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Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. We are a Bible-Believing Church located in

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beautiful British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part of the Christian Fellowship Ministries with

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3,000 churches around the world. We are a church focused on world evangelism, discipleship, and

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church planting. Here we will share recent sermons from P.H.S.A. Church and other sermons from

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throughout our fellowship. I am Pastor David Bickford and I will be your host for this podcast.

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I thank you for listening today and we hope these messages are a blessing to you and bring you closer

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to God. Hello and welcome back to the podcast. Today I'm going to preach a message about speak

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to the people. The subheading is Speak, Proclaim, and Preach. This was a message that I preached

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way back in May of last year. I'm working through quite a few of the sermons I've preached in the

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past year and we're just wanting to get as wide a reach as we can with this message. Eventually,

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the goal is to do this in a YouTube format but I want to make sure that I get these messages out

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and as I learn how to do YouTube a little bit and a little bit of video editing. As we grow as a

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church, I want to make sure this gets out but that is the ultimate goal is to also keep the podcast

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running but also to have the video done on YouTube. Further to that, I did Mitchell Mondays for a

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while. I'm still playing around with what else to do or how else to do. What I believe I'm going to

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do is we had our conference in January at Prescott, Arizona. I'm going to share a bunch of those

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sermons as we go forward as I see fit to just make sure that I get as much of the gospel message out

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there but the core of the podcast is to share the messages that are preached in our church here at

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Samanar and to get the gospel out. As I've said before, 3,500 churches globally within our

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Christian Fellowship Ministries umbrella and with that, we have tremendous preachers in our

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fellowship both here in Canada and the United States and throughout the world. I want to start

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sharing those as time permits but not without dropping off or missing the weekly sermon that

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I provide through this podcast. That is the core. As we grow, as the church grows, the goal is to

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have a functioning YouTube channel with sermons being preached and eventually those will end up

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being just rebroadcasts of the service in its entirety but with the focus of sharing sermons

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on this podcast platform because it's a little bit different. It's a little bit more concise and I

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want to be able to provide that to whoever is willing to listen and as we grow. So today,

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again, the sermon is going to be Speak to the People, Speak, Proclaim, and Preach. That's the

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title of this message and the source of scripture we're going to use as a jumping off point is going

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to be Acts chapter 4 verses 17 through 20. We'll go ahead and jump into that in just a second but

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I wanted to use this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson that says, Speech is power. Speech is to

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persuade, to convert, to compel. It is to bring another out of his bad sense and into your good

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sense. So the interesting thing about this quote is it doesn't give us any real indication about

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the pros or cons of speech because some speech that comes from the Lord is going to be

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or from his word is going to be powerful. It's going to be supernatural in some sense but there's

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a lot of speech out there too that can have negative connotations and so we have to be aware

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of that. We have to take all things in balance as we look at this topic but let's go ahead and jump

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in with Acts 4 verses 17 through 20 and maybe before we do that let's just pray, Dear Lord God,

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that open our eyes and our ears to your word and to your wisdom, Lord God. Open our hearts, Lord God,

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to be transformed by the sacrifice of your Son and by the Holy Spirit that we turn to you in all

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things. That the word that we see in the scripture would wash over us, Lord God, and help us to live

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a life moving towards sanctification in Jesus Christ. We give you all the praise and glory.

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Thank you for the grace that you give us. Open our hearts to this word to this morning in Jesus' name.

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Amen. So in verse 17 it says, But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us

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warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name. So they called them and charged them not to speak

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or to teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, Whether it is right in the

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sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we

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have seen and heard. So here you obviously have a group that is trying to contend against Peter and

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John and stop them from preaching this gospel. And they are telling the group back, is it right for

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us to listen to you and deny God or to listen to God and to deny you? And this is a very poignant,

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you know, message for us in our time today, where we are told oftentimes that to even read the word

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of God or out loud or to even say, I believe in the word of God out loud can be seen by some as

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being, you know, hateful speech. And so it's very interesting how this is not a new subject. This is

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something that the apostles dealt with in their time and that, you know, Christians have dealt with

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throughout history. Right. And we see this. And so that's at the very center of this discussion is

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that where do you make your decisions in life? Is it going to be based off of what society tells

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you is good and sensible in their madness? Or is it going to be what God tells you is good and

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sensible in His holiness and His righteousness? So with that, let's take a look at the resignation

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speech from 1783 from George Washington. And to grasp the true power of George Washington's

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resignation as the commander of chief and of the entire U.S. military or the Continental Army,

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you have to go beyond the words themselves and appreciate the context. General Washington was in

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no way obliged to resign his commission, but he did so willingly and even gladly just as he would

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later refuse a third term as president of the United States, establishing the precedent that

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was honored up until the 1940s of only having a two term president. And then later it was enshrined

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after Roosevelt as a set standard that presidents should leave after two terms. So despite being

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the most powerful man in this fledgling military and then becoming the most powerful man in the

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United States, this shows the humbleness of Washington that he was never hungry for power

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for himself. He just happened to be the best man for the job at the time. So even in his last address

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as leader of the nation's armed forces, Washington made it all about America and not about himself. So

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he says, happy in the confirmation of our independence and sovereignty and pleased with

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the opportunity afforded the United States becoming a respectable nation, I resigned with

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satisfaction the appointment I accepted with diffidence. A diffidence in my abilities to

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accomplish so arduous a task, which however was superseded by a confidence in the rectitude of

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our cause, the support of the supreme power of the union and the patronage of heaven.

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So what is it about speech? Like when we hear George Washington, some of those words might seem

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old timing, but the reality is, is he is giving, he's showing his heart with that, with that

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resignation speech. He's, he's showing that he believes that the country that was just birthed,

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their true patronage is to heaven and not to any man. So when we think about speech,

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and when today I preach about our call to speak, you know, we have to think about that in these

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terms, we are, you know, our patronage is also heaven as Christians, we are commanded to speak

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to proclaim and preach the gospel of heaven of Jesus Christ. So why is it that we're commanded

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to open our mouths for this cause of Jesus Christ? Is this a new thing that we are called to do? Or

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is this something as old as the heavens? And so we are, we are, we are, we are, we are, we are

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called to be spoken to, to be proclaimed, to be preached everywhere. We know that Jesus is the

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word and was the father from the beginning, as was with the father from the beginning. So then it

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stands to reason that words are meant to be spoken, to be proclaimed and to be preached

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everywhere and to everyone. In John one verses one through five, it says the word became flesh in the

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beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with

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the word and the word was made. In him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines in

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the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. This is not something we can neglect. This is not

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something that we could hold back. It is something we must foster within us. We must water the tiny

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seeds of our faith to fertilize the tiny sprout as it grows and nurture our speaking abilities so

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we can have confidence in Jesus to speak, proclaim, preach his gospel to all things.

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It's interesting that to put so much emphasis on speaking. Public speaking especially is one of the

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most feared phobias for a lot of people. Surveys typically indicate that between 72 to 75 percent

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of the population fears speaking publicly. Why is there so much fear about public speaking? Why does

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the act of speech elicit such anxiety in such a large portion of society? Is it the fear of failure,

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inadequacy, embarrassment, or is the fear of people or self or even the fear of success?

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Jonah feared preaching to the Assyrians because he knew that he would be successful. Moses feared

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speaking because of embarrassment. These emotions are nothing new but the reality remains that we

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are called to fall upon the Lord and speak the gospel, to proclaim the gospel and preach the

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gospel. And then with this I want to interject too that it's not just about public speaking.

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It's not just about being in front of crowds or preaching to an assembly. It's about speaking

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one-on-one to people we come in contact with day to day. Oftentimes it becomes even just or just as

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terrifying to go up to a stranger and preach or speak the gospel to them and humbleness and share

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that gospel message to one person or a group of two or three or four or five. This also can become

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terrifying to people, just as terrifying to people as it is to speak to a group of a hundred or

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five hundred or a thousand for others. But that brings me my first point which is speak to the

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people, the prophets. Oftentimes you know there's you look at the picture of Moses and he says I'm

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slow to speech. So oftentimes we try to make excuses when God calls us to speak on his behalf

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and this is nothing new. As I said, Moses struggled with speaking for God but fortunately for Moses

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God did not let him go free from his calling but made a way for him to fulfill his calling. Even

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today we cannot get away from our calling. We can either accept it or reject it but we will never

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truly get rid of the call that is on our lives. In Exodus 4 10 through 16 and then in verses 28

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through 30 we read, But Moses said to the Lord, O Lord, I am not eloquent either in the past or

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since you have spoken to your servant but I am slow of speech and of tongue. Then the Lord said

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to him, Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I,

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the Lord? Now therefore go and I will be your with you, your mouth and teach you what you shall

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speak. But he said, O my Lord, please send someone else. Then the anger of the Lord was kindled

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against Moses and he said, Is there not Aaron your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well.

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Behold he is coming down to meet you and when he sees you he will be glad in his heart. You shall

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speak to him and put the words in his mouth. I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and

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will teach you both what to do. He shall speak for you to the people and he shall be your mouth and

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you shall be as God to him. So in verse 28 says, And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord

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with which he had sent him to speak and all the signs that he had commanded him to do. Then Moses

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and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the people of Israel and Aaron spoke

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all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses and did the signs inside of the people.

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It's a very interesting idea that you know you have a calling upon Moses life. He's asked to

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preach, you know, speak, you know, to the assembly and he can't do it. But God doesn't let him get

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past this. It doesn't take away this calling onto his life. Rather he finds a way for him to do this

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despite his fear. And he says that he's going to work with him to get him to be able to do these

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things. So when we travel through the Old Testament we see the prophets of God constantly commanded

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to speak to the people on God's behalf. Why is it important to speak? Why can't this just be written

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down in a letter, put on an Instagram post, or whatever we think we can do today? Because the

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word of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ is meant to be heard. Let us look at just a few times that

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the prophets were told by God to speak, keeping in mind that that phrase speak to shows up in the

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Bible over 250 times. Exodus 25, 1 to 2, the Lord said to Moses, speak to the people of Israel,

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that they take me for a contribution from every man whose heart moves him, you shall receive the

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contribution from me. Leviticus 22 has 22 instances where God tells Moses to speak to the children of

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Israel. Jeremiah 11, 1 through 2, the word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, hear the word, hear the

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word of the Lord, hear the words of this covenant and speak to the men of Judah and the inhabitants

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of Jerusalem. Ezekiel 3, 1 through 4, and he said to me, son of man, eat whatever you find here,

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eat this scroll and go speak to the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth and he gave me this

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scroll to eat and he said to me, son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I will give you

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and fill your stomach with it. Then I ate it and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey and he said

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to me, son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them. God's word was meant

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to be spoken in the Old Testament. It was expected that you would have large portions or the entirety

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of the Torah, the Old Testament, memorized so that you could draw from the word and speak with

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authority. When the prophets were called by the Lord, it was to speak to the people of Israel.

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In the New Testament, the pattern is the same. When Jesus would heal, he expected those who had

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had lived or had their lives changed to become vocal testimonies, to speak and to proclaim.

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And that brings me to my second point, which is proclaim. The prophets in the New Testament

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saints did not just speak the gospel, they proclaimed the gospel with zeal. We need to

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have zeal for the things of God. We need to foster relationship with God so that we will be filled

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with the Holy Spirit, with fire in our bones like Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 29, it says, if I say I will

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not mention him or speak anymore in his name, there is in my heart as it were a burning fire

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shutting my bones and I am weary withholding it, withholding it in and I cannot. In Psalm 39,

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3, it says, my heart became hot within me as I muse the fire burned and then I spoke with my tongue.

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As we grow closer to Jesus, we understand more of what his sacrifice meant to us

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and to the world. And if we're truly going to follow Christ and see and seeking to be more

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Christ-like in our lives, then we should be growing in our convictions and we should also be more

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emphatic to the disastrous course that the world is headed. We should become more vocal. We should

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be speaking more boldly about the things of God. We shouldn't be becoming more timid. And even

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though we have fear, we have to strive against that. In Job 32, 8, it says, but it is the spirit

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in man, the breath Almighty that makes him understand. That is why we must proclaim the

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gospel. We must shout it from the rooftops. Jesus died for all our sins. The price has been paid,

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but we must receive it. And Colossians 4, 4, and the New Living Translation, it says,

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pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should. That's a good point, a side point

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of clarity. We proclaim with clarity the simple gospel message so there can be no confusion

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about what we are speaking of. And Acts 13, 38 says, brothers, listen, we are here to proclaim

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that through this man, Jesus, there is forgiveness for your sins. The clarity of Jesus coming to

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earth, God incarnate, dying for our sins so that when we repent, we can have forgiveness from our

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sins in Jesus Christ. Through Jesus Christ, we can be set free. Psalm 35, 28, then I will proclaim

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your justice. I will praise you all day long because our God is a God of justice. And when we

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preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, when we preach about our God, it is preaching righteousness,

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holiness, and justice. In a world that so vocally says they're seeking justice, why not preach a

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gospel of justice? So here we start with speaking. Just open your mouth, let the words of God and

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Jesus Christ be your speech. In your timidity, in your fear, speak. In everything we do, we're

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called to do it unto the Lord, so then let us start now with our speech. This is one reason why

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we refrain from profane speech because we are meant to use our words for godly and heavenly

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speech. We hold our tongue, we do not gossip, we do not mock or impugn others with our tongue

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defiling it because our tongue is meant for worship. It is meant to speak about the gospel

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of Jesus Christ and as we speak, we will gain boldness and the fire from the Holy Spirit will

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work inside us to empower our speech to the point of proclamation. We are the fire alarm for a fallen

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world. We need to lift our voices above the clamor of our time and proclaim the gospel of our risen

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Lord Jesus Christ. And this brings me to my final point, which is preach. The culmination of speech

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and our proclamation is the preaching of the gospel. The whole point of the gospel is to lead

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others to salvation, not condemnation. And John 3.17 says, for God did not send his son into the

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world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. This is

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quite frankly my favorite verse of scripture. Everybody knows the preceding scripture 3.16,

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but this is the one that I like the most because it emphasizes the point that he didn't send his

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son to condemn us, but rather that we might be saved through him. The truth is that we preach

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a gospel of the gospel of Jesus Christ so that others may also be saved, filled with the Holy

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Ghost and then discipled. And the pattern continues. We know this to be a clear truth from the word

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because we can see in 2nd Timothy chapter 4 verses 1 through 5, I charge you in the presence of God

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and of Jesus Christ, who is the judge, the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom,

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preach the word, be ready in season and out of season to reprove, rebuke and exhort with complete

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patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching,

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but have itching ears and they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions

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and will turn away from listening to the truth and wandering off in myths. As for you, always be

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sober minded, endure suffering and do the work of an evangelist to fulfill your ministry. Now clearly

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he is talking to Timothy in this in this portion of scripture, but I believe that the the core

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message is for all believers. It is for all of us to work towards Christ's likeness as we walk in

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our salvation as we walk with the gift of grace that's been given to us. We should all be striving

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to be as much as we can in the Lord. Even if you don't think you're called to preach in a public

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ministry, I contend that you are called to preach within your ability. I also believe that in Christ

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we have the strength to do all things, Philippians 4 13. In time as you draw close to Christ,

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you will have the strength to speak, to proclaim and to preach. Again the purpose is for others

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to receive salvation. We might start humbly speaking about our own testimony, what Jesus has

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done for us and to us, but as we grow and we gain boldness we can proclaim the truth of the cross

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and call others to see the cross, to hear the message that was on the Calvary. At this pivotal

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juncture it is the cross of Calvary that we preach, a message of salvation. So as we grow,

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as we bear fruit, we can pray, we can preach about what we've seen God do in our lives and to others

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that we have preached the gospel to. So once you cross that chasm of speech and to proclaim the

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message to those on the other side, it is here that you find the strength to cast a lifeline to

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those who are lost in sin and to see them saved by the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ

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and helping them also to speak, to proclaim and to preach the gospel. This is why we do alter

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calls at every event. This is why we go out into the streets and cast wide nets. This is why we

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disciple to follow that pattern that is shown to us in the New Testament. This is why we send out

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workers and plant churches and missionaries and we take care of our missionaries as per the pattern

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that we see in the Old and the New Testament. We do all these things to push the gospel message

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forward, to speak, to proclaim, to preach a gospel of salvation. Jesus, God incarnate, came to earth.

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He died for our sins. So let us close with Paul in one of the earliest Christian creeds, in 1st

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Corinthians 15. Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preach to you, which you received,

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in which you stand and by which you are being saved if you hold fast to the world I preach to you,

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unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of the first import, the gospel of the

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world, and I also received that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures,

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that he was buried, that he was raised, and that the third day in accordance with the scriptures,

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and that he appeared to Cephas and then to the twelve, and then he appeared to more than 500

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brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he

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appeared to James, then to the apostles, and last of all, as to one untimely born he appeared also

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to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I

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persecuted the church of God. But by grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not

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in vain. On the contrary, I work harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God

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that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach, and so you believe. If the murder of

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Saul can be changed to one of the most prolific apostles, Paul, then we need to become something

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more in Christ Jesus. We can learn to speak, we can learn to proclaim, and we can reach the gospel,

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you know, reach others with the gospel of Jesus Christ with fire and zeal. So with that, if I

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could have every head bowed, every eye closed, if you're, you know, if you're, if it's safe to do so,

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I know that we can't see each other. This is just a podcast, but this is the critical part

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of every message is this invitation. I don't preach these words, you know, to edify myself.

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I preach this with the hope that someday this message will get out to one person, if only one,

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that it would affect and it would change your life. And if this message has impacted you,

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and you know that you're living a life of sin away from God, whether you've never heard the

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gospel message or you've backslidden and you've left what you know to be true and you want to come

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back, you want to give your life to Jesus Christ, I want to signify that with an uplifted hand.

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I can't see it, but God can see it. And if you're doing that right now,

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and you're doing that with a contrite heart, then I want you to know God sees that.

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And I want you to pray this simple prayer with me. Dear Lord God, I know that I'm a sinner,

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but I know that you sent your son, Jesus Christ, and he came and he died for my sin.

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I repent, I turn from my sin and accept Jesus as my Lord and my Savior and my King.

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And I thank you for the gift of salvation that comes by grace in Jesus name. Amen. If you send

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that prayer and you meant it, then I know that you feel a change in your heart, even at this moment.

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Maybe the whole amount of it, the understanding isn't there, and it might not be there for a

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while, but it's going to hit you because you're a new creation in Jesus Christ.

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And so what you know, you might think, what do you do next? It's pretty simple. You read the word of

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God, you find a Bible, you read it, you pray, you cry out to God, you talk to your Father in heaven,

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and then you find a Bible believing church that you can lock into, that you can work with,

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that they can help you because it is the body of Christ that we all need to support us during

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these times that we live in. And the Bible tells us not to forsake the gathering of the brethren,

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which is the church. So with that, if you live in Samanar, reach out. You can reach out to

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pottershousesa.icloud.com. That's our email for the church. You can reach out to me directly

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at 604-997-8446. I'd love to hear from you. I'd love to talk to you. If you're in Samanar,

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please give me a call, reach out to us, and come to service on Sundays at 1030.

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If you're not, we have 3,500 plus churches globally. I'm sure that there's a good chance

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we're going to be able to find you a Bible believing church within our Christian fellowship

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ministries, and I could put you in contact with the right people to lock into a great church.

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But I want to just thank you as we close for listening to me for this message this morning,

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and I want to close this in prayer today and just say, Dear Lord God, I thank you for the

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opportunity to preach your word, and I pray that this message would go forth and impact as many

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lives as it can for the purpose of seeing people give their life to you, Lord Jesus,

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for sacrificing their life to you, Lord Jesus.

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And we give you all the praise and glory. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you again.

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I can't wait for you to come back for the next message. God bless.

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This is something that is only because of the grace of God for mankind and the sacrifice that

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he made with his son, Jesus Christ. But it says, if you have ears to hear. So I pray that you

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you did say that prayer and that you meant it. And if you did, I pray that you'd reach out to me.

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Let me know. Because it's that's the whole purpose of this is to reach as many people

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for the with the message of Jesus Christ as possible.

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So if you're the next step is that you find a church that preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ

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for you. If you're in salmon arm, I'd love for you to come and meet with us here in salmon arm.

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You can you can reach out to us. We have our Instagram page. It's Potter's House essay.

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You know, on on Instagram and then our email address is just Potter's House essay at iCloud.com.

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And so please reach out to us and let let me know you pray there. If you're in salmon arm,

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reach out and our services are 1030 on Sunday. And we're currently meeting at the

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the boardroom for the Salmon Arm Innovation Center. But please, if you're not close by,

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find a Bible believing church. Again, you could reach out because we have 3500 plus churches

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global. And I'm sure I could connect you with a great church Bible believing church.

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But the important thing is to just, you know, allow God to do a work that is not just a

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the important thing is to just allow God to do a work in your life. It's not going to be overnight,

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but God is going to do a tremendous work in your life. If you start reading the Bible, you know,

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find that church to lock into have fellowship with the brothers

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and pray and praying is just simply having a conversation with God.

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But I want to thank you for listening to this message and thank you for following the podcast.

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If you can, you like share this podcast and subscribe. It helps us with, you know,

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our analytics to know that we're getting out there and the message is getting sent to,

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you know, to where it's getting sent to globally. So again, I want to thank you for the time you've

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taken today to listen to this message and I can't wait for you to come back next time. God bless.