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Thank you for listening to this message from LifeHouse Church.

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Good morning, LifeHouse. Good morning. Turn to somebody give them a high five right now.

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Do it right now. Tell them it's good to see you. Good to see you. Amen. It's good to have everybody

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here at LifeHouse this morning. Yeah, excited about Fall Fest. Lots of food, lots of fun, lots

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of games. We always have a great time. It's just a good time to sit and talk and settle in with one

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another. So make sure you turn out to that. Also, in two weeks, can't believe it, two weeks the campus

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launches, East Shore launches. This Thursday night, October 5th, we are going to have a meeting

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at the East Shore campus. If you want to find out more about the campus, you're interested in the

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launch team, what that's all about. That's going to be really informational for you. Please show up.

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We're going to have that at location at East Shore. And again, two weeks at all launches. I know this

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couple right here, Pastor Eric and Abby, they're excited. We're excited about what God's going to do

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in Harrisburg, right? North of Harrisburg in Linglestown area. We know God spoke to us about

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doing this and we have been planning and prepping. As a matter of fact, we've been planning and

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prepping so long, we just want it to happen. We're ready and we're just trusting God what He's going

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to do there. But this morning, I threw out this week, took a little bit of time and I looked at

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some statistics online. I don't know if you ever do that or not, but once in a while I do, especially

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when I'm getting ready for a message, sometimes I'll look at stats and I came across some stats for

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malnutrition and starvation. And I was a little shocked. Over 8 million people will die on this

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planet this year because of starvation. And put that a little bit of perspective, that's a thousand

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people an hour across the world will pass away from starvation. And that's sobering. It's a

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sobering statistic. I know it's something that probably should drive us to do something in the

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body of Christ about this. And oddly enough, 20,000 of those people will be in the USA that will die

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from starvation. And that caught me even more in a country that has unfathomable wealth. And we do.

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I don't know if you know that. If you've traveled around the world at all, you'll find out that we

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are crazy wealthy here and we have vast resources at our fingertips. 20,000 people will die of

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starvation in the United States. It's staggering. And while I've experienced a lot of things in life

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and my many decades of life, I have never really truly experienced malnutrition or starvation.

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If you look at me, obviously that is not the case. Now to my shame, on more than one occasion,

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I've acted like I was starving to death. Anybody with me on that? You miss lunch,

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you miss supper, you miss breakfast. And what do you say? I am starving too.

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Yeah, I'm not going to make it. You get really dramatic. I'm famished. You start coming up with

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all kinds of adjectives. And it's ridiculous, I know. Because you missed a meal. And honestly,

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the closest I've ever come to understanding hunger at all was actually on a spiritual fast. I remember

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going on a spiritual fast one of the first times. I went on a long fast. It was a 21-day fast. And

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the church I was attending, they called us to fast. And when you go on a fast and you start to

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experience hunger, the first day you're very spiritual, by the way, on the fast. Like,

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I am skipping food for Jesus. You feel really spiritual. It's like, amen, amen, God bless.

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Second day, you're a little jittery. Skimming food for Jesus. By the third day, you're just angry.

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Okay. He's like, I need food. You know, I want food. Jesus, give me some food. And you know,

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everything starts to look good. It doesn't matter if it smells good, right? If it would taste good,

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you would eat it by day three. You're really well. And as mental game starts that you start to go

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down when you want some food. And I remember in this particular fast, it was a 21-day and one of

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the guys from the church where we were serving, he kind of gave a testimony. He said about two days

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in, he went to the dental hygienist and he said while he was getting his teeth cleaned, the

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hygienist said, hey, there's a piece of meat stuck back here in the teeth. And he said, let it along.

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He said, let it there. He literally told me, he said, let it there. And you know, this was during

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the fast. And I've been very fortunate not to have ever suffered malnutrition or starvation.

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And not like so many in the world, but I have found myself spiritually malnourished. I have

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found myself at times in life, deeply hungry for the things of God to the place almost famished,

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weak. I don't know if you've ever suffered soul starvation, but it is a thing where you get starving

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for God. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Am I the only one in the house? Come on. Yeah,

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there's this place and over the past year, I've had this hunger, not starvation, but I've had this

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hunger for God. I've had this hunger in my soul for more and more of God. I want to, I want to

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experience more than just a little bit of religion. I want to experience more than just a little

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tingly, right? At church on Sunday. I want to experience God in a new way. I've been serving

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God a long time and I just want more of him. I want to know what it feels like in his presence

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more and more. I want to hear from him. I want to hear the voice of God in my spirit and the voice

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of God in my life. I want to know his ways. I want to know what it's like the closer I draw to God

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and he draws near to me. That's what the word of God says. What is this like? Right? It's hungry.

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You know, I want to know his manifested presence and not just my intellectual presence of God,

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right? I mean, we read about God and we kind of form this intellectual idea about God,

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but I want to know his manifested presence, his tangible presence, what he's really like.

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I want to be near and it's easy to understand that, right? I want to know what it is to be near him

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and understand his manifested presence and that's easy with you and I because I can come over here

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and sit by Pastor Andrew, right? And I've just experienced his presence. He gave me a tap on the

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back, right? That's easy with an individual and a person, but it's different with God, isn't it?

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You know, because we can't be in his presence in that kind of way. I want to know. Anybody with me

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on that? So what brings me near to God? What gets me close to him? If I really want that,

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what is it that will get me to a place where I'm close to God? Is it praise and worship?

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Because we do praise and worship every Sunday morning and I love it. We praise God and I think,

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yep, that has something to do with it, right? Because God inhabits the praises of people.

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If I sing enough to God, will that get me near him? Now, some of you like, I don't sing so well.

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If I keep singing to Jesus, he's gonna leave, right? But you know, if I sing enough, you know,

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is that going to get me close to God? Is it the spiritual disciplines? You know, is it prayer,

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Bible reading? Is it meditation, fasting? You know, is that was the things that get me close to God?

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Well, I think those are things that help you draw near to God, but you got to have a right heart

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with all that, right? Because the Pharisees in scripture, they got all that right. They,

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matter of fact, they were religious about doing all those things and Jesus called them vipers

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and hypocrites because their hearts weren't right with it. So what is it? Is it showing up to church

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enough times in a row? All right, I might even get a pin for that one, right? If I go to church

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enough times in a row, you know, will that get me close to God? What's the answer? What gets me near

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to God? What brings God near to me? You know, and as I started mulling this question, you got to look

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into God's word. I always go to the same place because all the answers are there. Is God's word,

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how do I get God close to me? So I started looking at people on God's word who were close to God and

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God was close to them. I figured that's a great place to look. And if you really want to get a

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nice list of that, you got to go to Hebrews chapter 11. So if you got your Bible this morning,

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I want you to head to Hebrews chapter 11. We're going to start with verse one and Hebrews chapter

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11 is kind of a who's who of faith in God. It's a who's who of people who drew near to God, right?

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Who God moved on their behalf, who God began to shift things around them. And it all happened in

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Hebrews chapter 11 one where they start to list them. So I'm going to pray this morning. Lord,

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thank you for your word. Thank you for this day for God, each one who's listening in the house,

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out of the house online. God, in two short weeks at the new campus, Lord, I thank you for all that

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you're doing in our lives. And God, as we look into your word, God, help us understand, God,

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who you are and how to draw close to you. And everybody said together. Amen. Hebrews 11 one

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says this, now faith, say faith, is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not

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seen. Now, here is one starts off with the definition of faith, right? I can't see it,

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can't taste it, can't touch it, can't smell it, can't feel it yet, but I'm hoping for what's there.

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I've got this great hope. It's such a hope that I believe that it's going to happen. Right? So now

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faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen for by it, the elders

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obtained a good testimony by faith. We understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so

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that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible by faith. Abel offered

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to God a more excellent sacrifice than came through which he obtained witness that he was righteous.

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God testifying of his gifts and through it, he being dead still speaks by faith. Enoch was taken

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away so that he did not see death and was not found because God had taken him for before he was

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taken, he had this testimony that he pleased God, but without faith it is impossible to please him

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for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently

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seek him. By faith Noah divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an

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ark for the saving of his household by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness

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which is according to faith. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place

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which he would receive as an inheritance and when he went out not knowing where he was going by faith

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he dwelt in the land of promise as a foreign country dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob

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and heirs with him of the same promise for he waited for the city which has foundations who builder

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and maker is God. There's a reoccurring theme of those who got close to God. There's a word

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that identifies the reasons of the who's who in this list of people and there's more if you go

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into Hebrews if you read further there's a reoccurring word that goes over and is spoke over

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and over again in this passage. I'm going to give you a big hint it starts with an F, it ends with an

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H and has an AIT in between. All right it's faith. It's faith in God. If we want to get close to God

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we got to stir up our faith in God. If you want to draw near to God and you want God to draw near to

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you, you got to increase your faith in God. If you want to see God do big things in your life

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then you got to bring big faith to God for God in God. Enoch had so much faith when I read this

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it just takes me right he had so much faith that God literally just took him. Can you imagine

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he's just walking with God he's talking with God and God's talking with him and they're conversing

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and God says you know what Enoch I just like you all right I like you a lot and in fact I think

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I'm just going to take you with me I think I think I'm just going to snap you up and take you right

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on up into heaven we'll just skip the whole death thing all right we'll just skip the funeral we'll

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skip the morning we'll skip all that you're just going to go with me and he had so much faith in

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God that God just grabbed him from this earth and took him now I know if this was modern day right

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they'd be like it was a UFO right just took him I'm like yep it was an unidentified Jesus is what

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you know right he just took him he just took him and he skipped all the rest every patriarch every

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matriarch matriarch in the word of God had this faith in God he put their they put their faith

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in one who cannot fail they they got next to God because their faith in God was that strong

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it was a fact that they believed in God fully when there was virtual no evidence in front of

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them some of these patriarchs and matriarchs when there was no evidence that God would do this or

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it would actually happen they would believe God and God would do it and Hebrews 11 6 lays it out

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there lays it out plain it really does it says this but without faith is impossible to please him

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for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of those who diligently

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seek him right you can't get near somebody unless they are pleased with you

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know what I'm talking about you can't get near listen take off your spouse this afternoon

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just go ahead and do it take off your spouse this afternoon and see how close we're going to get to

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you tonight all right you might be sleeping on the couch all right if you take them off right

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for all you that are out there in the dating world I'm going to give you a little advice I'm here

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I'm here for you okay if you're out there in the dating world guys if you want to get close to that

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young lady you need to please her in some way right you need to open the door when you're going

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out on a date you run around the other side you open that door let her get in you close the door

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there you go sweetie right just let her get in that car door and she's going to smile from ear to ear

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all right and amen my wife saying amen you better step up your game boy all right

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man you buy her some roses and you show up with some flowers that's going to please her right come

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on you cheapskate buy some flowers for her we if you want to get hey come on cheapskate all right

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cheapskate all right all right come on if you want to get close if you want to get close to someone

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you got to please him and the writer of hebrew says if you don't have faith in god you'll never

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please him a matter of fact he said it's impossible to please god without faith it's not the roses and

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the holding of doors with god it's not the grand gesture sometimes that we want to put out with god

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it really isn't it's faith in him and if we're not pleasing him we're not going to get close to god

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if we're not if we're not having deep faith if we're not praising god and coming in with a

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heart of faith then we're not pleasing god and we're not going to draw close right he said it he

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said it if god faith is this if god said it i believe it period amen come on it's true say it

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if god said it and i believe it that is faith period if god said it and i believe it it is faith

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period it's the fact that i am completely convinced that when god speaks it is the truth

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what he's saying is truth and it is moving in a way that that shows that all right pastor andrew

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i'm gonna ask if you drag that chair up here for me all right and this gets happens a lot i used

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to do this in youth group and i know this illustration has been around for a long time and

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this is just a regular old sam's club chair but how many when you walk up to a chair what do you do

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all right some you just sit down with your coffee and church you're sipping right you're just still

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enjoying life right how many of you stop and say you know i don't know about that chair

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you know i think i'm gonna call sam's club i'm not sure about the engineering of this chair

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i'm gonna see if i can get a name so i can call and check out the the specs on this chair i want

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to see about the engineering this chair you don't do that do you when you come up to a chair you

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just sit down in that chair you know why because you got faith that that chair is going to hold you

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up you believe in your heart that that chair is going to hold you up you don't you don't question

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it do you know what happens when you don't believe in the chair you don't move you'll never move

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forward to sit in that chair if you don't believe in that chair if you don't think that chair is

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going to hold you up you're not going to sit down in that thing right you don't want to flip over

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backwards and look ridiculous right you don't want to get fall down and get injured you will never

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move and that's how it is with god if you believe what god is telling you if you believe what god

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said is the absolute truth when he speaks you will move forward you won't think about it you won't

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flinch you won't ponder you won't pontificate you won't spend hours and hours just mauling it over

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in your mind when god says move or when god says to do something or when you read something in god's

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word that says to do something you'll just do it and you know what he sees when you do that faith

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and it pleases god it pleases him he says oh there they are they just trust in me they just believe in

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me that and he smiles from ear to ear and he begins to draw near to you and you begin draw near to him

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and it happened all through god's word noah built an ark on dry land right by hand

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to carry all the animals of the earth because god told him to he could he could have said i don't

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know about that god he could have said i i need i need i need to i need to wait a while and confirm

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that this is the real deal all right i he could have prayed about it for the next 10 years i don't

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know god you know god if somebody brings me a big pile of wood that i'm going to believe that it was

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you he didn't do that god spoke it and he started building he went and got the wood right he went

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started putting the wood together he started coming he's listening for god's design he began

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to move he had faith in what god said and god always shows up with that god always comes and

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meets us with that he always draws near to those if you look in scripture right every single person

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in scripture in god's word god pulls right up beside them when he when he speaks and they just

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moved they just did it abraham takes off for a country he doesn't even know where he's going

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or what he's doing he just left right god told him to go and he went it's faith it's faith on display

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that gets me close to god say faith on display turn the person beside you preach at him a little

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it's faith on display it's faith on display what do i mean by faith on display it's when the faith

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that's on the inside of me starts spilling out onto the outside of me that's what faith on display

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is faith on display is when the faith that's inside of me starts to spill out jesus recognized this

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kind of faith matter of fact he pointed it out in scripture he was entering a small fishing town

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called copernum one day and it's located on the northern side of the sea of gallilee and he went

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into go into copernum he ran into a centurion soldier a roman soldier the enemy okay rome rolled

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over the jews they didn't like one another this roman soldier comes up and approaches jesus and

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after this conversation jesus points to this roman soldier says that is faith let me read you this

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matthew chapter 8 verse 5 you can turn that quickly matthew 8 5 says this now when jesus had entered

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copernium a centurion came to him pleading with him saying lord my servant is lying at home paralyzed

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dreadfully tormented and jesus said to him i will come and heal him now i want you to listen to the

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story the centurion answered and said lord i am not worthy you should come under my roof but only

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speak a word and my servant will be healed for i also am a man under authority having soldiers

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under me and i say to one go and he goes into another come and he comes and to my servant do

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this and he does it and when jesus heard it he marveled and said to those who followed surely

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i say to you i have not found such great faith even not even in israel this guy is a roman soldier

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and he is so convinced that jesus is who he said he is that he is the son of god that that what was

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on the inside of him spilled out to the outside he approaches jesus he tells jesus this didn't

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happen back in that culture the romans ruled over the jewish people they told them what to do

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he comes to jesus humbly he comes and gives him his problem he's got a servant who's sick right

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and jesus says well i'll come and fix it he could have said great that's awesome jesus come on

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right come and fix my problem come and heal my servant he doesn't even do that he says you

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don't even got to show up jesus i'm not worthy for you to come to my house he said all you have to do

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is speak the word into the atmosphere just speak the word into the atmosphere just say it jesus

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that's all you have to do and it'll be well my servant will be healed and jesus is blown away

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he says i have not seen that kind of faith in all of israel he says just speak it this centurion

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soldier now listen jesus has all his followers with him he's got the 12 disciples with him

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this centurion soldier schooled those boys in faith right completely you ever been schooled at

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something i have all right i'm not proud of this moment okay i'm gonna tell you story i'm not proud

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of this moment please don't go do this but when i was young and foolish i got into a drag race out

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on a highway okay i had a shine i know please don't do this i had a shiny red camaro and i

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thought i was all that in a bag of chips right it ran pretty nice and i hopped out on the highway

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one day and the ugliest green mustang you ever saw pulled up beside me that thing was dog ugly

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okay look like a piece of garbage and he pulled up beside me just started taunting me right

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just gonna i'll look all right here we go and don't do this okay and i took off and he took off

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and all i saw was his tail lights pulling away from me that's why he destroyed me he he didn't

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just beat me he humiliated me all right he he was so far out ahead of me i almost just wanted to

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turn off in sheer humiliation somewhere but i was on a highway i couldn't right and all i wanted to

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know after i got over the moments of humiliation in the vehicle by myself all i wanted to know was

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what that guy had under his hood what kind of motor was in that piece of junk you know and i

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think i think the disciples stood by and looked at this roman soldier the same way what kind of

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faith does this man have he had such faith he told jesus just speak it you don't got to come you

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don't got to come you don't got to lay hands you don't you don't have to you don't have to follow

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me anywhere you just speak it into the air jesus and it's done i understand authority i know who

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you are that's faith that's faith i'm gonna ask if you'd stand the praise team comes look look

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look what jesus says to the centurion soldier in verse 11 he says this and i say to you that many

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will come from the east and the west and they will sit down with abraham and isaac and jacob in the

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kingdom of heaven but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness where they'll be

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weeping and gnashing of teeth do you know what he was telling them in this passage of scripture

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he was saying that the jews you know they're the god's chosen people they they know their god's

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chosen chosen people they're they're descendants of abraham and isaac and jacob and they think

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they're going to come into into the kingdom of god because of who they are and who they're connected

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with and jesus said nope that here's what's going to happen with them they're going to they're going

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to be cast out to heaven and he says you know what kind of people are going to be in heaven do you

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know what kind of people are going to be near me do you know what kind of people are going to be

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close to me people like you mr centurion people who have faith in me are going to be near to me

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and jesus said to the centurion go on your way and as you have believed so let it be done for you

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and the servant was healed that very same hour faith on display got this centurion near to god

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he came close he came near he was right up beside him and so many times we think it's all the things

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that we do instead of what we believe and you know why we like that we like it about being do

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do things because we can check it off the list right like i read my bible i prayed did praise

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and worship today and we should do all these things right i i i meditated on god for a while

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and we like this list because then we can measure it god says all those things are good and all

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those things help you learn about me but what do you believe about me what do you believe about me

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do you believe if i speak it into the air it will happen do you believe that do you believe

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that i'll do that for you what do you believe where's your faith where's your faith

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that's how you get near god you got to believe you got to believe so much that whatever he says

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you'll do you'll sit on that chair you won't even think you won't even blink because it's him

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amen we're gonna pray this morning if you're comfortable i want you to just come to the front

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i like coming up front sometimes just make your way to the front if you're not you can pray where

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you're at just make your way up just slide up to the front if you would

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here's what i'm going to ask you this morning maybe a little tester sometimes you need a little test

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in your life right help you measure what's really there do you believe that jesus is the commander

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of the seen and the unseen in your life okay once you close your eyes right so you're not looking

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at me you're not looking at anybody else responds just so you get focused do you believe do you

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believe this fully that jesus is the commander of the seen and the unseen that's what this centurion

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believed he believed that he was the commander of everything seen and everything unseen do you believe

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this it is god who draws near to us when we believe that he is the commander of the seen

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and the unseen in our life father we come before you humble lord i thank you for your word god

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that is light in his life to us i thank you lord that we trust and god put our faith in you

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and god today lord you are the commander of the seen and the unseen god you are the one who rises

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up and god begins to move in our lives lord when we turn all of it over to you and we say lord

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whatever you say i'm gonna do i'm not gonna i'm not gonna fuss i'm not gonna delay i'm not gonna

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wait when you speak i'll move when i see it in your word i will do it god when you when you when

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you tell me lord to rise up or to sit down i'm not gonna question it lord when you tell me to go

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forward or you tell me to wait i'm gonna do what you speak and lord god it is that faith that brings

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us close to god it is when you draw near god you always meet faith it's threaded all through your

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word god you give us example after example after example after example god i praise you now thank

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you lord help us measure our faith this morning and god put our faith squarely in you holy spirit

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stir up within us faith you are the voice that is in our ear you are the one that speaks into our

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heart you're the one that that translates and brings to our spirit what god is speaking

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to us in your holy spirit god help us to move on it immediately in jesus name in jesus name

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we always want to be right amen listen we always want to be a noah

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right we always want to think about like what it would have been like to be on that boat

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and and been the person who listened to god right or moses who led the children of israel

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right out of slavery we want to be that person but it starts with faith it starts with faith it

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starts with what nobody else sees it's deep inside of you how much faith do you have how much faith

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do you have and it's a simple thing if i can believe in a stupid chair come on i believe in

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a stupid chair i can believe in god it's that easy it's that simple i don't want to make it sound

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like it's a hard thing like man i'm gonna have to really work at this it's not it's just simply

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decided like okay i trust god as much as i trust the chair amen can you can you trust him that much

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trust him just do what he says what he says if you're young old somewhere in between

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i look around i think about all the stages that are represented here y'all in different places in

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life y'all gonna have to believe some of you are in school right now you're gonna have to believe

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god for certain things while you're in school they're gonna be different from it right they're

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gonna be different from the things that you believe when you're when you're just getting married or

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when you're just dating or or when you're later in life and your children are leaving or when you

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maybe in those years there there's more years behind you that are in front of you

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you're gonna have to believe god for different things in different ways but it's still the same

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thing it's faith man i'm gonna end with this pastor jack keiler god bless him he he went to be with

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the lord a long time ago but i remember i was a very young minister and you know and thought i knew

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everything and he used to tell me over and over and over again he always said it almost almost to

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a point of annoyance but he'd say kip it's all about faith it's all about faith and i'm like

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it's all about faith and i'm like yeah but pastor jack there's just let me let me walk you through

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the word like i really knew i was talking about you know and he and you know there's all these

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other things he's like no it's all about faith it all boils back to faith it all comes back to faith

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he was right he was right all the rest builds and girds it up but it's about faith amen

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as your faith rises think of it this way as your faith rises you open the doors for god to move in

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your life do you know that as your faith rises you open the door for god to move your life in every

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area of your life man i don't know why i'm laboring here but somebody needs to hear me okay as you

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open listen just as you open it'll open the doors every every time you you believe god for one more

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you believe god for one more thing right in one more area of your life i mean though it's a journey

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right i'd like to say man i got it all right right at the beginning it's not you're stepping

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through some of you some of you it's going to be in relationships some of you it's going to be in

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finances some of you it's going to be in your job some of you it's going to be believing god for the

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future or maybe to get rid of your past one of the one of the two right or maybe even just to get

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in the present but you need but as you begin to have faith in those areas and your faith begins

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to rise god began he starts to move in that particular area it just happens here testimony

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about it all the time can i give you one more last story i feel like storytelling a little bit today

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all right go for it i got one that's good enough it's all i need i remember hearing a minister

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talking about how god was using him mightily he was actually going out and preaching and teaching

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all over the world and and he he spoke about how god had used him in in these great ways in these

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services but he said there's this one area of his life was messed up and it was in his finances

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he said i couldn't figure it out he said like i'm going to preach and god's moving and all these

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great things are taking place and ministry is expanding and all things he said my finances were

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all jacked up and he said i finally went back and i started reading like god what am i doing

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and god took him into the word and he started reading about how he was supposed to give

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it was literally that simple and his faith began to rise there and he started doing what god said

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in in the word about giving and all of a sudden god began to bless there and god drew near into

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his finances and began to bless him and all of a sudden he started to understand god's cycle

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with all this and how if you pour out god pours back in and and it and it was his faith right

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so you're not going to get it all in one shot but there's going to be step by step god will start

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building faith in your life right for each area maybe physically you're suffering and you got to

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believe god as you're walking through that right that's a whole different thing amen it's true

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thank you for tuning in to this message from life house church we pray that you were impacted

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powerfully by this message if you have been personally affected by our ministry and you

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would like to partner with us as we love god love people every day visit our website at www.lifehousecog.com