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Speaker 1: Welcome to everyone who's worshiping with us here today. As

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Speaker 1: you take your seat, just say hello to the person

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Speaker 1: sitting next to you. Maybe you came in late and

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Speaker 1: you can't get to speak to anyone. Let us know

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Speaker 1: in the chat where you're joining us from. I'm so

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Speaker 1: happy that you are here. Here I am again. It

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Speaker 1: feels like I was just on this stage. I know

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Speaker 1: you love me, but let's be honest. Stephen Ferdick sermons

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Speaker 1: in January. There's something special. I don't know. There's something

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Speaker 1: about January that just lights a fire in him and

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Speaker 1: I feel like he, like God, just just has this

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Speaker 1: like direct connection from his mouth to my heart and

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Speaker 1: even gets up here and reads a Charles Spurgeon sermon

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Speaker 1: and we're all I'm like, I don't even mind. Why

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Speaker 1: am I getting up there? That was great? We can

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Speaker 1: all go home. Just think of me preaching today, like

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Speaker 1: we interrupt this program to bring you a special announcement.

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Speaker 1: Because I do have a special announcement. I also have

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Speaker 1: a word from God that I believe He's given me

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Speaker 1: to speak to you today. So thank you for letting

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Speaker 1: me interrupt. And I'm going to try as always to

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Speaker 1: stay in the flow. Of what our pastor has been

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Speaker 1: teaching us in the past few weeks. So first though

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Speaker 1: the announcement you might have seen it. We talked about

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Speaker 1: it a little bit in the welcome. But today I

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Speaker 1: am releasing a brand new study that I did just

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Speaker 1: for our church. It's called Essentials. It's for everybody. Did

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Speaker 1: you know that we have over fifteen hundred different groups

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Speaker 1: in our church, community groups, we call them E groups,

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Speaker 1: And what God is doing in these communities is incredible.

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Speaker 1: They gather together even when we're not all coming together

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Speaker 1: to do a study, to talk about the sermons and

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Speaker 1: what God is teaching them. And I got to meet

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Speaker 1: with all of our E group leaders this past Thursday

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Speaker 1: night and we prayed over this study, and we prayed

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Speaker 1: for you, and we are ready for you because over

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Speaker 1: the next several weeks, we are going to sync up

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Speaker 1: as a church, and we're going to go back to

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Speaker 1: the basics. I think a lot of times when people

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Speaker 1: think of a Bible study, maybe they get a little

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Speaker 1: bit intimidated. They think about maybe learning something new, like

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Speaker 1: studying the Book of Revelation to learn about the end times,

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Speaker 1: or maybe studying the Gospels or a specific character in

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Speaker 1: the Bible like Elijah. Now this is not that kind

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Speaker 1: of study. Those are really great things to study, but

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Speaker 1: that's not what this is. This is a study that's

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Speaker 1: going to call us back to the simple things, the

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Speaker 1: basic practices of a believer in Christ. Stephen preached a

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Speaker 1: sermon about ten years ago. I don't know many if

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Speaker 1: some of you probably weren't here. You can't even go

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Speaker 1: find it online. But he preached this ern about ten

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Speaker 1: years ago and he set a line that impacted me.

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Speaker 1: I never forgot it, and this is what he said.

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Speaker 1: He said, deep is doing and that line changed the

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Speaker 1: way I thought about my relationship with Christ. The Bible

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Speaker 1: is a book that calls us to action, and if

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Speaker 1: we want to drop that trash and hold on to

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Speaker 1: the truth, like we've been learning, we have to do

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Speaker 1: what the Bible says. Knowing about the Bible doesn't get

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Speaker 1: you anywhere if you don't put it into practice. So

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Speaker 1: this January, we are going to go back to the

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Speaker 1: basics of our faith. We're going to look at what

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Speaker 1: the Bible says about prayer and worship and how to

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Speaker 1: hear God's voice, and we're going to put what we

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Speaker 1: learn into practice, and we're going to be able to

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Speaker 1: come together and talk about what God is tea in

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Speaker 1: our groups, and it's going to be really great. I mean,

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Speaker 1: how much better would our lives be if we actually

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Speaker 1: just did the things that we already know that we're

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Speaker 1: supposed to do, right, Like, we already know that eating

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Speaker 1: vegetables and drinking water results in a healthy body. We

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Speaker 1: know that limiting our time on screens aids and our

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Speaker 1: mental health. We know that being kind to others results

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Speaker 1: in better relationships. But we don't always do the things

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Speaker 1: that we know. Knowing and doing are two different things.

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Speaker 1: And I just thought, in a month where everyone is

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Speaker 1: focusing on body goals and personal goals, I just wonder

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Speaker 1: what are your spiritual goals? And So this is your

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Speaker 1: invitation to join an e group and together we are

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Speaker 1: going to put the Word of God into practice in

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Speaker 1: our everyday lives. Whether you've been a believer your whole

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Speaker 1: life or your new to this whole Christianity thing. It's

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Speaker 1: gonna be amazing. So I'm not going to preach about

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Speaker 1: the importance of community community today. I might mention it

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Speaker 1: because I think I mentioned it in every sermon that

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Speaker 1: I preach, because I believe in it. I think it's important,

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Speaker 1: but I just want to give you this Personal invitations

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Speaker 1: is the last thing I'm going to say about the study.

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Speaker 1: I want to invite you to join us over the

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Speaker 1: next couple weeks. It's only six weeks long, and we

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Speaker 1: have groups for everyone. Even if you don't live in

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Speaker 1: the Charlotte area. You have no excuse because by now

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Speaker 1: we're all experts at Zoom and we have as many

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Speaker 1: Zoom groups as we do in person groups. All right,

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Speaker 1: So that's my special announcement. You'll be hearing more about

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Speaker 1: how to actually get into one of these groups at

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Speaker 1: the close of our message. Of my message, are you

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Speaker 1: ready to get into the word? All right, well you

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Speaker 1: pray with me. Lord. We have all come to this

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Speaker 1: place today. We've joined across all of our campuses and

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Speaker 1: in our homes, and we invite you into this place.

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Speaker 1: We invite you into our homes, and most of all, God,

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Speaker 1: we invite you into our hearts. Today. We need a

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Speaker 1: fresh word from you. God. I know that there are

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Speaker 1: many who are here today who are sick. There are

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Speaker 1: many who are under the sound of my voice who

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Speaker 1: are grieving, many who need encouragement. And God, we have

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Speaker 1: set aside this time to hear from you, which you

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Speaker 1: block out every distraction and when you speak to us. Now,

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Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, come, we want to hear from you. Since

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Speaker 1: Jesus name, I pray Amen. When I think about how

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Speaker 1: Stephen has this special fire in January, it makes me

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Speaker 1: think how there are basically two kinds of people in

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Speaker 1: this world, those who love January and those who hate it.

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Speaker 1: And I got to tell you, I'm not a fan.

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Speaker 1: I don't like change. Abby was asking me, if you

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Speaker 1: could take a month out of the year, which one

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Speaker 1: would you take out. I think I would take out

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Speaker 1: January because I don't like to get rid of stuff.

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Speaker 1: I don't like to think about how bad I've let

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Speaker 1: my house get over the holidays. I don't like to

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Speaker 1: think about how tight my pants have gotten over the

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Speaker 1: past few weeks. And to me, that last week of December,

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Speaker 1: it's kind of glorious, you know. It's like this time

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Speaker 1: warp of eating and traveling and just being with people

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Speaker 1: you love, being lazy, and those are just all things

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Speaker 1: that I really enjoy. And then January first rolls around,

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Speaker 1: and everything that I've been ignoring for the past few

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Speaker 1: weeks seems to just be calling my name. And it

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Speaker 1: totally stresses me out, Like everything just feels so complicated,

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Speaker 1: and I feel overwhelmed, and I don't know where to start,

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Speaker 1: Like should I set a personal goal? Should I set

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Speaker 1: fitness goals? Should I set goals for my kids? Should

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Speaker 1: I clean out closets? Should I organize the house? Should

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Speaker 1: I make a photo book of the holiday? Should I

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Speaker 1: plan healthier meals for the week? Should I journal and

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Speaker 1: reflect over the past few years? And then the stubborn

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Speaker 1: side of me says, well, I mean, everybody's gonna start

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Speaker 1: eating healthy now, so I'm not gonna do that now.

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Speaker 1: I don't want to be like, come on, you're a

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Speaker 1: stubborn person out there. You're like, I'm gonna diet in January?

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Speaker 1: And then I just feel paralyzed. Is anyone else out

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Speaker 1: there in January can overwhelm you? Let me know in

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Speaker 1: the chat. And my husband he's not raising his hand.

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Speaker 1: It's because I'm married to a person who loves change

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Speaker 1: and he loves January. It's kind of frustrating. But one

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Speaker 1: of the things that I have learned from him over

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Speaker 1: the years is that sometimes I actually remember this one

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Speaker 1: January we actually sat down and he helped me. He

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Speaker 1: was like, you know, don't don't make resolutions, like what's

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Speaker 1: let's do one thing you want to change for the

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Speaker 1: next week, two weeks, three weeks. And what he's taught

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Speaker 1: me is that sometimes the most complicated problems actually have

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Speaker 1: a simple solution, not necessarily easy, but simple. And instead

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Speaker 1: of getting overwhelmed by all of the things that I

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Speaker 1: need to work on, I need to start simple and

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Speaker 1: go from there. Like we all know that if we

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Speaker 1: want to get out of debt, it's debt is very

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Speaker 1: complicated problem. But every debt expert will tell you, Elijah

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Speaker 1: Dave Ramsey will tell you pay off the smallest debt

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Speaker 1: first and go from there. Or if you want to

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Speaker 1: clean on your garage, you start by making three piles, right,

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Speaker 1: you have your your keep pile, your giveaway pile, and

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Speaker 1: your trash pile. So I'm learning, rather than to be

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Speaker 1: overwhelmed with all of the things, I'm learning to start simple.

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Speaker 1: And that's what I want to talk to you about today.

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Speaker 1: The title of my message is say yes to simple.

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Speaker 1: And I want to look at a little short story

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Speaker 1: found in the Book of Second King's chapter five, So

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Speaker 1: a story about a man who had a very complicated

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Speaker 1: problem you can turn there with me, or you can

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Speaker 1: just follow along on the screens. Got mine pulled up.

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Speaker 1: I'm going to read to you from the New Living

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Speaker 1: Translation today. This is what Second Kings, chapter five, verse

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Speaker 1: one says. The King of Aram had great admiration for Nayman,

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Speaker 1: the commander of his army, because through him, the Lord

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Speaker 1: had given Aarum great victories. But though Nayman was a

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Speaker 1: mighty warrior, he suffered from leprosy. Here we have a

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Speaker 1: mighty warrior on the outside, but underneath his armor he

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Speaker 1: was suffering. And in this story, we're gonna watch Nayman

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Speaker 1: walk through a progression of healing. Spoiler alert. He gets

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Speaker 1: healed at the end. But between verse one and verse nineteen,

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Speaker 1: Nayman is going to learn that the greatest obstacle that

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Speaker 1: he has to face is not his disease. It's not

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Speaker 1: his bank account, it's not the people in his life.

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Speaker 1: The greatest obstacle standing between Naman and his healing was Naman.

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Speaker 1: Nayman's disease was complicated though. He had a skin condition

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Speaker 1: that starts off small, but gradually sometimes over the course

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Speaker 1: of many years, it gets worse and worse, and leprosy

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Speaker 1: in the Bible was often used as a generic term

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Speaker 1: for skin disease, that in Israel, if you had a

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Speaker 1: skin disease, you were considered unclean. Now, name And is

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Speaker 1: not an Israelite, but his condition was serious. The Bible

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Speaker 1: tells us that he was suffering. He could die from it.

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Speaker 1: And it's also leprosy was contagious, or they thought most

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Speaker 1: of the time that it was contagious, and so you

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Speaker 1: had to keep it covered because if you exposed it,

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Speaker 1: you'd have to go back and trace everyone that you

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Speaker 1: were around and tell them that they had been exposed,

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Speaker 1: which we all know is rather humiliating and complicated. Complications

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Speaker 1: is also it's a hospital term. It means that it's

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Speaker 1: not just the disease that you're fighting, it's infection from

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Speaker 1: the disease, or organ fatigue or mental stamina, or the

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Speaker 1: side effects from the treatments. And we can assume that

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Speaker 1: name And had tried all kinds of treatments and that

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Speaker 1: he had come up empty, and that he's suffering underneath

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Speaker 1: his mighty armor. And I just wonder if there's a

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Speaker 1: healing that you need, or maybe a problem that you have,

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Speaker 1: or maybe a change that you would like to make.

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Speaker 1: In your life, but it just feels too complicated to fix.

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Speaker 1: And you've tried, You've tried, You've tried to work on

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Speaker 1: the relationship, but then you go to counseling, you start

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Speaker 1: dredging up the pass and things seem to be getting worse,

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Speaker 1: not better, no matter how hard you try. You've prayed

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Speaker 1: about it, you've thought about it, you've journaled about it,

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Speaker 1: you've even sought professional help. But you, like name In,

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Speaker 1: find yourself fighting this issue that seems to be getting worse.

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Speaker 1: And I have to tell you that the enemy wants

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Speaker 1: nothing more than for us to focus on the complications

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Speaker 1: of our problems. He wants to keep us focused on

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Speaker 1: whose fault it is, or what caused it, or if

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Speaker 1: we deserved it, or what people will think or how

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Speaker 1: people will react, or why is it is happening. But

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Speaker 1: something amazing happens in this story, and God gives Nayman something,

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Speaker 1: because God gives name In something simple to do in

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Speaker 1: the face of a very complicated situation. So today I'm

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Speaker 1: going to call you back to simple and I want

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Speaker 1: to walk you through this story, and I want to

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Speaker 1: show you three simple things that Nayman had to do

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Speaker 1: to experience healing in his life. And here's the thing, though,

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Speaker 1: you can't confuse easy with simple. Easy and simple are

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Speaker 1: not the same thing. In fact, every time that name

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Speaker 1: it is going to take one of these simple steps.

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Speaker 1: There is something easy that he could have done. But

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Speaker 1: if he had gone with the easy way, he would

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Speaker 1: have never received the healing that he needed. Let's look

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Speaker 1: back at the story. I want to read verse one

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Speaker 1: again so we can get in the flow. The King

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Speaker 1: of Arim had great a admiration for Naman, the commander

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Speaker 1: of his army, because through him, the Lord had given

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Speaker 1: aarm great victories. But though Naman was a mighty warrior,

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Speaker 1: he suffered from leprosy. This guy had it all. He

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Speaker 1: was the commander of the army, and even though he

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Speaker 1: was not an Israelite, the Bible tells us that the

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Speaker 1: Lord had given him great victories. Even the king admired him.

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Speaker 1: He was the man. Do you have anyone in your

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Speaker 1: life that from your perspective, it looks like they have

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Speaker 1: the perfect life? Maybe someone you follow on Instagram, maybe

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Speaker 1: a family member, a neighbor, celebrity. They have a great body,

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Speaker 1: a great marriage, they have success in their job, they

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Speaker 1: drive a nice car and from the pictures that they

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Speaker 1: post and the house that they live in and the

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Speaker 1: clothes that they wear, they look like they have the

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Speaker 1: ideal life. Can you think of a person in your

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Speaker 1: mind that looks like that? Okay, The truth is that

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Speaker 1: no one is exempt from suffering, no one. You can't

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Speaker 1: be good enough to avoid it. You can't be rich

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Speaker 1: enough to buy your way out of it, you can't

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Speaker 1: be smart enough to evade it. At some point, everyone suffers,

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Speaker 1: no matter how amazing they make their life look to you. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: suffering comes in all shapes and sizes, right, It comes

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Speaker 1: in short bursts and long hauls. It comes in the

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Speaker 1: form of loneliness, addiction, illness, and hardship. It can be

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Speaker 1: something beyond our control, or something someone else caused, or

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Speaker 1: something we caused ourselves by a series of bad decisions.

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Speaker 1: But as I thought about this story, and I thought

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Speaker 1: about Naymen and how we all have some kind of

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Speaker 1: hardship in our lives, I came to the conclusion that

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Speaker 1: although we do all suffer, the people who I think

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Speaker 1: suffer the most are the people who suffer alone, the

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Speaker 1: people who pretend like everything is fine. Nayman suffered from leprosy,

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Speaker 1: and the thing about leprosy is you can cover it

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Speaker 1: up at least for a little while, especially if your

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Speaker 1: job requires you to wear armor. When I read between

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Speaker 1: the lines of the story, I wonder how long Naymon

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Speaker 1: tried to pretend like he was the mighty warrior that

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Speaker 1: everyone thought that he was. And I think about how

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Speaker 1: the world we're living in right now is scary because

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Speaker 1: it has never been easier to pretend like everything is okay.

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Speaker 1: We don't just have a photoshop. We have live filters

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Speaker 1: to cover up our wrinkles and our acne, to give

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Speaker 1: us better physique, to make our faces look flawless. We

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Speaker 1: can post a picture of our clean house and our

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Speaker 1: beautiful relationships and make our lives look amazing to everyone

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Speaker 1: who's on the outside looking in. And this story is

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Speaker 1: about Naymon's healing. But before he even gets to the

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Speaker 1: profit to get the instructions for his healing, he has

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Speaker 1: to take a few simple steps. And the first thing

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Speaker 1: that Nayman has to do is accept his situation. When

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Speaker 1: we pretend, we delay our healing and prolong our suffering,

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Speaker 1: we cannot move forward towards healing, towards the change that

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Speaker 1: we need until we have accepted our situation. Except that's

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Speaker 1: the first point, and it's complicated. But when we resist

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Speaker 1: acceptance and we continue to pretend to everyone else and ourselves,

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Speaker 1: we don't have to take any steps toward change, even

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Speaker 1: if you're suffering. Even if you're suffering, is a situation

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Speaker 1: that won't change your attitude towards it can. Acceptance means

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Speaker 1: that I stop blaming others for my situation. Acceptance means

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Speaker 1: that I stop shaming myself for the decisions that I've made.

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Speaker 1: Acceptance means I stop asking whose fault this is or

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Speaker 1: why what is this happening to me? Acceptance is the

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Speaker 1: starting place for true change. But you can't stop there

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Speaker 1: because if you stop with acceptance, you're gonna become pretty depressed.

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Speaker 1: Two weeks ago, Steven stood on this stage with trash

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Speaker 1: bags in his hands, with actual trash in the trash bags,

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Speaker 1: and he painted for us an unforgettable picture of how

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Speaker 1: we hold on to trash and it makes us unable

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Speaker 1: to embrace the truth. And I think sometimes acceptance means

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Speaker 1: identifying what's in those trash bags. I'm bitter because of

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Speaker 1: what happened to me. I'm addicted to scrolling because it

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Speaker 1: makes me. It makes me not have to think about

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Speaker 1: my own pain. It numbs me. I work late because

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Speaker 1: I don't want to face my failing marriage. And you

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Speaker 1: know what's funny about pretending You may be able to

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Speaker 1: fool those on the outside looking into your life. You

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Speaker 1: may even be able to fool yourself, but you cannot

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Speaker 1: fool those closest to you, because you smell like trash.

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Speaker 1: You're holding it. And you know, I think the people

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Speaker 1: that we think were hiding our problems from a lot

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Speaker 1: of times, not always, but a lot of times, the

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Speaker 1: people who really care about us, they're already praying for

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Speaker 1: us about it. You might think you're hiding your addiction

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Speaker 1: from your spouse, but she knows something is not right

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Speaker 1: with you, and she is already praying for you. And

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Speaker 1: Nayman's servant girl knew about Nayman's problem. Look at what

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Speaker 1: she said. First two At this time, the uh the

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Speaker 1: Aramian raiders. I don't know why, I just got stumbled

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Speaker 1: up on that. I invaded the land of Israel, and

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Speaker 1: among their captives was a young girl who had been

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Speaker 1: given to name N's wife as a maid. One day,

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Speaker 1: the girl said to her mistress, I wish my master

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Speaker 1: would go see the prophet in Samaria. He would heal

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Speaker 1: him of his leprosy. Nayman was the winner of many

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Speaker 1: hard battles, but the hardest battle that he would have

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Speaker 1: to fight was the one within himself. When he accepted

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Speaker 1: that he had an issue, then he was able to

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Speaker 1: listen to the people in his life and decide to

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Speaker 1: go for help. So the first step is acceptance. The

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Speaker 1: next simple step that he had to take he had

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Speaker 1: to ask for help. Verse four. So Nayman told the

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Speaker 1: king what the young girl from Israel had said, go

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Speaker 1: and visit the prophet. The king told the King of

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Speaker 1: Arim told him ask. The easy thing to do would

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Speaker 1: be to isolate. Nayman could have just stayed in his

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Speaker 1: house and suffered alone. We know he was a wealthy man,

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Speaker 1: so he'd most likely exhausted every avenue of local healing

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Speaker 1: that he could find. And now he has to ask

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Speaker 1: for help. Now, before we go any further, I feel

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Speaker 1: like I need to clarify that I said ask for help.

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Speaker 1: I did not say announce that you need help. Announcing

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Speaker 1: is easy because it's vague, and it gains us temporary

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Speaker 1: attention and pity from others. But it does not bring

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Speaker 1: us any closer to change. I also did not say

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Speaker 1: hint that you need help. Hinting is easy because it

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Speaker 1: puts the work on someone else. Asking is also not

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Speaker 1: the same thing as complaining. Asking is specific. Naman didn't

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Speaker 1: put it on Facebook. He went to his boss, the king,

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Speaker 1: the person who respected him. I imagine it was a

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Speaker 1: pretty hard conversation, and he said, I need to go

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Speaker 1: see this prophet and see if I can get healed.

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Speaker 1: You can either ask and receive help, or you can

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Speaker 1: isolate and suffer alone. And I can tell you right

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Speaker 1: now that the enemy wants you to isolate. He wants

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Speaker 1: you to withdraw from the people that you love and

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Speaker 1: who want to help you. And if Namon had isolated,

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Speaker 1: he would have died alone. There's a verse in James

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Speaker 1: five that says, confess your sins one to another, and

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Speaker 1: pray for each other that you may be healed. This

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Speaker 1: verse doesn't mean that confessing your sins to a friend

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Speaker 1: heals you of your sins. What it means is that

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Speaker 1: you find healing when you verbalize what is going on

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Speaker 1: in your life with someone that you can trust, not

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Speaker 1: posts verbalize with an actual person. I just want to

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Speaker 1: make sure that we're all clear on that. I feel

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Speaker 1: like the pandemic has complicated what we call church. A

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Speaker 1: lot of people now feel more comfortable watching church online

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Speaker 1: than they do attending church in person. And there's many

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Speaker 1: reasons for that. I mean, the obvious one is people

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Speaker 1: are afraid of getting sick or if unintentionally, spreading the virus,

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Speaker 1: and that's valid, I get it. The problem I have

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Speaker 1: with that is that some of those same people, it's

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Speaker 1: confusing to me because it's complicated because I hear them

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Speaker 1: using this as an excuse for not coming to church

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Speaker 1: or for not even like bothering to sit down and

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Speaker 1: watch it, like actually watch it, not just like have

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Speaker 1: it on in the background. And then and then what's

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Speaker 1: really confusing to me is that I see them at

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Speaker 1: my kids' sports games and at the mall and at restaurants,

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Speaker 1: and they come up to me and my husband like, Okay,

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Speaker 1: fast see it. It's really confusing for me. But but

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Speaker 1: I'm not going to stay there for too long. I

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Speaker 1: don't think that COVID is the only thing that has

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Speaker 1: complicated church. I ran into a church member a while back,

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Speaker 1: and after having some small talk, I asked him. I said,

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Speaker 1: how's your wife doing? And he looked down at the

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Speaker 1: ground and he said, well, actually we are divorced. And

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Speaker 1: I you know, I hadn't seen him in like eighteen months,

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Speaker 1: and so I said, oh, I'm so sorry to hear that.

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Speaker 1: And he went on to tell me how the past

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Speaker 1: year had been the loneliest period of his life. And

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00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:12,680
Speaker 1: he said that steven sermons were one of the only

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Speaker 1: things that we're keeping him going, that we're bringing life

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00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:18,840
Speaker 1: to him. And I said, oh, I'm so glad that

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00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:22,160
Speaker 1: you've come back to church. And he said, oh no, no,

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00:27:23,080 --> 00:27:27,879
Speaker 1: I just watched online in my apartment and I said, oh,

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00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:31,719
Speaker 1: you got to come back to church and be around people.

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00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:35,240
Speaker 1: And then he said one of the saddest things anybody

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Speaker 1: has ever said to me. He said, the thing is

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Speaker 1: that I'm just too ashamed. He said, I can't face people.

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Speaker 1: He said, for years, we just pretended like everything was okay.

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Speaker 1: We came to church together, and he said, we did

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00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:56,320
Speaker 1: everything we could. We tucked to our campus pastor, we

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00:27:56,520 --> 00:27:59,920
Speaker 1: went to counseling, but in the end, we just could.

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Speaker 1: I didn't make it work. And in that moment, I

415
00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:05,560
Speaker 1: didn't know what to say, and I tried my best

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Speaker 1: to tell me you had to come back to church.

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Speaker 1: I probably wasn't very convincing because I don't think very

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Speaker 1: well on my feet. But now I've had several months

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00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:19,040
Speaker 1: to think about it, and that's how I am. Anybody

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Speaker 1: anybody else like you walk away and you're like, I

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00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:22,960
Speaker 1: should have said this, Here's what I should have said

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Speaker 1: to him, Here's what I wish I had said. Pastor

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Speaker 1: Stephen and I started this church so that people could

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Speaker 1: have a place to find help and healing. Everyone comes

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00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:43,800
Speaker 1: with their own story, their own baggage, their own mistakes,

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00:28:44,320 --> 00:28:49,080
Speaker 1: their own secrets, and we hope that when you come

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00:28:49,120 --> 00:28:54,160
Speaker 1: into this place you feel nothing but love and acceptance

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00:28:54,560 --> 00:28:58,640
Speaker 1: and support for whatever you're going through. We're all going

429
00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:02,560
Speaker 1: through something, but we cannot give you that. If you

430
00:29:02,760 --> 00:29:09,000
Speaker 1: stay away. You do not have to suffer alone. You

431
00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:12,920
Speaker 1: don't even if you're unable to attend one of our locations.

432
00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:17,000
Speaker 1: We have chat hosts, we have people standing by ready

433
00:29:17,280 --> 00:29:20,160
Speaker 1: to pray with you. We have groups for you to

434
00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:25,680
Speaker 1: be able to connect with actual human beings. But we

435
00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:29,240
Speaker 1: cannot do that if you watch alone and you never

436
00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:32,320
Speaker 1: let us know that you're here. That's why we say

437
00:29:32,360 --> 00:29:33,840
Speaker 1: put it in the chat. Put it in the chat.

438
00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:35,960
Speaker 1: Put it let me know that you're here. Go ahead,

439
00:29:35,960 --> 00:29:37,920
Speaker 1: put it in the chat. Tell us that you're here.

440
00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:45,479
Speaker 1: Sometimes asking for help means talking to a trusted friend.

441
00:29:46,280 --> 00:29:49,880
Speaker 1: Sometimes it means asking your campus pastor to help you

442
00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:54,040
Speaker 1: find a professional counselor. Sometimes it means join a group

443
00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:57,040
Speaker 1: and asking for prayer. Sometimes it means coming back to

444
00:29:57,160 --> 00:30:00,480
Speaker 1: church and looking people in the eyes. And none of

445
00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:09,120
Speaker 1: those things are easy. Hiding and pretending is easy. Asking

446
00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:15,720
Speaker 1: is simple. So Naeman takes his letter from the king,

447
00:30:16,680 --> 00:30:19,200
Speaker 1: and he gathers up all these gifts, gold and silver

448
00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:22,280
Speaker 1: and beautiful clothes, and he gets his entourage together, and

449
00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:25,920
Speaker 1: they travel down to the land of Israel. And look

450
00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:28,680
Speaker 1: with me at verse nine. So Naymon went with his

451
00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:33,440
Speaker 1: horses and chariots and waited at the door of Elisha's house.

452
00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:38,120
Speaker 1: But Elisha send a messenger out to him with his message,

453
00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:42,080
Speaker 1: go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan river.

454
00:30:42,400 --> 00:30:45,320
Speaker 1: Then your skin will be restored and you will be

455
00:30:45,400 --> 00:30:50,920
Speaker 1: healed of your leprosy. A simple direction, right, But Naymon,

456
00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:56,480
Speaker 1: our mighty warrior, you know, he's probably a very passionate person.

457
00:30:56,520 --> 00:30:59,240
Speaker 1: You have to be if you're a mighty warrior. He

458
00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:02,959
Speaker 1: was not happy with this direction. Look what happens verse eleven.

459
00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:09,640
Speaker 1: But Nayman became angry and he stalked away. I thought

460
00:31:10,400 --> 00:31:13,840
Speaker 1: he would certainly come out to meet me, he said.

461
00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:18,320
Speaker 1: I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy

462
00:31:18,560 --> 00:31:20,880
Speaker 1: and call on the name of the Lord, his God

463
00:31:20,920 --> 00:31:24,400
Speaker 1: and heal me. Aren't the rivers of Damascus and Obama

464
00:31:24,520 --> 00:31:28,480
Speaker 1: and the farpar better than any of the rivers in Israel?

465
00:31:28,840 --> 00:31:30,959
Speaker 1: Why shouldn't I wash in them and be healed? Why

466
00:31:31,080 --> 00:31:35,920
Speaker 1: it come all this way? So Nayman turned and went

467
00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:44,080
Speaker 1: away in a rage. Namon is so angry because this

468
00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:52,120
Speaker 1: is not how he thought his healing would come. They're

469
00:31:52,200 --> 00:31:54,440
Speaker 1: been angry because it didn't turn out the way you thought.

470
00:31:56,040 --> 00:32:02,800
Speaker 1: Naymon wanted attention, Namon wanted rama, and what he got

471
00:32:03,800 --> 00:32:06,640
Speaker 1: was a simple instruction something in fact, we're supposed to

472
00:32:06,720 --> 00:32:12,320
Speaker 1: do every day. Wash. For some reason, it's a hard

473
00:32:12,320 --> 00:32:18,719
Speaker 1: thing for certain people. It's a simple thing. Wash and

474
00:32:18,760 --> 00:32:25,080
Speaker 1: be healed. Naymon said, I thought, you know how many

475
00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:29,000
Speaker 1: times those two words have gotten me into trouble. You see,

476
00:32:29,040 --> 00:32:32,840
Speaker 1: I am a best case scenario kind of person. And

477
00:32:34,360 --> 00:32:37,040
Speaker 1: Stephen and I we love to hike. Nothing big. We

478
00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:39,200
Speaker 1: live in Charlotte, so there aren't exactly like peaks to

479
00:32:39,200 --> 00:32:41,600
Speaker 1: climb in our backyard, but we like to go for

480
00:32:41,880 --> 00:32:45,640
Speaker 1: little hikes. And so one year for Christmas, I thought

481
00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:48,120
Speaker 1: it would be awesome to include the kids in our

482
00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:51,920
Speaker 1: little hikes. It could be like a family thing. So

483
00:32:52,040 --> 00:32:54,880
Speaker 1: I got them all hiking boots, and I got them

484
00:32:54,920 --> 00:32:58,959
Speaker 1: those backpacks with the straw the little water bladder in

485
00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:02,719
Speaker 1: the back. It wasn't anyone's favorite gift that they received

486
00:33:02,720 --> 00:33:05,440
Speaker 1: for Christmas, but I was okay with that because I

487
00:33:05,520 --> 00:33:07,560
Speaker 1: knew the gift was going to be in the experience

488
00:33:07,600 --> 00:33:12,280
Speaker 1: that we were gonna have together. Right, So finally February

489
00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:15,040
Speaker 1: came around and we went to this mountain house and

490
00:33:15,080 --> 00:33:17,480
Speaker 1: the night before our hike, I studied the map and

491
00:33:18,400 --> 00:33:20,520
Speaker 1: I figured out which trail we were gonna take, and

492
00:33:21,440 --> 00:33:26,120
Speaker 1: I got I got everyone's bladder filled and their bags

493
00:33:26,240 --> 00:33:29,400
Speaker 1: that sounds funny, and their bags packed with snacks. And

494
00:33:30,080 --> 00:33:32,160
Speaker 1: then the day I made sure everyone had the right

495
00:33:32,280 --> 00:33:34,520
Speaker 1: socks on because I just I didn't want anything to

496
00:33:34,520 --> 00:33:36,280
Speaker 1: get in the way of our fun. This was gonna

497
00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:43,000
Speaker 1: be fun. So five minutes in the question started and

498
00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:46,880
Speaker 1: now these are not preschoolers. Okay, my kids are teenagers

499
00:33:46,960 --> 00:33:52,400
Speaker 1: and almost teenagers. So the questions start how long is this?

500
00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:59,520
Speaker 1: And they're like, wait, we're just walking. You and dad

501
00:33:59,560 --> 00:34:03,960
Speaker 1: do this for fun? How far is this walk? When

502
00:34:03,960 --> 00:34:06,520
Speaker 1: are we gonna eat? My hands are cold? Can I

503
00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:12,440
Speaker 1: take my jacket off? Then they started fighting, like literally

504
00:34:12,719 --> 00:34:16,520
Speaker 1: every conversation somehow turned into a fight or a competition.

505
00:34:18,080 --> 00:34:21,799
Speaker 1: And finally, several hours later we returned to the house

506
00:34:21,800 --> 00:34:24,840
Speaker 1: and everybody like dispersed and like went their separate ways.

507
00:34:25,480 --> 00:34:27,840
Speaker 1: And I went and found Stephen, and I said, that

508
00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:31,759
Speaker 1: wasn't how I thought it would go on. And you know,

509
00:34:31,960 --> 00:34:35,080
Speaker 1: I think that the biggest mistake I make as a

510
00:34:35,120 --> 00:34:40,480
Speaker 1: mom is planning how I think my kids' lives will go.

511
00:34:42,360 --> 00:34:45,040
Speaker 1: They're gonna play this sport and they're gonna play this

512
00:34:45,200 --> 00:34:47,520
Speaker 1: instrument because I wish that I could do those things.

513
00:34:48,400 --> 00:34:50,600
Speaker 1: And they're gonna get good grades, and they're gonna take

514
00:34:50,640 --> 00:34:53,319
Speaker 1: ap classes, and they're gonna go to college, and they're

515
00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:55,840
Speaker 1: gonna get married, and they aren't gonna make any mistakes

516
00:34:55,960 --> 00:34:59,920
Speaker 1: because I they're wise, loving mother. I am going to

517
00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:03,800
Speaker 1: to guide them through all the twists and turns of life.

518
00:35:04,320 --> 00:35:06,719
Speaker 1: And then when things don't go according to my plan

519
00:35:06,880 --> 00:35:14,520
Speaker 1: because they're human beings. I pray, and I tell God

520
00:35:14,960 --> 00:35:20,600
Speaker 1: how he can get them back on track. Like God

521
00:35:20,920 --> 00:35:24,960
Speaker 1: and I have good ideas. I have good ideas. God

522
00:35:25,920 --> 00:35:28,520
Speaker 1: give them a teacher this year that will make them

523
00:35:28,680 --> 00:35:35,840
Speaker 1: love learning again. God send a good church going family.

524
00:35:36,120 --> 00:35:39,080
Speaker 1: Family perhaps goes to our church to move into the

525
00:35:39,080 --> 00:35:41,360
Speaker 1: house next door. And God, if they could have kids

526
00:35:41,400 --> 00:35:46,319
Speaker 1: our kids' ages. And I think God is sitting up

527
00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:50,759
Speaker 1: in heaven going holly. Telling me what to do is

528
00:35:50,840 --> 00:36:01,000
Speaker 1: not prayer. And then and then I get angry. Have

529
00:36:01,040 --> 00:36:03,920
Speaker 1: you ever gotten angry because things didn't turn out the

530
00:36:03,960 --> 00:36:07,759
Speaker 1: way you thought? I thought college would be fun. I

531
00:36:07,800 --> 00:36:10,640
Speaker 1: thought marriage would make me happy. I thought a new

532
00:36:10,719 --> 00:36:13,919
Speaker 1: job would make me fulfilled. I thought we could save

533
00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:15,719
Speaker 1: our marriage. I thought if I ate healthy, I would

534
00:36:15,719 --> 00:36:17,520
Speaker 1: never get sick. I thought if I went to rehab,

535
00:36:17,680 --> 00:36:23,560
Speaker 1: I wouldn't struggle anymore. This was not how Nayman thought

536
00:36:23,920 --> 00:36:28,160
Speaker 1: he would get his healing. You know what Naymon was thinking? Magic?

537
00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:32,319
Speaker 1: He said, I thought the prophet would come out and

538
00:36:32,360 --> 00:36:35,359
Speaker 1: meet me and wave his hands over me, and I

539
00:36:35,440 --> 00:36:41,080
Speaker 1: would be healed. Have you ever gotten angry because magic

540
00:36:41,200 --> 00:36:47,600
Speaker 1: Jesus didn't show up. I hope that's not a sacrilegious

541
00:36:47,640 --> 00:36:49,920
Speaker 1: thing to say. I don't mean to offend anyone, and

542
00:36:49,960 --> 00:36:55,360
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that. There are times when God heals immediately,

543
00:36:55,440 --> 00:37:00,040
Speaker 1: But in my experience, God is more concerned about my

544
00:37:00,200 --> 00:37:05,440
Speaker 1: soul than he is about my physical problems. And Naman

545
00:37:05,560 --> 00:37:09,480
Speaker 1: had some soul work that he needed to do. And also,

546
00:37:09,560 --> 00:37:11,960
Speaker 1: in my experience, and this is just how it happens

547
00:37:11,960 --> 00:37:18,120
Speaker 1: with me, God requires me to participate in my own healing.

548
00:37:19,600 --> 00:37:23,440
Speaker 1: That's why he does not do abra cadabra over my situation,

549
00:37:24,440 --> 00:37:27,200
Speaker 1: because if he did, I would just end up right

550
00:37:27,239 --> 00:37:29,759
Speaker 1: where I started, because I never had to do any

551
00:37:29,760 --> 00:37:35,239
Speaker 1: work to make the change. And Naman went off in

552
00:37:35,320 --> 00:37:40,520
Speaker 1: a rage. He was this close, he was on the

553
00:37:40,640 --> 00:37:45,800
Speaker 1: verge of relief from his suffering, and he was going

554
00:37:46,160 --> 00:37:51,040
Speaker 1: to walk away. Have you ever noticed how anger is

555
00:37:51,120 --> 00:37:56,080
Speaker 1: actually comforting. Think about this for a second. When I'm angry,

556
00:37:57,520 --> 00:38:04,120
Speaker 1: someone or something caused me to become angry, right, it

557
00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:07,640
Speaker 1: takes the flame off myself. We all know that anger

558
00:38:07,719 --> 00:38:12,520
Speaker 1: is a secondary emotion, and it enables me to take

559
00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:17,280
Speaker 1: the focus off of me and place it on someone

560
00:38:17,840 --> 00:38:24,200
Speaker 1: or something else. Naymon was offended. He was an important man,

561
00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:26,879
Speaker 1: a mighty warrior. He had a letter from the king,

562
00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:30,080
Speaker 1: and he had gold and silver and gifts, and the

563
00:38:30,120 --> 00:38:33,080
Speaker 1: prophet didn't even bother to come out of his house.

564
00:38:34,800 --> 00:38:37,880
Speaker 1: This really resonated with me because I think that we

565
00:38:37,960 --> 00:38:43,719
Speaker 1: have become the most offendable generation ever. And just take

566
00:38:43,760 --> 00:38:46,400
Speaker 1: a stroll on the comments a Facebook or YouTube or

567
00:38:46,440 --> 00:38:52,080
Speaker 1: Instagram or online newspaper. You cannot say anything without someone

568
00:38:52,120 --> 00:38:56,960
Speaker 1: getting offended. And I get offended. And I find in

569
00:38:57,000 --> 00:39:01,200
Speaker 1: my life as long as I stay offended, as long

570
00:39:01,239 --> 00:39:07,120
Speaker 1: as I stay angry, I'm just deferring all growth in

571
00:39:07,239 --> 00:39:12,720
Speaker 1: my personal life. But anger is comforting because I don't

572
00:39:12,760 --> 00:39:17,600
Speaker 1: have to face myself. And I think that the reason

573
00:39:18,040 --> 00:39:21,880
Speaker 1: that Nayman didn't want to dip in the water was

574
00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:27,960
Speaker 1: because he didn't want to expose himself. For so long,

575
00:39:28,840 --> 00:39:34,000
Speaker 1: he's been covering up his leprosy under his armor, and

576
00:39:34,080 --> 00:39:38,640
Speaker 1: now in order to be healed, he has to take

577
00:39:38,680 --> 00:39:43,520
Speaker 1: it off and dip in the river, and maybe everyone

578
00:39:43,600 --> 00:39:51,719
Speaker 1: would see just how bad his situation really was. We're

579
00:39:51,719 --> 00:39:55,000
Speaker 1: getting to our kiverse. This is truly the best part

580
00:39:55,000 --> 00:40:01,120
Speaker 1: of the story Verse thirteen. But his officers tried to

581
00:40:01,120 --> 00:40:03,920
Speaker 1: reason with him. Aren't you glad he didn't go alone?

582
00:40:06,200 --> 00:40:09,600
Speaker 1: And they said to him, sir, if the prophet had

583
00:40:09,640 --> 00:40:13,080
Speaker 1: told you to do something very difficult, you would have

584
00:40:13,080 --> 00:40:17,359
Speaker 1: done it. Now it's implied here that Namon said yes

585
00:40:17,440 --> 00:40:20,360
Speaker 1: to this question, to which I am going to call BS,

586
00:40:21,680 --> 00:40:26,520
Speaker 1: not belief system or blanket statement like pastor Stephen has

587
00:40:26,560 --> 00:40:35,320
Speaker 1: been done. God. This is like the real BS. Damon

588
00:40:35,360 --> 00:40:38,719
Speaker 1: wouldn't have done something difficult. He's just making an excuse.

589
00:40:39,040 --> 00:40:44,600
Speaker 1: This is difficult. Just because something is not physically difficult

590
00:40:44,719 --> 00:40:49,319
Speaker 1: doesn't mean that it's easy to do. But here's the thing.

591
00:40:49,400 --> 00:40:52,080
Speaker 1: His friends, the officers, well I like to think they

592
00:40:52,080 --> 00:40:54,200
Speaker 1: were his friends. They were his officers. Let's assume they're

593
00:40:54,239 --> 00:41:02,480
Speaker 1: his friends. They use it against him, and so they say, well,

594
00:41:02,560 --> 00:41:08,120
Speaker 1: I lost my place here, all right. They say, oh, oh, well,

595
00:41:08,120 --> 00:41:09,879
Speaker 1: if you would, if you would do a hard thing,

596
00:41:10,640 --> 00:41:14,359
Speaker 1: look at verse thirteen. So you should certainly obey him

597
00:41:14,560 --> 00:41:22,560
Speaker 1: when he says, simply go wash and be cured. Anger

598
00:41:23,600 --> 00:41:31,600
Speaker 1: is easy. Obedience is simple. Last week Stephen talked about

599
00:41:31,719 --> 00:41:35,200
Speaker 1: when when never meet? Now were you here? And he said,

600
00:41:35,600 --> 00:41:41,040
Speaker 1: you keep asking God to explain, and he just wants

601
00:41:41,080 --> 00:41:45,640
Speaker 1: you to obey. You can be angry that this is

602
00:41:45,680 --> 00:41:49,320
Speaker 1: not how you thought. But if you can get past

603
00:41:49,760 --> 00:41:54,920
Speaker 1: your anger, stop trying to find an explanation and just move,

604
00:41:55,920 --> 00:42:00,480
Speaker 1: that's where you find your healing. The final sim thing

605
00:42:00,840 --> 00:42:05,839
Speaker 1: that he had to do, he had to act, And

606
00:42:05,880 --> 00:42:10,600
Speaker 1: I feel like God sent me here to ask you today,

607
00:42:11,640 --> 00:42:19,320
Speaker 1: will you say yes to simple Here's how the story ends.

608
00:42:22,760 --> 00:42:26,239
Speaker 1: So Naymon went down to the Jordan River. He did it,

609
00:42:27,680 --> 00:42:33,600
Speaker 1: and he dipped himself seven times as the man of

610
00:42:33,640 --> 00:42:39,640
Speaker 1: God had instructed him, and his skin became as healthy

611
00:42:40,320 --> 00:42:45,440
Speaker 1: as the skin of a young child, and he was healed.

612
00:42:47,480 --> 00:42:51,680
Speaker 1: He got healed seven times. He had to dip, which

613
00:42:51,719 --> 00:42:55,600
Speaker 1: is interesting. It's interesting that the prophet didn't just say

614
00:42:55,600 --> 00:42:58,719
Speaker 1: go wash one time, and the Bible doesn't say, we

615
00:42:58,840 --> 00:43:02,880
Speaker 1: just read the whole verse. That his healing was gradual,

616
00:43:03,320 --> 00:43:05,920
Speaker 1: like you know, each time he dipped it got a

617
00:43:05,920 --> 00:43:10,799
Speaker 1: little bit better. I don't know. I know sometimes in

618
00:43:10,840 --> 00:43:14,799
Speaker 1: my life I see progress and sometimes I don't. The

619
00:43:14,880 --> 00:43:22,520
Speaker 1: point is that you simply keep obeying. Last week, Abby

620
00:43:22,600 --> 00:43:26,600
Speaker 1: and I went to Target and we were walking in,

621
00:43:27,200 --> 00:43:30,600
Speaker 1: and as we were walking in, this lady was walking

622
00:43:30,640 --> 00:43:33,719
Speaker 1: out at the same time, and she said, Oh my gosh,

623
00:43:33,800 --> 00:43:37,280
Speaker 1: Holly Fredick, and I turned to see who had called

624
00:43:37,320 --> 00:43:41,400
Speaker 1: my name, and I realized it was somebody that I

625
00:43:41,440 --> 00:43:44,400
Speaker 1: didn't know, and I said hi, and she told me

626
00:43:44,520 --> 00:43:48,960
Speaker 1: that she attends our Valentine location and then she said, actually,

627
00:43:49,480 --> 00:43:52,160
Speaker 1: we moved here to be a part of the church

628
00:43:52,760 --> 00:43:56,880
Speaker 1: a little over a year ago. I said wow. And

629
00:43:56,920 --> 00:43:59,960
Speaker 1: then I said, well, how did you find the church?

630
00:44:00,960 --> 00:44:03,720
Speaker 1: She said, I was going through a really dark time,

631
00:44:04,239 --> 00:44:06,799
Speaker 1: dark period with one of my kids. And she said,

632
00:44:06,840 --> 00:44:10,160
Speaker 1: I was really struggling. And so one day I just

633
00:44:10,280 --> 00:44:19,760
Speaker 1: googled spiritual quotes. I guess whose quote came up, not mine.

634
00:44:22,400 --> 00:44:29,799
Speaker 1: Stephen Verdick. And she began watching the sermons online and

635
00:44:29,840 --> 00:44:34,480
Speaker 1: she said that something in her just stirred, something she

636
00:44:34,600 --> 00:44:38,799
Speaker 1: just couldn't ignore, and she knew that they needed to

637
00:44:38,920 --> 00:44:43,680
Speaker 1: move their family to Charlotte. So she did it. She

638
00:44:43,800 --> 00:44:47,399
Speaker 1: and her husband, they made it happen. And I was like, wow,

639
00:44:47,440 --> 00:44:50,799
Speaker 1: that's so awesome. And I said, how's your son doing

640
00:44:51,520 --> 00:44:55,560
Speaker 1: and she said, he's still struggling, But I know this

641
00:44:55,600 --> 00:45:03,000
Speaker 1: is where we're supposed to be. You know, I don't

642
00:45:03,000 --> 00:45:07,319
Speaker 1: think the simple step that they took was the move.

643
00:45:08,160 --> 00:45:11,319
Speaker 1: We all know there's nothing simple about a move. I

644
00:45:11,360 --> 00:45:17,040
Speaker 1: think the simple step was the day she googled spiritual quotes.

645
00:45:18,719 --> 00:45:21,200
Speaker 1: Then you know what another simple step was that she took.

646
00:45:22,280 --> 00:45:24,400
Speaker 1: She said, she came here and she signed up to

647
00:45:24,480 --> 00:45:28,040
Speaker 1: volunteer in Ekaz. She didn't come and sign her son

648
00:45:28,120 --> 00:45:32,880
Speaker 1: up for an E group. She signed herself up. Blaming

649
00:45:33,160 --> 00:45:38,480
Speaker 1: and hiding and anger only bring temporary relief, but change

650
00:45:39,000 --> 00:45:44,680
Speaker 1: is possible when you take a simple step, she said.

651
00:45:45,239 --> 00:45:46,880
Speaker 1: This is what she said about our son. She said,

652
00:45:47,000 --> 00:45:51,120
Speaker 1: he's come to church once, but I know this is

653
00:45:51,200 --> 00:45:55,960
Speaker 1: where we are supposed to be. She's still dipping. I

654
00:45:55,960 --> 00:45:57,560
Speaker 1: don't know how many times she has to dip. I

655
00:45:57,560 --> 00:46:00,759
Speaker 1: don't know if it's seven or seventy seven. And I

656
00:46:00,760 --> 00:46:03,080
Speaker 1: don't know if all you needed to hear me say

657
00:46:03,120 --> 00:46:07,359
Speaker 1: today is keep doing what you're doing, don't give up.

658
00:46:08,440 --> 00:46:10,920
Speaker 1: And if that's you, keep doing it, keep showing up,

659
00:46:11,080 --> 00:46:18,279
Speaker 1: keep dipping. You can do it. And also, I know

660
00:46:18,360 --> 00:46:20,200
Speaker 1: I told you that this was not a sermon about

661
00:46:20,239 --> 00:46:22,520
Speaker 1: joining in an E group. But there is a simple

662
00:46:22,560 --> 00:46:26,479
Speaker 1: opportunity for you, a simple step that you can take

663
00:46:27,120 --> 00:46:30,239
Speaker 1: to join a part of a community of people who

664
00:46:30,280 --> 00:46:35,239
Speaker 1: are on a faith journey just like you. And I

665
00:46:35,280 --> 00:46:37,920
Speaker 1: told you we're gonna spend the next six weeks studying

666
00:46:38,000 --> 00:46:45,560
Speaker 1: the essentials simple not easy, simple practices that are the

667
00:46:45,600 --> 00:46:52,400
Speaker 1: foundation of our faith. Now is the time to move.

668
00:46:53,760 --> 00:46:57,160
Speaker 1: Stephen told us last week, one immediate action is worth

669
00:46:57,200 --> 00:47:03,160
Speaker 1: a thousand good intentions. The message today is not easy.

670
00:47:04,320 --> 00:47:09,680
Speaker 1: It is just the question, what simple step do you

671
00:47:09,840 --> 00:47:13,719
Speaker 1: need to say yes to when you feel prompted to

672
00:47:13,800 --> 00:47:18,439
Speaker 1: do something simple? That's God. The enemy wants to keep

673
00:47:18,480 --> 00:47:24,520
Speaker 1: you in complication and confusing. God loves simple, and I

674
00:47:24,560 --> 00:47:27,080
Speaker 1: believe that he is prompting hearts under the sound of

675
00:47:27,120 --> 00:47:30,600
Speaker 1: my voice right now with a simple step that you

676
00:47:30,760 --> 00:47:34,480
Speaker 1: need to take. Let me show you one more verse.

677
00:47:35,520 --> 00:47:41,400
Speaker 1: This one's in Luke chapter four, and Jesus opens up

678
00:47:41,440 --> 00:47:46,000
Speaker 1: the scrolls in his own hometown and he begins to teach.

679
00:47:46,960 --> 00:47:52,239
Speaker 1: But what he taught was the opposite of what the

680
00:47:52,280 --> 00:47:56,440
Speaker 1: people were expecting. It wasn't what they thought he was

681
00:47:56,520 --> 00:48:01,680
Speaker 1: gonna say. And he ends his teaching by saying something

682
00:48:02,200 --> 00:48:04,080
Speaker 1: I just want to point out to you Luke for

683
00:48:04,280 --> 00:48:09,360
Speaker 1: twenty seven, Jesus said, and many in Israel had leprosy

684
00:48:09,719 --> 00:48:13,200
Speaker 1: in the time of Elisha the Prophet, but the only

685
00:48:13,280 --> 00:48:22,920
Speaker 1: one healed was naman Assyrian see Jesus is preparing the

686
00:48:23,040 --> 00:48:28,280
Speaker 1: people for God's grace, and he's telling them that God

687
00:48:28,600 --> 00:48:34,359
Speaker 1: heals Jews and gentiles. It makes them angry, right, it

688
00:48:34,400 --> 00:48:38,440
Speaker 1: wasn't what they thought. They got angry. But when I

689
00:48:38,600 --> 00:48:42,480
Speaker 1: was reading this verse and I was thinking about Nammen

690
00:48:43,320 --> 00:48:46,759
Speaker 1: and how he got his healing, he went after it.

691
00:48:47,320 --> 00:48:50,800
Speaker 1: He acted, He made a journey into a foreign land,

692
00:48:51,000 --> 00:48:54,280
Speaker 1: and he pushed through the temptation to blame and hide.

693
00:48:54,360 --> 00:48:58,320
Speaker 1: He pushed past his anger, and he received the healing

694
00:48:58,600 --> 00:49:02,640
Speaker 1: that he needed, the relief from his sufferings. And the

695
00:49:02,680 --> 00:49:06,400
Speaker 1: Bible tells us. Jesus says that there were many leopards

696
00:49:06,800 --> 00:49:11,319
Speaker 1: lepers at that time who lived in Israel. Maybe there

697
00:49:11,320 --> 00:49:13,080
Speaker 1: were leopards too, I don't know, but there were many

698
00:49:13,160 --> 00:49:18,439
Speaker 1: lepers who lived in Israel. Perhaps some of them lived

699
00:49:18,480 --> 00:49:24,040
Speaker 1: within walking distance of Elishah's home. But Naymen was the

700
00:49:24,080 --> 00:49:29,200
Speaker 1: one who went after his healing. There were some people

701
00:49:29,239 --> 00:49:34,200
Speaker 1: that may have been right in his backyard suffering. And

702
00:49:34,239 --> 00:49:38,800
Speaker 1: it got me thinking, how sad it is that many

703
00:49:38,840 --> 00:49:42,040
Speaker 1: of you who are watching this message right now will

704
00:49:42,120 --> 00:49:46,680
Speaker 1: leave and go out of these doors or shut off

705
00:49:46,719 --> 00:49:51,360
Speaker 1: your computer, and you will walk away from your healing.

706
00:49:52,560 --> 00:49:58,919
Speaker 1: But that does not have to be you. Maybe you're simple. Yes,

707
00:49:59,640 --> 00:50:03,920
Speaker 1: is to to Jesus for the first time. He died

708
00:50:03,960 --> 00:50:07,600
Speaker 1: on the cross for our ultimate healing. He died to

709
00:50:07,680 --> 00:50:11,439
Speaker 1: forgive us of our sins, and that he rose from

710
00:50:11,440 --> 00:50:15,000
Speaker 1: the grave so that we could be free. And if

711
00:50:15,040 --> 00:50:17,680
Speaker 1: that's you, anyone, under the sound of my voice, I

712
00:50:17,719 --> 00:50:21,279
Speaker 1: want to give you the opportunity to give your life

713
00:50:21,320 --> 00:50:27,600
Speaker 1: to Christ, which you all stand with me at elevation.

714
00:50:27,719 --> 00:50:30,680
Speaker 1: We like to pray this prayer out loud together so

715
00:50:30,719 --> 00:50:35,360
Speaker 1: that nobody feels weird or left out. But for some

716
00:50:35,480 --> 00:50:40,600
Speaker 1: of you, this prayer is going to be special. Spow

717
00:50:40,640 --> 00:50:44,319
Speaker 1: our heads and close our eyes. Heavenly Father, would you

718
00:50:44,360 --> 00:50:49,799
Speaker 1: repeat after me, Heavenly Father, I believe that you are

719
00:50:49,840 --> 00:50:54,440
Speaker 1: the savior of the world, and that you died and

720
00:50:54,640 --> 00:51:01,800
Speaker 1: rose again so that I could have eternal life. Forgive

721
00:51:01,840 --> 00:51:07,520
Speaker 1: me of my sin, make me new. Right now, I

722
00:51:07,600 --> 00:51:12,239
Speaker 1: place my faith in you, and make you lord of

723
00:51:12,239 --> 00:51:18,840
Speaker 1: my life. In Jesus' name. Amen. If you just prayed

724
00:51:18,840 --> 00:51:20,880
Speaker 1: that prayer for the first time, or maybe you prayed

725
00:51:20,880 --> 00:51:23,799
Speaker 1: it to signify that you're coming back to God, would

726
00:51:23,880 --> 00:51:26,960
Speaker 1: you just raise your hand. We want to celebrate you.

727
00:51:27,000 --> 00:51:28,120
Speaker 1: We have a Bible that we want to give you.

728
00:51:28,200 --> 00:51:29,920
Speaker 1: Raise your hand if you're in the chat, put it

729
00:51:29,960 --> 00:51:32,560
Speaker 1: in the chat. I see you back there. We have

730
00:51:32,600 --> 00:51:36,880
Speaker 1: a Bible that we want to bring to you. It's amazing.

731
00:51:40,640 --> 00:51:43,879
Speaker 1: And now as our campus pastors come, I just want

732
00:51:43,960 --> 00:51:47,600
Speaker 1: us to all pray one more prayer out loud together.

733
00:51:48,160 --> 00:51:50,720
Speaker 1: All right? Are you ready? Would you say this with me? God?

734
00:51:52,040 --> 00:51:58,759
Speaker 1: Show me simple, I will obey. Thank you, Lord, God.

735
00:51:58,800 --> 00:52:02,439
Speaker 1: We're looking to you this week. We're listening and we're

736
00:52:02,480 --> 00:52:07,200
Speaker 1: watching for your simple promptings everywhere. Thank you for your

737
00:52:07,239 --> 00:52:10,120
Speaker 1: grace that saves us. Thank you for your grace that

738
00:52:10,239 --> 00:52:13,640
Speaker 1: heals us. Thank you for your patience with us God.

739
00:52:13,719 --> 00:52:18,160
Speaker 1: This week, today we're going to act. Thank you for

740
00:52:18,280 --> 00:52:23,960
Speaker 1: this church Jesus' name. Amen. Well, if you enjoyed today's podcast,

741
00:52:24,000 --> 00:52:26,080
Speaker 1: there are a couple things I'd love for you to do.

742
00:52:26,200 --> 00:52:30,560
Speaker 1: Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. You

743
00:52:30,560 --> 00:52:33,000
Speaker 1: can also help us reach others by investing today at

744
00:52:33,040 --> 00:52:37,040
Speaker 1: Elevationchurch dot org. Slash give and thanks again for joining

745
00:52:37,120 --> 00:52:38,680
Speaker 1: us on the Elevation Podcast