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Speaker 1: Tell me what these cities have in common. Puck quiz, Austin, Texas,

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Speaker 1: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It's in Oklahoma, Abbey. We were going

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Speaker 1: through the cities the other night. She said, Now, where's

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Speaker 1: Oklahoma City? I said, Oklahoma, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Kansas City, Missouri, Denver, Colorado,

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Speaker 1: Saint Louis, Missouri. Are you seeing a pattern here? Fort Wayne, Indiana, Toronto, Ontario.

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Speaker 1: Elevation Nights Tour April eighteenth through twenty seventh, twenty twenty three.

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Speaker 1: All of those cities were coming. Go right now and

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Speaker 1: check it out, and we will be there soon here

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Speaker 1: at Elevation today. I hope we didn't overwhelm you with

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Speaker 1: new songs. We didn't do a single song that's on

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Speaker 1: Spotify today all new songs because it goes along with

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Speaker 1: my theme for this year. Don't just do you people

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Speaker 1: are around? Do you do the new you? Do the

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Speaker 1: you that God created, Do the you that God is changing.

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Speaker 1: Do the you that is going to walk into the

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Speaker 1: opportunity that is before you, full of faith, acknowledging your weaknesses,

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Speaker 1: but confident in your strength in Christ. Do the new you?

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Speaker 1: Are you getting this word as I'm preaching it? Come

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Speaker 1: on if you're online, say I'm good this thing. This

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Speaker 1: thing is sinking in for me. We're going right back

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Speaker 1: to Ephesians four, so you might as well sit down

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Speaker 1: and settle in. Right back to our key verse. I'm

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Speaker 1: done arguing with the Lord when he tells me to

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Speaker 1: preach something. I'm just gonna stop fighting it so he

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Speaker 1: doesn't have to put my hip out of socket. Like

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Speaker 1: Jacob over there in the Old Testament, who I mentioned

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Speaker 1: last week. I'm gonna just go with it in along

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Speaker 1: with our groups doing immeasurably more. I'm preaching from the

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Speaker 1: Book of Ephesians. But the fourth chapter snuck up on

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Speaker 1: me because I always liked Ephesians three twenty Now unto

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Speaker 1: him who is able to do a measure more. Well,

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Speaker 1: then when I got into four, I found out what

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Speaker 1: more looks like, and then that helped me. Is helping

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Speaker 1: me so much. Man, God is working on me. I'm

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Speaker 1: glad too. I need him to. I'm not there yet.

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Speaker 1: I have not achieved Ephesians four twenty four yet. Tell me,

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Speaker 1: if you have to put on the new self, put

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Speaker 1: it up on the screen, created to be like God.

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Speaker 1: So I'm not there yet. I've reached some goals in

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Speaker 1: my life. I think I've grown, But if that's the

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Speaker 1: goal to be like God, oh man, I'm gonna need Jesus.

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Speaker 1: I thought I just needed Jesus to get me to

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Speaker 1: heaven when I died, but then I found out I

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Speaker 1: need Him in my habits for everyday life now. A

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Speaker 1: lot of times when we preach about Jesus, we talk

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Speaker 1: about your new home in heaven. You're not going to hell.

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Speaker 1: You're going to Heaven and be with Grandma and Gabriel

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Speaker 1: and God. And then we forget to mention that, Okay, hey,

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Speaker 1: just like we need a new home in heaven, we

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Speaker 1: need new habits in our life. Oh. By the way,

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Speaker 1: I don't need a single amen today. The Lord told

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Speaker 1: me this sermon was good, So I'm gonna just break

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Speaker 1: it out on you and do whatever you need to do.

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Speaker 1: So let me read this scripture and then I'm going

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Speaker 1: to talk about do you, which I know is kind

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Speaker 1: of so oh man. When you hear people say that,

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Speaker 1: it feels good right, like, hey man, you know, probably

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Speaker 1: a fifty seven year old shouldn't have that haircut, but

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Speaker 1: do you? I mean it's a little tight, probably fits

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Speaker 1: you better. In a previous season, but I mean, if

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Speaker 1: you feel if you can rock and rocket, do you?

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Speaker 1: And I'm all for that, that uniqueness, you know, I'm

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Speaker 1: all for that. If it's a mohawk that you want,

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Speaker 1: get them all, if your parents say you can get

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Speaker 1: them all. I like your blue hair? Do you? You You

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Speaker 1: know what I mean? But I can't just take that

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Speaker 1: whole philosophy. Do you if you want blue hair? And

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Speaker 1: then tell you, well, if it's a bottle of pills

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Speaker 1: that helps you escape and the doctor didn't prescribe it

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Speaker 1: and you know you're addicted to it, just do you

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Speaker 1: whatever gets you through the night. So what we're challenging

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Speaker 1: ourselves in is this idea that the true you is

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Speaker 1: the new you. And a lot of times, even if

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Speaker 1: something is nicer when it's new, at first, I don't

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Speaker 1: like it. And growing into our relationship with God looks

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Speaker 1: like this. Let's go back to verse fourteen and let

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Speaker 1: me break it down. And this sermon today is called

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Speaker 1: permission to quit. Permission to quit. Oh, I know where

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Speaker 1: this is going. You're going to tell me keep trying

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Speaker 1: and march around the walls. And I know how this

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Speaker 1: is man. You just go, oh God, it's gonna be

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Speaker 1: one of those sermons. You're just gonna tell me, you're

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Speaker 1: gonna make fun of me because I joined the gym,

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Speaker 1: and I only went twice, and it's only January, and

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Speaker 1: tell me I got to get back in there. But

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Speaker 1: stay with me, because I think you might be surprised

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Speaker 1: where the Lord is leading us this week. Ephesians, chapter four,

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Speaker 1: Verse fourteen. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed

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

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Speaker 1: there by every wind of cable news and teaching, with

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Speaker 1: the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming,

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Speaker 1: trying every diet, trying every religion, dabbling in this, dabbling

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Speaker 1: in that, doing it six weeks for remembering what you

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Speaker 1: know it used to be like in your old life.

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Speaker 1: He said, that's not gonna happen anymore. Instead, verse fifteen,

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Speaker 1: speaking the truth and love, we will, my favorite phrase

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Speaker 1: in this whole passage, grow to become. That's so annointed.

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Speaker 1: Say I will say it with conviction and gumption. I

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Speaker 1: will grow to become. I'm gonna grow to become a

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Speaker 1: better man. I'm gonna grow to become a better dad.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna be a great dad. I'm gonna be a

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Speaker 1: great If I was a great dad last year, wait

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Speaker 1: till you see me this year. I'm gonna be a

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Speaker 1: greater dad this year. I'm gonna be a better preacher.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna be a better teacher. I'm gonna be more honest.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna be more vulnerable, no less powerful. I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: get up in here and say what God gave me

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Speaker 1: to say without the interference of the fear of man.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna stop pulling back when God gives me something.

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Speaker 1: I'm growing to become. Man. I'm gonna be a good wife.

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Speaker 1: Are you married? Not yet, but I'm growing to become it.

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Speaker 1: And when I become it, God is going to be

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Speaker 1: sure that I have the experiences that I need to

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Speaker 1: fulfill the calling that He's given me. I'm growing into this.

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Speaker 1: Don't memorize me right now. If you meet me again

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Speaker 1: in a month, I'm going to be more like my

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Speaker 1: maker because That's where I'm headed in this life. Don't

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Speaker 1: take a snapshot of me and then criticize me. You've changed,

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Speaker 1: I hope, so if I ever stopped change and cremate me.

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Speaker 1: I got to do this. I've got to become what

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Speaker 1: God said I was. But now, don't curse me out

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Speaker 1: because I'm an acorn. I thought you said you were

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Speaker 1: an oak tree. I am. Let me get in the

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Speaker 1: right environment, Let me get the right water, let me

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Speaker 1: get the right time. Come on, I'm growing to become.

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Speaker 1: This helped me because I have a hard time striking

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Speaker 1: a balance between contentment, which I know the Bible says

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Speaker 1: is good, and ambition, which the Bible also instructs me

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Speaker 1: to have grow to become like God. That's a pretty

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Speaker 1: lofty go. And so when I realize, oh, God is

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Speaker 1: calling me to grow to become, not to be all

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Speaker 1: at once, but to grow to become. Now, this process

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Speaker 1: works its itself out in the following way. Look at

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Speaker 1: verse sixteen. Excuse me, I didn't read all of verse fifteen,

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Speaker 1: did I. We will grow to become in every respect,

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Speaker 1: the mature body of Him who is the head that

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Speaker 1: is Christ from him, the whole body, joined and held

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Speaker 1: together e groups by every supporting ligament. You are out

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Speaker 1: of joint. You are out of socket when you're not

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Speaker 1: connected with the right people, and He says together, if

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Speaker 1: you're going to do the new, you don't make an

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Speaker 1: idol out of your individuality. One of the ways you're

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Speaker 1: going to grow to become is by getting around others

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Speaker 1: who challenge you, who encourage you. And so then as

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Speaker 1: the body builds itself up in love, each part is

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Speaker 1: doing its work Verse seventeen. So I tell you this

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Speaker 1: and insist on it in the Lord that you must

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Speaker 1: no longer live. You must no longer live as the

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Speaker 1: gentiles do in the futility or vanity of their thinking.

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Speaker 1: They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the

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Speaker 1: life of God because of the ignorance that is in

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Speaker 1: them due to the hardening of their hearts. This phrase

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Speaker 1: hardening of their hearts calls into mind linguistically when a

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Speaker 1: bone is broken and resets, But the callous that grows

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Speaker 1: is hard. Isn't that what happens to us in our life?

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Speaker 1: We get broken in relationships, broken through experience, broken through trials,

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Speaker 1: broken through temptations that we can't overcome, And then there

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Speaker 1: is a hardness if it is not reset correctly, that

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Speaker 1: keeps us from receiving from God what he wants to

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Speaker 1: give us, to grow us into who He made us

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Speaker 1: to be. But God's not going to leave you broken.

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Speaker 1: God is not going to leave you with the bone

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Speaker 1: broken and reset so that your heart is harder. He

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Speaker 1: is going to bring you through this brokenness better than

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Speaker 1: when you went into the brokenness. He is going to

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Speaker 1: bring you through this brokenness. Who receives this word like

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Speaker 1: if it's for you, He's going to bring you through

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Speaker 1: this brokenness. I'm going to be better after I was broken.

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Speaker 1: I'm going to be better after they fired me. I'm

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Speaker 1: going to learn things from this failed relationship. And when

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Speaker 1: God resets me, the God of resurrection is going to

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Speaker 1: call me forth into a glorious future for the praise

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Speaker 1: of his name, because I'm growing to become so, he says,

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Speaker 1: don't live like these gentiles who, having verse nineteen, lost

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Speaker 1: all sensitivity. They have given themselves over to sensuality, as

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Speaker 1: to indulge in every kind of impurity you'll ever look

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Speaker 1: around and think, just when you think that they can't

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Speaker 1: invent any new sins, they make a new one. I

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Speaker 1: feel like we are living in you know, they had

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Speaker 1: the industrial Revolution. I feel like we are living right

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Speaker 1: now in this time, in the impurity revolution. We are

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Speaker 1: making new ways to be screwed up. It's all the

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Speaker 1: lust of the flesh, lust of pride, pride lust of flesh,

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Speaker 1: lest eyes, pride of life. But the flavors of it, y'all,

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Speaker 1: we got some creative flavors of sin. I better back

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Speaker 1: to the Bible. Y'all are looking at me strange. Maybe

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Speaker 1: not in your zip code? Is fine, It's fine. It's

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Speaker 1: just something I've been noticing. He says, they give themselves

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Speaker 1: over to it. Now follow me. When he says they

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Speaker 1: give themselves over to it, that is very different than

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Speaker 1: saying that they get caught up in it. There's a

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Speaker 1: big difference between giving yourself over and getting caught up.

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Speaker 1: Everybody can get caught up. If you haven't seen the

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Speaker 1: person sitting next to you get caught up in sin,

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Speaker 1: you just haven't followed them to the right places yet.

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Speaker 1: You haven't seen them in the right moments yet. They

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Speaker 1: just hadn't shown you yet. We can all get caught

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Speaker 1: up in different ways, different varieties, different prescriptions. But there's

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Speaker 1: a big difference between getting caught up. Oh God, when

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Speaker 1: I say that, because you're human, there is grace for

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Speaker 1: your humanity. There is grace for the moments. Why did

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Speaker 1: I explode on my wife five minutes after church? You're human,

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Speaker 1: but do not let your humanness I might have made

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Speaker 1: that word up. Do not let your humanness and the

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Speaker 1: grace that God gives for your humanness become an excuse

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Speaker 1: for your hypocrisy shouting in Houston. Just because I struggle

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Speaker 1: with it doesn't mean I have to surrender to it.

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Speaker 1: There's a big difference. I mean, there's some big guys

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Speaker 1: in this room right now, and I'm sure that many

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Speaker 1: of them if they took me and dragged me off

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Speaker 1: the stage, they can get me off the stage. But

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Speaker 1: that's a big difference than me again on their back, piggyback,

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Speaker 1: isn't it? Is there a big guy? We should illustrate this.

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Speaker 1: I need somebody bigger than me. I'm about one seventy,

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Speaker 1: so you got to at least have me buy thirty pounds.

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Speaker 1: Come on, I need a big guy. Ah, mate's here?

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Speaker 1: Where's mate? Where's mate? Get made up here? Get made

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Speaker 1: up here. That's a great idea, made the great. Everybody say,

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Speaker 1: mate the great? Now, it's not my fally bench presses

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Speaker 1: five hundred and five pounds. You got that twenty four

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Speaker 1: year old anointy? Are you too injured to do this? Illustration?

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Speaker 1: I want to hurt you. He just went through an injury.

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Speaker 1: We can't hurt him. But imagine this. I'm not even

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Speaker 1: gonna do the full illustration. I care more about you

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Speaker 1: than my illustration. I'm selfless. But imagine if he wanted

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Speaker 1: to drag me off the stage, he could do it.

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Speaker 1: It would just be a ma or a time. But

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Speaker 1: that's real different than I jump up in his arms.

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Speaker 1: So I just want you to see that. Go back,

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Speaker 1: sit back down. It would have been cool if I

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Speaker 1: could have done it, but I don't want to do it.

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Speaker 1: I don't want to hurt him. When when you look

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Speaker 1: at what God is doing, and I really haven't read

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Speaker 1: the scripture I want to preach from yet, but that

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Speaker 1: whole thing right there that helps me make a critical

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Speaker 1: distinction in my life as to whether I am still

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Speaker 1: struggling with sin. You know, the writer of Hebrews said

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Speaker 1: you have not yet struggled with sin to the point

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Speaker 1: of shedding your blood. And I guess he's saying, like,

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Speaker 1: when you say I've done all I can do, I

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Speaker 1: can't change it. Did you do all you could do? Rarely? Rarely?

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Speaker 1: And then grace? When grace comes in, Some people take

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Speaker 1: that grace and they don't really receive it as power.

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Speaker 1: They receive it as permission to keep living in stuff

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Speaker 1: that makes them miserable. So why would you want permission

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Speaker 1: to be miserable? You can who's going to stop you?

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Speaker 1: But this is what the Bible says in verse twenty.

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Speaker 1: Now we're getting into it real deep here, that, however,

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Speaker 1: the impurity, the greed, the sensuality, the indulgence, that, however,

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Speaker 1: just talking nasty because you felt mad, You talk nasty

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Speaker 1: just because everybody else is so mean to each other.

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Speaker 1: Now you're just mean to Now you're hardened because the

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Speaker 1: bone that was broken didn't reset in the hands of

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Speaker 1: the healer. And Paul says, that is not the way

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Speaker 1: of life you learned when you heard about Christ. I

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Speaker 1: don't care if everybody else does it. That is not

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Speaker 1: me now. Used to be yeah, but not now, somebody

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Speaker 1: shout not now. God's done too much for me. Not now.

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Speaker 1: I dropped out of church like for eighteen years, but

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Speaker 1: not now. I used to think that it was more

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Speaker 1: important to wash my car on Sunday than be in

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Speaker 1: the house of God, but not now, because I need

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Speaker 1: God to wash my soul every Sunday so I can

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Speaker 1: go forward into my future uncontaminated. Whoa. There is power

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Speaker 1: in the word of God, and there is permission in

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Speaker 1: the Word of God to do it different. That is

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Speaker 1: not me. That is what I used to do. That

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Speaker 1: is what all my friends have been doing. That is

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Speaker 1: what I saw growing up. That is what was done

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Speaker 1: to me. But why would I take what was done

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Speaker 1: to me and carry it into the future that God

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Speaker 1: has for me that stays there because this is my

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Speaker 1: Then let me make a sandwich real quick. Verse fourteen says,

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Speaker 1: then everybody shout. Then Verse twenty says that everybody say that.

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Speaker 1: So Verse fourteen speaks to a point of maturity where

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Speaker 1: you say, I'm no longer just gonna be driven by circumstances.

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Speaker 1: I'm no longer just gonna wake up and see how

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Speaker 1: I feel and act like I feel. I'm no longer

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Speaker 1: just gonna wake up and see what I think and

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Speaker 1: follow my thoughts till they lead me right off the

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Speaker 1: edge of the cliff. I'm no longer just gonna trust

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Speaker 1: everybody who makes me feel good so I can get

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Speaker 1: what I want in the moment. No more beans for birthright,

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Speaker 1: So God says, when will your then finally come? When

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Speaker 1: will it be enough of you getting the same result

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Speaker 1: from repeating the same behavior. When will your then come

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Speaker 1: the DEI to grow up, the decision to come into

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Speaker 1: communion with God, the decision to say, Lord, I want

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Speaker 1: to put this brokenness in your hands, and then something

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Speaker 1: pretty awesome happens. He said, that is not you. The

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Speaker 1: moment you make a decision, then I'm growing up. Then

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Speaker 1: that no longer has control over you. That that it

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Speaker 1: would get real uncomfortable if I started listing specific that's

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Speaker 1: in the room, because the categories don't really don't really

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Speaker 1: make you cringe. Impurity, creed lost, Oh yeah, I watched

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Speaker 1: that Bernie Madoff documentary Creed. How about me always wanting

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Speaker 1: more and never giving much? How about me always thinking

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Speaker 1: somebody needs to encourage me? But who am I encouraging?

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Speaker 1: See how this works? That is not me. And I'm

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Speaker 1: going to do a list next week that I'll give

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Speaker 1: you where I'm gonna teach you the new me is not.

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Speaker 1: And we're gonna list some of the things that you

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Speaker 1: are not anymore if you name the name of Christ,

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Speaker 1: and we're gonna wage war against those things because we've

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Speaker 1: been accepting them too long as normal. Just because it's

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Speaker 1: natural doesn't mean it's normal. Watch this, that is not

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Speaker 1: the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ.

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Speaker 1: When you heard about Christ. And so faith comes by hearing, right,

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Speaker 1: how many know that scripture. Faith comes by hearing, hearing

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Speaker 1: the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing, but freedom

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Speaker 1: comes by habit. That's why it is possible for you

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Speaker 1: to know more about God than you are bringing into

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Speaker 1: your current experience. That's why it's possible for you to

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Speaker 1: drag around deficiencies and dysfunctions that Christ died to help

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Speaker 1: you deal with, and then start justifying things that Jesus

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Speaker 1: wants to set you free from. Yeah, we're going to

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Speaker 1: get free in some areas of our life this year.

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Speaker 1: And if you don't want to get free this year,

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Speaker 1: don't come here Furdic preach, because Furdic is trying to

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Speaker 1: get free this year of some childlike behaviors that are

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Speaker 1: coming around in a grown man's body. And I want

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Speaker 1: to be less petty, less prideful. I want to be

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Speaker 1: stable because I don't know what wind and waves has

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Speaker 1: come in my way. So I want to be more

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Speaker 1: a tuned to worship. I want to be more tuned

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Speaker 1: into the voice of God. I want to be like

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Speaker 1: him say it. I want to be like him. Okay,

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Speaker 1: you were taught in Him in accordance with the truth

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Speaker 1: that is in Jesus. You were taught with regard to

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Speaker 1: your former way of life, to put off your old self,

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Speaker 1: which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires. Y'all remember

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Speaker 1: tricks or for kids from last week? I know you do.

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Speaker 1: I know if you missed last week, you caught the

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Speaker 1: podcast first opportunity, because no way you would miss a

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Speaker 1: sermon from the Word of God. You wouldn't do that

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Speaker 1: and watch Netflix or Hulu, not you, Verse twenty three.

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Speaker 1: This is the goal to be made new in the

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Speaker 1: attitude of your minds, to put on the new self

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Speaker 1: created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

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Speaker 1: So now I'm looking at my humanity and I'm looking

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Speaker 1: at God's holiness wholeness, changing me who I really am.

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Speaker 1: And I'm making decisions daily about which one to choose.

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Speaker 1: You know, in this church, I think it can be

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Speaker 1: said that you can bring somebody who is hurting, somebody

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Speaker 1: who is addicted, somebody who is living in a lifestyle

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Speaker 1: that is way far from what the Bible describes, and

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Speaker 1: they will hear and feel that God loves them and

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Speaker 1: that they are welcome, and that they can come back

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Speaker 1: as many times as they want to come back, even

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Speaker 1: if their life never changes. I hope you know that.

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Speaker 1: I hope you know that. Doesn't matter how loud I yell.

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Speaker 1: I'm not mad at you. I'm not yelling because I'm angry.

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Speaker 1: The thing that I'm angry at more than anything is

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Speaker 1: the devastation that I see in the lives of people

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Speaker 1: that I love because they are loyal to lifestyles that

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Speaker 1: lead them to death. One time, a guy was kind

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Speaker 1: of fussing at me very early in the church, where

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Speaker 1: he said, we don't preach about sin enough. And he

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Speaker 1: might be right, because, honestly, like, if we really preached

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Speaker 1: about all the sin that's represented in this room, y'all

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Speaker 1: wouldn't make it to work Monday morning, and I could

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Speaker 1: just do my own life and we could get at

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Speaker 1: least a Tuesday. But what he said, now, this is interesting.

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Speaker 1: Listen to this. He goes, I feel like when you

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Speaker 1: preach about acceptance and grace and the love of God,

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Speaker 1: when you do that, it gives people a license to sin.

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Speaker 1: Now I had heard that before, so I had to

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Speaker 1: come back ready for it. I said, a license to sin.

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Speaker 1: Most of the people that I preach to are doing

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Speaker 1: just fine sinning without a license. I mean, what is

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Speaker 1: sin an eighteen wheeler like you need a license to

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Speaker 1: do it? What is sin? A single engine plane like

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Speaker 1: you need a license? All of a sudden, what is sin?

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Speaker 1: A like sin is hunting like you need a license

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Speaker 1: to do it. You're doing just fine sinning without a license.

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Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, you know what your sin

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Speaker 1: license was? Your birth certificate. You got here knowing how

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Speaker 1: to be selfish. Everybody who doesn't agree that's your birth

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Speaker 1: certificate is your sin license? Has it had children? Has

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Speaker 1: it even looked at yourself? So what I wanted to

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Speaker 1: say to the man is I appreciate where you're coming from.

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Speaker 1: Understand that God has a standard. But I need people

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Speaker 1: to know that the same God who gives the standard

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Speaker 1: will also give the strength. As long as I only

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Speaker 1: tell you this is how you're sinning, As long as

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Speaker 1: I only tell you this is how you're missing the mark,

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Speaker 1: As long as I only tell you this is the

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Speaker 1: fifteen ways that you could have been better yesterday. As

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Speaker 1: long as all of our focus is on that, what

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Speaker 1: do we do We continue in what we reinforce a

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Speaker 1: license to sin. I never met a single person yet.

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Speaker 1: I've pastored all kinds of people, Southern people, northern people,

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Speaker 1: black people, white people, men, women, old people, young people.

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Speaker 1: I never met one that needed a license to be stingy.

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Speaker 1: I mean, come on, like, over half the church doesn't tithe.

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Speaker 1: Where's you're not tithed? Sense? Where do they give those out?

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Speaker 1: And even if we get past the big behaviors, like

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Speaker 1: you get all these external things and all that, if

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Speaker 1: we get down into the things that people don't see,

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Speaker 1: like how sometimes you use your kids as a backdrop

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Speaker 1: for the image that you want to present rather than

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Speaker 1: raising them according to who they are. That's a sin

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Speaker 1: and you don't need a license for it. In my experience,

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Speaker 1: more often than not, people don't need a license to sin.

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Speaker 1: They need permission and power to quit. Now you never thought,

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Speaker 1: and I never thought that a message would come from

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Speaker 1: this pulpit called permission to quit. Because there's one thing

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Speaker 1: I believe is you got to keep going. And I

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Speaker 1: was so happy when it was pouring down rain when

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Speaker 1: I came to church today because I was like, this

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Speaker 1: is great the room I'm going to be preaching in

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Speaker 1: the weather will be nice in other parts of the

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Speaker 1: world of efemine that. But the people I'm preaching to

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Speaker 1: are the people who came anyway. I was so glad.

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Speaker 1: I was like, this is the perfect message for these

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Speaker 1: people because they know you don't just get to like

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Speaker 1: not come to church because you might get wet going

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Speaker 1: out to the car. Oh, that's a shower of blessing.

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Speaker 1: God is bringing. The rain of the word of God

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Speaker 1: is about to hit the seat of my potential. I'm

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Speaker 1: getting there'll be a seat today. I'm going might clear

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Speaker 1: out all those complacent Christians, so only come once a month,

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Speaker 1: you know, the type, get the get the real ones

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Speaker 1: in here. But I really did I thought that because

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Speaker 1: you hear, because you didn't quit. There was a period

426
00:28:50,200 --> 00:28:52,240
Speaker 1: in our in our world where you couldn't come physically

427
00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:55,440
Speaker 1: gather in church and you didn't quit. You watched online.

428
00:28:55,720 --> 00:28:58,640
Speaker 1: Everybody was screaming in the background. You know, it wasn't

429
00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:01,240
Speaker 1: a really good experience immersively for you to do it

430
00:29:01,280 --> 00:29:02,400
Speaker 1: that way. I mean, if you got to do it,

431
00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:05,000
Speaker 1: do it. But now here you are sitting here and

432
00:29:05,080 --> 00:29:07,520
Speaker 1: you don't get to quit because the Bible says, let

433
00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:09,480
Speaker 1: us not give up the habit of meeting together as

434
00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:12,520
Speaker 1: some are in the habit of doing so. I don't

435
00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:14,640
Speaker 1: get to quit, not and live in victory. I don't

436
00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:19,040
Speaker 1: get to quit. If you have the faith to say it,

437
00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:22,440
Speaker 1: say I don't get to quit, and now put it

438
00:29:22,520 --> 00:29:24,520
Speaker 1: right there in the comments. I don't get to quit

439
00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:30,480
Speaker 1: on what God called me to do. I don't get

440
00:29:30,480 --> 00:29:36,480
Speaker 1: to Moses didn't. He didn't get to quit leading to people.

441
00:29:36,520 --> 00:29:38,120
Speaker 1: Even though he wouldn't get to go in the Promised

442
00:29:38,160 --> 00:29:40,440
Speaker 1: Land and eat grapes for them, he still had to

443
00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:44,640
Speaker 1: appoint Joshua as the successor to the bitter end. You

444
00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:46,440
Speaker 1: don't get to quit. Even if you don't get to

445
00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:47,800
Speaker 1: do the thing that you thought you were going to

446
00:29:47,840 --> 00:29:50,800
Speaker 1: get to do. You don't get to quit. You got

447
00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:54,120
Speaker 1: to help somebody else do it. You don't get to quit.

448
00:29:55,120 --> 00:29:57,600
Speaker 1: You still got to have Isaac. Even though your body

449
00:29:57,680 --> 00:30:00,840
Speaker 1: is as good as dead. The Bible said about Abraham,

450
00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:06,719
Speaker 1: you still gotta try again, even though it's not what

451
00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:08,800
Speaker 1: do they say, not as good as I once was,

452
00:30:08,840 --> 00:30:11,200
Speaker 1: But I'm as good once as I ever was. You

453
00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:13,920
Speaker 1: gotta go in and try try. You and Sarah got

454
00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:16,760
Speaker 1: to try this again because God still gave you the seed.

455
00:30:18,320 --> 00:30:21,800
Speaker 1: You don't get to quit, let me stay in this

456
00:30:21,800 --> 00:30:25,880
Speaker 1: for a moment because it might be pivotal. You don't

457
00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:29,080
Speaker 1: get to say, this is as much like Christ as

458
00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:32,280
Speaker 1: I'm ever gonna be, This is as free as I'm

459
00:30:32,280 --> 00:30:35,560
Speaker 1: ever gonna be. You don't get to develop little systems

460
00:30:35,560 --> 00:30:37,600
Speaker 1: and workarounds for all of the things that you know

461
00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:40,760
Speaker 1: that God wants to work on in your life. You

462
00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:44,080
Speaker 1: don't get to quit. What are you gonna do about it?

463
00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:50,680
Speaker 1: Pastor I don't know, slash your tires, do something. I'm

464
00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:52,440
Speaker 1: not just gonna stand up here and let you quit.

465
00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:55,680
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not gonna let you just quit on

466
00:30:55,800 --> 00:30:59,880
Speaker 1: joy or I'm just melancholy. I took a personality toast in.

467
00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:08,800
Speaker 1: It took three personality tests. So if this your personality

468
00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:16,520
Speaker 1: versus God's purpose, and God says you're something and you

469
00:31:16,640 --> 00:31:29,880
Speaker 1: say no, I'm not, God is not wrong. Can we

470
00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:36,520
Speaker 1: all agree that in the beginning was God, and God said,

471
00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:41,080
Speaker 1: and it was so? If the God who before you

472
00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:45,120
Speaker 1: got here said that it is, and that you were,

473
00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:48,640
Speaker 1: and that you can and that you must. Did you

474
00:31:48,720 --> 00:31:52,120
Speaker 1: notice Paul's language that got me excited? He said, you

475
00:31:52,240 --> 00:31:55,600
Speaker 1: must no longer live this way we never get to

476
00:31:55,680 --> 00:32:01,200
Speaker 1: the new self because we kept saying, I might, I might.

477
00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:04,200
Speaker 1: You're gonna join one of those groups. I might, You're

478
00:32:04,240 --> 00:32:06,800
Speaker 1: gonna do that thing. I might You're gonna get I might,

479
00:32:06,920 --> 00:32:10,920
Speaker 1: I might, I might, I might. How many mites are

480
00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:14,160
Speaker 1: you gonna drown in before you get a must in

481
00:32:14,240 --> 00:32:19,280
Speaker 1: your spirit that says, if none go with me, I

482
00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:25,520
Speaker 1: still will follow. I must Why because God called me

483
00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:29,240
Speaker 1: to it. And if I don't do it, I'll be miserable,

484
00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:33,480
Speaker 1: and then I'll self sabotage and I'll fall apart, and

485
00:32:33,520 --> 00:32:36,560
Speaker 1: I'll take it out on people, and I'll spend stupid

486
00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:39,720
Speaker 1: amounts of money trying to cover the fact that I

487
00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:45,320
Speaker 1: quit on what God called me to do, and I'll

488
00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:48,960
Speaker 1: dress up my failures in flesh and I'll call it success.

489
00:32:49,040 --> 00:32:52,120
Speaker 1: But deep down inside, I'm just struggling with the same

490
00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:55,000
Speaker 1: stuff with more money. I'm just struggling with the same

491
00:32:55,040 --> 00:32:57,720
Speaker 1: stuff in a little bit older body. I'm just struggling

492
00:32:57,720 --> 00:33:00,960
Speaker 1: with the same stuff with the same friends who struggle

493
00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:03,719
Speaker 1: with the same stuff. So we all get together and

494
00:33:03,760 --> 00:33:06,320
Speaker 1: we pass it around and we smoke on it and

495
00:33:06,360 --> 00:33:08,560
Speaker 1: we suck on it and we talk about it and

496
00:33:08,600 --> 00:33:12,640
Speaker 1: we comfort each other. But it is not grace, because

497
00:33:12,720 --> 00:33:16,480
Speaker 1: grace will give you, not only watch this the command

498
00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:20,600
Speaker 1: to change. Grace will get up inside of you and

499
00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:24,080
Speaker 1: give you the power to change, so that you can

500
00:33:24,280 --> 00:33:27,480
Speaker 1: know that what you didn't do before, you could do

501
00:33:27,560 --> 00:33:38,760
Speaker 1: it now. Feeling in my spirit, right now you can quit. Wait,

502
00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:41,160
Speaker 1: I thought you said I couldn't quit. Yeah, I'm saying,

503
00:33:41,560 --> 00:33:46,080
Speaker 1: if God called you, you don't get to quit. But

504
00:33:46,200 --> 00:33:50,200
Speaker 1: if it is keeping you from being what God called

505
00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:56,560
Speaker 1: you as of this moment, somebody shout. Now, I'm not

506
00:33:56,760 --> 00:34:00,640
Speaker 1: talking about last week. I'm not talking about in three

507
00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:03,600
Speaker 1: years when it gets easier. I'm not talking about when

508
00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:06,920
Speaker 1: we see about this recession. I'm not talking about anything

509
00:34:06,960 --> 00:34:11,480
Speaker 1: that's going to happen, anything that did happen. But right now,

510
00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:15,439
Speaker 1: anything that is keeping you from being what God has

511
00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:30,400
Speaker 1: called you to be, you have permission to quit. Like

512
00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:32,479
Speaker 1: the neighbor who told joe y'all can't fish in this pond.

513
00:34:32,560 --> 00:34:35,759
Speaker 1: Don't you see the thing? No fishing allow? But then

514
00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:38,680
Speaker 1: the other neighbor, he also is on the pond. He said,

515
00:34:38,960 --> 00:34:41,240
Speaker 1: tell us boys, they can fish anytime in my pond.

516
00:34:41,400 --> 00:34:45,200
Speaker 1: It's my pond too. They can fish there. So you

517
00:34:45,200 --> 00:34:51,840
Speaker 1: can fish there because somebody gave you permission who owned property. Now,

518
00:34:52,040 --> 00:34:54,160
Speaker 1: if the man the first man said you can't fish here,

519
00:34:54,239 --> 00:34:57,719
Speaker 1: he was right because it's not your property. But when

520
00:34:57,800 --> 00:35:01,560
Speaker 1: somebody who does own property adjacent to the pond gives

521
00:35:01,640 --> 00:35:05,520
Speaker 1: you permission, This is why all of our attempts to

522
00:35:05,680 --> 00:35:09,360
Speaker 1: change in our human strength are short lived, because we

523
00:35:09,520 --> 00:35:12,319
Speaker 1: keep trying to do it in a place where we

524
00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:16,440
Speaker 1: don't own property. See until I come to Christ and

525
00:35:16,520 --> 00:35:19,520
Speaker 1: really receive His power in my life and his spirit

526
00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:22,640
Speaker 1: in my mortal body, I can't do it because I

527
00:35:22,640 --> 00:35:25,560
Speaker 1: don't own that spot. So I keep trying to step

528
00:35:25,640 --> 00:35:27,960
Speaker 1: up to it, and I fall short from it, and

529
00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:30,680
Speaker 1: then I'm stuck in it. But God says, wait a minute,

530
00:35:30,760 --> 00:35:33,040
Speaker 1: I have a piece of property. You're ready for this.

531
00:35:33,760 --> 00:35:37,479
Speaker 1: When I went up a hill called cavalry, and when

532
00:35:37,480 --> 00:35:41,320
Speaker 1: I establish the real estate of salvation in your heart,

533
00:35:41,760 --> 00:35:45,279
Speaker 1: when I said this is my throne inside of you.

534
00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:47,640
Speaker 1: You need to understand that not only did I come

535
00:35:47,680 --> 00:35:51,120
Speaker 1: to give you my presence, I came to give you permission.

536
00:35:51,520 --> 00:35:54,200
Speaker 1: And what you couldn't do in the law, what you

537
00:35:54,280 --> 00:35:57,920
Speaker 1: couldn't do in yourself, what you couldn't do in your past,

538
00:35:58,280 --> 00:36:00,239
Speaker 1: what you couldn't do under the guard. Are you in

539
00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:04,040
Speaker 1: the tutelage of the Law of Moses, God said, I'll

540
00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:06,799
Speaker 1: do it for you. You You can lift your hands in

541
00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:10,759
Speaker 1: here because I give you permission to praise me. I

542
00:36:10,880 --> 00:36:18,719
Speaker 1: give you permission to come boldly before the throne. You

543
00:36:18,760 --> 00:36:22,279
Speaker 1: feel that God says, you can fish here, you can

544
00:36:22,360 --> 00:36:26,359
Speaker 1: worship here, you can try again here, you can forgive here,

545
00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:30,440
Speaker 1: you can move forward with your life. Here. Because I

546
00:36:30,520 --> 00:36:37,919
Speaker 1: own this spot, you have permission to quit. And yet,

547
00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:43,160
Speaker 1: the sad reality of the message that I'm preaching today

548
00:36:43,960 --> 00:36:47,600
Speaker 1: is that most of us are more loyal to our

549
00:36:47,680 --> 00:36:54,160
Speaker 1: old self than we are excited about our true self.

550
00:36:57,000 --> 00:37:01,000
Speaker 1: We really are were We still want to play Nintendo

551
00:37:02,520 --> 00:37:06,719
Speaker 1: Sega Genesis and the Lawyer's got an Xbox twelve and

552
00:37:06,719 --> 00:37:08,320
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, know how to word that controls me?

553
00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:13,880
Speaker 1: And I'm gonna play this Nintendo Now. The question I

554
00:37:13,880 --> 00:37:15,480
Speaker 1: really came up here to ask you. I want you

555
00:37:15,520 --> 00:37:17,920
Speaker 1: to talk about it to somebody today before the day

556
00:37:17,960 --> 00:37:25,759
Speaker 1: is over. Are you more committed to your limits than

557
00:37:25,760 --> 00:37:32,880
Speaker 1: you are to your potential? Are you more loyal or

558
00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:37,480
Speaker 1: committed to your limits than you are to your potential?

559
00:37:38,160 --> 00:37:39,719
Speaker 1: Based on the way a lot of us speak and

560
00:37:39,760 --> 00:37:41,719
Speaker 1: what shows up in our language, because our language will

561
00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:44,279
Speaker 1: always be a great light detector to see things that

562
00:37:44,320 --> 00:37:46,680
Speaker 1: we still say and how it affects the way that

563
00:37:46,719 --> 00:37:50,080
Speaker 1: we think, and it leaks out in our language. So

564
00:37:50,360 --> 00:37:54,759
Speaker 1: the moment that we begin to basically defend the way

565
00:37:54,760 --> 00:37:59,120
Speaker 1: we've always been not acknowledge it, I think that's awesome. Hey,

566
00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:01,799
Speaker 1: here's where I am, here's what it is, here's what

567
00:38:01,880 --> 00:38:04,520
Speaker 1: I did, here's what I learned. And there's a lot

568
00:38:04,560 --> 00:38:06,960
Speaker 1: of healing in that, because, as I mentioned, when the

569
00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:09,919
Speaker 1: bone is broken, if it grows back callous, then that's

570
00:38:09,960 --> 00:38:11,600
Speaker 1: going to be worse than the end. So I am

571
00:38:11,640 --> 00:38:14,520
Speaker 1: not talking about the fact that you don't acknowledge it,

572
00:38:15,680 --> 00:38:20,640
Speaker 1: but a lot of us go far beyond acknowledging. We

573
00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:28,600
Speaker 1: actually become advocates of our own weaknesses. I don't mean

574
00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:33,400
Speaker 1: facing the fact that at five point four and forty

575
00:38:33,400 --> 00:38:35,040
Speaker 1: seven years old, you're probably not going to play in

576
00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:37,840
Speaker 1: the NBA. I think that is a wonderful limitation for

577
00:38:37,880 --> 00:38:40,680
Speaker 1: you to embrace in your life. I think your family

578
00:38:40,719 --> 00:38:42,920
Speaker 1: will be happy and you will put food on the

579
00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:47,520
Speaker 1: table by acknowledging certain limitations. That's why I didn't get

580
00:38:47,520 --> 00:38:49,359
Speaker 1: on mates back when he came up here because I thought,

581
00:38:49,400 --> 00:38:52,520
Speaker 1: oh no, I forgot he was hurt. Now, somebody over

582
00:38:52,560 --> 00:38:54,520
Speaker 1: there was sending you up like a limb to the slaughter,

583
00:38:54,560 --> 00:38:57,000
Speaker 1: trying to get you reinjured. But I'm your pastor. I

584
00:38:57,040 --> 00:39:01,440
Speaker 1: care about you in that moment. Oh no, no, no,

585
00:39:01,480 --> 00:39:05,760
Speaker 1: this is not this is not wise. That's good. That's good.

586
00:39:06,040 --> 00:39:09,040
Speaker 1: Every time I preach about permission to quit, somebody goes

587
00:39:09,080 --> 00:39:22,000
Speaker 1: and gets a divorce. And I'm telling you, if God

588
00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:23,480
Speaker 1: told you to march around the walls and not say

589
00:39:23,520 --> 00:39:25,239
Speaker 1: a word, you got to walk around the walls again.

590
00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:27,959
Speaker 1: If God told you to go check again and there's

591
00:39:27,960 --> 00:39:29,480
Speaker 1: a cloud up there and you can't see it, you

592
00:39:29,560 --> 00:39:31,880
Speaker 1: got to keep looking for it. That is not the

593
00:39:32,040 --> 00:39:37,000
Speaker 1: advocation of a lack of persistence. But what I think

594
00:39:37,040 --> 00:39:41,000
Speaker 1: happens to us is when it sounds real good, get

595
00:39:41,080 --> 00:39:44,960
Speaker 1: rid of the old self. It's much harder than it sounds,

596
00:39:46,840 --> 00:39:49,120
Speaker 1: because the old self really helped me through a lot.

597
00:39:51,360 --> 00:39:54,120
Speaker 1: My anger has been a good friend of me in

598
00:39:54,160 --> 00:39:59,680
Speaker 1: certain situations. So to a bend in my anger and

599
00:39:59,040 --> 00:40:04,759
Speaker 1: to choose in moments to be a peacemaker is so hot.

600
00:40:06,760 --> 00:40:16,040
Speaker 1: To say good bye to yes today, let me see

601
00:40:16,040 --> 00:40:20,480
Speaker 1: if I get a copyright strike. And to me, I

602
00:40:20,520 --> 00:40:23,200
Speaker 1: know all the parts of that song. I know the feeling,

603
00:40:23,239 --> 00:40:26,680
Speaker 1: I know the sentiment. I got stuff in my closet

604
00:40:26,719 --> 00:40:30,320
Speaker 1: that I sing. That too is so hard, three holes

605
00:40:30,320 --> 00:40:35,920
Speaker 1: in the sweatshirt to say goodbye, so comfortable. And I

606
00:40:35,920 --> 00:40:38,400
Speaker 1: don't know why we shadow all so much as we

607
00:40:38,480 --> 00:40:40,719
Speaker 1: do over say goodbye to the old self. You know

608
00:40:40,760 --> 00:40:43,960
Speaker 1: how painful that is to make a break with a

609
00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:46,000
Speaker 1: way of life. In many ways, it feels like a

610
00:40:46,080 --> 00:40:51,200
Speaker 1: betrayal of yourself to change. And now you're surrounded by

611
00:40:51,239 --> 00:40:55,680
Speaker 1: a bunch of dummies and bluehorns that say, do you?

612
00:40:53,360 --> 00:41:00,520
Speaker 1: Your husband doesn't have to know, do you? Do you?

613
00:41:01,880 --> 00:41:07,560
Speaker 1: Do you have any idea who you could become if

614
00:41:07,600 --> 00:41:11,560
Speaker 1: you would make the decision in this moment to receive

615
00:41:11,880 --> 00:41:15,120
Speaker 1: the permission of the holy ghost that lives inside of you,

616
00:41:15,400 --> 00:41:17,400
Speaker 1: that was sent to help you and enable you to

617
00:41:17,440 --> 00:41:23,160
Speaker 1: get up from what you've been staring at. And I

618
00:41:23,200 --> 00:41:25,920
Speaker 1: read a quote that gripped me. The lady's name was Phipps.

619
00:41:25,960 --> 00:41:27,919
Speaker 1: I don't know anything about this lady, but she said

620
00:41:27,960 --> 00:41:33,720
Speaker 1: something so powerful. She said, if you argue for your limitations,

621
00:41:34,560 --> 00:41:42,720
Speaker 1: you get to keep them who. I'm gonna send phips

622
00:41:42,760 --> 00:41:45,879
Speaker 1: an offering once I find out who she is. She's right.

623
00:41:47,080 --> 00:41:51,040
Speaker 1: If you argue with your limitations, I just have a temper.

624
00:41:52,239 --> 00:41:55,239
Speaker 1: Then you get to continue to burn through perfectly good

625
00:41:55,280 --> 00:41:58,360
Speaker 1: relationships and keep the people in your life from loving

626
00:41:58,360 --> 00:42:03,120
Speaker 1: you like they could because you have a temper. Oh man,

627
00:42:03,239 --> 00:42:05,480
Speaker 1: I mean I just can't. The money's tight, I can't

628
00:42:05,480 --> 00:42:08,560
Speaker 1: be generous. Well, the world of the generous gets larger

629
00:42:08,560 --> 00:42:10,880
Speaker 1: and larger, the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller.

630
00:42:10,880 --> 00:42:14,160
Speaker 1: So you are shrinking yourself with every limitation you defend.

631
00:42:17,760 --> 00:42:20,799
Speaker 1: Should I do a few more examples? All right, let

632
00:42:20,800 --> 00:42:22,160
Speaker 1: me see what I can think of. I didn't plan

633
00:42:22,239 --> 00:42:29,160
Speaker 1: this part out. I'm oh, oh, you know I'm not.

634
00:42:30,880 --> 00:42:33,520
Speaker 1: I'm not a vocal person, so you know I'm not

635
00:42:33,520 --> 00:42:36,440
Speaker 1: going to speak up about this. You know I'm not

636
00:42:36,480 --> 00:42:38,080
Speaker 1: going to say anything about this. So now you're just

637
00:42:38,120 --> 00:42:40,480
Speaker 1: going to suffer in silence till you eventually just explode.

638
00:42:40,520 --> 00:42:42,040
Speaker 1: And it's going to be way worse than if you

639
00:42:42,239 --> 00:42:49,799
Speaker 1: learn how to say, hey, I need help. I love

640
00:42:49,840 --> 00:42:56,799
Speaker 1: it when we get creative about defending our deficiencies. If

641
00:42:56,800 --> 00:42:59,960
Speaker 1: you would reinvest the creativity that you put into the

642
00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:04,359
Speaker 1: offending what you can't do, and if you would reinvest

643
00:43:04,440 --> 00:43:08,600
Speaker 1: that you could be the next Walt Disney. As creative

644
00:43:08,640 --> 00:43:11,560
Speaker 1: as you are, you invent limitations that aren't even there,

645
00:43:12,480 --> 00:43:17,000
Speaker 1: limitations that might be, limitations that could possibly who might

646
00:43:17,040 --> 00:43:19,360
Speaker 1: not possibly like you. Well, I would go, but you

647
00:43:19,400 --> 00:43:22,560
Speaker 1: know there's probably gonna be already somebody there as even happy.

648
00:43:22,640 --> 00:43:25,080
Speaker 1: Yet we used to tell my oldest son Elijah all

649
00:43:25,080 --> 00:43:27,600
Speaker 1: the time something that everybody told me they'd go. You

650
00:43:27,640 --> 00:43:29,200
Speaker 1: ought to be a lawyer one day. As much as

651
00:43:29,200 --> 00:43:31,799
Speaker 1: you love to argue, And I have a lot of

652
00:43:31,800 --> 00:43:33,400
Speaker 1: friends in the church now that are lawyers, and they

653
00:43:33,440 --> 00:43:35,239
Speaker 1: don't stand in court and argue all day long. So

654
00:43:35,280 --> 00:43:37,319
Speaker 1: I now know there was a flawed philosophy that if

655
00:43:37,360 --> 00:43:39,000
Speaker 1: you like to argue, you should be a lawyer. But

656
00:43:39,040 --> 00:43:41,480
Speaker 1: you know what, when it comes to the limitations in

657
00:43:41,520 --> 00:43:43,560
Speaker 1: your life, some of you ought to be a lawyer,

658
00:43:45,440 --> 00:43:47,759
Speaker 1: because not only will you argue with people when they

659
00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:50,960
Speaker 1: try to tell you can do better, not only will

660
00:43:51,040 --> 00:43:53,279
Speaker 1: you argue with the evidence in your life that you

661
00:43:53,360 --> 00:43:57,600
Speaker 1: can overcome and keep on going back, you will argue

662
00:43:57,640 --> 00:44:03,480
Speaker 1: with Almighty God about who you are. He will send

663
00:44:03,719 --> 00:44:07,239
Speaker 1: signs and signals to you that there is more in you,

664
00:44:07,440 --> 00:44:09,279
Speaker 1: and he will show you things that you can do.

665
00:44:09,600 --> 00:44:13,160
Speaker 1: And you get up in the face of God tell

666
00:44:13,200 --> 00:44:18,720
Speaker 1: me about well I can and I didn't and they didn't.

667
00:44:20,400 --> 00:44:27,840
Speaker 1: And you are a defense attorney for your limitations. And

668
00:44:27,920 --> 00:44:32,200
Speaker 1: if you argue for those limitations, you get to live

669
00:44:32,239 --> 00:44:38,680
Speaker 1: in them. See y'all next week or I'm almost done.

670
00:44:38,719 --> 00:44:40,160
Speaker 1: You'll help me get this thing home. You'll help me

671
00:44:40,200 --> 00:44:44,480
Speaker 1: get this thing home, or I'm gonna finish the quote.

672
00:44:44,680 --> 00:44:46,799
Speaker 1: I don't know how what Phips said next, but I

673
00:44:46,840 --> 00:44:48,160
Speaker 1: know what I want to say next. From the Bible.

674
00:44:48,160 --> 00:44:51,240
Speaker 1: You're ready. First part was Phipps. Next part is Verdict

675
00:44:51,920 --> 00:44:55,719
Speaker 1: Part one. If you argue for your limitations, you get

676
00:44:55,719 --> 00:45:02,280
Speaker 1: to keep them, but if you agree with God about

677
00:45:02,320 --> 00:45:12,800
Speaker 1: your potential, you get to outgrow them. Come on, it

678
00:45:12,800 --> 00:45:14,640
Speaker 1: is supposed to be my rainy day crowd that knows

679
00:45:14,640 --> 00:45:18,439
Speaker 1: how to shout over a good point. If you get

680
00:45:18,440 --> 00:45:22,319
Speaker 1: with God and say, I see what the situation is

681
00:45:22,360 --> 00:45:25,000
Speaker 1: trying to say about me. I see what my past

682
00:45:25,040 --> 00:45:27,800
Speaker 1: has been so far, and I know that the patterns

683
00:45:27,800 --> 00:45:29,920
Speaker 1: of my past suggest that I will never be more

684
00:45:29,960 --> 00:45:32,480
Speaker 1: than this. And I know the last January, I was

685
00:45:32,520 --> 00:45:35,520
Speaker 1: sitting in church feeling ambitious too. And I know that

686
00:45:35,600 --> 00:45:37,920
Speaker 1: this has happened so many times in my life that

687
00:45:38,000 --> 00:45:41,000
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm a slave to it. But now

688
00:45:42,120 --> 00:45:46,120
Speaker 1: I am making a decision in this moment to take

689
00:45:46,200 --> 00:45:50,080
Speaker 1: off everything that God did not put on me, to

690
00:45:50,200 --> 00:45:52,279
Speaker 1: strip it away. Now. I'm not going to just get

691
00:45:52,320 --> 00:45:55,680
Speaker 1: to do this once. I'm not just gonna get to

692
00:45:55,719 --> 00:45:58,160
Speaker 1: do this one time. Okay, God old self is God. No,

693
00:45:58,280 --> 00:46:03,040
Speaker 1: Paul says, every day, Hey, you wake up every time

694
00:46:03,120 --> 00:46:07,759
Speaker 1: you feel it, come back, every time that limitation squeezes

695
00:46:07,840 --> 00:46:10,400
Speaker 1: you. You You know the limitation I'm talking about. You know

696
00:46:10,520 --> 00:46:12,440
Speaker 1: the thing you think I can't help it. I just

697
00:46:12,480 --> 00:46:15,080
Speaker 1: always do it. I'm always gonna do it. I can't

698
00:46:15,080 --> 00:46:19,080
Speaker 1: be that kind of person when that comes. Instead of

699
00:46:19,360 --> 00:46:22,920
Speaker 1: arguing with God, who says, I've given you my grace,

700
00:46:23,000 --> 00:46:27,879
Speaker 1: my power, it's more than enough, try just agreeing with them.

701
00:46:29,280 --> 00:46:32,640
Speaker 1: All right. Maybe you think I do have what it

702
00:46:32,640 --> 00:46:34,400
Speaker 1: takes and that's why you put me in this situation,

703
00:46:37,080 --> 00:46:40,400
Speaker 1: or be like the spies and the Book of Numbers.

704
00:46:41,040 --> 00:46:43,239
Speaker 1: We can't go in. We're too small. We're like grasshoppers.

705
00:46:43,239 --> 00:46:46,319
Speaker 1: They're bigger than us and guess what they got. They

706
00:46:46,360 --> 00:46:49,640
Speaker 1: had a grasshopper self image and they lived in a

707
00:46:49,680 --> 00:46:54,200
Speaker 1: grasshopper situation for forty years. Because if you argue with

708
00:46:54,320 --> 00:46:57,680
Speaker 1: your limitations, you challenge them, you get to see what

709
00:46:57,760 --> 00:47:02,279
Speaker 1: God can do. But if you argue for your limitations,

710
00:47:03,080 --> 00:47:06,680
Speaker 1: do you do this? Do you ever do this? Do

711
00:47:06,760 --> 00:47:11,480
Speaker 1: you defend what you cannot become before a God who

712
00:47:11,520 --> 00:47:19,440
Speaker 1: has said you already are that. It reminded me when

713
00:47:19,440 --> 00:47:22,319
Speaker 1: they found a woman in john A, and I didn't

714
00:47:22,320 --> 00:47:25,640
Speaker 1: know why the scripture came to my mind, but I

715
00:47:25,680 --> 00:47:27,840
Speaker 1: thought about that man who said, you're giving them a

716
00:47:28,000 --> 00:47:34,239
Speaker 1: license to sin, and I'm like, oh, lord, man, I

717
00:47:35,520 --> 00:47:38,040
Speaker 1: don't need a license to sin. I need power to

718
00:47:38,160 --> 00:47:43,759
Speaker 1: change you feel that way. And I really don't need

719
00:47:43,760 --> 00:47:46,360
Speaker 1: anybody throwing rocks at me for something that I'm already

720
00:47:46,400 --> 00:47:48,759
Speaker 1: beating the crap out of myself about while I'm at it.

721
00:47:52,239 --> 00:47:55,040
Speaker 1: And Jesus was you can look this up later. He

722
00:47:55,120 --> 00:47:57,920
Speaker 1: was teaching one day in john A and they dragged

723
00:47:57,920 --> 00:48:00,799
Speaker 1: this woman to him and they're like, we caught her

724
00:48:00,840 --> 00:48:04,400
Speaker 1: in the act of adultery. First of all, your creeps,

725
00:48:06,440 --> 00:48:19,680
Speaker 1: how did you second? Last time I checked adultery. It's

726
00:48:19,719 --> 00:48:27,239
Speaker 1: two people where is he? And now Jesus has to

727
00:48:27,280 --> 00:48:29,960
Speaker 1: make a decision because the Law of Moses says stoner

728
00:48:30,080 --> 00:48:33,879
Speaker 1: and they got their rocks ready. Now, maybe you don't

729
00:48:33,880 --> 00:48:36,080
Speaker 1: feel like anybody is throwing rocks at you. Maybe you do.

730
00:48:36,160 --> 00:48:38,560
Speaker 1: A lot of times we victimize ourselves of other people

731
00:48:38,600 --> 00:48:40,360
Speaker 1: who are thinking this about us, and they're not thinking

732
00:48:40,360 --> 00:48:44,520
Speaker 1: about us. They're thinking about lunch. The main thing that

733
00:48:44,560 --> 00:48:46,600
Speaker 1: set me free in preaching was realizing, no matter how

734
00:48:46,600 --> 00:48:48,440
Speaker 1: good or bad I do, all you're thinking about is

735
00:48:48,560 --> 00:48:53,279
Speaker 1: Chipotle five minutes after I'm done. But see, it's not

736
00:48:53,360 --> 00:48:57,000
Speaker 1: really those people you have to worry about, is it.

737
00:48:57,000 --> 00:49:02,680
Speaker 1: It's the stones that you throw at yourself. And so

738
00:49:02,800 --> 00:49:04,959
Speaker 1: now I'm confused because I think this preacher is telling

739
00:49:05,040 --> 00:49:08,799
Speaker 1: me do better. I'm gonna God's gonna no, no, no,

740
00:49:08,960 --> 00:49:11,600
Speaker 1: I didn't say any of that. The people Paul was

741
00:49:11,600 --> 00:49:15,840
Speaker 1: talking to an Ephesians were already saved, but their situation

742
00:49:16,040 --> 00:49:21,800
Speaker 1: didn't reflect their new self, so they wanted better for them.

743
00:49:22,040 --> 00:49:25,879
Speaker 1: And this woman is standing there with her clothes torn,

744
00:49:25,920 --> 00:49:28,960
Speaker 1: no doubt, and dusty from being dragged through the streets,

745
00:49:30,239 --> 00:49:31,920
Speaker 1: and very well aware of what she did, with no

746
00:49:31,960 --> 00:49:34,520
Speaker 1: defense to give. She was caught in the act of

747
00:49:34,560 --> 00:49:42,280
Speaker 1: adultre So Jesus makes this move that I think reflects

748
00:49:42,320 --> 00:49:45,439
Speaker 1: everything I've been trying to talk to you about. Where

749
00:49:45,480 --> 00:49:52,520
Speaker 1: he starts riding in the dirt, and you know, I

750
00:49:52,600 --> 00:49:55,399
Speaker 1: kind of think he's going back to where we came

751
00:49:55,440 --> 00:49:59,080
Speaker 1: from to begin with, to remind us that he knows

752
00:49:59,120 --> 00:50:03,520
Speaker 1: that we come from the dirt. And whatever he wrote

753
00:50:03,560 --> 00:50:06,440
Speaker 1: in the dirt, it must have been really, really weird,

754
00:50:06,440 --> 00:50:09,640
Speaker 1: because the Bible doesn't say, but he made a statement,

755
00:50:09,840 --> 00:50:14,000
Speaker 1: let the one who is without sin throw the first

756
00:50:14,120 --> 00:50:17,600
Speaker 1: rock at this woman, and then he starts writing. Now,

757
00:50:17,640 --> 00:50:20,759
Speaker 1: it has been suggested, although it cannot be proven, that

758
00:50:20,800 --> 00:50:27,320
Speaker 1: maybe he was writing their names and listing certain stuff

759
00:50:27,360 --> 00:50:30,439
Speaker 1: that they did that maybe they don't want to get

760
00:50:30,480 --> 00:50:33,200
Speaker 1: caught in. And maybe it wasn't the fact that they

761
00:50:33,200 --> 00:50:38,080
Speaker 1: didn't sind Maybe they just didn't get caught. So now

762
00:50:38,160 --> 00:50:40,640
Speaker 1: self righteousness has no place, because we got a God

763
00:50:40,680 --> 00:50:43,920
Speaker 1: who's writing in the dirt with the only hands that

764
00:50:44,080 --> 00:50:48,680
Speaker 1: never sinned, and he's showing us something about heaven touching

765
00:50:48,800 --> 00:50:52,680
Speaker 1: humanity and whatever he wrote. The Bible says that they

766
00:50:52,719 --> 00:50:55,000
Speaker 1: begin to leave one by one. You ready for this,

767
00:50:55,840 --> 00:51:00,839
Speaker 1: The oldest one left first. They left in order of

768
00:51:00,880 --> 00:51:04,320
Speaker 1: how long they had had to screw up their lives.

769
00:51:05,760 --> 00:51:08,759
Speaker 1: Oh God, he's writing that about her. Got to get

770
00:51:08,760 --> 00:51:11,719
Speaker 1: out of here right now. How would he even know that?

771
00:51:11,960 --> 00:51:16,560
Speaker 1: It's like he's God. But whatever he wrote is not

772
00:51:16,640 --> 00:51:18,759
Speaker 1: what I want to leave you with today. I want

773
00:51:18,760 --> 00:51:20,799
Speaker 1: to leave you with what he did in verse ten,

774
00:51:20,880 --> 00:51:27,799
Speaker 1: this is so beautiful play. Jesus straightened up and asked

775
00:51:27,840 --> 00:51:30,440
Speaker 1: the woman, because they're all gone now, all the rocks

776
00:51:30,440 --> 00:51:34,839
Speaker 1: are lying there in the presence of the only righteous one.

777
00:51:36,239 --> 00:51:43,319
Speaker 1: And he asked her, woman, where are they? Has no

778
00:51:43,360 --> 00:51:51,640
Speaker 1: one condemned you? And verse eleven touched me because she said,

779
00:51:52,400 --> 00:51:59,400
Speaker 1: no one, sir, And he said, then, neither do I

780
00:51:59,480 --> 00:52:06,359
Speaker 1: condemn you. But I do want to change you. That's

781
00:52:06,400 --> 00:52:07,920
Speaker 1: the gospel. Man. I don't know how to give it

782
00:52:07,960 --> 00:52:12,080
Speaker 1: to you any plainer than this. I don't condemn you.

783
00:52:17,680 --> 00:52:19,839
Speaker 1: There's no rock in my hand, but there is healing there.

784
00:52:21,880 --> 00:52:24,160
Speaker 1: You want to be different, you can watch this. I

785
00:52:24,200 --> 00:52:26,000
Speaker 1: know how we read the Bible. We read it in

786
00:52:26,000 --> 00:52:28,040
Speaker 1: the wrong tone. We read it like this angry God

787
00:52:28,080 --> 00:52:30,359
Speaker 1: that we were taught about that isn't really who he is.

788
00:52:32,239 --> 00:52:34,160
Speaker 1: We read it from the wrong mountain, like the mountain

789
00:52:34,239 --> 00:52:36,319
Speaker 1: mount SINAI. We don't read it from Mount Calvary, where

790
00:52:36,400 --> 00:52:39,719
Speaker 1: Jesus purchased her life with his blood and said, you

791
00:52:39,840 --> 00:52:43,400
Speaker 1: can be forgiven, you can be healed, you can be classed,

792
00:52:43,680 --> 00:52:46,360
Speaker 1: you can have a future. You can have a new beginning.

793
00:52:49,080 --> 00:52:54,680
Speaker 1: He said, I don't condemn you. Go now and leave

794
00:52:56,239 --> 00:52:59,960
Speaker 1: your life of sin. They wanted to give her punishment.

795
00:53:01,560 --> 00:53:10,960
Speaker 1: He wanted to give her permission. Stand to your feet.

796
00:53:13,160 --> 00:53:18,680
Speaker 1: God sent you this word to give you permission. Go

797
00:53:18,840 --> 00:53:24,040
Speaker 1: now and leave your life of sin for the sinless one.

798
00:53:24,120 --> 00:53:27,440
Speaker 1: His name is Jesus has given you a new identity

799
00:53:28,480 --> 00:53:31,920
Speaker 1: and longs to give you a new beginning. You know what,

800
00:53:31,960 --> 00:53:36,200
Speaker 1: you keep saying, But God is too late. Now Are

801
00:53:36,200 --> 00:53:38,239
Speaker 1: you really going to argue with him when he says

802
00:53:38,280 --> 00:53:41,480
Speaker 1: I've given you a hope in a future. You think

803
00:53:41,520 --> 00:53:43,440
Speaker 1: he didn't know how much time it would take for

804
00:53:43,480 --> 00:53:46,719
Speaker 1: you to get to this point. That God who made you?

805
00:53:47,440 --> 00:53:51,879
Speaker 1: Are you really going to argue with the God who

806
00:53:51,960 --> 00:53:57,160
Speaker 1: created you to be like him? Or would you agree

807
00:53:57,200 --> 00:54:00,319
Speaker 1: with him for a moment that maybe I am who

808
00:54:00,360 --> 00:54:03,600
Speaker 1: God says I am. Maybe I'm not what I did.

809
00:54:03,680 --> 00:54:05,960
Speaker 1: Maybe I'm more than the sum total of my behaviors

810
00:54:05,960 --> 00:54:08,360
Speaker 1: and my personality traits and my genetics and what I

811
00:54:08,400 --> 00:54:14,719
Speaker 1: saw model. Maybe I'm wrong and God's not. Maybe all

812
00:54:14,760 --> 00:54:18,040
Speaker 1: I am is not an alcoholic. Maybe the third relapse

813
00:54:18,080 --> 00:54:20,680
Speaker 1: wasn't the last time I need to try it. Maybe

814
00:54:20,719 --> 00:54:23,080
Speaker 1: I'm not always going to suffer from this chronic anxiety.

815
00:54:23,120 --> 00:54:24,919
Speaker 1: Maybe I'm going to learn a more peaceful way to live.

816
00:54:26,000 --> 00:54:28,000
Speaker 1: Maybe I'm not going to die alone. Maybe I will

817
00:54:28,040 --> 00:54:32,040
Speaker 1: love again. Maybe I will make a difference. Maybe I

818
00:54:32,080 --> 00:54:34,359
Speaker 1: will set a better example and be there for my son.

819
00:54:35,800 --> 00:54:41,600
Speaker 1: Whatever he's speaking, I bring you into agreement. Now agree

820
00:54:41,600 --> 00:54:45,080
Speaker 1: with him. That's the first step, just to agree with God.

821
00:54:45,280 --> 00:54:48,920
Speaker 1: That's even what the word amen means, y'all. It doesn't

822
00:54:48,960 --> 00:54:53,120
Speaker 1: mean that's good preaching. It means I agree. So be it.

823
00:54:54,080 --> 00:54:57,920
Speaker 1: If you see it, so be it. God. If you

824
00:54:58,080 --> 00:55:03,239
Speaker 1: say it, oh be it. If you call me it,

825
00:55:03,440 --> 00:55:07,239
Speaker 1: so be it. And if you don't, I'm making a

826
00:55:07,320 --> 00:55:10,239
Speaker 1: break today, even if it takes me the rest of

827
00:55:10,280 --> 00:55:13,319
Speaker 1: my life to live in this freedom. Every day of

828
00:55:13,360 --> 00:55:16,200
Speaker 1: my life. Just like I put on new socks every

829
00:55:16,280 --> 00:55:17,920
Speaker 1: day of my life, just like I put on a

830
00:55:17,960 --> 00:55:20,520
Speaker 1: new shirt every day of my life, just like I

831
00:55:20,560 --> 00:55:24,319
Speaker 1: put on my shoes, I am committed to follow you

832
00:55:24,719 --> 00:55:29,200
Speaker 1: in the light of life, for you are the light

833
00:55:29,239 --> 00:55:36,440
Speaker 1: of the world. Go now and sin no more. Go

834
00:55:36,560 --> 00:55:41,480
Speaker 1: now and sin no more. It's gonna be different, it's

835
00:55:41,520 --> 00:55:44,799
Speaker 1: gonna be difficult. But don't give yourself over to a

836
00:55:44,840 --> 00:55:47,160
Speaker 1: way of life that is leading you to death when

837
00:55:47,160 --> 00:55:53,240
Speaker 1: the author of life is calling you to live. Jesus,

838
00:55:53,280 --> 00:55:58,520
Speaker 1: I bring your people before your feet today, where there

839
00:55:58,560 --> 00:56:02,760
Speaker 1: is no rocks to throw, Oh, only righteousness to receive.

840
00:56:04,480 --> 00:56:06,480
Speaker 1: Heads about, eyes close. The spirit of the Lord is

841
00:56:06,480 --> 00:56:09,319
Speaker 1: working in someone's life in this moment. To give your

842
00:56:09,320 --> 00:56:15,120
Speaker 1: life to Jesus. You have never really given him your life.

843
00:56:15,320 --> 00:56:17,640
Speaker 1: You went to church when you were little, you heard

844
00:56:17,719 --> 00:56:20,520
Speaker 1: the gospel, you know some songs about it. You may

845
00:56:20,520 --> 00:56:22,480
Speaker 1: have even at one time been in a better place,

846
00:56:22,680 --> 00:56:26,840
Speaker 1: but you've never really given him you. Well, this is

847
00:56:26,880 --> 00:56:32,279
Speaker 1: your moment. This is your permission to stop living for

848
00:56:32,360 --> 00:56:35,920
Speaker 1: yourself and live for him. Stop trusting in your own

849
00:56:36,000 --> 00:56:40,040
Speaker 1: righteousness and trust in his. To stop trying to achieve it,

850
00:56:40,680 --> 00:56:44,960
Speaker 1: and receive it by grace with heads bowed and eyes closed.

851
00:56:45,000 --> 00:56:48,319
Speaker 1: At every location, if you hear that tender voice of love,

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00:56:48,360 --> 00:56:51,640
Speaker 1: that's the voice of Jesus saying where are your accusers?

853
00:56:53,440 --> 00:56:58,120
Speaker 1: I don't condemn you, but I want to change you.

854
00:56:58,160 --> 00:57:01,799
Speaker 1: In this moment, you and God is calling you. I

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00:57:01,840 --> 00:57:05,319
Speaker 1: want to lead you in a prayer. This prayer is

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00:57:05,360 --> 00:57:07,439
Speaker 1: not a magic trick. It's an expression of your heart

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00:57:07,480 --> 00:57:09,280
Speaker 1: to God. For the Bible says that if you confess

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00:57:09,320 --> 00:57:11,080
Speaker 1: with your mouth Jesus is the Lord, and believe in

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00:57:11,080 --> 00:57:12,839
Speaker 1: your heart God raised him from the dead, you will

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00:57:12,880 --> 00:57:17,040
Speaker 1: be saved. It is by grace. We are saved through faith.

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00:57:17,680 --> 00:57:19,320
Speaker 1: It's not of work, so that no one can boast.

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00:57:19,320 --> 00:57:21,400
Speaker 1: It is the gift of God. Right now, if you're

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00:57:21,400 --> 00:57:23,280
Speaker 1: ready to give your life to Jesus online at a

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00:57:23,320 --> 00:57:25,920
Speaker 1: campus right here at Valentine, I want you to repeat

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00:57:25,960 --> 00:57:28,880
Speaker 1: this after me, our church family, repeat this out loud

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00:57:28,960 --> 00:57:30,919
Speaker 1: for the benefit of those who are coming to God,

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00:57:31,320 --> 00:57:36,200
Speaker 1: Heavenly Father. I am a sinner in need of a savior,

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00:57:37,200 --> 00:57:41,600
Speaker 1: and today I make Jesus the Lord of my life.

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00:57:42,640 --> 00:57:46,800
Speaker 1: I believe he died that I would be forgiven and

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00:57:46,960 --> 00:57:52,840
Speaker 1: rose again to give me life. I receive this new life.

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00:57:53,640 --> 00:57:57,320
Speaker 1: This is my new beginning. If you just pray that

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00:57:57,440 --> 00:58:00,400
Speaker 1: on the count of three, shoots your hand up one, two, three,

873
00:58:00,640 --> 00:58:03,720
Speaker 1: all over the room, all over the room, in the

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00:58:03,840 --> 00:58:06,720
Speaker 1: chat right now online our intam come on, lift it up.

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00:58:06,760 --> 00:58:09,160
Speaker 1: Don't be a shame, don't be a same. Well, if

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00:58:09,160 --> 00:58:11,480
Speaker 1: you enjoyed today's podcast, there are a couple of things

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00:58:11,520 --> 00:58:14,840
Speaker 1: I'd love for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate,

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00:58:15,120 --> 00:58:18,120
Speaker 1: and review this podcast. You can also help us reach

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00:58:18,160 --> 00:58:22,000
Speaker 1: others by investing today at Elevationchurch dot org, slash give

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00:58:22,400 --> 00:58:25,240
Speaker 1: and thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast.