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Speaker 1: Hey, thanks again for being with us today. Always my

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Speaker 1: honor to be able to share God's word with you

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Speaker 1: and hopefully inspire you and encourage you. And if you're enjoying

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Speaker 1: the podcast, I hope you'll share it with the friend

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Speaker 1: pass it along. Let's inspire some other people as well.

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Speaker 1: But know that we loved you. It's going to be

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Speaker 1: a blessed day for you. Well, God bless you. It's

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Speaker 1: a joy to come into your homes. And if you're

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Speaker 1: ever in our area, please stop by and be a

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Speaker 1: part of one of our services. I promise you we'll

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Speaker 1: make you feel right at home. But thanks so much

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Speaker 1: for tuning in today and thank you again for coming out.

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Speaker 1: I like to start with something funny and I heard

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Speaker 1: about this pastor. He was in the lobby after service

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Speaker 1: greeting people. He saw men that he hadn't seen in

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Speaker 1: a long long time, pulled him to the side and said, brother,

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Speaker 1: you need to join the Army of the Lord. The

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Speaker 1: men said, what are you talking about. I'm in the

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Speaker 1: Army of the Lord. Pastor said, well, how come I

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Speaker 1: only see you at Christmas and on Easter? He whispered back,

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Speaker 1: because I'm in the secret service. Your Bible say it

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Speaker 1: like you mean it. This is my Bible. I am

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Speaker 1: what it says I am. I have what it says

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Speaker 1: I have. I can do what it says I can do.

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Speaker 1: Today I will be taught the word of God. I

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Speaker 1: boldly confess. My mind is alert, my heart is receptive.

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Speaker 1: I will never be the same. In Jesus' name, God

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Speaker 1: bless you. I want to talk to you today about

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Speaker 1: trusting God to do it his way. We all have

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Speaker 1: dreams that we're believing for in situations we want to

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Speaker 1: see turn around. But too often we put God in

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Speaker 1: a box and tell him how to do it, when

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Speaker 1: to do it, and who to use to do it.

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Speaker 1: The only problem is God's ways are not our ways.

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Speaker 1: God doesn't always do things the logical way. God uses

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Speaker 1: unorthodox methods. He's unconventional may not always make sense to

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Speaker 1: our mind. And if you have these preconceived eyes ideas

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Speaker 1: of how you're going to be promoted and how you're

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Speaker 1: going to get well, it will limit what God can do.

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Speaker 1: You have to stay open, let God out of your box.

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Speaker 1: You may only see one way that it could happen.

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Speaker 1: It's obvious you need to get that promotion so you'll

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Speaker 1: have the funds to accomplish your dreams. You've worked at

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Speaker 1: the company twenty years. You deserve it, but for no

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Speaker 1: reason you get passed over. If you're not careful, you'll

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Speaker 1: get discouraged and start thinking it's never going to happen.

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Speaker 1: I miss my opportunity. God is not fair. Now. What

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Speaker 1: you don't realize is God closed that door on purpose

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Speaker 1: because he has something much better in front of you.

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Speaker 1: Just because it's the logical way doesn't mean that it's

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Speaker 1: God's way. Just because it happened that way before doesn't

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Speaker 1: mean it's going to happen that way next time. Stay open.

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Speaker 1: If you're narrow minded, you can miss God's best. Our

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Speaker 1: attitude should be God, I'm letting you out of my box.

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Speaker 1: You can do anything in my life. You can do

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Speaker 1: it any time. You can use any person that you want. God,

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Speaker 1: I trust you to do it your way. When I

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Speaker 1: look back over my life, I can see times where

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Speaker 1: God used people to help me that I never dreamed

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Speaker 1: he would use. When we were trying to acquire this place,

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Speaker 1: the former Compact Center, the city council members had to

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Speaker 1: vote on it, and there were two men that were

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Speaker 1: very influential, very well connected, but they didn't have any

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Speaker 1: kind of religious background. They loved to party, loved to

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Speaker 1: have a good time. There were great people. They just

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Speaker 1: weren't on my list of who I thought God would

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Speaker 1: have chosen to help us. And what's interesting is we

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Speaker 1: didn't pursue them. They pursued us. One of the men

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Speaker 1: told me, Joel, this is my personal mission. I'm going

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Speaker 1: to do everything I can to make sure who gets

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Speaker 1: the compact center. My first thought was, God, is this right.

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Speaker 1: This is like oil and water. We don't come from

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Speaker 1: the same type of background. It's easy to make narrow

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Speaker 1: minded judgments and think God can't use her. She's a sinner.

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Speaker 1: God can't use him. He likes to party. God can't

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Speaker 1: use them. They don't even believe in God. Now the

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Speaker 1: longer I live, the more I realize. God can use

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Speaker 1: whoever he wants to use. God can save whoever he

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Speaker 1: wants to save. God can bring good out of whomever

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Speaker 1: he wants to bring good out of. In the Old Testament,

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Speaker 1: God use rehab the prostitute to save the people of Israel.

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Speaker 1: God used a donkey to speak to the prophet. God

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Speaker 1: used Pharaoh's daughter to take care of baby Moses. In

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Speaker 1: other words, God used the enemy to take care of

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Speaker 1: one of his children. Friends, God is God, he can

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Speaker 1: do whatever he wants to do. Don't put to him

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Speaker 1: in a box and miss your miracle. If it had

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Speaker 1: not been for those two men, we may not be

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Speaker 1: in our beautiful facility today. And I found a lot

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Speaker 1: of times God is answering our prayer. It's just not

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Speaker 1: the way that we expected. When our son Jonathan was

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Speaker 1: about four years old, Victoria started praying that God would

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Speaker 1: bring a young boy into his life so that they

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Speaker 1: could be good friends. His cousin used to live down

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Speaker 1: the street from us. They played practically every day together.

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Speaker 1: When my dad went to be with the Lord, they

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Speaker 1: moved to another city, and now Jonathan didn't have anybody

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Speaker 1: close in the neighborhood to play with, and Victoria prayed

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Speaker 1: month after month, even year after year, that God would

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Speaker 1: send the right person. When Jonathan was about twelve years old,

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Speaker 1: one of our main guitar players, a young man named Michael,

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Speaker 1: took a great interest in Jonathan and started teaching him

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Speaker 1: how to play the guitar. They became good friends. Michael

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Speaker 1: was always mentoring Jonathan, pouring into him. Jonathan is seventeen now,

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Speaker 1: a couple of years ago, Victoria said, Joel, I realize

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Speaker 1: now God did answer my prayer. He just didn't answer

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Speaker 1: it in the way I expected. I prayed for God

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Speaker 1: to send somebody into Jonathan's life. I thought it would

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Speaker 1: be a little boy, but instead God send a grown man.

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Speaker 1: My point is you have to stay open as to

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Speaker 1: how God answers your prayer. It may not be the

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Speaker 1: way you had planned. God may not use the people

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Speaker 1: you were expecting. It may not happen on your timetable.

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Speaker 1: But this is what faith is all about. God. I

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Speaker 1: trust you. You know what's best for me, you know

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Speaker 1: what I need, you know when I need it, and

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Speaker 1: you know who I need. And some of you today

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Speaker 1: are little discouraged because things haven't worked out the way

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Speaker 1: you had planned. But you need to take another look.

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Speaker 1: Maybe God has answered your prayers, just not the way

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Speaker 1: you thought. Or maybe what you were asking for wasn't

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Speaker 1: God's best and God loves you too much to answer

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Speaker 1: that prayer. Or like in our case, maybe God has

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Speaker 1: given you something better, but because you're so set in

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Speaker 1: seeing it happen your way, you don't recognize it right now.

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Speaker 1: What if God knew that, if he answered Victoria's prayer

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Speaker 1: and brought a little boy that Jonathan would have been

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Speaker 1: so busy, so preoccupied, he had never developed that skill

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Speaker 1: of playing the guitar. God knows what he's doing. He

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Speaker 1: can see the big picture for your life. If you're

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Speaker 1: only going to be happy if God does it your way,

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Speaker 1: you're not really trusting. You've got to come to the

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Speaker 1: place where if it doesn't work out the way you

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Speaker 1: had it planned, you're still in peace. You know God

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Speaker 1: is still on the throne and he will still get

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Speaker 1: you to where you're supposed to be. John chapter nine.

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Speaker 1: Jesus was traveling through a town and he noticed a

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Speaker 1: man that had been blind since his birth, never been

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Speaker 1: able to see it. Jesus went over to the man,

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Speaker 1: and he was so excited. The blind man had heard

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Speaker 1: that this healer was in town, this man who could

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Speaker 1: perform miracles, out of all the people in the city.

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Speaker 1: Now Jesus is standing before him, no doubt, someone has

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Speaker 1: told him how Jesus touched a blind man's eyes and

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Speaker 1: he could see, or how Jesus has spoken the word

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Speaker 1: and a little girl was healed, or even how he

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Speaker 1: commanded a dead man to come back to life. There

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Speaker 1: were many different methods Jesus used to heal people, and

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Speaker 1: I'm sure this blind man was expecting Jesus to do

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Speaker 1: something like he had done before. It was perfectly quiet.

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Speaker 1: You could hear a pin drop. Great anticipation. The blind

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Speaker 1: man is waiting to hear Jesus speak a word of healing,

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Speaker 1: but instead all he hears is Jesus spitting on the ground.

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Speaker 1: Imagine what was going on in his mind. I thought

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Speaker 1: he was going to pray for me. I thought he

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Speaker 1: was going to touch my eyes. Why is he spitty?

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Speaker 1: Jesus made mud out of the dirt and the spittle,

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Speaker 1: and he placed it on the man's eyes. He's already blind.

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Speaker 1: Now he's really not going to be able to see.

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Speaker 1: He's got mud in his eyes. Jesus was unconventional. There

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Speaker 1: was no precedent for this ever happening before. In the scripture.

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Speaker 1: Elijah never did it, Elisha Moses. This was the first

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Speaker 1: instance this method had ever been used. The blind man

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Speaker 1: could have said, get this off of my eyes. This

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Speaker 1: doesn't make sense. This isn't going to do any good. No,

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Speaker 1: he didn't have God in a box. He stayed open.

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Speaker 1: Jesus instructed him to wash it off. When he did,

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Speaker 1: he could see perfectly clear for the first time. My

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Speaker 1: question today, are you open for God to use a

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Speaker 1: new method to bring your dreams to pass? What if

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Speaker 1: God answers your prayers differently than you were expecting. What

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Speaker 1: if he doesn't use the people that you thought he

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Speaker 1: would use. Are you going to do like this blind

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Speaker 1: man and stay open and say God, I trust you

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Speaker 1: do it your way? Or are you going to have

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Speaker 1: God in a box and miss your miracle. What's interesting

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Speaker 1: is Jesus did all this on the Sabbath. He not

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Speaker 1: only used an unconventional method, but he broke one of

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Speaker 1: their religious rules. The Pharisees, the religious leaders, they were

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Speaker 1: very upset when they heard what had happened. They had

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Speaker 1: the blind man brought before them and they questioned him

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Speaker 1: again and again. Then they got his pain parents and

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Speaker 1: brought them in and said, hey, we want you to

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Speaker 1: tell us how can your son see? We know he's

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Speaker 1: been blind, We've seen him begging on the street corners.

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Speaker 1: Are you telling us this man Jesus healed your son.

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Speaker 1: They were afraid. They didn't want to get in trouble.

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Speaker 1: They said, we don't know how he can see. He's

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Speaker 1: a grown man. He's old enough. Don't ask us. Ask him.

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Speaker 1: They called the blind man back in a second time

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Speaker 1: and said, tell us what happened. Don't you know this man,

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Speaker 1: Jesus is a sinner? He said, I don't understand all

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Speaker 1: the doctrine, all your religious laws. I don't even know

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Speaker 1: much about Jesus. All I can tell you is I

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Speaker 1: was blind, but now I can see. It's hard to

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Speaker 1: argue with a changed life. One reason God does it

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Speaker 1: his way and not our way is so that he

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Speaker 1: will get all the credit. The blind man was saying,

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Speaker 1: in effect, you can argue a doctrine, you can debate

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Speaker 1: whether or not he's a sinner. You can try to

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Speaker 1: deny it, dismiss it, discredit it. But I am living

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Speaker 1: proof of a good God, a God of mercy, a

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Speaker 1: God who can do the impossible. But it all started

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Speaker 1: when he was willing to let God do it his way.

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Speaker 1: He didn't have God in a box. When my father

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Speaker 1: went to be with the Lord back in nineteen ninety

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Speaker 1: nine after pastoring Lakewood for forty years, we didn't know

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Speaker 1: what was going to happen to the church. We had,

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Speaker 1: of course, prayed that God would send the right person

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Speaker 1: in the natural. That would be somebody that had experienced

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Speaker 1: pastoring a large church, somebody that had gone to seminary,

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Speaker 1: had a proven track record. But God doesn't always choose

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Speaker 1: the way we choose. Man looks on the outside. God

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Speaker 1: looks on the heart. And I knew, down deep I

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Speaker 1: was supposed to step up and pasture the church. But

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Speaker 1: I thought, I've never ministered before, never been to seminary.

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Speaker 1: I don't have the training qualifications. I'm too young, too quiet,

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Speaker 1: too shy. Thought of all these reasons as to why

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Speaker 1: I must have heard God wrong. I had to do

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Speaker 1: what I'm asking you to do. I said, God, this

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Speaker 1: doesn't make sense to my mind. This seems way far out.

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Speaker 1: But God, I'm not going to put you in a box.

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Speaker 1: I know your ways are better than my ways. You

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Speaker 1: know what I can do and what I can't do.

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Speaker 1: I may not feel qualified, but when you breathe your

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Speaker 1: life into me, I know you equipped me, empowered me,

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Speaker 1: anointed me. I may feel weak, but with you, I

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Speaker 1: know I'm strong. I took that step of faith. I

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Speaker 1: never planned on being a minister, never knew that this

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Speaker 1: was even in me. This happened thirteen years ago. The

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Speaker 1: ministry has grown in ways that we never dreamed of.

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Speaker 1: In fact, some people are still scratching their heads thinking,

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Speaker 1: how in the world did that happen. He doesn't have

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Speaker 1: the training, the qualifications, the experience. I can say, like

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Speaker 1: the blind man, I don't understand it all. I can't

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Speaker 1: explain it. I can only tell you I spent seventeen

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Speaker 1: years behind the scenes running the cameras. Now I'm in

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Speaker 1: front of the camera speaking to the world. It's the

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Speaker 1: goodness of God, and it's easy for me to give

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Speaker 1: God credit. I remember where I came from. For the

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Speaker 1: time I stand up to minister, I'm still amazed at

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Speaker 1: God's goodness. If you're going to reach your highest potential,

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Speaker 1: you have to stay open. Don't get stuck at a rut.

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Speaker 1: God is an out of the box god. His plan

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Speaker 1: for your life will not always be logical or reasonable

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Speaker 1: or what you had planned. But if you will stay open,

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Speaker 1: it will be much bigger, much better, much more rewarding

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Speaker 1: than you ever even imagine. God wants to thrust you

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Speaker 1: to new levels. He wants to not only bring you

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Speaker 1: out of that difficulty, he wants to catapult you out.

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Speaker 1: God is going to open doors for you that no

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Speaker 1: man can shut. You have not touched the surface of

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Speaker 1: what God has in store. But here's the key. It's

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Speaker 1: not going to happen by traditional means. It's not going

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Speaker 1: to happen by logical ways. It's going to be supernatural.

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Speaker 1: That way, God will get all the credit. Nobody will

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Speaker 1: be able to doubt God's tend to favor and blessing

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Speaker 1: on your life. Now again, don't limit God by thinking

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Speaker 1: it can only happen this way or that way. God

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Speaker 1: has a thousand ways to do it. The question is

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Speaker 1: when they show up, are you going to be open

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Speaker 1: and say, God, this is not what I had planned,

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Speaker 1: This is not what I was expecting, this is not

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Speaker 1: who I thought you would use. But God, you know

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Speaker 1: what's best for me. You've opened this door. I'm going

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Speaker 1: to do my part and walk through it. Now, like

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Speaker 1: the blind man, you may be criticized, people may find fault,

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Speaker 1: they may not understand you, even break one of their

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Speaker 1: religious rules. But you've got to be more interested in

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Speaker 1: pleasing God than you are in pleasing people. There will

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Speaker 1: always be people that try to squeeze you into their

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Speaker 1: mold and tell you you're not enough of this, or

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Speaker 1: not enough of that, or too much of this, not talented,

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Speaker 1: not qualified. Let it go in one ear and out

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Speaker 1: the other. You are not who people say you are.

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Speaker 1: You are who God says you are. But some of

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Speaker 1: you today you have God in a little bitty box.

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Speaker 1: You don't see how you could ever send your children

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Speaker 1: to college, or how you could get out of debt,

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Speaker 1: how you could accomplish your dreams. Listen, Our God is

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Speaker 1: an all powerful God. Your job is not your source.

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Speaker 1: God is your source, and as long as you stay

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Speaker 1: connected to him, the supply line, everything is going to

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Speaker 1: be all right. He is Jehovah Jarrah, the Lord, your provider. Now,

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Speaker 1: don't get stuck in a rut. Don't be narrow minded

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Speaker 1: and miss what God wants to do. My sister Lisa

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Speaker 1: and her husband Kevin tried for several years to have

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Speaker 1: a baby with no success. Lisa went through all the

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Speaker 1: fertility treatments and different surgeries, still nothing worked out. Finally,

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Speaker 1: the doctor told her there was nothing more that he

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Speaker 1: could do and she wasn't going to be able to

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Speaker 1: have a baby. Lisa was very discouraged, very heartbroken. She

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Speaker 1: had prayed and believed, but still it didn't work out.

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Speaker 1: The truth is God is a sovereign God. His plan

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Speaker 1: for us is always good, but his plan may be

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Speaker 1: different than our own plan. He is the potter, we

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Speaker 1: are the clay. You should pray, believe, stand in faith,

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Speaker 1: but in the end you have to be mature enough

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Speaker 1: to accept what God is destined for your life. Not defeat,

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Speaker 1: not mediocrity. I'm talking about staying open. Lisa told how

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Speaker 1: she was consumed with having this baby. That's all she

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Speaker 1: thought about, all she prayed about. She wasn't going to

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Speaker 1: be happy unless God did it her way. When you

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Speaker 1: do that, you're setting yourself up for disappointment. A much

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Speaker 1: better approach is to just be honest and say, God,

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Speaker 1: this is what I want, this is what i'm believing for.

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Speaker 1: But God, you know what's best for me. However it

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Speaker 1: works out, God, I trust you, I'm still going to

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Speaker 1: be happy. You have to put having to have it

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Speaker 1: your way on the altar. That's what Lisa did. She said, God,

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Speaker 1: I'm not going to ask you for this baby ever. Again,

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Speaker 1: you already know what I want. Instead of begging you,

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Speaker 1: telling you how to do it and when to do it, God,

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Speaker 1: I just want to thank you that your perfect plan

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Speaker 1: for my life will come to pass. What did she do?

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Speaker 1: She let God out of her box. She got rid

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Speaker 1: of her preconceived ideas. About three months later, she received

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Speaker 1: a phone call from a friend of ours that runs

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Speaker 1: a home for teenage girls that are in need, Nancy

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Speaker 1: Alcorn from Mercy Ministries. Nancy told how there was a

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Speaker 1: teenager about to give birth to twins and wanted to

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Speaker 1: know if Lisa and Kevin would be interested in adopting

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Speaker 1: those babies. When they heard that something came alive on

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Speaker 1: the inside, they said absolutely yes. Today Lisa and Kevin

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Speaker 1: have three beautiful children, as happy as can be. But

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Speaker 1: here's the point. God did what he promised, but he

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Speaker 1: did it in an unconventional way, not the way Lisa

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Speaker 1: had planned. Now, I'd love to tell you God will

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Speaker 1: always do it your way, but that's not reality. But

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Speaker 1: I can promise you God's way will always be the

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Speaker 1: best way. You may not understand it, it may not

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Speaker 1: seem fair, but God knows what he's doing. I'm asking

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Speaker 1: you to trust him. Quit being frustrated because it didn't

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Speaker 1: work out your way. What if you knew if God

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Speaker 1: answered your prayer the way you wanted, that it wouldn't

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Speaker 1: be his best or that it wouldn't last, or that

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Speaker 1: it wouldn't be healthy. You would gladly let God do

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Speaker 1: it his way, and some of you would enjoy life

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Speaker 1: a whole lot more if, like Lisa, you would put

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Speaker 1: that dream on the altar and say, God, I'm tired

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Speaker 1: of fighting it, tired of trying to make it happen

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Speaker 1: my way, living frustrated God, I trust you, knowing that

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Speaker 1: at the right time, your plan for my life will

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Speaker 1: come to pass. See it says in Psalms. Delight yourself

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Speaker 1: and the Lord and God will give you the desires

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Speaker 1: of your heart. When you're trusting God to do it

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Speaker 1: his way, there's a rest. You're not struggling, fighting upset.

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Speaker 1: You're at peace. You know God's way is the best way,

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Speaker 1: so you can relax and enjoy your life while God

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Speaker 1: is in the process of bringing those promises to pass.

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Speaker 1: Second King's Chapter five there's the story of a man

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Speaker 1: named Naeman. He was a captain in the Syrian army,

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Speaker 1: very influential man, but he had leprosy. One day, a

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Speaker 1: young lady that worked for him, a maid at his house,

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Speaker 1: said Naemen, if you'll travel to Israel and see the

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Speaker 1: prophet Elisha, he'll pray for you, and I know you'll

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Speaker 1: be healed. He took her advice, and when a great

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Speaker 1: distance all the way to Israel, showed up at Elisha's house.

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Speaker 1: But when he got there, Elisha didn't even get up

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Speaker 1: and go to the door to meet him. Elisha sent

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Speaker 1: his assistant and said, go tell Naeman, if he'll go

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Speaker 1: wash in the Jordan river seven times, he'll be healed

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Speaker 1: of that leprosy. Well, Naeman was offended. He had traveled

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Speaker 1: all this way, He's an important military man, and Elisha

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Speaker 1: didn't even have the courtesy to come to the door

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Speaker 1: to speak with it. Plus he didn't want to go

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Speaker 1: washing the Jordan river, that was a dirty river. Naemin

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Speaker 1: had his own plan, he said in verse eleven. I

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Speaker 1: thought Elisha would come out and wave his hand over

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Speaker 1: me and cure me of my leprosy, two words that

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Speaker 1: almost kept him from his miracle. I thought he had

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Speaker 1: a preconceived idea of how it was going to happen.

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Speaker 1: The young girl said, Naom, and if he'd ask you

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Speaker 1: to do something difficult, you would do it. Why don't

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Speaker 1: you do this simple thing? She talked him into it.

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Speaker 1: He went and washed in the Jordan river. When he

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Speaker 1: came up the seventh time, his skin was perfectly clean.

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Speaker 1: I was wondering how many of us missed God's best

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Speaker 1: because we thought it would happen another way. I thought

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Speaker 1: I would give birth to my children, not adopt them.

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Speaker 1: I thought I would get well without the treatment. I

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Speaker 1: thought I'd get that promotion. That's how I'd be blessed.

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Speaker 1: Open and let God do it his way. When Victoria

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Speaker 1: and I were first married, we lived in this town home.

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Speaker 1: It's a very beautiful place. We bought it for a

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Speaker 1: great price and felt very blessed. A couple of years later,

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Speaker 1: we had a desire to buy a house. We put

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Speaker 1: the townhome on the market. It sold very quickly and

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Speaker 1: we found this nice house that we really wanted. It

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Speaker 1: was in our price range, and we thought this is

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Speaker 1: the perfect house for us. We made an offer on

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Speaker 1: it and didn't hear anything back. A couple of weeks later,

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Speaker 1: they responded and didn't accept it, so we made a

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Speaker 1: better offer very close, just a few thousand dollars off.

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Speaker 1: Victoria and I were praying and believing our heart was set.

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Speaker 1: We knew this was the right house for us. Month later,

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Speaker 1: our realtor called back and said they had sold the

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Speaker 1: property to somebody else. We were so discouraged. We thought, God,

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Speaker 1: how could that happen? We prayed, we believed a few

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Speaker 1: months later we were out looking around. We found this

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Speaker 1: old Rundown beat up house. But it was in a

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Speaker 1: nice neighborhood close into the city. It's on a beautiful

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Speaker 1: lot with big trees. But the house had been abandoned

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Speaker 1: for a couple of years. Windows were broken out, no

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Speaker 1: doors on. It had a leak in the kitchen, foundation problems,

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Speaker 1: floors as crooked as can be. It didn't make sense

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Speaker 1: to our mind, but in our spirit we felt an

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Speaker 1: incredible peace. Victoria looked at me and said, Joel, this

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Speaker 1: is the house for us. Let's buy it, fix it up,

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Speaker 1: and live in it. It didn't seem logical here we

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Speaker 1: had just come out of a beautiful townhouse. This was

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Speaker 1: just the opposite, not a step up. It looked like

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Speaker 1: a step down. But God's ways are not our ways.

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Speaker 1: We could have been narrow minded and thought, we are

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Speaker 1: not even going to entertain this old piece of jump.

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Speaker 1: After all, Victoria comes from a well to do family.

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Speaker 1: They have a high end jewelry store. When Victoria was

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Speaker 1: for it, I knew that was a sign from Almighty God.

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Speaker 1: Plus he's saved me a lot of money. We bought

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Speaker 1: the house, fixed it up, living in it. Six months later,

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Speaker 1: men knocked on our door unannounced a builder. He said,

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Speaker 1: I'd like to buy this property and build two houses

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Speaker 1: on it. He said, I'm sorry, property is not for sales.

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Speaker 1: He said, let me ask you how much did you

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Speaker 1: pay for it? I told him what we paid. He said,

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Speaker 1: how about I pay you double? I said, like I said,

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Speaker 1: we love to sell it. We sold that old rundown

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00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:36,359
Speaker 1: beat up house and got a brand new house on

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00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:40,000
Speaker 1: the same piece of property. Friends, God knows what he's doing.

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00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:44,240
Speaker 1: Trust him. Let him do it his way. You may

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00:25:44,280 --> 00:25:47,560
Speaker 1: not understand it at the time. It may not make sense,

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00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:50,600
Speaker 1: but one day you will see what God was doing.

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00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:54,359
Speaker 1: His plan will be better than your plan. When I

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00:25:54,400 --> 00:25:57,720
Speaker 1: look back over my life, like Nielman, I have a

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00:25:57,760 --> 00:26:02,040
Speaker 1: lot of I thoughts. Thought we would buy a new house,

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00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:05,760
Speaker 1: not an old rundown beat up one. I thought I

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00:26:05,760 --> 00:26:08,200
Speaker 1: would be behind the scenes my whole life, not out

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00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:11,400
Speaker 1: here in front of people. I thought we would build

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00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:14,840
Speaker 1: a new sanctuary when Lakewood needed more room, not move

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00:26:14,880 --> 00:26:18,440
Speaker 1: into the former Compact center. Where the rockets used to play.

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00:26:18,600 --> 00:26:23,159
Speaker 1: The common denominator in all of my eye thoughts is

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00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:26,679
Speaker 1: that God's plan was much better than my plan. What

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00:26:26,880 --> 00:26:30,240
Speaker 1: God had in mind was much bigger, much more rewarding

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00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:35,920
Speaker 1: than anything I dreamed of. I'm asking you to trust him.

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00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:40,080
Speaker 1: Our attitude should be God. I'm wide open. Do anything

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00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:43,640
Speaker 1: you want, any time you want, use anyone you want.

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00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:46,280
Speaker 1: I'm not set on having it my way. God. I

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00:26:46,359 --> 00:26:49,480
Speaker 1: know your plan is the best plan. If you will

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00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:52,879
Speaker 1: stay open and let God do it his way, God

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00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:55,719
Speaker 1: will open doors for you that no man can shut.

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00:26:56,119 --> 00:26:59,320
Speaker 1: His favor is going to thrust you years ahead. You

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00:26:59,359 --> 00:27:03,080
Speaker 1: will see promise is fulfilled, dreams come to pass. I

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00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:07,320
Speaker 1: believe and declare you will overcome every obstacle, defeat every enemy,

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00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:10,919
Speaker 1: and become everything God's created you to be. If you

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00:27:10,960 --> 00:27:14,840
Speaker 1: receive it, Can you say amen? Today? We never like

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00:27:14,920 --> 00:27:18,000
Speaker 1: to close our broadcast without giving you an opportunity to

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00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:20,720
Speaker 1: make Jesus the lord of your life. Would you pray

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00:27:20,760 --> 00:27:25,200
Speaker 1: with me? Just say, Lord, Jesus, I repent of my sins,

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00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:31,080
Speaker 1: Come into my heart, wash me clean. I make you

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00:27:31,160 --> 00:27:35,360
Speaker 1: my Lord and savior. Friends, if you prayed that simple prayer,

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00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:37,879
Speaker 1: we believe you got born again, get in a good

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00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:41,159
Speaker 1: Bible based church. Keep God first place. He's going to

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00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:51,520
Speaker 1: take you places that you've never dreamed of. It's easy

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00:27:51,560 --> 00:27:54,639
Speaker 1: in life to wear labels. Mistakes we've made, what people

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00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:59,080
Speaker 1: have said, disappointments we face. Those labels can diminish our

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00:27:59,119 --> 00:28:02,200
Speaker 1: sense of value, cause us to forget who we really are.

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Speaker 1: And have a new book called Made by God. Know it,

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Speaker 1: receive it, and live it. It'll help you see yourself

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Speaker 1: the way God sees you, valuable, talented, worthy, a masterpiece

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00:28:13,320 --> 00:28:16,480
Speaker 1: you've been fearfully and wonderfully made. I'd love to send

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Speaker 1: you by new book plus the Maid by God t

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Speaker 1: shirt from a good friends at Copper Fifth. When you

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Speaker 1: know who you are and who you are a child

474
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Speaker 1: of the most High, you can live with confidence and

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Speaker 1: step in to who you were created to be.

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00:28:30,680 --> 00:28:33,160
Speaker 2: As our way of saying thank you for your gift

477
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Speaker 2: of any amount this month, we would like to send

478
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Speaker 2: you a copy of Joel's brand new book, Made by God.

479
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Speaker 2: Know it, receive it, live it. You were not made

480
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Speaker 2: by your mistakes. You were not made by what people said.

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Speaker 2: You were not made by your hardest season. You were

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Speaker 2: made by God on purpose, with purpose, and nothing can

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Speaker 2: change that. This powerful book will help you silence the

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Speaker 2: label's life has put on you see yourself the way

485
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Speaker 2: God sees you. Valuable, talented, a masterpiece. And when you

486
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Speaker 2: request your copy, we also want to send you the

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Speaker 2: a daily reminder you can wear as a declaration of

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Speaker 2: was never yours to carry. Request your copy today.

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Speaker 1: You are not your past. You are not labels life

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Speaker 1: has put on you. You are made by God on

493
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Speaker 1: purpose for a purpose, and nothing can change your value. Victorian,

494
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Speaker 1: I pray for you and your family every day. Believe

495
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Speaker 1: in you're going to have a blessed summer. Thank you

496
00:29:41,560 --> 00:29:45,360
Speaker 1: so much for your prayer and support. Your generosity helps

497
00:29:45,440 --> 00:29:48,480
Speaker 1: us take this message of hope to people around the world.

498
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Speaker 1: The special thank you to our Champion of Hope partners

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Speaker 1: for all you do to make the ministry possible. Until

500
00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:57,560
Speaker 1: we meet again, May the Lord bless you and keep you.

501
00:29:58,280 --> 00:30:01,160
Speaker 2: Be sure to request your copy of Made by God

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Speaker 2: eight eight eight five sixty seven Joel. With an additional gift,

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Speaker 2: Each piece is more than something you wear or carry.

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Speaker 2: It is a declaration, a statement of faith, a daily

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Speaker 2: reminder that your life is not random. God has a

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Speaker 2: plan for you. Wherever your day takes you, you will

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Speaker 2: carry a message that speaks life not only over yourself,

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Speaker 2: but to everyone around you. You can request these inspiring

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Speaker 2: click anytime, twenty four hours a day