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Without further ado, I'm going to invite you to Deuteronomy 32, verse 51 and 52.

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That's Deuteronomy 32, 51 and 52.

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And then I'm going to be reading it off of the NIV version and it says like this,

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this is because of, because both of you broke faith with me in the presence of the Israelites

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at the waters of Meribah, Kadesh, and the desert of Zin. And because you did not uphold my holiness

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among the people of, among the Israelites, therefore you will see the land only from a distance.

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You will not enter the land I am giving to the people of Israel. I'm going to invite you right

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there to bow your heads with me and come before the presence of the Lord. Heavenly Father,

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in this hour Lord, I submit to you Jesus, and I ask you to anoint my lips, Father,

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that every word that is spoken is your Holy Spirit speaking to us, God.

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I'm not here looking for applause, Lord, but simply to give you the glory, Father.

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I want to speak, Lord, your will, Father. I ask you to minister to us. Open up our minds, Jesus.

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Open up our hearts, Lord. Only you can change. Only you can transform us, Father. I surrender

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to you in this hour, Lord, that this can be a blessing to your people, to your church,

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to your congregation that you bought with your blood, Father. In the mighty name of Jesus,

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we thank you and we say, amen. You may have your seats, church. This year,

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not sure if you were aware, but the Olympics were happening this year in Paris, and

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I've always been a fan of watching track and field, maybe a little bit of swimming, but

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you know, obviously they were in Paris, so different time zones. There's no way I was

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going to catch it live, or not everything at least. So I was keeping up with just certain

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clips, recaps on YouTube. Like I said, especially for track and field, I've always loved the races,

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the 100 meters, 200, 400, relays, everything, one mile, two mile. When I was in high school,

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I participated in track and field, so maybe that's why I'm still engaged and I like to keep up.

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I like to see the athletes who are the runners nowadays. But there was many good races, amen.

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But there was one in particular that really caught my attention. I had that race on repeat

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on YouTube, just watching it during my breaks at work, during my lunch. I just couldn't believe it.

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It was the 100 meter race for the men's, and this was for the gold medal. So just in case you don't

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know about track and field or you didn't watch it, there's different heats or rounds to get to the

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gold medal race. So the eight men that are lining up for the gold medal for the 100 meters,

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they've been through a process to get there. Matter of fact, just to qualify to the Olympics,

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it's already a process. But when you get there, there's still another process.

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You have to run a few races to make it to the final race, to make it to the gold medal race.

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And that's the race you want to be in. And we had eight men, eight of the fastest men in the world

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today lining up running for gold. And all this preparation just for the race to be 10 seconds,

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it just boom. And that was the event. And I'm just, no way I need to watch this again.

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That's why I watched it like 10 times. When I'm watching the race, I'm like,

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man, when I'm watching the race, you hear the gun, you see these men just take off fast.

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They take off. I'm zooming in because it's so close. The race was so tight, so close

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that when the race finished, nobody knew who won. Not even the athletes. The runners were like

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looking at the screen, they were shouting, come on, give us the results. They were anxious.

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I was anxious. I was sweating. I was like, no way Jamaica beat us.

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Come on, USA, we got to take this one. You know, the Jamaicans are quick and there's always that

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rivalry between USA and Jamaica. And there was a few Jamaicans in there. And I was like, man,

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man, we're waiting. And the two that we thought were the winners definitely knew it. They felt it.

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And sure enough, they announced the winner, USA, Noah Lyles, took the gold medal for the 100 meter

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race. And then there was a Jamaican that came in second place. His name is Kichane Thompson.

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And when they put their stats, when they put the time, they were both running at 9.79 seconds.

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100 meters, 9.79. And I said, wait a minute, they have the same time. And then they broke it down.

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The difference was only five thousandths of a second. How do you know what that means?

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If I'm being honest, that's got to be thinner than a hair. I'm not sure. How do you even calculate

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that? I have no idea. But that's what they said. They gave to the USA guy. I was like, well, thank

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God. But I started thinking if I was that Jamaican guy, I'd be so mad, so hurt because it was this

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close to taking gold. And you're going to tell me by five thousandths of a second, I couldn't take

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it. But then looking back at the race, I started thinking again, wait a minute, they put all the

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stats from number one to number eight. The fastest was 9.79 seconds. And eighth place was 9.91

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seconds. So I said, wow, the difference between first and eighth was just about 0.1 of a second.

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Just 0.1 of a second. And when we looked at the pictures, you could see all the eight men

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right there at the finish line. So in reality, they all have what it takes to get gold medal.

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But it was just so close. The race was just so tight. And I couldn't believe. And I started

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thinking, well, forget second place. At least you got silver. And third, you got bronze. But what

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about eighth? Just because 0.1 of a second kept you out from gold medal. And in that moment,

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I was, like I said, I was watching on my phone, I was screaming, I'm like, oh my God, this guy was

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so close yet so far. That must suck. And they interviewed him. He was totally devastated. But

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today I wanted to share this because I want to preach on this stop. So close, yet so far.

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And I want to share this, this is the actual picture of the 100-meter race.

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The winner was this guy here in between lane six and seven. Second place was the guy in lane four

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in the yellow. Third place was the guy in lane three. If you look at it, just looking at that,

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I feel like they all got first place. They all looked like boom, they all came in first.

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They all looked like boom, they all came in at the same time. So when I see this, I started to think

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last place is between lane five and six. He's not that far off. But how is it that just 0.1 of a

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second can make that much of a difference? And as I started praying, and the Lord led me to this

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passage that we read in Deuteronomy chapter 32 where he's speaking to Moses and he's telling him,

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while both of you speaking of Moses and Aaron, you both lacked faith and didn't keep my holiness.

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So therefore I'm taking you up to this mountain where you're going to see the land,

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but you cannot enter it. And I started thinking, Moses experienced what these guys ran because

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they were so close to winning it all. Yes, so far because they didn't make it. And that was the case

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with Moses because he ran all his life. He was chosen by God. He was used by God. He walked in

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He walked in the wilderness with the people of God and all of that God was with him.

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But at the end, God is telling him, I'll let you see it, but you can't come in.

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He was so close. He was looking at the land. He was looking at the promise. And God is telling him,

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I'll let you see it, but this is where you're going to be. This is where you're dying.

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Can you imagine the pain of everything that Moses lived through?

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For God to only tell him, you're only able to see this land.

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Can you imagine the pain of being so close to the promise yet so far that you couldn't make it?

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And this allowed me to understand that God can choose you, but we have to choose him back.

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This is my first point that we have to choose him because God will call you. God will anoint you.

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God will use you, but you in response got to be able to turn around and make a choice of what

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you're going to do. If you're going to answer the calling of the Lord, if you're going to find out

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if you're going to follow him back, what is the choice that you and I are going to make?

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Exodus 32 19 says, when Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing,

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his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of

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the mountain. And he took the calf and the people had made and burned it in the fire. In this passage,

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we know that Moses went up to meet with God. He went to the top of the mountain.

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God gave him a word, amen, the 10 commandments, something huge. It wasn't just something,

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hey, tell your people this, it was something powerful that God was giving Moses. But when he

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goes down to the foot of the mountain, the passage says that because of what the people of Israel were

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doing, he acted in anger and he took the 10 commandments, he took the tablet and he threw

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them out of his hands. Now, I don't know how, I don't know, not sure. But out of anger, maybe he

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just threw those things on the floor and he was burning in anger. He burns the false gods,

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but in that anger, he let go of what God gave him at the top of the mountain.

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And I'm here to tell somebody that when God gives you a word at the top of the mountain,

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you got to make a choice of what you're going to do with that word when you reach the foot of the

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mountain. Because let me tell you something, when you reach the foot of the mountain, the devil's

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going to be waiting for you there trying to test you, trying to try you, trying to steal your peace,

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trying to steal your joy, trying to put doubt in you so you could doubt the word that God gave you

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when you were near him. So you could doubt what God gave you when you were in his presence.

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And this is what Moses didn't realize, that when he, matter of fact, God even told him,

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you got to go down there because you got to go clean up this mess. So in other words,

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he already knew what was happening. And there's many times that God will speak to us and tell us

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and show us what's coming or what's happening for us to be prepared. But many times we choose

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to ignore the voice of God. And we have to be careful because when God gives us a word,

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we have to tune in. When God gives us a word, we have to listen. When God speaks to us,

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we have to follow. Don't let your situation take what the Lord spoke over you when you were in his

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presence because the devil is there waiting to steal or to hinder you from reaching God's purpose.

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Amen. You can be filled. Let me tell you something, church, when God gives you something,

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you can be filled here at church. You can speak in tongues, be filled with the Holy Ghost on Sunday

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morning. But on Monday morning, you got to wake up and there's a new choice waiting for you.

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On Monday morning, you still got to wake up and decide, am I going to serve him still?

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Am I going to follow him? On Tuesday morning, you got to wake up again and ask yourself,

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am I going to still serve God on Wednesday morning, on Thursday, on Friday night when

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people are calling you, are we still going out? There's a choice that you still got to make.

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Am I going to follow him? Am I going to answer him? Because it's easy to be filled with the

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Holy Ghost here. It's easy to say yes and amen, praise God, and we cry, we're filled with the Holy

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Ghost. It's easy to receive a word at family camp, at district service, at men's camp, youth camp,

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whatever camp you go to, it's easy to receive a word and be filled. But the challenge comes when

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you show up to work. The challenge comes when you show up to school. The challenge comes when you're

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back at home in your daily life. Is God present there? We have to choose him every day that we

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get up. We have to choose God in every moment that we live, every circumstance that presents itself.

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The question still stands, who are you choosing? You got to be careful what you choose to listen to.

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You got to be careful what voices you're listening to because not all voices are the voice of God.

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And we got to be able to have the sermon of the Spirit to know who, when God is speaking

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and when he's not. We got to be careful when we choose what we feed our spirit,

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what we feed our mind, what we're feeding our eyes. What is it that you're choosing now that every day

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when you wake up, there's a choice that we got to make. And no matter what choice,

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the word speaks to us, whatever it is that you do, don't choose to be lukewarm.

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The word says, because you weren't either hot or cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth.

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We got to keep fighting for our salvation. You got to keep fighting for the calling that the Lord

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spoke of you, the calling, the anointing that the Lord gave you. We got to keep fighting for the fire

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to be alive in our hearts. And everything that we do, there's a choice that we must make.

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I want to take you to Joshua 5-6.

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And it says, the Israelites had moved about in the wilderness 40 years until all the men

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who were of military age when they left Egypt had died, since they had not obeyed the Lord.

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Among all the choices that we have, we also have to choose obedience.

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Joshua 5-6 is telling us about what the Israelites lived through.

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They walked in the wilderness for 40 years. And the passage, this verse tells us

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that it was because they didn't obey the Lord. You see, God waited until that generation

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passed away in the wilderness, raised up their sons and daughters, and he still delivered the promise,

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but not just to them, because they didn't obey. So God said, I won't take you into the promise

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because of disobedience, but I'll take your sons and daughters into the promise. So God is a faithful

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God. He's still going to deliver his word. He's still going to deliver the promise, but it's up

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to you and I if we're going to obey his word or we're going to disobey. You see, the people of

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Israel lacked faith. They didn't believe that they could enter the promised land. It almost felt like

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it was too good to be true. Because if you remember, when they're walking in the desert,

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when they're walking in the wilderness, they begin to complain about the promise.

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They begin to complain about their situation to the point where they started to desire to go back.

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They started saying, well, we were better off in Egypt. What are we doing here? You brought us here

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to die. And they started saying, what about if we go back because we had it better there?

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And you got to be careful when your flesh starts speaking on your behalf because it wants to go

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back to the world. You got to be careful when your flesh wants to desire to take you back to a sinful

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lifestyle. Let me tell you, it's not better in Egypt. They were wanting to go back to slavery

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only in exchange of food, in exchange of perhaps a bed, because they didn't realize that the

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wilderness was not their final destination. They didn't realize that that wilderness, the desert,

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wasn't the promise. But they were blinded by their past. And I'm here to tell somebody that you have

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to be careful and not deceive yourself in wanting to go back out of a place that the Lord brought

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you out of. You don't want to go back to a place of captivity. You don't want to go back to a place

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that held you down or to a person, a relationship. You don't want to go back to that place.

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I want to remind someone, don't get lost in transition because the desert is not where God

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is calling you. There's still a promise, but to get there, you got to keep moving forward. To get

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there, you got to keep obeying the word of God. Don't forget that the 40 years in the wilderness

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were simply, it was just simply a delay. That wasn't necessarily the plan of the Lord.

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He didn't tell Moses, we're going to make you wait 40 years. That came out of the disobedience

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because they doubted God. They couldn't see the miracles that were happening in the desert.

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They were complaining about food. We had it in Egypt, but let me tell you that the Lord

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was doing miracles, bringing food to them every single day for 40 years and they couldn't see it.

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God kept sending Uber Eats and they kept ignoring it.

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Can you imagine that? They couldn't see that God was truly with them. Exodus 13, 21 says,

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and the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way and by night

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in a pillar of fire to give them light to go by day and night. They couldn't see that God was

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with them to go by day and night. When I was reading it, I couldn't help but remember a song

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in Spanish. God was with them in the day, he was with them in the night, he was with them 24 seven,

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he was with them, but they just simply doubted the move of God, the spirit of God, the hand of God,

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and you got to understand we can't doubt the creator, the provider, he's with you day and night

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and you just got to stand up and believe that he's with you, that he's going to provide no matter

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where you are in life, no matter what situation you're in, God is going to provide.

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We can't be blinded by the situation the enemy throws at you sometimes. Matter of fact,

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this situation, I want to say maybe it wasn't even the enemy, it was just their lack of faith.

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Sometimes we do blame the enemy for everything and poor guy, he's like, that wasn't even me.

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There is a price to pay for disobedience

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and we don't want to find out what the price is. The people of Israel found out that it was 40 years

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and it cost them an entrance to a promise. That's the price that they had to pay,

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that's the price that Moses paid as well. Don't let disobedience keep you out of the promise of God

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because disobedience will keep you out but obedience will lead you in.

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You have to remember that when we disobey it'll keep you out of the promises of the Lord

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but when we simply can obey and say, yes, God, I will follow you, I will trust you,

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it will lead you in to the promise that God spoke over you. Doesn't the word say that he can do it

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exceedingly and abundantly above all that we could ask or imagine? He can do it but my question is

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for you today is do you believe it? God can do it, amen. Obedience will keep you from the hand of

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the enemy. I want to share this passage with you, it's found in Daniel chapter 3. I'm going to skip

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a few verses here. Verse 15 says, but if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately

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into a blazing furnace. Then what God will be able to rescue you from my hand. 19 says, he ordered

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the furnace to be heated seven times more than usual and commanded some of the strongest soldiers

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to tie Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to throw them into the blazing furnace. Verse 22 says,

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the king's command was so urgent and the blaze so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers

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who took Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Verse 25 says, look, I see four men walking around in the

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fire, unbound, unharmed, and the fourth looks like an angel. I see four men walking around in the fire,

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unbound, unharmed, and the fourth looks like an angel.

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In this passage, three men of God decided to stand up for what they believed. They decided to obey

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their God and the king said, we're going to turn up this furnace seven times more. It was so hot

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that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

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And when these young men were thrown into the fire, they did not die. The king came and saw and said,

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wasn't it just three? Because I see there's four. I see that there's four of them in there.

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And they're just walking around like if they're praising. They're just walking around the fire

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there's something about obedience that God will move in your favor. No matter what fire the devil

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throws at you, when we obey the word of the Lord, it doesn't matter what devil in hell comes your

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way. God's protection will stand for you. The God that we serve will fight your battles

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when we can obey and stand up for what we believe in.

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And this hour is so important for us to stand

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because there's a lot of doubt in this world. There's a lot of people that are arising,

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but not for the kingdom arising in doubts. There's a lot of people that will question you.

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Why do you believe in that? Why do you believe if I don't see him? I've never felt a lot of questions

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to challenge your faith. And this is the hour that the Lord is calling us to stand and still preach

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the word of God. This is the hour that the Lord is calling us to obey and speak his holy word.

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You know why? Because his word has power to break chains. His word has power to restore the sick.

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His word has power to raise up the dead. His word still has the power to convict and to change the

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hearts. But it's only when we obey and we speak the word of the Lord, obedience is the key

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to the promise.

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Obedience is the key to enter into the promise of the Lord.

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If I go back to the first passage, the Lord is speaking to them and explaining to them,

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to him, to Moses why he wasn't entering. After he tells them, because you broke my faith,

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he tells them also because you didn't uphold my holiness among the Israelites. Therefore you will

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see the land only from a distance. We have to choose God. We have to choose to obey his word.

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But most importantly as well, we have to choose holiness.

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If the Lord told Moses, you're also not entering because you couldn't uphold my holiness.

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Because you couldn't uphold my holiness among my people, then that tells me that God finds holiness

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important. God finds holiness important. I want to read Matthew 7, chapter 21,

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that says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven,

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but only the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day,

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Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name

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perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me, you evil

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doers. And that day I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. When I read this passage,

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it hurts to read because if we look at this further,

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somebody who's saying, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?

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Tells me that it was someone that God was using.

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And in your name, did we not drive out demons? It tells me that it was somebody that perhaps was

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anointed. And in your name, did we not perform miracles? It tells me, it helps me understand

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that it was people perhaps that the Lord had chosen. It was people that the Lord had called

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and separated for His purpose and for His glory. It was people that God used for miracles, signs,

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and for wonders. And it made me ask, then what happened? Lord, if you were using these people

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to perform miracles, to prophesy, to cast out demons, what happened from that moment to that day

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for you to say, be gone from me? I never knew you.

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What happened? And the Lord took me to this verse found in Matthew 5, 8 that says,

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blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

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And as I prepared this word, I started to think about the Lord,

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and how beautiful it was that He was separated from a young age. They saved His life

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since He was a baby, putting Him in the river. The Lord was with Him.

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God chose Him despite His disabilities. God still used Him.

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Moses was the one who parted the Red Sea through the power of the Lord. God used Him. He led the

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people of Israel out of captivity. God was with Him. Moses was in the presence of the Lord up in

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the mountain. He spoke to the people of Israel. He spoke to the people of Israel. He spoke to the

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people of Israel. He spoke to the people of Israel. He spoke to the people of Israel. He spoke with

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God. And these people in Matthew 7-21 were crying out and saying, Lord, Lord, but in Your name we

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perform miracles. I could imagine these people saying, but God, wait, wait, wait, just hold on.

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Lord, I was a minister of your

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word.

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Hold on for a moment, God.

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Didn't you use me for your

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glory?

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Lord, Lord, in your name we

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casted out demons.

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Lord, I was a minister of your

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word.

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God, I would pray in your name

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and people would be healed.

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Lord, Lord, just give me one

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more opportunity.

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And it would break me to pieces

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to hear him say, I never knew

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you.

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Lord, if you didn't get anything

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from this message, I want you to

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hear this.

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You and I don't want to show up

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on that day.

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After all we've been through,

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after all the services that we

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showed up to, after all the

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miracles we saw, and after all

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the services that we lifted up

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our hands and filled with the

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love of God, to be that close,

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yet so far.

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God, put this message in my

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heart, to awaken someone in

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their spirit and to tell if

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somebody's here today, you don't

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want to be so close that you

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could see the promise, yet so

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far that you can't enter it.

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You don't want to go up on the

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mountain, and God told him you

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could see the promise, but only

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from a distance.

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You don't want to show up on

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that day and tell God, but in

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your name, Jesus, we minister.

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The time is now.

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The time and the choice is

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yours here.

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The choice for you is here now.

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Because right now in this hour

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we still have time to choose

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what we're going to do.

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If we're going to choose him,

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we're going to choose her.

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But no matter what you do, you

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got to see that you got to

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choose God every single day of

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your life until the last day

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that God gives you.

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Not 90% of your life, not 95% of

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your life, not 99% of your life,

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but 100% of your life.

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I will still follow you, God.

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I will still serve you, Lord.

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I still submit to your word,

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Jesus, whether you're 40 or 50

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or 60 or 70, Lord, I want to

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wake up, Father, if you let me

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live to 85 or 90 and say, Father,

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I still submit to you.

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Lord, I want to be used by you,

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Father, but not just for a

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season, but for all my life.

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I want to invite you right there

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where you are to lift up your

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hands with me.

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The Lord brought his word to us

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today to tell somebody you're on

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your way to the promise, but

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when you give up, you started to

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contemplate going back to Egypt

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and the Lord is here to fill you

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up once again, to fill you with

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new strength, with new provision.

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God is here to fill you up and

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tell you, you got to keep

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pressing forward because the

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past is in the past.

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I took you out of captivity.

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You got to keep doing what the

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Lord told you to do.

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The promise is ahead, but you

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got to keep choosing God.

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You got to keep choosing his

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word.

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You got to keep choosing to

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submit to his will.

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And I'm wondering if there's

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somebody here that can say, Lord,

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it doesn't matter how long you've

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been serving.

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God is saying you still got to

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make a choice if you're going to

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hold on to his promises.

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God is saying you still got to