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I'm gonna invite you to the word of God in the book of Acts chapter 20 verses 7

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through 10 that's the book of Acts chapter 20

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and man and it says on the first day of the week we came together to break bread

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Paul spoke to the people and because he intended to leave the next day he kept

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on talking until midnight how many of you are ready to stay till midnight today

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there were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting seated in a

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window was a young man named Eudekus who was sinking into the deep sleep as

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Paul talked on and on and he would sound asleep when he was sound asleep he

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fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead Paul went down

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threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him don't be alarmed he

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said he's still alive and man let's come before the presence of the Lord

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heavenly Father we give you honor we give you glory Jesus we thank you for this

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moment for allowing us to be here Lord in your house your house of worship

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father in your house of miracles in this moment we put this word in your hands I

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put myself in your hands Jesus that your anointing may flow that your spirit may

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speak Father through me Lord open our minds our hearts Father awaken our

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spirits Father in the mighty name of Jesus we claim your holy name and we

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say amen you may have your seats in this passage Paul spoke to the people until

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midnight now we don't know what time their service started I don't know what

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what time their their service was was gonna start maybe at 5 p.m. or maybe

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like us if it's in the evening we like to start at 7 7 30 but let's say they

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started at 7 the passage says that he spoke until midnight see the guest

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speaker said well I'm not gonna be here tomorrow so I don't have to deal with

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any of you after this and he decided I'm just gonna preach and he went on and

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the word says that Paul was talking he went on and on and it hit midnight and

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Paul was still preaching and like I said we don't have the details of what time

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they started but based on what we read here we can say that probably went on

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for a few hours and that was probably normal back then a man that they

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preached maybe all day long amen then the word says that there were many lamps

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now we don't know if these lamps were already there we don't know but it says

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there were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting now if you

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think about these times they didn't have a they couldn't just walk in the room

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flip the switch like we do right now we just and the lights are on flipping

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lights are off they didn't have that so a lot of times people had the lamps that

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they carried for these situations so the fact that it's written that there were

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many lamps we could assume that the people that gathered to heal Paul preach

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took their own lamps and were preparing for a midnight service they were

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preparing to be there for a while because they also knew that Paul wasn't

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living there with them he wasn't there their their usual preacher it wasn't

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the usual so they knew that he was just gonna be with them shortly so perhaps

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they were preparing to receive a word from Paul for a long time so we could

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assume that these people probably took these lamps with them amen they were

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preparing for this finally we keep reading the last part of this passage we

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see that there's a young man named Eudekus and the word says that this

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young man was sitting in the window and he fell asleep it says when he he was

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sound asleep he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up then

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now I don't know about you but three stories it's pretty high up I don't know

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if he ever jumped off the top of a roof but I know I did when I was a little

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don't ask me why but that I was just kind of energetic like that we would play

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hot and sick and I would make sure they would not find me I would climb up

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trees hit the roof and whenever I saw someone coming I would jump off with no

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fear and thank God I never got hurt so based of my experience just one story

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was pretty high two stories I can't even imagine but when we talk about three

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stories that's pretty high up there for someone to sit in a window see there's

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a difference when you are jumping off and you fall off because at least when

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you're jumping off you're preparing for the fall but when you're asleep you're

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not preparing for that fall from that high up so I'm just trying to put that

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into perspective for you today that this young man sitting in the window was

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overcome by sleep and he falls from three stories high now I wonder when people

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saw him it says that Paul went down and threw himself to him but the first

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question that they probably asked you to kids was are you okay or what happened

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and I'm wondering if you the kids got up and told them I didn't know I fell asleep

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and I want to preach to you today on this thought I didn't know I fell asleep

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because nobody plans to fall asleep sitting on a window knowing that there's

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a chance that you might fall out and not survive that fall nobody plans that so

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the fact that you the kids sat there he wasn't thinking of that he wasn't

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expecting that but this is exactly what happened to this young man and when I

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was reading this passage I started asking myself well I wonder why this guy

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fell asleep like I wonder and I started thinking too many situations where I

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fall into sleep when I don't even notice many times at home we put a movie I'm

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knocked out I wake up movies over I'm like wait what happened did you stop the

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movie so he's like no it already finished and I just knocked out didn't even

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know at what point I fell asleep I was just so tired movie put me to sleep there

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was one time and I asked my wife for permission or a side I was still in

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school and she told me I'm gonna go to the room I need a study I said all right

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I said in the living room and after a while I was you know I was just sitting

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there watching TV after a while I said well I'm gonna go check to see how she's

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doing she needs anything I opened the door she's knocked out I'm I walk in

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the she's sitting in the chair mouth open everything I took a picture because I

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knew she was not gonna believe me when I woke her up and I go and I'm like wow

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this girl's out so much for studying huh and I wake her up she's like I'm like

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what happened and I don't know I don't know what happened I was just tired she

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said I'm like what happened to studying she's all I'm gonna study right now and

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I'm like you you were knocked out cold she's like no no I wasn't I'm like yes I

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have a picture so I showed to her she couldn't believe it and in that moment I

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started realizing that all of us will reach a moment where physically we get

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so tired that it accumulates to the point where it can happen to any of us

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where out of nowhere we don't even realize when we fall asleep in those

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moments where you're so tired that you don't even know when you fell asleep or

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matter of fact how long you've been asleep that would happen to me with the

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movies two or three hour movies I'm like wow that was a great movie and it

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happens and this is what you dick is experienced this young man we don't know

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his situation we don't we didn't know his condition but all we know is that he

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showed up to that service he chose to see and he was overcome by sleep in that

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moment we don't know how tired he was we don't know much we don't get the

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details but all we know is that when he sat there and Paul was preaching and he

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was going on and on he falls asleep and falls off this third story floor and when

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we study this passage there are various issues that I find that you dick is had

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that led up to this fall and the first issue is that he showed up to service

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with no expectations see church when we show up to church we gotta show up with

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faith when we show up to service we gotta show up with expectation when we

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show up to the house of God we gotta show up believing that something is gonna

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happen in the house of God a man we gotta show up with some faith in this

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place verse they said there were many lamps in that room once again because

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these people were preparing to stay for a long night and it could be that you

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could probably showed up with nothing probably showed up not expecting anything

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to move anything to happen he showed up to this place with no faith and when we

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come to the house of the Lord and we're talking about the God the King of Kings

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the one who has all power and authority we have to walk into this place

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believing that he could turn our situation around we gotta show up with

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faith believing that the God that we serve has all power and all authority

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amen we have to show up believing in God everyone else that was in that room

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with you to kiss and this passage Luke doesn't tell us that anybody else fell

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asleep it's just written that it was just one young man but what about the

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rest how come nobody else fell asleep with him and I think it's because

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everybody else in that place showed up with a different mindset everyone in

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that place showed up showed up expecting a move of God because when

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you're expecting something you stay up you stay awake when you're expecting

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something to happen you're excited you can't wait to get it and when these

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people showed up they were expecting to hear a powerful word from Paul because

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they knew they didn't get Paul every day they knew they didn't get Paul every

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Sunday so they were ready for something to happen but what about

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Eudacus Eudacus didn't show up expecting much this is why many of us can show up

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to church and we leave the same and it's not because God didn't move and it's

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not because God doesn't have power it's because we show up not expecting him to

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move because we show up not expecting anything to change when you come to the

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house of God and you have a big problem you better walk into this place

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believing that there's a big God that can change your problem around believing

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in God that he has a power over the situation no matter how it looks you

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have to come to this place believing in him having expectation if you have

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expectation God will meet you at the level of your expectation God will meet

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you many people ask God Lord I want more give me more but are you ready for more

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you're asking him Lord take me to a new level take me to a new job or I want

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more of this or more of that but are you ready do you have the capacity to

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receive more because God is not going to give you more if it's going to damage

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you he's not going to give you more if it's going to hold you back he's not

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going to pay give you a job that's going to pay you more if it's going to cause

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you to leave his ways are you ready to receive more from God you see if we are

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expecting if we have faith it means we come to this place with expectancy and

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if you're expecting a move of God then that means you have to prepare because

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preparation is a sign of expectation pop was preaching to many of them and all

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of them showed up prepared to receive what he had to give our preparation is

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only a sign of what we're believing God to do and you the kids in this passage

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he was present but he wasn't prepared he was present but he wasn't prepared to

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receive what was going to happen that afternoon you see I'm going to take you

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to Mark chapter 2 verse 3 to 5 mark chapter 2 3 5 and it says then they came

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to him bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men and when they could

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not come near him because of the crowd they uncovered the roof where he was

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so when they had broken through they let down the bed on which the paralytic was

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lying when Jesus saw their faith he said to the paralytic son your sins are

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forgiven you see these four men carried the paralyzed man to Jesus you know why

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because they knew who Jesus was they knew the power that he had and they knew

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the condition of this man so they said if we could only get him to Jesus we know

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what God can do for him we know what Jesus can do so these four men picked

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them up and believed and when they showed up they were expecting a miracle when

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they were expecting that means they were believing already that it was going to

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happen so their job was simply to get the paralyzed man to Jesus see they they

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ran into this crowd and said there's too many people we can't break through here

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we got to find a different way no matter what but Jesus is here we got to get to

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him that they uncovered the roof and they brought the paralyzed man through the

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roof and it says that when Jesus saw their face he said son your sins are

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forgiven when Jesus saw their faith it wasn't even about the God that was

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paralyzed it was about the four men that had the faith that Jesus could do it when

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Jesus saw the faith of the four he healed the one that was paralyzed you see

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the power of having faith for somebody else is real the power of believing for

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your brother the power of believing for your sister when you believe for somebody

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else God can still move because of your faith tearing the roof is on me but the

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healing is on Jesus tearing the roof is on you the miracle leave it to God you

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got to do your part but for the impossible we have a God that has all

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power to do all things church don't worry about that part we just got to get

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to him we just got to bring the problems to Jesus but the rest you got to

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believe that he has the power to do the miracles these four men carried him

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believing what I love about this is that they had such a conviction that they

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knew all they had to do was to get him there and getting him there was

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automatic it was gonna be a miracle now what would happen church if we show up

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to this place with that heart and with that belief and with that faith with all

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of the faith in this room what can God do to in this place that's all we were

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singing right now who am I to deny what the Lord can do come on church who are

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we to deny what God can do in this place today who am I who are you to deny what

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God can do in your life it doesn't matter if your brother your sister your

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cousin your family your friend is not here if you have faith for them God can

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still do it come on praise him for that because this is for the honor and the

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glory of God amen God will move when he sees your faith move God will move if

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you show him your faith he will show you his power let me tell you about a

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situation I had at work we were working late one night around 7 8 p.m. almost

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everyone's gone it was just a couple of coworkers and myself there and it's a

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long building it's a pretty long building and I work on one side the other

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side of the building since everyone was gone all the lights were off so from

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one side I look down the hall looks dark just around where we were working the

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lights were on there and I needed to go to the break room so as I'm walking there

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and I go past I keep walking the lights started turning on and I felt like

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something so little spoke to me and I felt like God told me there's many times

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where we're walking with Christ and we look our situation ahead and we may not

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see very far because it looks dark because it because there's a storm in

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front of us but God spoke to me through this situation and I felt like sharing

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this today with somebody but just know that when you begin to move God will

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begin to turn the lights on in your path for you to be able to walk through that

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storm when you move God will move with you when you take a step forward God will

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be there with you when you take a leap of faith God will hold you God will catch

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you when God calls you we obey he will open every single door that needs to be

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open but all we have to do is walk by faith that's what the God that's what

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the word says that we walk by faith and not by sight when we move God will move

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with us a man the second issue that led to Eurikus falling was that not only did

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he show up with no expectations to this church to his service to their gathering

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but the second issue we find here in this passage is a place where he chose to

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sit verse 9 says and in a window sat a certain young man named Eurikus who was

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sinking into a deep sleep he was overcome by sleep and Paul continues

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speaking he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead

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why did he sit there I started asking myself why is it that Eurikus sat in the

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window could it be that it was that packed or how come it doesn't say that

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there was more people sitting in the window with him was there only one

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window or could it be that typically people in general when we walk into a

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room I don't know if you've noticed when you walk to a meeting school your class

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whatever it may be typically we kind of like to sit towards the back I don't

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know that's that that's just me that's what I've noticed I've done that myself

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we walk say towards the back maybe not all the way in the back but you know two

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three seats towards the back you don't want to be all the way in the back but

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kind of the back but not in the front either you know what that is is your

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comfort zone where you sit depending on where you sit that that's where your

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comfort zone is at so I started thinking I wonder if Eurikus showed up in that

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place already not believing maybe he was struggling and his comfort zone let him

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to sit in the back and he said you know I don't want to sit in the back view I'll

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just sit even further back how about this window yeah I like this window view

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here we have to watch where we sit church we have to watch where we position

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ourselves because sitting in the window was a comfort issue for Eurikus he

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didn't challenge his flesh he didn't challenge himself and comfort in the

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walk with God can't be dangerous comfort is not going to get you closer to God

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your comfort is not going to tell you to go pray your comfort is not going to tell

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you to go pray for somebody you know what your comfort says I'll pray for him

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another day you know what your comfort says somebody else will do it I wonder

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who's gonna do it it's not gonna be me yeah I don't have enough to do it I can't

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do that I can't pray for this brother I can't pray for this sister that's what

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your comfort will tell you that's what your flesh will tell you and that was a

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problem with Eurikus that he was wrestling with when he sat in this

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window it was his comfort it was his flesh he wanted to be there but still

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have a view in the outside and that was the problem with Eurikus in this

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passage is that you can't be in church and still have an open window to the

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world you can't be inside the church and still have a view to the outside you

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have to be either in or you have to be out but don't ever sit by the window

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where you're trying to listen to Paul but at the same time trying to see what

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everybody else is doing outside you got to either stay in the church or be

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outside but the word says don't be lukewarm

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well he was in church he still had a good view to what was going on outside

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and that's why he didn't receive anything because he was lying to himself by

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saying well I'm here but your mind isn't he was saying I'm here but your

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heart isn't and it's dangerous because you could be in the church but your

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heart is somewhere else you could be present but absent at the same time and

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that's so dangerous to be present because if you're here and there's

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miracles happening you just walked out of this place without a miracle even

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though the miracle worker was in this place and all because you were present

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but absent at the same time you have to be careful with your comfort zone you

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have to be careful with your flesh you have to challenge yourself you have to

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challenge and get out of your comfort zone because comfort is not going to lead

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you to the miracles that God has for you you got to be able to be there be

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present and you got to be focused you got to give God your full attention

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perhaps you the kids had a good intention of showing up but intention will

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get you in the room and attention will keep you in the room his attention was

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completely gone because of the place he chose to position himself in we have to

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be careful where we position ourselves in church because our position can

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determine whether we draw to God or fall away from God

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Proverbs 11 14 says where there is no counsel the people fall but in the

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multitude of counselors there is safety we have to put place ourselves put

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yourself in a position where you are surrounded by godly people you got to

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put yourself in a position where there's people around you that can give you a

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word that can correct you that can elevate you that can minister to you you

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have to put yourself in a position where somebody can come and tell you hey

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what's going on because if we don't we're giving the enemy room to come near

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us and that was the mistake that you the kids made that he placed himself he

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set himself up to fall and if you give the enemy a little bit of room he will

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come and steal that joy he will come and steal that calling kill that calling

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destroy that calling because that's what he came to do the enemy comes not but

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to steal kill and destroy and somebody's in here you're asking yourself well I've

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been in church so long but I don't feel like nothing's changed I don't feel like

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anything has changed and God sent me in on assignment today just to let you know

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that what has to change is in your heart what has to change is your mind you have

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to open up your mind and your heart to receive the word you have to watch where

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you're sitting you have to watch where you're positioned because many people

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will come and go but when you try to give them a car when you try to visit

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them they're not there they don't make themselves available you have to make

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yourself available where somebody can reach out to you and minister to you

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because God will minister you here but God can also minister to you outside of

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these four walls God can minister to you over a phone call God can minister to you

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over a visit but you have to make yourself available and in this sense we

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can say that you the kids was out of reach I wonder why nobody saw him falling

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asleep I wonder why nobody saw him I wonder why nobody could have told me

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hey wait wake up you're about to fall like watch out you look where you're

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sitting you would think that somebody could have told him something being in a

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such a dangerous place I would have thought that somebody could have told

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them hey you dick is since he was a young man if he was part of this you that

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could hear the guy saying my boy what's going on you dick is needed a boy to tell

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him to wake up that's why it's so important for us to connect with one

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another because we need godly people around us we need people that will speak

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to us people that will tell the truth even if we don't want to hear it because

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it's for our salvation people that can hold us people that can tell us you have

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too much to offer to fall you have too much potential within you to fall you

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have too much to offer to give up we need people that can tell us and we must

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be alert spiritually speaking of these signs of when somebody's falling asleep

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of when we're falling asleep in the spirit let me share some signs that I

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have that we need to watch for when we're falling in the spirit you know

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you're spiritually falling asleep when you don't have time or strength to pray

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anymore when you say I'm too busy you got to watch out for that you know you're

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falling asleep in your spirit when you don't hunger for the word anymore where

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you could go months and months without reading his word and you feel fine you

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got to watch out for those signs where you know you used to feel hungry for the

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word when you know you you just had to read it you had to dive into it but now

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you feel fine if you don't you know you're falling asleep if you no longer

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get convicted of willful sin of those moments what God would speak to you

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where the spirit would speak to you and now you just do it like it's nothing now

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you find excuses of why you could do it now you ask questions about where is it

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in the Bible well if you open your eyes you would find it because we see what

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we want to see and sometimes we don't see the things we don't you know you're

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falling asleep when you have a desire to be served and no longer serve others we

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have to be careful in those moments you have to analyze yourself and ask

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yourself am I doing this for me or am I here to serve others because if you

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don't know how to serve you have to remember that Jesus himself came to

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serve and not be served you have to remember that Jesus came to serve and

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if he came to serve who am I not to come to serve amen who are we not to serve

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amen we have to watch you know you're falling asleep in your spirit when

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you're easily offended when maybe somebody's attention went somewhere else

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and they they couldn't talk to you right there and then because their kid ran

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off and they went off and now you're offended because this brother sister

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didn't finish their conversation with you or the musician passed by you quickly

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because he had to come up here and play and he left you with your hand like

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hanging and now you're mad now you're upset now you can't come to church you

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have to watch out when you get easily offended because I don't know about you

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but when you're physically tired isn't it a lot easier to get mad at someone

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like stop trying to fall asleep here I'm tired leave me alone just it's so easy

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to get offended or mad at someone you're when you're sleeping when you're tired

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and it's the same thing in the spirit when you're struggling everything is

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offensive you know you're falling asleep when you're always comparing yourself

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to others when you show up to service the service is going the spirit of God is

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moving and you're just there watching someone well I could do that how come

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I'm not there why are they there why am I why not me when you begin to compare

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yourself to other people let me tell you that every single person in this place

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has a purpose each and every one of you has a purpose in the hands of the God

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of God each and every one of you has a gift within you that God can use but in

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due time God will elevate you and you have to be willing to wait on God's

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timing because if it's not the time just yet it only means that God is preparing

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you for when he says it's time that you could be ready to minister ready to

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preach ready to serve but if it's not time just keep serving faithfully you

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know you're falling asleep when you're spreading and entertaining gossip you

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have to be sensitive to those things you have to be tuned into the spirit of God

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for those things because God gossip doesn't honor him gossip doesn't honor

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God instead of talking about people we need to get together and pray for people

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and instead of gossiping we need to get together and pray for a brother pray for

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a sister that you may see struggling don't talk about the struggles help them

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pray through them don't talk about them go to them ask them what do I what do you

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need how can I help you what is it that you're praying for what isn't that you're

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battling we're together church we're in this battle together we need to be able

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to pray for one another and it takes me back to that moment why nobody could have

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reached out to you to kiss how long did it take them to notice that you to kiss

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fell off I wonder how long it took it doesn't tell us we don't know how long

353
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it might have taken but we know that he fell off and I want to when I was

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reading and thinking about this passage praying over this passage I felt like

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God was asking do you notice when somebody's not here anymore have you

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noticed that a eutica stopped coming to church have you noted how long has it

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been since that brother or sister that used to sit next to you how long has it

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been that since they showed up to service how long has it been did you even

359
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realize that they were no longer coming did you even notice that they stopped

360
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coming to church and God is saying how many of us have reached out to those

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people that need a Paul in their life you see because when you to kiss fell

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down Paul the word says that Paul ran and he threw himself to you to kiss church

363
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we need to be like Paul where in our hearts we say I don't know about this

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brother I don't know about this sister but I noticed that they weren't there it

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doesn't matter if you see them or if you talk to them every week but when God

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shows you those things we got to be reaching out to these people we got to

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be reaching out to our brother we got to be reaching out to our sister together

368
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in one accord fighting showing them that we are there for them that they vow

369
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they have too much value within them to let them go that we're in this battle

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with them and I'm wondering how many people are out there right now that

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need to be in here right now how many people have left the church that should

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be preaching right here right now I'll tell you this right now church I'm here

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by the grace of God but there was too many times where I could have fell out

374
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that I shouldn't be here anymore that I shouldn't be in this place I could have

375
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been lost in drugs in gangs in different places but because there were people

376
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like Paul that were after me telling me I see something in you I see potential in

377
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you there's something in you that you have to keep seeking God for I think

378
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God for those people outside my family God put people in it in my life that

379
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could reach out to me and minister to me and because of those people and because

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of God I'm still here I'm preaching today because of the grace of God but I

381
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shouldn't be here but there was a Paul in my life that came and spoke to me that

382
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came and threw himself to me that came and told me there's so much to fight

383
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for in this life there's so life is much bigger than us the college is much

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bigger than us

385
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first sense says he threw himself and they took you to kids up as then after

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falling from this building they believe them that he was dead they believe that

387
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you the kids was done but Paul was the one who told him hold on there's still

388
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life here hold on there's still life in you the kids you the kids it's not over

389
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yet and I came to tell somebody today in the spirit that is not over yet for you

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that it doesn't matter how far you fell from God it doesn't matter how many

391
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mistakes you made on the way here that maybe today you barely made it in God

392
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came to tell you today that it's not over yet and I came here to let you know

393
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that there is still life within you that there is still life within you because of

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God God kept you because he still has a plan for your life he still had they're

395
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still hoping you there is still purpose in you and what I love the most about

396
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this passage church and I'm gonna invite you to be up in your feet in this

397
00:40:31,440 --> 00:40:40,880
moment what I love the most about this passage is the fact of the people that

398
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are in there we have a young man who made a few mistakes and who fell but we

399
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have Paul who was older more experienced but Paul a man who persecuted the church

400
00:41:05,040 --> 00:41:11,600
a man whose life was going in the opposite direction a man who had a calling

401
00:41:11,600 --> 00:41:18,760
and a greater purpose in his life and he didn't even know it until he had an

402
00:41:18,760 --> 00:41:25,840
encounter with Jesus until he had an encounter with God and in that moment

403
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God turns his life around and then we see Paul preaching in many situations and

404
00:41:38,080 --> 00:41:46,160
in this passage a man who used to persecute the church is now ministering

405
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to the church because that's what God can do in your life when you're running

406
00:41:51,280 --> 00:41:55,600
from God God could turn it around and now you're running towards God that's

407
00:41:55,600 --> 00:41:59,880
what God can do in your life it doesn't matter how far you are from him it

408
00:41:59,880 --> 00:42:04,680
doesn't matter how far you fell from him God can still turn it around in your

409
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favor I can't tell somebody that there's still more life within you that there's

410
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still a purpose within you don't let the voice of the enemy tell you that because

411
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you fell far from God that it's over God used Paul and he used them in a

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great way and in this moment we see Paul ministering to you the kiss a young

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man that made mistakes and fell because Paul knew what it was like to be in

414
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those shoes Paul knew what it was like to be in his shoes and I wonder if there's

415
00:42:46,440 --> 00:42:52,800
anyone here today that you know what it's like to be in that situation we're

416
00:42:52,800 --> 00:42:57,160
gonna open up this altar car right now and we're gonna invite in everyone in

417
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this place if you know that there's still room within you to get closer to God if

418
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you know that there's a calling within you but you've been battling if you know

419
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that there's still purpose within you but you've been struggling you've been

420
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fighting in your spirit you've been fighting

421
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God is in this room right now and he's saying we're gonna minister because God

422
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is sending his angels God is handing his spirit right now