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Dear God, what do we thank you so much for this day? We thank you for all that you've done

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Pray that you'll guide us and guide our hearts and minds as we open your word this morning teach us

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And Lord help us to journey with you

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Continue this walk as we know this world is challenging. We know there are things that Satan will put before us

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But Lord you're above all

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May our faith not grow weary and but may grow stronger and deeper as we look forward to the day you come again

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We love you Lord and praise you and thank you and ask these things in your heavenly name. Amen

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Frederick Nietzsche a famous German philosopher and cultural critic

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In the late 1800s and early 1900s most notably he was an atheist

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So you might recognize his name

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Just from that category alone, but he said this and it posed this question that I want to bring to you today

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Is man merely a mistake of God's or is God merely a mistake of man?

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Essentially posing this question is in a mistake for us to believe in God

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Are we wasting our time believing there is a God that is out there?

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Who's not only out but but he's alive and active in our lives

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Are we wasting our time believing the stories of Scripture that that the stories of this book a

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Book of faith

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We waste in our time

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Truly believing that these stories about the God of this book are real

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Scripture is a book of faith

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and

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We need to journey as we understand and try to learn and and and dive in to understand what God is calling us to

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We must recognize that faith is a challenge at times. Can it not be?

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faith in God faith in who he is who the Bible describes him as

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what he can do in our lives can be a

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challenge

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So today I want to ask you this question. How strong is is your faith?

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How was your faith this morning in the world that we live in?

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How was your faith today? I

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Want to explore this concept because I firmly believe this is

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One of the things if not the most pivotal thing that Satan begins to chip away at each of our lives

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if he can get us to cause us to doubt and not believe and struggle in our faith

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Then how will we stand as a Christian?

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How we stand as a follower of Christ?

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I

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Want to look at one story today kind of zone in as our home base

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And I invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 8 a

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story of a centurion

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When Jesus came and had this conversation with this man

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He had just previously as you look through scripture in the book of Matthew just been speaking

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And sharing the well-known sermon on the mount

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Thereafter he began to heal people as well

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But he entered in Capernaum

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Where he came across the century and I'm gonna be reading Matthew 8 starting with verse 5 all the way through 13

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Today I'll be reading from the new international version

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When Jesus entered Capernaum a centurion came to him asking for help

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Lord, he said my servant lies at home paralyzed suffering terribly

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Jesus said to him shall I come and heal him?

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The centurion replied

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Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof

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But just say the word and my servant will be healed for I myself am a man under authority with

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Soldiers under me. I tell this one go and he goes and that one come and he comes

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I say to my servant do this and he does it

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When Jesus heard this he was amazed and said to those falling truly

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I tell you I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith

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I say to you that many will come from the east into the west and will take their places at the feast with Abraham

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Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven

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But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside into darkness where they'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth

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Then Jesus said to the centurion go let it be done just as you believed it would

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And the servant was healed at that very moment

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Now it's the story just reading through it

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It just kind of draws me back as there are several points I'd like to look at but the first significant point is simply the fact alone

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that

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This man is a man of faith

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alone that this man as Jesus noted

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Have found no one in all of Israel with such great faith

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as a centurion

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I've kind of pondered that thought as I've read the story before but with such great faith. This isn't interesting

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This is a a huge claim. I mean because Jesus has healed he's done miracles

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he's seen the faith of many individuals but to declare this man has

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Almost essentially the greatest faith of them all that he has seen this far

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So I want to look at this this man for a moment. Who is this man? Who is this centurion? What is that?

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A certain centurion was a roman officer

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In the army probably the equivalent historians believed to that of a captain. They would be in charge of a hundred men

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with the name centurion makes sense

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And sometimes they were elected to the role, but usually they rose to the ranks after 15 to 20 years of service

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And they were in charge of their hundred men. They oversaw the training and developing of these soldiers

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Often

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They had complete control of them. They told them exactly what they were to do at whatever times and they would have to do it

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But they rose to the ranks because often of their strong courage

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Often of their strong courage if in battle they would be the ones that would lead their hundred men

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so

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Understanding this now and coming up to Jesus with a request like this is kind of

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Unbelievable

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most of them led the way in fixing the problems not humbling themselves and

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Can't do this. I can't fix this problem

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but his servant

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Who he cared about dearly

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He suffered he was paralyzed

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And he asked if Jesus would go and Jesus said that he would go and asked him basically

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would you would you like me to go and the captain could have stopped right then but

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Jesus I believe saw in his heart in his mind something deeper because the man kept talking

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Looking back at verse 8. I want to read through that 8 and 9

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The sentient replied lord, I do not deserve

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To have you come under my roof a little humility right there

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But just say the word and my servant will be healed for I myself am a man under authority with the soldiers under me

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I tell this one to go and he goes and that one to come and he comes and say to my servant do this

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And he does it

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When I first read this I was a little confused I mean I see his humility

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There at the beginning but then he begins to kind of tell Jesus all of his authority and influences that he has

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He has the ability to say this and people do it

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Look who I am is this is this kind of a a problem moment where he needs to let Jesus know all that he can do

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I don't believe it is

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Because when I understand and look to understand this story and see that Jesus sees inside of his heart

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There came a point for this captain who has the authority to do so much

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Had to make a decision

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Is this something he could fix heal his paralyzed servant

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Or is this something that's out of his hands

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He has the authority to do a lot of things but this he could not do

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Frank Cope tells us illustration this story

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The naval institute where they sent out two battleships out into the waters to do this training exercise

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And there were severe storms that were taking place

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The fog was heavy as all of a sudden one of the ships through the patchy fog saw a light piercing through the darkness of the night

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As will man on the watch out said

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Hey, signal into our calling to the captain. There is a light bearing there on the starboard side

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The captain called out. Is it steady or is it moving?

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The lookout replied it is steady which meant they're on a dangerous course

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They're on a dangerous course

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The captain then called out to the signal man will signal a ship. We are on a collision course

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Advise them to change their degrees change their course 20 degrees

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As they the signal came back advisable for you to change your course 20 degrees

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The captain said send them this message. I am the captain change course 20 degrees

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Back in the message

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I am a seaman second class. You better change your course 20 degrees

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At that time the captain was furious. He spat out send

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I'm a battleship change your course 20 degrees

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That came the message. I'm a lighthouse change yours 20 degrees

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There comes a time friends

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When things are not going to be the way they are

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Sometimes when things are out of your control

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Some things you don't have the power to do some things that even if you are in charge of even if you are the captain

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You can't fix you can't change I think in this moment as we read this story about the centurion

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This captain is humbly showing yes

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He believes that jesus has his power to to reveal excuse me jesus has the power to

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Heal his servants

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Yes, he has earthly power on this earth this captain does but ultimately he is revealing his spiritual dependency upon jesus

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Yes Captain of the ship could not move the lighthouse this centurion could not heal this paralyzed man

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In other words, i've got the power and courage to do whatever I want or need to on this earth, but this is a spiritual issue

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This is something I cannot do. I need you god. I need you and I trust you jesus. You can do something about this

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Yes

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Friends have you been in a situation that seems impossible

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You realize uh, that's something no matter no matter how talented you are or how gifted you are how much money you have

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The situation is just out of your hands

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This is a jesus saying this is something that only he can help me with

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Over the last few months of this year i've sat with a family whose son has committed suicide

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How do you fix a problem like that?

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You can't

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I sat with the young girls whose dad was going to die from cancer and he did

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How do you fix that

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You can't these things are the impossible

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But even more I know there are those who are here here today

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Those who are here here today that seem they are facing some of the impossible as well

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I know there are some who may be struggling with finances and maybe question each and every day

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I know there are some here who may be struggling in the relationships their marriages or whatever else may be challenging in their life

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I know there are some who are struggling with maybe family members who are making difficult decisions or you yourself are making difficult decisions

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or challenging

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Choices in life. I know there are some who are struggling perhaps even with depression and how how do we fix these things?

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Can we just immediately snap out of them?

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Some of these things seem like mountains that we cannot move

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And yes, there are some things that we can take steps and making good choices to help us make better choices in life

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But for many of these things

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We ultimately need help from someone

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someone

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Who's got this world in his hands?

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Someone who's outside of herself?

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Do you have faith in Jesus?

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This is where the reality of what we see and know where science and truth collide with with faith

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Something that is abstract a feeling you could say

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Because faith sometimes as we think about it, it's just it's hard to understand

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That's why I love the author of herews who writes in herews 11 1

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Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of things that we cannot even see

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That statement alone is hard to grasp sometimes faith has a certainty to it

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Even though we can't see it, even though we can't touch it sometimes

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We have to have certainty in this faith

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And that's why it's so hard for those who are visual. I brought some examples with me here this morning

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I've got two jars

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This first one

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I've got a jar here, right?

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Is there is there anything in this jar?

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Okay, yes

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Most people will say no, there's nothing in this jar

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But we know there's what in this jar

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But we know there's what in there?

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Oxygen there's air

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We can't see it

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But we know it's there, right?

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I brought another one this one is filled with what?

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Water

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And okay, very good water and air I can still you can see the water

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All right, as I move it around if I shake it up you can see what in there?

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Bubbles

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Which is evidence of?

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The air the oxygen

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I like that reminder simply because the fact is we cannot always see air

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Jesus even uses the scriptures are as as he was telling

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Nicodemus about the holy spirit being like the breeze

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You don't know where he's going. You can't always see if you trust it's there

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If you trust it's there we see evidence all around us and I love what paul writes in

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Romans chapter 1

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If you're not familiar with this text turn in your bibles there romans chapter 1 verse 20

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I love this text because it

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Shares

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This great challenge for us to understand

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That we can know god is there

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And we see evidence all around us for this is what it says romans 1 verse 20

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For since the creation of the world god's invisible qualities

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His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen

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Being understand what has been made so that people are without excuse

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There's evidence all around we walk outside of this building and we see trees we see

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Nature we see god's works all around us and we are without excuse

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God's work is all around us and I love this illustration

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That we may not be able to see god right here, but we can see evidence of him

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We know he's there we can sense his presence

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And I know that this man this centurion had faith as well

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Whether he'd seen or heard jesus he healed other people before

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He trusted that jesus could do this

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He trusted

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Jesus asks us to have faith in what we cannot see

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He wants us to believe in something we know is there

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And sometimes I know we question this because we sometimes ask

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And naturally feel like why is it faith god isn't it more something that we should just

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Want to do or that you should be pleased with how we walk or our obedience and yes god does want us to be obedient to him

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but

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Faith is where it is about

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We sometimes ask why doesn't god want us to be like sometimes these bible heroes we we pattern a life sometimes after them

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But these heroes in scripture are only heroes because of their faith

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Bible heroes are only heroes because they trusted god and despite their only their excuse despite

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Their own abilities or lack thereof he was 11 gives us

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individual after individual of these men of faith that's hall of faith is what we

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often refer to it as

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And they're in this chapter not because of what they did

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Because when you start looking at the lives of these individuals who are listed in these incredible

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Heroes of faith we have liars. We have cheaters. We have murderers. We have adulterers. We have thieves. We have more

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And they're in scripture noted

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as men and women of

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faith

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But they're in there because of their faith

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Not because of what they accomplished. It's because what they accomplished is what they accomplished

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Accomplished it's because what god used them to do and how god worked through them and their faith in god

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friends

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God asks us to have faith because it demonstrates complete and total reliance upon him

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When we have faith, we believe he's our creator above everything in this universe

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Including the ground I walk on the air. I breathe the life that I live

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When we have faith essentially we are saying that we believe he has the ability to give and to take away

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To do the impossible and even change what we know is reality

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He has the ability to save us from this darkened world

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But in order to do so to do what is impossible for us to do we must believe who he is

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We must believe that he has the power to do this

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And we must believe that he loves each one of us

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Friends faith signifies our complete dependence upon him

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What did god tell abraham looking through the old testament to the new what did god tell abraham?

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I will make you a great nation. I will give you a son even as he was an old man

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but genesis 15 6

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Says abraham believed

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And it was credit to him as righteousness because he believed he was made right with god

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It was because of his faith. It was because he believed

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And when we flip through the pages of scripture go to the new testament when jesus is meeting with nickademus and we read john 3 16 and 17 for god

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So loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have

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Everlasting life for god did not send his son into the world to condemn the world

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And that's sometimes what we feel

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But it says but god sent him to save the world through him

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What is it that he said?

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Whoever believes in him shall have ever

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everlasting

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life

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Should have everlasting life faith is the basis of a relationship with god faith is the basis of our salvation

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I want to go back to our story

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this centurion

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This centurion in matthew chapter 8

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It's interesting as jesus replies to this man after he tells him

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of the authority that he has

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verse 10

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Through 13 we read when jesus heard this he was amazed

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And said to those following him truly. I tell you I have not found anyone in israel with such great faith

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I say to you that many will come from the east and to the west and will take their places at the feast of abraham

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Isaac and jacob in the kingdom of heaven

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But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside into the darkness will be the weeping and gnashing of teeth

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Pretty harsh

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interesting

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But jesus said to the centurion go let it be done just as you believed it would

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And his servant was healed

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at that very moment

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Jesus was amazed at this man's faith

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Was there really not any people or any other person in all of israel with such great faith

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Why did jesus reply like this?

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As I began to study this text I began to realize that when jesus was talking about this and replied in this manner

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He was describing the condition of many jews

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During that day you see many jews thought that they had the right to heaven just because of who they were

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They were special. They were chosen people of god. They were descendants of abraham

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Promised by god. They felt they had the right to the kingdom just because of who they were

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Now who was this centurion?

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He was a roman

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He was a gentile

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He was a gentile

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He had not been promised anything

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Yet his faith

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Forged through the muck of the religious of the jewish religious tradition

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He placed his faith firmly on this man jesus because he believed jesus could do something about it

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His place of position his nationality did not stop him from believing that jesus could do something

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He believed that he could do something

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Friends this may hit home to each one of us a little bit

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There may be some of us and i'm going to include myself in on this

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Who sometimes may feel like we are the jewish traditionalists

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Before we think of someone else we need to look at ourselves and ask god to help convict our hearts and minds

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What jesus say about us. I have not found anyone in the walls of the church

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with a great faith as

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who

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That police officer in wrinkle that woman

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Who is at the grocery store that homeless man?

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You see sometimes we as christians sometimes feel that we have rights or the insight track to god over others

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We feel we may have been closer to god compared to someone else because we've walked longer with god

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We may may know more of the bible than someone else. We may have read more times had our daily devotions, whatever it is

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Yes, those are important things to grow with god

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We need to spend our time with god

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But the basis of where it comes down is our faith. Do we believe in jesus?

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Do we believe that he has the power?

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As he spoke

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In this world came into existence

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That he could speak and change whatever obstacle we are facing in our life

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Friends faith is

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The key to our journey through this life

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Through this life

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In john chapter 6

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When people came to jesus

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And they said and this was our scripture reading that what is the work that god requires?

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Jesus could have answered a lot of things

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But what did he say?

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The work that god requires is this

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To believe in the one that he sent

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You want to know what god requires of us?

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believe in jesus

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And then as your faith begins to grow deeper and deeper in jesus, I believe your life will be transformed

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As you'll become a witness to other people as well

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The challenge is great before us but I like to think of it this way

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Last couple years my family summer vacations goes to the beach

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Many of you like may like to go to the beach as well. I've got three boys my youngest

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Is in second grade this year my oldest eighth grade got a sixth grader as well

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But as my older boys as we arrived at the beach and had the

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Sunscreen on they're excited about going out into the waters. They jump out into the waves. They splash

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We don't worry about them as much because they're bigger, right? But my second grade son a couple years ago even first

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grade

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Grade

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Our kindergarten

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Kind of have to watch him a little bit

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But he wants to be like his brothers because he sees them splashing out into the water

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Diving into the waves with our goggles on enjoying the time

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He doesn't want to sit on the beach. He wants to go out into the water. But guess what?

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Mom and dad self and my wife know we need to be there with him

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He thinks he's a big boy

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but

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We know the waves are bigger than him at times

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So I remember walking out there with him as we journeyed out there

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i'm like i've got to be right by you my son and

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and

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He kind of looks back at me and gives me a

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No, you I want my space you go. I'm gonna go with the big boys. I'm a big boy

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Okay

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So I kind of walk a little bit close

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But give him a little space as he kind of steps into the water as the water comes up around him

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And the small waves come up beside him up to his knees as we venture out

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I need to I need to be right by you

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No, no, no

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As he gets there and he looks over me. I don't know something distracts him

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But all of a sudden the wave comes and crashes upon him knocking him off his feet

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I'm right there behind him

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But he stands up reaching for my hand spitting out the salt water

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Knowing that he just got knocked on his feet. The beach is not as fun when that happens

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But guess what happened after that he still wants to go out

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But he's reached up for my hand now

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I want to go out but i'll hold your hand

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As the two of us navigate out a little farther as we get close to where his older brothers are

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I begin to think how much is that like us in our journey with god

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We sometimes want to navigate through life on our own

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We sometimes know god i'm good. I've got this. I know i know you're right back there, but i'm good. I'm good

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Sometimes it takes a wave to knock us over in life realize no, no what I need to be doing is holding your hand through this life

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And jesus wants to journey with us through each and every step. He wants to be holding our hand through the storms of this life

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Whatever may come our way yet. Sometimes we're so independent

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We want to do it on our own, but he said no have faith in me i'm walking right beside you and when waves come

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I'm going to hold you through the storms

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Friends we need to hold jesus' hand

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We need to have the faith that he's right there knowing and trusting that he's going to help us whatever storm we face

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So a challenge for each one of us

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is

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Trust jesus. May your faith grow strong in him

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This world is challenged and we know that

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But hold to jesus' hands

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Because he wants to be right there with us through this journey of life