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You all ready for God's Word? You want to dive into God's Word together?

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I'm really excited. Today I'm beginning a series of messages called Unstuck everybody.

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Unstuck and this really has to do with something that God has put on my heart.

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I'll share more about that in a moment but for now turn with me to Exodus chapter 14.

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Exodus chapter 14. Now if you don't know what's going on Exodus 14, let me catch you up really

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quick. Let me recap it for you. But we know that God's people ended up in Egypt. That was in the

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days of Joseph and Jacob right? And then they eventually are enslaved in Egypt. Now most of

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the time we say they were in Egypt or slaves. A lot of people will assign 400 years or 430 years

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and I understand where we get that number. God said my people are going to be sojourners in a

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land that's not theirs for 430 years and that was to Abraham. They were probably slaves in my opinion

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if you look at the data. They were probably only slaves for about 215 years and a lot of that has

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to do with if you look at what God said to Abraham and what the apostle Paul says in the New Testament

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because he assigns the 430 years starting basically with Abraham and then Isaac and then so on.

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And so but the point is they were slaves in Egypt for hundreds of years okay and theologians look

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at it differently and it's not that the Bible is contradicting itself. It just depends on data we

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either don't have and so based on the data we do have there's a couple of ways it could be applied.

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But what we know and let me just say this very clearly. There is historical data that Hebrews

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were enslaved in Egypt in the time the Bible says they were there because people will say well

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there's no evidence of the exodus. It's not actually true. There is evidence that there were

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Hebrew slaves in Egypt in you know up until 1446 which is when the Bible basically says if you do

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the generations from Solomon that's about where it gets to. That's when the Bible says the exodus

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occurred 1446. So there is actually extra biblical evidence that there were slaves. They did leave

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Egypt in 1446 and they arrived in Canaan. We actually have archaeological extra biblical

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evidence that they arrived in Canaan in 1406 and they've redated. There was a female archaeologist

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who was not a person of faith who misdated the findings of Jericho but now what we know having

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new data is in 1406 the children of Israel entered the promised land and if you like stuff like that

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there's a great book written by Dr. Titus Kennedy called Unearthing the Bible and he's written two

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or three different books. One is about evidence archaeological evidence for Jesus but my point is

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this so we know the Hebrews were enslaved by the Egyptians and this is where God tells Moses

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I want you to bring out my I want you to lead them out. Moses goes to Pharaoh. There's 10 plagues

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and then Pharaoh finally lets them go after the plague of the firstborn and then they leave

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and then they're wandering around essentially probably the Sinai peninsula. There's about four

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viable options for where the Red Sea crossing actually took place but again a lot of that has

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not been studied and a lot of that evidence would have been swept away over the years

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but we know they left 1446. Archaeologists would tell us and they arrived 1406. So we know there

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was an exodus so they lead them out and most you know the story they get trapped essentially if you

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will and they'll use that loosely at the Red Sea and then God does a miracle parts the Red Sea and

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he drowns the armies of Egypt. Okay so with that why don't you stand with me I'd love for us to

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honor the word of God and we're going to start reading. I'm going to read a good portion of

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scripture and then we're going to talk about it. Exodus 14 says then Moses said or sorry then the

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Lord said to Moses tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pihai-He-Roth.

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Don't you love coming to hear a redneck say Hebrew words?

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Some of you got to be careful with Pharaoh's chair. I'm just being honest. Between Migdal and the sea

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in front of Beelzebub and you shall encamp facing by the sea for Pharaoh will say to his people of

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Israel they are wandering in the land the wilderness has shut them in and I will harden Pharaoh's heart

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and he will pursue them and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his hosts and the Egyptians shall

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know that I am the Lord and they did so and when the king of Egypt was told that the people had

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fled the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people and he said what is

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this that we've done we've let our workforce go so he that's my version it's not actually in the Bible

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so he made ready his chariot and he took his army with him and took 600 chosen chariots and all other

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chariots of Egypt with officers all over them over all of them and the Lord hardened the heart of

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Pharaoh king of Egypt and he pursued the people of Israel while the people of Israel were going out

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defiantly the Egyptians pursued them all and Pharaoh's horses and chariots and the horsemen

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and his army and he overtook them and encamped at the sea by Pihai-He-Roth everybody if you're

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looking for a name like I don't know there's your good one Pihai-He-Roth anyways in front of Beelzebub

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that's our word for the day sesame street anyways Beelzebub when Pharaoh drew near the people of

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Israel lifted up their eyes and behold the Egyptians were marching after them and they feared greatly

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and the people of Israel cried out to the Lord and they said to Moses is it because there were no

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graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness what have you done to us in

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bringing us out of Egypt is it not that we is it not what we said to you leave us alone that we may

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serve the Egyptians for it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the

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wilderness and Moses said to the people fear not stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord

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which he will work for you today for the Egyptians have you see today you shall never see again

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and the Lord will fight for you you have only to be silent I don't know about you but sometimes

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I think when God's moving in my life the best thing I can do is be quiet

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verse 15 the Lord said to Moses why do you cry to me tell the people of Israel to everybody say this

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go forward lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it and the people of

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Israel go through on dry ground and I'll harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in

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after them and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all of his hosts his chariots and his horsemen and

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the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I've gotten glory over Pharaoh and all of his

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chariots and his horsemen come on everybody I called this message the way forward the way forward

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let's let's pray together father thank you so much for this time together for your presence that we

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have really not just felt but enjoyed just being in your presence today God thank you for the word

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of God and Lord as we open it together Lord we open our hearts give us ears to hear give us eyes

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Lord spiritual eyes that we can see your truth help us God to take it and pull it into our heart

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put it into our hearts God that it would produce fruit in our lives in Jesus name and everybody

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said amen you can be seated thank you so much for standing in God's house today

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unstuck everybody unstuck I remember when I was preparing this I remember um when I was at high

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school I had a had a Camaro and so you didn't get those much off the pavement but I had a lot of

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friends that had Jeeps and I love Jeeps I don't own one I just think they're cool um and so uh

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but we used to we would go anybody ever been muddin anybody now I know where the rednecks are in

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the room you know it's like what do y'all do for entertainment we try to get our Jeeps stuck in the

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mud right and so I have friends we had Jeeps and um and I remember one time we were on this it was a

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pipeline right away because those things would flood after rain and and you get Jeeps out there

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and we got this Jeep not just stuck we got it buried like it had water flowing through the Jeep

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you understand what I'm saying like it is completely like it is stuck stuck and we tried

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everything to unstuck it everybody we tried everything to get that thing out we broke two

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different tow straps we had two Jeeps trying to pull one Jeep it was buried it was stuck and how

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many know when something's stuck like that really the only thing you can think about is how to get

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unstuck like it didn't seem feasible just to stay here the rest of our lives on this pipeline right

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away in a Jeep with water you know running through it it seemed like no no we need we need to get

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through it it seemed like no no we need we need to do something we need to find a way forward

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and eventually we did back in those days we didn't have cell phones I know probably for my kids and

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many in here you're like what yeah uh used to phones were attached to the wall it's kind of a

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crazy thing they had lines and wires and uh and you didn't have them in your pocket so we had to

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hike to the first house we could find with a phone and we had to call a tow truck and uh anyways

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tow truck got us out but I was thinking about being stuck that just got me thinking about being

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stuck and and in my opinion um I'm concerned that our in our nation I think a lot of people are

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stuck I think a lot of people are stuck in the mud and and I'll say this um I think since the

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pandemic everyone has shifted the way that we live and between the constant 24-hour news cycle

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where something's about to kill us every day um I don't I just want to say this and I know you

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know this but sometimes I just want to say you do understand that in order to sell news

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they need to create a crisis so you'll watch the news I don't want to get into that I'm not trying

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to take a political stance I'm just saying if you understand the psychology of how this works

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if the news came on and said everything's going really well like no real problems in the world

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see y'all next week they would sell nothing they would sell no advertisements no one would watch

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their channel right that's why there's not tons of good news like they basically tell you every day

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you're going to die and then right at the end they put a nice story about a puppy or something

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like that isn't it nice and so my point is though I feel like since the pandemic a lot of and I'm

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saying believers but the world have lived reactionary we're reacting to whatever the news

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cycle is we're reacting to whatever they're saying is coming in other words we're no longer

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I feel like we're no longer charting a course and advancing and moving forward we're just trying not

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to get wiped out we're just trying to hunker down if you will and play it safe and be conservative

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right and try not to lose our money and try not to lose our job and try not to lose our health and

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and I just feel like we're reacting to the world and and really to give you the overarching idea

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and then we'll break it down together of the message today I feel the word of the Lord is

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to give you permission to say you can move forward now that with God God is always advancing his

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kingdom is always expanding God always has a plan and we're not supposed to live reactionary lives

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to everything that's going on with the world but rather we're supposed to in unity with God

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advance with him through life and being victorious may I remind you that he Jesus leads us in triumph

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that applies a couple of things number one implicit in that scripture is he is leading meaning we are

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moving and we are moving with him meaning we are unified and when we're moving with him unified

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there is victory come on somebody help me this morning and so I want to talk about getting unstuck

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and I want to talk about the way forward and and I want to look at Israel here um and I really just

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have two points it doesn't make the sermon any shorter y'all know me but I just have two points

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um and and and when you think about the way forward now there's a lot of things I could say

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about the way forward but this is where I felt like the Holy Spirit led me and two things that

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I want to that probably they almost don't even sound like sermon points but it's what I feel

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like we need to talk about so write this down the first one is this the way forward is to possess

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your own life the way forward is to take possession of your own life listen to me

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before you can possess God's promise you will have to possess your life

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when I'm looking at this story of Israel it's almost I don't know if it's the way I look at

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it and probably let's be honest if I happen to be lucky enough to be in these days and be written

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in in some type of Bible verse in other words if you wrote the history of Marty I mean we have the

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history of Israel because it's God's elect people but but if you had the history of Marty and that

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was in the Bible I would laugh at my own story trust me but sometimes when I read text like this

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I'm a little bit perplexed I my my Jana laughs at me all the time because even just the other day

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yesterday we were driving and we saw a person with a sign and when I read the sign I immediately

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looked at her and this is my phrase I got questions and I spent the next 15 minutes trying to figure out

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what was going on with this sign and having anyways it doesn't matter so the point is I read

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scripture that way I read it I'm inquisitive and I think I got a question because what Israel is

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saying is they pray that's good they pray to God then they get with Moses and how many knows if

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it's going bad the first thing you do is blame the leader amen right no you don't what in the world

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that's not what everyone's like yes it's your fault yes praise the Lord anyways so they get with Moses

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and this is what they say were there not enough graves in Egypt Moses we could have died happy

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there as slaves almost starving to death and making bricks with no straw it was a wonderful life and

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then here you bring us out here you deliver us from the Egyptians and now we're going to die

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I don't know you know what I failed to find in the text I failed to find where God forced them to

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leave Egypt I failed to find where Moses kidnapped them there's roughly 600 000 men so you can say

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most theologians think two two and a half million people and and I don't know I mean Moses is pretty

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persuasive I guess but I didn't see where he got his staff and said look y'all get out of Egypt

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or I'm gonna hit you with this stuff you know what you do find the Bible where God tells Moses

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my children have been praying to me for deliverance for hundreds of years and I have heard them isn't

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it interesting that sometimes we pray and then God moves and when he doesn't move the way we think

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he should move then we're mad about him moving anybody else ever had that experience with the Lord

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right I think that Israel you know Egypt's like you know yes Lord I guess deliver me from Egypt

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but then I was expecting like a limo to the Red Sea and a yacht across it hello you're God and

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everything it's so interesting to me a lot of times we pray and we pray and we pray and then

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God starts moving because everything that's happening at this point is two things it's the

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purpose of God it is in the response of their plea but it's the plan of God so essentially God

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is answering their prayer and they're mad about it because it doesn't look like it's supposed to look

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right it's like when you're praying for you need a financial increase and you're praying and God

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gives you overtime come on somebody like somebody guys like he got a little guy up in my pew already

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what's he doing in my pew God I need you to bless me and multiply I need more money God over time

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oh god I was praying for lottery numbers I wasn't praying for overtime right

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you may want to write this down but but I want you to to understand this

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this may sound a little off but let me explain God is not actually actually responsible for you

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God is responsible to you and those are not the same thing for God to take responsibility for you

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would be a violation of his nature and a violation of his creation and that he created you as a free

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will moral agent but for God to be responsible to you is no violation at all that means as long as

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God is true to himself as long as God is who he says and does what he says he's going to do

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then he's responsible to you God is responsible at this point yes to God but you got to follow

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God is responsible to save but you have to accept it God is responsible to forgive but you've got to

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ask for it you see what I'm saying so God is responsible to you to be responsible for you

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God is responsible to you to be everything that he says he is and do everything that he says he was

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going to do but he is not responsible for what you do he's not responsible for your decisions

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he's not responsible for your attitude he's not responsible for your emotions

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he's not responsible come on somebody for some of the messes that we make

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but he is responsible to be exactly who he is you see the problem that I see in our culture

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is our culture is beginning to be marked by it's like a value of irresponsibility it's almost like

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we value it like no one's really responsible for themselves in fact what's kind of crazy

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is in our world it's like we don't possess our own life but we want to possess everybody else's

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in other words I don't want to be responsible for me I don't want to be responsible for my emotions

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I don't want to be responsible for my life choices but I do want to tell you how to live your life

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I do want to tell you what to value I do want to tell you what decisions to make in fact if you

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don't live your life the way that I prescribe now all of a sudden I've got a problem see the problem

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with being irresponsible and when I'm not taking responsibility for my own life is now I am living

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in reaction to the world around me just like we see with Israel here they're reacting to Egypt

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to Egypt right and so they're living in reaction to their circumstances they're living reaction to

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what's going on they're living reacts to the world around me and they're not owning their own life

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they're not taking control of their own life come on the fruit of the spirit everybody is

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self-control not others control

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so that word self-control in the Greek it actually means to gain mastery up so the

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Holy Spirit empowers me to master myself the Holy Spirit empowers me to master my decisions

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to master my emotions to master how I feel and what I do and what I choose

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he actually empowers me to master my purpose and to master my calling God see God is responsible too

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but not for so here's what God does he said I'm going to be God I'm going to give you the Holy

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Spirit but you're going to have to yield to him I'm going to give you the Holy Spirit but you're

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going to have to follow him I'm going to give you the Holy Spirit but by the power of the Holy Spirit

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you're going to have to actually choose to control yourself

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and what I see in the culture is something very very different in fact what I see in the culture

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is this irresponsibility that's kind of marked really by these two kind of what would you call

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them facets of this or probably not categories maybe facets maybe manifestations but how this

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works out in people's lives what I see now more than ever on this side you have the victims and

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on this side you have the entitled and sometimes you have entitled victims

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think think with me because what I see in our culture so many times listen when when people

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listen let me say this so I can say what I need to say and you know that I care and I'm empathic

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and I understand we have all been victimized we have all we have all had trauma in our lives

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it's unlikely that I could find any person in here that hasn't experienced some sort of trauma

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and some of those traumas we might classify as being greater than other traumas but that may be

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that's very subjective depending on who you're talking to does that make sense but what is true

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we've all endured things that's my point and what I want you to know is those things are real those

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things are painful but I also need you to understand this what may what whatever happened to you was not

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your fault but it is your fault what you do after are you with me like it if someone hurt you abused

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you wronged you that was not your fault that was their sin right but what you do after that is your

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fault and if you spend the rest of your life living as a victim then make no mistake you're

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you're putting the person who hurt you in charge of your life for the rest of your life

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that's why forgiveness is so powerful because forgiveness says you don't get to be in charge

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of my life I get to be in charge of my life and can I remind you by the way forgiveness is so

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powerful because while we love talking about how the Lord has forgiven us Jesus died for my sin

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right but you also know Jesus died for the sin committed against me

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so my point is that yes I may have been hurt and wronged and and all those things are true and they

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have consequences but I get to decide am I going to see a pastor am I going to get in a life group

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or a freedom group am I going to go to discipleship class am I going to see a counselor am I going to

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forgive see what happens after that's 100 my fault and when I choose not to take responsibility for

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myself and I say no I'm just going to stay a victim because it always gives me an excuse

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then you're making the person who sinned against you in charge of your life you're giving them

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authority of your life you're not even giving God authority of your life you're giving them

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authority of your life because every decision is run by what they did other thing I see is this

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entitlement which basically says I was born so the world owes me something

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aren't we having fun pastor I just wanted to be encouraged we're getting there we're getting there

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um but it's so prevalent today that it just seems to me that there are a lot of people that

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that almost feel like yeah yeah I got the loan but I shouldn't have to pay it yeah I made the

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decision but I shouldn't suffer the consequences um yeah I you know this person should do this for

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me like you know what I'm saying like yeah I want the promotion but I shouldn't have to work for it

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I want the pay but I shouldn't actually have to work for it it's like this sense of entitlement

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that exists in our world today and it's crippling us and I'll tell you why both of these cripple us

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whether it's you're talking about being a victim or you're talking about being entitled listen to

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me very carefully they're both powerless positions they're powerless the victim says I'm not

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responsible for me what they did is responsible for me and I have there's nothing I can do about

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it that's powerless entitlement says in other words they wronged me and I'm powerless and

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entitlement says they're not giving to me so there's nothing I can do like here's an idea if you want

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a promotion show up early and work hard take the overtime when it's available right like I've talked

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to my kids about this when I started I was 15 years old start out in the oil field and I took

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every bit of overtime they'd let me have because I like money you do too that's why you have a job

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I liked eating I liked having clothes I liked having gasoline anybody else like those things

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I didn't assume that the government was supposed to give me those things all the time

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I assumed that I was supposed to go earn a living this doesn't seem very popular I thought I'd get

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more excitement from this my point was that whenever there was overtime I took the overtime

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I showed up early I was there and because of that when you hire in the oil field as a teenager

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you're a worm that's your status and you weed eat uh pits and plants and it's hard work right

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but because listen to me but because I was reliable because I was faithful I spent about a month on

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that crew and I got upgraded to a road crew where I drove a piece of equipment I don't know about

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you but when you're 15 listen that's high cotton because I wasn't running a weed eater like this

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all day long I was sitting on track to my what's up my point is that that there's irresponsibility

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and it manifests itself and please understand that that even God no one really owes you anything

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so take responsibility for your life and please understand what they did was wrong

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but what you do determines where your life's going from here so take responsibility for your

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life are you with me because listen to me listen to me listen to me I understand that God is sovereign

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okay sovereign just means that he is he reigns supreme there is no rule higher there is no

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authority greater but that doesn't mean God controls everything right so there's something for me to do

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and I'm afraid some of us are sitting back in reaction to the world

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and then some of us are sitting back saying I'm just waiting on God to do something

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and I'm concerned maybe God's waiting on you to do something

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are you with me you say well God's sovereign he's in control and I don't have time to teach this but

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yes there is the sovereignty of God but but it's misapplied I think many times a day that that does

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mean God is control in control ultimately but it doesn't mean that God is in control of every

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decision and we are free will moral agents so you have to balance sovereignty with man's

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responsibility does that make sense so we're talking about the sovereignty of God he is supreme

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there is no one higher there's no rule greater right in fact theologian A.W. Pink one of the

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great theologians of the 19th century he said this is what makes God God he called it his godness is

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his sovereignty there is no one above him if that if there were anyone above him they would be God

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are you with me but he's the highest and he is the author and so he has the authority and his kingdom

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reigns right and I could show you a lot of scriptures on that but I think most people

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are grasping the fact that God is sovereign but that doesn't mean that God is going to control

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every facet of your life and make every decision for you so we have to couple God's sovereignty

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with man's responsibility does anyone know who King Charles is it used to be Queen Elizabeth you

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know King Charles is the King of England everybody right would everybody agree like he's the greatest

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authority in England but would we all agree that everybody in England makes their own decisions

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about what they wear what they eat where they go what they do do you see it's the same with God

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God in his sovereignty he is working his plan but he's working it through people and he's working

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it through creation and he's doing that without violating free will are you with me so yes God

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is working his plan but that doesn't mean God's micromanaging what socks you wore today

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so you have to couple God is sovereign but I'm ultimately responsible for me God's responsible

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to me I'm responsible for me in fact let me give you just wonder let me give you a couple

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scriptures Paul to the Galatians this is Eugene Patterson this is how he interpreted in the

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message Bible it says each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you

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can with your own life that's a good verse for the year isn't it take responsibility for doing

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the best you can with your own life I mean oh here's this is I just put this in there because

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I love this verse Proverbs 19 3 people ruin their lives by their own foolishness and then they are

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angry at the Lord like you don't need to even put points for that that's a good sermon

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are you with me so here's the bottom line I'm responsible for how I respond to the gospel or

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how I respond to God I'm responsible for my obedience to God I'm responsible for my decisions

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I don't know if you know this I'm responsible for my emotions be angry and sin

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so I've actually got to be responsible for me if I want to see God work and move in my life I have

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to be responsible for me I can't just sit back and say God when you want to do something with my life

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like I'm here God when you want to I'm here no no no you get up this way you know this is

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it's the irresponsibility like God you know my life you know my life just stinks God may be saying

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change it

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I don't like where I work apply somewhere else

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right listen the greatest amount of change you can experience in your life is not when you change

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someone else or when you change your environment but when you change yourself you have very little

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control of your environment you have typically no control over anyone else if you've ever raised a

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two-year-old you understand what I'm saying are you with me but you do have control over you

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take responsibility for you right and so we have to possess and take possession of our own lives

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here's the second thing and then practice being proactive in other words so I'm owning my own life

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and I'm taking initiative so practice productivity in other words practice being proactive look look

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at what we read it together Exodus 14 15 it says and the Lord said to Moses why are you crying to

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me now I'm gonna come back to that just a minute and then the joy that he said tell the children

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Israel go forward now here's here's why I want to come back to that Moses said why are you crying

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to me I don't know about you but I thought Moses response was good I'm about to die what should I

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do prayer seems logical are you with me right I don't think that's a bad thing like here comes

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the greatest military force in the world and we have a bunch of slaves with sticks seems prayer

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would be on the highest part of the list for a strategy at this moment are you with me but isn't

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it so interesting that God says why are you praying to me in other words God said your

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deliverance is not based on what I'm about to do your deliverance is contingent upon what you're

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about to choose to do because he didn't say stand back Moses and I'll take care of it he said no

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you tell Israel to go forward anybody else see the problem with that forward was water go forward I

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think they're thinking where and this makes a great point that many times trusting God is about

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taking steps that don't make sense that moving forward many times is about taking a step where

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there doesn't seem to be a step are you with me and God says why are you crying out to me I'd be

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like I don't know because you're God and I'm out here with two million slaves and I got a stick

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okay God that's why I'm crying to you you didn't give me a yacht I don't even have a canoe I got a

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stick right sometimes you got to take inventory in your life because God used that stick to deliver

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them so many times and God said yeah the sticks all you need just stretch it out come on somebody

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it's God listen God never uses what you don't have that's so good God will never call you to

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be something you're not and he'll never try to use something you don't have God always starts with

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who you are and uses what you have are you with me so when God says move forward know this you

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have everything you need to move forward when God says move forward no you're all you need to be to

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move forward you and God y'all got it it may look iffy it may seem confusing but God says why are you

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praying to me tell Israel to why are you crying out to me it's time for you to

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come on look at somebody right now and say this year I'm going forward I'm going forward this

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year I'm not holding up this year I'm going forward this year I need to tell you one thing

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about God I'm gonna try to get us out of here well okay I may have lied

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let's work this out together this is what you need to know about your God your God cannot react

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there's not been one time in the course of human history where you could even say the history of

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the whole universe that God ever reacted you know why because God these are characteristics of God

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or attributes of God God number one is all-knowing we call it omniscience his omniscience

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right and also God is unchangeable

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and so I don't know about you but you need to understand it helps me to know that God is not

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waiting on tomorrow to come up with a plan that God has actually been working his plan since creation

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and today is just a part of it here what I just told you Israel is looking at what's going on

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like we're trapped by the Red Sea here's this big army and they're like this was a miscalculation

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and God was like no this is my master plan

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by the way sometimes God's master plan looks like a miscalculation

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but it is still not what it looks like see Israel thinks they're under attack God thinks Egypt is

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under attack you see it you see it God's like no remember I told you like God is the one they had

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it said in ways they leave Egypt they've got the promised land set in ways they're out there going

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if you remember God started this thing with no I want you to jig a little bit to the left then

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once you turn back to the right in other words God got in there and started rerouting them

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and he said because if you'll move this way and then this way Egypt Pharaoh will think you're lost

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and they'll come get you in other words God is baiting the enemy with Egypt I don't know that's

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not very comforting to me I don't really have a good quib for that at all it doesn't sound like

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fun to be the bait for the enemy but that's exactly what God's doing with Israel at this moment

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are you with me and God's drawing them in and so Israel thinks run to the right way

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so Israel thinks we're under attack and God's like no you're not under attack Egypt's under attack

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they just don't know it because God can't react I understand let me just say this time out because

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I will get these questions and they're good questions people say well in the Bible it looks

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like God you know we're talking about the immutability of God so when we talk about the

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immutability of God that's just the doctrine that's what we call it it just means God cannot change

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I-33 God doesn't change right James 1 there's no variation of shadow of turning or changing in God

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Hebrews 13 Jesus Christ the same yesterday today and forever right all of these point to God

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doesn't doesn't change okay but I understand in scripture if you read it like this is where I

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think we have to be we have to allow questions and we also have to study the word so we understand

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because there are places in the Bible where it looks like God changed his mind

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right I mean I mean God repented that he made man that's Noah right God with Moses was going to wipe

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out it appears that God's going to wipe out Israel and then Moses intercedes Jonah is sent to Nineveh

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and God said I'm going to bring judgment to Nineveh and then God supposedly doesn't but actually

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there's a revival in Nineveh then there's Hezekiah and it looks like so there's a lot of places in

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scripture but let me help you these are not God's immutability and some of the things we see in

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scripture where it looks like God is changing his mind are not irreconcilable when you understand

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scripture and how it came to be and without getting real deep in that inspiration doesn't means

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inspiration doesn't mean God took over or possessed the hands of men and they wrote the Bible it wasn't

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mechanical writing inspiration means God moved on them is what Peter says inspiration means God

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no prophecy of scripture came by the will of man but what they were moved on and led about by the

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Holy Spirit so God's superintendent he moved on man in a way that gave us the Bible does that make

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sense but man is still man and so the language of the Bible most of the Bible is prose language and

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it's written in I'm going to give you my word and then I'll give you the theological word if it means

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anything to you my word is the language of observation the language of observation the

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theological word is phenomenological language okay and so all that means is they wrote down as they

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saw it meaning when Joshua says the sun stood still he's not a scientist and in that day

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you know or when the Bible says the sun moved across the sky well we know the sun doesn't move

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but remember it wasn't written by scientists it was written by men and they're saying well it looked

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like the sun stood still to us right that's what it looked like to us so many times when you see

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like Jonah and Nineveh or Hezekiah and those things you have to understand because God is immutable

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and because God is omniscient God already knew the interactions of man so the the changes that you

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see are because man is reacting to God it is not because God is reacting to man so his purpose was

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fixed but the Bible being written in phenomenological language many of the times we they the writers put

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I'll give you another one human characteristics you know they ascribe human characteristics to God

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theological word anthropomorphic if you care but but that means where we give God hands and arms

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and and eyes and ears and that he hears us with his ears and sees us with his eyes and the strong

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arm of the Lord well God is incorporeal which means that God does not have a body he's a spirit

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he doesn't have a body but the authors trying you know because the way God moved on them they're

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trying to understand it and they're trying to write it so they ascribe characteristics to God

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and that's many times when they're saying God changed his mind it wasn't that God ever changed

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his mind it appeared to them God changed his mind it seemed to them that there had been a change in

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the mind because they're noting the power of intercession or the power of God are you with me

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so God doesn't react never has he's omniscient and he's immutable uh J.I. Packer said when we talk

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about the immutability of God he said when we're talking about the immutability of God his

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character is immutable his truth is immutable um his being is immutable but one of the things he

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said is his purpose is immutable meaning that if God doesn't change and he doesn't react now by the

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way all this is to get somewhere so please stay with me if God is immutable he doesn't change

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and his purpose doesn't change and if Romans 8 says I'm called according to his purpose

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then God's plan for me doesn't change God's purpose for me is unchanging listen to me I don't know

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about you but this helps me because it doesn't matter how much I've screwed up in my life it

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doesn't matter whether I feel like today I'm winning or losing it doesn't matter if I feel

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like I've sinned too much gone too far done too much or not done enough because God is immutable

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and because his purpose is immutable then his purpose for me is immutable the giftings and

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callings of God are without repentance come on somebody and you need to understand today that

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you can move forward regardless of what this world looks like and regardless of what's going on why

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because God's moving forward his purpose is moving forward his plan is moving forward and you are

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created and called according to that plan and God's purpose for you is fixed God's purpose for you is

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movement and so I want you to hear me today hear me today church it's time to stop staying stuck

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and it's time to own our lives take initiative and move forward with God it may look like a red

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sea but that doesn't mean God's not calling us forward and so my challenge really for all of us

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is that we get the heart of God you could write this down these I'll give you three p's um

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pray plot proceed you know like you want to plan forward you have to take ownership of your life

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you have to be proactive and pray now you just said well wait a second pastor you know God got

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onto Moses for praying well yeah but I think it's a difference in asking God to do something and

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asking God what you need to do those are different prayers and so today this year we're going to move

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forward number one ask God what do I need to do to move forward what do I need to do not not like

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God I wish you would God I hope you do God no no no God what do I need to do to move forward that's

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number one and then you make a you plot a course based on what God shows you you plot a course maybe

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start a business maybe it's change jobs I don't know what it is maybe it's forgive someone I don't

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know what it is but you plot a course all right God I'm moving forward you said go forward and

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this is the course I'm going forward and then I'm going to proceed I'm going to proceed forward I'm

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actually going to carry this this plan out right so I'm going to pray I'm going to plot it out I'm

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going to proceed listen to me very very carefully I think the word of the Lord and this came one of

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our elders uh text I didn't even know what I'd be preaching on this like two weeks ago I think I got

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a text and he was talking about how the Lord was speaking to him about advancement and to me it was

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just confirmation because I already knew what the Lord was talking to me about moving forward

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and I think it's the word of the Lord that we stop living in reaction to the world around us

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and by the grace of God of children of God who are called according to the purpose of God

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in unity right with him in collaboration with him we plot a course forward and we move forward

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this year and we don't live in reaction to the world right we move forward you say what if

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something happens we just find a different way to move forward but we move forward because I don't

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know about you I don't want to live the rest of my life sitting back here thinking about the

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pandemic and thinking about this and this no no no no no God's too big for that God's too big for

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that and God's plan for you is too big for that and God's calling on you is too great for that

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and God's calling on you is too great for that this year we find the way forward this year

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we're going forward amen come on can you give Jesus praise today

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hey pastor Marty here from pathway church I just want to say thank you for joining us and I want

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to encourage you to get connected and stay connected and there's several ways you can do

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that number one you can download the pathway app that we are all the time offering resources and

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information on that app for you you can also subscribe to our youtube channel and if you do

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make sure you click the bell so that you never miss any life-giving and life-changing content

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as we add it to the channel and then also make sure you follow us on social media on instagram

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on facebook look our hope and heart for you is that you walk in the purpose for which God made

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and created and redeemed you for we love to connect people to purpose we thank you for giving us this

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opportunity and if you're ever at long view or you are at long view I'd love to invite you to join us

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in person each weekend listen I pray God's best for your life I believe if you follow Jesus your

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best is ahead