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We've all been hurt. We all carry scars. We can all overcome these things and be

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healed through a relationship with Jesus Christ. Let's build that relationship

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together right here. Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton. Hey everybody

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and welcome back to the sanctuary. So good to have you here and for those of

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you joining us for the first time, let me just say welcome. A quick reminder

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you can connect with us anytime either on our website at BeTheLightSanctuary.org

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or on Facebook of course at the exact same thing just Be The Light Sanctuary.

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Look that up and you'll find us. Of course it would be helpful to us if you

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would like, subscribe, rate, or leave us a review anywhere that you listen to our

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podcast. I know they're all a little different, all the different services.

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However, the more of those things that we get, the more the algorithm helps to get

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us out there for other people to find so we can continue to get that word out

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there and reach more and more people with the gospel. Also, you know, as you

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know, we don't ask for a traditional tithe or offering or anything like that.

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However, if you do find it on your heart to want to give to us, you know, we do

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have a very easy way to do that setup online. All you do is go to BuyMeACoffee.com

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slash healing scars and that's right there on the website as well.

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So BuyMeACoffee.com slash healing scars and you can do so there. You know,

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everything is prayerfully used. I, you know, we don't take any of it for

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personal use. It all goes into ministry and helping to spread the gospel to the

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world. Also, final announcement here, we have a new sponsor of sorts. We've

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actually launched our own coffee and a portion of the proceeds of course, you

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know, goes to the ministry. However, another portion goes towards helping

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veteran-based charities and ministry as well. So if you find it on yourself,

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wanting to do something to help out the veterans, it's a very easy way to do so.

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Just go to WakingBearCoffee.com. That's Waking, W-A-K-I-N-G, BearCoffee.com and

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we have quite the selection there and more to grow and that's really all we

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have for announcements this week. Thanks for bearing with me. I know that was a

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lot. This week, we're going to continue on in the book of Zephaniah. As we saw

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last week, chapter one was directed at, you know, as it was punishment being

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directed at the world for its disobedience and that there was still

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hope for believers. And this week, we'll be going through chapter two

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today and we'll see that it's specifically directed at Judah and

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Jerusalem being along with the rest of the world. So they're not being, you know,

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put off to the side, no favorite child or anything like that. They're going to be

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punished as well. And this will actually continue on into the first part of

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chapter three until the book starts talking about the Day of Hope, which of

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course is really wonderful. You know, I'm excited to get to that part next week. So

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to reflect back a little, this book was written to get the Israelites just to,

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you know, wake up, you know, it's just to shake them out of bed and get them to

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stop being so complacent, not only in their lives but in their worship as well.

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You know, they needed to, you know, to restart doing the things God had

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intended for them, you know, a little kickstart, if you will. You know, and they

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needed to turn back to relying on God and praising Him instead of being

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prideful and relying on themselves and, you know, and praising themselves and

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various pagan idols that were all around them and just permeating the

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culture at that time. You know, they needed to be less accepting of the

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world and more focused on God's will, very much like all of us, you know, you, me,

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all of us. We all need to be less accepting of the world and more focused

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on what God's will is and what God wants from us, okay? So let's dive into the

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word now. For those of you who have your Bible and those of you who are taking

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notes, please join me in turning to Zephaniah chapter 2 and we're going to

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start off with the first few verses here. So Zephaniah chapter 2 and we're

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going to start with verses 1, 2, and 3. And the Bible says, gather together, gather

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yourselves together, you shameful nation, before the decree takes effect and that

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day passes like windblown chaff, before the Lord's fierce anger comes upon you,

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before the day of the Lord's wrath comes upon you, seek the Lord and you humble

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of the land, you who do what he commands, seek righteousness, seek humility,

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perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the Lord's anger. As we can see, the

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clock is ticking here, time's running out. If you were to look at it from an hourglass,

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you know, that sand, it's still pouring but it's very quickly running out.

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It's not quite done yet but it's getting there. You know, from those of you who

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need a sports analogy or a sporting perspective, the two-minute warning has

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just rung, okay? So people, they still had time to listen to God, you know, this is a

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warning, repent and turn back to him, you know, and this is a warning that we're all

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getting, you know, at that point for these people, it was time to have some humble

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pie and start obeying the Father again. And the Old Testament prophets, they had

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all given warnings and what the consequence would be if people continued

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to stay the course that they had been on. They had warned that the only means of

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escape was to turn from sin and back to God. All right, let me say that again

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because this pertains to us just like it did to them. The only means of escape is

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to turn from sin and back to God. So repentance, you know, and it's not just

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oh I'm sorry or any of that, you know, true repentance is acknowledging okay hey

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yeah I messed up, I've been doing this, Lord I need help to change, but then

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you need to go and you need to actually make the effort and start taking steps

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to take that sin out of your life and you know praying and let basically get

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that sin out and let the Holy Spirit fill you so that it can't come back in.

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All right, true repentance is true change. It is change in your life. Micah 6 verse

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8, the Bible says, he has shown you, O mortal, what is good and what does the

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Lord require of you to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your

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God. You see people will do all sorts of things to appease God, you know, like oh

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you know I gotta make I gotta make dad happy, you know, but they don't take time

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to actually listen to what he has said and what he is telling us and God has

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made it very very clear that we be just, that we do what is right, that we be

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loving and merciful, all right, merciful, that's a big one, not just loving but

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merciful and that we walk with him humbly, that we humble ourselves. That

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word humble, you know, what does that mean in the context of walking with God?

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Well I'll tell you, it means to be modest in your position and to place God's

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importance above your own, that God is above us, all right, we look to him and

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you know it's just as important today as it was then. This is something that has

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never changed, why? Because God hasn't changed, this is his character, he is the

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same yesterday, today, and forever will be, you know, we have had a ton of warnings

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that we need to turn back to what God has told us and we need to act on it, you

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know, people they don't look at world events this way very often, you know, you

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might hear something like, oh we as a nation, well you know what, we as a nation

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of God at that, okay, warnings aren't just in the Bible, they don't just go to

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other countries, we're getting warned here, everybody on earth has been warned,

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every single one of us, because God is in everything, all right, James chapter 1

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verse 22, the Bible says, do not merely listen to the word and so deceive

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yourselves, do what it says, you know, a lot of people, you know, our culture,

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society today, you know, like to think that just going and sitting in a service

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is all that's needed, but it's not, you know, and it says right here, do what it

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says, we have to live what the scripture, what his word has called us to, we have

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to do what it has told us to, you know, you may have heard the phrase or seen

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the meme that says, the church isn't a cruise ship where everyone relaxes, it is

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a battleship where it's all hands on deck and everyone serves the mission, and

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that is very true, we're on a mission in the battle of good versus evil, and the

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lighthouse has its light turned on and its horn is blowing to warn us that if

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we don't change course, we're going to be in a whole lot of trouble real soon,

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all right, the people of Judah had plenty of warning just like we do, so nobody

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had an excuse not to be listening, everyone had the chance to fix themselves,

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and by fix themselves, I don't mean like, oh, let's just do that, you know, or let's

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get into a self-help group or read books or anything, no, everybody had the chance

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to start turning from their sin and get back in alignment with God, you know, and

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it doesn't take much, you know, as I've said before, as the Bible has told us, a

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mustard seed of faith, you know, just like them, we need to listen, we need to pray

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for forgiveness of others, ourselves, and one another, all right, the big key, the

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big keyword there is for one another though, I should say keywords, not just

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ourselves, but for everyone around us, see, we need to ask for his mercy in

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addition to showing it, we need to start obeying him instead of the world, the

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excuse of I didn't know is not going to fly, and by living humbly, we're humbling

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ourselves, we're placing God above ourselves, it doesn't mean that we're

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putting ourselves down or being goody-two-shoes about everything, it

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means that we're being honest about ourselves before God and before others,

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in other words, in front of God and in front of others, that we recognize God is

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the Father and have become servant leaders as his children, as we've been

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called to and have been shown by the example of Jesus Christ when he lived

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among us, continuing on, Zephaniah chapter 2 verses 4 through 7, the Bible

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says, Gaza will be abandoned and Ascalon left in ruins, at midday Ashdod will be

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emptied and Ekron uprooted, woe to you who live by the sea, you Carathite

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people, the word of the Lord is against you, Canaan, land of the Philistines, he

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says, I will destroy you and none will be left, the land by the sea will become

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pastures having wells for shepherds and pens for flocks, that lot, that land,

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excuse me, that land will belong to the remnant of the people of Judah, there

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they will find pasture, in the evening they will lie down in the houses of

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Ascalon, excuse me, Ashcalon, the Lord their God will care for them, he will

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restore their fortunes, your translation may also read that part as will bring

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back their captives, now the four cities here are in Philistia down in the

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southwest part of Judah along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, going on the

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way back to the days of Joshua, these were old-school enemies of Israel,

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we're talking old-time enemies, they had history, they had beef, they had been

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going at it for a long time, you know those odds just, they'd been there,

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buttonheads, and the Philistines they were known, they're very well known for

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their idolatry, their cruelty, and really just being a bully as nation, you know

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these guys were jerks, and the cities here, these were four of their five

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capital cities, so four of their biggest cities, the fifth one was named Gath and

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it's believed that by this point in history that it had already been

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destroyed, so Gath was already out of the picture and they were down in just these

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four cities, now there's a word in Zephaniah chapter 2 here, when you go

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back to you look at verse 7 that you know you should take note of, you know

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and that word is remnant, this is a word that every single prophet used while

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prophesying about impending judgment and destruction being on the horizon, and

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this itself it is a reference to believers, Christians, right, the God's

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children, basically this small group of God's loyal children who God will

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show mercy on, and they will be returned back to their lands, they will be

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basically returned home to flourish, so even though God said he was going to

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destroy Judah, he's also going to be merciful and stay true to the promise

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he made to Abraham, if you look back to Genesis 17 verses 4 through 8 the Bible

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says, as for me this is my covenant with you, you will be the father of many

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nations, no longer will you be called Abraham, your name will be Abraham, for I

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have made you the father of many nations, I will make you very fruitful, I will

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make nations of you and kings will come from you, I will establish my covenant as

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an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for

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the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after

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you, the whole land of Canaan where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as

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an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you and I will be

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their God, God's character is that he doesn't lie and that he keeps his

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promises, so even though he can't allow sin to continue to go on and poison and

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kill the world as the cancer that it is, he's still going to be merciful to his

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children, why? because he is the father and the father loves his children, he

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loves us, he loves his loyal children, alright even before Christ, you know

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before Christianity was born, God's children still there, right? today we know

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exactly where we stand, so he's going to be merciful to his children, you know

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God is made to be this, I should say he's made out to be like this angry old

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geezer, you know people like to say oh New Testament God, Old Testament God, you

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know but he's not, you know I've said it time and time again that the judgment

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that he hands out, the justice that he has to med out, it's because of our own

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disobedience and because of that we force his hand to correct us, our

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punishment we bring on ourselves, you know we can learn more about that in

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Hebrews chapter 12 verses 4 through 13, you know God always has our best

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interest at heart, even if we don't necessarily see it at the time and let's

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be honest, oftentimes we just don't, we may think we do, that's why they like to

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say hindsight's 20-20, so going back to Zephaniah chapter 2 we're going to look

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now at verses 8 through 11, the Bible says, I have heard the insults of Moab

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and the taunts of the Ammonites who insulted my people and made threats

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against their land, therefore as surely I live declares the Lord Almighty the God

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of Israel, surely Moab will become like Sodom and the Ammonites like Gomorrah, a

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place of weeds and salt pits, a wasteland forever, the remnant of my

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people will plunder them, the survivors of my nation will inherit their land,

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this is what they will get in return for their pride, for insulting and mocking

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the people of the Lord Almighty, the Lord will be awesome to them when he

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destroys all the gods of the earth, distant nations will bow down to him, all

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of them in their own lands, the way the Ammonites and the Moabites were, see

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the Ammonites and the Moabites were, they were to the east of Judah and their

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lineage itself actually goes all the way back to Lot's incest with his daughters

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after they escaped the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah back in Genesis 19,

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all right, so there's a reference right there, you know, because the Bible

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references itself constantly throughout, more so than any other book, and you know

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they were another nation that was constantly at odds with Judah, taunting

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them, teasing them, all right, they were also very cruel idolaters and they

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worshiped Simosh and Malik and you can learn more about that in 1 Kings 11 and

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in 1 Kings 3, Moab's king, when you go back to that, he sacrificed his son on

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the city wall to stop an invasion, so to, you know, to the false gods that, you

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know, he was worshipping, the idolatry, that's how deeply rooted it

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was, that's how evil this dude was and how evil those people were, you know, just

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absolutely to the core, and here God is telling us that he's heard what's going

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on and he knows what the Moabites and the Ammonites have been saying and

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doing, because he is all-knowing after all, that he knows how prideful they are

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and he's taken, he's been taking notes, all right, and he's gonna be dealing

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with them as well, there are no evildoers who will ever escape the Lord's justice,

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not one, and as believers we have to remember, we have to remember that it

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will be in his time, you know, it's hard when you're being mocked, it's hard when

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you're being teased, it's hard when you're being harassed or even just

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plain ignored, it's a very lonely place, it feels very lonely and just isolated,

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however, God is there with you, so you need to talk to him and you need to trust

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in him, see he'll take care of you, he'll take care of all of us, those

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who don't follow him, well, you know, they have time now but eventually the time

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the time's gonna run out and they're gonna wish that they did, so take your

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hurt and place it at the feet of the Father, put it at God's feet, right there

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at the base of the throne, and then once you've done that, pray for your enemies,

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pray for your enemies, we've been told to, it's biblical, we've talked about this,

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so take your hurt, give it to the Father, and then pray for your enemies, remember

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God's justice is thorough, when Sodom and Gomorrah were dealt with, it was so

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thorough, so complete, so utterly awesome, that to this very day, nobody knows

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exactly where they were, so while we may feel the sting of the Father's

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correction when we misstep in life and when we're, you know, falling into our own

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sin, the unbelievers, they're gonna feel the sting of hell and damnation for

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their ridicule and their mockery of the Lord, that's gonna be a whole lot

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worse, Cush is briefly mentioned here as well, however, you know, they had also

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been prophesied over back in Isaiah 18 and in Ezekiel 30, so Zephaniah chapter

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2 verse 12, the Bible says, you Cushites too will be slain by my sword, so Cush, it

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was located at the southern end of the Red Sea and it was controlled by Egypt

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around this time, they were slain by God's sword, which if you recall, it's the

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Babylonians, when they invaded Egypt around 605 BC, you know, I'll remind you

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that the Babylonians for all their evil, you know, they were a really great

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tool that God welded to turn a lot of people back to him, so he took something

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that was really bad out there and used it for good, so, you know, they

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went through and just, you know, they ransacked things, so God was able to take

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them and use them to help, you know, people turn back to him and weed out

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just a ton of sin, alright, so going into the final part of Zephaniah 2 here, let's

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look at verses 13 through 15 now, the Bible says, he will stretch out his hand

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against the north and destroy Assyria leaving Nineveh utterly desolate and dry

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as the desert, flocks and herds will lie down there,

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creatures of every kind, the desert owl and the screech owl will roost on her

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columns, their hooting will echo through the windows and the screech owl, excuse

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me, lost my place here, so let me just go back a little bit, so flocks and herds

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will lie down here, creatures of every kind, the desert owl and the screech owl

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will roost on her columns, their hooting will echo through the windows, rubble

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will fill the doorways, the beams of cedar will be exposed, this is the city

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of revelry that lived in safety, she said to herself, I am the one and there is

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none besides me, what a ruin she has become, a lair for wild beasts, all who

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pass by her scoff and shake their fist, it's interesting that for as big as

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Kush was, they're barely even mentioned in this book beyond saying you're going

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down, bye, good night John boy, that's it really, poof, really kind of like a

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fleeting thought, but then the sights were actually set on the biggest dog in

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the yard to finish out the chapter, see Assyria if you recall was the dominant

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world power with the strongest military might at that time, from a worldly

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aspect they owned the yard, it was theirs, there wasn't anything that was

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going to happen there that they didn't have a say in or a hand in, alright and a

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lot of us like to say the same kind of thing today, you know they'd be stupid

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to pick a fight with us, we got the best military in the world, oh we had the

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bomb, you know people forget, none of those things mean anything to God

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because he can deal with all of it, snap of a finger, less than that really, just

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a thought and as a nation you know that's done everything that it can to

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kick God's out of its institution, well you know as a nation here we're not what

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we once were either, where are we you know, very arrogant, we become very

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prideful, you know and going back to Assyria even though you know they were

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starting to weaken, you know they're getting real comfortable in their ways

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kind of set, they've been the world's powerhouse for three centuries, three of

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them, most people don't even live for an entire one, very few people live for a

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hundred years right, for three centuries they were the top dog, they crushed anyone

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that dared to get in their way or even try to stand up to them for that matter

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their capital there Nineveh you recall, you know they believed it was an

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impenetrable target, nobody could touch it right, they were the center of culture

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they were the center of technology, we're talking libraries, massive buildings, an

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impressive irrigation system, you know it was a true spectacle to behold, it was a

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gem you know out there, you know it's a gem of their day, this was the this is

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the place to be, this is where the you know, you know like you look at just here

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you know people talk about LA or New York City or Miami depending on you know

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what what's going on you know we have certain cities like that here we're like

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oh yeah that's that is the place to go to for certain things right and this was

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it this is the center of the world of the world that's how impressive they

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were, you want to talk about let's talk about their city wall for a moment

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their city wall it was approximately 60 miles long, 60 miles long, some you know

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for some of us we live in places we don't even have to drive that far to get

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to the next city, to go that distance some of us will go through several towns

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60 miles long, not only was it 60 miles long but it was a hundred feet high and

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then more than 30 feet wide with around 1500 towers to protect it so when it was

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predicted that it was going to fall it was a bad joke at best to anyone living

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there like are you kidding are you serious so if you want biblical proof of

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prophecy you know proof of biblical prophecy this right here this was a

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tremendous example using the technology at the time wiped out you know because

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Zephaniah predicted it would happen and a decade later the Babylonians they

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didn't just destroy them they wiped them off the map like they were never there

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Nineveh was so utterly destroyed that its very existence was questioned it got

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to a point where many even believed it to just be a myth because there was no

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proof there was no evidence that it even really existed beyond word people

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talking about it and where it was talked about in Scripture it wasn't until the

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19th century the 19th century the archaeologists finally discovered it near

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Mosul and Iraq that's how that's just here is F and I to verse 13 says leaving

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Nineveh utterly desolate and dry as the desert and indeed it was a place so

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forgotten and desolate and just utterly destroyed that even Indiana Jones

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wouldn't have bothered with it say oh dr. Jones dr. Jones nope don't waste your

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time kid wouldn't bat an eye and this is a warning call to all of us every single

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nation around the world that it is time to turn back to Jesus as believers

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we know we'll be shown more mercy and you know well one day we'll get to enjoy

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fellowship with the Lord we can't take the work the father has tasked us with

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with for granted though well yes Jesus is the way if we truly love God with all of

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our heart and all of our mind and all of our soul then we will happily answer the

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Great Commission and we will tell everyone that we can about Jesus and the

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gospel we aren't the ones who do the saving let me remind you Jesus does it's

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just on us to make the introduction to him and serve as his ambassadors around

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the world so I'm gonna share this with you you know many of you I know are

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familiar with Penn and Teller Penn Gillette you know what one half of the

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duo there he is a self-professed atheist all right however in an interview he had

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this to say about Christians evangelizing to the world so Penn said this if you

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believe that there's a heaven and hell and people could be going to hell or not

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getting eternal life or whatever and you think that it's not really worth telling

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them this because it would make it socially awkward and atheist who think

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people shouldn't process proselytize just leave me alone and keep your religion

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to yourself how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize so that

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asked how much do you have to hate somebody to pull to believe that

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everlasting life is possible and not tell them that if I believe beyond a

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shadow of a doubt that a truck was coming at you and you didn't believe it

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and that truck was bearing down there's a certain point where I tackle you and

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this is more important than that this is coming from a self-professed atheist and

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even he is saying that he respects people who go out and share the world

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see the point that he was making is that if you truly believe and you truly love

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people as you should then you're going to speak up you're going to share the

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gospel you're going to make that introduction to Jesus now whether or not

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that person is saved or believes that's on them but you did what you're supposed

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to you did what we've all been called to do what we as Christians are called to

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do by God something that we as Christians all should believe in it it's

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part of our part of our core it's part of the core of being a Christian that

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that as a Christian that we show others the same love God has shown us and that

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we share him with the world all right so you know let me remind you God loves you

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God's going to look out for you so stay humble stay obedient and follow him his

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glory is much more than any of us can match can imagine and it's going to be

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absolutely magnificent to see all right so so next week we're going to get jump

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into a chapter 3 we're gonna finish up with you know this last part of the

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warnings coming through and then we're and we're finally gonna go into the day

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of hope which you know I'm really excited for that's gonna be awesome all

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right so join us then thanks for joining us today now go and be the church

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take care y'all I want to thank you for joining us today if you have any

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questions prayer requests or would like to know more about our ministry you can

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find us on our website at be the light sanctuary org or on Facebook at be the

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light sanctuary we'll catch you next time God bless