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Speaker 1: Hey haul, Yes, let's do it again. Let's do it,

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Speaker 1: Let's run it back. I can't wait. Elevation Nights. It's

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Speaker 1: gonna be amazing. Been to the East Coast, West Coast, YEP.

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Speaker 1: Now I think we need to come to Austin, Texas. Yes,

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Speaker 1: in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. About Minneapolis, Yes, Kansas City, Missouri, Denver, Colorado,

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Speaker 1: Saint Louis, Missouri, for Wayne, Indiana, Toronto, Ontario. We got

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Speaker 1: to see you there April eighteenth. April eighteenth through twenty seven.

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Speaker 1: It's gonna be amazing. Yeah, we coordinated that awesome. But

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Speaker 1: make sure you go get your tickets right now. Elevation

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Speaker 1: Nights dot Com. These nights are seriously like the best,

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Speaker 1: the best. Can't explain it. I wouldn't keep doing it

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Speaker 1: if it wasn't amazing. You have to experience it. It'll

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Speaker 1: be me you Elevation Worship and you we'll see at

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Speaker 1: Elevation Nights. Elevation Nights dot Com. Get your tickets today,

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Speaker 1: let me know if you're gonna be there. You all

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Speaker 1: ready for the word sit down. I'm teaching today from

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Speaker 1: Ephesians chapter four, fourteen through twenty four. I really will

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Speaker 1: only talk about one verse but you got to hear

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Speaker 1: all of them, or else it will sound like some

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Speaker 1: kind of Pinterest thing or like some little cute little quote.

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Speaker 1: But I'm not trying to do that today. I want

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Speaker 1: to teach a little bit. I am excited when you

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Speaker 1: come to church. You know you get here. I know

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Speaker 1: you leave the house and have to fight and all that.

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Speaker 1: I'm already here for five hours. So the main thing

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Speaker 1: I have to do when I start my sermons is

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Speaker 1: tell myself, ferdict, slow down, let the people wake up.

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Speaker 1: So that's why I had Zeke sing a little bit

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Speaker 1: so I could slow down and just get ready to

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Speaker 1: preach to you what I have been studying for the

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Speaker 1: last several months. Ephesians chapter four. This new series is

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Speaker 1: called Do the New You. Ephesians chapter four. Do the

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Speaker 1: New You. Oh, We're going to talk about that a

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Speaker 1: whole lot in the month of January. Ephesians chapter four.

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Speaker 1: I'm happy to see you. I'm happy you're here. Look

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Speaker 1: at you getting in a good church rhythm at the

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Speaker 1: beginning of the year. You have perfect church attendance so

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Speaker 1: far this year. Tell the devil that put a gold

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Speaker 1: star in the devil's face and tell him I showed

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Speaker 1: up for church. Ephesians, Chapter four, verse fourteen. The apostle

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Speaker 1: Paul says, then we will no longer be infants, to

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Speaker 1: lost back and forth by the waves and blown here

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Speaker 1: and there by every wind of teaching, and by the

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Speaker 1: cunning and craftiness of people. You got to watch out

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Speaker 1: for people. Wouldn't life be wonderful if it wasn't for

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Speaker 1: the people that get in the way. You could do

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Speaker 1: everything God spoke to you. If it wasn't for people.

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Speaker 1: It's really easy for me to obey God in church,

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Speaker 1: and then I have to get out there and run

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Speaker 1: what He showed me in the playbook. So Paul says

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Speaker 1: here that we need to get to a point that

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Speaker 1: we are grown past the opinions of people in their

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Speaker 1: deceitful scheming, whether it's a marketer or a newscast, or

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Speaker 1: a political group or any of that. Whether it's something

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Speaker 1: you've been taught in church that's wrong, Paul says, I

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Speaker 1: want you to grow past that into this watch verse fifteen,

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Speaker 1: speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become

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Speaker 1: in every respect the mature body of Him who is

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Speaker 1: the head that is Christ, from him, the whole body,

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Speaker 1: joined and held together by every supporting ligament grows and

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Speaker 1: builds itself up in love as each part does its work.

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Speaker 1: So I tell you this and insist on it in

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Speaker 1: the Lord, that you must no longer live as the

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Speaker 1: gentiles do in the futility of their thinking. They are

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Speaker 1: darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of

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Speaker 1: God because of the ignorance that is in them, due

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Speaker 1: to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity,

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Speaker 1: they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to

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Speaker 1: indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full

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Speaker 1: of greed. Boy Pastor Stephen, you picked a cheerful scripture

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Speaker 1: for the new Year's sermon. Listen to this. It's about

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Speaker 1: to turn that, however, is not the way of life

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Speaker 1: you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught

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Speaker 1: in Him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.

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Speaker 1: You were taught, with regard to your former way of life,

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Speaker 1: to put off your old self, which is being corrupted

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Speaker 1: by its deceitful desires, and to be made new in

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Speaker 1: the attitude of your minds, and to put on last

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Speaker 1: verse the new self created to be like God in

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Speaker 1: true righteousness and holiness. Clap your hands for the word

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Speaker 1: of God. When people give you advice that isn't helpful,

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Speaker 1: what do you do? Smile at him? Yeah, I pray

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Speaker 1: about that. A dude was telling me the other day,

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Speaker 1: I need to preach a series on bitcoin. I said,

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Speaker 1: I pray about that. Thank you for the input, and

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Speaker 1: then I went on about my business. But when somebody

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Speaker 1: you respect, then it's different, even if you don't like

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Speaker 1: what they say. And when my dad was diagnosed with

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Speaker 1: ALS about ten years ago. He was diagnosed about twelve

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Speaker 1: years ago, and he went to heaven about ten years ago.

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Speaker 1: We went through a horrible period as a family, and

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Speaker 1: some of it I can laugh about now, But man,

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Speaker 1: we would get on the phone and try to talk

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Speaker 1: to each other and we couldn't even speak. It would

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Speaker 1: turn into a shouting match. And then I'd get up

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Speaker 1: and preach Sunday and then getting a shouting match on

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Speaker 1: the phone with my dad Tuesday, and feel like a

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Speaker 1: hypocrite about it. But I couldn't figure out a way

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Speaker 1: past it. I try and do all this and that

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Speaker 1: and the other. But the point of the story is

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Speaker 1: this pastor calls me and somebody that I really loved

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Speaker 1: and respected and said, I heard about what you're going

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Speaker 1: through with your dad, and I've been praying about it now.

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Speaker 1: He only talked to my dad about it. He didn't

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Speaker 1: talked to me about it. So he heard what he

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Speaker 1: heard from who he heard it from. He said, I

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Speaker 1: heard what happened with your dad, and I just called

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Speaker 1: to ask you one question, Stephen, what would Jesus do?

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Speaker 1: And you know what, I thought, Jesus would heal him.

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Speaker 1: And I'm not Jesus. I might lay hands on him

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Speaker 1: before it's all said and done, so you could take

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Speaker 1: your little WWJD wisdom. I had the bracelet to when

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Speaker 1: I was sixteen. But it's not that I don't know

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Speaker 1: what I want in this relationship. I want reconciliation. I

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Speaker 1: want to be by my dad's side. I want us

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Speaker 1: to be able to take care of him. I mean,

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Speaker 1: that's the reason why we moved them to Charlotte is

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Speaker 1: I wanted to be a part of that in any

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Speaker 1: way I could. But it wasn't really knowing what to do.

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Speaker 1: It was doing what I knew in the face of

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Speaker 1: something in real time that was complicated. In the passage

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Speaker 1: I just read you. I don't know how much the apostle.

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Speaker 1: Paul sounds like that pastor that called me to you

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Speaker 1: because he's telling you things to do. Then on the

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Speaker 1: surface sounds so simple, and in the way he starts it,

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Speaker 1: it's so Paul, is so Paul. Paul's like in verse seventeen,

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Speaker 1: He's like, so I tell you this, give me verse

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Speaker 1: seventeen and insist on it in the Lord. Well, now,

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Speaker 1: what can I say back to you? Right? So I

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Speaker 1: tell you this, Okay, tell me and I insist on it.

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Speaker 1: Okay in the Lord, just say it. He says that

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Speaker 1: the way that you have been living that has been

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Speaker 1: limiting you is not a product of the person that

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Speaker 1: God has called you to be. It is a product

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Speaker 1: of the patterns of the world that you have copied

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Speaker 1: unconsciously until now. But Paul says, I give you, in

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Speaker 1: this moment of your life, to the Ephesian Church, and

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Speaker 1: I believe he he says it to Elevation Church as well,

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Speaker 1: at the beginning of a new year. A command, not

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Speaker 1: a suggestion, on the authority of God's word, not the

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Speaker 1: advice of somebody that you follow. This is not TikTok truth,

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Speaker 1: This is not a tip. This is not nineteen ways

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Speaker 1: to get it. This is something that God says from

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Speaker 1: his own heart to you through the apostle, echoing through

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Speaker 1: the eons, and right now this word stands in front

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Speaker 1: of you. There comes a point in your life when

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Speaker 1: doing you isn't working, and there becomes there comes a

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Speaker 1: challenge to become what you've really been all along that

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Speaker 1: has been buried. I believe this year is my year,

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Speaker 1: in your year to see some things manifest in our

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Speaker 1: lives that we don't even have the faith to for

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Speaker 1: anymore because it's been one way so long. I believe

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Speaker 1: this is your year in your life to see character

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Speaker 1: development at a level like you thought was only possible

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Speaker 1: for other people before. You're gonna become the kind of

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Speaker 1: person that you've admired. This year, you're gonna become someone

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Speaker 1: that you can trust in this year, You're gonna become

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Speaker 1: someone who keeps commitments that they make in secret in

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Speaker 1: public under pressure. This year. How do I know is possible?

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Speaker 1: Because God would not command it, if he would not

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Speaker 1: resource it. If God told me to do it, He'll

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Speaker 1: show me how. All right, Feel good? Now I got

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Speaker 1: my preach back. Now I've been a couple of weeks

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Speaker 1: just in here by myself and hanging out with the

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Speaker 1: family and been thinking about this. This thing that people say,

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Speaker 1: do you It usually is a phrase that gives us

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Speaker 1: permission to be different, even if what we're doing like this,

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Speaker 1: like this, like oh you're gonna wear that? Well? Do

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Speaker 1: you you like those? Oh? Yeah? Do you? It means

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Speaker 1: I wouldn't Hey man, do you you wanna you wanna

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Speaker 1: buy it? Buy it? Yeah? Man? Do you? Or or

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Speaker 1: or or it could be kind of like, man, don't

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Speaker 1: listen to them. Do you you have to do that

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Speaker 1: what they're they're doing over there? Do you? And I

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Speaker 1: wonder like, is that advice helpful? And when this is

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Speaker 1: what we're gonna consider for the next four weeks, So

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Speaker 1: I'm giving you fair warning should you decide to skip,

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Speaker 1: we are going to evaluate the point at which check this.

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Speaker 1: We use authenticity as an excuse for immay. Nobody in

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Speaker 1: here wore a diaper to church unless they were carried

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Speaker 1: and unless it's covered. I hope yet, at one time

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Speaker 1: that's what you ran around the house in should you

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Speaker 1: do you? Nobody in here that I'm aware of over

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Speaker 1: the age of eighteen is going to eat their meal

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Speaker 1: only with their hands today unless it's a sandwich and

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Speaker 1: a bag of chips, But at one time you did

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Speaker 1: should you do you? Nobody in here today over the

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Speaker 1: age of twenty one is going to go home today

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Speaker 1: unless there's a physical ailment. And I understand that. And

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Speaker 1: there's exceptions to everything I say. Nobody is going to

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Speaker 1: go in their lunch today and expect to be spoon

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Speaker 1: fed something that's mashed up. But at one time you

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Speaker 1: needed that should you do you? Should you? Because that's

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Speaker 1: what I hear a lot now it's like, do you

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Speaker 1: We almost have elevated authenticity to the level of ultimate

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Speaker 1: authority in our lives to give ourselves permission not to

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Speaker 1: make progress in areas of our life. I just went

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Speaker 1: through several physical examples that were awkward on purpose that

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Speaker 1: at one time you wore a diaper, at one time

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Speaker 1: you couldn't chew your food. But yet people still come

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Speaker 1: to church and they say, I want to be fed

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Speaker 1: when I come to church. And that's fine because Jesus

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Speaker 1: did tell Peter feed my sheep. But guess what you

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Speaker 1: have to chew? I insist on it in the Lord.

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Speaker 1: It's so funny how many people don't get strong from sermons.

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Speaker 1: They hear because you get fed. I left that church

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Speaker 1: because I wasn't getting fed. Maybe or maybe you didn't

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Speaker 1: chew it. Maybe you didn't do it. The Bible says

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Speaker 1: that he who comes to me and here's my words

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Speaker 1: and doesn't put them into practice. It's like a foolish

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Speaker 1: man who built his house on the sand. Wait a minute,

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Speaker 1: he heard the word. Shouldn't he be stronger from the

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Speaker 1: word that he heard, not if he didn't do it.

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Speaker 1: One country preacher said, the word of God is like

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Speaker 1: a can of paint. The value is in the application.

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Speaker 1: So I hear Paul all in Ephesians one through three,

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Speaker 1: and Holly and Britain. The team did a study that

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Speaker 1: you're gonna get January twenty second for the e groups

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Speaker 1: where they go into Ephesians. And I didn't even tell

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Speaker 1: her that the Lord gave me a sermon from Ephesians

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Speaker 1: because I wanted to surprise her. So surprise here, I

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Speaker 1: am all the way in Ephesians chapter four, wherein one

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Speaker 1: through three Paul is telling them what God did through

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Speaker 1: the Gospel, and then he makes a turn in chapter

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Speaker 1: four where he starts talking about now that God did that,

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Speaker 1: you do this because you can one of the things

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Speaker 1: that he says in this passage were interesting to me.

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Speaker 1: Look at verse fourteen. He says that when we grow

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Speaker 1: up through the unity in our faith by committing ourselves

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Speaker 1: to God's community in his process, that we will no

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Speaker 1: longer be there it is infants. We will no longer

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Speaker 1: expect to be fed without doing any chewing of our own.

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Speaker 1: We will no longer be immature. But when I saw

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Speaker 1: this connection, it kind of surprised me. He said that

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Speaker 1: when you are stuck in spiritual infancy, check this out.

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Speaker 1: You are tossed back and forth by the waves, and

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Speaker 1: blown here and there by every wind of teaching, and

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Speaker 1: by the cunniness, cunning, and craftiness of people in their

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Speaker 1: deceitful excusing. So isn't that true? Haven't you found that

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Speaker 1: to be true? That immaturity always manifests as instability. Can

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Speaker 1: you notice that, like in your own life, when there

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Speaker 1: is an area in your life where God is trying

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Speaker 1: to grow you, or life is trying to grow you,

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Speaker 1: or challenges are trying to move you, and you refuse

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Speaker 1: to move past what God is trying to teach you

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Speaker 1: to do, it will always result in instability. Now, notice

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Speaker 1: that he talks about the waves and the wind, which

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Speaker 1: are both external metaphors for the things that happen to

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Speaker 1: us in our life. But what he says in the

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Speaker 1: passage is not that our spiritual maturity guarantees the elimination

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Speaker 1: of wind and waves. He says that your spiritual growth

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Speaker 1: and maturity will guarantee that, because God is your strength,

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Speaker 1: your source, and your firm foundation, that you will have

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Speaker 1: a stable place in any storm. When I prophesy over

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Speaker 1: your life that God is going to do great things

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Speaker 1: this year, I am not prophesying the appsence of any

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Speaker 1: external challenge, for that is above and beyond my pay grade.

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Speaker 1: What I am prophesying in the name of Jesus is

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Speaker 1: that there is a seed of the Word of God

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Speaker 1: inside of you trying to come up out of the

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Speaker 1: soil that will enable you to see life everywhere you

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Speaker 1: look this year, and you will not be moved anymore

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Speaker 1: by all of the happenings of life like you were

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Speaker 1: in the past. So I want to ask a question

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Speaker 1: for you to consider. How has your instability in life

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Speaker 1: been caused by an area of immaturity in your life?

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Speaker 1: What waves are you blaming for the way you are

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Speaker 1: right now? When the real problem is within what wind?

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Speaker 1: Are you cursing because you avoid dealing with the storms inside?

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Speaker 1: And this is how the Lord led me to start

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Speaker 1: the year to tell you that you get to choose

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Speaker 1: this year whether to grow into what God has called

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Speaker 1: you or continue to be stuck in the rut of

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Speaker 1: what was because of what you saw, because of what

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Speaker 1: you've been through, and because of what you've known. One

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Speaker 1: reason I don't believe in the saying do you as

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Speaker 1: a general piece of advice is because it assumes that

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Speaker 1: you know you and you don't. Why are y'all making

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Speaker 1: me break this down so much? Find one of these

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Speaker 1: church people that's in here today lifting their hands praising God,

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Speaker 1: follow them to their kids sporting event, and see if

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Speaker 1: they are the same that they were on Sunday, Because see,

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Speaker 1: I met some of y'all in other locations than church,

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Speaker 1: and I was surprised what I saw. You were lifting

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Speaker 1: your hands, your whole hands in here, and then you

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Speaker 1: were lifting individual fingers when I saw you at your

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Speaker 1: kids basketball game. So I can't figure out. So if

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Speaker 1: I tell you do you, I don't know which one

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Speaker 1: it's going to show up for the audition for the role.

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Speaker 1: And maybe clear the room. That's bad advice. One time

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Speaker 1: a preacher told me, hey, man, come preach for us.

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Speaker 1: And I said, okay, and he said, and just be you.

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Speaker 1: I said, oh no, that's the last thing you want

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Speaker 1: to tell me. I need to get with God. If

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Speaker 1: I show up me without God, your church will split.

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Speaker 1: Now I'm not saying I got multiple personalities, but I'm

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Speaker 1: saying I'm a fan by things I'm affected by. I'm

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Speaker 1: affected by moos oh for me in the morning. It's

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Speaker 1: not to me I want to send into my week.

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Speaker 1: Let me talk a little bit about this topic, how

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Speaker 1: to defy your default setting. I'm just setting you all

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Speaker 1: up this week. I hope you're gonna stick with me

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Speaker 1: for January because a lot of us accept our default

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Speaker 1: setting in a situation as our destiny. When I wake

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Speaker 1: up in the morning, my first thought isn't great as

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Speaker 1: I've hit from this o God. My father. One man said,

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Speaker 1: I don't wake up in the morning and say good

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Speaker 1: what he said, good morning Lord? I wake up and

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Speaker 1: say good Lord, it's morning. That's me. That's mourning me.

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Speaker 1: Not only is my breath bad in the morning, my

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Speaker 1: beliefs are bad too. Y'all brush your teeth. I have

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Speaker 1: to brush my beliefs in the morning. I have to.

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Speaker 1: I promise you, I have to. If I don't do

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Speaker 1: that in the morning, it's going to be a meltdown

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Speaker 1: by ten am, maybe two in the best case scenario.

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Speaker 1: But what I'm learning not only from my life, but

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Speaker 1: from this passage as I study it, is that the

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Speaker 1: awareness of how I start doesn't have to become indicative

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Speaker 1: of where I end. And watch this. I cannot use

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Speaker 1: authenticity as permission to sin. So I can't just wake

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Speaker 1: up and think a certain way and act a certain

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Speaker 1: way if I belong to God and just call it

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Speaker 1: being real. He didn't say be real, he said be righteous.

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Speaker 1: Oh no, Well, I'm just saying what I feel. Who

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Speaker 1: told you to do that? I'm just speaking my mind.

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Speaker 1: What a horrible book to be speaking from the book

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Speaker 1: of your mind, the book of your brain, which has been,

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Speaker 1: what the Scripture says, corrupted by deceitful desires. That's the problem.

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Speaker 1: Do you which me, the me that wants to be

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Speaker 1: happy right now at all costs, or the me that

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Speaker 1: will thank me in ten years for the decisions I

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Speaker 1: made right now? Which while? Do you which one the

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Speaker 1: one that's gonna kick my butt if I keep acting

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Speaker 1: like this for the next five years. The me that

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Speaker 1: I don't want to see reproduced in my kids. That one.

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Speaker 1: Just do that. Yeah, just do you? Just do me,

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Speaker 1: just like my dad did him and he did him. No,

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Speaker 1: I believe that there is a power in for you

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Speaker 1: to decide that. I don't want to be like what

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Speaker 1: I came from. I want to be like I was

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Speaker 1: creative for saw. I wake up in the morning, I

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Speaker 1: gotta get some of God's word. I can't start responding

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Speaker 1: to the text first thing in the morning. I can't

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Speaker 1: touch the screen and start telling people what I think

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Speaker 1: and what I feel first thing in the morning. I

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Speaker 1: gotta get to Douteronomy chapter seven and see what God says.

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Speaker 1: Then maybe I can say something. I got a little

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Speaker 1: gratitude journal. I gotta write some things down I'm thankful

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Speaker 1: for in the morning, so I'll just start thinking about

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Speaker 1: what I need today, because I'll start the whole day

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Speaker 1: in the deaficit, all day down around, run around, thing

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Speaker 1: like I don't have enough strength. I don't have enough

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Speaker 1: energy unless I start somewhere else. Now, just do you.

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Speaker 1: I'm not doing that anymore. I did mean it almost

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Speaker 1: killed me. I didn't me, but I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,

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Speaker 1: I live. I didn't me. That's too small of an

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Speaker 1: apartment for me to live in. That apartment has roaches,

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Speaker 1: that apartment doesn't have any electricity. That thing is corrupted, corroded,

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Speaker 1: and deceived by sin. So I came with the New

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Speaker 1: Year series to tell you, not me, but in the Lord,

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Speaker 1: that you are being called this year to do the

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Speaker 1: new you. And you are not supposed to like new

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Speaker 1: when you first start doing it, and you don't have

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Speaker 1: to like it at first to do it. I went

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Speaker 1: up bucking counted two thousand, one hundred and something workouts

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Speaker 1: I did since we boot the Pound. That's the little

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Speaker 1: workout room at my house. Two thousand, one hundred something workouts.

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Speaker 1: When we met, I was so inconsistent in working out.

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Speaker 1: I was like, you know, man, I'm just really not

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Speaker 1: one of these guys that comes in and works out consistently.

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Speaker 1: I do it when I can get around to it.

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Speaker 1: I told him that I was doing me. I told

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Speaker 1: him how I would and wouldn't exercise. But you know what,

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Speaker 1: they got in there and helped me, and it kept

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Speaker 1: me accountable. And then I counted It's been eight years now,

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Speaker 1: eight years that I've done my workouts like five times

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Speaker 1: a week, and y'all don't even care. I'm not bragging. No,

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Speaker 1: You're like, why are you bragging? If you work out, workout,

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Speaker 1: don't come up here bragging about it. Preach the word. Man,

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Speaker 1: i't need to hear all this. I'm telling you. I

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Speaker 1: saw myself as a certain kind of person for all

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Speaker 1: my life, And even the other day I was telling

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Speaker 1: somebody I'm not one of these people who just likes

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Speaker 1: to work out. I thought, yes, you are. I did

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Speaker 1: the math. If I've been doing that for like eight years,

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Speaker 1: and you're not supposed to really start working out until

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Speaker 1: you're how old, Matt fourteen probably is about the earliest

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Speaker 1: you want to lift weights. That is a good like

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Speaker 1: thirty percent of my life that I've been doing it.

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Speaker 1: So I am a person who likes to work out.

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Speaker 1: Imagine that my default wasn't to do that. But my

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Speaker 1: default is not my destiny. My decisions are. How about that?

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Speaker 1: Paul says, to put off the old way of seeing

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Speaker 1: yourself and put on what he calls the attitude of Christ.

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Speaker 1: What does that mean? To put on the new self?

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Speaker 1: I can't see it like a jacket. I can't see

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Speaker 1: it like a hat. I can't see it like a raincoat.

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Speaker 1: I can't see it like new balances. I can't see

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Speaker 1: it like it's in my wardrobe. It lives within me.

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Speaker 1: But I have the decision to make every day of

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Speaker 1: my life which one I will choose? Every day, every hour,

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Speaker 1: every moment. I am deciding, and you are deciding, which

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Speaker 1: you will you do this year? Do you the one

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Speaker 1: that was made new in the attitude of your mind?

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Speaker 1: Put on the new self. Now we're going to do

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Speaker 1: some study in the text here. In verse twenty four,

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Speaker 1: he says that the new self was created to be

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Speaker 1: like God, and then in verse twenty three he says

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Speaker 1: that the old self is being corrupted by its deceitful desires.

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Speaker 1: Let's really look at both of those verses. This is

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Speaker 1: the nexus of Chris and practice in order to see

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Speaker 1: ourselves as God sees us is not a matter of

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Speaker 1: abstract ethereal and philosophical debate, as a matter of practice.

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Speaker 1: So watch this. He said that the old self is

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Speaker 1: being corrupted verse twenty three. Please give me that is

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Speaker 1: being corrupted. Everybody say, corrupted by the deceitful desires. What

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Speaker 1: you think you want, what you want right now, what

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Speaker 1: the world tells you you should want. What people spend

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Speaker 1: millions of dollars on ad campaigns to get you to think,

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Speaker 1: if you had it, you would be happy. All of

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Speaker 1: the images that you see of the life that you

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Speaker 1: imagined that would actually make you happy. That is really

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Speaker 1: empty at the bottom of it, if it doesn't have

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Speaker 1: God in the middle of it. Right, So he says

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Speaker 1: that that self is being corrupted. Everybody say corrupted, and

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Speaker 1: to put on verse twenty four the new self which

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Speaker 1: was created. Everybody say created. Oh, I like that They

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Speaker 1: both start with the same letter. I can preach this

429
00:29:08,440 --> 00:29:14,600
Speaker 1: one is being corrupted and one was created. So when

430
00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:18,280
Speaker 1: you have an outburst of anger, or for when you

431
00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:20,640
Speaker 1: reach for the pills because that's the only way you

432
00:29:20,680 --> 00:29:23,360
Speaker 1: know how to escape your pain, or for when you

433
00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:26,600
Speaker 1: manipulate situations, or for when you spend till three point

434
00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:29,000
Speaker 1: thirty am looking at porn and then you can't connect

435
00:29:29,040 --> 00:29:31,800
Speaker 1: in real life, or for when you find yourself holding

436
00:29:31,840 --> 00:29:34,120
Speaker 1: on to grudges and trying to pay people back, or

437
00:29:34,160 --> 00:29:37,000
Speaker 1: for when you do those things which are very common

438
00:29:37,040 --> 00:29:41,040
Speaker 1: in the world, and you say that's just how I am.

439
00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:46,640
Speaker 1: And then Paul says in Ephesians four twenty four that

440
00:29:46,680 --> 00:29:49,200
Speaker 1: at the heart of the New Testament is the fact

441
00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:55,480
Speaker 1: that you were created to be like God. And then

442
00:29:55,560 --> 00:29:59,000
Speaker 1: verse twenty three that you are being excuse me, verse

443
00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:03,760
Speaker 1: twenty two. Yeah, verse twenty two, that the old self,

444
00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:08,600
Speaker 1: the former way of life, is being corrupted. That means

445
00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:15,800
Speaker 1: my daily decision is corrupted me or created me. You

446
00:30:15,880 --> 00:30:23,040
Speaker 1: got it. Now. Why this blesses me so much is

447
00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:26,280
Speaker 1: that it lets me know that at my core I'm

448
00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:30,520
Speaker 1: a child of God, that at my core, I'm a

449
00:30:30,560 --> 00:30:33,920
Speaker 1: new creation at Christ, in Christ. If you cut me open,

450
00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:37,800
Speaker 1: Christ would be there. If you ripped open this frame,

451
00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:40,440
Speaker 1: if you ripped open this body, if you ripped open

452
00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:44,040
Speaker 1: this physical appearance that you see at the core of

453
00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:49,160
Speaker 1: that would be Christ. Because I was created twenty four,

454
00:30:49,920 --> 00:30:53,880
Speaker 1: I was created, a new self, recreated. Give me twenty four. Please,

455
00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:55,840
Speaker 1: y'all stay with me. These are my verses right here.

456
00:30:55,920 --> 00:30:59,120
Speaker 1: Stay with me. Verse twenty four, Verse twenty four. Created

457
00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:07,240
Speaker 1: to do what be like God in true righteousness, not

458
00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:14,160
Speaker 1: self righteousness, not the appearance of righteousness. Created to be

459
00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:18,720
Speaker 1: like God, not to be God. That's a whole different thing.

460
00:31:19,400 --> 00:31:22,800
Speaker 1: That's what some of us have been trying to do

461
00:31:22,840 --> 00:31:25,600
Speaker 1: that keeps us so stressed out. We keep trying to

462
00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:30,480
Speaker 1: be God over our lives. We keep trying to decide

463
00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:33,160
Speaker 1: what can I do, what should I do? And then

464
00:31:33,160 --> 00:31:35,520
Speaker 1: when it doesn't work, and then when we're weary, we

465
00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:38,840
Speaker 1: come running. But God said, you weren't created to be God.

466
00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:43,240
Speaker 1: You were created to be conformed to the image of

467
00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:48,440
Speaker 1: God who made you. You were created to be new.

468
00:31:49,720 --> 00:31:55,400
Speaker 1: But you are being corrupted by the patterns of the world.

469
00:31:56,520 --> 00:31:59,520
Speaker 1: And when your mind has been corrupted long enough with

470
00:31:59,640 --> 00:32:02,640
Speaker 1: patterns of thinking and patterns of speaking, which Ephesians four

471
00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:07,480
Speaker 1: addresses very clearly, you begin to identify with the issues

472
00:32:07,520 --> 00:32:11,040
Speaker 1: you struggle with more than the image of the God

473
00:32:11,080 --> 00:32:18,880
Speaker 1: that you were made in. So now when you act

474
00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:22,120
Speaker 1: up in sin and miss it, you think that's just me.

475
00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:27,480
Speaker 1: Now you are using self awareness as a permission slip

476
00:32:27,560 --> 00:32:33,200
Speaker 1: to stay stuck in sin. And Paul gets right up

477
00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:34,960
Speaker 1: in the middle of it, and he's like, I got

478
00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:39,360
Speaker 1: one question, what would Jesus do? And I'm like, Paul,

479
00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:42,280
Speaker 1: i am not Jesus. Jesus is the pure, spoltless lamb

480
00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:44,440
Speaker 1: of God, alpha and Omega, the first and the last.

481
00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:46,760
Speaker 1: I'm not even a letter in the alphabet. He's the

482
00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:49,200
Speaker 1: first one, the last one, the Omnikron, He's all of it.

483
00:32:49,360 --> 00:32:52,120
Speaker 1: I can't do it without Jesus. And He's like, exactly.

484
00:32:53,760 --> 00:32:57,600
Speaker 1: So that's where I want you to go to get

485
00:32:57,640 --> 00:33:03,600
Speaker 1: your truth, the truth that is in Jesus. I am

486
00:33:03,760 --> 00:33:06,800
Speaker 1: sending it back to the pit of Hell. This phrase

487
00:33:06,840 --> 00:33:09,160
Speaker 1: that got popular in our culture a few years ago.

488
00:33:09,480 --> 00:33:16,280
Speaker 1: Live your truth to Hell with your truth, your truth,

489
00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:21,440
Speaker 1: it said. The truth is in Jesus. He is the way,

490
00:33:21,760 --> 00:33:24,040
Speaker 1: the truth, and the life. You can't come to the

491
00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:27,440
Speaker 1: Father without him. You can't be right with God without him.

492
00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:30,640
Speaker 1: You can't be clingsed without him. You can't make it

493
00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:33,920
Speaker 1: without him. It is his breath in your lungs. It

494
00:33:34,040 --> 00:33:37,280
Speaker 1: is his hand on your life. It is his grace

495
00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:41,520
Speaker 1: that justifies. It is he that raises up one that

496
00:33:41,680 --> 00:33:45,520
Speaker 1: brings down another. The truth is in Jesus. Stop me.

497
00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:51,560
Speaker 1: I don't speak my mind. I speak Jesus. I'll speak

498
00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:55,800
Speaker 1: my dear. I speak Jesus what I see. I live

499
00:33:55,920 --> 00:33:59,520
Speaker 1: by faith in the Son of God. I am crucified

500
00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:04,400
Speaker 1: with Christ. Nevertheless I live. So I'm doing me but

501
00:34:04,520 --> 00:34:07,240
Speaker 1: it's not the me you see. It's to me that's

502
00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:10,960
Speaker 1: kicking on the inside. It's to me that's coming up alive.

503
00:34:11,400 --> 00:34:14,360
Speaker 1: It's to me that trauma couldn't kill. It's to me

504
00:34:14,480 --> 00:34:18,040
Speaker 1: that drama can't distric It's to me that this world

505
00:34:18,120 --> 00:34:29,840
Speaker 1: can corrupt. So do you the new you? Yeah? The

506
00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:33,879
Speaker 1: new you, the one that apologizes when you're wrong. That one,

507
00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:37,560
Speaker 1: not the one that takes three weeks to come around

508
00:34:37,640 --> 00:34:39,560
Speaker 1: and see it either, the one that says in the

509
00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:42,479
Speaker 1: middle of my sentence, Oh, I'm sorry. I don't talk

510
00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:45,560
Speaker 1: like this. I'm sorry, y'all. That's not me. That's not

511
00:34:45,680 --> 00:34:47,960
Speaker 1: to me I want to be. That's not what God's

512
00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:51,239
Speaker 1: calling me into in twenty twenty three. It's a new

513
00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:55,200
Speaker 1: me twenty twenty three. Yeah, rhymes, it's good. I'm a preaching,

514
00:34:55,400 --> 00:34:58,040
Speaker 1: I'm flowing in it. This is your year to break

515
00:34:58,080 --> 00:35:04,360
Speaker 1: away with everything you told her. What self? What's true? Guys?

516
00:35:08,120 --> 00:35:14,919
Speaker 1: There is I knew you and guess what. The new

517
00:35:14,960 --> 00:35:23,360
Speaker 1: you is the one that God knows. Imagine yourself free.

518
00:35:23,719 --> 00:35:30,839
Speaker 1: God knows that you imagine yourself whole. God knows that

519
00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:36,600
Speaker 1: you imagine yourself able to wait and be patient and

520
00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:39,800
Speaker 1: not respond to every feeling that passes through your central

521
00:35:39,800 --> 00:35:47,120
Speaker 1: nervous system. God knows that you. When I see myself

522
00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:52,279
Speaker 1: how God sees me and come into alignment with the

523
00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:56,520
Speaker 1: word that He spoke over me. It's new to me,

524
00:35:57,560 --> 00:36:04,719
Speaker 1: but not to God. It's new to me, but not

525
00:36:04,840 --> 00:36:11,200
Speaker 1: to him. One time he was calling this prophet named Jeremiah,

526
00:36:11,239 --> 00:36:15,840
Speaker 1: and the prophet Jeremiah was full of excuses, just like you,

527
00:36:17,160 --> 00:36:21,640
Speaker 1: just like me. I met this fellow last year on

528
00:36:22,640 --> 00:36:26,560
Speaker 1: Elevation Nights named Brendan Burchard. He does a great group

529
00:36:26,640 --> 00:36:29,799
Speaker 1: for growth online. Look him up, and he was saying

530
00:36:29,840 --> 00:36:32,320
Speaker 1: these three things that we say to ourselves all the time,

531
00:36:32,400 --> 00:36:34,840
Speaker 1: and I identified with every single one of them. You ready,

532
00:36:35,160 --> 00:36:39,640
Speaker 1: this is the excuse that you use to do you

533
00:36:40,760 --> 00:36:47,200
Speaker 1: at the lower level. One you say, I don't know how, Two,

534
00:36:48,360 --> 00:36:54,879
Speaker 1: I don't have it. Three I'm not like them. Let's

535
00:36:54,920 --> 00:37:02,200
Speaker 1: break it down. Number one, don't know how. How many

536
00:37:02,200 --> 00:37:04,239
Speaker 1: of you had a challenge in twenty twenty two and

537
00:37:04,280 --> 00:37:07,239
Speaker 1: you excused yourself from embracing it that God was calling

538
00:37:07,280 --> 00:37:09,239
Speaker 1: you hire, but you didn't go because you didn't know how.

539
00:37:09,360 --> 00:37:12,640
Speaker 1: Raise your hand. My hand was the first one up,

540
00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:17,080
Speaker 1: and the rest of y'all are hypocrites because you either

541
00:37:17,080 --> 00:37:19,000
Speaker 1: didn't listen or you just want to lie about it.

542
00:37:20,080 --> 00:37:23,120
Speaker 1: I don't know how to do that. I don't know how.

543
00:37:23,840 --> 00:37:27,839
Speaker 1: Second one, I don't have that. Raise your hand. If

544
00:37:27,840 --> 00:37:32,680
Speaker 1: you made that last year, I'll have that. Yeah, you

545
00:37:32,680 --> 00:37:40,479
Speaker 1: could say that about money, time, energy, health, education, what else?

546
00:37:41,480 --> 00:37:44,120
Speaker 1: Y'all probably got something that I hadn't thought of. Y'all

547
00:37:44,160 --> 00:37:48,840
Speaker 1: are way more dysfunctional than me. Give me some material here, No,

548
00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:51,759
Speaker 1: I promise you that's not true. That's a very sarcastic

549
00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:55,440
Speaker 1: what is it? All? Right? So I don't know how

550
00:37:55,480 --> 00:38:03,960
Speaker 1: to I don't know how to to resist it. I'll

551
00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:07,919
Speaker 1: be consistent. I like to resist it better because that's

552
00:38:07,920 --> 00:38:09,840
Speaker 1: what I think, right, Like greater is he that is

553
00:38:09,880 --> 00:38:12,560
Speaker 1: in you than he that is in the world. I

554
00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:15,719
Speaker 1: don't know how to fight this. When you've been given

555
00:38:15,760 --> 00:38:17,600
Speaker 1: into something and you can just you can just nod

556
00:38:17,640 --> 00:38:19,440
Speaker 1: like you don't know what I'm talking about. When you've

557
00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:24,719
Speaker 1: been given into something since you were ten, it's really

558
00:38:24,719 --> 00:38:26,840
Speaker 1: hard for you to really believe that you can overcome that.

559
00:38:27,200 --> 00:38:29,560
Speaker 1: And listen. You don't have to admit that that struck

560
00:38:29,560 --> 00:38:32,840
Speaker 1: a chord what I just said. Just do you pretend

561
00:38:32,880 --> 00:38:36,200
Speaker 1: like you do. You don't struggle with that. You're such

562
00:38:36,200 --> 00:38:38,840
Speaker 1: an angel, and I respect you and admire you. I

563
00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:40,279
Speaker 1: don't know how to resist. I don't know how to

564
00:38:40,280 --> 00:38:43,520
Speaker 1: be consistent. I don't know how well for me. When

565
00:38:43,560 --> 00:38:46,280
Speaker 1: I started my workouts, I put a this is so corny.

566
00:38:46,360 --> 00:38:48,520
Speaker 1: I put a chart on my wall where I could

567
00:38:48,520 --> 00:38:52,160
Speaker 1: put stars every time I worked out, because I thought

568
00:38:52,239 --> 00:38:56,440
Speaker 1: that would reinforce the behavior. I looked like I was

569
00:38:56,480 --> 00:38:58,560
Speaker 1: seven years old down there. I'm a grown man with

570
00:38:58,640 --> 00:39:01,600
Speaker 1: a beard putting stars on a chart, and I still

571
00:39:01,600 --> 00:39:05,200
Speaker 1: do it. And I filled that sucker up this year.

572
00:39:06,520 --> 00:39:08,759
Speaker 1: I ran out of blue stars and had to start

573
00:39:08,840 --> 00:39:11,200
Speaker 1: using the gold ones this year. That's how good I

574
00:39:11,280 --> 00:39:14,440
Speaker 1: did it. Because I'm changing. I'm changing. I'm changing. Oh

575
00:39:14,440 --> 00:39:16,919
Speaker 1: I'm not one of these workout people. Well maybe I am.

576
00:39:17,200 --> 00:39:19,520
Speaker 1: Maybe I can be one, Maybe I can get a chart.

577
00:39:19,680 --> 00:39:22,960
Speaker 1: Maybe I am consistent. I'm consistent in this area. Why

578
00:39:22,960 --> 00:39:25,560
Speaker 1: can't I be consistent in that area? I'm growing up

579
00:39:25,600 --> 00:39:28,520
Speaker 1: in every respect. I control my tongue in this situation.

580
00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:31,480
Speaker 1: Why can't I control it in that situation? I made

581
00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:34,680
Speaker 1: a good decision Monday. Why can't I do it again Tuesday?

582
00:39:34,880 --> 00:39:37,160
Speaker 1: Why can't I do it again Wednesday. Looks like you

583
00:39:37,280 --> 00:39:39,680
Speaker 1: know how to be consistent. You're here at charts on

584
00:39:39,719 --> 00:39:42,319
Speaker 1: the first Sunday of the year. How you do it?

585
00:39:42,520 --> 00:39:45,279
Speaker 1: Not do it again? And do it again, and do it.

586
00:39:45,320 --> 00:39:54,000
Speaker 1: I just talked to you a whole sevenar consistency. That

587
00:39:54,120 --> 00:39:57,080
Speaker 1: wasn't true. You know how to be consistent, you know

588
00:39:57,160 --> 00:40:00,319
Speaker 1: how to do it. It is not knowing what to do.

589
00:40:00,360 --> 00:40:03,120
Speaker 1: It is doing what you knew that you didn't do

590
00:40:03,560 --> 00:40:09,680
Speaker 1: last time. Not fussing at you, I'm just saying I

591
00:40:09,680 --> 00:40:11,520
Speaker 1: don't know how to be consistent in some areas of

592
00:40:11,560 --> 00:40:16,239
Speaker 1: my life either. I struggle with it, but by showing up,

593
00:40:16,560 --> 00:40:20,240
Speaker 1: God's strength is released. I don't know how. I don't

594
00:40:20,280 --> 00:40:24,120
Speaker 1: have it. I don't have that intellectual ability. I can't

595
00:40:24,160 --> 00:40:26,560
Speaker 1: do that like that. Don't you think I felt like

596
00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:28,960
Speaker 1: that trying to teach each of my kids about sports.

597
00:40:30,200 --> 00:40:31,640
Speaker 1: I don't know how to teach you how to do this.

598
00:40:32,719 --> 00:40:35,560
Speaker 1: I got to like the basic level in all the

599
00:40:35,640 --> 00:40:38,480
Speaker 1: sports that I played, and nothing beyond that. So if

600
00:40:38,520 --> 00:40:45,319
Speaker 1: you get good, I'm done. All right. Well, I don't

601
00:40:45,320 --> 00:40:49,400
Speaker 1: know how. Why know how to support you? Why not

602
00:40:49,560 --> 00:40:52,359
Speaker 1: show up? I know how to demonstrate in my area

603
00:40:52,400 --> 00:40:54,920
Speaker 1: of competency, what you need to demonstrate, the discipline you

604
00:40:54,960 --> 00:40:57,440
Speaker 1: need to demonstrate in your area of competency and giftedness

605
00:40:57,440 --> 00:40:59,480
Speaker 1: and calling. So I do know how, And if I

606
00:40:59,520 --> 00:41:01,560
Speaker 1: don't know how and I need to do it, I'll learn.

607
00:41:01,840 --> 00:41:07,160
Speaker 1: I'll look it up on YouTube. I could look up anything.

608
00:41:07,880 --> 00:41:09,760
Speaker 1: I'll ask a friend. I've got a lot of smart friends.

609
00:41:10,560 --> 00:41:13,200
Speaker 1: And then the biggest one of all, the biggest live

610
00:41:13,239 --> 00:41:18,200
Speaker 1: of all. I'm not like them. Man. They have a

611
00:41:18,200 --> 00:41:20,600
Speaker 1: good marriage because their parents had a good marriage. I

612
00:41:20,640 --> 00:41:23,359
Speaker 1: can't do that my parents, my dad wasn't around. I'm

613
00:41:23,400 --> 00:41:25,640
Speaker 1: not like those people who grew up there. They know

614
00:41:25,680 --> 00:41:27,560
Speaker 1: how to deal with money because they grew up around money.

615
00:41:27,600 --> 00:41:29,200
Speaker 1: I don't know how to deal with money. They know

616
00:41:29,239 --> 00:41:30,759
Speaker 1: how to pray because they grew up in church. I

617
00:41:30,760 --> 00:41:32,680
Speaker 1: don't know all these Bible stories. Some of you were

618
00:41:32,680 --> 00:41:34,400
Speaker 1: here for the first Sunday of this year, and the

619
00:41:34,440 --> 00:41:36,520
Speaker 1: whole time you've been feeling here, you've been feeling like

620
00:41:36,600 --> 00:41:38,640
Speaker 1: I don't fit in. I don't know these words, I

621
00:41:38,680 --> 00:41:41,560
Speaker 1: don't know these songs. Why are people standing up and

622
00:41:41,640 --> 00:41:45,120
Speaker 1: sitting down and standing up and sitting down and standing

623
00:41:45,200 --> 00:41:48,080
Speaker 1: up and sitting down, And how long does this sermon

624
00:41:48,200 --> 00:41:57,000
Speaker 1: last anyway, I like these church people. Oh, we are

625
00:41:57,200 --> 00:42:03,799
Speaker 1: all corrupted. Go with them in the parking lot. You

626
00:42:03,880 --> 00:42:06,120
Speaker 1: might catch them cussing before they even get off the

627
00:42:06,200 --> 00:42:09,200
Speaker 1: church property if I preached long enough and let the

628
00:42:09,239 --> 00:42:14,759
Speaker 1: traffic get backed up. Don't let anybody intimidate you, make

629
00:42:14,840 --> 00:42:18,080
Speaker 1: you insecure, because you just got to grow into what

630
00:42:18,320 --> 00:42:27,920
Speaker 1: God gave you. We're all struggling. We'll talk about it

631
00:42:27,960 --> 00:42:30,480
Speaker 1: sometime one time. I'll tell you all my stuff, and

632
00:42:30,520 --> 00:42:32,960
Speaker 1: you can tell me all yours, and then we'll cry

633
00:42:33,040 --> 00:42:36,680
Speaker 1: and get all over it, and then we will say, Okay,

634
00:42:37,480 --> 00:42:47,520
Speaker 1: that's where we're starting. That's not where we're staying. So

635
00:42:47,640 --> 00:42:52,360
Speaker 1: God wanted Jeremiah to go preach. And the Bible says

636
00:42:52,400 --> 00:42:57,239
Speaker 1: in Jeremiah chapter one, verse four, that the word of

637
00:42:57,360 --> 00:43:02,560
Speaker 1: the Lord came to me. The word of the Lord

638
00:43:02,920 --> 00:43:10,800
Speaker 1: existed before the world existed. In the beginning, was the word,

639
00:43:12,640 --> 00:43:14,919
Speaker 1: you know. The book of Genesis says, in the beginning God.

640
00:43:15,040 --> 00:43:17,560
Speaker 1: The book of John says, in the beginning was the Word,

641
00:43:18,480 --> 00:43:23,320
Speaker 1: and the word was with God, and the Word was God.

642
00:43:24,400 --> 00:43:27,520
Speaker 1: So when Jeremiah says the Word of the Lord came

643
00:43:27,600 --> 00:43:31,160
Speaker 1: to me, it wasn't just advice that he got. It

644
00:43:31,239 --> 00:43:34,080
Speaker 1: wasn't just an instruction that he got. It wasn't just

645
00:43:34,160 --> 00:43:36,719
Speaker 1: something he thought he would try for his new year's goal.

646
00:43:37,239 --> 00:43:41,600
Speaker 1: It was God himself showing up and saying, Jeremiah, I've

647
00:43:41,640 --> 00:43:45,440
Speaker 1: given you an assignment. There are invaders coming from the north,

648
00:43:45,680 --> 00:43:47,880
Speaker 1: and I want you to preach to my people and

649
00:43:48,040 --> 00:43:51,320
Speaker 1: warn them and instruct them, and do it through your tears.

650
00:43:51,520 --> 00:43:54,000
Speaker 1: And there's going to be crying involved, and there's going

651
00:43:54,080 --> 00:43:56,680
Speaker 1: to be challenges involved, and there's going to be self

652
00:43:56,719 --> 00:44:02,120
Speaker 1: doubt involved. But he said, before you were born, before

653
00:44:02,719 --> 00:44:12,040
Speaker 1: I formed you in the womb, I I knew you

654
00:44:15,640 --> 00:44:22,480
Speaker 1: before this world got a hold of you, before depression

655
00:44:22,680 --> 00:44:27,600
Speaker 1: set in and put you in the bed, before you

656
00:44:27,680 --> 00:44:32,680
Speaker 1: got in this state, this emergency situation that you don't

657
00:44:32,719 --> 00:44:35,440
Speaker 1: know how you're going to get out of. Before you

658
00:44:35,520 --> 00:44:40,080
Speaker 1: were molested, before you were abused, before you were left,

659
00:44:40,320 --> 00:44:43,840
Speaker 1: before any of that happened to you, before the mistake,

660
00:44:44,400 --> 00:44:48,920
Speaker 1: before the failure, before the dumb idea, before the addiction

661
00:44:49,040 --> 00:44:54,200
Speaker 1: gripped you. Put it back up. God said, I knew you,

662
00:44:55,400 --> 00:45:01,040
Speaker 1: he knew you, he knew you'd be in trouble, he

663
00:45:01,120 --> 00:45:04,479
Speaker 1: knew you'd be thirty six in single. He knew you'd

664
00:45:04,520 --> 00:45:08,000
Speaker 1: be struggling. He knew you'd be sad, he knew you'd

665
00:45:08,040 --> 00:45:11,400
Speaker 1: be melancholy. He knew you'd need a job. He know

666
00:45:11,600 --> 00:45:15,960
Speaker 1: you'd be behind financially. He knew they'd walk away. He

667
00:45:16,440 --> 00:45:20,480
Speaker 1: knew you. You didn't know it. God knew it. You

668
00:45:20,520 --> 00:45:23,719
Speaker 1: didn't see it coming. He saw it coming. He said,

669
00:45:23,760 --> 00:45:34,279
Speaker 1: I know the lands I have for you. Before any

670
00:45:34,320 --> 00:45:37,560
Speaker 1: of the crap happened. God said, I had intimate knowledge

671
00:45:37,560 --> 00:45:41,320
Speaker 1: of your intellect. I see your integrity, even when it falters.

672
00:45:41,600 --> 00:45:44,080
Speaker 1: I see the man you're gonna be if you don't

673
00:45:44,160 --> 00:45:46,960
Speaker 1: leave and walk away. I see if you submit to

674
00:45:47,040 --> 00:45:50,279
Speaker 1: the process, how strong you're gonna be. I see the

675
00:45:50,360 --> 00:45:54,040
Speaker 1: testimony you're gonna be telling your kids ten years from now,

676
00:45:54,320 --> 00:45:58,400
Speaker 1: talking about here's what God did in our home, Here's

677
00:45:58,480 --> 00:46:02,000
Speaker 1: what I almost did. A cod brought me back in

678
00:46:02,120 --> 00:46:05,759
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three, and he brought me inserts to tell

679
00:46:05,840 --> 00:46:18,000
Speaker 1: me do it. To do you. I knew you. I

680
00:46:18,239 --> 00:46:24,319
Speaker 1: created you before you were corrupted. So I want you

681
00:46:24,400 --> 00:46:26,759
Speaker 1: to take off what happened to you. Take off the

682
00:46:26,760 --> 00:46:29,120
Speaker 1: way you've been thinking about it. Take off the story

683
00:46:29,160 --> 00:46:32,319
Speaker 1: you've been telling yourself. Take off that guilt, Take off

684
00:46:32,360 --> 00:46:34,840
Speaker 1: that shame, put it all at the foot of the cross,

685
00:46:34,880 --> 00:46:37,080
Speaker 1: and cast it all on the back of the Christ

686
00:46:37,280 --> 00:46:40,000
Speaker 1: who paid the price for your sins to be forgiven.

687
00:46:40,239 --> 00:46:43,279
Speaker 1: It's under the blood. Now we're going forward. Now we're

688
00:46:43,320 --> 00:46:45,439
Speaker 1: not talking about that for the rest of your life.

689
00:46:45,640 --> 00:46:49,040
Speaker 1: We're turning it into something miraculous. It's time to bring

690
00:46:49,080 --> 00:46:52,320
Speaker 1: it out. The oven. Baby, it's ready. The eyes that

691
00:46:52,480 --> 00:47:00,960
Speaker 1: flying rupts you. The elevation. I bring you up. Come up,

692
00:47:02,160 --> 00:47:08,160
Speaker 1: Come up, Come up, Come up, Come up to do it.

693
00:47:09,440 --> 00:47:13,399
Speaker 1: Come up in establish this, Come up and start it.

694
00:47:14,239 --> 00:47:17,040
Speaker 1: Come up there, say say, come up, they break here,

695
00:47:17,400 --> 00:47:25,359
Speaker 1: come up. Do it? Do it? Do it? Do it?

696
00:47:26,080 --> 00:47:29,600
Speaker 1: Do it? Do it till us second nature. Do it.

697
00:47:29,600 --> 00:47:32,120
Speaker 1: Tell us how you think. Do it till it naturally

698
00:47:32,160 --> 00:47:34,360
Speaker 1: colomes out of your mouth. Do it till it's not

699
00:47:34,480 --> 00:47:41,920
Speaker 1: so hard anymore. Do it awkward? Do it clumsy? Do

700
00:47:42,000 --> 00:47:43,920
Speaker 1: it over? Do it over? Sorry I messed that up.

701
00:47:44,000 --> 00:47:50,400
Speaker 1: Let me try again. Do it? Do it? Do the

702
00:47:51,360 --> 00:47:58,120
Speaker 1: knew you, the one God knew, the one that people

703
00:47:58,120 --> 00:48:03,080
Speaker 1: don't always see. You're a good person. You got a

704
00:48:03,120 --> 00:48:08,239
Speaker 1: better heart than you've got habits, And what you've been

705
00:48:08,280 --> 00:48:12,640
Speaker 1: calling your personality is just your patterns. If we change

706
00:48:12,640 --> 00:48:16,480
Speaker 1: your patterns, God is about to release potential in your

707
00:48:16,520 --> 00:48:20,080
Speaker 1: life this year that you didn't even think was possible.

708
00:48:22,920 --> 00:48:30,680
Speaker 1: This is what the Lord said before you were born.

709
00:48:31,320 --> 00:48:36,799
Speaker 1: Play softly helped me close before I formed you in

710
00:48:36,880 --> 00:48:41,680
Speaker 1: the womb. I knew you. You think you know you. You

711
00:48:41,480 --> 00:48:45,719
Speaker 1: You don't know you. God knows you. You know what

712
00:48:45,760 --> 00:48:49,200
Speaker 1: you've experienced, You don't know you. How many of you

713
00:48:49,280 --> 00:48:52,040
Speaker 1: don't know the person you're sitting next to. Raise your hand,

714
00:48:53,480 --> 00:48:59,480
Speaker 1: every hand, better go up. You don't know what they

715
00:48:59,480 --> 00:49:02,880
Speaker 1: would do. They don't know what they would do in

716
00:49:02,880 --> 00:49:06,920
Speaker 1: a situation they haven't been through yet. You don't know

717
00:49:06,960 --> 00:49:10,160
Speaker 1: what they could be. You've only ever seen them in

718
00:49:10,200 --> 00:49:14,879
Speaker 1: the shackles of their past. You don't know them. God

719
00:49:14,960 --> 00:49:18,560
Speaker 1: knows them. That's the one I want to do this year,

720
00:49:18,680 --> 00:49:21,000
Speaker 1: and it's going to be hard for me because I'm

721
00:49:21,000 --> 00:49:27,040
Speaker 1: not gonna lie. I'm pretty opinionated about myself now. This

722
00:49:27,160 --> 00:49:29,160
Speaker 1: is how I am. I don't do that. Somebody asked

723
00:49:29,200 --> 00:49:31,840
Speaker 1: me for a meeting the other day. It was important,

724
00:49:31,960 --> 00:49:34,320
Speaker 1: and they said I can only meet at six fifteen am.

725
00:49:34,440 --> 00:49:41,799
Speaker 1: I said, I'm not a morning But I never read

726
00:49:41,800 --> 00:49:44,040
Speaker 1: in the Book of Ephesians about the morning people and

727
00:49:44,080 --> 00:49:48,160
Speaker 1: the night people. All they read about the old self

728
00:49:48,160 --> 00:49:51,560
Speaker 1: and the news south And I cut myself off mid sentence.

729
00:49:51,600 --> 00:49:54,840
Speaker 1: I said, I'm not a more. I see it's six fifteen,

730
00:49:55,840 --> 00:50:01,879
Speaker 1: because it's important to me. I got up forty five

731
00:50:01,920 --> 00:50:08,000
Speaker 1: minutes early, did a lot of coffee, and I did it.

732
00:50:08,920 --> 00:50:12,960
Speaker 1: Imagine that you could just do that. You could just

733
00:50:13,000 --> 00:50:16,720
Speaker 1: do that. It would be amazing, It would shock you. Now.

734
00:50:17,520 --> 00:50:19,080
Speaker 1: The thing I got to get you to see is

735
00:50:19,200 --> 00:50:22,719
Speaker 1: we're going to have to really work on this and

736
00:50:22,840 --> 00:50:27,799
Speaker 1: work through this, because your first instinct is going to

737
00:50:27,840 --> 00:50:31,440
Speaker 1: be always to hold tight to what feels the most familiar.

738
00:50:32,920 --> 00:50:37,279
Speaker 1: So if that's anger, if that's complaining, if that's blaming,

739
00:50:38,280 --> 00:50:41,600
Speaker 1: if that's diminishing yourself, if that's criticizing others, if that's

740
00:50:41,640 --> 00:50:45,040
Speaker 1: how you always bond, then that's what you're gonna naturally

741
00:50:45,080 --> 00:50:49,759
Speaker 1: think you should do. But what feels the most natural

742
00:50:50,880 --> 00:50:56,520
Speaker 1: isn't the truest thing about you, what God has put

743
00:50:56,760 --> 00:51:00,200
Speaker 1: within you and spoken over you, the truth that is

744
00:51:00,239 --> 00:51:06,840
Speaker 1: in Jesus. That's you. And then when you find yourself

745
00:51:06,880 --> 00:51:10,919
Speaker 1: outside of that, you go, oh, that's not me. That's

746
00:51:10,920 --> 00:51:13,360
Speaker 1: not how I want to respond. Oh, I'm just a

747
00:51:13,480 --> 00:51:17,720
Speaker 1: late person. No, you're not. You're a person who doesn't

748
00:51:17,719 --> 00:51:20,120
Speaker 1: know how to calculate how long a task will actually

749
00:51:20,160 --> 00:51:22,879
Speaker 1: take and tries to get too much done before you leave.

750
00:51:23,160 --> 00:51:26,160
Speaker 1: You are actually a very efficient person who just hasn't

751
00:51:26,239 --> 00:51:29,360
Speaker 1: learned to be realistic in their efficiency. Give God a

752
00:51:29,440 --> 00:51:33,799
Speaker 1: praise all of the formerly laid people. That's all that is.

753
00:51:38,800 --> 00:51:41,040
Speaker 1: So I'm going to break it down. But watch what

754
00:51:41,160 --> 00:51:43,839
Speaker 1: Jeremiah said when the Lord said, I've called you, I've

755
00:51:43,880 --> 00:51:45,640
Speaker 1: chosen you, I created you to do it. I got

756
00:51:45,640 --> 00:51:49,400
Speaker 1: a job for you. Now watch Jeremiah's response. This is

757
00:51:49,440 --> 00:51:52,240
Speaker 1: what we must move past. In verse six, he says,

758
00:51:52,640 --> 00:52:00,960
Speaker 1: a last sovereign Lord, I do not know how to speak.

759
00:52:03,200 --> 00:52:07,200
Speaker 1: I am too young. He did all three of the

760
00:52:07,239 --> 00:52:11,680
Speaker 1: things in one sentence. I don't know how. I don't

761
00:52:11,719 --> 00:52:15,799
Speaker 1: have the experience, and I'm not like these people who

762
00:52:15,840 --> 00:52:18,719
Speaker 1: have wisdom and can speak. And that's what's been going

763
00:52:18,760 --> 00:52:21,480
Speaker 1: through your mind all of last year that kept your stuck.

764
00:52:22,880 --> 00:52:28,640
Speaker 1: So his answer was in his excuse if he had

765
00:52:28,640 --> 00:52:39,600
Speaker 1: stopped talking. Verse six, A las sovereign Lord. That word

766
00:52:39,680 --> 00:52:46,640
Speaker 1: means he's in charge, not you. That word means he

767
00:52:46,800 --> 00:52:51,000
Speaker 1: knows what's in you, you don't. That word means that

768
00:52:51,080 --> 00:52:56,080
Speaker 1: his assignment is always accompanied by his enablement. Sovereign Lord,

769
00:52:57,000 --> 00:53:02,960
Speaker 1: his plan, his purpose, Sovereign Lord. And then the Lord

770
00:53:04,000 --> 00:53:10,880
Speaker 1: told Jeremiah verse seven, don't say I'm too young. You

771
00:53:11,000 --> 00:53:15,880
Speaker 1: must go to everyone I send you and say whatever

772
00:53:15,920 --> 00:53:21,840
Speaker 1: I command you for say. Do not be afraid of them.

773
00:53:22,000 --> 00:53:24,200
Speaker 1: This is the word of the Lord. Receive it, for

774
00:53:24,400 --> 00:53:28,920
Speaker 1: I am with you. That's what you need to know.

775
00:53:28,920 --> 00:53:31,440
Speaker 1: At the beginning of this year. The truest thing about

776
00:53:31,520 --> 00:53:36,840
Speaker 1: you is that God is with you. I am with you.

777
00:53:38,280 --> 00:53:40,680
Speaker 1: And look at this. After he gave him the promise,

778
00:53:40,680 --> 00:53:43,200
Speaker 1: he gave him the provision. This is so beautiful. Thank

779
00:53:43,239 --> 00:53:45,960
Speaker 1: you Holy Spirit for showing me this. I am with you.

780
00:53:46,239 --> 00:53:50,279
Speaker 1: I will rescue you, declares the Lord. Verse nine. Then

781
00:53:50,320 --> 00:53:53,120
Speaker 1: the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth

782
00:53:53,160 --> 00:53:58,240
Speaker 1: and said, I have put my words in your mouth.

783
00:53:59,239 --> 00:54:05,320
Speaker 1: Now speak it it now to create. Now do it. Now,

784
00:54:05,360 --> 00:54:11,959
Speaker 1: go for it, Now begin it. And God is going

785
00:54:12,040 --> 00:54:16,480
Speaker 1: to give it to you as you go. He's going

786
00:54:16,520 --> 00:54:18,480
Speaker 1: to show you how to do this. I know you

787
00:54:18,520 --> 00:54:20,640
Speaker 1: don't know how. I know you don't have it. He

788
00:54:20,760 --> 00:54:25,200
Speaker 1: touches your mouth after he gives you the command. It

789
00:54:25,280 --> 00:54:31,200
Speaker 1: is in obedience that potential is realized. Right now, all

790
00:54:31,239 --> 00:54:34,960
Speaker 1: over this room there are new beginnings trying to crack

791
00:54:35,000 --> 00:54:39,600
Speaker 1: through the cement of layers and layers of corruption. What

792
00:54:39,640 --> 00:54:41,759
Speaker 1: we want to do right now is set the atmosphere

793
00:54:41,760 --> 00:54:43,879
Speaker 1: in our hearts and our homes for whatever God wants

794
00:54:43,960 --> 00:54:46,480
Speaker 1: to do this year. I want you to join hands

795
00:54:46,520 --> 00:54:48,560
Speaker 1: or make contact on the shoulder of the person on

796
00:54:48,640 --> 00:54:51,320
Speaker 1: either side of you. I want you to spend the aisles.

797
00:54:51,360 --> 00:54:54,160
Speaker 1: I don't want anybody untouched on either side unless you're

798
00:54:54,160 --> 00:54:56,680
Speaker 1: at the end of the row. I want everybody joining up.

799
00:54:57,360 --> 00:55:03,680
Speaker 1: Everybody joining up at every location. Now, look at me.

800
00:55:05,040 --> 00:55:14,560
Speaker 1: Every location. Elevation, Matthews Elevation, Uptown, Blakeney, Riverwalk, University City, Gaston, Toronto,

801
00:55:14,680 --> 00:55:30,720
Speaker 1: Concord Lake, Norman, Raleigh, Roanoke, Melbourne, so Random, Winston, Salem, Ashville, Morrisville, Columbia, Greenville, Durham, Orlando.

802
00:55:32,719 --> 00:55:41,439
Speaker 1: Watch just Valentine Etham online all over the world where

803
00:55:41,480 --> 00:55:46,600
Speaker 1: you're from. Look at that. Can I tell you something

804
00:55:46,640 --> 00:55:48,799
Speaker 1: real quick? I want to close my sermon this way.

805
00:55:49,040 --> 00:55:50,799
Speaker 1: I was going to open it this way, but for

806
00:55:50,840 --> 00:55:52,520
Speaker 1: some reason the Lord wouldn't let me. And it must

807
00:55:52,600 --> 00:55:54,480
Speaker 1: be because of now. I hope you like their hand

808
00:55:54,480 --> 00:55:55,920
Speaker 1: because you're going to be holding it for about two

809
00:55:55,960 --> 00:56:00,759
Speaker 1: more minutes. Hope their palms aren't too sweaty. Look at me,

810
00:56:00,960 --> 00:56:05,080
Speaker 1: Look at me. Yesterday I went to watch Graham Russell

811
00:56:05,239 --> 00:56:08,160
Speaker 1: at porter Ridge High School. That was our first second

812
00:56:08,160 --> 00:56:11,280
Speaker 1: campus of Elevation Church. So we were meeting at Providence

813
00:56:11,320 --> 00:56:13,960
Speaker 1: High School. It got full. A man came to meet

814
00:56:13,960 --> 00:56:17,440
Speaker 1: with me named John Butler. John Butler was a Baptist minister,

815
00:56:17,480 --> 00:56:19,400
Speaker 1: so I always called him John the Baptist and he

816
00:56:19,400 --> 00:56:21,759
Speaker 1: thought that was funny. But he comes to me and

817
00:56:21,800 --> 00:56:24,400
Speaker 1: says he was attending the church at the time. He

818
00:56:24,440 --> 00:56:27,120
Speaker 1: was also employed by the Baptist Convention. He said, the

819
00:56:27,200 --> 00:56:29,640
Speaker 1: church is full, that's amazing. And he said, but you

820
00:56:29,680 --> 00:56:32,719
Speaker 1: need to keep growing. He said, you can't just contain it.

821
00:56:32,840 --> 00:56:34,680
Speaker 1: And if you tell people invite their friends, but there's

822
00:56:34,680 --> 00:56:37,480
Speaker 1: nowhere for their friends to sit, that's a problem. So

823
00:56:37,560 --> 00:56:40,439
Speaker 1: you need to open another campus. I said, cool. He said,

824
00:56:40,480 --> 00:56:42,880
Speaker 1: I've got three hundred thousand dollars in the Baptist Convention

825
00:56:42,920 --> 00:56:45,520
Speaker 1: account that I will give you to start the campus.

826
00:56:45,640 --> 00:56:47,960
Speaker 1: I said, great. I got a friend named Travis. I'll

827
00:56:47,960 --> 00:56:49,759
Speaker 1: call him and tell him that you're looking for a

828
00:56:49,840 --> 00:56:54,040
Speaker 1: church planter. He said, no you, I said, but I can't.

829
00:56:54,080 --> 00:56:56,399
Speaker 1: Do you know I'm preaching at one, I can't preach

830
00:56:56,440 --> 00:56:59,759
Speaker 1: at the other. He goes, I'm talking about you on

831
00:57:00,080 --> 00:57:12,560
Speaker 1: video appreaching. I looked at him and said, that's not me. Elevation,

832
00:57:12,680 --> 00:57:20,160
Speaker 1: Matthews Elevation, Uptown Elevation, Blatant Elevation, Riverwalk Elevation, University City Elevation,

833
00:57:20,320 --> 00:57:27,000
Speaker 1: Gaston Elevation, Toronto Elevation, Concord Elevation, Lake Norman, Raleigh, Melbourne Elevation, Weston,

834
00:57:27,080 --> 00:57:35,160
Speaker 1: Salem Elevation, Ashville Elevation, Morrisville, Columbia, Greenville, Durham, Orlando, Valentine.

835
00:57:35,800 --> 00:57:46,960
Speaker 1: He found Argentina, Seattle, Arizona. I didn't know we could

836
00:57:47,000 --> 00:57:54,760
Speaker 1: reach this many people. He knew, and then looked at

837
00:57:54,760 --> 00:57:58,160
Speaker 1: me and said, Pastor, you can do this two ways.

838
00:57:58,760 --> 00:58:00,800
Speaker 1: If you try to follow God and get ahead of him,

839
00:58:00,920 --> 00:58:04,080
Speaker 1: he'll shut the door. If God says follow me and

840
00:58:04,120 --> 00:58:08,480
Speaker 1: you won't, he'll pick somebody else. Do you want to

841
00:58:08,480 --> 00:58:13,400
Speaker 1: do it? Do you want to break the curse in

842
00:58:13,480 --> 00:58:17,520
Speaker 1: your family line? Do you want to be in a

843
00:58:17,560 --> 00:58:19,880
Speaker 1: position five years from now where you can help somebody

844
00:58:19,920 --> 00:58:22,720
Speaker 1: else through the same dang thing that's been torment in you.

845
00:58:23,920 --> 00:58:28,120
Speaker 1: Let's do it. Then, let's do it every week. God

846
00:58:28,120 --> 00:58:31,160
Speaker 1: gives me strength. I'll be up here helping you drag

847
00:58:31,200 --> 00:58:33,440
Speaker 1: your tired button here and slippers if you have to,

848
00:58:33,440 --> 00:58:37,600
Speaker 1: and I'll preach to you log on when you're not here. Father,

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00:58:37,720 --> 00:58:41,480
Speaker 1: in the name of Jesus, I release the potential of

850
00:58:41,520 --> 00:58:44,520
Speaker 1: your children in Jesus' name to become everything they were

851
00:58:44,560 --> 00:58:48,720
Speaker 1: called to be, until we grow up, until we grow

852
00:58:48,760 --> 00:58:51,240
Speaker 1: out of our guilt, till we grow out of our grief,

853
00:58:51,360 --> 00:58:54,480
Speaker 1: till we grow past it and become vessels of honor

854
00:58:55,080 --> 00:58:58,640
Speaker 1: fit for the Master's use. I thank you that addictions

855
00:58:58,680 --> 00:59:01,400
Speaker 1: will be broken under the path of your word this year.

856
00:59:02,000 --> 00:59:04,560
Speaker 1: I thank you that poverty will be eliminated from the

857
00:59:04,600 --> 00:59:07,800
Speaker 1: cycle of families this year by your word. I think

858
00:59:07,880 --> 00:59:11,440
Speaker 1: you've had lost children who aren't living for Jesus are

859
00:59:11,520 --> 00:59:15,919
Speaker 1: coming home quote in scripture this Christmas in Jesus' name,

860
00:59:16,280 --> 00:59:19,640
Speaker 1: I thank you no when no way will be possible

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00:59:19,920 --> 00:59:24,560
Speaker 1: to unstabilize and destabilize your children. I think you are

862
00:59:24,720 --> 00:59:30,640
Speaker 1: churches growing into new communities, your kingdom expanding recession. You

863
00:59:30,760 --> 00:59:33,280
Speaker 1: can do what you gotta do but to all the

864
00:59:33,480 --> 00:59:37,720
Speaker 1: Shiah is looking over his children. We trusted in God,

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00:59:38,200 --> 00:59:41,840
Speaker 1: We trust in the Almighty. He is able to do

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00:59:42,600 --> 00:59:47,920
Speaker 1: im miserably more that we ask, or think or imagine.

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00:59:48,360 --> 00:59:53,720
Speaker 1: Get God. Twenty three seconds of great pray. Come on,

868
00:59:53,840 --> 00:59:59,280
Speaker 1: that's not good enough, that's not good enough, lived up,

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00:59:59,320 --> 01:00:04,560
Speaker 1: a shout of He's right. Let's sign up right, let's

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01:00:04,600 --> 01:00:09,680
Speaker 1: sign up right. Well. If you enjoyed today's podcast, there

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01:00:09,680 --> 01:00:11,640
Speaker 1: are a couple of things I'd love for you to do.

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01:00:11,760 --> 01:00:16,120
Speaker 1: Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. You

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01:00:16,120 --> 01:00:18,560
Speaker 1: can also help us reach others by investing today at

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01:00:18,600 --> 01:00:22,560
Speaker 1: Elevationchurch dot org, slash give and thanks again for joining

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01:00:22,680 --> 01:00:24,240
Speaker 1: us on the Elevation Podcast