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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.

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Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.

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Speaker 2: I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope

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Speaker 2: this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it

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Speaker 2: gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life.

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Speaker 2: Enjoy the message. Who set your standard? Have you even

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Speaker 2: thought about it? Or this is just inherited? Who set

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Speaker 2: your standard? You look into celebrities for your standard? Really?

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Speaker 2: Them the ones who are so miserable they can only

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Speaker 2: be happy when they have attention.

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Speaker 1: Really, that's your standard. Who set your standard?

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Speaker 2: Who set your standard of what you will and will

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Speaker 2: not listen to?

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Speaker 1: Who set your standard?

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Speaker 2: Oh you think you're better than us, That's what they'll

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Speaker 2: say when you start living with standards.

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Speaker 1: Oh you think you're better than us.

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Speaker 2: No, it's just that I know how much I need

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Speaker 2: a source that is not me, because I am weak

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Speaker 2: without him. In fact, I'm nothing without him.

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Speaker 1: So excuse me.

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Speaker 2: But the battle that I'm in is too real for

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Speaker 2: me to play around and live my life with exposed.

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Speaker 1: Places and low standers. So I gotta get this right

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Speaker 1: this year.

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Speaker 2: I like that.

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Speaker 1: I like that boy right there.

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Speaker 2: He looks like a teenager with standards right sitting there

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Speaker 2: leaning in in church. Some kids would be texting in church,

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Speaker 2: but not you. You look like you want something from God. Boy,

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Speaker 2: you look like you got a mission. You look like

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Speaker 2: God might use you. Don't you live down to the

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Speaker 2: level of your friends. Your friends don't know anything yet

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Speaker 2: God has taking you places.

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Speaker 1: Stand up on your feet right now. Yeah, you stand

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Speaker 1: up right now.

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Speaker 2: Raise the standard, don't.

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Speaker 1: Lower it when you show up at school.

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Speaker 2: God walks through the wen show up at school the

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Speaker 2: presence of God.

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Speaker 1: Raise the standard.

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Speaker 2: You're really gonna let your unmarried friends tell you how

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Speaker 2: to do your marriage.

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Speaker 1: I'll tell you if I had a wife, I wouldn't.

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Speaker 2: Uh huh, you said all I needed to hear in

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Speaker 2: that if I had a wife hard, if I wanted

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Speaker 2: what you had, i'd do what you're doing.

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Speaker 1: But I want something better.

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Speaker 2: It's your standard. Sometimes our standards need to be lowered. Yeah, yeah, no,

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Speaker 2: sometimes they do because sometimes it takes too much to

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Speaker 2: make us happy. Who set the standard for what it

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Speaker 2: takes to make you happy?

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Speaker 1: Who set the standard for what.

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Speaker 2: It takes to have a good day. I'm bad about

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Speaker 2: this one bad meeting, and I had a bad day. No, no, no,

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Speaker 2: it's like that old man told me that time.

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Speaker 1: I said, how you doing? He said, I'm alive.

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Speaker 2: I thought, well, you didn't answer me, and then I realized,

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Speaker 2: yes he did, because for him to be alive, he

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Speaker 2: woke up, it's a good day.

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Speaker 1: He woke up, it's a good day. We'll set your standards.

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Speaker 1: I mean, when did.

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Speaker 2: We come to the point when kids had to watch

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Speaker 2: a movie in the car.

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Speaker 1: Trip to target.

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Speaker 2: I used to have to dry ride four hours with

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Speaker 2: a crayon and a book, and now you need alsa

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Speaker 2: to get the Harris Teeter set the standard that we

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Speaker 2: ought to mine.

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Speaker 1: Through What time I was complaining? I preach on a

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Speaker 1: Saturday night. My friend came he's on staff at another church.

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Speaker 2: And I was apologizing to him because the crowd was

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Speaker 2: a little down because I was used to being packed

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Speaker 2: out an elevation on Saturday night. I said, I'm sorry, man,

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Speaker 2: it was kind of it was kind of down today.

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Speaker 1: He said, your down day would be my revival.

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Speaker 2: I needed that because sometimes you let your standard get

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Speaker 2: out of control. Sometimes as the church, we want to

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Speaker 2: put a standard on the world that we ourselves don't

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Speaker 2: even exemplify. We can't even figure out racial reconciliation within

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Speaker 2: the context of the community of faith.

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Speaker 1: But then we want to judge it when it's in

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Speaker 1: the world.

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Speaker 2: For God's got a remnant. God always has a remnant.

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Speaker 2: I believe God is raising up elevation Church as a remnant.

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Speaker 1: In this day to.

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Speaker 2: Raise the standard of what church can be and how

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Speaker 2: broad this message really is. We're here to raise the standard.

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Speaker 2: I wonder who set your standard?

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Speaker 1: See?

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Speaker 2: How can you expect God to be your strength if

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Speaker 2: he didn't set your standards? How can I expect success

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Speaker 2: if I don't have a standard of excellence. If I

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Speaker 2: have not established a standard of excellence in my life,

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Speaker 2: why would I expect God to bless my blemished offerings.

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Speaker 2: You could take a little time off your sermons, you

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Speaker 2: know nobody would notice. But why would I ask God

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Speaker 2: to bless something that my whole heart wasn't in. It's

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Speaker 2: hard to preciate in church because in church people think

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Speaker 2: that if it's for God, it doesn't have to be good.

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Speaker 2: Church can become a place where we just bring God

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Speaker 2: any old thing. We show up on time for something

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Speaker 2: we buy a ticket for, but we thirty five minutes

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Speaker 2: late to get the church, and it doesn't matter because

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Speaker 2: it's like the preliminary stuff or something like that.

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Speaker 1: Just bring God any old thing and listen.

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Speaker 2: I am not talking about keeping God's standards so that

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Speaker 2: you'll earn his love. This is not about keeping rules

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Speaker 2: so that God will love you. It's because living right,

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Speaker 2: because He does not living up to a standard, but

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Speaker 2: living out of a standard. Christ in you the Hope

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Speaker 2: of Glory, or as Romans says, that the righteous requirements

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Speaker 2: of the law might be fully met in us who.

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Speaker 1: Walk not after the flesh but the spirit.

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Speaker 2: For years I read it that the righteous requirements of

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Speaker 2: the law might be met by us. Now I realize

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Speaker 2: it's not something God wants from me, as something that

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Speaker 2: he wants for me. He has given me a standard.

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Speaker 2: He has called me his child, and to live beneath

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Speaker 2: that is to be like Eve and to speak to

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Speaker 2: something that you should be stepping on. But a lot

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Speaker 2: of times we have an expectation with no standard. A

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Speaker 2: standard of excellence means doing the best with what you have.

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Speaker 2: And until I've done the best with what I have,

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Speaker 2: I don't feel like I should ask God to do

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Speaker 2: what he can do if I haven't done what I

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Speaker 2: can do, and you run into all kinds of problems

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Speaker 2: with this, you know, even from early in the church.

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Speaker 1: Early in the church, I.

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Speaker 2: Wanted to have a standard, you know, and we didn't

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Speaker 2: have money, but I wanted a standard. And we didn't

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Speaker 2: have equipment, but I wanted a standard. So I was

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Speaker 2: the worship leader when we started, the standard was lower.

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Speaker 1: Than it is now. I got in at a good time, okay,

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Speaker 1: I was the only one available, and.

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Speaker 2: So so I had to organize the band, and I

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Speaker 2: bought in this guitar player for one of our first rehearsals.

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Speaker 1: And he came in and he didn't practice. He said,

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Speaker 1: I got busy this week. I didn't practice this week.

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Speaker 1: But I'm good. So I let him practice with us.

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Speaker 2: Then after practice, I pulled him aside because I didn't

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Speaker 2: want embarrass him. I said, hey, man, we won't be

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Speaker 2: needing you Sunday because you didn't practice.

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Speaker 3: He said, really, He said, You're going to kick me

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Speaker 3: out the church because I didn't practice.

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Speaker 1: I said, no, you can come to church, you just

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Speaker 1: can't come with a guitar on and standing on the stage.

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Speaker 1: You come to church. All you want, I said, your.

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Speaker 2: Seat, the chant playing, And I gave him a fifty

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Speaker 2: dollars gas card. I said, here you go, man, and

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Speaker 2: but you're not playing. He said, your standards are too high.

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Speaker 1: Nobody.

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Speaker 2: He said, nobody's going to want to be a part

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Speaker 2: of this ministry because the standards are too high.

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Speaker 1: And he was right, nobody this whole thing just I

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Speaker 1: heard a story. Listen.

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Speaker 2: I heard a story last night from an e group

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Speaker 2: in our church. The couple that came a couple of

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Speaker 2: years ago. They were sharing their story how they got here.

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Speaker 2: They said, we hated it when we first came, and

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Speaker 2: I was waiting for the twist, you know, because you're

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Speaker 2: here now and you came years ago, they said. We

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Speaker 2: came in and somebody at the door said we couldn't

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Speaker 2: bring our Starbucks in church. And we had just spent

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Speaker 2: five dollars each on our Starbucks. And I sat through

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Speaker 2: the first part of the sermon all mad about my Starbucks.

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Speaker 2: But then in the middle of the sermon, I started crying.

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Speaker 2: And then when we left the church, we were getting

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Speaker 2: in our car and.

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Speaker 1: Somebody chased us down.

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Speaker 2: The same person that told us we couldn't have our

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Speaker 2: Starbucks in church said, while you were in service, we

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Speaker 2: went and got you a Starbucks gift car and chase

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Speaker 2: them down with the Starbucks S gift card. And it

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Speaker 2: wasn't even my sermon that William to Christ. It was Starbucks,

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Speaker 2: But it was a standard. See because I feel like,

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Speaker 2: why should I ask people to tithe to this ministry

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Speaker 2: and then have lazy staff members who don't even want

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Speaker 2: to practice. Why should I expect you to invite your

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Speaker 2: friends to church and not have a standard of excellence

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Speaker 2: on this stage? Why should I expect God to bless

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Speaker 2: something that I am not invested in? Why should we

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Speaker 2: expect God to bless our lives with success when we

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Speaker 2: have not established a standard of excellence. This is my

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Speaker 2: year to bring my best to God, to bring him

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Speaker 2: a worthy offering. I will not offer the Lord that

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Speaker 2: which cost me nothing.

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Speaker 1: How can I.

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Speaker 2: Expect God to bless me with success when I have

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Speaker 2: no standard of excellent us? How can I expect God

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Speaker 2: to bless me with abundance when I have no standard

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Speaker 2: of stewardship. The standard comes before the strength. He will

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Speaker 2: be a spirit of justice to the one who sits

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Speaker 2: in judgment, and a source of strength to him who

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Speaker 2: turns back the battle at the gate. The standard, then

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Speaker 2: the strength, the standard, then the strength. So if I

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Speaker 2: want God to be my provider, I have to make

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Speaker 2: a plan. Why would God give me provision if I

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Speaker 2: don't have a plan for it. Why would God bless

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Speaker 2: me with more when I'm not even generous with what

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Speaker 2: I have? Why would he pour out of his resources

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Speaker 2: into closed hands. I need a standard. That's why I

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Speaker 2: give the first ten percent to God. That's my standard.

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Speaker 2: He's first. This is off limits. It's not for negotiation.

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Speaker 2: This is my standard. God comes first. Your children shouldn't

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Speaker 2: even have to ask you are we going to church

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Speaker 2: this week unless you got the Flooh, of course we're

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Speaker 2: going to church. It's our standard. I don't care who's playing.

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Speaker 2: It's our standard. I don't care who's preaching. It's our standard.

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Speaker 2: I don't care how bad the parking lot is.

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Speaker 1: It's our standard that God is working. I'll sit in traffic.

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Speaker 1: He's God. I got standers. I got standards. See, and

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Speaker 1: that's where my strength comes from. My standards.

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Speaker 2: I don't have to waste time making decisions about standards

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Speaker 2: that I should have said a long time ago.

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Speaker 1: I don't have to negotiate between the gates. I have standards.

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Speaker 2: How can I expect God to give me stability if

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Speaker 2: I don't have a standard of integrity. A lot of

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Speaker 2: times we ask God to help us feel better. Sometimes

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Speaker 2: we're not going to feel better until we do better.

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Speaker 2: And when you're managing secrets that you won't bring before

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Speaker 2: God and confessed to him so that he can begin

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Speaker 2: the process of healing, you will always feel off inside.

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Speaker 2: God can't be the source of your strength if he's

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Speaker 2: not the source of your standards. How can I expect

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Speaker 2: God to give me influence if I will not embrace

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Speaker 2: the standard of sacrifice that influence requires. I want the influence,

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Speaker 2: not the sacrifice. I want the resurrection, but not the crucifixion.

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Speaker 1: We'll sell your standards.

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Speaker 2: How can I expect to live in freedom if I

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Speaker 2: do not embrace God's standard of forgiveness. If I hold

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Speaker 2: on to every offense and let it all in the gate,

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Speaker 2: don't turn back to battle. If I'm looking for reasons

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Speaker 2: to be offended, looking for reasons to be angry, I

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Speaker 2: should not be surprised when I find myself in a

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Speaker 2: low emotional state. How can I be free from what

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Speaker 2: I let walk right through my front door? How can

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Speaker 2: I expect to walk in freedom if I have not

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Speaker 2: chosen to walk in forgiveness. It is the standard of

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Speaker 2: forgiveness that enables me to live in freedom.

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Speaker 1: I don't forgive you for you.

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Speaker 2: I forgive you because I want to be free. How

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Speaker 2: can I expect God's peace in my life if.

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Speaker 1: I don't control my meditation?

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Speaker 2: How can I receive strength that God is trying to

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Speaker 2: give me if I just let any thought in? How

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Speaker 2: can I expect to live in a state of joyful

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Speaker 2: celebration of my progress if I allow myself to constantly complain.

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Speaker 2: And sometimes I'm complaining or criticizing. I can be real

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Speaker 2: critical because I got that excellence thing. And the flip

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Speaker 2: side of excellence is judgmental when I try to put

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Speaker 2: my standard on you, which is always wrong, which is

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Speaker 2: always wrong. And so now I've opened my mouth and

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Speaker 2: I thought I was complaining or I thought I was criticizing,

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Speaker 2: and I told myself, I'm just letting it out. No,

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Speaker 2: I'm letting it in. I left my gate wide open

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Speaker 2: to the enemy because I have no standard. But when

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Speaker 2: I set a standard for my speech and my thoughts,

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Speaker 2: I turned back the battle at the gate.

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Speaker 1: And now I'm.

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Speaker 2: Not in the stranglehold of a system of thought that

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Speaker 2: I allowed myself to flirt with. And now I'm living

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Speaker 2: in a state of joy, and I'm living at a

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Speaker 2: level above the serpent, and he's under my feet. And

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Speaker 2: I am not negotiating with what God called me to

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Speaker 2: trample on. I said, I'm not going to conversate with

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Speaker 2: what God has given me the ability to crush. I'm

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Speaker 2: taking my stand and I'm setting my standard. How can

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Speaker 2: I expect God's strength if I do not embrace God's standard?

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Speaker 2: How can we expect God to give our nation unity

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Speaker 2: if we do not embrace his standard of equality? He

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Speaker 2: will be a spirit of justice to the one who

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Speaker 2: sits in judgment. And when we allow inequality and prejudice

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Speaker 2: and stereotypes and oppression to go unchecked and then ask

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Speaker 2: God to make us one, we are violating the very

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Speaker 2: principle that will create unity. And then we come up

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Speaker 2: on a weekend and we celebrate Doctor King rightfully, but

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Speaker 2: we celebrate him at the wrong level because we celebrate

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Speaker 2: his speeches. The Doctor King's life was not about speeches.

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Speaker 1: It was about standards.

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Speaker 2: And I'm so afraid that we want God.

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Speaker 1: We want God to be our mascot.

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Speaker 2: We want God to be like one of those little

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Speaker 2: you know, those little stuffed animals, the ones that talk

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Speaker 2: when you pull the string.

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Speaker 1: And we got our little.

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Speaker 2: Jesus doll that we pull out, and we pull the string,

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Speaker 2: and Jesus has about three little things that he says,

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Speaker 2: you know, love your neighbor, and love your enemies. And

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Speaker 2: we pull the string. We pull the string, and he

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Speaker 2: just as these little sayings. And we don't want his standards.

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Speaker 2: We just want his sayings. And we'll listen to speeches. Well,

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Speaker 2: we'll listen to I have a dream. But a dream

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Speaker 2: without action, and a dream without process, and a dream

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Speaker 2: without justice is a delusion. So we got to raise

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Speaker 2: the standard and declare that some things are not all right.

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Speaker 2: There has to be a standard. We are the people

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Speaker 2: of God. Where is our standard? We can't wait for

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Speaker 2: anybody else.

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Speaker 1: To set our standard.

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Speaker 2: We are the Church, we are the light of the world.

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Speaker 1: We are the ones in the King. It's us.

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Speaker 2: Not be the source of our strength. If He is

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Speaker 2: not the source of our standards. We cannot poison the

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Speaker 2: well and then complain about the water. Do you hear

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Speaker 2: what I'm trying to say. We've got to stop it

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Speaker 2: at the source to draw a bloodline in the name

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Speaker 2: of Jesus and say this stuffs here. These are my standards.

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Speaker 2: I will not apologize. I will not always live up

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Speaker 2: to them, but I am pressing toward the mark for

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Speaker 2: the pride.

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Speaker 1: Of the high calling. I got a hot calling, and

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Speaker 1: I will not live with low standards.

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Speaker 2: God is looking for somebody to turn back the battle

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Speaker 2: at the gate at the gate at the very beginning

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Speaker 2: of the year. You know, most people want to get

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Speaker 2: get out of the gate strong. We want to get

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Speaker 2: in the gate strong, take ownership and responsibility for our attitudes.

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Speaker 1: And He will be.

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Speaker 2: Spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment,

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Speaker 2: source of strength to the one who turns back the

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Speaker 2: battle at the gate. If you want to be one

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Speaker 2: of those that he speaks about who will turn back

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Speaker 2: the battle at the gate, I want you to stand

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Speaker 2: to your feet right now on every campus, because I

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Speaker 2: believe God has given us an opportunity. The gates of

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Speaker 2: change start with our standards. I kind of wish we

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Speaker 2: could sit down after this, kind of wish we could

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Speaker 2: take a moment and look at areas of your life

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Speaker 2: where you're feeling weak and you need stre Because in

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Speaker 2: the area where you need strength.

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Speaker 1: That's where you need standards.

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Speaker 2: I'm not talking about twenty rules for you to keep

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Speaker 2: that you tried to keep last year. I'm not talking

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Speaker 2: about that kind of religious spirit that builds a ladder

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Speaker 2: for you to climb to God. I'm talking about a

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Speaker 2: ladder that came down to you. And the first step

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Speaker 2: of these changes is standards. Standards.

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Speaker 1: What are your standards? Who set them?

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Speaker 2: Who set the standard for you of what it means

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Speaker 2: to be a man? Who set the standard for you

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Speaker 2: of what it means to be a Christian? Just to

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Speaker 2: pray a prayer one time, show up to church when

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Speaker 2: it's convenient, Try not to cuss too much. The devil

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Speaker 2: is a liar. There's a higher standard. This thing is

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Speaker 2: meant to consume all of my life. That changes the

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Speaker 2: way I see, the way I speak, the way I think,

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Speaker 2: the way I treat my brother, the way I treat

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Speaker 2: my sister. I got a new standard here, and God

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Speaker 2: is looking for people at the beginning of this year

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Speaker 2: who will raise the standard. The beautiful thing about it

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Speaker 2: is that He is not going to cause you to

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Speaker 2: have to reach the standard.

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Speaker 3: He's only calling you to raise it, and he will

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Speaker 3: give you the grace.

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Speaker 1: The draw a line and say stops here.

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Speaker 2: Are there some things in your life today that you

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Speaker 2: need to say stops here. I'm not going to talk

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Speaker 2: that way, think that way, live that way. I'm not

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Speaker 2: going to just allow unrestricted access to everything that wants

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Speaker 2: to come into my space or my spirit to dominate my.

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Speaker 1: Life and sabotage.

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Speaker 2: My story. This year, I'm raising the standard, and when

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Speaker 2: the enemy comes in like a flood, the spirit of

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Speaker 2: the Lord will as a standard against him.

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Speaker 3: He will be a spirit of justice, a wreath for

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Speaker 3: the remnant

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Speaker 2: Him.