because I profess to get saved
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when I was just a little kid and I got baptized and the preacher
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told me I was saved. And all these other distractions
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and honest and a good heart is where that seed goes, gets
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planted, and then becomes fruit that is brought on to
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perfection. And so I want to read to you a
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definition. It's about the word effectual.
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The word effectual means producing or capable of
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producing the desired or intended effect.
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There's only one of those 4 seeds that got planted, but the
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Word of God was effectual in each case.
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There's nothing wrong with the seed.
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There's nothing wrong with the word.
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The problem was the environment. And so my question to you
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tonight, first of all, is the word of God effectual in your
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life because you believe it? Is it effect?
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Is it effectual in your life because when God, God's word
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comes to you, you and an honest and a good heart believe it, or
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are you just playing church? It's easy to play church in this
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kind of environment. You know, when we all grow up,
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you know, and most of us are your own schoolers.
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And, you know, we dress right and we play right and we talk
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right. We eat the right food, we drink
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the right drink. But what God's looking for is a
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place to put the seed. There's an honest and a good
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heart so that the Word of God can demonstrate its
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effectualness. The Word of God is effectual.
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I'm going to come back to that later, but the word of God is
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effectual in your life as much as you will allow it to be.
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And so that's a challenge to if you would take your Bibles now
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and turn to the book of Mark. I'm sorry, Matthew book of
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Matthew chapter 4. We're still talking about the
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word of God here. It's a different illustration.
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Matthew chapter 4, verse 4, the Bible says, but he answered and
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said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by
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every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
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You know when the when the devil came to Jesus, he came to him
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when he was in what we think of as a weakened state.
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And you know that the devil's always going to want to come to
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you and he thinks you're in a weakened state.
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And the way that this was handled was not to slap him
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upside the head, but a bow paddle.
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It wasn't to try to get his attention.
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Jesus merely said, it is written, man shall not live by
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bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth
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of God. The word of God is food.
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It's food for our souls. Isaiah 55 verse 11 says this.
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So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth.
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It shall not return unto me void that shall accomplish that which
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I please, and shall prosper in the thing wherein to I sent it.
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So when the devil came to Jesus and was trying to tempt him, he
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didn't didn't even bother to rebuke the devil.
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He just quoted his own words, the words that he was
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responsible for writing. Then the devil taketh him up
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into the holy city Jerusalem, and setteth him on a pinnacle of
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the temple. So he's up on the top of the
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top, and saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself
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down. For it is written, He shall give
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his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they
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shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against
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the stone. Jesus said unto him, It is
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written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
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You know why that is? You know why Jesus could stand
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there and just quote Old Testament Scripture.
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Gentlemen, gentlemen, I'd like you to listen, OK?
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He was able to quote the word of God.
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He knew it. He wrote it.
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He was the author. He also knew that it was the
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words of God that would stop the devil in his tracks.
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And because his word was fixed, it's fixed.
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And so it was written previously.
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He quoted it where was fixed, and the devil had to stop once
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again, and the devil again. I'm sorry.
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Verse 10 Then Jesus says unto him, Get thee.
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Hence Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy
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God, in him only shalt thou serve.
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Not only was the word of God food, not only was it fixed, but
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the word of God is freedom. These words in this book are the
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thing that changed your life if you've been born again by the
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grace of God. It's these words that are in
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this book. They are food for our souls and
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for our spirits. But the word of God is fixed and
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the word of God is freedom. It's what frees us from sin.
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It's what gives us the freedom to worship a thrice holy God,
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even though we're unworthy to even get to do that.
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Do you think that you or I are worthy of the privilege of
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worshipping A thrice holy God? We're not worthy of that and yet
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the Word of God gives us the freedom to do it.
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If you would take your Bibles now and turn to the book of
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John, John Chapter 11. I just got done teaching this to
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my Sony school class this chapter.
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And, and you know, I, I, I love how Jesus always handled the
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Pharisees. He treated them like the
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religious hypocrites and bigots that they were.
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And, and in this story, there are some religious people that
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are around. There are some gentiles who are
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coming just to kind of see and check out who this Jesus guy is.
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And so, so he's about to raise Lazarus from the dead and, and
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look at what he says in 1140. He says, Jesus saith unto her.
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Said I, he's talking, he's talking to to Martha now, said I
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not unto thee, that if thou wouldest believe, thou should I
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see the glory of God. Then they took away the stone
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from the place where the dead was laid.
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And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that
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thou has heard me, and I knew that thou hearest me always, But
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because the people which stand by, I said it, that they may
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believe that thou has sent me. The word of God is effectual,
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and the word of God is food. It's fixed, it's freedom, it's
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final, but it's also glorious. Picture if you were one of those
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people that were standing there at that tomb and Jesus is
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talking to Martha and he says, hey, you know, didn't I tell you
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that if you believe, you'll see him raised, you'll see the glory
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of God. And then he prays and he talks
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to God the Father. And he said, yeah, I'm, I'm glad
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that this happened this way because, you know, these people
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over here, you know, they need to see this.
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That was done for the glory of God.
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Lazarus didn't even have to die. Mary said that to him.
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Martha said that to him previously.
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He didn't even have to die if Jesus had been there.
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But Jesus, God in the flesh, allowed Lazarus to die so that
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those people could see the glory of God.
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The word of God is glorious. And so he says, Lazarus, come
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forth, Here comes Lazarus when he comes out in his grave
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clothes, he's hopping along like Oblong Cassidy and he's yeah,
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loose him. Get those, get those grave
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clothes off him. That was glorious.
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It was a glorious thing to to see.
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But the words Lazarus come forth, the words of God are
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glorious. Think of think of the woman who
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was sick 12 years. Jesus is on his way to do some
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other miracle. And the woman says, boy, if I
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could, if I could just touch it, if I could just touch the hem of
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his garment. And and so let's look at that
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real quick turn to more. I'm sorry, Matthew Chapter 9.
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I keep on the same art tonight and it's Matthew, Matthew
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Chapter 9. And then in verse 20, behold, a
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woman which was diseased with an issue of blood, 12 years, came
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behind him and touched the hem of his garment.
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For she said within herself, if I may but touch his garment, I
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shall be whole. But Jesus turned him about, and
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when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort.
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Thy faith have made thee whole. Do you think that was a glorious
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moment for that Lady? She's been sick for 12 years.
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Doctors have been trying. She spent all all the money she
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had trying to get better and the words that Jesus spoke, she was
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healed. That was a glorious moment.
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I spent some time today after lunch with a a couple who told
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me the story about their daughter who was not to be
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flippant but the expression when he is back in the mountains is
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she was dead as a hammer. She was in a car wreck, her arm
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was was taken off her ribs, some of her ribs were missing and the
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EMTs didn't even fool with her. They were busy taking care of
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the other people because they were sure she was already gone.
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And they refused to believe that.
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They got the phone call and they refused to even mention the word
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death. They believed that their
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daughter was going to live. And after 20 minutes of no brain
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activity, after 20 minutes of no breath, they said she wasn't
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breathing. And when they got her to the
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hospital, they, I forgot how many units of blood they gave
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her, but she had no blood in her body.
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But God decided I'm not done with this like just yet.
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God healed her. God raised her from the dead.
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That's glorious. And God had to speak that life
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back into that individual. That happened I think two years
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ago, maybe less. God's still in the healing
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business. God's still raising people from
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the glossy with his words. The word of God is glorious.
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It's glorious, dormant at the well, think of the words that
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Jesus spoke to her. She came and she was dismissive
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of him. She was arrogant.
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She was brassy and bratty. And then he read her mail to
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her. He said, yeah, you've had five
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husbands and the one you're with now is not your husband.
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He knew everything about her. And the words he spoke to her
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were glorious because those words helped her get lost.
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Those words helped her understand her needs and that
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the need she had could be fulfilled and cared for by the
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one she was talking to. The words that came out of his
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mouth were glorious. Word of God's effectual.
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It's food, but it's glorious. The Syrophoenician woman had to
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practice saying that word several times today.
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She came to Jesus, if, if you're unaware, she was a black lady.
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And you know, the Jews have long been at war with a number of
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different black entities throughout their history.
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And so they look down at this woman, look down their noses
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like she was some kind of second rate individual.
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Jesus didn't think so, but she had no right to come up to this
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individual, this person that was claiming to be their Messiah,
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the Jews Messiah. And yet she spoke to him.
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She said my daughter's sick, come and heal her.
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And he puts her off a couple times just to see if she'd be
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persistent. And she was.
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And he told her, you can go your way, your daughter's hole.
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The Bible says she was made whole from that very hour.
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The words that Jesus spoke were glorious words.
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The words that he's recorded here in the Bible are glorious
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words. They're factual, they're food
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and they're glorious. And we ought never to forget
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that. So I'm going to give you just a
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little quick list here about the Word of God, Word of God and the
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things that it is. The word of God is abundant.
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It's abundant, Jesus said I am come that they might have life
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and they might have it more abundantly.
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When God saved me as a drunkard seems like yesterday, he saved
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me. But it seems like an eternity
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though that I was that guy. But when I heard the words of
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God, they were abundant and they changed my life.
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Not only at the place of salvation which I desperately
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needed, but in the 46 years since I have lived an abundant
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life. An abundant life.
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A life that I could never have dreamed of.
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I met a woman who was not the woman of my dreams and I marry
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her. She was so far past my dreams I
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never could have ever come up with her.
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I live an abundant life. God gave us 5 beautiful children
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and now we have 14 grandchildren.
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God's provided for every need I've ever had.
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I've seen God do miracles. I have lived this incredible
28:39
life that's so abundant. And you sat down and thought
28:44
about your life and just decided I'm going to write for an hour
28:50
about the abundance of my life. You couldn't stop at an hour.
28:56
You just have to keep going on and on and on because the
29:01
abundant life that we live is an eternal one.
29:03
It's everlasting and it's going to continue.
29:06
The Word of God is beautiful. Think about how he said that the
29:11
feet of those that bring good news are beautiful.
29:16
You know what? The feet are beautiful because
29:17
of the message that the those feet carry the words of God.
29:22
The Word of God is beautiful. It's consistent.
29:25
You know the the number 8 is the number of new beginnings.
29:30
It means the same thing in the book of Genesis as it does in
29:34
the Book of Revelation. 8 is the number of new beginnings. 7 is
29:40
divine completion or or perfection.
29:42
It's the same in Genesis as it is all the way through and to
29:49
the Book of Revelation. The number six is the number of
29:52
man. I could go on, but you get the
29:54
point. The Word of God is consistent.
29:57
There's no contradictions in this book.
30:00
I've had people come out to me and say, aha, look at this over
30:03
here in First Kings, and it disagrees with this in Second
30:06
Chronicles. Yeah, no, no, it doesn't.
30:12
You have to study the Word of God and you have to believe the
30:15
Word of God for it to understand the word of God.
30:18
And so there are no contradictions here.
30:20
There are things here that I haven't yet got an answer to.
30:23
That's not God's fault. That's just me.
30:26
I need to study more and I need to believe more.
30:29
Word of God is consistent. Word of God is deliverance.
30:33
It's deliverance. We talked about that this
30:34
morning. But hey, if you know the Savior,
30:38
you know that you're free. Indeed.
30:41
The chains that I had, chains of anger, chains of frustration,
30:47
chains of alcohol, chains of I could go on for it.
30:51
I'd chains. I had chains and when I fell
30:56
down on my face and trusted Jesus as my saviors, chains fell
30:59
off and they all fell off. The enemy's tried to convince me
31:03
that I've got chains on me still ever since.
31:07
Yeah, No, I don't. And when he tries to convince me
31:10
that, I just kind of giggle and whatever.
31:13
And I tell him it is written. I'm free.
31:16
Indeed. Deliverance.
31:19
It's a beautiful thing. Colossians 113.
31:21
He says that we're delivered from the power of darkness,
31:25
delivered. It's a done deal.
31:27
It's over. That comes because of the words
31:29
of God. I we talked in already.
31:32
The word of God is effectual. The word of God is food.
31:35
The word of God is glorious. The word of God is historic.
31:39
It's a the Bible is not a religious book.
31:43
Get that out of your head. The word of God, the Bible is
31:47
not a religious book. It's a book about a king, and
31:55
it's told from the perspective of Jewish history.
32:00
And thank God there's a story in there about a creator and a
32:05
savior who loved me so much he bled to death in my place.
32:08
But this is not a religious book.
32:10
This is a political book, and it's a historical book.
32:16
And thanks be unto God that he wrote the chapters that include
32:20
the part of our Savior dying on an old rugged cross and bleeding
32:24
to death in our place, and how whosoever will and whosoever
32:28
believeth may come, thank God for that.
32:31
This book is about a king. It's about a king from Genesis
32:36
to Revelation knows will be. It's historic.
32:39
It's immutable. Hebrews chapter 6 verse 18, he
32:43
says that there are two immutable things he goes on.
32:45
He says that is that impossible for God to lie.
32:49
This the words of this book are immutable.
32:52
God can't lie. There are things God can't do.
32:57
He can't lie. He's God, boy, isn't that good
33:01
news because that means he can never go back on his promises to
33:05
US. Board of God is immutable.
33:08
It's judicious. God meets out to each one of us
33:13
from the His Word how much we can handle and how much we've
33:19
earned by our study and by our faith and our trust in it.
33:25
God is judicious. God's words are judicious, and
33:30
he chooses them very carefully. The Word of God is kind.
33:36
Aren't you glad for those great stories of kindness?
33:39
Just think of some that we've mentioned right now.
33:41
That that woman at the well. I've met the woman at the well.
33:52
I've gone onto college campuses and I preached the gospel.
33:57
I've had lesbians tell me that that they can't be saved, that
34:04
they're too far gone. I had a homosexual boy one time
34:11
tell me that he said, no, Sir, that he said that's not for me,
34:15
I'm a homosexual. And he was sitting on a Little
34:18
Rock wall. His boyfriend was sitting next
34:20
to him. And I kneeled down so I could
34:27
look him eye to eye. And I wanted to be lower than
34:29
him. I don't want to be physically
34:33
intimidating to him. And so I got down low and and I
34:37
told him I said no. I said, you know you're wrong.
34:41
I said Jesus died for homosexuals.
34:45
Jesus loves you. I'm so thankful to be able to
34:48
tell him of the kindness of almighty God, the kindness of
34:53
the words of God. And that guy didn't get saved
34:56
that day, and I sure do wish he had.
35:00
But I can think about my own life and know that God sent a
35:04
family to my hometown to tell me the gospel.
35:08
I don't know of anybody else that got saved, you know, as a
35:13
result of that family coming to our town at that time.
35:19
But I do know that I've been around the world preaching the
35:21
gospel. And I told somebody else today
35:24
that when God sent them to my to my hometown and they were
35:29
witnessing to me, I wasn't a prospect gang.
35:33
I wasn't somebody that they looked at and said, oh, well,
35:36
you know, Ben, he's a good guy. He honors his parents.
35:39
He goes to church three times a week.
35:41
He doesn't swear. And he he doesn't do this and he
35:44
doesn't do that. He's a fine, upstanding fellow.
35:46
We'll tell him the gospel and he'll get.
35:48
See. Yeah.
35:49
That's what they thought. They they thought.
35:53
This is a hard note, This one right here.
35:55
This. Do you ever do this?
35:57
Like around Thanksgiving time, you know, you get walnuts and,
36:00
you know, when you're young, young guys.
36:02
Anyway, we take two walnuts and we and we mash them in our hand
36:05
until one of them breaks and you.
36:07
And you learn it very quickly. OK, I've had this one Walnut
36:11
three times and it won't break, so I know it'll break the other
36:13
ones. Yeah, I was that hard nut.
36:18
I was the one that nobody thought could break.
36:22
But God thought otherwise. And he sent that family to my
36:25
hometown to tell me the gospel. And I didn't get saved by any of
36:31
the three members of that family that witnessed to me like right
36:37
in front of them. I had to go in the military and
36:40
and hear the gospel. I actually played church for a
36:43
year and a half. And finally one day I just
36:45
repented toward God, fell down on the floor bawling like a like
36:50
a dirtbag. And that's what I was.
36:53
God saved me. And boy, that was a kind story.
36:59
They told me those were kind words from the word of God, that
37:05
there was a God who loved me, even me.
37:10
And the word of God is not only lovely, but it's hard.
37:14
It's not a holy kind, but it's lovely.
37:17
Think of, think of where you would be today without the
37:21
words, the lovely words of God. When you read the book of
37:25
Psalms, can you see the heart of God?
37:29
Can you see how lovely he is? I'd gotta say this to me when I
37:40
was a young Christian boy. I so get it, he said.
37:47
You know, this is preposterous, he said.
37:52
But if the devil were to win, he said, I'd go to hell and be with
37:57
God, he said. Because you know, God's love for
38:01
me would make the flames bearable.
38:05
God's goodness and God's kindness would refresh me even
38:10
among the flames. I thought that was an amazing
38:12
thought. And I've chewed and chewed them.
38:14
And of course, we know the end of the story.
38:17
We read the end of the book. God is victorious.
38:21
We read that this morning. But isn't he lovely?
38:27
When we bow our heads to pray and we enter into the throne
38:31
room of God, isn't he lovely? The words of God, this Bible
38:38
tells us all about how lovely he is, and he is lovely indeed.
38:43
Word of God's magnificent. When I think of the magnificence
38:47
that I see in the Word of God, I think of of the throne.
38:50
I think of how God the Father is sitting up on a great white
38:55
throne and behind him is a rainbow, and underneath him is
39:01
the sea of glass. And there's four and 20 elders
39:05
all the way around that throne that are falling down on their
39:08
faces and worshiping him and praising him because he's
39:11
worthy. And there's Thunder and there's
39:12
lightning going off and there's these poor creatures that are
39:18
transporting this whole unit all around.
39:21
It's a magnificent picture. And you say, well, man, that
39:25
just sounds like really out there.
39:28
Well, it's really in the book and it's really there.
39:31
And, and I'll tell you this, Hollywood will never dream up
39:36
anything nearly as magnificent as that picture.
39:42
And we're going to get to see that.
39:45
We are going to get to worship God Almighty at that throne.
39:50
That's a magnificent picture. The words of God are magnificent
39:54
and they're just giving us a glimpse of what we're going to
39:57
see and experience meant. I love the word of God.
40:01
I love to read the things that God wrote.
40:04
The words of God are noble. There's nothing crass written in
40:08
the word of God, nothing at all. They're noble words.
40:12
They're holy words. Word of God is noble.
40:16
It's overwhelming. The words of God are
40:21
overwhelming to a Sinner. The day God saved me.
40:26
I'll give you the abbreviated version.
40:31
Our pastor at the time, after the first song was sung in a
40:35
service, stood up and said we're not going to sing anymore.
40:39
We're not going to worship anymore.
40:41
There are people here who are playing church and we're not
40:43
going any further until they get saved.
40:47
Well, I was the last one because I'm stubborn and I'm stupid, but
40:53
when God's God saved me, it was because of the words of this
40:58
book and they were overwhelming to me.
41:01
Overwhelming to see God's goodness that even after I had
41:06
stopped being a drunkard and stopped being a blasphemer and
41:09
stopping all the things that I had been, I still needed a
41:12
savior. And when I heard that Jesus
41:18
loved me, I couldn't wait anymore.
41:21
It was overwhelming to me. The words of God are
41:24
overwhelming. The picture of a creator who
41:29
would then come and take my place on an old rugged cross and
41:32
pay the price for my sins, that's overwhelming.
41:35
And that's from these words right here in the Bible.
41:39
The word of God is powerful. It's powerful and it and it's
41:44
amazing to me that somebody like me could get up here and preach
41:49
and Bible calls it foolishness. Foolishness.
41:54
And yet the words that come from this book are still powerful
41:57
even though there's a foolish guy standing up here foolishly
42:00
preaching them. Words of God are powerful.
42:05
They're quick, they're alive, they're sharp.
42:12
Quick and powerful, sharper than any 2 edged swords.
42:16
The Words of God are rated rating from this book.
42:21
There's a glowing picture of a loving God.
42:25
It's a radiant book. The words of God are radiant,
42:29
and it's transformational. I didn't hear the gospel in any
42:37
form until I was 16 years old. It's 50 years ago.
42:42
It's horrible to be able to say that it's 50 years ago.
42:52
But when I think about the transformation that has happened
42:57
in my life, it is incredible. And when I've seen sinners come
43:03
to the cross and trust Jesus as their Savior and just go running
43:08
headlong as fast as they can away from the world and run to
43:12
the cross, that's transformational.
43:15
If you've been walking with Christ, you know that God has
43:18
continued to transform you every day and make you a little bit
43:23
more like his his Son, the Lord Jesus, every day.
43:27
Every day. It's transformational.
43:29
It's undeniable. During the COVID thing, they
43:33
kept telling us, follow the science.
43:35
Follow the science. Well, we did.
43:37
And guess what? He had agreed with God.
43:40
That's what always happens with scientists.
43:42
They think they're so brilliant. They told us there was no Noah's
43:46
ark. Whoops.
43:46
Until they found it. They they told us that Jesus
43:50
didn't rise from the dead. Well, where is he?
43:53
They told us that Lazarus couldn't have risen from the
43:56
dead. But the Word of God tells us
43:58
that he did. The word of God is undeniable,
44:03
even try, but you'll always be proven wrong.
44:06
All the scholars, all the brilliant people, all the
44:11
scientists, they've always been proven wrong because the word of
44:15
God is undeniably true and it's vast.
44:20
Think of, think of this book in in light of 6000 years of man.
44:27
And yet it describes God before man existed.
44:32
It describes the future, it's described everything in between.
44:39
It's vast. I've read this book 75 times and
44:43
I'm telling you, every time I read it, I learn something.
44:46
Hopefully I learned a lot, but I haven't begun to scratch the
44:50
surface of this book 75 times. True, it's vast.
44:55
Word of God is vast. Word of God is wisdom.
45:00
You young men that are here today, how many of you guys are
45:03
between the ages of say 12 and 20?
45:06
Raise your hands between the ages of 12 and 20.
45:09
Gentlemen, I'm going to tell you this, that you are wiser than
45:15
the guys your age that are going to government public schools
45:18
because you have been exposed to the words of God and you have
45:22
the wisdom that would stun the world even at the age you are
45:26
today. The Word of God is wisdom.
45:29
It's wisdom because it has wise words in it.
45:32
It's extraordinary. Ordinary is we're born, we live,
45:39
we die. Ordinary is we grow up, we get a
45:43
job, we work, we die. Ordinary is we we go to work, we
45:51
pay taxes and then we die. That's ordinary.
45:55
The word of God tells us, declares to us things that are
46:01
that are so fascinating. I've described the throne of God
46:07
to you tonight, but have you thought about this in heaven?
46:12
You in heaven, when Jesus rose from the grave, he went before
46:18
the holiest of holies and he sprinkled his own blood there.
46:23
The Old Testament picture is just a picture.
46:26
You know, it is just a just something for the Jews to get a
46:29
glimpse of what was actually in heaven.
46:32
You're going to get to see that. That's extraordinary when we
46:37
have an extraordinary God described by the words of this
46:40
book. And yet the word of God is
46:43
yielding. These words in this book.
46:45
Demand that you and I fall down and worship God for who He is.
46:51
It demands it, and it offers it and it it asks us to do it.
46:59
But the word of God is yielding. It won't make us, but it gives
47:06
us a choice. It's yielding in spite of all of
47:10
its demands. And yet, while it's yielding, it
47:14
is the zenith the words of. God are the.
47:18
Zenith of any book you'll ever read because it's the monarch of
47:22
books. It's the zenith the pinnacle of
47:25
anything that you will ever read in your life.
47:27
The word of God, the zenith. So I want to bring you back to
47:33
this word effectual because I just gave you A-Z things that
47:39
are contained in the Word of God and the descriptive words of the
47:42
word of God. I don't want to bring you back.
47:45
To where we started. And tell you that the Word of
47:48
God is effectual. Let me read that definition to
47:51
you again. Producing you're capable of
47:53
producing A desired result or intended effect.
47:56
I would ask you tonight to ask yourself.
48:01
What is it? What is the?
48:03
Desired effect that God wants from me today, this week, this
48:07
month, this year as I read and study the word of God, what is
48:12
it that God wants from me and what is it that God would like
48:15
his word to be effectual in my life?
48:17
Because I want to promise you this, the word of God is
48:21
effectual for you in your. Soul and in.
48:27
Your spirit, and in some cases even.
48:31
In your physical body, I have people telling me all the time.
48:37
About their their mental problems.
48:39
You know, we had a discussion at supper tonight about vaccines
48:44
and I won't bore you to death with all my thoughts about
48:47
vaccines, but I don't do know that mental illness and our
48:51
country is on the rise. We used to blame it on on
48:55
illegal drugs, but I think. If we really thought about it
48:59
for a minute, we. Probably figure out that it was
49:01
legal drugs that lead to more of it and.
49:06
Yet the word. Of God is effectual to heal our
49:11
minds and heal our hearts. When God saved me, I was an
49:16
angry. Young man, I'm not an angry old
49:18
man. I rejoice in the Lord, and I was
49:23
telling. Somebody else earlier?
49:25
Today I think that when God. Saved me my brain.
49:29
Would go on a vacation, I could be having a conversation with
49:32
you. And not even though I had been
49:39
talking to. You much less.
49:41
What I've been talking to you about.
49:44
But the word of God has healed my mind.
49:47
Word of God has healed my heart, brother and.
49:50
Sisters, I want to tell you tonight.
49:52
That the Word of God is effectual as much as we will let
49:55
it be in our lives, but if we don't believe what we're
49:58
reading, we're doomed to a life of underachievement and failure
50:04
before God. So I want you to consider the
50:08
scriptures tonight. Think about the time that Jesus
50:12
was tempted. Think about the ladies who he
50:16
performed miracles to and he spoke life to.
50:20
Think of all the good things that you see in the Word of God
50:23
and ask yourself, is the word of God effectual in my life, the
50:27
way God wants it to be? And I would tell you honestly.
50:34
I wish I could say to you yes. Every moment of my life, but I'd
50:39
be lying. To you but.
50:40
I will tell you that I want it to be, and that is my desire
50:46
that I would let the Word of God be effectual in my life the way
50:50
God desires it to be. Tonight, would you choose to let
50:55
the Word of God change who you? Are and.
50:59
Make you into the person that God wants you to be.
51:02
Let's pray father, thank you thank you thank you for the word
51:06
of God thank you for the Saints and their attentive listening
51:13
tonight. Thank you father for our mothers
51:17
who've been wrestling kids all day and father paying the price
51:25
to be a good mother. And God, I pray, Father, that
51:30
you would touch their hearts tonight in a special way and
51:33
bless them and encourage them, God, for the sacrifices they
51:36
make. And Father, may the Word of God
51:39
be effectual to them, not in in all that they do while they're
51:44
training their children and loving their children and caring
51:47
for their husbands. Father, I pray that you'd make
51:51
our husbands. Mighty men, men of leadership,
51:55
men of. Greatness because they believe.
51:57
What you said. Men of honor.
52:02
Because they see that you're honourable.
52:06
God, thank you for the word of God that it.
52:07
Can change us, and that it does father make.
52:12
Us more like your son. Tonight we ask in Jesus name,
52:15
Amen.