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Speaker 1: So I want to thank you, Lord. I don't know

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Speaker 1: if they've been to the gym this year a lot yet,

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Speaker 1: but I thank you that you brought them to church

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Speaker 1: today and online and on YouTube and Facebook, and I

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Speaker 1: thank you that someone's on a podcast right now hearing

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Speaker 1: this word, and they are getting stronger. So, Lord, just

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Speaker 1: like Dustin Stradley's biceps were so so much bigger than

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Speaker 1: the last time I saw him, I want somebody to

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Speaker 1: look at us and say, boy, your faith is bigger,

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Speaker 1: your love is bigger. You're more expectant, your wisdom is growing.

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Speaker 1: We came today to grow, and we thank you Lord

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Speaker 1: for meeting us in this place. You're an excellent trainer.

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Speaker 1: Have your way. Oh I just felt a series coming on. Sorry,

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Speaker 1: y'all wait, training a sermon or a series? All right,

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Speaker 1: but we're gonna talk about that a little bit today.

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Speaker 1: Are you excited about the word? Oh, this is awesome.

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Speaker 1: This doesn't even feel like a normal Sunday. This feels

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Speaker 1: like a fut orange revived. The let's like a revival.

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Speaker 1: You know what. I want to read my scripture. I

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Speaker 1: want to get right to it. Any announcements that need

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Speaker 1: to be made, somebody else make them I want. It's

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Speaker 1: a preach stay standing, Stay standing, and you'll holler to

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Speaker 1: the people online say stand up, tell them stand up

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Speaker 1: for the word of God, show some respect. I had

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Speaker 1: so many texts about last week's message about and all

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Speaker 1: y'all remembered was the trash bags. I'm like, well, if

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Speaker 1: I knew you were that easy, I would stop studying

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Speaker 1: and just get a wheelbarrow next week or something. But

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Speaker 1: I think it impacted us to talk about are you

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Speaker 1: holding on to something that is hurting you? And we

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Speaker 1: might revisit a little bit of that in a moment.

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Speaker 1: But there's a passage, a story that I want to

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Speaker 1: share with you from Acts chapter ten. Did you study

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Speaker 1: it last night? Jason? Okay, I told a few of

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Speaker 1: my guys this is where I'm gonna be if you

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Speaker 1: want to get a head start. But you will never

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Speaker 1: guess where God took me with this one. I don't

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Speaker 1: care how many times you read it, because it just

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Speaker 1: it's powerful. I gotta read twenty verses, so y'all listen

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Speaker 1: fast Acts chapter ten, Verse one. At Cessarea, there was

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Speaker 1: a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known

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Speaker 1: as the Italian Regiment. He and all his family were

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Speaker 1: devout and God fearing. He gave generously to those in

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Speaker 1: need and prayed to God regularly. One day, at about

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Speaker 1: three in the afternoon, he had a vision. He distinctly

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Speaker 1: saw an angel of God who came to him okay,

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Speaker 1: and said Cornelius. Cornelius stared at him in fear. What

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Speaker 1: is it, Lord, he asked. The angel answered, your prayers

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Speaker 1: and gifts to the poor have come up as a

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Speaker 1: memorial offering before God. Now send men to Joppa to

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Speaker 1: bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. Y'all,

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Speaker 1: remember Jesus changed his names, right. You know he can

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Speaker 1: change your name too. What you've called yourself all your life.

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Speaker 1: You get one good encounter with God and he'll show

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Speaker 1: you a side of you you've never seen before. Go

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Speaker 1: to Joppa, get Peter. Now send men to Jappa to

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Speaker 1: bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter.

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Speaker 1: He is staying with Simon the Tanner, whose house is

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Speaker 1: by the sea. When the angel who spoke to him

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Speaker 1: had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a

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Speaker 1: devout soldier who was one of his attendants. He told

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Speaker 1: them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa. Now,

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Speaker 1: while all of that is happening in cesarea, listen what's

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Speaker 1: happening in Joppa, and watch how God will hook stuff

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Speaker 1: up that you didn't even know you needed to pray about.

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Speaker 1: About noon the following day, as they were on their

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Speaker 1: journey going to get Peter and approaching the city, Peter

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Speaker 1: went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry

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Speaker 1: and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was

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Speaker 1: being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw Heaven opened.

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Speaker 1: He saw Heaven open, woh wow, and something like a

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Speaker 1: large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners.

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Speaker 1: It contained all kinds of four footed animals, as well

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Speaker 1: as reptiles and birds. Then a voice told him get up, Peter,

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Speaker 1: kill and e all the carnivores. Say amen for the vegans.

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Speaker 1: Surely not, Lord, Okay, surely not. Lord. I have never

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Speaker 1: eaten anything impure or unclean. The voice spoke to him

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Speaker 1: a second time. Do not call anything impure that God

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Speaker 1: has made clean. This happened three times because Peter was

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Speaker 1: hard headed, and immediately the sheet taken back to Heaven.

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Speaker 1: While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision,

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Speaker 1: the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon's house

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Speaker 1: was and stopped at the gate. They called out, asking

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Speaker 1: if Simon, who was known as Peter, was staying there.

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Speaker 1: While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the spirit

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Speaker 1: said to him, Okay, you got what Peter was thinking

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Speaker 1: and what the spirit was saying, and they were not

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Speaker 1: the same. What was going on in his mind was

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Speaker 1: not what was going on in God's thoughts, So that

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Speaker 1: could be true of you two, just saying. While he

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Speaker 1: was still thinking, the Spirit said, Simon, three men are

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Speaker 1: looking for you. Okay, so get up and go downstairs.

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Speaker 1: Do not hesitate to go with them. Do not hesitate

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Speaker 1: to go with them, for I have sent them. Okay,

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Speaker 1: let's focus on two verses. Let's look at verse fourteen.

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Speaker 1: Surely not, Lord, I have never. Everybody say I have never.

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Speaker 1: And then go to verse twenty where he said, do

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Speaker 1: not hesitate, I have never, and the spirit said, do

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Speaker 1: not hesitate. So this is the message. When never meets now,

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Speaker 1: when never everybody say never needs now in your presence, Lord,

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Speaker 1: is the fullness of joy, right hand, pleasures forevermore. Release

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Speaker 1: the resource of heaven to your people through me. Today,

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Speaker 1: I pray, I avail myself to you in Jesus' name. Amen,

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Speaker 1: you may be seated. I'm so glad there was snow

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Speaker 1: in the forecast. I didn't know. I don't want to

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Speaker 1: say I never watched the news, but I could almost

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Speaker 1: say I never watched the news. And I'm not going

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Speaker 1: to say never, because you know, never saying ever, and

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Speaker 1: since that's what I'm preaching on. I thought of all

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Speaker 1: of the little cliches never say never now or never

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Speaker 1: thought of all of them, never never, land, studying a

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Speaker 1: lot of different sources. But I'm glad I didn't know

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Speaker 1: that it was supposed to snow. Now those in the

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Speaker 1: other parts of the world, you wouldn't really call it

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Speaker 1: snow if you're in Michigan. But this is the South,

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Speaker 1: more specifically the Southeastern United States, and we never relatively

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Speaker 1: really get snow, so we don't know what to do

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Speaker 1: with it when it might come. I mean, we are

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Speaker 1: more scared of an inch of snow than a gallon

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Speaker 1: of anthrax. It's a weird thing to watch Southerner's response

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Speaker 1: to the snow. And Holly grew up in Miami where

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Speaker 1: she really never saw snow. Anyway, I'm glad it snowed

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Speaker 1: because I had this message on Monday and I didn't

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Speaker 1: know how I'm awake to preach it on Sunday. And

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Speaker 1: so when they said it might snow I was like, well, okay,

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Speaker 1: I could call the real Christians, the sanctified. So I'm

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Speaker 1: here a little early, like I'm here little early just

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Speaker 1: in case. We got generators, we got milk in the

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Speaker 1: grocery store, but just in case. I said, let's go

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Speaker 1: ahead and preach it, because we can do that now. Now.

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Speaker 1: I'm glad about that for two reasons. One is the

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Speaker 1: people who come who just are so hungry that they

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Speaker 1: skip runch and and I'm I'm skipping brunts for a breakthrough.

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Speaker 1: Ah see what I'm saying. The people online are like, oh,

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Speaker 1: it's so much more of the people are so excited today.

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Speaker 1: It's the ones we filtered. It's not any of the

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Speaker 1: ones that we don't want it. This is like the

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Speaker 1: the premium Chris Unz. Anyway, no offense if you're not here.

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Speaker 1: I'm just playing around. But I was excited because I

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Speaker 1: was already ready, and I was like I kind of

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Speaker 1: wanted to preach it when God gave it to me.

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Speaker 1: I was like can I preach it now? But you

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Speaker 1: gotta wait, you gotta wait, and so that's when you wait,

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Speaker 1: it gets hard to wait. And so you're sitting there wanting,

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Speaker 1: wanting to wait. But it's like a it's like a

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Speaker 1: weight w e ighd. It's like, as I have your message,

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Speaker 1: and how can I hold this till I get there?

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Speaker 1: So they were like a song. I was like, let's

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Speaker 1: do it early, Let's do it early. Let's do it

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Speaker 1: like Bill O'Reilly said one time, We'll do it live.

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Speaker 1: Don't look that up on you, But all right. So

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Speaker 1: the second reason, though, it's give me the perfect illustration

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Speaker 1: for this idea of we never meets now. When we

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Speaker 1: started this church, I stood up on the first snow

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Speaker 1: day that we ever had, and I said, I was

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Speaker 1: twenty six. I was wearing some probably some true religion

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Speaker 1: jeans or something like that. Huh, probably some antique denims

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Speaker 1: with some studs on them. And one day I walked

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Speaker 1: in and this guy was like, I've never seen a

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Speaker 1: preacher with stuff like that on his pockets. Why am

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Speaker 1: I telling you this? Okay? I stood up and I said, hey,

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Speaker 1: a lot of people were asking me, are we going

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Speaker 1: to cancel church? And I just want you to know,

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Speaker 1: as long as I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, I'm

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Speaker 1: twenty six talking like I'm sixty two. I said, as

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Speaker 1: long as I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, we will never.

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Speaker 1: I've went into all these I don't care if it's

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Speaker 1: eight inches of snow, I don't care if it And

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Speaker 1: God's laughing. God's laughing, because what kind of fool would

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Speaker 1: I be if now all the technology that has advanced

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Speaker 1: for us to reach more people. I was still standing

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Speaker 1: up in here with some Savorski crystals on my back

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Speaker 1: pockets or something, talking about we will never never. You know,

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Speaker 1: you said never about some things in the scripture when

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Speaker 1: Peter said never, I have never. I went back and

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Speaker 1: noticed that every time Peter said never, it closed him

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Speaker 1: off from what God was trying to do. This isn't

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Speaker 1: the first time. Remember when Jesus said, I've got to

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Speaker 1: go to Jerusalem. There I will be killed handed over,

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Speaker 1: But on the third day, I'll write, which was the

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Speaker 1: whole reason he came to pay the price, the whole

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Speaker 1: reason he came to redeem the world, the whole reason

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Speaker 1: that he came. And Peter said, never, Lord, this will

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Speaker 1: never happen to you. Everybody say never. Put it in

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Speaker 1: a chat like in all caps, and think about what

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Speaker 1: you said. Never about that? Now if we put your never,

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Speaker 1: and you're now how it started, how it's going. Like

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Speaker 1: I heard when guy say, I'll tell you what, I

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Speaker 1: never fight with my kids. You know what I thought?

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Speaker 1: This is what I thought, because I've got kids now, sixteen, fourteen, ten.

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Speaker 1: I thought, then you never tell them no. You never

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Speaker 1: tell them no, if you never fight with them, you

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Speaker 1: never tell them no. That's the only thing that tells me, Oh,

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Speaker 1: I never yell at my kids, and you're never around them.

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Speaker 1: The only parents this is true. The only parents that

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Speaker 1: don't complain about their kids are the ones who stay

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Speaker 1: late at work so they don't have to deal with it,

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Speaker 1: you know, you skip that time. So I thought, well,

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Speaker 1: if you never fight with your kids, if there's never

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Speaker 1: any conflict, that means there's never any confrontation and there's

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Speaker 1: never any correction. And if there's never any confrontation in

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Speaker 1: correction with your kids at any point in their natural life.

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Speaker 1: I'm not saying you have to say no all the time,

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Speaker 1: but once in a while you're gonna have to not

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Speaker 1: beat their friend beat their father. Hear this, Graham. Graham

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Speaker 1: doesn't like this part of the sermon. He's totally out.

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Speaker 1: He looks so Presbyterian right now on the front road.

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Speaker 1: But it's true because if I never tell you no,

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Speaker 1: if I never tell you no, you will never learn discipline.

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Speaker 1: If you never learned discipline, you can never get a job.

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Speaker 1: You never get a job, you can never leave my house.

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Speaker 1: And I need you to lead. So I gotta tell

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Speaker 1: you no. Some God's once in a while, Okay, parenting

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Speaker 1: seminar over. I'll never cancel church for snow, I'll never

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Speaker 1: I mean, how many of you were like at one point, say, oh,

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Speaker 1: I never go to a church like Elevation. I'd never

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Speaker 1: go to a big church. Okay, how many said that

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Speaker 1: I never go. Then you're not going to heaven. It's

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Speaker 1: every troth, every tongue, every nation. So there's only one

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Speaker 1: other option that a big church. In the end. In

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Speaker 1: the end, nothing against small churches. I'm just saying. Then,

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Speaker 1: then what happened God spoke to you, or God spoke

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Speaker 1: to your kid, or you hit a place you never

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Speaker 1: first I thought you'd hit. You hit a need that

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Speaker 1: made you rethink you're never, Whenever meets Now. As easy

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Speaker 1: as it would be to pick on Peter, I've got

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Speaker 1: to take a moment and defend this great disciple. Peter

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Speaker 1: wasn't holding on to his preferences out of personal selfishness.

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Speaker 1: If you want to understand Acts chapter ten, you have

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Speaker 1: to understand a little bit about Acts chapter one through seven,

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Speaker 1: where the gospel was following the course of Jesus promise

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Speaker 1: in Acts one eight you will be my witnesses in

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Speaker 1: Jerusalem where he died, Judea, the surrounding area Samaria, past

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Speaker 1: the borders of where they felt comfortable going, and to

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Speaker 1: the ends of the earth. Somebody say, no boundaries, no boundaries.

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Speaker 1: Acts chapter ten is a spearhead moment for this mission

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Speaker 1: to go forth beyond the confines of the Jewish world.

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Speaker 1: But to really understand Acts chapter ten and why Peter

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Speaker 1: was in a Tanner's house in the first place, you

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Speaker 1: know that's a no. No Tanners work with dead animals.

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Speaker 1: Even being close to some of these animals would have

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Speaker 1: made him unclean. Now you understand how God has been

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Speaker 1: moving Peter into progression, so he wouldn't be snobby about

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Speaker 1: which certain people God could blessing us. Oh, This will

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Speaker 1: not make the sermon, but let's just put it in

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Speaker 1: the side note. You can tell you're making progress in

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Speaker 1: your walk with God when you have less prejudice toward people.

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Speaker 1: That's one of the first size. How do you know

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Speaker 1: if you're growing spiritually if you memorize more scripture? The

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Speaker 1: Pharisees had a lot of those scriptures memorized, and they

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Speaker 1: wanted to kill Jesus. How do you know if you're

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Speaker 1: getting closer to Jesus if you spend more time praying

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Speaker 1: in the morning. If you listen to Christian radio, listen,

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Speaker 1: I'll be honest with you. I don't even keep my

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Speaker 1: radio on Christian radio. I want to rock when I'm

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Speaker 1: in the car. I don't think God might. What good

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Speaker 1: is it listening to Christian radio If I'm cussing everybody

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Speaker 1: out in traffic, that's cutting me off. So the real

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Speaker 1: proof of progress in my walk with God, this Peter's

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Speaker 1: to finding out, is that as the Gospel is going forth,

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Speaker 1: and I follow this, as the Gospel is going Jerusalem, Judica, Sumaria,

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Speaker 1: ends of the Earth, It's going to require not only

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Speaker 1: a geographical but a psychological transformation. Geographical God, I want

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Speaker 1: you to do more in my life. God, I want

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Speaker 1: to buy a bigger house. God, I want to move

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Speaker 1: to another city. God, I want to get past this stage. God,

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Speaker 1: I want that's geographical. The psychological is Peter, who's a Jew.

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Speaker 1: Not the most observant Jew, but observant. Y'all know, Peter

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Speaker 1: was a little rough yet as he's praying and God

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Speaker 1: shows him something. Remember how it said I won't have

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Speaker 1: time to read the whole text again, you can read

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Speaker 1: it later this week, Please do that. Something like a

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Speaker 1: blanket came down from heaven as he was praying. Now,

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Speaker 1: had he been scrolling or posting at this moment, he

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Speaker 1: would have missed the chance to see what God would do.

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Speaker 1: That's free. He was on the roof of the House

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Speaker 1: of Simon the Tanner after raising, by the way, a

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Speaker 1: woman from the dead in Joppa. That's what he was

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Speaker 1: doing in Joppa, and he decided to stay a little

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Speaker 1: while because I guess raising people from the dead takes

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Speaker 1: a little bit out of you. And he's hungry, and

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Speaker 1: he's on the roof and he's praying, and a blanket,

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Speaker 1: something like a blanket comes down with animals on it,

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Speaker 1: and some of the animals on the blanket were animals

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Speaker 1: that he wasn't supposed to eat or touch. According to

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Speaker 1: Leviticus eleven, if you want to understand Acts chapter ten,

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Speaker 1: where Peter said never, you have to understand Leviticus eleven.

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Speaker 1: Leviticus eleven is the dietary restrictions that God gave his

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Speaker 1: people so that he could distinguish them from all the

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Speaker 1: other people on the earth. It was never really about

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Speaker 1: the diet. How many of you received that word. It's

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Speaker 1: not about the diet. It's not about the diet. It's

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Speaker 1: not about the diet. Come on, lift both hands, lift

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Speaker 1: both hands. I impart the miracle of calorie cancelation, carbohydrate cancelation,

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Speaker 1: fat burning, cell reduction, all of it. Okay, But it

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Speaker 1: wasn't It wasn't about his food. It was about his

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Speaker 1: faith and his frame of reference. That's what God was

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Speaker 1: showing him because there was stuff on the sheet or

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Speaker 1: on the blanket that he was not supposed to eat.

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Speaker 1: There was stuff on the blanket that he was not

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Speaker 1: supposed to eat. And if you really want to study,

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Speaker 1: read Leviticus eleven this week. It will make the CDC

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Speaker 1: guidelines look like a children's book. When you read the

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Speaker 1: land Animals that the Jewish people couldn't eat. I mean,

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Speaker 1: if you wanted to eat a land animal, it had

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Speaker 1: to have hoofs and chew the cut. Both couldn't have

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Speaker 1: split hoofs and not chew the cut, couldn't chew the

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Speaker 1: cut and not. It had to be a specific way.

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Speaker 1: If you wanted to eat sea animals, Leviticus eleven says this,

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Speaker 1: it has to have scales and fins. No shrimp. I

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Speaker 1: don't want to live in a world fried shrimp, boiled shrimp.

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Speaker 1: How many of y'all can't hear shrimp without here and

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Speaker 1: bubbah God, Okay, y'all are old. That's an old reference.

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Speaker 1: And most of the Holly, the most restrictions were on

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Speaker 1: the birds. The most protected were the birds, and then

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Speaker 1: most of the flying insects that couldn't eat, welln't want

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Speaker 1: to anyway. All that was on the blanket that came

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Speaker 1: from heaven. How can something that I have been taught

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Speaker 1: is not of God come from heaven? Never I had

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Speaker 1: never eaten any of these things. Well, Holly never ate

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Speaker 1: boiled peanuts till she met me. That's right. I converted her,

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Speaker 1: corrupted her. Whatever she thought that tasted like dirt, She

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Speaker 1: made them for me Monday night though, and she was

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Speaker 1: eating them too. She said, never, I would never eat this,

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Speaker 1: you know what I mean? And what if it's not

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Speaker 1: about the diet. What if it's not about the food.

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Speaker 1: What the way we look at our life and the

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Speaker 1: things that happen to us and the things that God allows,

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Speaker 1: even the things that we're praying about, is on the

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Speaker 1: completely wrong level. Because what if we think that the

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Speaker 1: person we don't get along with is about that person

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Speaker 1: and don't realize that that person is something that God

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Speaker 1: is using in his project called you. When they annoy you,

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Speaker 1: they become sandpaper. I'll keep going. It's taking you a

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Speaker 1: while to warm up to the idea that Wait a minute,

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Speaker 1: this doesn't have whoop. Wait a minute, this doesn't have fins.

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Speaker 1: Wait a minute, this didn't chew the cud. Wait a minute,

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Speaker 1: this can't be of God. And I call bs, y'all

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Speaker 1: were't here last week. Belief system, belief system. Your belief

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Speaker 1: system is formed by your personal experiences. And then, like

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Speaker 1: I said last week, you call that truth. Oh, all women,

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Speaker 1: all men, all millennials, all boomers, all gen Z, all churches,

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Speaker 1: all Baptists, all black people, all white people all all all,

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Speaker 1: and I call BS on all of it. I call

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Speaker 1: you know. BS also could stand for watch this you're ready.

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Speaker 1: Blanket statements like Peter made, I don't never eat anything

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Speaker 1: like that. Never, Lord, never, well ie never. That's how

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Speaker 1: you'd say it, that you were prim and proper well

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Speaker 1: lie never. But what do you do when, like Peter

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Speaker 1: never meets now and you realize that the way you

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Speaker 1: saw God when you were eighteen was shaped by your experience,

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Speaker 1: not his word or his spirit. What did you do

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Speaker 1: when you find out that the Lord is my shepherd

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Speaker 1: doesn't mean that he keeps everything bad from happening, but

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Speaker 1: that he walks through the valley with you. So when

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Speaker 1: we may blanket statements, I mean I remember hearing somebody

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Speaker 1: say one time, I never doubt God's word. And incidentally,

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Speaker 1: this was a preacher and he was out of the

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Speaker 1: ministry three years later for an affair, And I wondered,

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Speaker 1: is the reason you never doubt? Because you never did

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Speaker 1: self inventory to see what was really in you? So

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Speaker 1: it's easy to make a blanket statement. Right watches those

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Speaker 1: of you who are here for the first time, watch

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Speaker 1: how good they do with this? God is good and

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Speaker 1: all the time. See, I love that. I'm not knocking

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Speaker 1: that that's true. I believe that all things work together

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Speaker 1: for the good. That doesn't mean all things are good.

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Speaker 1: That doesn't mean it's all good. That's not what we mean.

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Speaker 1: We say God is good. Do not call that evil

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Speaker 1: which I have called good? Do not call that good

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Speaker 1: which I have called evil. I need to calm down, y'all,

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Speaker 1: because this blessed my life. Do you realize how many

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Speaker 1: of the things that you are sitting in right now

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Speaker 1: somebody said never about at one time. How many of

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Speaker 1: you are sitting in a now that used to be

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Speaker 1: a never in your life. How many of you never

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Speaker 1: thought you would finish's let's start eighth grade. I was

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Speaker 1: going to go to college, but I was like, we

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Speaker 1: shall work our way up. How many of you never

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Speaker 1: thought How many of you never thought you finished high school?

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Speaker 1: How many you never thought you'd finish college? You went

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Speaker 1: to college, y'all. I still have dreams sometimes that I

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Speaker 1: didn't finish college. To this day. I finished college like

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Speaker 1: seventy years ago, and I'm still dreaming about it. Like

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Speaker 1: there were moments when you're in the middle of it.

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Speaker 1: When I wrote my first book, my editor he'd been

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Speaker 1: editing books. He edited the Prayer of Jabez, remember that.

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Speaker 1: So he brought me a book on our first meeting

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Speaker 1: and I was like, what's this. I didn't even really

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Speaker 1: want the book. I didn't even really know who the

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Speaker 1: author was, So what's this? He said, you just need

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Speaker 1: this so that you can have a reminder that books

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Speaker 1: do get finished. We hadn't started yet. He knew that

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Speaker 1: I would hit points in the process where I would

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Speaker 1: feel like I'm never going to finish this, so he said,

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Speaker 1: put this up somewhere so you can see that books

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Speaker 1: do get finished. And I think the Lord put me

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Speaker 1: up here this week and Peter, to let you know

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Speaker 1: that it does get better, that it does get better,

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Speaker 1: that it does get better. I said it three times

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Speaker 1: like the angel, because the devil says never over and

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Speaker 1: over and over and over again, because the devil understands

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Speaker 1: the power of repetition better than you do. Last week,

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00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:26,800
Speaker 1: I told you this is Jesus John chapter eight that

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Speaker 1: the devil and we talked about the devil is a liar,

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Speaker 1: but he doesn't sound like a liar. He sounds like you.

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Speaker 1: His native language is lying, and one of his favorite

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Speaker 1: words is never. Never. You know what depression is. Depression

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Speaker 1: is when you finally give up hope that it will

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Speaker 1: ever be any different than it is right now. The

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Speaker 1: reasons behind it have medical roots and also have clinical treatments.

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Speaker 1: That's not my point. My point is that the devil

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Speaker 1: knows how to tell you and make you feel like

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Speaker 1: you're never gonna be happy again, You're never gonna be

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Speaker 1: loved again. Never. That's the language that he lies with. Never, never,

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Speaker 1: and he tells you never, He tells you never. He

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Speaker 1: tells you never about certain opportunities. You know, well, that's

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Speaker 1: never gonna happen. Nobody ever notices you anyway. Have you

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Speaker 1: ever noticed how they never notice this, how the devil talks?

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Speaker 1: What's point in trying? They never notice. They never say

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Speaker 1: thank you, They never appreciate you, never never never never

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Speaker 1: never never never never never never never never, and me eventually,

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Speaker 1: you just agree with the devil to get him to

424
00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:04,680
Speaker 1: shut up. Okay, it's fine, the truth will set you free.

425
00:31:04,760 --> 00:31:07,520
Speaker 1: But I left something out last week, Chapmen, I left

426
00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:08,880
Speaker 1: this out last week, and I want to give it

427
00:31:08,880 --> 00:31:11,520
Speaker 1: to you now. In eight thirty two, he says, the

428
00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:14,120
Speaker 1: truth will set you free. But watch what did Jews say,

429
00:31:14,120 --> 00:31:16,440
Speaker 1: when Jesus confronts them with the truth, he said, the

430
00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:20,760
Speaker 1: truth will set you free. You got the verse quickly, quickly,

431
00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:24,680
Speaker 1: verse thirty two. They answered him, I can't believe I

432
00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:29,360
Speaker 1: left this out. All we are Averhim's descendants and have

433
00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:39,560
Speaker 1: never been slaves of anyone who hun four hundred years

434
00:31:39,600 --> 00:31:44,280
Speaker 1: in Egipt bring about there's never been a people that

435
00:31:44,320 --> 00:31:48,960
Speaker 1: were in captivity more time than Israelites Assyria, Babylon, Egipt.

436
00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:52,840
Speaker 1: Put it back up. We've never been slaves of anyone. Oh.

437
00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:56,520
Speaker 1: I don't struggle with that. I'm a good Christian. Oh

438
00:31:56,680 --> 00:31:59,920
Speaker 1: I don't really deal with that. I rused my curtain.

439
00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:03,680
Speaker 1: I the fear of that position of the low. Okay,

440
00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:11,200
Speaker 1: it's called a selective never it's when you reduce down

441
00:32:11,280 --> 00:32:14,000
Speaker 1: the whole thing to the current person. As a matter

442
00:32:14,040 --> 00:32:16,880
Speaker 1: of fact, they were under Roman oppression at the moment

443
00:32:16,920 --> 00:32:27,440
Speaker 1: they said that denial, y'all. I've used therapy in my

444
00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:30,080
Speaker 1: life on and off to be a good pastor without shame.

445
00:32:30,160 --> 00:32:37,600
Speaker 1: For years. I talked to somebody in a heartbeat, I will, well,

446
00:32:37,640 --> 00:32:40,000
Speaker 1: you should talk to the Lord. I talk to him

447
00:32:40,360 --> 00:32:47,920
Speaker 1: and people because I can't see him. Thank you, pastor.

448
00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:51,920
Speaker 1: You make us feel so much more because I thought

449
00:32:51,960 --> 00:32:54,600
Speaker 1: you never struggled. No, I do. I struggle. I struggle

450
00:32:54,640 --> 00:32:56,920
Speaker 1: a lot. That's how I get these little messages. I

451
00:32:57,000 --> 00:32:59,560
Speaker 1: go down to Hell, I box the devil. Six days,

452
00:32:59,760 --> 00:33:05,920
Speaker 1: I'm back and tell you here's something to try on him.

453
00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:13,280
Speaker 1: All right, But my fear was I was like, I'm

454
00:33:13,280 --> 00:33:16,200
Speaker 1: not gonna I'm probably not gonna finish strong man. I mean,

455
00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:18,920
Speaker 1: good grief. I struggle with this and I deal with that.

456
00:33:19,440 --> 00:33:21,920
Speaker 1: Oh my. You know, most people, nine out of ten

457
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:24,880
Speaker 1: ministers I heard one time don't and the person said

458
00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:28,160
Speaker 1: to me in a counseling session, you may not, but

459
00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:30,520
Speaker 1: I actually think you will. Here's why I think you will,

460
00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:37,120
Speaker 1: because you know you might not. Now, some people would

461
00:33:37,120 --> 00:33:45,520
Speaker 1: call that being negative. When Peter said, never, Lord, I

462
00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:49,600
Speaker 1: will never deny you. Isn't it funny how he was

463
00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:54,920
Speaker 1: the first one that did. When you say never, you

464
00:33:54,960 --> 00:33:59,720
Speaker 1: know I never, No, I mean, I would never deal

465
00:33:59,720 --> 00:34:03,240
Speaker 1: with that. I think it's crazy. God will give people

466
00:34:03,280 --> 00:34:05,800
Speaker 1: the word that they need for something they're about to

467
00:34:05,800 --> 00:34:07,320
Speaker 1: go into, and they won't even write it down or

468
00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:10,640
Speaker 1: listen to it, so they don't know they're gonna need it.

469
00:34:11,719 --> 00:34:15,680
Speaker 1: Because God, God is giving you what you're going to

470
00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:19,719
Speaker 1: need for where he knows you're going to be, and

471
00:34:19,760 --> 00:34:22,319
Speaker 1: you can only you're so like right here, right now

472
00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:24,880
Speaker 1: in this season. If it doesn't say exactly what I

473
00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:31,120
Speaker 1: wanted to say right now. You might need this. You

474
00:34:31,200 --> 00:34:35,000
Speaker 1: might need it Thursday. You might need it in three years.

475
00:34:35,800 --> 00:34:38,239
Speaker 1: You might need it for somebody else. It might not

476
00:34:38,400 --> 00:34:42,840
Speaker 1: even be for you. I don't know what Peter was

477
00:34:42,880 --> 00:34:45,080
Speaker 1: praying about on the roof and extend, but I don't

478
00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:47,000
Speaker 1: think he was praying for Corneli, just because he did't

479
00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:51,560
Speaker 1: even know who he was. And yet God answered a

480
00:34:51,640 --> 00:34:55,880
Speaker 1: prayer that Peter wasn't even praying by sending something to

481
00:34:55,920 --> 00:35:00,400
Speaker 1: the Gate that Peter didn't even ask for. And so

482
00:35:00,760 --> 00:35:04,200
Speaker 1: it left me wondering. As I preached today, listen to me, Epham,

483
00:35:04,400 --> 00:35:06,359
Speaker 1: listen to me. Let me know where you're listening from.

484
00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:08,480
Speaker 1: Let me know what city, what town, what Hamlet let

485
00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:10,480
Speaker 1: me know what state, Let me know where where you're

486
00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:14,160
Speaker 1: listening from. So I can say this, it's at the gate.

487
00:35:18,480 --> 00:35:20,920
Speaker 1: This delegation put that in the chat? Would you put

488
00:35:20,920 --> 00:35:23,160
Speaker 1: that in the chat? More people are watching online today

489
00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:25,480
Speaker 1: than usual, So let's have a child and then you

490
00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:27,480
Speaker 1: can touch somebody if you're in the room, say it's

491
00:35:27,520 --> 00:35:29,520
Speaker 1: at the gate. It's at the gate. It's at the gate.

492
00:35:29,640 --> 00:35:31,600
Speaker 1: It's at the gate. It's at the gate. It's at

493
00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:38,400
Speaker 1: the gate. Now. Now Cornelius is thirty miles away from Joppa.

494
00:35:40,080 --> 00:35:44,600
Speaker 1: He sends a delegation. It takes them almost a day

495
00:35:44,680 --> 00:35:49,040
Speaker 1: to get there. One commentator said that Cornelius sent an

496
00:35:49,120 --> 00:35:53,319
Speaker 1: extra beast for Peter to ride back on. I don't

497
00:35:53,320 --> 00:35:56,440
Speaker 1: even know who Peter is, but he's going to need

498
00:35:56,480 --> 00:36:00,600
Speaker 1: to get back in a hurry. We were you paying

499
00:36:00,600 --> 00:36:02,319
Speaker 1: attention when I read? Or were you still kind of

500
00:36:02,400 --> 00:36:08,759
Speaker 1: like drowsy. God told Cornelius where to get Peter, but

501
00:36:08,840 --> 00:36:14,839
Speaker 1: he didn't tell him why. You know, the story ends

502
00:36:14,880 --> 00:36:16,960
Speaker 1: pretty cool. I didn't get all the way there, but

503
00:36:18,120 --> 00:36:20,160
Speaker 1: I'm not closing my sermon either, But let's skip to

504
00:36:20,160 --> 00:36:23,839
Speaker 1: the in for a minute. He said, he said, go

505
00:36:23,920 --> 00:36:28,360
Speaker 1: send for Peter. And when Peter got there to Cesareah,

506
00:36:28,400 --> 00:36:32,359
Speaker 1: thirty miles away, there was a crowd waiting to hear

507
00:36:32,400 --> 00:36:36,480
Speaker 1: the message of Jesus, and Peter preached I got to

508
00:36:36,520 --> 00:36:39,200
Speaker 1: show you this verse. It's Acts ten thirty four. When

509
00:36:39,239 --> 00:36:42,880
Speaker 1: he got there, he began to speak, and he said,

510
00:36:43,520 --> 00:36:53,399
Speaker 1: I now ld hold him down. Will he can't handle it?

511
00:36:54,200 --> 00:37:01,200
Speaker 1: I now realize in verse thirty four because I obeyed.

512
00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:10,480
Speaker 1: In verse nineteen, I now realize how true. So you

513
00:37:10,600 --> 00:37:18,959
Speaker 1: don't know the truth until you obey the word. Now, now, God,

514
00:37:18,960 --> 00:37:21,680
Speaker 1: give me strength to preach this. God give me strength

515
00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:25,920
Speaker 1: to preach this. God, you keep asking God to explain it,

516
00:37:26,239 --> 00:37:29,640
Speaker 1: and He keeps telling you to trust it. You keep

517
00:37:29,719 --> 00:37:32,920
Speaker 1: asking God to explain it, and he keeps telling you

518
00:37:33,040 --> 00:37:36,600
Speaker 1: to obey it. You keep asking God to make sense

519
00:37:36,640 --> 00:37:40,000
Speaker 1: of it, and He keeps calling you to walk in it.

520
00:37:40,640 --> 00:37:48,040
Speaker 1: And everything that God did in my life, well, it

521
00:37:48,160 --> 00:37:51,360
Speaker 1: was something that at one time I never thought possible.

522
00:37:51,680 --> 00:37:53,799
Speaker 1: So I'm preaching to you. I'm not talking about Peter.

523
00:37:54,000 --> 00:37:56,480
Speaker 1: I'm not talking about Cornelius. I'm not talking about the

524
00:37:56,520 --> 00:37:59,000
Speaker 1: fish with the scales. I'm not talking about the animals

525
00:37:59,040 --> 00:38:02,399
Speaker 1: with the hoofs, talking about the gentile world, the Jewish world.

526
00:38:02,560 --> 00:38:07,440
Speaker 1: I'm talking about you right now on the roof seeking God,

527
00:38:07,760 --> 00:38:10,480
Speaker 1: trying to figure out what in the world is this

528
00:38:10,560 --> 00:38:13,640
Speaker 1: coming into my life? What does this mean? Why am

529
00:38:13,680 --> 00:38:16,759
Speaker 1: I here? What is this season? How can it be?

530
00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:19,759
Speaker 1: What will it take? Can I do it? And the

531
00:38:19,840 --> 00:38:28,120
Speaker 1: devil is saying never, and God is saying now, now

532
00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:35,360
Speaker 1: who are three letters? But I feel it in my spirit? Now,

533
00:38:36,280 --> 00:38:42,960
Speaker 1: inn ow devil. Now, surely the Lord is in this place?

534
00:38:43,440 --> 00:38:47,880
Speaker 1: When now? How do you know it? By faith? Now?

535
00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:54,560
Speaker 1: Faith is the substance of things hoped for. I can't

536
00:38:54,600 --> 00:38:57,480
Speaker 1: see it, but I know it. I can't prove it,

537
00:38:57,600 --> 00:39:01,400
Speaker 1: but I believe it. It's a promise. It's a promise.

538
00:39:03,320 --> 00:39:07,279
Speaker 1: Never will I leave you, Never will I forsake you.

539
00:39:07,719 --> 00:39:12,240
Speaker 1: That's what God said never about. That's what God said

540
00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:17,399
Speaker 1: never about, Never take his presence from me. There will

541
00:39:17,440 --> 00:39:19,600
Speaker 1: never be a day in my life. There will never

542
00:39:19,640 --> 00:39:21,719
Speaker 1: be a moment in a day. There will never be

543
00:39:21,760 --> 00:39:26,600
Speaker 1: a nanosecond that he won't be God. There will never

544
00:39:26,640 --> 00:39:28,560
Speaker 1: be a valley that he won't walk me through. There

545
00:39:28,600 --> 00:39:30,759
Speaker 1: will never be a shadow that he won't like the way.

546
00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:33,319
Speaker 1: There will never be a mistake he won't redeem. There

547
00:39:33,360 --> 00:39:36,040
Speaker 1: will never there will never, there will never, there will never,

548
00:39:36,239 --> 00:39:38,680
Speaker 1: there will never, there will never. There will never be

549
00:39:38,719 --> 00:39:41,080
Speaker 1: a sin he won't forgive. There will never be a

550
00:39:41,200 --> 00:39:43,800
Speaker 1: chain he can't break. There will never be a mountain

551
00:39:43,840 --> 00:39:52,440
Speaker 1: he can't move. That will never never, never, no, never, Okay,

552
00:39:52,520 --> 00:39:56,840
Speaker 1: touch at least three people. I'll say never, never, never,

553
00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:06,960
Speaker 1: a new never. But the whole thing, this is the

554
00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:15,680
Speaker 1: part you won't like hinges on now because as Peter

555
00:40:15,840 --> 00:40:21,560
Speaker 1: is sitting on the roof saying never, and I just

556
00:40:21,560 --> 00:40:22,640
Speaker 1: want to make sure I break this down, I don't

557
00:40:22,640 --> 00:40:24,839
Speaker 1: know if I broke it down good enough. He wasn't

558
00:40:24,880 --> 00:40:29,000
Speaker 1: trying to get Peter ready for a barbecue downstairs. That's

559
00:40:29,040 --> 00:40:31,320
Speaker 1: not how the verse is, yo. Holly is so carnal.

560
00:40:31,440 --> 00:40:34,000
Speaker 1: All she thinks about is when is the next mule?

561
00:40:34,719 --> 00:40:37,160
Speaker 1: Is that true? We'll be watching a show and it'll

562
00:40:37,160 --> 00:40:39,839
Speaker 1: be like a shootout and there'll be bullets flying and

563
00:40:39,880 --> 00:40:43,240
Speaker 1: people flying everywhere Christian gangster movies all of a sudden,

564
00:40:44,160 --> 00:40:47,399
Speaker 1: and then there'd be all this chaos and she'll look

565
00:40:47,440 --> 00:40:53,279
Speaker 1: at me and she'll go, when did they eat? And

566
00:40:53,320 --> 00:40:56,319
Speaker 1: I'll be like, Holly, it is a heist. This is

567
00:40:56,400 --> 00:40:58,840
Speaker 1: not That's the first thing she looks for. And know

568
00:40:58,920 --> 00:41:01,440
Speaker 1: what you're gonna hate acts because it doesn't even say

569
00:41:01,480 --> 00:41:07,560
Speaker 1: if Peter ever got his lunch. God had something more

570
00:41:07,600 --> 00:41:12,279
Speaker 1: important at the gate, even than what he was praying for.

571
00:41:15,080 --> 00:41:21,200
Speaker 1: Does he have something better for you? Has the devil

572
00:41:21,239 --> 00:41:25,000
Speaker 1: been saying never? Have you been looking at a stack

573
00:41:25,040 --> 00:41:39,959
Speaker 1: of bills, not the Buffalo bills, snow day humor, snow

574
00:41:40,040 --> 00:41:45,080
Speaker 1: day humor, and then saying, well, I never pay this off,

575
00:41:45,160 --> 00:41:49,880
Speaker 1: so quick. Principle to serve me, okay, for your leadership,

576
00:41:49,880 --> 00:41:53,400
Speaker 1: for your company, for anything, your fitness, for your emotions,

577
00:41:53,400 --> 00:41:58,640
Speaker 1: whatever one immediate action is worth a thousand good intentions.

578
00:42:03,800 --> 00:42:05,600
Speaker 1: I wonder how long Peter would have stayed up on

579
00:42:05,680 --> 00:42:11,680
Speaker 1: the roof smelling food in a trance, and the Lord said,

580
00:42:11,680 --> 00:42:13,960
Speaker 1: you won't find out what I have for you on

581
00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:18,640
Speaker 1: the roof. God showed him something while he prayed. He

582
00:42:18,800 --> 00:42:21,759
Speaker 1: spoke something that contradicted what Peter thought. Now that's been

583
00:42:21,800 --> 00:42:26,120
Speaker 1: happening inside of you lately, the devils saying never you're

584
00:42:26,160 --> 00:42:29,480
Speaker 1: thinking it, okay, Well I never will, especially when it

585
00:42:29,520 --> 00:42:34,279
Speaker 1: comes to addictions. Y'all. When I talked about freedom last week,

586
00:42:34,600 --> 00:42:37,800
Speaker 1: half the people couldn't even hear me because it's like,

587
00:42:37,800 --> 00:42:41,839
Speaker 1: oh yeah, I heard a sermon like this. I did

588
00:42:41,880 --> 00:42:49,320
Speaker 1: rehab three times. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I tried this already.

589
00:42:50,040 --> 00:42:51,640
Speaker 1: Cool man. I hope you get them while they're young,

590
00:42:51,719 --> 00:43:01,080
Speaker 1: because once you've been in it this long. Never I

591
00:43:01,120 --> 00:43:03,200
Speaker 1: hesitate to do this because he could you could take

592
00:43:03,239 --> 00:43:07,520
Speaker 1: it and make it something I don't mean. But even

593
00:43:07,600 --> 00:43:10,719
Speaker 1: some of you that thought like you will never have

594
00:43:10,760 --> 00:43:19,680
Speaker 1: another relationship, you never You're bringing so much baggage from

595
00:43:19,760 --> 00:43:24,440
Speaker 1: Leviticus eleven of how you think things have to be,

596
00:43:27,520 --> 00:43:32,080
Speaker 1: and you're like, nope, they have scales, Nope, they have fins, Nope,

597
00:43:32,120 --> 00:43:36,840
Speaker 1: they have hoofs, Nope, they chew the cud. And so

598
00:43:36,960 --> 00:43:40,759
Speaker 1: then you make blanket statements about what God can and

599
00:43:40,920 --> 00:43:44,239
Speaker 1: can't do in your life. One of the greatest things

600
00:43:44,280 --> 00:43:48,480
Speaker 1: we're celebrating doctor King's legacy in the United States this weekend.

601
00:43:48,760 --> 00:43:54,160
Speaker 1: This Monday, our outreach teams went out and did amazing things,

602
00:43:54,200 --> 00:43:57,960
Speaker 1: probably by the time you see this message. But one

603
00:43:58,040 --> 00:44:00,919
Speaker 1: day a man touched my heart because he said, I'm

604
00:44:01,040 --> 00:44:05,160
Speaker 1: seventy two and I hated white people all my life

605
00:44:05,600 --> 00:44:07,440
Speaker 1: until God brought you on my TV and gave me

606
00:44:07,480 --> 00:44:12,800
Speaker 1: the word and we met and he said thank you,

607
00:44:12,880 --> 00:44:14,239
Speaker 1: and I was like, no, thank you. I spent a

608
00:44:14,280 --> 00:44:16,799
Speaker 1: lot of my time wondering if people hear what you say,

609
00:44:16,880 --> 00:44:18,600
Speaker 1: or if it matters, or if you're just giving people

610
00:44:18,600 --> 00:44:23,080
Speaker 1: a little sermons to get through the week or whatever.

611
00:44:23,760 --> 00:44:26,279
Speaker 1: That's hard for me to believe. But thank you for

612
00:44:26,360 --> 00:44:29,520
Speaker 1: telling me, and then I talked to him a few minutes.

613
00:44:30,280 --> 00:44:32,080
Speaker 1: He told me a lot of the story of why

614
00:44:32,120 --> 00:44:35,279
Speaker 1: he felt the way he felt, and I got it,

615
00:44:35,360 --> 00:44:36,920
Speaker 1: and I was like, well, do you still like me

616
00:44:36,960 --> 00:44:39,439
Speaker 1: after meeting me? He's like, I like you better, he said,

617
00:44:39,480 --> 00:44:50,080
Speaker 1: but you are shorter in person. But I never thought

618
00:44:50,120 --> 00:44:57,520
Speaker 1: I would listen to a white preacher. I never. And

619
00:44:57,920 --> 00:45:04,040
Speaker 1: that becomes the in the limitation, when the devil says never,

620
00:45:04,280 --> 00:45:10,319
Speaker 1: then you just stopped looking good. Things never happen to

621
00:45:10,360 --> 00:45:15,640
Speaker 1: you that happened to others. I never have any luck.

622
00:45:16,160 --> 00:45:22,760
Speaker 1: I never get any breaks. It never stops. I never

623
00:45:23,040 --> 00:45:30,920
Speaker 1: get ahead. That is the devil's language. He took God's

624
00:45:30,960 --> 00:45:35,960
Speaker 1: word never will I leave you, and he co opt

625
00:45:36,440 --> 00:45:41,200
Speaker 1: God's word for his purpose, like he did with Jesus

626
00:45:41,280 --> 00:45:44,920
Speaker 1: when he was tempted. He took God's word, throw yourself

627
00:45:44,960 --> 00:45:48,319
Speaker 1: off the angels, turn the bread into stones. He took

628
00:45:48,440 --> 00:45:52,399
Speaker 1: God's word never, and now he's using it against you. Never.

629
00:45:52,800 --> 00:45:55,520
Speaker 1: You're never going to finish, They're never going to notice,

630
00:45:55,640 --> 00:45:58,680
Speaker 1: it's never going to change. It never makes a difference.

631
00:45:58,920 --> 00:46:02,000
Speaker 1: And then then here's my face, Well you never can

632
00:46:02,080 --> 00:46:06,879
Speaker 1: be sure, so why even try. And now we're living

633
00:46:06,920 --> 00:46:10,120
Speaker 1: at a time where that's almost true, Like, why put

634
00:46:10,200 --> 00:46:14,680
Speaker 1: anything into calendar anymore? Because if your second cousin gets sick,

635
00:46:14,719 --> 00:46:19,279
Speaker 1: you're gonna be in the house for three weeks. Leviticus

636
00:46:19,320 --> 00:46:22,319
Speaker 1: eleven has nothing on the year twenty twenty. I can't

637
00:46:22,360 --> 00:46:25,439
Speaker 1: keep up with any of the rules. Okay, so now

638
00:46:25,480 --> 00:46:27,480
Speaker 1: I feel like, well, why even try because I can't

639
00:46:27,480 --> 00:46:30,680
Speaker 1: predict it. But don't you understand that it becomes even

640
00:46:30,880 --> 00:46:34,120
Speaker 1: more important to be sensitive to the spirit of God

641
00:46:34,400 --> 00:46:43,160
Speaker 1: when you can't depend on the circumstances. Give me verse five.

642
00:46:43,440 --> 00:46:46,800
Speaker 1: Look what God was telling Cornelius when Peter was saying,

643
00:46:46,880 --> 00:46:50,600
Speaker 1: never acts ten? Verse five of there they are now

644
00:46:51,320 --> 00:46:57,600
Speaker 1: sin men say it? Say it? What did God say?

645
00:46:58,520 --> 00:47:10,520
Speaker 1: What did Peter say? What happens when never meets now?

646
00:47:11,840 --> 00:47:18,680
Speaker 1: What happens when the God who exists in eternity steps

647
00:47:18,760 --> 00:47:22,960
Speaker 1: into the fullness of time in the presence of the

648
00:47:23,040 --> 00:47:30,359
Speaker 1: Lord is I don't want you to see this as

649
00:47:30,360 --> 00:47:32,600
Speaker 1: a Bible story. I want you to see it as

650
00:47:32,880 --> 00:47:42,640
Speaker 1: a spiritual reality. When never meets now, When never meets now?

651
00:47:44,000 --> 00:47:46,319
Speaker 1: When they told them that they would never go to

652
00:47:46,360 --> 00:47:52,560
Speaker 1: the moon, now, I mean, I know people who are

653
00:47:52,560 --> 00:47:57,520
Speaker 1: planning their vacation for twenty thirty two to Mars. Where

654
00:47:57,600 --> 00:48:00,560
Speaker 1: you going, Myrtle Beach? Where you going Mars? And you're laughing,

655
00:48:01,680 --> 00:48:04,680
Speaker 1: You're laughing, they laughed. I remember as a kid, I

656
00:48:04,680 --> 00:48:08,319
Speaker 1: wanted to live at Walmart. I did. That was a

657
00:48:08,520 --> 00:48:10,560
Speaker 1: I was a fantasy of mine when I was like

658
00:48:11,160 --> 00:48:14,400
Speaker 1: thirteen or fourteen, because I wanted to live in the

659
00:48:14,440 --> 00:48:19,799
Speaker 1: CD section. CDs were brand new, and when my mom

660
00:48:19,800 --> 00:48:22,000
Speaker 1: would take me to Walmart, I would just spend all

661
00:48:22,080 --> 00:48:24,680
Speaker 1: day as long as she would let me. She had

662
00:48:24,719 --> 00:48:28,680
Speaker 1: to come drag me out truth and I'm be ut.

663
00:48:29,080 --> 00:48:32,880
Speaker 1: There's the Lemonheads, and oh, there's the Rollins band, and

664
00:48:32,920 --> 00:48:36,279
Speaker 1: there's I was into the deep cuts of punk rock,

665
00:48:36,719 --> 00:48:41,280
Speaker 1: not the green day stuff. No way more subcultural than that. Wow,

666
00:48:41,440 --> 00:48:43,279
Speaker 1: I wonder what that sounds like. I've heard of it.

667
00:48:43,360 --> 00:48:45,319
Speaker 1: I wish I could listen to all of it. What

668
00:48:45,440 --> 00:48:48,000
Speaker 1: if I had every CD in the world that was

669
00:48:48,040 --> 00:49:02,640
Speaker 1: ever recorded? What was my fantasy is now on my phone.

670
00:49:03,440 --> 00:49:07,319
Speaker 1: I don't appreciate it. I fuss at it when it

671
00:49:07,360 --> 00:49:15,560
Speaker 1: takes three seconds to load. This text is never going

672
00:49:15,640 --> 00:49:19,879
Speaker 1: to come through. It's been seven seconds. When the ninth

673
00:49:19,920 --> 00:49:22,680
Speaker 1: President of the United States died, I read that it

674
00:49:22,719 --> 00:49:24,719
Speaker 1: took one hundred and ten days for the message to

675
00:49:24,719 --> 00:49:34,200
Speaker 1: get to Los Angeles. Yeah, talk about if this message

676
00:49:34,239 --> 00:49:37,399
Speaker 1: is never coming through, we think we wait a long time.

677
00:49:37,760 --> 00:49:39,680
Speaker 1: Oh how long was the wait at chick fil A?

678
00:49:39,840 --> 00:49:45,719
Speaker 1: It was for adbur I named for ever hie. Wait?

679
00:49:46,200 --> 00:49:50,960
Speaker 1: How long did he preach today? He preached for eber y'all,

680
00:49:51,000 --> 00:49:54,240
Speaker 1: Paul preached so long. One time a boy named Unicus

681
00:49:54,280 --> 00:49:56,680
Speaker 1: fell out the window. And you to cuss too if

682
00:49:56,719 --> 00:50:03,839
Speaker 1: you fell out a window. As I'm saying this, the

683
00:50:03,880 --> 00:50:07,840
Speaker 1: gospel is going out all over the world while I'm preaching.

684
00:50:11,840 --> 00:50:15,479
Speaker 1: If you would have told twenty two thousand and six

685
00:50:15,600 --> 00:50:19,480
Speaker 1: Elevation Church that we would not have to build campuses

686
00:50:19,520 --> 00:50:22,320
Speaker 1: all over the world to reach people all over the world,

687
00:50:22,880 --> 00:50:28,239
Speaker 1: we would have said. I told one guy that it

688
00:50:28,280 --> 00:50:30,279
Speaker 1: was in my heart to have a diverse church, and

689
00:50:30,320 --> 00:50:32,400
Speaker 1: he said, well, you better not do it in Charlotte,

690
00:50:32,440 --> 00:50:39,160
Speaker 1: because you will build a diverse church in Charlotte. Now,

691
00:50:44,520 --> 00:50:54,560
Speaker 1: I said, now, hi, y'all, I get now devil, Hi

692
00:50:54,680 --> 00:51:01,040
Speaker 1: y'all like it. Now take a look got us? Now

693
00:51:01,320 --> 00:51:05,320
Speaker 1: we're gone. We're all. We're rich, we're poor. We're coming

694
00:51:05,520 --> 00:51:14,520
Speaker 1: from ANDREI contract with a praise had to day. So

695
00:51:16,000 --> 00:51:19,440
Speaker 1: you can keep your blanket statements, you can keep your

696
00:51:19,480 --> 00:51:24,279
Speaker 1: broken systems. You can keep the bs. Get me Jesus,

697
00:51:24,880 --> 00:51:29,320
Speaker 1: get me the gospel, get me the work. The breath

698
00:51:29,480 --> 00:51:39,359
Speaker 1: is thus spare now now now now, okay, okay, I'll

699
00:51:39,400 --> 00:51:42,239
Speaker 1: clap my hands and praise God when I get over

700
00:51:42,320 --> 00:51:45,440
Speaker 1: this little cold. You better praise Him with a running

701
00:51:45,480 --> 00:51:51,120
Speaker 1: nose and a fever. You better weigh a tissue and

702
00:51:51,360 --> 00:52:04,879
Speaker 1: prize him. Now now now, now, now, now, now, get

703
00:52:04,920 --> 00:52:08,120
Speaker 1: in on it. Get in on it when you got

704
00:52:08,120 --> 00:52:19,480
Speaker 1: a rich joice now now, why whoa Some people are

705
00:52:19,560 --> 00:52:25,080
Speaker 1: waiting for heaven to give God PRIs when we all

706
00:52:25,120 --> 00:52:29,480
Speaker 1: get to heaven, what a day that will be. But

707
00:52:29,600 --> 00:52:34,200
Speaker 1: I read in my Bible this is the day that

708
00:52:34,480 --> 00:52:41,680
Speaker 1: the Lord. They can't hear me Jesus, this is a day.

709
00:52:46,760 --> 00:52:53,240
Speaker 1: Now now now, now, now, now, now now now. Remember

710
00:52:53,600 --> 00:52:57,600
Speaker 1: when Martha sent for Jesus to come and heal Lazarus.

711
00:52:58,320 --> 00:53:03,920
Speaker 1: Remember that story. I apprecied it a good twenty times

712
00:53:04,680 --> 00:53:07,960
Speaker 1: in this pulpit. But if you never read it, you

713
00:53:08,000 --> 00:53:11,239
Speaker 1: need to read it in John eleven. Because they sent

714
00:53:11,840 --> 00:53:15,960
Speaker 1: for Jesus and he never came. Some of you feel

715
00:53:16,280 --> 00:53:20,520
Speaker 1: like Martha, and you sent for Jesus, and he never came,

716
00:53:21,200 --> 00:53:24,600
Speaker 1: and you prayed, and he never came, and you asked

717
00:53:24,920 --> 00:53:28,480
Speaker 1: and it never changed. And you tried and it never works,

718
00:53:28,840 --> 00:53:34,600
Speaker 1: and you did it and it never made sense. So

719
00:53:34,719 --> 00:53:37,719
Speaker 1: I want you to do what Martha did. In John

720
00:53:37,760 --> 00:53:43,200
Speaker 1: eleven twenty, it says she heard that Jesus was coming.

721
00:53:43,440 --> 00:53:45,480
Speaker 1: Somebody say, he's here, he's here, he's here, he's here,

722
00:53:45,480 --> 00:53:47,200
Speaker 1: he's here. No, no, no no, the other person. Next year,

723
00:53:47,200 --> 00:53:49,359
Speaker 1: he's here, he's here. He's here, he's here, he's here.

724
00:53:49,400 --> 00:53:51,279
Speaker 1: Put it at the chat. He's here, he's here. He's

725
00:53:51,320 --> 00:53:54,120
Speaker 1: not coming one day, he's here right now. He's at

726
00:53:54,160 --> 00:53:56,640
Speaker 1: the gate. He's at the gate. He's at the gate.

727
00:53:56,840 --> 00:53:59,440
Speaker 1: He's at the gate. He is the gate. He is

728
00:53:59,480 --> 00:54:06,720
Speaker 1: the way, the truth, hand, the life. She went out

729
00:54:07,719 --> 00:54:17,680
Speaker 1: to meet him. What happens when never meets now? So

730
00:54:17,719 --> 00:54:20,640
Speaker 1: he didn't come when you wanted him, like you wanted him,

731
00:54:21,120 --> 00:54:27,440
Speaker 1: how you wanted him. But he's here now, So it

732
00:54:27,480 --> 00:54:31,720
Speaker 1: didn't happen like you wanted, when you wanted, how you wanted.

733
00:54:32,440 --> 00:54:35,800
Speaker 1: So he didn't answer what you prayed, how you prayed,

734
00:54:36,200 --> 00:54:39,520
Speaker 1: when you prayed, like you prayed. But he's here now,

735
00:54:42,440 --> 00:54:45,440
Speaker 1: so you didn't do what you should have, what you

736
00:54:45,480 --> 00:54:48,160
Speaker 1: could have, what you would have. So you wasted the

737
00:54:48,239 --> 00:54:52,160
Speaker 1: last couple of years wandering around, so you're disoriented. So

738
00:54:52,239 --> 00:54:55,120
Speaker 1: you did it, so you missed it, so you lost it,

739
00:54:55,280 --> 00:55:01,480
Speaker 1: so you let it slip away. But you're here now, now, now, now,

740
00:55:01,719 --> 00:55:10,840
Speaker 1: And she went, this is for somebody. I had to

741
00:55:10,840 --> 00:55:13,600
Speaker 1: call Martha because if I just preached about Peter, this

742
00:55:13,680 --> 00:55:16,080
Speaker 1: message would be for the men. So I wanted to

743
00:55:16,080 --> 00:55:19,480
Speaker 1: bring Martha with Peter so they could both tell you

744
00:55:19,560 --> 00:55:34,839
Speaker 1: the same thing, that it's at the gate. Now. Had

745
00:55:34,840 --> 00:55:38,479
Speaker 1: a man tell me, I've never given to the church,

746
00:55:38,520 --> 00:55:41,360
Speaker 1: but when I die, I'm gonna will ten thousand dollars.

747
00:55:41,880 --> 00:55:44,120
Speaker 1: And that's why I thought God has to kill you

748
00:55:44,160 --> 00:55:52,719
Speaker 1: to get ten thousand dollars. How are you smart enough

749
00:55:52,760 --> 00:55:55,799
Speaker 1: to have ten thousand dollars to give and stupid enough

750
00:55:55,840 --> 00:56:04,359
Speaker 1: to say something like that? Now you better give it? Now,

751
00:56:05,719 --> 00:56:09,839
Speaker 1: you better grab him, hug them, love them. Now am

752
00:56:09,840 --> 00:56:16,319
Speaker 1: my preaching? And she heard Jesus was coming sent for

753
00:56:16,400 --> 00:56:21,640
Speaker 1: him when last Verus was sick. He never came. And

754
00:56:21,680 --> 00:56:23,960
Speaker 1: that's the first thing she told him. You never came.

755
00:56:26,000 --> 00:56:31,799
Speaker 1: You never came, So you invite got into you never. Yeah, God,

756
00:56:31,840 --> 00:56:36,800
Speaker 1: I I'll be honest, like, I don't even really feel

757
00:56:36,840 --> 00:56:40,640
Speaker 1: like this is going to work for me. Started a

758
00:56:40,640 --> 00:56:45,040
Speaker 1: lot of New Years like this on the nose shrimp diet.

759
00:56:50,560 --> 00:56:58,879
Speaker 1: But you're here now. But you're here now. You could

760
00:56:58,920 --> 00:57:08,120
Speaker 1: have died, you almost quit. You wouldn't have been at

761
00:57:08,200 --> 00:57:15,200
Speaker 1: church tomorrow to hear this message. So God had me preacher. Now.

762
00:57:25,480 --> 00:57:32,120
Speaker 1: Everything changes when never meets now. And I think this

763
00:57:32,200 --> 00:57:35,520
Speaker 1: is more than a sermon. I think it's a meeting.

764
00:57:37,560 --> 00:57:41,720
Speaker 1: I think it's a divine appointment for somebody who's been

765
00:57:41,720 --> 00:57:49,600
Speaker 1: in neverland and it had happened, and you don't see

766
00:57:49,640 --> 00:57:53,360
Speaker 1: how it's going to happen. So I could remind you

767
00:57:56,680 --> 00:57:59,240
Speaker 1: that a lot of your now's used to be Nevers

768
00:58:03,120 --> 00:58:07,240
Speaker 1: wrote a song years ago that said, you've never failed

769
00:58:07,240 --> 00:58:13,080
Speaker 1: me yet. I've seen you move the mountains, and I

770
00:58:13,120 --> 00:58:23,320
Speaker 1: believe you've never failed me yet. My buddy Robert mdou

771
00:58:23,360 --> 00:58:25,800
Speaker 1: went to a church and he was the guest preacher

772
00:58:25,840 --> 00:58:28,600
Speaker 1: and they were singing that song do it again, and

773
00:58:28,640 --> 00:58:32,800
Speaker 1: they changed it. He said it was weird because the

774
00:58:32,840 --> 00:58:35,840
Speaker 1: way we wrote it said, your promise still stands as

775
00:58:35,840 --> 00:58:39,040
Speaker 1: great as your faithfulness. I'm still in your hands. This

776
00:58:39,120 --> 00:58:42,400
Speaker 1: is my confidence. You've never failed me yet, he said.

777
00:58:42,440 --> 00:58:45,240
Speaker 1: But when they got to that part, they didn't say yet.

778
00:58:45,280 --> 00:58:53,080
Speaker 1: They just say you've never failed me. And he asked

779
00:58:53,080 --> 00:58:55,160
Speaker 1: the pastor, and the pastor said, we don't like that

780
00:58:55,240 --> 00:59:02,680
Speaker 1: part because when it says yet, it implies that he might.

781
00:59:02,720 --> 00:59:05,920
Speaker 1: But see what I think the word yet put that

782
00:59:05,960 --> 00:59:09,160
Speaker 1: in the chat to say yet, yeah, yeah, yeah, yet yeah.

783
00:59:09,240 --> 00:59:16,080
Speaker 1: It implies that God's past faithfulness is the best predictor

784
00:59:16,480 --> 00:59:25,920
Speaker 1: of his future performance. So it means that if he

785
00:59:26,160 --> 00:59:30,000
Speaker 1: kept me breathing. Have you ever stood next to an

786
00:59:30,000 --> 00:59:35,240
Speaker 1: answered prayer? Have you ever stood in the living proof

787
00:59:35,320 --> 00:59:40,480
Speaker 1: of a moved mountain? Have you ever just fogged a

788
00:59:40,520 --> 00:59:43,160
Speaker 1: mirror with your breath to annoy the devil that it

789
00:59:43,200 --> 00:59:51,320
Speaker 1: didn't work when he tried to kill you? And I'm

790
00:59:51,360 --> 00:59:57,600
Speaker 1: telling you you've never been here before. Be easy on yourself,

791
00:59:58,000 --> 01:00:02,400
Speaker 1: Be patient with your process, Be open to what God

792
01:00:02,480 --> 01:00:08,280
Speaker 1: is doing in this season. Be like Martha, get your

793
01:00:08,360 --> 01:00:14,400
Speaker 1: disappointed butt down there to the gate and ask Jesus

794
01:00:14,440 --> 01:00:19,680
Speaker 1: why he never came. Be like Peter, go downstairs and

795
01:00:19,880 --> 01:00:22,840
Speaker 1: see about this thing God sent you. It's at the gate,

796
01:00:22,960 --> 01:00:26,240
Speaker 1: it's standing there, God sent it. It might not look familiar.

797
01:00:26,400 --> 01:00:28,400
Speaker 1: It might be weird, it might not be what you

798
01:00:28,480 --> 01:00:31,480
Speaker 1: prayed for, it might not smell like ribs. But God

799
01:00:31,520 --> 01:00:36,480
Speaker 1: sent it. God sent it, and hey, you can't hesitate.

800
01:00:36,800 --> 01:00:47,120
Speaker 1: You have got to move now thirty miles. I grew

801
01:00:47,200 --> 01:00:51,000
Speaker 1: up in Monks Corner, South Carolina. Tiny town, not too

802
01:00:51,000 --> 01:00:54,280
Speaker 1: tiny now twenty thousand people, they said now, or something

803
01:00:54,360 --> 01:00:56,680
Speaker 1: like that. It was much smaller when I was there.

804
01:00:56,880 --> 01:00:59,640
Speaker 1: So when people would ask me where are you from,

805
01:00:59,800 --> 01:01:01,920
Speaker 1: I couldn't tell a Monk's Corner. I would have to

806
01:01:01,920 --> 01:01:05,360
Speaker 1: say from a town that's thirty miles north of Charleston

807
01:01:05,480 --> 01:01:15,280
Speaker 1: called Monk's Corner. Jappa was thirty miles from Caesarea. And

808
01:01:15,360 --> 01:01:20,200
Speaker 1: when I lived that close to Charleston, I never went. Now,

809
01:01:20,240 --> 01:01:24,560
Speaker 1: me and Holly spend our vacation days there. I never

810
01:01:24,600 --> 01:01:28,120
Speaker 1: went when it was so close. Now I appreciate it more.

811
01:01:30,520 --> 01:01:34,080
Speaker 1: I wonder what God has given you now that you

812
01:01:34,200 --> 01:01:39,280
Speaker 1: never stopped to enjoy. I want you thinking about this

813
01:01:39,400 --> 01:01:42,960
Speaker 1: message for a long time. I want you to ask

814
01:01:42,960 --> 01:01:46,720
Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit, long after I shut up, what are

815
01:01:46,760 --> 01:01:51,480
Speaker 1: the nevers, the nevers that I've accepted that I need

816
01:01:51,520 --> 01:01:55,000
Speaker 1: to reject? What are the nevers that I need to

817
01:01:55,040 --> 01:01:58,840
Speaker 1: accept now, like I'm y'all, the time for me to

818
01:01:58,840 --> 01:02:03,120
Speaker 1: be in the NBA has come and gone. You understand,

819
01:02:07,000 --> 01:02:08,640
Speaker 1: I'm not going to be a brain surgeon at this

820
01:02:08,720 --> 01:02:11,240
Speaker 1: stage of my life. I'm good with that. I've accepted that.

821
01:02:12,000 --> 01:02:22,080
Speaker 1: I'm a heart surgeon. I'm a soul surgeon. She said, Jesus,

822
01:02:22,200 --> 01:02:28,640
Speaker 1: we sent for you, you never came. And she expressed

823
01:02:28,960 --> 01:02:34,040
Speaker 1: her frustration. It's so beautiful. It's so beautiful, she said,

824
01:02:34,120 --> 01:02:39,200
Speaker 1: Lord John Elevin, if you would have been here, my

825
01:02:39,320 --> 01:02:43,360
Speaker 1: brother would not have died. And this is where God

826
01:02:43,360 --> 01:02:45,520
Speaker 1: told me to leave you at the gate. Peter, Martha,

827
01:02:45,600 --> 01:02:47,360
Speaker 1: I'm leaving you at the gate here with this verse

828
01:02:47,440 --> 01:03:00,600
Speaker 1: twenty two. But I know that even now God will

829
01:03:00,640 --> 01:03:05,840
Speaker 1: give you whatever you asked. When she said now, she

830
01:03:06,080 --> 01:03:11,480
Speaker 1: recognized the presence of God. When you recognize this presence,

831
01:03:12,800 --> 01:03:20,600
Speaker 1: you are open to his power now. And Jesus looked

832
01:03:20,600 --> 01:03:24,000
Speaker 1: back at her with a question, here it is your

833
01:03:24,000 --> 01:03:28,440
Speaker 1: brother will rise again twenty four and Martha answered, I

834
01:03:28,480 --> 01:03:30,480
Speaker 1: know he will rise again in the resurrection of the

835
01:03:30,560 --> 01:03:35,840
Speaker 1: Last Day. And Jesus said, I am that's present tense.

836
01:03:37,320 --> 01:03:41,200
Speaker 1: Present tense isn't going to happen one day it didn't

837
01:03:41,240 --> 01:03:45,240
Speaker 1: happen one day, and now it's gone. Jesus said, I

838
01:03:45,280 --> 01:03:59,440
Speaker 1: am here, I am powerful, I am able, I am faithful. Now, Ashley,

839
01:04:00,080 --> 01:04:03,760
Speaker 1: my favorite scripture says, now to him who is able

840
01:04:03,800 --> 01:04:09,520
Speaker 1: to do immeasurably more than we asked or imagined. Now,

841
01:04:09,720 --> 01:04:12,120
Speaker 1: I never paid attention to that word. And when you're

842
01:04:12,120 --> 01:04:13,680
Speaker 1: reading the Bible this week, because I know you read

843
01:04:13,680 --> 01:04:15,400
Speaker 1: it for three hours a day, when you're reading the

844
01:04:15,400 --> 01:04:17,520
Speaker 1: Bible praying on the roof and the sheep comes down

845
01:04:17,520 --> 01:04:19,320
Speaker 1: this week, just look at every time you see the

846
01:04:19,320 --> 01:04:21,200
Speaker 1: word now, and look at every time you see the

847
01:04:21,200 --> 01:04:25,320
Speaker 1: word never, and ask the Lord, did did that never

848
01:04:25,320 --> 01:04:27,560
Speaker 1: come from you? Did that never come from the devil?

849
01:04:27,720 --> 01:04:30,200
Speaker 1: Did that never come from my biases? Is that never?

850
01:04:30,280 --> 01:04:34,160
Speaker 1: Limited to a season of life? And listen, listen, some

851
01:04:34,240 --> 01:04:37,680
Speaker 1: of us are chained to limitations that do not exist

852
01:04:37,720 --> 01:04:42,040
Speaker 1: anymore in this season. It used to be true, and

853
01:04:42,080 --> 01:04:46,520
Speaker 1: it's not anymore. It used to be true and it's

854
01:04:46,600 --> 01:04:49,800
Speaker 1: not anymore. It used to be true that the Gentiles

855
01:04:49,840 --> 01:04:52,320
Speaker 1: couldn't come to the God of Israel, but it's not

856
01:04:52,480 --> 01:04:57,160
Speaker 1: anymore because he tore the veil and his presence, his

857
01:04:57,440 --> 01:05:08,720
Speaker 1: presence has no lit this has no borders, Jesus said,

858
01:05:09,640 --> 01:05:13,920
Speaker 1: the one who believes believes. Do you believe? Do you believe?

859
01:05:14,640 --> 01:05:16,800
Speaker 1: You believe a little bit of faith? Must see faith?

860
01:05:16,840 --> 01:05:21,680
Speaker 1: Stand up, Stand up. He who believes in Me will

861
01:05:21,720 --> 01:05:27,360
Speaker 1: live even though they die. And whoever lives by believing

862
01:05:27,400 --> 01:05:37,640
Speaker 1: in Me will what will? What will never die. It

863
01:05:37,760 --> 01:05:43,000
Speaker 1: is not dead, It is not over, it is not finished.

864
01:05:44,360 --> 01:05:51,520
Speaker 1: Your best days are not in a rear view mirror. No, no, no, no,

865
01:05:57,640 --> 01:06:00,520
Speaker 1: you are. You are to drag your never into the

866
01:06:00,520 --> 01:06:11,479
Speaker 1: presence of your now. Spoiler alert, Lazarus got up even now,

867
01:06:12,920 --> 01:06:17,920
Speaker 1: even now, even now, in the face of never. So

868
01:06:20,520 --> 01:06:25,120
Speaker 1: I want to pray about your nevers, and I want

869
01:06:25,120 --> 01:06:30,400
Speaker 1: to call you to your now. The devil's such a liar.

870
01:06:32,040 --> 01:06:34,840
Speaker 1: He's so good at it. You would be too, if

871
01:06:34,880 --> 01:06:41,520
Speaker 1: it's all you ever did. He's had a lot of practice,

872
01:06:41,640 --> 01:06:45,120
Speaker 1: and you let him. You built him a practice court

873
01:06:45,880 --> 01:06:48,920
Speaker 1: in your mind, just letting him dribble never up and

874
01:06:48,960 --> 01:06:51,000
Speaker 1: down the court never never never never never never never

875
01:06:51,080 --> 01:06:55,640
Speaker 1: never never never never. But now, in this present moment.

876
01:06:57,840 --> 01:06:59,800
Speaker 1: Isn't it a clue that we call it the presence

877
01:07:00,600 --> 01:07:07,640
Speaker 1: of God, not the pastess of God, not the future

878
01:07:07,640 --> 01:07:12,920
Speaker 1: of God. When never meets. Now, I want to minister

879
01:07:13,000 --> 01:07:15,360
Speaker 1: to somebody who's going through heartbreak you never saw coming,

880
01:07:16,720 --> 01:07:19,640
Speaker 1: was going through transition, you never saw come in. He's

881
01:07:19,720 --> 01:07:21,880
Speaker 1: learning a skill you never even thought you need. Who's

882
01:07:21,920 --> 01:07:24,520
Speaker 1: walking through something that you heard about but never really

883
01:07:24,560 --> 01:07:29,680
Speaker 1: dealt with. This word was for you, so you can

884
01:07:29,760 --> 01:07:36,760
Speaker 1: drag it into the presence of the Great. I am

885
01:07:36,760 --> 01:07:44,040
Speaker 1: so rich, I gotta stop. I'm going to pray one

886
01:07:44,080 --> 01:07:46,680
Speaker 1: more thing. Remember God spoke to Peter while he was hungry,

887
01:07:47,440 --> 01:07:49,040
Speaker 1: So if you're waiting for lunch, this might be a

888
01:07:49,040 --> 01:07:55,880
Speaker 1: breakthrough moment. Okay, breathe in, breathe. A lot of us

889
01:07:55,880 --> 01:07:59,440
Speaker 1: feel like things in our life were wasted because we

890
01:07:59,480 --> 01:08:01,200
Speaker 1: gave and we tried, and we loved, and we cared,

891
01:08:01,200 --> 01:08:04,320
Speaker 1: and we encouraged and we served. How many times did

892
01:08:04,320 --> 01:08:10,160
Speaker 1: Cornelius pray and God didn't send anybody to help. How

893
01:08:10,160 --> 01:08:12,840
Speaker 1: many alms did Cornelius give these god fearing gentiles they

894
01:08:12,840 --> 01:08:16,320
Speaker 1: were attracted to Judaism but not accepted within it. How

895
01:08:16,360 --> 01:08:20,559
Speaker 1: many times did he pray and felt nothing? How many

896
01:08:20,560 --> 01:08:24,800
Speaker 1: times did he give and receive? Nothing happens to all

897
01:08:24,840 --> 01:08:28,920
Speaker 1: of us. What's the point in that? Why even try

898
01:08:32,880 --> 01:08:34,960
Speaker 1: three or four years ago. I was getting ready to

899
01:08:34,960 --> 01:08:38,080
Speaker 1: come back and preach, had an eight week series plan.

900
01:08:39,320 --> 01:08:41,760
Speaker 1: I was going to do it. I was going to

901
01:08:41,760 --> 01:08:44,200
Speaker 1: do it big. Some of y'all are new to the church.

902
01:08:44,240 --> 01:08:50,519
Speaker 1: We used to always have the series in advance, and

903
01:08:50,560 --> 01:08:56,559
Speaker 1: then the world became so stupid that I stopped trying

904
01:08:56,600 --> 01:09:01,160
Speaker 1: to plan. God and we'll go back to that one day.

905
01:09:01,160 --> 01:09:04,960
Speaker 1: But I told all the creative team what the series

906
01:09:05,000 --> 01:09:06,760
Speaker 1: should be called. I told all the campus pastors what

907
01:09:06,840 --> 01:09:10,800
Speaker 1: the series would be called. You remember Special Zoom Call.

908
01:09:11,080 --> 01:09:14,920
Speaker 1: Before zoom was a thing. I was an early adopter.

909
01:09:18,760 --> 01:09:21,919
Speaker 1: I want to preach the first week of it, and

910
01:09:21,920 --> 01:09:25,599
Speaker 1: and it wasn't. When I say, it just didn't feel

911
01:09:25,600 --> 01:09:27,840
Speaker 1: like what God wanted me to preach. I said, I'll

912
01:09:27,840 --> 01:09:31,599
Speaker 1: get it next week. And that happened again and again,

913
01:09:32,320 --> 01:09:35,360
Speaker 1: and I preached, but I couldn't preach that. It just

914
01:09:35,400 --> 01:09:39,800
Speaker 1: didn't feel like I was preach it. So I never

915
01:09:39,840 --> 01:09:43,680
Speaker 1: preached it. They designed graphics. They had them loaded in

916
01:09:43,720 --> 01:09:45,960
Speaker 1: the computers. I don't know what they do, but they

917
01:09:46,000 --> 01:09:47,599
Speaker 1: do back there to make stuff come on the screens.

918
01:09:47,600 --> 01:09:50,519
Speaker 1: But they did all of it. Amazing team. They just

919
01:09:50,600 --> 01:09:56,200
Speaker 1: had it already, but we never used it. I thought, well,

920
01:09:56,240 --> 01:10:01,479
Speaker 1: that was a waste. I had page of notes, I

921
01:10:01,520 --> 01:10:04,360
Speaker 1: had a sermon title for the first sermon, never used it,

922
01:10:05,080 --> 01:10:07,760
Speaker 1: studied it, never preached it, prepared it, never served it.

923
01:10:09,720 --> 01:10:15,400
Speaker 1: Thought I wasted everybody's time. And I I'm sharing this

924
01:10:15,439 --> 01:10:18,960
Speaker 1: with you for a reason because I had an appointment,

925
01:10:20,200 --> 01:10:26,080
Speaker 1: songwriting appointment, me and Christen Brandon and Tiffany meeting, and

926
01:10:26,120 --> 01:10:29,360
Speaker 1: I said, there's this sermon that I never preached, Chris

927
01:10:29,920 --> 01:10:32,840
Speaker 1: talking about it. Maybe it could be a song that

928
01:10:32,960 --> 01:10:47,640
Speaker 1: was called Graves into Gardens. Now now, now, now, the

929
01:10:47,720 --> 01:10:52,599
Speaker 1: series that I never preached became the biggest song that

930
01:10:52,640 --> 01:11:02,920
Speaker 1: our church has ever released. It wasn't wasteful. You see

931
01:11:02,920 --> 01:11:06,839
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. Daniel's Son, all that waxing, all that painting,

932
01:11:07,280 --> 01:11:16,400
Speaker 1: all of that God God, not mister Miagi, but the Master,

933
01:11:16,840 --> 01:11:28,200
Speaker 1: the Messiah, the Redeemer, the Resurrection, the Saved, And when

934
01:11:28,640 --> 01:11:33,400
Speaker 1: never meets now, you're gonna be so glad you didn't quit.

935
01:11:34,680 --> 01:11:36,920
Speaker 1: I can't wait to read your testimony when you put

936
01:11:36,960 --> 01:11:40,479
Speaker 1: it in the comments. I can't wait to hear what

937
01:11:40,840 --> 01:11:43,719
Speaker 1: never you broke through because the power of the Holy

938
01:11:43,760 --> 01:11:47,680
Speaker 1: Spirit released in these moments that we share. But it

939
01:11:47,800 --> 01:11:51,800
Speaker 1: might not be today. You now, might be in a

940
01:11:51,880 --> 01:11:57,639
Speaker 1: year now, might not be till your children are grown. David,

941
01:11:58,080 --> 01:12:02,120
Speaker 1: and build the temple so that you can see that

942
01:12:02,200 --> 01:12:12,600
Speaker 1: your investment was not a waste. Father. Even now, no

943
01:12:12,720 --> 01:12:17,760
Speaker 1: word from your mouth will return to your VOI. It

944
01:12:17,760 --> 01:12:21,840
Speaker 1: will accomplish what you intend. I thank you for every seed.

945
01:12:21,920 --> 01:12:25,160
Speaker 1: Lift your hands. I thank you for every seed. Lift

946
01:12:25,200 --> 01:12:28,719
Speaker 1: them online, lift them, receive this word. Stop being so stubborn,

947
01:12:29,439 --> 01:12:31,599
Speaker 1: Stop being in your own head and thinking things through.

948
01:12:31,800 --> 01:12:34,559
Speaker 1: Worship God for a moment. Surrender to God for a moment.

949
01:12:34,720 --> 01:12:37,200
Speaker 1: All that other stuff doesn't work. You control in stuff.

950
01:12:37,439 --> 01:12:42,160
Speaker 1: Lift your hands to your father, who knows the plans

951
01:12:42,160 --> 01:12:49,880
Speaker 1: he has for you. Even now, we will not worry

952
01:12:49,920 --> 01:12:56,759
Speaker 1: about tomorrow, for it shall only wear us down today. Now,

953
01:13:02,439 --> 01:13:06,200
Speaker 1: whatever standing at the gate in their life, Lord, whatever

954
01:13:06,280 --> 01:13:11,040
Speaker 1: Cornelius they're meant to minister to, whatever their life is

955
01:13:11,080 --> 01:13:14,599
Speaker 1: meant to preach, whatever purpose you've given them to fulfill,

956
01:13:19,400 --> 01:13:26,040
Speaker 1: I declare gardens where there were graves. He who believes

957
01:13:27,120 --> 01:13:32,160
Speaker 1: will never die, and even dying, shall they lift. You

958
01:13:32,240 --> 01:13:35,120
Speaker 1: brought us here today to build our faith God, and

959
01:13:35,160 --> 01:13:39,599
Speaker 1: it worked not because we just feel it, but because

960
01:13:39,640 --> 01:13:48,599
Speaker 1: we know it to be true. You've never failed me yet.

961
01:13:49,840 --> 01:13:52,440
Speaker 1: And just to finish the sentence so there's no confusion.

962
01:13:53,439 --> 01:13:59,840
Speaker 1: You never will give God grace. Come on, give God

963
01:13:59,840 --> 01:14:03,000
Speaker 1: and that's right. Praise well. If you enjoyed today's podcast,

964
01:14:03,080 --> 01:14:04,840
Speaker 1: there are a couple of things I'd love for you

965
01:14:04,920 --> 01:14:09,240
Speaker 1: to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast.

966
01:14:09,560 --> 01:14:11,920
Speaker 1: You can also help us reach others by investing today

967
01:14:11,960 --> 01:14:15,720
Speaker 1: at Elevationchurch dot org, slash give and thanks again for

968
01:14:15,800 --> 01:14:17,760
Speaker 1: joining us on the Elevation Podcast.