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Yes, you have one of these flashlights.

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So you know how obnoxiously bright this little thing is.

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So I bought this flashlight for work because sometimes working in a car it's very hard

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to see what you're looking at because it's dark and there's a lot of shaded areas especially

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when you're underneath of a dashboard.

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It's extremely hard to see.

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So I brought this flashlight because it's small and it's easy to stick somewhere.

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However, when I bought this flashlight I did not realize how obnoxious this thing was and

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how bright this thing was.

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So this little thing is very bright.

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It's got a brighter setting too.

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It's kind of hard to see because it's bright in this room but you can still see the light.

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So when I use that flashlight at work and I'm underneath of a dash it literally lights

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up the entire underneath of the dash.

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It's cool but sometimes it's a little too much.

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So the reason I wanted you guys to see this is because when you're in a dark spot you

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have to have light to see.

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We can't see in the dark.

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We don't have night vision.

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We're not like cats.

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We don't have good sight at dark.

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You can also use this as an example.

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If you're driving down a country road with no street lights, trees on both sides and

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you have no headlights, would you be able to see where you're driving?

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No, probably not.

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A couple years ago, more than a couple years ago, quite a few years of trip to Mohican

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which is for those of you who don't know is in southern Ohio.

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And once you get down into southern Ohio it gets very tree covered.

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You get a lot of winding roads and we were in my little jeep which didn't have very

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good headlights but it ended up getting very dark and extremely foggy to where we could

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barely see the road we were driving down.

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And if for some reason my lights would have went out for like five seconds I probably

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would have crashed.

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It was that dark.

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You could not see anything.

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It was crazy.

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So it's amazing how much just even a little bit of light can help you see and how it will

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fill an area.

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Like I said, the example I had when I'm underneath of the dash of a car and I need light to see,

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I use my flashlight.

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I light up so I can see what I'm doing so I'm making sure I'm doing the right thing.

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But we also have to understand that not only does light spread but darkness also spreads.

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So if you take the light out of something the room will start filling with darkness.

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We shut all the lights off.

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We put blackout curtains up on all these windows and all those windows it will get very dark

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in here.

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So not only does light spread but dark spreads as well.

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And this will come into play a little bit later.

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So when I was reading through the text for today I got convicted of myself because I

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realized that there's things that I'm not doing right which happens every time I preach.

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But almost every time I read the Bible I realize that there's more to what the Bible says than

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just literally what it says.

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If you actually get the chance to study it and dig into it a little bit it can help you

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even though it was written a long long time ago.

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It's still so relevant to today's world and it's crazy how that works.

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So we are going to be reading from Isaiah chapter 59.

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Thanks Ron.

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Isaiah 59.

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Yes!

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Alright that worked.

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So like I said when I was reading through this it's difficult.

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It may hurt some feelings.

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It may step on some toes.

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But it'll be worth it in the end.

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It really opened my eyes to a few different things and we'll get to it.

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You know I'm going to enlist people to read.

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Who wants to start reading?

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Go ahead Ron you can read all the way up to four.

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Actually you can read all the way up to eight.

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Including eight.

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Alright.

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Surely in the arm of the Lord is not too short to say, nor is ear too dull to hear.

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But your iniquities have separated you from your God.

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Your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

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For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt, your lips was spoken falsely.

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excuse me, your lips have spoken falsely and your tongue mutters wicked things. No one

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calls for justice, no one cleans a case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments, they

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utter lies. They conceive trouble and give birth to evil. They hatch the eggs of vipers

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and spin a spider's web. Whoever eats their eggs will die and when one is broken an adder

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is hatched. The cobwebs are useless for clothing, they cannot cover themselves with what they

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make. Their deeds are evil deeds and acts of violence are in their hands. Their feet rushed

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into sin, they are swift to shed innocent blood. They pursue evil schemes, acts of violence

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mark their ways. A way of peace they do not know, there is no justice in their paths.

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They have turned them into crooked roads. No one who walks along them will know peace.

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Okay, so right away you can see how in these first couple of verses that it explains that

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the problem is sin. So we have separation from God, that separation came all the way

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back from the very beginning with Adam and Eve. When Eve decided to eat the fruit in

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the garden, that sin brought the separation between us and God. And that has been the

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problem ever since then. So we are now separated from God because of sin, because of the evil

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things we do. We now cannot walk with God in His presence like we should be able to.

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God wants us to be with Him, He wants us to walk with Him, He wants us to be there, but

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because we have sin we cannot walk with God. We have a separation, that separation is always

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going to be there. Also we need to understand that that separation from God spreads from

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person to person. And unfortunately, this is where it gets a little, like it will hurt

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your soul a little bit, unfortunately we are the reason that sin entered the world. It's

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not racism, it's not drugs, it's not the LGBTQ, it's none of that. We are the reason that

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sin came into the world. It is our sin that we now have that separation from God. You

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can't blame politics or anything like that, it's us. It's our own human fleshly desires

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that separate us from God. When I first read that it hurt because I was like, okay I know

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there are plenty of things in my life that I do that are not good things that I've been

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working on and working on and working on and I've gotten a lot better at it, but I know

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there are still things in my life that I shouldn't do, but it's so hard to not do them because

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it's what I'm used to. And this is the problem that we have as people, as flesh, where we

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are weak compared to our own wants and desires. So, like I said, we have to understand that

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we are the problem. That's part of the sermon title, we are the problem, we are the reason

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that sin has entered the world. And later we'll figure out how we're supposed to fix

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this, because it's up to us to fix it too. But first we have to realize, anyone know

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how you realize there's a problem, first you have to realize, or how do you fix a problem,

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you have to realize what the problem is. We are part of that problem, our sin is part

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of the problem. Anyone else want to read? You want to try this? Okay. Read 9 to 11.

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Yeah.

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Alright, I'm going to pick up from there.

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Okay.

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This goes back to the flashlight and life

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lighting up a room. We have to understand that sin affects everyone. You may tell one

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lie and that may not affect you personally, but it's going to affect other people in

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your life. If I tell my kids a lie, they want to believe it because they think, you know,

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I should know, I should know what to do, I should know how to do things. And they'll

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believe that that's truth. This is part of the problem with the world we're living in

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now. There's so many lies that people are trying to force us to believe is truth when

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it's not true. And we can see how that sin can spread and spread and get worse and get

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worse. Part of the problem I think is we took God out of too much stuff. We have excluded

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God in so many things now. One of the biggest things that I think should never have happened

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is we excluded God from schools. No, I never heard anyone in my school all throughout my

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high school, elementary, all of that. I never heard anyone say that, you know, Jesus is

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real or any of that. I never heard any of that in schools. And you look back even just

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a hundred years ago and that was a teaching in pretty much all schools that God is real.

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And we have taken that away from people. We've taken that away from young kids. And it's

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going to be the young ones that are going to have to rise up and be the ones to run

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our nation at some point because everyone dies. So we have to train the young ones how

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to do what's right. And how are we going to train them to do what's right when we're

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not doing what's right? So if we are the ones that are doing the wrong things and we are

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the ones that are causing the sin, how are we even going to think that we are going to

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raise kids to do the right thing? Now I know personally, I know myself, I am not a perfect

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father. I know I have my mistakes. I have got plenty of flaws. I know I have my mistakes.

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I have got plenty of flaws and I know that and my kids know that and I have told them

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that many times that I am not perfect. I make a lot of mistakes and they know this. So I

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tell them all the time, I know I have told them that a lot, that don't try to do what

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I do all the time. You do what God tells you to do. And the only way that you are going

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to know that is by reading your Bible, by studying your Bible and listening to what

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God says. So it is up to us to get this younger generation to understand that everyone makes

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mistakes, everyone is not perfect, but with God we have that understanding that, like

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Ron said, we have that understanding and that peace that doesn't make sense to us. Like

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you can be extremely calm in intense situations or you can understand something that you shouldn't

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be able to understand but you know what it is. So one of the things that I heard recently,

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I think it was Jason that told me this, is in his school they are starting to teach that

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there are more than two genders and it is wrong, but this is the stuff our schools are

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trying to teach these kids now. And they are trying to say that a boy can go into a girls

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bathroom and that is wrong, but our world is trying to get us to believe that these

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are real and this is truth now. And it is up to us to tell people, no this is not right.

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We should not be out supporting the fact that people want to kill innocent babies. We should

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not be out trying to support the fact that a boy can somehow become a girl. This is not

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stuff we should be sitting down and just letting happen. I have seen churches accept gay marriage

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because that is what society wants them to do. And this is in a sermon about now that

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I am just using it as an example that there is evil in the world that there are so many

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people trying to force us to believe it is truth and it is not. If you want truth you

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read the bible, you get it from Jesus. That is truth. Does anyone want to read? Alright

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go ahead and read 16 to the end.

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He said that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene. So his

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own arm achieved salvation for him and his own righteousness sustained him. He put on

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righteousness a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on his head. He put on garments

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of the sun that were of the earth's glory. For you will come like a pent up flood, said

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the prophet of the Lord and drives the water. The redeemer will come to Zion, to those in

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Jacob who protected their sins, said the Lord. As for me, this is my covenant with that,

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said the Lord. My spirit who is on you will not depart from you and my words that I have

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put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children, on the lips

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of your children, and on the lips of your children.

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So does anyone know what that is telling us? Not a rhetorical question, anyone?

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It's a prophecy of Jesus.

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Exactly. It's one of the prophecies of becoming a Jesus. So it is telling us that there is

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a savior that is going to save us from the sin and that person was Jesus Christ. So Jesus

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Christ did come, He died on the cross to save us from our sins so we can no longer have

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that separation from God. So that we can actually walk with God in the Holy Spirit and feel

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that presence that we never had. But it took Jesus Christ to do that. Because it says that

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God saw that there was no man, there was no one person that had the ability to save everyone.

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And this is a couple thousand years ago. And if you look at today's world, that is exactly

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how it is today. There is not one person on this earth today that can save every human

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being. There is no one that is going to be able to stand out and step out like Jesus

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did and live a sinless life even though there is so much evil around. There is not one person

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today. In Romans 3.23 it says, For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

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For all. That doesn't exclude anyone, it's all. That's why it's written, For all have

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sinned. So there's three things. First off, we need to understand that we were part of

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the problem. That it is our sin that we brought into this world that separates us from God.

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You can't blame anything else. You can't blame nothing. It's sin. Every major problem that

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we have in this world all boils down to sin. So, excuse me, I'm a mechanic. I've been

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working on cars for a long time. Some days I love it, some days I hate it. But if I had

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a car once that I was working on a couple years ago, yeah, and the car had a misfire,

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there's hundreds of things that can cause a car to have a misfire, but it's really three

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things that make an engine run. You need fuel, you need combustion, and you need an ignition

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source. So it was missing one of those three things and I figured it out. There was low

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compression on a couple of the cylinders. So I was like, okay, well, it's going to need

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a motor. But the car only had, I think it was like 16,000 miles on it. So I was like,

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okay, there's got to be a reason that a 16,000 mile one-year-old car needs an engine. So

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I had my board camera, I stuck it down in there and I could see that the cylinder walls

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were all scored and this was causing low compression. So I was like, okay, well, obviously it's

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definitely going to need a motor. So I recommended the motor, get it all rode up. And then when

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I pulled the motor out, I happened to accidentally, this was completely accidental, I didn't even

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mean to, but I glanced down inside of the converter and the converter bolts directly

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to the head of the car. And the way cars are designed nowadays, I can get into more detail,

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but I'm not going to for time's sake, but the way cars are designed today, the intake

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and exhaust valves are for a very brief period of time open at the same exact time to help

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with emissions and whatnot. So what I found is on this converter, the whole top of the

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converter was like this really flaky metal because the converter had started deteriorating.

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So what was happening is it was pulling metal into the motor and it was causing the metal

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to sit in the combustion chamber and scrape up the cylinder walls. So if I would have

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put another motor in it and left it like that, it would have went on its way and another

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year or so it would have been back for the same exact problem because I didn't find out

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what the root cause of the problem was. And if you look at today's world, this is a perfect

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example of it, the root problem of everything going on right now, the root cause is sin.

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That is the problem. We have to stop blaming all this other stuff. We have to start blaming

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the real thing and that is sin. Too many times have I heard that, oh well, you know, it's

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the government's fault or it's so and so's fault. No, it is not. Sin is the problem.

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So we have to fully understand this before we can even begin to try to fix it. And the

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second thing we need to understand is sin spreads like a disease. Sin is probably the

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worst spreading disease out there. It's worse than COVID because COVID may physically kill

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you, but sin will spiritually kill you. And to me, that's worse than physically dying

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because at least if I die and I know I'm saved and I know Jesus loves me, at least when I

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die, I know where I'm going in the end. I'm going to heaven.

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That's right.

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So, but we have to understand that our sin does not just affect us. Our sin affects everything

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around us. I've heard Dan say this countless times and I love it because I can see it,

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that the earth is groaning, that all of creation groans for the coming of Jesus. All the stuff

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that happens is the earth groaning and creation groaning because of all the sin in the world.

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I mean, I would have loved to have been back in Adam and Eve's day where we could walk

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around freely and not do any work and just enjoy life like it's supposed to be. But

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unfortunately, because of sin, we can't do that no more.

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And the last thing is, we have a Redeemer. We have Jesus Christ now. Jesus said there

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was, I think something like 300 prophets that Jesus fulfilled from the Old Testament, which

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is insane. So in here, it says that Jesus is going to, that there is a Redeemer coming,

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but then you can have the argument, oh, well this was a couple thousand years ago, whatever.

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Well it also says we're going to go to Hebrews. Didn't mark it. I didn't mark it. My Bible

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has two bookmarks and I didn't mark it. We're going to go to Hebrews chapter 9. I think

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that was it.

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Alright, so we're going to go, I'm going to read Hebrews chapter 9 verse 28. It says,

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So Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, he will appear a second

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time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await him. Notice how

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it says eagerly await? So we have proved that there is going to be a second coming of Jesus,

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but we also have to understand that we have to wait for him. And then in Revelations chapter

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22 verse 12 says, Behold, I am coming quickly and my reward is with me to redeem, to render

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every man according to what he has done. We have proved that Jesus is going to come again

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to redeem his world once and for all, to put an end to sin for the last time. But the scary

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part about this is, when Jesus comes again, where are you going to stand? Are you going

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to be part of the problem or are you going to be part of the problem that's trying to

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help fix it? Because let's be real, as Christians, how many times do we still get it wrong?

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How many times have you tried something and still gotten it wrong and still failed to

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follow God to the fullest of your ability? Exactly, too many times. But yet, God still

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loves us so much that he sent Jesus to die. And he loves us so much that he is going to

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send Jesus again to take us home. So we need to, what we need to do, what God is telling

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us to do is to help fix that problem by shining the light in the world. The more light we

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shine, the brighter it gets. But we can't do it without Jesus. We can't do it without

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God. We want to be a part of the solution and fix the problems that we have caused with

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our sin that we have to have God do it through us. Because there's no way that we are going

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to do this on our own strength.

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Okay. So what is, what happens when you leave a hot cup of water in a cold room?

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Exactly, it starts to get colder until it gets to room temperature. How do you heat

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that glass of water up again? Put it in a microwave, put it on a stove, get it to a

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warmer environment. So water, liquid, temperature I guess you can say, temperature always goes

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from hot to cold. The only way to get it hot again is you have to add a heat source. It's

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part of the reason why it's so cold in space. But I had to look that up too because I wanted

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to make sure I was right on that. Because I was, when I thought about this I was like,

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you know, is that really true? I've heard it before in school so I started looking it

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up and it's true that there's a lot of things I read that say the exact same thing, that

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temperature always goes from hot to cold. No. It never goes from cold to hot. I can

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explain more but I'm not going to. If you want to look it up on your own, fine. It's

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really cool, it's really interesting, I recommend you do. I learned something new from it. But

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the point behind it is, for us as Christians, when you first got saved, what was it like?

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I was on fire, man. I was ready to do stuff. I was ready to be different. And then about

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two years later it kind of leveled off. Because that's how we are. We need that source behind

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us to keep us on fire for God. We need that push. We need that fire. Because when I first

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got saved, I was ready. I was like, let's go. I want my life to be better. I want to

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be a better person. I want to be a better father. I want to be a better husband. And

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then about two years later it kind of leveled off and I just kind of went meh. And it still

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happens. And it's been over ten years now and it still happens. There's days where I'm

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like, let's go. I want to do this and I'm on fire. And then it just kind of levels off.

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And part of that is because of the world we live in. We live in a room temperature world

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and our bodies are trying to adjust to what we have around us. Our flesh wants what it

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wants. So a little bit of a recap here. If you feel that God is trying to get you to

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do something, stop fighting against him. Let God work through you. Because we are all in

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this together. All of us. There's no one person that can do it by their self. We are a team.

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We are a body. That's how the Bible describes it. We are a body. We are to work together.

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We can't do this alone. We need everyone. But the other thing we have to understand

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is, every one of us is part of the problem. And that every one of us can help fix this.

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We can help fix it. We may have caused a problem but there's nothing like causing a problem,

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breaking something and then being able to go, you know what, I can fix this. So us as

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Christians need to be out there fighting against what was bad. I mean look at Jesus. Jesus

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hung with sinners all the time. Jesus hung with prostitutes. He hung with tax collectors.

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We need to be out in the world explaining to the lost people of this world that there

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is a better solution and that is Jesus Christ. Our better solution is Jesus Christ. Our better

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solution is God. We need to let people understand this. Because then maybe, just maybe one day

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we can finally see the world become at least a little bit better of a place to where there's

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not so much evil. But it's going to take all of us working together, not fighting against

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each other. We have our differences but we can put those differences aside if it means

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standing for God and letting God reign. God created each individual person different for

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that reason so we have different skills and different abilities to work together to grow

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his kingdom. Not to fight against each other because I like this color and you like that

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color. That is not what we're here to do. We are here to build the kingdom of God. We

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are here to step out and be that light. But we can't do it without Jesus. We can't do

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it without showing people that yes, you are part of the problem. You are a sinner but

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guess what? So am I. I am not perfect either. I have my issues. But you know what? How about

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we work together and fix this? Because like I said, because then just maybe, just maybe

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we can see a world that is slightly better than what it is right now. At least we can

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at least try to get people to understand that with God we can really make a change in this

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world. But here's part of the problem. How many people would like to admit that they

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are the ones that caused the problem? How many people will step out and go, you know

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what? I didn't do this. This isn't my fault. This is so and so's fault. It's so hard for

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us to admit that we are the ones that caused this problem so nobody wants to change. Nobody

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wants to follow God because they don't want to admit that they are the reason that the

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world is failing. I didn't get saved until I was in my twenties because I refused to

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admit that I had problems. I was blaming it on my parents that it was their fault that

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I was the way I was. But no, it was my choices that I made. It was the things that I did.

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And it's like that with every single person in this world. It is the choices that you

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make. It's the things that you did that caused it. So we have to be willing to admit that.

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And it's so hard to admit that you are the problem. But guess what? You are also part

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of the best solution ever. You are part of the greatest solution. The greatest thing

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that could ever happen is you finally admitting that you have a problem and that you have

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the ability to fix it. So I don't want anyone to sit here and think that I'm trying to make

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you feel bad or make you feel depressed because that's not what this is about. This is about

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you understanding where everyone lies. This is not singling anyone out. This is everyone.

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Everyone in this whole planet was like 7 billion people. And it's probably higher than that

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because there's tribes and stuff that most people don't even know exist.

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But the point being is I don't want to sit here and feel bad. I'm not trying to bad mouth

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or anything like that. I'm just trying to get all of us to be on the same page here.

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Because us as a church, if we are not all on the same page, we are not going to do what

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God is calling us to do. Part of the very basics of getting saved is admitting that

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you are a sinner. You have to admit that first. But then we become the greatest solution this

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world has. And that is preparing people for the coming of Christ. The second coming of

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Jesus. That's what John the Baptist did. John the Baptist was there to prepare people for

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the coming of Christ. All of us now, that is our job. All of us as Christians, as churches,

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all of us now have that same job John the Baptist did. And that is to prepare the world

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for the second coming of Christ. Because eventually He is coming again. No one knows when, no

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one knows the exact date. I mean there are so many stories out there. I was watching

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2012 a couple nights ago and Jason was watching it with me a little bit. Was it you or was

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it Caleb? It might have been Caleb. But he was asking me a bunch of questions about it.

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But the point is no one knows exactly when Jesus is coming again. But we have proof in

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the Bible that He is coming again. So we need to be ready so when He does come, He is not

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going to say to us, get away I never knew you. Instead He is going to say, welcome my

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good and faithful servant. Which is one of the scariest things I have ever read in the

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Bible by the way. The fact that Jesus could come again and you could look at Him and hey

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look I tried to follow you and He is going to be like no you didn't and get out of here.

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That is one of the scariest things I have ever read in the Bible and I have read quite

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a bit so far. I have never read the whole thing. Getting close. But the point is that

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it is really terrifying to think about. Alright so with all this being said, I want you guys

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to look into your lives and realize that yes we are all sinners, yes we are all failures,

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we are broken people, we are all broken people, we come from broken backgrounds or maybe we

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come from a good background but we still have issues. All of us are broken people but we

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have the greatest solution and that is Jesus Christ. He is the reason why we are all still

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here today because let's be real, if God really wanted to He could wipe the earth out again.

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He has done it once and He said He will never do it by flood again. But that doesn't mean

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He won't wipe the earth out again. He has the power to do so. But God wants us to spread

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His word. He wants us to get people closer. So if you can look into your own life and

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look at what you have done and look at the things that you are doing, use those for God's

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benefit. Don't use them to benefit you. In my job I go to work to make money to supply

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for my family and that is hard for me to stop thinking about it that way but that is how

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I think. I go to work so I can make a paycheck so I can pay my bills and make sure my kids

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eat. But that is not why I go to work. That shouldn't be the only reason I go to work.

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The reason I should go to work is because God gave me that job so I should be glorifying

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Him in that job. God gave me the ability to wake up and go to work because there are people

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that don't have that anymore. My mom will never be able to work again because of the

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surgery she has had. And my mom has worked all of her life and she is going bonkers right

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now because she is so used to working. I should be grateful that I have a job. Not just oh

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great I have to go to work again. I should be grateful. If you are alive right now you

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should be grateful. So we are supposed to use all of this, all of the stuff in our life

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as a benefit to God. And if you haven't done that, if you haven't used everything that

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you have to benefit God in some way, somehow, then you need to look into your life and realize

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that you are doing it wrong. Excuse me. I got a headache. But as a way of closing and

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we are going to have our invitation, I want you guys to see how one sin can affect the

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lives of many. And how your one sin affects more than just you. Even if no one else is

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around, even if no one else is in the same room as you, it can still affect other people

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because it can change the way you feel, it can change the way you act. I know when I

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am starting to get down and I am starting to realize that I am starting to get really

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angry very easily and it is because I am not doing what God wants me to do. So then I start

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yelling at my kids more, I start yelling at my wife, I start putting off things I should

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be doing because I realize I am not doing what God wants me to do. And that is not where

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we should be. That is not how we should be living. So if that is you, you need to repent.

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If you don't know the Lord, you should really pray and see what God can do. Because I am

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telling you, making the choice to follow God was the best decision I have ever made in

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my entire life. And I will not deny that one bit. I can't stress how important it is to

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understand that God wants us to have that relationship with Him. He doesn't want us

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to be separated no more. He has never wanted us to be separated from Him. So much that

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He sent Jesus to die on the cross so we can be close to Him again.

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I love you.