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Speaker 1: You didn't just buy a ticket. You such something in

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Speaker 1: motion just by being here tonight. Some of you bought

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Speaker 1: somebody else a ticket tonight, and it's going to change

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Speaker 1: their life to know that God loves them and has

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Speaker 1: not forsaken them, and He is for you and not

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Speaker 1: against you. Hey, my name's Larry Bribe, but everybody calls

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Speaker 1: me LB, one of the pastors here at Elevation, and

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Speaker 1: I get the joy of opening up God's word with

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Speaker 1: you today here at Elevation Show. So welcome all of

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Speaker 1: our locations online. Family. My wife and I were one

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Speaker 1: of the original families that helped start this church over

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Speaker 1: sixteen years ago, and it's been the biggest joy of

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Speaker 1: our life to see what God has done through this ministry.

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Speaker 1: And I just want to show you just a little bit,

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Speaker 1: just a visual. It's really good to look back and

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Speaker 1: remember God's faithfulness because in a moment you're like, well, God,

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Speaker 1: what are you gonna do? Just look back. What he

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Speaker 1: did in your past is probably what He's gonna do

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Speaker 1: in your future. He's been good to you, and we

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Speaker 1: have so many new people here at Elevation, and I

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Speaker 1: just want to give you just a glimpse of maybe

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Speaker 1: some of the things that you might know about that

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Speaker 1: that God established in their past. So here at Valentine,

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna get everybody on the floor to help me.

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Speaker 1: Everybody else stays standing. All the locations stay standing by

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Speaker 1: everybody on the floor here, just take a seat. Elevation

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Speaker 1: began with eight families selling their homes and quitting their

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Speaker 1: jobs back in two thousand and five. My wife and

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Speaker 1: I were one of those original eight families. Just to

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Speaker 1: give you a point of reference, have the front row

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Speaker 1: stand up here, stand out and then one, two, three, four, five,

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Speaker 1: six you six stand up so right there. So February

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Speaker 1: tap on the shoulder. There you go. February two thousand

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Speaker 1: and five. This is the size of Elevation Church. Do

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Speaker 1: not despise the day of small beginnings. Look how good

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Speaker 1: our God is. A year later, a year later February

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Speaker 1: of two thousand and six, February fifth, we'd have our

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Speaker 1: very first worship experience at Elevation Church. Center section. It's

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Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty people stand up just the center

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Speaker 1: section right here now. We had one hundred and twenty

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Speaker 1: one that day, So jj I need you to stand

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Speaker 1: up as well. This was our very first church service

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Speaker 1: at Elevation Church. Look what God did one hundred and

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Speaker 1: twenty one people. So when I tell you we had

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Speaker 1: sixteen people, now we've got twenty physical locations at Elevation Church.

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Speaker 1: Isn't that crazy what God has done? When I show

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Speaker 1: you that one hundred and twenty one that first Sunday.

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Speaker 1: Now every weekend we have one hundred and forty nine

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Speaker 1: different countries logging into watch one of our worship services.

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Speaker 1: Isn't that amazing? Now? Take take the wide shot Balantine.

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Speaker 1: Everybody stand up on the floor. Now take the watch

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Speaker 1: up so everybody, what you see on the screens, this

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Speaker 1: represents the number of people that had been baptized this

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Speaker 1: year at Elevation Church. One thousand, five hundred and sixty

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Speaker 1: seven people. Come on once, you praise God for that.

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Speaker 1: That's amazing. Look at his son sixteen years. Maybe God's

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Speaker 1: been very good to our ministry. But also we wouldn't

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Speaker 1: be here today. We're not for our pastors, Pastor Stephen,

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Speaker 1: Pastor Holly Ferdick. And I've been following Pastor Stephen for

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Speaker 1: twenty years. I figured it out. I've listened to about

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Speaker 1: twenty five hundred different sermons or teachings. Or preachings over

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Speaker 1: that twenty years from Pastor Stephen, and he is annointed

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Speaker 1: on the stage here. There's not a better preacher on

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Speaker 1: the planet. He is a general in the army of God,

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Speaker 1: and he is speaking into this world. It's amazing. But

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Speaker 1: twenty years ago, when I was first getting to know him,

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Speaker 1: when my brother passed away from cancer, he was the

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Speaker 1: first one that called me. When I was getting ordained.

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Speaker 1: He was the one that came alongside me, put his

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Speaker 1: arm around and said, I see God's hand on your life.

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Speaker 1: When my wife and I went through miscarriage, he was

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Speaker 1: the first one that called and said, you're gonna be okay.

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Speaker 1: My dad passed away a couple of years ago, called

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Speaker 1: me every day just to check in on me. As

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Speaker 1: good as a preacher as he is, he's an even

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Speaker 1: better pastor. You're in a good house. You're in a

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Speaker 1: good place. Would you help me? Thank Pastor Stephen and Holly.

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Speaker 1: We love you, we honor you. I'm gonna give you

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Speaker 1: one versus scripture and then I'll let you sit down.

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Speaker 1: This is our verse for the day, and I pray

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Speaker 1: that God would use it in a mighty way. Two

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Speaker 1: Timothy Chapter four, Verse seven, it says I have fought

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Speaker 1: the good fight. I have finished the race. I have

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Speaker 1: kept the faith. The title for today's sermon it was,

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Speaker 1: it was, it was a good fight. Look at your neighbor.

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Speaker 1: Put your dukes up, say it was a good fight.

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Speaker 1: You could put some boxing gloves in the chat. You

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Speaker 1: guys can have a seat after you have threatened to

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Speaker 1: hurt somebody with violence. Thank you, Worship team. I love

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Speaker 1: a good fight. I'm a big MMA fan, you know

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Speaker 1: McGregor Diaz. I loved it one and two. I'm praying

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Speaker 1: for a trilogy. I would love the my generation. The

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Speaker 1: greatest boxing match of all time is hol of Field.

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Speaker 1: Evander Holafield and Mike Tyson won not two with the

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Speaker 1: ear thing. That wasn't so good. The best fight my

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Speaker 1: wife and I had, it was amazing. It was at

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Speaker 1: our one year anniversary. We'll celebrate twenty two years this year. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: my girl. At our one year anniversary, I made dinner,

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Speaker 1: I had music on. I am trying to score up

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Speaker 1: mortal merital points for marital blessings, and at dinner, I said, baby,

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Speaker 1: in a word, how would you describe our first year marriage?

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Speaker 1: She said, like flowers? It was like beautiful and before

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Speaker 1: I tell you and I said, please don't judge me.

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Speaker 1: I was young, I didn't know what I was doing.

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Speaker 1: Jane said, well how about you, how would you describe

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Speaker 1: it in a word? I said hard, Like she was

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Speaker 1: all being married to me is hard. I'm like, yeah, no, no, no,

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Speaker 1: that's not what I've meant. That was a good fight.

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Speaker 1: But when we read this text, I have fought the

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Speaker 1: good fight, I have finished the race. I've kept the faith.

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Speaker 1: It's really important that you understand the context in which

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Speaker 1: that's written. Whenever you study the Word of God, to

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Speaker 1: always study it in context. It's one thing of a

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Speaker 1: sixteen year old looks at you when you're in a

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Speaker 1: really difficult season, and that sixteen year old looks at

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Speaker 1: you and says, I know it's hard, but stand strong,

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Speaker 1: you can do it. You're gonna make it okay. It's

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Speaker 1: like my sixteen year old comes home and says, it

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Speaker 1: was a really hard day, work day. I'm like, yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: it was really real hard. Now, when a sixty one

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Speaker 1: year old looks at you, who's a military veteran who

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Speaker 1: spent time in prison of war camp, who's got all

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Speaker 1: the scars, looks at you, and says, I know it's hard,

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Speaker 1: but stand strong. You can do it. You're gonna make it.

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Speaker 1: Cares a little bit of weight there, doesn't it. So

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Speaker 1: as we read these words out of Tewod Timothy, we

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Speaker 1: need to understand the person who wrote it is a

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Speaker 1: guy named Paul. Paul is a super possible. He wrote

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Speaker 1: thirteen books of the New Testament. It's funny. In the

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Speaker 1: New Testament there's twenty seven books. All the other people

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Speaker 1: who wrote books in the New Testament, the names of

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Speaker 1: the books are written by the person who wrote them. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John,

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Speaker 1: you know first and second Peter, but Paul's. They're all

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Speaker 1: identified by who'd receive them. Otherwise we'd be reading thirteenth

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Speaker 1: Paul today. He wrote that many books of the Bible.

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Speaker 1: And when he writes this book of the Bible, you

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Speaker 1: need to understand context is who wrote it, who'd they

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Speaker 1: write it to? And then why did they write it?

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Speaker 1: Paul writes this to Timothy as protege he'd left in

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Speaker 1: charge of ephesis. Paul is in prison, and prison is

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Speaker 1: actually an understatement. He's in a dungeon at this point.

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Speaker 1: If you go to Rome, you could actually see the

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Speaker 1: place that's a hole in the ground that's sunken down there,

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Speaker 1: and it's a dungeon. That's where he's last spent the

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Speaker 1: last days of his life. So as he pens this

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Speaker 1: letter to his protege Timothy, he writes two books to him,

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Speaker 1: first Timothy, second to me. Second to me is the

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Speaker 1: last book he writes. And as he writes it, and

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Speaker 1: he writes these words, I have fought the good fight.

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Speaker 1: I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

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Speaker 1: He knows he's going to die. These are his last words,

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Speaker 1: and he writes his last letter to his favorite person.

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Speaker 1: And if you and I were at the end of

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Speaker 1: our life and we are coming to the last words

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Speaker 1: we would speak, who would we speak them to? What

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Speaker 1: would we tell them? There's something in the text that

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Speaker 1: speaks to us about the fight that you're facing today.

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Speaker 1: Because Paul wasn't just admonishing Timothy. He's speaking to us

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Speaker 1: in this moment today, and he's telling it was a

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Speaker 1: good fight. And Paul knew the difference between a good

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Speaker 1: fight and a bad fight. As he writes the Book

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Speaker 1: of Philippians, he writes that one in prison that's more

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Speaker 1: like an air. It wasn't a Dungeon. That was a

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Speaker 1: really nice place to be in prison. He writes that one,

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Speaker 1: and people are talking trash about him, and they're saying, well,

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Speaker 1: look at Paul. He's not annoying it. If he were,

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Speaker 1: he wouldn't be in prison. But they're preaching the right gospel.

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Speaker 1: Paul said, that's a bad fight. He said, false motives

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Speaker 1: are not in the gospels preached. I rejoice. I ain't

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Speaker 1: gonna fight that fight. But chapter three of Philippians, there's

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Speaker 1: some people that are judaizers that are telling all the

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Speaker 1: new Christians, hey, yes, follow Jesus, plus also get circumcised.

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Speaker 1: Paul comes on glooe. He calls them those evildoers, those mutilators,

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Speaker 1: those dogs. He says, that's a good fight. So we

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Speaker 1: need to understand the difference between in a good fight

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Speaker 1: and a bad fight, because if you don't know how

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Speaker 1: to differentiate, you fight everything, and some of you are

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Speaker 1: fighting everything, and you're fighting battles that God has never

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Speaker 1: told you to fight. So when he pens this letter

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Speaker 1: to Timothy, he says these words and Tewod Timothy two

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Speaker 1: twenty two. It's my probably one of my favorite verses.

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Speaker 1: Tewod Timothy two twenty two two two two two, He says,

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Speaker 1: flea the lustful desires of your youth. Some of you

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Speaker 1: are fighting the battle by continuing to go to your phone,

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Speaker 1: and you're getting defeated every time. And God is saying,

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Speaker 1: how about you just throw that thing away? Don't even

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Speaker 1: fight that one, stay away from that fight any worth it?

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Speaker 1: He then he says in verse twenty three, he says,

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Speaker 1: have nothing to do with foolish or stupid arguments, for

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Speaker 1: you know they lead to nothing but quarrels. Some of

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Speaker 1: you that needs to be your screensaver, some of you

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Speaker 1: that needs to be put on your computer. And the

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Speaker 1: next time you want to go to Facebook and you

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Speaker 1: want to post that because you know you're waiting for

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Speaker 1: a fight, and you know you're about to get into

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Speaker 1: an argument, May the word of God convict you? Bad fight?

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Speaker 1: Bad say bad fight? Why would you keep fighting that one?

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Speaker 1: So I love the way that Paula sets this up.

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Speaker 1: But the fight he's talking about here isn't people. It's

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Speaker 1: the fight of faith, because he says, I have kept

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Speaker 1: the faith, and the word he uses their fights fought

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Speaker 1: is It's in the original language. It says agonisomy. It's

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Speaker 1: not in the time restaurant Ago nees O Mine. There

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Speaker 1: was a TV show in the eighties, the ABC Wide

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Speaker 1: World of Sports. They would talk about the thrill of

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Speaker 1: victory and the agony. That's where we get a word

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Speaker 1: agony from Paul is giving you a lesson from the

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Speaker 1: battle he's facing that it's gonna have agony connected with it.

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Speaker 1: And this wasn't just something Paul realized at the end

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Speaker 1: of his life as he's sitting in a dungeon. It

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Speaker 1: was something he knew what happened him thirty years earlier

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Speaker 1: when he started following Jesus. It wasn't he got to

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Speaker 1: the destination like, oh, I'm glad I kept the faith.

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Speaker 1: He said, no, No, there is a race from the

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Speaker 1: moment he came to a relationship with Jesus and he said,

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Speaker 1: this is the race. It is to testify. It is

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Speaker 1: about faith in Jesus. That's the race. That's the fight.

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Speaker 1: It's the fight of faith. In fact, in Acts chapter twenty,

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Speaker 1: Paul says this. In verses twenty two to twenty four,

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Speaker 1: he says, and now, compelled by the spirit, I'm going

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Speaker 1: to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there.

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Speaker 1: I only know than in every city. The Holy Spirit

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Speaker 1: warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However,

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Speaker 1: I consider my life worth nothing compared nothing to me.

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Speaker 1: My only aim is to finish the race and complete

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Speaker 1: the task the Lord Jesus has given me the task

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Speaker 1: of testifying to the good news of God's grace. You See,

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Speaker 1: a good fight does not need a good result, because

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Speaker 1: what he says there is I'm going to Jerusalem. I

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Speaker 1: don't know what's gonna happen to me there. It might

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Speaker 1: be good, it might be bad. But he goes, I

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Speaker 1: know what's gonna happen. I'm gonna face prison and hardships

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Speaker 1: in persecution along the way. So when Paul writes to Timothy, goes,

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Speaker 1: everybody who follows Jesus is going to suffer persecution. It's

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Speaker 1: going to happen. See, a good fight is about the

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Speaker 1: good news, because he says there the task of testifying

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Speaker 1: to the good news of God's grace. A good fight

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Speaker 1: is always connected to the good news. It's not about

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Speaker 1: a good outcome. But it begs us to ask the question,

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Speaker 1: what is your faith in? Is it in the good

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Speaker 1: news or is it in a good outcome? Because when

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Speaker 1: we start throwing around the word I got faith. Really, really,

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Speaker 1: what's your faith in? I got faith and my vikings

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Speaker 1: are gonna win the Super Bowl this year. I got

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Speaker 1: faith my knee is going to feel better, and I

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Speaker 1: got faith that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior.

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Speaker 1: Praise God, Heaven. And we we cheapen the word faith

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Speaker 1: by connecting it to infeariorr things. That's why I love Jesus,

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Speaker 1: he says. If anyone would follow me, he says, he

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Speaker 1: will hate his father and mother. He's not saying you'll

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Speaker 1: literally hate them. What he is saying, when you compare

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Speaker 1: the love you have for me, it will make everything

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Speaker 1: else look like hatred. May we make faith a top

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Speaker 1: shelf issue? Would you become so legalistic in your own

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Speaker 1: life that you would, really you would only let faith

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Speaker 1: be connected to Jesus Christ and the good news, not

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Speaker 1: a good outcome. Is my faith that God is with

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Speaker 1: me in the middle of it? Or is my faith

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Speaker 1: that I'll eventually get out of it? See? A good

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Speaker 1: is all about faith. What do you have faith in?

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Speaker 1: Let me ask it to you this way. If you

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Speaker 1: want to know what your faith is, look what you're

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Speaker 1: fighting for. If your faith is in your reputation, your

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Speaker 1: Lawy's been fighting for how you look. If your faith

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Speaker 1: is in your career, you'll fight by cutting corners to

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Speaker 1: get ahead. If your faith is in the political party,

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Speaker 1: well that's not good. Don't do that one. But what

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Speaker 1: I think Paul does, and I want to categorize there's

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Speaker 1: three fights I think that we can learn from the

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Speaker 1: life of Paul that I want to give you today

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Speaker 1: that are good fights. Say, good fight, You're going to

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Speaker 1: fight something in life. I want the Holy Spirit to

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Speaker 1: give you discernment. Is this a good fight? And so

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Speaker 1: the first fight is this is how you see Jesus.

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Speaker 1: Here's the fight is how can you go through a

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Speaker 1: bad situation and cling to the promise that God is

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Speaker 1: a good God. How can you go through something bad

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Speaker 1: and believe that He is still good? That's the fight

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Speaker 1: of faith. And some of you would get the gold

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Speaker 1: star and a sticker because you've been to Bible camp.

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Speaker 1: Yay Jesus, you know. But is he a historical figure?

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Speaker 1: Is he a fairy tale? Is he a fictional character?

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Speaker 1: Is he a prophet? Is he a princh? Or is

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Speaker 1: he a savior? And Lord, I don't know. That's for

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Speaker 1: you to decide, how do you see Jesus. Here's the thing.

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Speaker 1: We were created in his image. In Bigo day he

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Speaker 1: made the male and female. He created us in his image.

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Speaker 1: But will shape God into the image of who we

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Speaker 1: think he should be? When you think about how you

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Speaker 1: see God? Does who God is shape the way you

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Speaker 1: see the world? Or does your experience with the world

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Speaker 1: shape how you see God? Because I'm talking about the lens.

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Speaker 1: This is the lens of faith. Here is Christ my lens.

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Speaker 1: That everything I see I see it through that lens.

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Speaker 1: Or is this the world? Then now I start to

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Speaker 1: put it on in Well, God, I guess you're not

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Speaker 1: good because this bad thing happened. That's the faith. That's

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Speaker 1: the fight of faith that's happening right now in your life.

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Speaker 1: And it's very insidious. You don't even know what's happening.

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Speaker 1: Because the word agonizoma I wasn't Paul talking about his

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Speaker 1: bad knees. It was the agony it was. But agonizem

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Speaker 1: I also suggests an antagonist, an adversary, an accuser that

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Speaker 1: wants to keep you from faith in God, because you

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Speaker 1: really don't have Rocky unless you got Ivan Drago, you

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Speaker 1: really don't have Rocky the hero unless you got somebody

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Speaker 1: who's a villain. And in the opening act of humanity,

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Speaker 1: the stage is set, Adam and Eve are in the

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Speaker 1: garden and the serpent steps into the scene. Question, can

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Speaker 1: you tell when the serpent steps into the scene of

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Speaker 1: your life? Are you aware when the advocate, the adversary,

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Speaker 1: the accuser steps into the scene of your life? And

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Speaker 1: this is the crazy part, because if you can't spot it,

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Speaker 1: you're setting yourself up to follow his script. Why didn't

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Speaker 1: Eve spot this serpent stepping into the scene Because God

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Speaker 1: created a bunch of snakes, and so if snake comes

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Speaker 1: along that he's crafty. We often think that he's like, uh,

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Speaker 1: he's shown up with a pitchfork and horns. No, he

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Speaker 1: doesn't show in up like that. He doesn't come in

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Speaker 1: kicking things over. He comes in asking questions, and he's

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Speaker 1: stepping into the scene of the story, and he's blending

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Speaker 1: in with the background of everything else. So before we

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Speaker 1: impugne the character of Eve, we need to realize we're

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Speaker 1: having conversations with snakes all the time, and he's crafty.

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Speaker 1: He's blending in because the Bible says and he's like

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Speaker 1: a roaring lion, raw it's easy to spot. Iful lion

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Speaker 1: rolls in. Sometimes the enemy the accuser, Hey, babe, hey,

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Speaker 1: that's how Sometimes they enter the scene of your life.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes it's it's just a dm that says what you're doing,

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Speaker 1: because they don't come in kicking stuff over. They come

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Speaker 1: in asking questions. Because if you can't spot the devils

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Speaker 1: step into your scene, there's a good chance you'll start

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Speaker 1: operating according to his script. Because he steps in and

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Speaker 1: he asks a question, did God really say? All he's

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Speaker 1: trying to do is to get a conversation going, and

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Speaker 1: what he's trying to do is to control the script.

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Speaker 1: He's trying to control the narrative. Did God really say, Oh,

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Speaker 1: come on, Eve, you won't certainly die. It goes from

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Speaker 1: asking a question to making a statement you won't die.

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Speaker 1: Then it goes down into making an indictment. All sin

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Speaker 1: casts a shadow of doubt on the character of God,

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Speaker 1: because what the enemy is trying to do is to

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Speaker 1: start at a very subtle shade of doubt that just

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Speaker 1: slowly gets you creeping into compromising your view of God.

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Speaker 1: And then you eat the apple. Can you identify with

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Speaker 1: the devil sneaking in and say, did God really say, oh,

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Speaker 1: come on, she's nice. Oh it's not that bad. No

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Speaker 1: one will ever know everybody else is doing it. And

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Speaker 1: then when you do it, you dirty dog. We see

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Speaker 1: the script of the Evil One. Can you identify where

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Speaker 1: the devil has stepped into the scene and he's tried

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Speaker 1: to get you to operate according to his script. But

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Speaker 1: what Eve failed to do. Jesus redeemed because as he

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Speaker 1: is out in the desert forty days of fasting, the

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Speaker 1: Evil One comes to him. He slithers into the scene

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Speaker 1: and he comes up to Jesus, who is hungry. He says, hey,

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Speaker 1: if you really got turn those rocks into bread, because

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Speaker 1: I know you're hungry, And Jesus says, it is written,

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Speaker 1: man does not live by bread alone, but every word

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Speaker 1: that comes from the mouth of God. Then he tempts

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Speaker 1: him again, if you really got to step off, and

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Speaker 1: he goes, no, no, it is written, don't put the

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Speaker 1: Lord your God to the tests. And it refuses him

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Speaker 1: each time, not by having a conversation, but by speaking truth.

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Speaker 1: That's the difference. So when Paul he writes to Timothy,

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Speaker 1: he says this to him earlier and two Timothy he

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Speaker 1: says to me, he says Timothy. How you have known

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Speaker 1: the scriptures from infancy, which you are able to make

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Speaker 1: you wise for salvation through faith in Christ. Jesus, he

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Speaker 1: says to him. He says, all scripture is God breathed,

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Speaker 1: profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. All

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Speaker 1: scripture is God breathed. So when God wanted to make man,

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Speaker 1: he took dirt and he he breathed into it. When

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Speaker 1: he wanted to make the Word, he took it and

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Speaker 1: he he breathed into it. And this is different than

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Speaker 1: every other book you read, every other book you read.

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Speaker 1: This is the only book that reads you. It is

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Speaker 1: the living word of God. And he tells Timothy, Timothy,

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Speaker 1: I need your life immersed in this because when persecution

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Speaker 1: comes and the devil comes along, he's going to try

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Speaker 1: to get you operating according to his script or you

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Speaker 1: can operate according to the scriptures. So yes, it's easy

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Speaker 1: to get the gold star. Say yeah, I know who

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Speaker 1: Jesus is. It is written this persecution is relentless. It

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Speaker 1: is the seas on the shore of your life, the

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Speaker 1: relentless attack of the evil one who's always beating against

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Speaker 1: your boat, trying to sink you, but you can anchor

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Speaker 1: yourself in the word of God. Say no, it is

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Speaker 1: written all scripture is God Breathe profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting,

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Speaker 1: and training in righteousness. And that's what God wants to

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Speaker 1: do today. Did God really say? Because when persecution comes,

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Speaker 1: it's your faith that will sustain you. Because whatever your

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Speaker 1: faith is in, that's what you'll be fighting for. And

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Speaker 1: God will use persecution to refine your faith, or the

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Speaker 1: animal will use that same persecution to get you to

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Speaker 1: forfeit your faith. Persecution is not optional. The great pugilist

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Speaker 1: and theologian Mike Tyson said, everybody's got a plan until

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Speaker 1: they get punched in the mouth. Fight number two is

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Speaker 1: how Jesus sees you. How Jesus sees you. The first

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Speaker 1: fight is how you see Jesus now. The second one

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Speaker 1: is how Jesus sees you. And I want to rewind

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Speaker 1: a little bit to Paul, and I want to show

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Speaker 1: you the first time he suffers persecution as he's following Jesus,

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Speaker 1: because he had this radical encounter some thirty years earlier.

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Speaker 1: And I want to rewind to that his first missionary

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Speaker 1: trip in actually chapter fourteen and In actual chapter fourteen,

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Speaker 1: he's going on his very first missionary trip, and you're

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Speaker 1: about to read it about the very first miracle that

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Speaker 1: ever happens through the ministry of Paul. There's a lot

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Speaker 1: of firsts there, and some of you know what it's

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Speaker 1: like to be first, first in your family to come

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Speaker 1: to faith, or first to graduate high school. It's always

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Speaker 1: hard being first, isn't it, Because you come up against resistance,

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Speaker 1: and some of us quit because the resistance was more

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Speaker 1: than what we thought. And what I want to see

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Speaker 1: you is Paul have a perseverance to push through, because

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Speaker 1: if he doesn't push through, he doesn't get to the

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Speaker 1: end of the race. And I'm telling you, there's the

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Speaker 1: race that God has marked out for you, and he

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Speaker 1: wants you to run it. But the adversary is trying

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Speaker 1: to stop you from that race. So Paul starts on

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Speaker 1: his very first of four missionary trips. In actual chapter

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Speaker 1: fourteen he can read about. He goes to Antioch and

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Speaker 1: he gets kicked out because they're preaching Jesus. They don't

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Speaker 1: like him. Then they go to Iconium. They kick him

425
00:23:13,200 --> 00:23:15,359
Speaker 1: out there because he's preaching Jesus there. So he shows

426
00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:18,320
Speaker 1: up in ash fourteen, Verse eight says in Leestra, there

427
00:23:18,320 --> 00:23:21,159
Speaker 1: said a man who was lame, who had been that

428
00:23:21,200 --> 00:23:23,080
Speaker 1: way from birth, and he had never walked. He listened

429
00:23:23,119 --> 00:23:25,720
Speaker 1: to Paul as he was speaking, and Paul looked directly

430
00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:28,000
Speaker 1: at him and saw that he had the faith to

431
00:23:28,040 --> 00:23:31,240
Speaker 1: be healed, and he called up, stand up on your feet.

432
00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:35,040
Speaker 1: At this the man jumped up and he began to walk.

433
00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:38,280
Speaker 1: That's the first miracle through Paul's ministry. When the crowd

434
00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:40,600
Speaker 1: saw that Paul of what Paul had done, they shouted

435
00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:43,560
Speaker 1: into the Laconian language, the gods have come down to

436
00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:47,600
Speaker 1: us in human form. Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul

437
00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:50,600
Speaker 1: they called Hermes because he was the chief spreaker. The speaker,

438
00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:53,760
Speaker 1: the priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city,

439
00:23:53,840 --> 00:23:56,240
Speaker 1: brought bulls and reason the city gates because he and

440
00:23:56,280 --> 00:23:59,400
Speaker 1: the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them. You see,

441
00:23:59,880 --> 00:24:03,360
Speaker 1: the people in Lystra had an image of what they

442
00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:08,400
Speaker 1: thought God was, So when Paul and Barnabas show up,

443
00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:11,119
Speaker 1: they look at them through their lens of who they

444
00:24:11,119 --> 00:24:14,359
Speaker 1: think God is, and they try to form the God

445
00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:17,960
Speaker 1: into what their image of them was. We do that

446
00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:21,360
Speaker 1: all the time. It's so insidious. We do that everything

447
00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:23,800
Speaker 1: God doesn't do that. People don't know who they think

448
00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:26,040
Speaker 1: they are. We will always use our definition of what

449
00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:28,080
Speaker 1: we think is right to conform everybody else into the

450
00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:32,080
Speaker 1: image of it. We were created in his image, not

451
00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:35,440
Speaker 1: to conform him into our image, and that's what they're

452
00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:37,480
Speaker 1: trying to do in this point. So how does Paul

453
00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:40,840
Speaker 1: respond to this? Is funny, he says. But when Paul

454
00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:44,080
Speaker 1: and Barnabas heard this, heard this, they tore their clothes

455
00:24:44,119 --> 00:24:46,200
Speaker 1: and they rushed out to the crowd, shouting, friends, why

456
00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:49,040
Speaker 1: are you doing this? We two are only humans like you.

457
00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:55,879
Speaker 1: We're bringing you good news. This whole fight that Paul

458
00:24:55,920 --> 00:24:58,560
Speaker 1: has been running for thirty years. Before we get to Tewod,

459
00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:02,280
Speaker 1: Timothy is all about the good news. Everywhere he went

460
00:25:02,359 --> 00:25:05,199
Speaker 1: it was spreading the good news. A good fight is

461
00:25:05,200 --> 00:25:08,800
Speaker 1: always connected to the good news. That was funny. This

462
00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:11,960
Speaker 1: crowd flips really quickly on Paul. If you jumped down

463
00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:15,359
Speaker 1: to verse nineteen. Then some Jews came from Antioch and

464
00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:19,240
Speaker 1: Iconium and they won the crowd over. Remember the towns

465
00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:20,760
Speaker 1: he just came out of, and they kicked him out.

466
00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:23,800
Speaker 1: They showed up on the scene and they stoned Paul

467
00:25:24,560 --> 00:25:26,640
Speaker 1: and dragged him outside the city thinking he was dead.

468
00:25:27,320 --> 00:25:29,760
Speaker 1: And that's not the modern recreational version of stoning. This

469
00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:33,879
Speaker 1: is Old Testament version of stoning. This is where they

470
00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:37,719
Speaker 1: drag him outside the city, and stoning in that point

471
00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:40,600
Speaker 1: it really served two purposes. They take him outside the

472
00:25:40,600 --> 00:25:42,840
Speaker 1: city because you are stirring up and you're trying to

473
00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:44,679
Speaker 1: create a God that's different than our God, and we

474
00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:46,159
Speaker 1: don't like that. We want to conform you to the

475
00:25:46,200 --> 00:25:47,840
Speaker 1: image of what we think God's supposed to be. So

476
00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:49,920
Speaker 1: they drag him outside the city. And now they start

477
00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:54,119
Speaker 1: grabbing rocks and they start throwing out at him, and

478
00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:55,760
Speaker 1: the rocks are meant to kill him, but then this

479
00:25:55,880 --> 00:25:58,160
Speaker 1: also meant to bury him. There's two purposes in those rocks.

480
00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:00,240
Speaker 1: You want to get him outside the city because you

481
00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:01,640
Speaker 1: don't want to file the city by having a dead

482
00:26:01,680 --> 00:26:03,879
Speaker 1: body in the city, so you'd take him outside the city.

483
00:26:04,040 --> 00:26:06,440
Speaker 1: And now they start throwing rocks at him. And imagine

484
00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:10,359
Speaker 1: Paul getting hid by every one of these rocks. And

485
00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:12,800
Speaker 1: I wonder if he had a thought, but God, I'm

486
00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:16,080
Speaker 1: serving you. God, you told me. They're like, I'm gonna

487
00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:17,960
Speaker 1: spread the good news. Why is this happening to me?

488
00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:20,679
Speaker 1: I'm a good person. Why is this all happening? And

489
00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:22,320
Speaker 1: we all know what it's like to have things thrown

490
00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:24,400
Speaker 1: at us that we feel like should never have been thrown.

491
00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:27,400
Speaker 1: And Paul, imagine the weight of the stones that are

492
00:26:27,440 --> 00:26:30,400
Speaker 1: now starting to lay on top of him, on top

493
00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:32,800
Speaker 1: of him, on top of him. And I wonder if

494
00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:38,159
Speaker 1: at any point the devil snuck onto the scene said hey, Paul,

495
00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:44,560
Speaker 1: where's your God? Now Paul gets a choice there, he

496
00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:45,920
Speaker 1: gets his choice to say, how am I going to

497
00:26:45,960 --> 00:26:50,439
Speaker 1: respond in this situation. That's the first time Paul is stoned.

498
00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:52,359
Speaker 1: In the scriptures, he would beaten, he would be flawed,

499
00:26:52,359 --> 00:26:56,000
Speaker 1: But that's the first time he faced major persecution. But

500
00:26:56,080 --> 00:26:57,840
Speaker 1: it was not the first time he had an experience

501
00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:00,960
Speaker 1: with stoning, because it was not the first time we

502
00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:04,199
Speaker 1: read of Paul in the scriptures. The first time we

503
00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:09,000
Speaker 1: read of Paul is in Acts chapter seven. And I

504
00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:12,240
Speaker 1: want to show you a glimpse of Paul's past because

505
00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:14,639
Speaker 1: I think as the weight of the rocks is starting

506
00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:17,840
Speaker 1: to accumulate on top of Paul, I think he has

507
00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:22,480
Speaker 1: a flashback and he starts to make the connection between Wow,

508
00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:26,960
Speaker 1: I'm being stoned. But I remember a point that I

509
00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:33,280
Speaker 1: did this to somebody else, because the devil will always

510
00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:38,359
Speaker 1: try to use your past to disqualify your future. And

511
00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:41,080
Speaker 1: then think Paul's having a flashback. So if we jump

512
00:27:41,119 --> 00:27:45,480
Speaker 1: back to Acts chapter seven, you're gonna get a scene

513
00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:48,840
Speaker 1: of a man named Stephen, because at this point, a

514
00:27:48,840 --> 00:27:51,879
Speaker 1: couple of years earlier, Jesus had been crucified. He was killed,

515
00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:55,359
Speaker 1: and the Jewish leaders thought, that's the end of this Christianity. Yes,

516
00:27:55,520 --> 00:27:59,280
Speaker 1: we win, you're dead, let's move forward. But like a fire,

517
00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:01,359
Speaker 1: they tried to stop out, and the ember started to

518
00:28:01,359 --> 00:28:03,879
Speaker 1: spread other places. And now you got little fires and

519
00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:06,159
Speaker 1: little fires and little fires of faith that are burning

520
00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:08,960
Speaker 1: inside the walls of Jerusalem. And you got this man

521
00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:11,320
Speaker 1: named Stephen that is filled with the spirit, and now

522
00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:14,680
Speaker 1: he's going he is performing miracles and signs and wonders.

523
00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:17,080
Speaker 1: And the religious leaders like, oh, I thought we ended

524
00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:21,320
Speaker 1: this thing when we killed Jesus. So Paul, Stephen in

525
00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:24,480
Speaker 1: here too, because we need to end this thing. Because again,

526
00:28:24,720 --> 00:28:27,600
Speaker 1: the Jewish leaders, like the Laconian people, had an image

527
00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:30,960
Speaker 1: of how they saw God. And if you don't fit

528
00:28:31,119 --> 00:28:35,400
Speaker 1: my image, we will kill you because you we will

529
00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:38,719
Speaker 1: either conform you, or we will break you. So Stephen

530
00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:42,080
Speaker 1: gets hauled in and in verse eight of chapter six

531
00:28:42,120 --> 00:28:46,240
Speaker 1: is where I want to start. Well, I'm sorry, I apologize.

532
00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:50,320
Speaker 1: Chapter seven, verse fifty one, Paul is in front of

533
00:28:50,320 --> 00:28:52,960
Speaker 1: the Jewish leaders, the same ones that had sentenced Jesus

534
00:28:52,960 --> 00:28:56,560
Speaker 1: to death, the Sanhedrin, and he's standing in front of them,

535
00:28:56,600 --> 00:28:59,480
Speaker 1: filled with the spirit, and he's about to fight, to fight.

536
00:28:59,640 --> 00:29:01,960
Speaker 1: This is good news. It's not going to have a

537
00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:04,880
Speaker 1: good outcome, because a good fight is connected to the

538
00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:08,480
Speaker 1: good news, not a good outcome. And he says, you

539
00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:13,200
Speaker 1: stiff necked people. Good way to start a conversation, easy

540
00:29:13,200 --> 00:29:16,840
Speaker 1: way to win him over. Just start with that one.

541
00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:19,680
Speaker 1: Your hearts and your ears are still uncircumcised, just like

542
00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:22,520
Speaker 1: your ancestors. You resist the Holy Spirit. Was there ever

543
00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:25,680
Speaker 1: a prophet? Your ancestors did not persecute. They even killed

544
00:29:25,680 --> 00:29:28,920
Speaker 1: the predicted, those who predicted the coming of the righteous One.

545
00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:34,240
Speaker 1: That's Jesus. Now you have betrayed and murdered him. You

546
00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:36,640
Speaker 1: have received the law that was given through the angels,

547
00:29:36,640 --> 00:29:39,640
Speaker 1: but did not obey it. Verse fifty four. When the

548
00:29:39,640 --> 00:29:43,560
Speaker 1: members of this Anahedron heard this, they were furious. They

549
00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:46,840
Speaker 1: gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the

550
00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:49,400
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory

551
00:29:49,400 --> 00:29:52,800
Speaker 1: of God in Jesus standing by the right hand of God. Look,

552
00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:55,440
Speaker 1: he said, I've seen heaven opened, and the son of

553
00:29:55,520 --> 00:29:57,640
Speaker 1: Man standing at the right hand of God. At this,

554
00:29:57,760 --> 00:29:59,680
Speaker 1: they covered their ears and started and yelled at the

555
00:29:59,720 --> 00:30:02,160
Speaker 1: top of their voices, and they washed him, dragging him

556
00:30:02,200 --> 00:30:05,320
Speaker 1: outside the city. We've seen this fo heavenly dragged him

557
00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:08,200
Speaker 1: outside the city, and they began to stone him. Meanwhile,

558
00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:11,200
Speaker 1: some of the witnesses laid their coats at the feet

559
00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:15,280
Speaker 1: of a young man named Saw. So Paul that we

560
00:30:15,320 --> 00:30:18,480
Speaker 1: just read about started as Saw. And now you have

561
00:30:18,560 --> 00:30:22,280
Speaker 1: these people that are stoning Stephen, that all take their

562
00:30:22,280 --> 00:30:24,920
Speaker 1: coats and they take them over and they throw them

563
00:30:24,920 --> 00:30:29,800
Speaker 1: at the feet of Saw. Two purposes. In taking off

564
00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:32,960
Speaker 1: the coat, physically, I get much better range of motion

565
00:30:33,040 --> 00:30:36,560
Speaker 1: to throw a rock. It's a big thick coat. It's

566
00:30:36,560 --> 00:30:38,880
Speaker 1: a practical reason. I'm going to work up a lot

567
00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:40,960
Speaker 1: of sweat here. I need to have a better range

568
00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:43,080
Speaker 1: of motion so I can throw this thing at maximum velocity.

569
00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:46,280
Speaker 1: So if I don't throw that a maximum velocity, I'm

570
00:30:46,280 --> 00:30:50,400
Speaker 1: not gonna inflict maximum pain. So they leave their coats

571
00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:53,800
Speaker 1: at the feet of Jesus. And now they started to

572
00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:59,480
Speaker 1: stone Stephen, this man filled with the Holy Spirit. And

573
00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:05,280
Speaker 1: picture Paul Saul standing there just watching this scene go down.

574
00:31:06,880 --> 00:31:12,400
Speaker 1: He's just watching it. And now fast forwards to Paul

575
00:31:12,520 --> 00:31:15,640
Speaker 1: underneath the weight of all the rocks. I wonder if

576
00:31:15,640 --> 00:31:19,160
Speaker 1: he remembered that moment where he heard Steven's voice, forgive them,

577
00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:22,400
Speaker 1: for they know not what they do. And I wonder

578
00:31:22,440 --> 00:31:24,360
Speaker 1: if there's a moment between those things that Paul is

579
00:31:24,400 --> 00:31:27,560
Speaker 1: like flashing back to go, like when he's underneath the

580
00:31:27,560 --> 00:31:29,920
Speaker 1: weight of his own sin because he was being persecuted

581
00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:32,200
Speaker 1: in Acts fifteen. I wonder if he's over here going

582
00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:36,400
Speaker 1: I deserve it. I deserve it. I did it all.

583
00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:40,240
Speaker 1: I persecuted all the speeple. But what's amazing in this

584
00:31:40,400 --> 00:31:45,640
Speaker 1: story is Paul, the poster child for persecuting Christians, would

585
00:31:45,680 --> 00:31:48,479
Speaker 1: be the become the one the primary voice to deliver

586
00:31:48,560 --> 00:31:52,880
Speaker 1: Christianity to new people. Paul would flip from Saul the

587
00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:56,760
Speaker 1: persecutor to Paul the preacher. And he was in these

588
00:31:56,760 --> 00:32:00,560
Speaker 1: moments going back and put forth between these two where

589
00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:02,560
Speaker 1: I started to see something. But something stuck out to

590
00:32:02,560 --> 00:32:05,960
Speaker 1: me as I was reading this while they were stoning him.

591
00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:11,040
Speaker 1: Verse fifty nine. Stephen prayed, and he says, and Saul

592
00:32:11,080 --> 00:32:14,200
Speaker 1: approved of their killing of him. First Chapter eight, Verse

593
00:32:14,240 --> 00:32:17,240
Speaker 1: one says, on that day a great persecution broke out

594
00:32:17,240 --> 00:32:21,000
Speaker 1: against the Church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles

595
00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:26,400
Speaker 1: were scattered throughout Judea as Samaria. So what happened on

596
00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:29,840
Speaker 1: that day is the Gospel needed to go beyond the

597
00:32:29,880 --> 00:32:33,560
Speaker 1: walls of Jerusalem. God had given a promise. Jesus had

598
00:32:33,560 --> 00:32:37,320
Speaker 1: given a promise earlier in Acts one to eight. He says,

599
00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:39,880
Speaker 1: when I leave, the Holy Spirit will come upon you,

600
00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:42,600
Speaker 1: and you will receive power, and you will be my

601
00:32:42,640 --> 00:32:45,520
Speaker 1: witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samri and to the ends of

602
00:32:45,560 --> 00:32:48,640
Speaker 1: the earth. Up until that point of Acts chapter eight,

603
00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:50,840
Speaker 1: the first seven chapters of the Book of Acts, the

604
00:32:50,920 --> 00:32:53,720
Speaker 1: Christians were content to keep the Christianity inside the walls

605
00:32:53,720 --> 00:32:57,040
Speaker 1: of Jerusalem, because the reality is most of us will

606
00:32:57,120 --> 00:32:59,320
Speaker 1: keep it to ourselves unless something forced us to get

607
00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:02,120
Speaker 1: it beyond ourselves. And so God comes along and he

608
00:33:02,240 --> 00:33:06,040
Speaker 1: uses a great persecution. And one famous theologian said, persecution

609
00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:08,280
Speaker 1: is the wind that God uses to scatter the seed.

610
00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:12,560
Speaker 1: So in Acts eight one, it's a fulfillment of Acts

611
00:33:12,600 --> 00:33:15,400
Speaker 1: one to eight. Acts one eight says you will receive

612
00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:17,680
Speaker 1: power and you'll be my witnesses. For the first seven

613
00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:20,600
Speaker 1: chapters they kept inside the walls of Jerusalem, Acts eight one.

614
00:33:20,760 --> 00:33:23,520
Speaker 1: But now he takes it beyond the walls of Jerusalem,

615
00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:26,280
Speaker 1: and he takes it to Judea and Samaria. And what

616
00:33:26,360 --> 00:33:29,320
Speaker 1: I want to tell you, persecution always serves a purpose.

617
00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:32,600
Speaker 1: Why did that thing happen to you? Why did you

618
00:33:32,680 --> 00:33:35,360
Speaker 1: end up in that other city? I don't know, but

619
00:33:35,440 --> 00:33:37,240
Speaker 1: I know that God needed to get the good news

620
00:33:37,240 --> 00:33:40,400
Speaker 1: to that place over there. What happened to Stephen was

621
00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:46,280
Speaker 1: not good, but what God did with it was good.

622
00:33:46,320 --> 00:33:49,000
Speaker 1: He works all things for the good of those who

623
00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:51,880
Speaker 1: are called according to his purposes. That's what he does.

624
00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:57,400
Speaker 1: He uses all things. But when I think of Stephen

625
00:33:58,080 --> 00:34:01,480
Speaker 1: being stoned, flash forward to now Paul is underneath the

626
00:34:01,520 --> 00:34:04,400
Speaker 1: weight of the stones in actually chapter fifteen. Have you

627
00:34:04,440 --> 00:34:06,240
Speaker 1: ever been in a space where the weight of your

628
00:34:06,280 --> 00:34:09,960
Speaker 1: shame almost collapsed you, It almost killed you. Picture him

629
00:34:10,040 --> 00:34:12,840
Speaker 1: underneath the weight of all these stones. Picture him lying

630
00:34:12,880 --> 00:34:15,120
Speaker 1: there in just this weight on him, and he's having

631
00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:17,560
Speaker 1: these flashbacks that I called Stephen to die, and I

632
00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:19,719
Speaker 1: would cause many other Christians to die, and I was

633
00:34:19,719 --> 00:34:21,920
Speaker 1: to post a child for persecution. And I bet he's

634
00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:23,880
Speaker 1: in that place to feel like I deserve it, and

635
00:34:23,920 --> 00:34:26,160
Speaker 1: I get it, and this is what I should deserve,

636
00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:27,640
Speaker 1: and this is what you should have brought me God,

637
00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:30,360
Speaker 1: And I did it all. And Paul had this amazing

638
00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:32,600
Speaker 1: ability to take it to the bottom of something. Have

639
00:34:32,680 --> 00:34:34,440
Speaker 1: you ever been in a place where you felt like

640
00:34:34,520 --> 00:34:37,799
Speaker 1: you forfeited everything because of your past? He ever been

641
00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:39,400
Speaker 1: in a place where the weight of something was so

642
00:34:39,480 --> 00:34:42,120
Speaker 1: immense you to feel like you could get back up.

643
00:34:42,880 --> 00:34:44,880
Speaker 1: That's where Paul's a what gave him the ability to

644
00:34:44,920 --> 00:34:47,960
Speaker 1: do this. Paul had this ability in First Timothy, and

645
00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:50,279
Speaker 1: this is where he writes to Timothy these two letters.

646
00:34:50,320 --> 00:34:53,440
Speaker 1: In First Timothy, Paul had a realization of who he

647
00:34:53,560 --> 00:34:55,799
Speaker 1: was in Christ, and he was able to take this

648
00:34:55,840 --> 00:34:57,280
Speaker 1: thing to the bottom of it. In f one Timothy

649
00:34:57,280 --> 00:34:59,840
Speaker 1: one fifteen, it says here is a trustworthy saying that

650
00:34:59,840 --> 00:35:03,920
Speaker 1: the deserves full acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world

651
00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:08,680
Speaker 1: to save sinners, of which I am the worst. But

652
00:35:08,719 --> 00:35:11,239
Speaker 1: for this very reason I was shown mercy, so that

653
00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:14,680
Speaker 1: in me the worst of sinners. Christ Jesus might display

654
00:35:14,680 --> 00:35:17,959
Speaker 1: his immense patience as an example for those who would

655
00:35:17,960 --> 00:35:22,960
Speaker 1: believe in him and receive eternal life. Paul has this

656
00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:25,759
Speaker 1: amazing ability to say, I'm not actually a good person,

657
00:35:25,840 --> 00:35:29,560
Speaker 1: I'm the worst of them all. Because here's the power

658
00:35:29,640 --> 00:35:33,640
Speaker 1: of what if. The devil will always get you to

659
00:35:33,719 --> 00:35:36,319
Speaker 1: live in a place to cover something of because of

660
00:35:36,400 --> 00:35:40,600
Speaker 1: what if? What if they knew about you? What God

661
00:35:40,640 --> 00:35:44,560
Speaker 1: knows about you? What if they were to find out

662
00:35:44,640 --> 00:35:47,160
Speaker 1: that you did that? What if they were to find

663
00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:50,280
Speaker 1: out that you actually said those things, did those things?

664
00:35:50,480 --> 00:35:53,520
Speaker 1: And the fear of what if is paralyzing. And I

665
00:35:53,520 --> 00:35:55,880
Speaker 1: think in this story I see Paul living underneath the

666
00:35:55,880 --> 00:35:58,760
Speaker 1: weight of what if? What if? What if? My favorite

667
00:35:58,760 --> 00:36:01,759
Speaker 1: sermon for Pastor Steven was twenty twelve. He preached a

668
00:36:01,760 --> 00:36:06,040
Speaker 1: sermon called Fear's Greatest Hits and he said you always

669
00:36:06,080 --> 00:36:08,960
Speaker 1: have to take it to the bottom. Paul said, I'll

670
00:36:08,960 --> 00:36:10,520
Speaker 1: take it to the bottom because I'm just the worst

671
00:36:10,520 --> 00:36:13,600
Speaker 1: of all sinners. Now what you've got, devil, Now what

672
00:36:13,680 --> 00:36:16,160
Speaker 1: you got. Paul also would say this, He would say,

673
00:36:16,160 --> 00:36:19,239
Speaker 1: I will boast about my weaknesses, for in my weaknesses

674
00:36:19,280 --> 00:36:21,600
Speaker 1: he has made strong. Paul said, I'm just going to

675
00:36:21,640 --> 00:36:23,839
Speaker 1: boast about it because the fear of what if is dissipated.

676
00:36:23,960 --> 00:36:27,000
Speaker 1: I'm just going to bring it out here. Pastor preached

677
00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:30,000
Speaker 1: a sermon he said, take it to the bottom. It's

678
00:36:30,040 --> 00:36:36,640
Speaker 1: three steps. First step is what if what if that happened?

679
00:36:40,320 --> 00:36:42,320
Speaker 1: What if the report came back and said it's cancer?

680
00:36:44,280 --> 00:36:50,760
Speaker 1: What if you lose your job? Step two? That would

681
00:36:52,400 --> 00:36:56,600
Speaker 1: that would be hard, that would be horrible. The third

682
00:36:56,600 --> 00:37:02,000
Speaker 1: step that's when he preached last week. But God, but God,

683
00:37:02,040 --> 00:37:10,520
Speaker 1: see but God, what if that would? But God, when

684
00:37:10,600 --> 00:37:13,719
Speaker 1: we started this ministry sixteen years ago, I would have

685
00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:17,400
Speaker 1: such anxiety attacks backstage that it wouldn't I wouldn't want

686
00:37:17,400 --> 00:37:19,799
Speaker 1: to walk out on stage and talk like this because

687
00:37:19,840 --> 00:37:22,600
Speaker 1: the weight of the rocks of your past weigh you

688
00:37:22,680 --> 00:37:24,080
Speaker 1: down to the point that you feel like you don't

689
00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:28,080
Speaker 1: have a future. I didn't grow up around church. Sometimes

690
00:37:28,080 --> 00:37:29,839
Speaker 1: when you look at somebody in ministry, oh look at them,

691
00:37:29,840 --> 00:37:32,960
Speaker 1: they got it all together. No, we don't. People say like, hey,

692
00:37:32,960 --> 00:37:34,960
Speaker 1: you've got everybody's got skeletons in their closet. I got

693
00:37:34,960 --> 00:37:41,120
Speaker 1: cemeteries in my closet like Everett, and so I didn't

694
00:37:41,120 --> 00:37:42,880
Speaker 1: grow up around church. I grew up with a lot

695
00:37:42,920 --> 00:37:45,960
Speaker 1: of alcohol and bad choices and all those things, And

696
00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:47,640
Speaker 1: at five years old, I remember going to a wedding

697
00:37:47,719 --> 00:37:49,439
Speaker 1: dance and pulling glasses off the top of the table

698
00:37:49,480 --> 00:37:51,880
Speaker 1: and drinking them, and every thought, oh, it's really funny.

699
00:37:51,880 --> 00:37:54,840
Speaker 1: Look at tipsy five year old. Oh it made me

700
00:37:54,880 --> 00:37:58,440
Speaker 1: connect alcohol and laughter and people's approval. Great. So it's

701
00:37:58,440 --> 00:38:00,680
Speaker 1: set a stage in life. And now I'm eleven having

702
00:38:00,719 --> 00:38:04,520
Speaker 1: a keg party. I'd pay for college one red solo

703
00:38:04,520 --> 00:38:07,320
Speaker 1: cup at a time, I was really good at leading

704
00:38:07,320 --> 00:38:11,040
Speaker 1: people a direction. But with that lifestyle comes all the

705
00:38:11,080 --> 00:38:13,839
Speaker 1: choices that come with it. And there times I'd wake

706
00:38:13,920 --> 00:38:15,440
Speaker 1: up and I'd be like, I don't know where I'm at,

707
00:38:16,520 --> 00:38:18,799
Speaker 1: I don't know how I got here, and I don't

708
00:38:18,840 --> 00:38:22,200
Speaker 1: even know who's next to me. And the anxiety I

709
00:38:22,200 --> 00:38:25,480
Speaker 1: would have is what if what if you knew about me?

710
00:38:25,520 --> 00:38:29,400
Speaker 1: What God knows about me? So the anxiety attack I

711
00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:31,440
Speaker 1: would have backstage for the weight of all of the

712
00:38:31,480 --> 00:38:33,960
Speaker 1: shame that was saying on top of me was what

713
00:38:34,080 --> 00:38:37,320
Speaker 1: if one of those women from one of those knights

714
00:38:37,360 --> 00:38:40,399
Speaker 1: is sitting on the third row. And I would stay

715
00:38:40,440 --> 00:38:42,160
Speaker 1: backstage and I would have a panic attackers like I

716
00:38:42,160 --> 00:38:45,600
Speaker 1: can't even go out there because what if? And Pastor

717
00:38:45,600 --> 00:38:49,160
Speaker 1: Stephen preaches a sermon Fear's great ast its what if,

718
00:38:50,440 --> 00:38:51,759
Speaker 1: I guess I would go up and say, I'm sorry,

719
00:38:51,760 --> 00:38:54,600
Speaker 1: Would you please forgive me? I've given my life to

720
00:38:54,640 --> 00:38:56,839
Speaker 1: a man named Jesus, and I'd love to tell you

721
00:38:56,880 --> 00:39:01,680
Speaker 1: about him. What if that would? But what if that would?

722
00:39:01,760 --> 00:39:05,000
Speaker 1: But God? What if that would? But God, what if

723
00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:09,920
Speaker 1: that would? But God? So at the end of the story,

724
00:39:10,239 --> 00:39:13,160
Speaker 1: asks chapter fourteen, Verse twenty, and this is the verse

725
00:39:13,160 --> 00:39:15,440
Speaker 1: I want to give you the story. That's the pivot

726
00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:19,000
Speaker 1: point in Paul's journey. He's on this race to finish

727
00:39:19,080 --> 00:39:22,080
Speaker 1: the faith, but now he gets persecuted for the very

728
00:39:22,120 --> 00:39:24,680
Speaker 1: first time. And the lynchpin in the story is verse twenty.

729
00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:26,759
Speaker 1: And this is the verse. I want to speak over

730
00:39:26,840 --> 00:39:29,320
Speaker 1: you because some of you are living buried underneath the

731
00:39:29,320 --> 00:39:31,440
Speaker 1: weight of your past. Some of you are living in

732
00:39:31,440 --> 00:39:33,319
Speaker 1: this place and you're like, God, I know you don't

733
00:39:33,360 --> 00:39:35,560
Speaker 1: love me. I know you don't even see me. But

734
00:39:35,760 --> 00:39:39,000
Speaker 1: Paul says, in this moment, but for these things, God

735
00:39:39,080 --> 00:39:41,799
Speaker 1: used me to show his grace. How does God see you?

736
00:39:41,840 --> 00:39:44,120
Speaker 1: In that moment? He sees you he loves you, He

737
00:39:44,200 --> 00:39:46,560
Speaker 1: forgives you. And if he can use Paul, the one

738
00:39:46,600 --> 00:39:49,880
Speaker 1: who's standing giving approval for killing all of these Christians,

739
00:39:50,280 --> 00:39:59,440
Speaker 1: he can use you. He could use you asks fourteen,

740
00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:03,200
Speaker 1: Verse twenty. But after the disciples said, gathered around hi.

741
00:40:03,200 --> 00:40:05,799
Speaker 1: Remember they left him for dead. Remember they said, you're dead,

742
00:40:05,840 --> 00:40:08,880
Speaker 1: You're dead, You're dead. Verse twenty. But after the disciples

743
00:40:08,880 --> 00:40:11,439
Speaker 1: said gathered around him, he got up and he went back.

744
00:40:11,480 --> 00:40:12,960
Speaker 1: And that's the verse I want to speak over you

745
00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:15,640
Speaker 1: today because there is a situation in your past that

746
00:40:15,680 --> 00:40:18,120
Speaker 1: has left you buried. And what God is saying is

747
00:40:18,160 --> 00:40:20,960
Speaker 1: to get up and go back. I needs you to

748
00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:23,040
Speaker 1: go back and get your blessing. I need you to

749
00:40:23,080 --> 00:40:25,840
Speaker 1: go back and see how God sees you in that moment,

750
00:40:26,719 --> 00:40:31,040
Speaker 1: because Paul, I did it. How do you see me

751
00:40:31,160 --> 00:40:34,200
Speaker 1: God in this moment. It's one thing if somebody does

752
00:40:34,239 --> 00:40:36,040
Speaker 1: something to me for me to say, yep, God still

753
00:40:36,080 --> 00:40:39,759
Speaker 1: loves me. It's totally different from me when I do

754
00:40:39,800 --> 00:40:42,759
Speaker 1: it myself, and I know I did it. Now God,

755
00:40:42,800 --> 00:40:47,040
Speaker 1: how do you see me now? The first fight? How

756
00:40:47,120 --> 00:40:51,520
Speaker 1: you see Jesus? The second fight? How Jesus sees you?

757
00:40:52,640 --> 00:40:54,600
Speaker 1: And here's the challenge. I want to give you is

758
00:40:54,640 --> 00:40:57,799
Speaker 1: to go back to that place where it's buried, because

759
00:40:57,880 --> 00:41:02,399
Speaker 1: the devil's script is, hey, just forget about it. It's

760
00:41:02,400 --> 00:41:06,080
Speaker 1: over and done with. And every time that memory comes back,

761
00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:09,200
Speaker 1: it hunts you and the fear of what if? What if?

762
00:41:09,520 --> 00:41:11,880
Speaker 1: What if? And some of you are destroying your present

763
00:41:12,280 --> 00:41:15,319
Speaker 1: because of the uncertainty of the past. And what I

764
00:41:15,360 --> 00:41:17,240
Speaker 1: want to challenge you to do is to go back

765
00:41:17,880 --> 00:41:21,040
Speaker 1: to this place and say, God, here's the fight. How

766
00:41:21,040 --> 00:41:26,040
Speaker 1: did you see me? How did Paul in the moment

767
00:41:26,080 --> 00:41:29,080
Speaker 1: that you are giving approval? How did Jesus seize you?

768
00:41:29,280 --> 00:41:31,640
Speaker 1: He says, I'm going to use that what made me

769
00:41:31,680 --> 00:41:34,040
Speaker 1: really good at at leading keg parties makes me great

770
00:41:34,040 --> 00:41:45,560
Speaker 1: as a pastor. Get up and go back, Get up

771
00:41:46,440 --> 00:41:49,600
Speaker 1: and go back, Get up and go back. It happened

772
00:41:49,640 --> 00:41:52,640
Speaker 1: thirty years ago. Get up and go back, Get up

773
00:41:52,760 --> 00:41:55,000
Speaker 1: and go back. You gotta go back and fight. This

774
00:41:55,080 --> 00:41:57,000
Speaker 1: is the fight to say, I'm gonna go back. It's

775
00:41:57,080 --> 00:41:59,719
Speaker 1: just enough fair and tales and unicorns and Jesus loves me.

776
00:42:00,480 --> 00:42:03,680
Speaker 1: Go back to the moment that hope nobody sees, and say, God,

777
00:42:03,800 --> 00:42:09,719
Speaker 1: how did you see me in this moment? Paul ends

778
00:42:09,719 --> 00:42:13,399
Speaker 1: his first missionary trip, and he starts his second one

779
00:42:13,480 --> 00:42:18,959
Speaker 1: in Acts chapter sixteen. What does he do? He goes

780
00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:22,799
Speaker 1: back Act sixteen when Paul came to Derby and then

781
00:42:22,920 --> 00:42:27,720
Speaker 1: Lestra where he met a disciple, where a disciple named

782
00:42:27,760 --> 00:42:33,800
Speaker 1: Timothy lived. What's amazing about this. The place of Paul's

783
00:42:33,840 --> 00:42:37,080
Speaker 1: greatest persecution would be the place of his greatest provision,

784
00:42:38,360 --> 00:42:41,840
Speaker 1: His greatest resource would become the place come out of

785
00:42:41,840 --> 00:42:45,040
Speaker 1: the place of his greatest pain. I am telling you

786
00:42:45,080 --> 00:42:47,960
Speaker 1: there are blessings waiting for you. They're not all in

787
00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:50,120
Speaker 1: the future. It is you gotta go to your past.

788
00:42:50,120 --> 00:42:52,160
Speaker 1: You gotta get up, and you gotta go back and

789
00:42:52,200 --> 00:42:54,360
Speaker 1: get it. Paul had to go back to Derby, He

790
00:42:54,400 --> 00:42:56,160
Speaker 1: had to go back to Lestra. Anywhar when he rolls

791
00:42:56,160 --> 00:42:58,440
Speaker 1: into the cities, those same people that had tried to

792
00:42:58,520 --> 00:43:00,799
Speaker 1: stone him were all there. How did he walk through?

793
00:43:00,800 --> 00:43:02,680
Speaker 1: I don't know if he was hiding his editor He's like, oh, so,

794
00:43:02,920 --> 00:43:06,279
Speaker 1: not what you got. But he got up and he

795
00:43:06,360 --> 00:43:12,239
Speaker 1: went back and he found Timothy, his greatest resource, the

796
00:43:12,280 --> 00:43:16,120
Speaker 1: one he would write his last letter to that guy.

797
00:43:16,880 --> 00:43:19,440
Speaker 1: And so when he writes these letters to Timothy, he

798
00:43:19,440 --> 00:43:22,400
Speaker 1: had left Timothy in charge of the church in Ephesus,

799
00:43:22,800 --> 00:43:24,799
Speaker 1: Paul is going to go on and continue the missionary journey.

800
00:43:24,880 --> 00:43:27,760
Speaker 1: And if you're Timothy, you've been following You've been following

801
00:43:27,800 --> 00:43:31,600
Speaker 1: Paul for fifteen years. You At the time we see

802
00:43:31,640 --> 00:43:34,799
Speaker 1: Paul take Timothy underneath his wing, he's about sixteen years old.

803
00:43:35,680 --> 00:43:39,040
Speaker 1: He's a teenager, and he's been following Paul his whole life.

804
00:43:39,120 --> 00:43:41,520
Speaker 1: And in First Timothy, he's it's a letter that's all

805
00:43:41,560 --> 00:43:44,839
Speaker 1: about fighting, and he writes First Timothy says, Timothy, my son,

806
00:43:45,320 --> 00:43:48,000
Speaker 1: I'm giving you this command and keeping with the prophecies

807
00:43:48,600 --> 00:43:50,640
Speaker 1: once made about you step by recalling to him, he

808
00:43:50,680 --> 00:43:54,040
Speaker 1: may fight the battle. Well. So he starts on Timothy like,

809
00:43:54,200 --> 00:43:56,160
Speaker 1: it's a fight. You gotta remember where you've been. You

810
00:43:56,160 --> 00:43:58,760
Speaker 1: got to remember what you come from. It's a fight.

811
00:43:58,880 --> 00:44:02,000
Speaker 1: Then in First Timothy, chapter six, he writes this, he says,

812
00:44:02,040 --> 00:44:04,680
Speaker 1: fight the good fight of Faith. Chapter six is a

813
00:44:04,719 --> 00:44:07,920
Speaker 1: fighting letter. It is all about fighting. What is the

814
00:44:07,960 --> 00:44:11,239
Speaker 1: thing that Timothy needs to fight. It's the third fight.

815
00:44:11,480 --> 00:44:17,040
Speaker 1: It's how you see you, that's the third fight, how

816
00:44:17,120 --> 00:44:22,000
Speaker 1: you see you. Without being sacrilegious, it doesn't matter what

817
00:44:22,040 --> 00:44:26,800
Speaker 1: God says unless you believe it. Unless you believe it

818
00:44:27,200 --> 00:44:30,279
Speaker 1: the powers in the application. What was Timothy's struggle. I

819
00:44:30,280 --> 00:44:33,520
Speaker 1: think Timothy's struggle was how he saw himself. One of

820
00:44:33,560 --> 00:44:36,760
Speaker 1: the famous verses out of First Timothy as one Timothy

821
00:44:36,760 --> 00:44:39,759
Speaker 1: four to twelve. It's this. Every youth group, every youth

822
00:44:39,800 --> 00:44:43,040
Speaker 1: ministry in the world has this as their mantra. He says,

823
00:44:43,040 --> 00:44:45,360
Speaker 1: do not let anyone look down on you because you're young,

824
00:44:45,840 --> 00:44:48,839
Speaker 1: but set an example in believers in speech, don't let

825
00:44:48,920 --> 00:44:51,680
Speaker 1: anyone look down on you because you're young. Timothy is

826
00:44:51,760 --> 00:44:54,520
Speaker 1: a grown man, thirty two years old with a beard.

827
00:44:56,160 --> 00:44:58,960
Speaker 1: The problem was not his chronological age, it was his

828
00:44:59,080 --> 00:45:05,520
Speaker 1: identity age. It was how he saw himself. How you

829
00:45:05,560 --> 00:45:08,319
Speaker 1: see yourself determines what you become. What you believe is

830
00:45:08,320 --> 00:45:12,000
Speaker 1: what you become. Some of you are have such an

831
00:45:12,080 --> 00:45:14,839
Speaker 1: inferior view of who God says you are. So when

832
00:45:14,880 --> 00:45:17,680
Speaker 1: Paul writes two Timothy the last letter, he's gonna write

833
00:45:17,760 --> 00:45:20,640
Speaker 1: his most important words, his last words, and he's going

834
00:45:20,680 --> 00:45:24,680
Speaker 1: to admonish his protege, his man he found fifteen years

835
00:45:24,719 --> 00:45:27,479
Speaker 1: earlier that he would follow and he'd leave in charge

836
00:45:27,480 --> 00:45:29,120
Speaker 1: of the city in Ephesus. And he says, if I

837
00:45:29,160 --> 00:45:31,080
Speaker 1: want to reach the city of Ephesus. I've got to

838
00:45:31,120 --> 00:45:34,399
Speaker 1: reach how Timothy sees himself. If I want to reach

839
00:45:34,440 --> 00:45:35,960
Speaker 1: the home, I need to reach the dad, because how

840
00:45:35,960 --> 00:45:38,200
Speaker 1: the dad sees himself determine what's the home to becomes.

841
00:45:39,080 --> 00:45:40,839
Speaker 1: If I want to reach a people group, I need

842
00:45:40,880 --> 00:45:43,120
Speaker 1: to reach the leader. And I'm speaking to every one

843
00:45:43,160 --> 00:45:46,640
Speaker 1: of you, because when you believe that about yourself, you

844
00:45:46,680 --> 00:45:51,880
Speaker 1: punish the people that are following you. Stop it, Stop it, Timothy.

845
00:45:52,040 --> 00:45:54,919
Speaker 1: Quit thinking small of yourself. This is the battle. How

846
00:45:54,960 --> 00:45:58,000
Speaker 1: you see you. It's one thing how you see Jesus.

847
00:45:58,200 --> 00:46:00,279
Speaker 1: It's another thing how Jesus sees you. But how you

848
00:46:00,360 --> 00:46:04,520
Speaker 1: see you matters. And Paul gives these final words in

849
00:46:04,640 --> 00:46:10,719
Speaker 1: tewod Timothy two Timothy, Chapter two, verses one, Chapter two,

850
00:46:10,760 --> 00:46:13,400
Speaker 1: verse one. He says, you, then, my son, be strong.

851
00:46:13,440 --> 00:46:15,760
Speaker 1: That is the grace is in you in Christ Jesus.

852
00:46:16,520 --> 00:46:19,399
Speaker 1: Seven times in first and second Timothy, Paul would call

853
00:46:19,480 --> 00:46:23,320
Speaker 1: him son, my true son, my spiritual son. He is

854
00:46:23,440 --> 00:46:26,080
Speaker 1: validating the relationship before he ever gives him any instruction.

855
00:46:26,880 --> 00:46:29,279
Speaker 1: There's something for some of you. God has given you

856
00:46:29,320 --> 00:46:31,319
Speaker 1: too much experience that you're wasting and you're not being

857
00:46:31,320 --> 00:46:34,480
Speaker 1: appalled to another Timothy. I'm calling on those of you

858
00:46:34,520 --> 00:46:36,279
Speaker 1: that got some experience out there to put sitting on

859
00:46:36,320 --> 00:46:38,360
Speaker 1: the sidelines and to start getting into the game and

860
00:46:38,520 --> 00:46:41,399
Speaker 1: use the experiences of your life to bless Timothy. Every

861
00:46:41,400 --> 00:46:44,080
Speaker 1: one of you need a Timothy in your life. Now,

862
00:46:44,120 --> 00:46:45,840
Speaker 1: every one of you need a Paul in your life.

863
00:46:46,280 --> 00:46:48,040
Speaker 1: And when you got a Paul on this side and

864
00:46:48,040 --> 00:46:49,879
Speaker 1: a Timothy on this side, you've got somebody to help

865
00:46:49,920 --> 00:46:51,840
Speaker 1: you get up and go back. It's hard for you

866
00:46:51,880 --> 00:46:53,480
Speaker 1: to get up and go back by yourself. I need

867
00:46:53,520 --> 00:46:55,000
Speaker 1: a Paul, and I need a Timothy to help me

868
00:46:55,040 --> 00:46:57,279
Speaker 1: get up and go back. You, then, may my son

869
00:46:57,360 --> 00:47:00,880
Speaker 1: be strong. The grace said is in you, in Christ Jesus.

870
00:47:00,920 --> 00:47:02,640
Speaker 1: And what Paul is gonna give me. The next few

871
00:47:02,719 --> 00:47:06,240
Speaker 1: verses is ways Paul needs to Timothy needs to see himself.

872
00:47:07,520 --> 00:47:11,040
Speaker 1: Verse three, he says, join me with join me with suffering,

873
00:47:11,160 --> 00:47:14,000
Speaker 1: like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving

874
00:47:14,040 --> 00:47:16,359
Speaker 1: as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather

875
00:47:16,440 --> 00:47:20,640
Speaker 1: tries to please as committing officer. Think of a soldier. So, Timothy,

876
00:47:20,760 --> 00:47:23,120
Speaker 1: when you when you're gonna lead the church in Ephesus

877
00:47:23,320 --> 00:47:26,080
Speaker 1: and you're tempted to run from the battle, lines. No, no, no.

878
00:47:26,120 --> 00:47:28,560
Speaker 1: How you see yourself matters here, Timothy. And if you

879
00:47:28,560 --> 00:47:31,520
Speaker 1: see yourself as a kid, as a teenager, you'll always retreat.

880
00:47:31,719 --> 00:47:33,600
Speaker 1: But if you see yourself as a soldier, you'll go

881
00:47:33,680 --> 00:47:36,280
Speaker 1: towards the battle lines. That's when I need you to do, Timothy.

882
00:47:36,440 --> 00:47:38,880
Speaker 1: You can't see yourself as small. You're not a kid anymore.

883
00:47:39,840 --> 00:47:43,520
Speaker 1: See yourself as a soldier. How do you see yourself?

884
00:47:44,440 --> 00:47:46,400
Speaker 1: Draw a picture and start labeling with the real words,

885
00:47:46,400 --> 00:47:50,920
Speaker 1: how you see yourself? No one serving as a soldier

886
00:47:50,920 --> 00:47:54,239
Speaker 1: gets entangled in civilian affairs. Verse five. He says, similarly,

887
00:47:54,280 --> 00:47:57,480
Speaker 1: anyone serving or who competes as an athlete does not

888
00:47:57,520 --> 00:48:00,680
Speaker 1: receive the victor's crown except by compete eating according to

889
00:48:00,719 --> 00:48:03,640
Speaker 1: the rules. And what Paul was telling link Timothy, this

890
00:48:03,680 --> 00:48:06,520
Speaker 1: is not a recreational league where everybody gets a participation trophy.

891
00:48:08,400 --> 00:48:09,960
Speaker 1: This is an athlete. I need to see yourself as

892
00:48:09,960 --> 00:48:12,399
Speaker 1: an elite, hardworking athlete. And then the third analogy says

893
00:48:12,400 --> 00:48:14,920
Speaker 1: the hardworking farmer should be the first one to receive

894
00:48:14,960 --> 00:48:17,560
Speaker 1: his share of the crops. He says, I need you

895
00:48:17,600 --> 00:48:20,440
Speaker 1: to see yourself as a farmer. How do you see yourself?

896
00:48:21,320 --> 00:48:24,879
Speaker 1: It's just a kid as a teenager. You're a grown man.

897
00:48:25,480 --> 00:48:29,880
Speaker 1: You're leading your family. How you see you matters. I

898
00:48:29,920 --> 00:48:32,640
Speaker 1: remember a couple of years ago and I preached. I

899
00:48:32,719 --> 00:48:37,520
Speaker 1: preached the Saturday night. This was BC before COVID, and

900
00:48:38,560 --> 00:48:40,279
Speaker 1: I get done preaching on the Saturday night, I go

901
00:48:40,320 --> 00:48:43,000
Speaker 1: back to my green room and I'm getting messages from

902
00:48:43,000 --> 00:48:46,239
Speaker 1: around the country saying that was a good sermon. But

903
00:48:46,239 --> 00:48:49,560
Speaker 1: there's only one message I wanted from Pastor Stephen that

904
00:48:49,640 --> 00:48:54,680
Speaker 1: never came. I preached the Sunday morning, the nine thirty

905
00:48:55,280 --> 00:48:57,160
Speaker 1: cand of be honest. I need to tell the full story.

906
00:48:57,480 --> 00:48:58,919
Speaker 1: I go home Saturday night, I don't sleep the whole

907
00:48:58,960 --> 00:49:01,160
Speaker 1: night because I stay up the who night reworking my sermon.

908
00:49:02,080 --> 00:49:05,319
Speaker 1: So he didn't text me, so it means he hated it.

909
00:49:06,440 --> 00:49:11,879
Speaker 1: So I preached nine thirty crickets nothing, preach eleven thirty nothing.

910
00:49:12,400 --> 00:49:14,000
Speaker 1: By the time I got to the office Monday morning,

911
00:49:14,000 --> 00:49:16,440
Speaker 1: I expect my keyfob not to work because I've been fired,

912
00:49:19,040 --> 00:49:22,320
Speaker 1: and like I've been fired, like I've and it was

913
00:49:22,480 --> 00:49:24,160
Speaker 1: it was so bad. In my head. I'm like, I'm

914
00:49:24,200 --> 00:49:26,120
Speaker 1: such a failure, i am such an idiot, I am

915
00:49:26,160 --> 00:49:28,120
Speaker 1: such a dork. I'm such I'm never gonna get this

916
00:49:28,160 --> 00:49:31,120
Speaker 1: opportunity again. Finally, Pastor Stephen text me on Wednesday. He says,

917
00:49:31,120 --> 00:49:32,919
Speaker 1: thank you forgiving me a gift. No one else could

918
00:49:32,920 --> 00:49:34,920
Speaker 1: have given me a weekend off in more than a

919
00:49:34,960 --> 00:49:36,520
Speaker 1: decad where I didn't have to preach or take care

920
00:49:36,520 --> 00:49:39,080
Speaker 1: of a guest. And I just watched your sermon. You

921
00:49:39,080 --> 00:49:48,040
Speaker 1: crush it. I'm proud of you. I'm like, oh God, okay,

922
00:49:49,320 --> 00:49:54,600
Speaker 1: I am blank. It's called filling the blank. I failed

923
00:49:55,400 --> 00:50:00,720
Speaker 1: to silence test. I am blank in that space I insecured,

924
00:50:00,880 --> 00:50:05,319
Speaker 1: inserted my insecurity, my doubt, all of my past, and

925
00:50:05,360 --> 00:50:07,880
Speaker 1: I put it into that space that says I am blank.

926
00:50:08,160 --> 00:50:10,120
Speaker 1: What you put in that blank determines who you become.

927
00:50:12,160 --> 00:50:13,880
Speaker 1: When I didn't get the message from Pastor, I'm like,

928
00:50:13,920 --> 00:50:16,520
Speaker 1: I am an idiot. I am horrible. No, no no, no.

929
00:50:16,840 --> 00:50:19,000
Speaker 1: I didn't know how to interpret the silence as approval.

930
00:50:19,040 --> 00:50:20,640
Speaker 1: I didn't know how to interpret the silence as his

931
00:50:20,680 --> 00:50:24,640
Speaker 1: greatest compliment to me. Who are you? I am blank?

932
00:50:25,360 --> 00:50:27,360
Speaker 1: And the only reason I can say I am forgiven

933
00:50:27,440 --> 00:50:29,520
Speaker 1: is because of the finished work of Jesus Christ. The

934
00:50:29,560 --> 00:50:31,279
Speaker 1: only way that I can say I am whole is

935
00:50:31,320 --> 00:50:33,399
Speaker 1: because of what Jesus did on the cross. And when

936
00:50:33,480 --> 00:50:35,359
Speaker 1: Jesus was on the earth, he said, I am I

937
00:50:35,400 --> 00:50:37,520
Speaker 1: am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. I am

938
00:50:37,600 --> 00:50:40,200
Speaker 1: the bread of life, I am the Gate. I am

939
00:50:40,280 --> 00:50:44,360
Speaker 1: the good Shepherd. And so Jesus, as he comes to

940
00:50:44,400 --> 00:50:48,280
Speaker 1: the earth, he establishes the greatest fight of all time.

941
00:50:49,400 --> 00:50:53,000
Speaker 1: There was a gap between us and God. And the

942
00:50:53,000 --> 00:50:55,040
Speaker 1: gap was so great we could have never filled it

943
00:50:55,080 --> 00:50:57,160
Speaker 1: in our own action and her own behavior. Once you

944
00:50:57,200 --> 00:51:01,480
Speaker 1: stand your feet of all of our locations. And the

945
00:51:01,520 --> 00:51:03,919
Speaker 1: fight was this. We were separated from God because of sin.

946
00:51:04,840 --> 00:51:08,360
Speaker 1: And Jesus came to the earth and he said, I

947
00:51:08,360 --> 00:51:11,399
Speaker 1: will fight. I will fight for you. I will fight

948
00:51:11,440 --> 00:51:13,479
Speaker 1: for your forgiveness. I will fight to make you whole.

949
00:51:14,520 --> 00:51:19,400
Speaker 1: And the three fights we identified today. How you see Jesus,

950
00:51:19,800 --> 00:51:22,799
Speaker 1: Who is he? To you? Who is he? Is he

951
00:51:22,920 --> 00:51:25,400
Speaker 1: just the historical figure? Is he your savior? And for

952
00:51:25,440 --> 00:51:27,040
Speaker 1: some of you have never trusted him as your lord

953
00:51:27,080 --> 00:51:30,799
Speaker 1: and savior. You've never been forgiven of your sins, You've

954
00:51:30,840 --> 00:51:34,479
Speaker 1: never been made new. The race that's marked out before

955
00:51:34,480 --> 00:51:39,480
Speaker 1: you that Paul talked about begins with Jesus Christ. It's

956
00:51:39,520 --> 00:51:41,960
Speaker 1: about the good news. It's about following him. As you

957
00:51:42,000 --> 00:51:45,640
Speaker 1: go through life, people are always going to throw stones

958
00:51:45,680 --> 00:51:48,080
Speaker 1: at you, trying to pile them on you to get

959
00:51:48,120 --> 00:51:53,000
Speaker 1: you to die underneath that shame. Some of you need

960
00:51:53,040 --> 00:51:56,200
Speaker 1: to get up and you need to go back, Go

961
00:51:56,280 --> 00:51:57,960
Speaker 1: back to that moment, Say God, who did you say that?

962
00:51:58,040 --> 00:52:01,439
Speaker 1: I was right now in the stillness of this moment,

963
00:52:01,440 --> 00:52:03,239
Speaker 1: without anybody moving. Then you should buy your heads and

964
00:52:03,239 --> 00:52:06,239
Speaker 1: close your eyes. And if you have never placed your

965
00:52:06,239 --> 00:52:07,880
Speaker 1: faith in Jesus, this is the moment that God has

966
00:52:07,880 --> 00:52:11,120
Speaker 1: set aside for you. He didn't bring you here by

967
00:52:11,200 --> 00:52:17,000
Speaker 1: mistake or by accident. It's by divine appointment because there's

968
00:52:17,040 --> 00:52:19,720
Speaker 1: something that He needs you to hear in this moment.

969
00:52:19,719 --> 00:52:22,520
Speaker 1: It's that you're forgiven that you're his son, that you're

970
00:52:22,560 --> 00:52:25,759
Speaker 1: his daughter, that he loves you even though you did that,

971
00:52:27,640 --> 00:52:32,359
Speaker 1: He's got a plan for you. I need everybody saying

972
00:52:32,360 --> 00:52:33,960
Speaker 1: this prayer out loud with me for the benefit of

973
00:52:33,960 --> 00:52:37,840
Speaker 1: somebody who's about to begin this relationship with Jesus. I

974
00:52:37,880 --> 00:52:43,120
Speaker 1: believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God who

975
00:52:43,160 --> 00:52:47,160
Speaker 1: died on the cross and rose from the grave to

976
00:52:47,239 --> 00:52:51,240
Speaker 1: forgive me of my sin. I give you my life,

977
00:52:51,640 --> 00:52:54,479
Speaker 1: I give you my sin, I give you my shame.

978
00:52:55,560 --> 00:53:00,960
Speaker 1: Forgive me, and I'll spend my life following you with

979
00:53:01,000 --> 00:53:02,680
Speaker 1: your head still bouting, your eyes still close. If you

980
00:53:02,719 --> 00:53:05,160
Speaker 1: just place your faith in Jesus or you're coming back

981
00:53:05,200 --> 00:53:07,600
Speaker 1: to him, I'm going to count to three when I

982
00:53:07,640 --> 00:53:10,080
Speaker 1: get there, without hesitation, I want you to boldly shoot

983
00:53:10,120 --> 00:53:14,560
Speaker 1: your hand into the air. One, two, three, should your

984
00:53:14,560 --> 00:53:17,520
Speaker 1: hand up? Come on all across our locations. Come on,

985
00:53:17,800 --> 00:53:23,080
Speaker 1: there we go. Come on, suit that hand up well.

986
00:53:23,120 --> 00:53:25,560
Speaker 1: If you enjoy today's podcast, there are a couple things

987
00:53:25,600 --> 00:53:28,879
Speaker 1: I'd love for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate,

988
00:53:29,200 --> 00:53:32,200
Speaker 1: and review this podcast. You can also help us reach

989
00:53:32,239 --> 00:53:35,720
Speaker 1: others by investing today at Elevation Church dot org, slash

990
00:53:35,880 --> 00:53:38,640
Speaker 1: give and thanks again for joining us on the Elevation

991
00:53:38,760 --> 00:53:39,320
Speaker 1: Podcast