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I'm going to be reading this afternoon from Romans chapter 1 book of Romans chapter 1 verse 16

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last Sunday I

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began to preach out of this text and I

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Mentioned that my

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my main objective was just to be sensitive to God and

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Realizing that there was much that the Lord had placed on my heart and so therefore I reserved the right to

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Pick up where we left off. I think I only got to my first point last Sunday, so

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If you would bear with me today, but if I you know open up your hearts to the word of the Lord it reads this way

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For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ

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For it is the power of God to salvation

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salvation for everyone who believes

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for the Jew first and

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also for the Greek

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For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as

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It is written that just shall live

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by faith

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Our thought is faith from start to finished. I'm gonna invite you to pray with me once again

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I know we've been praying and praising but we're gonna pray especially now that God will speak to it

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Don't put your faith in me. Don't put your faith in man. Put your faith in God and in his word

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I am simply a vessel. I'm a conduit. I'm just an instrument that God is going to use today, but it's not me

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It's the Holy Ghost. Let's pray father. I love you and I thank you God for coming and dwelling in our midst this afternoon

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We humbly Lord submit ourselves to you your purpose your will your plan for our life

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And I ask God that is we revisit this text today that you would bring new meaning

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New purpose God new insights for our life for our faith. I pray Lord in Jesus name

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God let this word be settled in someone's heart as we grow father from faith to faith and from glory to glory

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In your name Jesus, we pray

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Everyone say amen

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Amen you can be seated in God's presence

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Last week I began by sharing a little story about how I needed to gas up my car for a road trip and

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much like a

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car needs gas to keep going

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everyone needs a

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Refilling or a feeling to a faith to make it to the end

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And this is this is very important. We understand that

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One feeling of faith powered by the gospel is good to get started

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But as you continue in your walk with the Lord as you continue to serve the Lord and as you continue to grow in him

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Will require

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additional

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feelings additional moments of growth of faith and this is the idea that

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As we're looking at this text that Paul writes concerning the gospel

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He says I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ because indeed it is the gospel of Christ that gives us the power of

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Salvation how many of you today are thankful for the salvation that we have through the gospel. Amen

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It is the gospel of Christ that is the power of God unto salvation

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And last week I won't belabor the point because you can go back and listen to it

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But last week we established the fact that the gospel of Jesus Christ is what empowers us

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To be saved and that that first level of faith is so important saving faith

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Saving faith is the initial

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Faith that we receive to receive Christ into our life when we are born again of the water

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And of the spirit when we are introduced to Christ when we begin our

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Christian journey there is a measure of faith that God gives to us to begin like that first

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Philip of gas to begin that journey and the gospel is

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The good news of Jesus Christ it is that Christ came and died on the cross for our sin

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and was buried and

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Resurrected three days later. That is the gospel of Jesus Christ when we speak of the gospel

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We are speaking of the good news of the message of Jesus Christ

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What Christ came to do for us and we should never get to a place in our

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Christian walk in our

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Spiritual journey where we outgrow the gospel. We will never we ought never outgrow our

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Need for the gospel for Paul writes that it's not only the gospel that powers our salvation

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But he continues on talking about how in it we see the righteousness of God

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Revealed so the point number one was saving faith and now what I want to do is build on that theme of the

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gospel

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Empowering us to move from saving faith

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the faith that we had when we first believed to

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sanctifying faith so if I can for a few moments, I want to

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build upon the foundation of saving faith and talk about

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sanctifying faith

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Sanctifying faith is the faith to continue now. This is very

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Crucial to our relationship with God. We must learn

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What it means to continue on in our Christian

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development

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Paul writes for in it the righteousness of God

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That's a key term righteousness for the righteousness of God is revealed or it's come to light

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from faith to faith

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so there's much I can dissect regarding this just this one verse but

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From from the surface we see that the righteousness of God is being revealed and it's being revealed in

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Continuum in other words from faith to faith as you grow from faith to faith

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God will release more and more

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Revelation of his righteousness

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He doesn't dump it all on you like a dump truck in the beginning and then just sort of leave you to figure it all out

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It's a continual process. It is an ongoing

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working out of our faith that God begins to reveal

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levels if you will of righteousness and

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Degrees if you will of righteousness think of it for those of you who may have been

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You know in karate or taekwondo or something, you know, you start off as a white belt

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You know I'm saying they don't give you a black belt

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Now if you keep working at it, eventually you'll work your way up

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Right to to orange or to yellow or to green and purple and all these different colors

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But but you start off at the white belt. So when you get saved, you're a white belt Christian. Praise be to God

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Well, you got a white belt

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But then as you continue to grow in your relationship with God, right you graduate from that and you move on to different colors until

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You eventually, you know eventually before it's all over you want to be a black belt

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How many of you want to be a black belt Christian? Oh

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Come on how many of you want to kick the devil in the head, you know say to power. All right

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You want to be a black belt somebody said no, I want to be a ninja. All right. Well

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Keep working on it. Hallelujah

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But it's a process and you graduate from belt to belt from from faith to faith as you

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Continue to devote yourself to the scriptures a studying of the scriptures prayer

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Consecration all of the fundamentals the basics and I think that look we got to get back to the basics. Amen somebody

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We got to get back to the basics the basics are important never graduate from those things

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But you move on to greater things like Paul said, let us go on to perfection

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So there's more that God has that same gospel that that saved you also

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Sanctifies you it empowers you to live out the gospel then so Paul writes in Romans chapter 4

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Excuse me chapter 6 and verse 4 for your consideration

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Therefore we were buried with him through baptism unto death

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That just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father

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Even so we even so we also should walk in

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newness of life

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One of the things about the gospel that it does is

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Not only does it communicate the love of God to us, but it it communicates a pattern of living

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It shows us what every Christian ought to go through as well that when we are saved when we are

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Born again. We also go through a process of being crucified buried and resurrected with Christ

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There's a lot of symbolism there when we are baptized

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We are buried with him when we receive the Holy Spirit

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That is a type of resurrection and this is all leading to a continual process of

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Like Paul said, I die daily. So you don't just

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Experience it on day one, but throughout your Christian life. We are crucified with Christ

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There is a continual death and resurrection that is occurring so that we don't get stagnant so that we don't

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Become static in our faith

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But we are walking in a continual newness now people

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What we tend to do Christians tend to neglect

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The power of the gospel to grow in righteousness and the newness of life

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And what begins to happen over over a period of time is we

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If we're not careful can begin to sort of select different things

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Within scripture that we will focus on that we will

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Zero in on in our faith, maybe because it appeals to us maybe because there's something there that we find

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Interesting or it touches on on an area in our life

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And so we'll devote ourselves to that and and and they're all good things. Maybe it's prayer or

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Study and scholarship of the word

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Or or worship and and diverse forms of praise and music. There's all sorts of

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themes within the word of God that can call to us and

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As a natural tendency we will devote ourselves to that thing

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To get better at it to to grow in it and and that's great to have those kinds of desires

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But we also must understand that that God is calling us to grow in

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balance and that there is an equilibrium in our faith that we're not

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Lopsided that we're not spending all our time just honing and working on our craft

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You know and our area of ministry or the one thing that we really love

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Tune in the neglect of the other Christian disciplines and fruits of the spirit that we need to be working on

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And so this is often a trap that we see people fall into the

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They excel in an area and they're devoted to that and so their prayers and everything kind of revolves around

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excellence in that area

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But then what begins to happen is we start to take our eye

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Off of other things that christ is calling us to grow in and so I believe that this is what

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Sanctification will do when we yield ourselves to the the spirit of God to the word of God to sound teaching to build

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Preaching and we submit ourselves to that and to the authorities that God has helped

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Put into our lives to help us to grow we ought to grow in balance. We ought to see

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Diverse fruits and gifts begin to flourish in our lives so that we don't just become

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Pigeon-holed, you know in one specific thing

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But we begin to grow and flourish across the board and so for example

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Some are solely interested maybe in just uh, like I said working on their ministry

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Some are solely interested in perfecting their their outward persona. They're they're consumed

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Mainly with the image and the perception that people have of them

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And so they will devote much of their life to uh, just ensuring that they maintain this

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Particular image in the hearts or in the minds of people

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But they do that to the neglect of actually allowing the spirit of God to change their attitude

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And to change the internal things and the hearts and the spirit how many of you

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You don't have to say yes or not, but how many of you?

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Would agree or think that that there is a disconnect there is a contradiction when maybe we perfect the outward

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And the exterior of our life the persona of who we are, but then on the inside

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We are cold or our attitude has gone awry and our hearts our spirits are no longer

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Where they need to be that's a disconnect. That's a disconnect and this can happen

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It can happen to anybody it can happen anywhere and for this reason paul warns that there are those who have a form of godliness

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But they deny the power thereof they deny the power to change them

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And so they lack spiritual fruit. They lack genuine

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Spiritual fruit we we need to grow in our spiritual fruit. Amen

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We need to grow in our our spiritual fruit

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And and and and be the type of christian whose branches are not just branching out very beautifully

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You might recall the moment in jesus ministry that perplexed his disciples when he cursed the fig tree

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Right because it was all shade and it was all green, but it had no fruit

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It looked good. It maybe even smelled good

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You know, it was glossy. It was very shiny

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It was very it's very very presentable, but it had no fruit nothing that people in the real world

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Not some spiritual nebulous people. I mean in the real world can actually eat of the fruit

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And be blessed by it

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And that is a picture of what can happen to the christian life. We become all branches and no fruit

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Amen

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We become all branches and no fruit

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Amen

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We become all all greenery and and no and no fruit

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Have you has this ever happened to you? Have you ever have you ever picked up a piece?

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Of fruit from a basket and and you were about to take a take a bite into it

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You're about to like start to unpeel that banana only to realize that it was fake

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Yeah

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It looks so real and they're getting better at this. I gotta tell you i've been some places where man, I mean the food looks

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real

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It's like man looks delicious

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You pick it up and you realize that is hollow

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And that is fake and that is just it's just plastic

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And you know, that's how some christians are

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They look like they have a lot of shiny fruit

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Like they're very spiritual and they're very holy but you pick up the fruit and you want to take

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There's nothing there

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And you got to ask where's the love?

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Where's the where's the joy? Where's the faithfulness the kindness to fellowship with others?

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Where's the where's the the gentleness the meekness?

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And this is something that I believe that if we're going to be the hands of the feet of christ if we're going to see

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Uh god move in our life and our testimony our christian walk not only be uh be appreciated

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And effective here among us as a church

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But outside of these walls that we have to continue allowing the sanctifying work of the holy spirit to produce

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These luscious these these uh fruits in our life so that we can be known by that and not something else

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Amen hallelujah. Jesus

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Uh, maybe you're not you know, it's a good thing

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We ran earlier or jumped around because you may not jump around right now this message

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But but that's all right. Praise be to god. We need the holy ghost not just to speak in tongues

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Not just to to prophesy

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What is the purpose of the holy ghost if you speak in tongues, but you can't control your tongue?

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What is the purpose of the holy ghost

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Let me tell you this i'll put it to you this way that speaking in tongues is a gift of the spirit

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But controlling your tongue is a fruit of the spirit

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And I think that we can draw more examples but

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Not to do to to to belabor the point

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But this is important that we understand that that we can speak in the tongues of angels

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We can we can speak in tongues and we can have our prayer language and be tapped in to the spirit that way

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And feel all sorts of things and and and we could even god could even use us, you know

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There could be like an anointing that is upon us, but that doesn't equate to fruit

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Fruit is a separate thing fruit is not something that that you can fake. It's not something that you can

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manufacture in other ways fruit it only comes when the gospel of jesus christ through a sanctifying work

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Is working through us and changing and developing and working and humbling us and and and and pruning

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Us and it's a process and it's not easy

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This this is what I am preaching about today. It's not an easy process and and we can understand that because

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Uh, it's very difficult. It's it seems for for christians today to really get a hold of this the gospel

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Will it ought to produce spiritual fruit? What are the spiritual fruit? They are love and joy peace

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long suffering and kindness and goodness faithfulness

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Amen a gentleness and self-control

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And jesus said to his disciples that you will know them by their fruits

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Not by their suits

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Amen don't judge me by my suit today

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But but by my by my fruit and not by the way we we look and and it does it does how we

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Is how we present ourselves?

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Important absolutely we we believe that as well. We believe that the process of sanctification is both internal and

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external

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But it's not one at the expense of the other

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it's not all external sanctification all of the outward markings of a

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being a

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Pentecostal or an apostolic to the neglect of our

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Relationships our attitude love gentleness kindness giving self-sacrifice all of that and it's not

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Also on the reverse where it's all

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Internal process of sanctification where i'm clean on the inside and i'm wonderful

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You know how many of you some of you are probably none of you know this song remember

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But there's a be a song when I was growing up that said jesus on the inside

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Working on the outside. Oh what a change in my life

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Man i'm up here all by myself with that one. That's all right

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Jesus on the inside working on the outside. Oh what a change in my life

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Jesus on the inside working on the outside. Oh what a change in my life

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Oh

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What a change

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In some people are saying jesus on the inside

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Jesus on the inside

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He's just on the inside

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But he's working on the outside

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He's supposed to right that's the idea

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and the fruit

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Is how people will know us and the fruit that we're growing it so paul insists

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He's adamant about this that that the power of the gospel reveals the righteousness of god

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It reveals the righteousness of god it fuels our faith as we undergo this continual process of sanctification

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And this is why he says from faith to faith now i've heard people use this term and and maybe i'm guilty as well

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We got to go from faith to faith

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from glory to glory and usually

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When we hear that it's it's spoken of like in this dramatic sort of

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We got to go from dimension to dimension like like you know a level of power to another level of power and

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When really when when paul was talking about faith to faith he wasn't talking about growing from like one dynamic

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Expression of faith to another dynamic expression of faith

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He's talking about

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sanctification

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He's talking about the righteousness of god in us taking us from faith to faith

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So now I am living on if i've been serving the lord now or if i've been saved for 10 years

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My faith at year 10 ought to look different than it did at year one

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It ought to look different than it did at year nine

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Amen it ought to continue to grow and by faith we mean i'm trusting god more

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I'm more I ought to be more obedient than I was five ten years ago

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I ought to be more submissive than I was five ten years ago

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I ought to be more humble than I was five ten if the spirit of god is

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Sanctifying me and the gospel is working in me then there ought to be a continual growth from faith to faith

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Because somebody say amen today

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And paul continues

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because this is all about walking in the newness of life and

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And righteousness being an ongoing work and the progressive work of newness he continues in verse five in roman

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He says this for we have been united together in the likeness of his death

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Certainly, we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection

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Knowing this that our old man someone say old man

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Yeah, that's the old you you know the that's that's your your past

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That's your your past self

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was crucified with him

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That the body of sin might be done away with

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That we should no longer be slaves to

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sin

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So as the process of sanctification continues in our life, we're going from faith to faith

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We are in some senses being freed or liberated from

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slavery to sin

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But it doesn't mean that we are just free to do whatever we want

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Because now we are under a new government

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We are under a we are citizens of a new kingdom now

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We are a child of god and as a child of god there are there are

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Things there there are areas in our life that that need to continue to grow in newness of life

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So are you growing in christ is the question and that's a very important question. Are you growing in christ?

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The question is not do you attend church?

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Because you can attend church you can check in

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And check out every sunday, but the question is are you growing in your faith? Are you growing in grace?

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Amen

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If you're praying god, I want to grow in grace prepare to get offended

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Grace is only grace when it's given and when you are in a position where you need to give grace

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Amen

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Hallelujah, I might just change somebody's prayer this week lord. Oh the whole thing about grace, you know, hallelujah

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Are you growing in in your giving are you growing in christ likeness in gentleness long suffering?

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And this is what the gospel will produce in our life. It does it come at a cost

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Yes, it does

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But the cost is worth it because as I am growing together with him like paul said I want to know him in the

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In the power of his resurrection and in the fellowship of his suffering

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It's a costly journey

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But the but the reward at the end of it all is worth it because now i've got fruit in my life

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In fact now i've got a testimony now i've got evidence in my life of the goodness of god

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And i'm still standing and i'm still here

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I haven't gone bitter. I haven't grown sour on the branch. I haven't go hallelujah

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I haven't lost my faith. I haven't lost my joy. I haven't lost my courage

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God is still with me. I'm growing

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I'm developing i'm becoming more like christ. How many of you want to be more like christ? Hallelujah

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Hallelujah god, I want to I want to grow in that sanctifying faith and the third which

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Is important after sanctifying faith is you move to?

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sustaining faith

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sustaining faith so watch the progression it begins with

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saving faith

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to sanctifying faith and then as an extension of that sustaining faith paul said the just i'm gonna say the just

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The just shall live

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by faith

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we walk

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by faith

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and not by sight

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And I have to preach to you today about the importance of sustaining faith. What is sustaining faith?

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Sustaining faith is the faith that sustains you

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It is the faith that keeps you it is the faith that watch this undergirds you

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It is the faith that holds you up

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And it's the faith that you hold on to

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It is the faith that you with everything you have like glue it it keeps everything together

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from falling utterly apart

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uh

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Sustaining faith is that faith that gives you endurance?

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The bible says that he that endures to the end

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Shall be saved. It's very important to have sustaining faith. Why?

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Because your faith will be tested your life will be tested

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You in some way or another will go through or your family and let me put it that way will go through

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Things where you need something greater something beyond yourself to hold the pieces together

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Hallelujah, that is sustaining faith. It matters how you finish. Amen somebody

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It's not just about how you start is how you finish. It's how you end the race

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It's how you respond to adversity

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It matters who you become after the trial is over. Oh, thanks be to god

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Job said this after his trial. He said when he has tested me I shall come forth as

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Cold hallelujah the longer you serve the lord

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The hotter the temperature of your trial will be

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See, we have this in our mind that the longer we serve him the easier it gets down the road

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You're gonna have a hard time

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Uh comparing that with the figures in scripture

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Because as we see men like abraham and moses and jacob in the old testament and in the new testament with paul

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And peter the longer we serve the lord

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Who said it was going to get easier?

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The refining fire will continue to burn in your life

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So that in the end we come forth as gold hallelujah

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This is the picture that should be in our mind today of sustaining faith

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Because when our faith stands trial, he's got to be able to stand strong

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When our faith stands trial, he's got to be able to hang in there

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And be unshakable

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And be unbreakable how many of you want to have that kind of faith today?

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I said, how many of you want to have that kind of faith?

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Jesus never said that following him would be easy

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He never said there wouldn't be any trials. He never said there wouldn't be any problems

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He never said there wouldn't be any pain or there wouldn't be any trouble. That's not what god promised

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But what he did say is that in the world you will have tribulation

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But be of good cheer. I have overcome

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The world clap your hands and let's give the lord some praise here this afternoon

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And it is the power of the gospel

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The power of the gospel that propels us that sustains us

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Uh through every season of trial and testing it is the power of the gospel that we hold on to

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It is that blood that jesus shed for me

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Way back on calvary

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It is that blood how many of you know the blood is still powerful today?

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Oh hallelujah said how many of you know the blood still works today?

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Today it reaches to the highest mountain it flows through the lowest valley

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The blood that jesus shed the gospel he was wounded for our transgressions

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bruised for our

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Iniquities that same gospel that saved you my dear brother our sister

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Is the same gospel that will sustain you it will sustain us in the hour of temptation

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It will sustain us in the hour of trial. It will sustain us in the hour of peril

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It will sustain us in the hour before jesus returns

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It will sustain us in every season and every time

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Oh, i've come to encourage somebody here today to hold on to your faith this afternoon

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Hold on to that sustaining faith

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The faith that you have received

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The faith that was transferred to you hold on if the same spirit

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That raised jesus from the grave

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Dwells in us

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That means you have the same power

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To rise up in victory

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How many victorious people do we have in the house of the lord today?

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Amen, would you stand on your feet with me this afternoon? Would you stand on your feet today?

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How many victorious people do we have in the house today?

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But you gotta hold on to your faith brother

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I love the honesty of david when he writes in psalm 27. He said I would have lost heart

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He said I would have lost heart unless I had believed

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That I would see the goodness of the lord

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In the land of the living

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He said I almost gave up

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I know you may not want to raise your hand on this, but how many of you almost gave up? That's

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I almost gave up

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Oh lord, I almost quit

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I almost lost heart

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But it was my faith that tomorrow

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Would be better

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It was my faith that god is still in control. Whoo. Hallelujah. It was my faith

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That if god before me who could be against me? Oh, I may not see my miracle yet, but I still believe he's a miracle

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Worker

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Oh, I may not see my blessing yet, but I still believe he's a blister. Come on. Do I have any witnesses out there?

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I may not see my healing yet, but I believe that god is still a healer

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I haven't seen my family member saved or restored yet, but I believe he's still a restorer

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I believe he's still in the saving. How many of you know god's still in the saving business?

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He's still in the saving business

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Oh, I haven't seen it yet. You just hold on to your faith. In fact, I want to pray for somebody today

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I'm not sure where you're at in your faith

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I'm not sure what level where you feel this message may have touched an area in your life

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We've I've got to grow in my relationship with god. I gotta grow. Oh, hallelujah. I gotta grow

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Oh, jesus is in this place today and it's the power of the gospel