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I preached a portion of this message Friday night down in Cahutta, Georgia.

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A little old community church, Pentecostal Independent Church,

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about six or seven churches in fellowship, and they like to preach to me to death.

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Now the preaching took place after an old boy had had a devil cast out of him.

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Yeah, and about 45 minutes an hour worth of singing.

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Come on!

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And then I preached a flat hour in five or ten.

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Kathy said it was too long.

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But you know how I know it wasn't too long?

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Because when I...the Lord had already told me how many were going to respond to the altar call,

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and when that one person did, prayed for her, turned it back over to the fellow that was moderating,

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they had another altar service about 30, 40 minutes long.

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So I know I didn't preach too long.

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And then we went to the fellowship hall and had barbequed.

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So you talking about a good Friday night.

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But now my voice is spilling it.

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It's not my voice, but now the Lord has given me something a little fresh for us with that.

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And I'm excited this morning.

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So good to see you.

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If you're visiting with us today, thank you so much.

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We are honored that you're here.

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And pray that before you leave that you are blessed.

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You say, well, you're talking a lot.

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I'm letting you stretch your legs because you're going to be down a while.

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And before you leave today, you'll go out these doors,

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and you'll go to the circular booth there.

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We've got something special for you.

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Let you know how much we do appreciate you being here.

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Hebrews 10, we'll start at 19.

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Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,

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by new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the veil.

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And that is to say his flesh and having a high priest over the house of God.

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Let us draw near with the true heart in full assurance of faith,

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having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

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Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering.

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For he is faithful that promised.

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Let us consider one another to provoke and to love and to good works,

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not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner some is,

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but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching.

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For us this morning, I want to speak on this thought.

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Critical, but stable.

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Critical, but stable.

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As I say that, as we pray the blessing over the bread of life that's been broken,

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I want you to remember Steve Ridge, Brother Steve Ridge in prayer.

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He's had another stroke this morning.

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Sister Cindy had sent word that they don't know what the day is going to unfold

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and she may have to make some major decisions.

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They wanted the prayer of the church.

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And so we're going to do that as we pray. Amen.

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Father, we love you today. I thank you so much.

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We have broken the bread of life. It is the life to our soul and our spirit.

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And I ask God this morning that you'd have your way in our hearts.

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And we'd have ears. We'll hear what it is the Spirit's saying to the church.

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Now, Father, as we come before you, Lord, we hold our sister up in prayer for strength.

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But our brother's in that hospital bed and I see you.

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You know what's going on in his body.

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And I pray, God, that your will be done in his life today.

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I do know this, that according to your word by your stripes, we are healed.

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Your body was broken, bruised, and beaten for the healing of our bodies.

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I know that you are able. I know you are able to touch and to heal today.

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So your will be done in the life of our brother this morning.

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To you be praised forever in Christ's name, the church said.

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Amen and amen. You can be seated.

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Critical, but stable.

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Friday evening, the emphasis was on never let go.

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But as I sat in the office yesterday, Lord began to burn in my soul.

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Critical, but stable.

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If we were to take an honest evaluation this morning and take a critical look at the conditions surrounding us,

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we might possibly feel like the children of Israel must have felt being in exile in Babylon

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or possibly if we understand some of the Roman oppression during the time of the first century church.

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Some of the things that laid heavy on their mind.

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Could they be possibly the next human torch that lights the streets of Rome?

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Could Nero come for them?

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Could they be the next meal to a hungry lion for sport and entertainment value for a perverse and evil society?

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Sometimes in our culture and in our day, we stop to think maybe the pressure of life can feel as immense as that.

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Although the lions aren't coming for us and they're not coming to feed us to literal lions.

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But the lion that roars against us is seeking whom he may devour.

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And the reality of the fact is the emotion is the same.

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When in your heart and in your hearing and in your mind you hear the roar of the lion today,

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it's no different than the roar of that lion.

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If that physical lion takes hold, death could come rather quickly.

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But the spirit of the lion that roars against you and I, many times there's nothing quick about it.

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It's an agonizing struggle as we make our way through life.

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And maybe in the life that you're living right now, the struggle is getting more intent.

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The intensity of the attack of the enemy may seem to cause you to want to withdraw even more in your faith.

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But child of God, you cannot do that.

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It could be as though you may feel as those Israelites and we get a insight to what they were going through.

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If you'll turn with me to Psalm 137 for a few moments and let's hear the report of the Israelites in captivity.

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It would be the declaration that they would declare by the rivers of Babylon.

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From there we sat down, yay, we wept when we remembered Zion.

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It could have been the Euphrates, it could have been the Tigris or one of the tributaries that feed those.

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But it was there in Babylon that they are sitting by the bank.

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And as they are sitting, they are remembering Zion.

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Something important for you and I to take note of this morning, when an Israelite remembers Zion,

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he's not just remembering the city, but he's remembering the God of the city, not just Zion,

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not just Jerusalem, not just the nation, not just the countryside.

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But for them, Zion is the very essence of the presence of God over them.

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And so as they are in Babylon, they are remembering Zion, the house of the Lord when they could go.

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Maybe even as the Psalmist would declare in 91 under that shadow of the Almighty and that secret dwelling

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when the presence of the Lord would cast about him.

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But it was there that they were remembering Zion.

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They are remembering the goodness of God.

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It would be the other Psalmist who would declare, I remember at Holy Day when I used to gather

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and we would go up and we would go up singing and we would go up rejoicing on Holy Day and we would worship.

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But there was no going up because they are in captivity in Babylon and by the river they are sitting there

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and they are remembering the goodness of God in the city of God.

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We hanged our hearts, they declare, upon the willows in the midst thereof.

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For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song.

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And they that wasted us required of us, Mersaing, sing us one of the songs of God.

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Sing us one of your worship songs of Zion.

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Oh, you've got to remember and take note that the people of God were noted as a singing and a worshiping people.

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And their exuberance and their worship spilled over into the dance that they offered up before the Lord.

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And the Babylonians had heard about the worship of the Israelites and here they come.

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And they are demanding that they sing one of those songs and be happy.

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Look, you're not happy in the midst of your captivity.

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And they are declaring to them, we can't sing you a song.

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You wasted our city. You raised it to the ground.

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And here you come with the audacity to ask us to sing one of the joyful songs of Zion.

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We couldn't sing if we wanted to. We've hanged our hearts in the willow tree.

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We don't even have the music to come about with a melody that we may lift our voice.

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And as they are remembering Zion and now they are being asked and almost charged to sing,

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they're saying we don't have a song in us anymore.

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But as I looked again at that yesterday, they could have said we've broken our hearts and cast them in the river.

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But they didn't do that because there was a promise that was hanging over them.

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There was a prophecy that was hanging over them.

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They're saying we've hung them up because in about 69 years we're going to need it because God is going to come after us

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and he's going to get us out of here. We're not going to be here forever.

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I'm not going to be in this captivity forever.

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He's got us here for correction. He's got us here for alignment.

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But he has promised, oh, where is that promise? Well, look with me as we begin to hear it.

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Jeremiah 29 and 10 as he makes that declaration, 70 years and I'm coming after you.

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But here toward the end, possibly they are being demanded to sing.

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We've been here long enough, but there's a time coming that we're going to tune our hearts and we're going to rejoice over you, our enemy.

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My God, somebody in here needs to know you may be critical, but you're still stable.

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You may be living in a critical situation, but you're stable and being stable gives me hope.

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They were in captivity. It was critical, but they were stable because they had a prophecy hanging over their head.

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I'm coming after you. I'm going to come and get you. You go ahead.

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Shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange way?

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But then they begin to speak to themselves with encouraging words.

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If I forget the old Jerusalem, I don't know how long I got to be here.

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But he's telling himself, I can't say if you can't forget.

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For if I forget, may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth and may my right hand lose its cunning.

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May it lose the skill to play the harp.

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If I forget, somebody in here needs to know you may be in the wilderness.

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You may be feeling like you're in captivity right now, but wherever you laid that harp down,

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it's almost time for you to start tuning the harp up because God has not forgotten you in your dilemma.

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He has not left you in your captivity.

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He's not led you in a wilderness so that you may wander about forever.

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But God is about to come and get you.

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He's about to come and redeem your situation.

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And don't forget the cunning and let your lips remember to sing the praises of the most high God because he is going to require.

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He will require. I don't care what the enemy requires.

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I don't care what the enemy has charged over me and tries to declare from me.

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But this one thing, God will not have to require of me a song.

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When he gets me out, I'm going to tune my own harp and my lips are going to sing because I have remembered

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and I have not forgotten that the God of Zion is a God over my soul.

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And the Christ of Calvary is the Redeemer and the Deliverer of my life.

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Just think, we're still in the introduction phase.

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How are we going to sing the Lord's song in a strange land?

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You stop and take note of the circumstances in which you're living and the issues of life that we are now having to deal with.

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Maybe you're saying, how can I live in this ungodly world?

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How can I maintain my faith? How can I keep trust? How can I keep hope in God?

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How do I even know that God even cares because you're still here?

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That's how you can tell. Well, it sure isn't reflective.

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Sometimes what we determine as deliverance is not deliverance in God's eyes.

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What we see is deliverance is being taken out of the mess.

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Sometimes what God sees is deliverance is adding grace in your mess.

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My God! And we'd rather be out of than rather to be in His Christ.

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But no, no, no. You need to take His grace in the midst of your mess

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and know that the grace is what's taking you out of the situation.

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He may not just pick you up and carry you over, but He will enable you to go through.

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You're going through, child of God. You're not going to be bound forever.

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Your captivity will not last forever. There is a demarking agent.

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There's a line that has been drawn. And when it comes to it, God will come for you.

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Much has been said in recent debate concerning our own nation's roots

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and distinct Judeo-Christian values.

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The laws of this land are distinctly based on the moral truths initiated in Scripture.

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Why do you think there's such a thrust to get away from it?

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Because you can't even read the laws on the books that not be convicted.

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Because they are driven by the principles of the Word of God.

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That's what's so unique about the Constitution of the United States.

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It's not just a mere intuition of man's heart,

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but somewhere and somehow in the room as they're gathered,

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the Spirit of God begin to move on those old boys' hearts.

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I'm not saying it's all right. I'm not saying it's all even saved.

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Who knows? Only God. But I do know this.

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Their hearts somehow were still pliable enough to know that they had to be dictated,

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and the dictates of law had to come from the only law that is truth and straight and just and right.

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And that would be the law of the Word of God.

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And somehow and some way, evil men were instruments of the Spirit of God.

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How do you say so? Because the hearts of man are in his hand.

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Dr. Chris Thomas used to make a quote and use a quote often as he would open service from time to time.

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He would say, God writes straight with crooked lines. Hallelujah.

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And I'm so glad that the lines of those hearts, he began to pen.

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So now even in our nation, we can't get away from God's law

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because God's law was instituted in the law of our nation and the laws of our land.

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John Adams said the highest glory of the American Revolution was this.

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It connected in one indesirable bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity.

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It's bound together. It's woven together.

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They had enough to sense to see it early on.

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But look at where you and I are today.

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The distance between us and God, the distance between the moral fiber of our government

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and it's driving morality and sin is so much further away than that statement.

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But they still can't get away from it. I've said it before.

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Why do you think criminals and evil men want the laws of God taken from courtrooms?

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Because when they're sitting there in idles waiting for their case number to come up

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and in boredom, they're looking around the room for something to occupy their mind.

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But their eyes fall upon words that are written on the wall and they begin to read the law of God.

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And their hearts are convicted because God is still over them.

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So if it's not present, then they're not convicted.

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But there's still the moral agent of the Holy Spirit that still convicts men's heart of wrong.

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Theologian Christopher Dawson said this.

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Christianity is the soul of Western civilization.

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When the soul is gone, the body putrefies.

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When the soul is gone, the body rots, decays, wastes away.

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Can I tell you when the moral fiber of the soul of this nation is gone,

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it will putrefy like every other evil nation that has ever risen to power, dominated and wasted away.

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Where is Rome now? Where are the Greeks now? Where is Genghis Khan now?

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Where are all these other? They've wasted by the wayside.

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And so will this nation if our heart turns away from God and the righteousness and the holiness and the morality of God.

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This body of this nation will also putrefy.

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But the reason it won't putrefy just yet is because the soul of this nation is still living.

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And the soul of the nation is the remnant of the church of the living God.

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And as long as that remnant is here and that remnant has a repentant mind and repel,

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I'm not saying God won't lift his hand from time to time and allow judgment.

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Just like he let Israel go into Babylon, towers may fall, wars may have to fall until this nation again turns its knees

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down to the earth and lifts its eyes toward the heaven and call upon the God of their salvation.

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Oh, we may have to go through some trouble. You may have to go through some trials.

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You may have to go some distant time. But know this, God is still there.

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And as long as the soul is alive in this nation, there's hope.

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How are we going to live?

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We're not the first to pose the question. I'm trying to get to the points of this message.

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So many ask, as before Ezekiel 33 and 10, how shall we then live?

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Apostle Peter addressed the same subject in the early church,

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2 Peter 3 and 10, but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night,

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seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved.

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You hear him? What manner of persons ought you to be in a holy conversation?

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And God led us. What manner of conduct should we live out?

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What manner of lifestyle shall be protruded before us?

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We cannot be as the world or the world will never see the difference.

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You got to be different. You can't laugh at the dirty jokes.

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You can't tell the dirty jokes. Hello? You can't coexist with that.

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You have to come out from among it and be separate. Amen.

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I'm not talking about being a freak, but what I'm talking about is this,

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that when they see you, they know that there is a difference in your life

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because it isn't pleasing to God when trash and filth goes over your ears

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and into the avenues of your heart. But you have decided, my, my, my, my,

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that you're going to be something different.

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And the world must see the distinctness and the difference.

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But our church is critical, but stable.

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There must be a response. We have to have a response.

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When we say critical, but stable, it means that the vital signs are within normal limits.

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I mean, medical professionals we have in the room, you hear these terms.

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It means that the vital signs are within normal limits.

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The patient is stable, but possibly unconscious.

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Their condition is life threatening.

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Critical. Injury or illness in life threatening.

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Can we see our church in the condition of being critical today?

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I'm not just talking about hope. Well, I'm talking about the body of Christ at large.

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All those under the bloodstained banner of Jesus Christ.

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We know our culture. We know our world is in jeopardy.

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But I think it's high time we wake up and realize that the church is also in jeopardy.

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As I began to do a little bit of research, I found some things,

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many issues facing the church and the church has to deal with today.

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But I've just picked out five, just go over very quickly before we get into our response.

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The first, it is the cultural issue within is that of authority.

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The church issue is biblical authority. Our world is natural authority.

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People don't want to be under subject into anyone.

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No power, no authority. That's the reason people think they can just walk in grocery stores,

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load up buggies and walk out the door.

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And worse, without consequence, because they're not feeling as though

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and understanding as though that they are under any authority other than self authority.

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And it bleeds over to the church because the church is beginning to feel like

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there's no longer any biblical authority over them.

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How so? Let's look. We deal with the culture of corruption, abuse of power.

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Not only in our world, we see it every day, scandal sales.

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There's a scandal on every news channel. It seems like that's all you can get.

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That's why it sickens me so much to try to watch the news.

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You see scandal after scandal, then you see the abuse of power within the scandal.

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You know, and I know there's a two tier form of justice in our nation.

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Critical, but stable.

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Inflation's high, prices are going out the roof, but we're within the limits.

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Oh, it's critical, but the nation is within the limits.

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We may be about half unconscious, but we're stable.

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Critical, it's life threatening. Come on now. Eggs, four or five dollars a dozen.

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I thought in my mind the other day, I'm thinking ahead to October when we have our outdoor service,

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Brother Sam's coming back, we're going to have food on the ground.

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And I thought, well, what could we do to kind of just make a good time of fellowship together?

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And then I thought about an egg toss.

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Then I thought, well, we'd have to take up an offering to do that.

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Used to save the nine cents a dozen, you'd throw three, four dozen.

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Laughing folk getting yolk all over them.

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My Lord, we'd have somebody out there scraping up yolks to get them home.

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Five second rule, five second rule.

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Five dollars a dozen preacher.

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Unless we get some of these folks with 30, 40 chickens to donate a son.

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But they can't do that because scratch is 12 dollars a sack.

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Critical, funny, but critical, but stable.

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Oh, yeah, it's stable. That's the world we're living in.

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We at least think it's stable.

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So we've got cultural corruption and abuse of power.

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Then there's the loss of truth that we're having to deal with.

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The loss of truth. We live in a.

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We live in a society that declares just follow your own heart.

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Well, you just you do you.

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I'll do me. You you do you.

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Huh?

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You know what that leads to?

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It leads to a it leads to a golden corral style of religion.

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That's what that does.

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I call it the hog trough.

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Can't get to go anymore.

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Don't know who touched the spoon.

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Well, who cares who touched the spoon?

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Can't even go to the crowd.

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But you get whatever you want in the crowd.

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You just roll up to the trough and dump it on.

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You do you.

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That's why people are trying to get into the religious world today.

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Well, you read it and determine what it says for you.

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And I'll read it and determine what it says for me.

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And I'll just follow the truth that I determine is no honey.

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It don't work that way.

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According to its own dictate, the Bible says that the word is for no private and personal interpretation.

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It means the same for you that it does for me.

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It's just that your conscience don't want to receive it the way that he has dictated it.

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So there's a loss of truth, not just in the world, but I'm talking about in the church.

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Because people want to drink.

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They want to smoke.

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They want to keep doing all that junk they did when they were in sin and ask God to sanctify it.

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Woo!

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Honey, it don't work that way without holiness.

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No man, since we're in the culture we're living in today, slash woman, will see God.

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I have to be careful right along in here.

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Still in the introduction.

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We're going to get to the meat in a minute.

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Loss of truth.

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Thirdly, crisis of knowledge.

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We are in a society that has revolved back around to the dictates of scientific discovery.

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We're almost back to Gnosticism all over again.

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It's knowledge.

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Knowledge, knowledge, always thinking for knowledge.

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I don't have time to get right there, but the knowledge you need to search out is the knowledge of the Word of God.

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And that the power of the Word be revealed into your heart.

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It will lead you straight into truth and you'll be under the authority of the one who is in charge.

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Fourth, expressive individualism.

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These are things that are coming against the church.

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Issues.

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Human beings are defined by their individual psychological core.

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Well, let me tell you something.

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Some of you, if that's what you're going by, you're in trouble.

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Because some of us, our psychological core is shaky at best.

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Come on.

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You know if you're about half a loop headed.

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Your mama told you.

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So come on, hang in here with me now.

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So if I'm dependent upon my own psychological core to dictate my salvation.

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Honey, I'm the first one in the wagon that's in trouble.

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And don't make me tap you on the shoulder to get in the wagon with me.

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Because some of your psychological core is warped.

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Oh, I am.

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In other words, people try to get in touch with their authentic self.

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The last time I read the book, the book declares from the words of the Christ himself.

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You must take up your own cross, deny your individual psychological core self.

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And follow it to him.

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So honey, it really ain't about what you think.

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It's about what he has said.

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Man, I told you it's different.

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Authentic self and that the purpose of life, listen,

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is aligning that core to find social expression in relationships.

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Anything that challenges it is deemed oppressive.

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Oh, boy.

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I heard somebody say, shake that bush.

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But this expressive self idea, nope.

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You must be transformed into the image of the Son of God, into his likeness.

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So it really doesn't matter.

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But this is some of the stuff you're hearing in churches.

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They say, well, and then if you stand up and preach like I'm preaching,

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it becomes oppressive.

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Would you rather me be oppressive or him tell you to go straight to hell?

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Oh, he wouldn't do that.

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Oh, yes, he will.

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You're going to come up and say, well, Lord, didn't I go to church on Sunday?

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Didn't I give $5 in offering?

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Didn't I do this?

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Didn't I do that?

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Didn't I help with the backpacks?

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Lord, did you not see me the day I liked a heat stroke at the yard sale

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that Sister Erica picked the date for?

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I like to heat stroke at the church.

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Pastor had to tell me to go in, sit down, cool off,

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because they just slave driving them.

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I said, Lord, get here and sit down.

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She's ready to pickle me.

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I did that stuff.

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He's going to look at you in your expressive human self.

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Depart from me, you worker of iniquity, for I have never known you.

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And so he's going to point you to the direction opposite of where everybody

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hopefully is going.

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I'm talking about the church right now.

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I'm not talking about the world, people.

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I'm talking about goats that's in the pen.

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Oh, here it comes.

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Just because you're a goat in a sheep pen don't make you a sheep.

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I've got to get to my main points.

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So, people, you know, what I'm just declaring to you is hate speech

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according to the world's dictates, because it's oppressive

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and it's against the dictates of their heart.

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And what they feel is their right.

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Well, if you want to get right down to it, every man or woman

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has the right to go to hell.

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Yeah, you have a right to go.

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But let me tell you what you've got to do to get there.

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You've got to tread over the threshold of his sacrifice to do it.

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Who for the joy for our rotten souls?

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Who for the joy for the sin that's in our life?

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Who for the joy endured the cross?

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He didn't just endure it, but he'd done it with joy,

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because in doing it he knew that he would be the redemption

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for all those who would call upon his name.

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He's not going to force it on any, but all that call,

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confess and believe.

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You've got to tread across his blood to go.

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You've got to cross the prayers of people who love you to go.

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You've got to offend those who love you the most just to get to hell.

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You've got to forget every word that you hear me say just to get there.

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Why do you think I preach you with so much passion?

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Because I don't want you to go. It's not hate speech.

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It's speech full of love, because there is grace for the wretchedness of our soul

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through Jesus Christ and Christ alone.

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Number five, and we'll get to the rest of this.

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Digital distraction.

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Now how many of you would be honest with me if I asked you

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how many of you have been playing on your phone in this first 30 minutes?

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Would you raise your hand?

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The Lord is starting to do some work in my heart

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about this digital age that we're in

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and this over exposure to the media of the world.

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The driving force probably for 90% of you in this room

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to have some of the social media that you have

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is under the guise of, well, I can see what my family's doing.

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They post stuff and I want to see it.

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Well, can't they send you that picture in a text?

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I mean, they've got to go through all that to get it posted.

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Can't they get in our family, they've got this little thing

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that's all in the family?

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So we all get it.

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If they want you to have it, they'd send it to you.

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What I have found for me personally, I struggle with it.

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Sometimes I like to see what you've got on there and sometimes I don't.

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What you have for supper is not appealing to me.

452
00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:12,000
But it appeals to others.

453
00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:16,000
True.

454
00:38:16,000 --> 00:38:20,000
We must be careful in this digital age

455
00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:25,000
because what it does is it formulates a distraction from God.

456
00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:28,000
How so?

457
00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:32,000
It develops hyper-personalization.

458
00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:36,000
The amount of social media being consumed by personal preference

459
00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:44,000
leaves what's called a digital footprint.

460
00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:49,000
And a new generation wonders why

461
00:38:49,000 --> 00:39:00,000
shouldn't reality conform to their preferences?

462
00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:05,000
Why shouldn't sexuality conform to their preference?

463
00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:12,000
Because you evidently can go through and filter what shows up.

464
00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:14,000
I couldn't get my filter to work.

465
00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:19,000
It must have been half clogged up so I just had to erase it.

466
00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:22,000
I've tried on three occasions to be a part of that.

467
00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:28,000
I just, well, you're old, thank you.

468
00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:33,000
Like one fellow told me the other day, he said, well, you're just a hard tail.

469
00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:38,000
Well, he told me, that's another pastor.

470
00:39:38,000 --> 00:39:46,000
I said, yep, but I'm the same hard-nosed individual all the way across the board.

471
00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:55,000
Harder on myself because just so happens I think we've got to live what it says to get there.

472
00:39:55,000 --> 00:40:02,000
And if saying it the way it's written is offensive and oppressive to your personal influences

473
00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:06,000
and if it draws away from your digital distraction, oh, Lord,

474
00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:10,000
if we just put a third of the time in his word and on our knees.

475
00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:15,000
Man, I got convicted. I stopped and it red lights.

476
00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:21,000
I said, my God.

477
00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:25,000
This was not my list. I just discovered the list.

478
00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:29,000
And there's a whole facet of other things.

479
00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:32,000
So how are we going to live?

480
00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:36,000
How are we going to live in this world?

481
00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:38,000
What manner of life should we live?

482
00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:42,000
I really don't have time to dig in.

483
00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:49,000
So I'll just give you the Cliff Notes.

484
00:40:49,000 --> 00:40:56,000
You must have a response like Daniel.

485
00:40:56,000 --> 00:41:01,000
I'm not saying that he was right, but Daniel purposed in his heart

486
00:41:01,000 --> 00:41:05,000
that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat

487
00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:09,000
nor the wine which he drank.

488
00:41:09,000 --> 00:41:11,000
What is the wine of our age?

489
00:41:11,000 --> 00:41:14,000
What is the intoxicating factor of our age?

490
00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:20,000
I think I just touched on it because it got deathly quiet in here.

491
00:41:20,000 --> 00:41:22,000
Well, that's your conviction.

492
00:41:22,000 --> 00:41:26,000
You're not going to bring it to us all?

493
00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:28,000
Well, yes, it is.

494
00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:32,000
But I'm your shepherd and I'm trying to help us.

495
00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:35,000
I'm not trying to only preach out of my own personal convictions,

496
00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:41,000
but can I tell you, he aligns me before I'm allowed to align you.

497
00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:48,000
Would that not be a hypocrite of me?

498
00:41:48,000 --> 00:41:59,000
You must have a Daniel response.

499
00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:08,000
There must be an affirmation of your life as Joshua affirmed in 2415.

500
00:42:08,000 --> 00:42:13,000
At the end, he's about to disperse all the children of Israel into their inheritance.

501
00:42:13,000 --> 00:42:21,000
He lines them up and he begins to talk to them at a place called Shechem.

502
00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:25,000
He lays that dictate before them, who are you going to serve?

503
00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:28,000
Are you going to serve the gods of Egypt and your fathers before,

504
00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:30,000
the gods of this land?

505
00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:31,000
Who are you going to serve?

506
00:42:31,000 --> 00:42:35,000
But choose you who you're going to serve.

507
00:42:35,000 --> 00:42:39,000
Then he makes his own personal affirmation.

508
00:42:39,000 --> 00:42:45,000
I said, for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord.

509
00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:47,000
We're going to serve the Lord.

510
00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:50,000
Me and my bunch.

511
00:42:50,000 --> 00:42:54,000
We'll serve the Lord.

512
00:42:54,000 --> 00:43:00,000
And they had a good answer that day, they said, let the Lord be our God.

513
00:43:00,000 --> 00:43:04,000
He recorded it all as a statute and he raised up a large stone

514
00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:08,560
there that day that he dedicated it as a covenant renewal with the people at

515
00:43:08,560 --> 00:43:20,080
Shechem where they decided to affirm that God is who they would serve.

516
00:43:20,080 --> 00:43:25,840
Some point in our way in that society which you and I are living there has to

517
00:43:25,840 --> 00:43:33,920
be a Daniel response. You have to choose to not compromise for the whims of the

518
00:43:33,920 --> 00:43:43,880
world. Daniel is in Babylon. He is in captivity and they came to him. He was

519
00:43:43,880 --> 00:43:51,000
in their court in their land with their king and he still said no.

520
00:43:53,920 --> 00:43:59,380
Joshua lays it all out. God delivered you. God brought you over. God fought battles.

521
00:43:59,380 --> 00:44:04,320
He parted the Red Sea. He parted the Jordan and here you are. He helped you win.

522
00:44:04,320 --> 00:44:13,160
He took down Jericho. He did that for you and all he asked in return is your

523
00:44:13,160 --> 00:44:15,600
devotion.

524
00:44:15,600 --> 00:44:29,360
Joshua said you do you but as for me and mine we will serve the Lord.

525
00:44:29,360 --> 00:44:32,160
We will serve him.

526
00:44:32,400 --> 00:44:40,920
So you got a Joshua affirmation then you got to have a David declaration. The Lord

527
00:44:40,920 --> 00:44:46,800
is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear?

528
00:44:47,240 --> 00:44:51,360
That's not all he declared. David had a whole lot to say.

529
00:44:51,360 --> 00:45:00,720
23rd Psalm is one of my favorite. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.

530
00:45:00,720 --> 00:45:08,600
Right? He declared it. I'm quitting. You're about done anyway.

531
00:45:08,600 --> 00:45:16,400
We must have a Jesus confession. Stand with me and I'll be sure and wind it down.

532
00:45:17,120 --> 00:45:26,680
We must have a Jesus confession to live in this age. What's that?

533
00:45:28,680 --> 00:45:35,040
Your and my victory was not won at Calvary. I know we sing those songs and I

534
00:45:35,040 --> 00:45:43,480
know we declare it. But your victory and my victory was won in Gethsemane.

535
00:45:43,880 --> 00:45:52,480
How so pastor? Well at that great stone in Gethsemane's garden as he's knelt to

536
00:45:52,480 --> 00:45:55,640
pray and he's asked his disciples to pray with him he gets up he comes back

537
00:45:55,640 --> 00:46:02,760
and they're goofing around. He goes back to pray. Can you not tell him of one

538
00:46:02,760 --> 00:46:08,240
hour and on the third trip they're asleep and he said sleep on. He goes back to the

539
00:46:08,240 --> 00:46:14,520
stone of his prayer and he prays until his sweat becomes his great drops of

540
00:46:14,520 --> 00:46:23,240
blood and victory is sealed. When he declares father if there be any other way

541
00:46:23,240 --> 00:46:27,440
let this cup pass from me.

542
00:46:27,440 --> 00:46:35,720
But nevertheless not my will but thy will be done. Hey look

543
00:46:35,720 --> 00:46:43,960
Calvary was a formality after that. Calvary was just a formality when he

544
00:46:43,960 --> 00:46:50,560
surrendered to the will of the father everything else was formality. Victory

545
00:46:50,560 --> 00:47:01,840
was sealed in Gethsemane. Lived out at Calvary sealed at the confession of not

546
00:47:01,840 --> 00:47:08,360
my will but your will be done. Is that you? That's the only way you're gonna live in

547
00:47:08,360 --> 00:47:14,360
this life. That's the only way you're gonna make it through this. It's not your

548
00:47:14,360 --> 00:47:22,320
will because see some of your conditions are very critical. Critical but you're

549
00:47:22,320 --> 00:47:29,400
stable because of his grace. You may feel like you're numb and going through life

550
00:47:29,400 --> 00:47:34,480
unconscious and wondering where is God? Well he's carrying you through in the

551
00:47:34,480 --> 00:47:39,840
midst of your unconsciousness and the numbness of your life with his grace.

552
00:47:39,840 --> 00:47:57,760
Critical but stable. Your vital signs are strong. Things may look because it is very

553
00:47:57,760 --> 00:48:03,800
life-threatening. Your condition is life-threatening because you don't know if

554
00:48:03,800 --> 00:48:11,840
you're gonna make it or not. But can I tell you you're plugged into the greatest

555
00:48:12,960 --> 00:48:22,240
life source, life support that you could ever be plugged into because his power

556
00:48:22,240 --> 00:48:30,840
never fails and he will not fail you in the midst of your greatest struggle. So

557
00:48:30,840 --> 00:48:37,920
what are you saying? I'm saying don't fail him. Don't fail yourself. Never let go.

558
00:48:37,920 --> 00:48:48,720
Never give up. So then with all of that you will end with a proclamation as the

559
00:48:48,720 --> 00:48:55,800
apostle Paul. You better learn it now for me to live as Christ and to die as

560
00:48:55,800 --> 00:49:05,320
gang. 2nd Timothy 4 and 6 for I am now ready to be offered and the time my

561
00:49:05,320 --> 00:49:13,160
departure is at hand I have fought a good fight. I have kept the faith and I

562
00:49:13,160 --> 00:49:24,600
have finished my course. That's my proclamation. He would say but none of

563
00:49:24,600 --> 00:49:37,280
these things move me. He would pin to the Roman Church in the 8th chapter. All

564
00:49:37,280 --> 00:49:48,080
things work together for good. Those who are the called according to his purpose.

565
00:49:48,080 --> 00:49:55,240
I don't see any good. Well you've not seen the end of it yet. The reason we don't

566
00:49:55,240 --> 00:50:06,480
see the goods we give up before we get to the good. Critical. Stable. Father I love

567
00:50:06,480 --> 00:50:08,800
you today.

568
00:50:12,240 --> 00:50:17,760
Church may be critical but we're stable because the gates of hell shall not

569
00:50:17,760 --> 00:50:23,880
prevail against it. We are the overcomers. According to that same 8th chapter of

570
00:50:23,880 --> 00:50:31,960
Romans we're more than conquerors through Christ. None of these things are

571
00:50:31,960 --> 00:50:37,000
going to move us. Who shall separate us from the love of God? Trial, tribulation,

572
00:50:37,000 --> 00:50:44,840
distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, soul, or peril. I am persuaded that he is

573
00:50:44,840 --> 00:50:53,000
able to keep that which I committed to him against that day. Simple altar call.

574
00:50:53,000 --> 00:51:01,720
Not going to belabor the point. If you're critical but stable and you need a touch

575
00:51:01,720 --> 00:51:16,520
of his grace I want to pray for you today.